I’ve heard Johnny Mercer’s lyrics sung hundreds of times by countless performers, but somehow, hearing Charles Busch illustrate and sing those words made me hear them—and feel them—in an entirely different way last night during his show “Charles Busch Sings Johnny Mercer” at 54 Below.

I guess I shouldn’t have been too surprised by my reaction to his performance. Actor and playwright Charles Busch is a master of theatrical melodrama, and I’ve long been a fan of his Facebook posts, where he has a remarkable way of describing the ordinary details of everyday life with imagination and wit. He makes the familiar feel newly personal. His song list last night was musically challenging, and opening with the Hoagy Carmichael/Johnny Mercer classic “Skylark” immediately drew us into the intimate world of Charles.

When Charles spotted Eda and me sitting with Michele Lee, he shared an emotional story about 9/11. Michele, a close friend of Charles’s, had starred in his play The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife, which was playing on Broadway during those terrible days. His story brought a deeply personal moment to an evening filled with music, memories, and laughter.

We heard so many of our favorite Johnny Mercer songs last night—“Charade,” “Moon River,” “On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe,” “Blues in the Night,” “I’m Old Fashioned,” and others. But there is one song, written by Peter Allen, that best sums up the evening for me: “Everything Old Is New Again”…especially in the hands of Charles Busch!

Jono Mainelli music director provided the perfect accompaniment for Charles, his classical pianist’s touch added the appropriate musical  backdrop to the evening.  Ashley Austin Morris a very funny comic was a wonderful interlude and guitarist Jimmy Stull were guest artists.

EDA SOROKOFF & MICHELE LEE

CHARLES BUSCH

CHARLES BUSCH

JONO MAINELLI & CHARLES BUSCH

CHARLES BUSCH

CHARLES BUSCH

JONO MAINELLI & CHARLES BUSCH

JONO MAINELLI & CHARLES BUSCH

CHARLES BUSCH

ASHLEY AUSTIN MORRIS

JIMMY STULL

CHARLES BUSH & STEPHEN SOROKOFF

JONO MAINELLI, ASHLEY AUSTIN MORRIS, CHARLES BUSCH, JIMMY STULL

CHARLES BUSCH, MICHELLE LEE, EDA SOROKOFF

MICHELE LEE & EDA SOROKOFF

LIVESTREAM

MANDISA BOXILL

Half An Evening may have been the title of David Rasche’s 54 Below performance last night, but after hearing this famed television and film actor perform his clever, witty, poignant, and very funny original songs, I’m sure the audience was left wanting the other half!

David has a charming, deceptively self-deprecating manner—and an ingenious talent for creating both words and music. Eda and I hadn’t seen him in many years, not since he was our neighbor in Hillsdale, N.Y. Back then, when we spotted him on a tractor tending to his crops, we assumed he was simply the farmer down the road. Then, one day, he came over and asked me to play the piano while he sang an original song he was working on. It was our first glimpse of the remarkable musical talent behind the seemingly unassuming “farmer” next door.

Knowing David’s clever, self-deprecating sense of humor, I suspect that if he were to review his own show last night, it might sound something like this. The following is my paraphrase of the 54 Below promotion, which I can only assume he wrote himself.

“David Rasche, star of HBO’s “Succession” and ABC’s “Sledge Hammer!” returned to 54 Below for his second outing at the legendary club. David’s show was a delightful evening of painful memories and personal insults that were tied together with a collection of original songs that he originally wrote himself and were written by him originally. Some of those songs have never before been sung in public, perhaps for good reason. Some were love songs, some comedic, some were bittersweet, and some were just bitter. He was not above a cheap joke, and nothing was beneath him. Songs included the Bossa nova favorite “Sand Up in My Crack,” the enchanting jazz waltz, “I Wish I was Married to Your Wife,” the historic actor/prison/chaingang song, “Never Going to Work Again,” and not many more. The songs were musical, and short enough to accommodate the most limited attention span. Someone else played the piano.. luckily. The show was just long enough that exactly when you were thinking, “It’s time to go,” the last song had ended. “Thank God, David Rasche did a show!” someone was heard to say.

It was a celeb filled audience with many actors who have appeared with David in Films and on TV and they gave him a standing ovation.  Spotted in my immediate vicinity were Christine Ebersole, Paul Kreppel, Murphy Cross, Lee Roy Reams, and Lorna Dallas-Brown.

Excellent musical arrangements and band which consisted of: Music Director Isaac Harlan, Jerry DeVore, bass, Alphonso Horne, trumpet, Sungwon Kim, Guitar, Brian Krock, sax, Gary Schreiner, harmonica and Joe Spinelli, drums.  The show was directed by  Michael Schiralli.

DAVID RACHE

54 BELOW

DAVID RACHE

DAVID RACHE

DAVID RACHE

DAVID RASCHE

DAVID RASCHE

DAVID RASCHE

LEE ROY REAMS, RICHARD HILLMAN, LORNA DALLAS-BROWN

54 BELOW

Last night, 54 Below opened its doors to something new and exciting. “Basement After Dark: The Music of RAYE” brought a fresh musical voice to the legendary cabaret room. Produced by 54 Below’s own Stephanie Lazard in collaboration with music director and co-producer Elmo Zapp, the evening featured a first-rate band and an exceptional cast of singers who delivered RAYE’s music with energy, style, and passion. The enthusiastic audience responded with standing ovations, embracing the songs of this award-winning British superstar singer/songwriter and discovering just how powerful her music can be in a live cabaret setting.

From Stephanie Lazard, co-producer

“Elmo and I have actually been friends for about 14 years! We met when we were both living in LA and worked on shows together there, and we’ve continued collaborating since we both ended up in New York. Last night was our sixth show together at 54 Below. We previously produced 54 Sings Hanson, 54 Gets Warped Discs 1 & 2, 54 Sings Sammy Rae & The Friends, and 54 Sings Across the Universe.

Basement After Dark: The Music of RAYE was the first installment of a new series we’re calling Basement After Dark. After doing several of the “54 Sings” shows together, we started talking about what we could do next and how we could take that general idea a step further. We wanted to create something that felt a little more elevated and theatrical, still celebrating the music of an artist we love, but making the evening feel like its own cohesive show rather than simply a collection of songs.

That was a big part of what we tried to do with RAYE. Elmo created an overture to open the evening, as well as musical interludes and transitions that allowed certain songs to flow directly into one another. We also thought a lot about the order of the music, the combinations of performers, and how we could build an arc throughout the night so there was a real sense of momentum from beginning to end.

RAYE felt like the perfect artist to launch the series with because her catalogue gave us so much to work with. Her music can be theatrical, soulful, jazzy, incredibly vulnerable, and then completely explosive, sometimes all within the same evening. It also gave us the opportunity to put together an incredible group of performers and let each of them bring something different to her music while still making the show feel like one complete piece.

Our hope is absolutely to continue Basement After Dark and build it into an ongoing series at 54 Below. The idea is that each installment can have its own identity depending on the artist or music we’re exploring, while keeping that same goal of creating something more theatrical and intentionally constructed than a traditional tribute concert.”

The performers: Sara Al-Bazali, Sydney Jones, Charlotte Odusanya, Sarah Pansing, Morgan Reilly, Debbie Christine, Tjong, Zalah Vallien.

The Band: Elena Bonomo, drums, Manny Houstan, piano, Devon Meddock, vocals/trumpet, Jordan Petty, saxophone, Kat Rodriguez,vocals,Mike Rosengarten, guitar, Elmo Zapp, bass.

54 Below LIVESTREAM

CHARLOTTE ODUSANYA,ZALAH VALLIEN, MORGAN REILLY, DEBBIE CHRISTINE TJONG, SARAH PANSING,SARAH AL-BAZALI, SYDNEY JONES, KAT RODRIGUEZ, DEVON MEDDOCK

SYDNEY JONES

SYDNEY JONES

DEBBIE CHRISTINE TJONG

DEBBIE CHRISTINE TJONG

MORGAN REILLY

MORGAN REILLY

MORGAN REILLY

ZALAH VALLIEN

KAT RODRIGUEZ

KAT RODRIGUEZ & DEVON MEDDOCK

CHARLOTTE ODUSANYA

CHARLOTTE ODUSANYA

SARAH PANSING

SARAH PANSING

ZALAH VALLIEN & DEBBIE CHRISTINE TJONG

SARAH AL-BAZALI

SARAH AL-BAZALI, KAT RODRIGUEZ, DEVON MEDDOCK

BASEMENT AFTER DARK: THE MUSIC OF RAYE

STEPHANIE LAZARD, CO-PRODUCER

DEBBIE CHRISTINE TJONG

ZALAH VALLIEN, MORGAN REILLY, KAT RODRIGUEZ

SYDNEY JONES & SARAH AL-BAZALI

September in New York is when the city snaps back to life, and the cabaret rooms and conversation stages are already filling with some seriously intriguing names. Sylvester Stallone, Heated Rivalry, Ariana DeBose, Linda Eder and Tony Danza are among those bringing star power, stories and music to the month ahead. From intimate performances to conversations that take us behind the celebrity curtain, September offers plenty of reasons to pull up a chair and listen. T2C takes a look at who’s talking, who’s singing and where you’ll want to be.

54 Below: 254 West 54 St. 9/8 – 9: Claybourne Elder: Can I Tell You Something?; 9/11-12; Charles Busch Sings Johnny Mercer; 9/13: Ben Franklin In Paris; 9/16: Michael Cerveris: The Other Part; 9/18 -19: Ute Lemper: Celebrating Marlene Dietrich’s 125th Birthday; 9/22: Seth Sikes with Tedd Firth: Together at Last! Feat. Marilyn Maye; 9/23 and 27: Linda Eder; 9/24 and  26: Orfeh: Unbound and 9/29 – 30: Jeanna de Waal: Songs I Love to Sing.

92 Street Y: 1395 Lexington Ave. 9/9: Jaclyn Smith in Conversation: Beyond Charlie’s Angels; 9/17: STARZ’s Outlander: Blood of my Blood; 9/18: Cabaret Conversations: Lindsay Mendez; 9/23: StarTalk Live! with Neil deGrasse Tyson: Lost in Space; 9/27: Gloria Steinem in Conversation with Katie Couric: An Unexpected Life; 9/28: CBS Sunday Morning at 92NY: Sylvester Stallone in Conversation with Tracy Smith: The Steps; 9/29: Harry Connick, Jr. in Conversation — Babe: Elaboratio and 9/30: Fashion Icons with Fern Mallis: Ian Schrager.

Eliane Elias

Birdland Jazz: 315 West 44 St. Every Monday Jim Caruso’s Cast party; Every Monday and Tuesday: Vince Giordano leads The Nighthawks; Every Sunday Gabrielle Stravelli Trio;  9/ 15 – 19: Eliane Elias; 9/21: A Night With Nicole Henry and 9/28: Karen Mason.

Karen Mason Photo by Maryann Lopinto

Carnegie Hall: 881 7th Ave at 57th St.

Chelsea Table & Stage: Hilton Fashion District Hotel, 152 W 26th St. 9/9: An Evening With Mairéad; 9/13: Charlie Romo.

Dizzys Club Coca Cola: Frederick P. Rose Hall, Broadway at 60th Street. 9/4 -6: Ann Hampton Callaway I Get A Kick Out Of Cole.

Don’t Tell Mama: 343 W. 46 St. 9/9 and 16: Jeff Harnar: Blame It On My Youth; 9/10: Tanya Moberly: Repertoire With Sean Harkness; 9/24: Tanya Moberly: Repertoire With Ian Herman; 9/26: Steven Carl McCasland: Everybody Rise!

Laurie Beechman Theatre: at the West Bank Café: 407 West 42 St. 9/5:Lillias White Live At The Beechman; 9/8: Alice Ripley and John McDaniel; 9/12: Andrea McArdle’s Broadway On Demand; 9/16: Lorna Luft; 9/16: Lauren Marcus; 9/24: Lorna Dallas and 9/27:Donna McKechnie.

Donna McKechnie

Madame George: 45 West 45th: Broadway Night Mondays.

Ariana DeBose Photo by Genevieve Rafter Keddy

The Café Carlyle: 35 East 76 St. at Madison Ave. 9/8 – 19: Tony Danza: More Standards & Stories; 9/21 -26: Susanna Hoffs: and 9/29 – 10/3: Ariana DeBose.

Alicia Witt

The Cutting Room: 44 East 32nd St. 9/12: ALICIA WITT; 9/14: BROADWAY TAKES ON THE 80S; 9/17: BROADWAY SINGS ABBA

The DJango: 2 Avenue of the Americas. 9/18: Lee Taylor and 9/29: People of the Earth.

The Iridium: 1650 Broadway. 8/29: Papa Chubby

The Pierre Hotel, Two E Bar & Lounge: 2 E 61st St.

Sony Hall: 235 W 46th St. 9/21: Twin Peaks: A Conversation with the Stars

The Triad: 158 W. 72 St. Street. 9/5L: The Dozen Divas Show

The Town Hall: 123 W. 43 St. 9/27: Roger Daltrey A Great Night Out; 9/28: Stagedoor 50: A One-Night-Only Concert celebrating 50 Years of Stagedoor Manor Benefiting the Entertainment Community Fund and 9/29:  Heated Rivalry! Release

Marilyn Maye hardly needs another review—although I know she still enjoys reading them. Yet there she was last night, at 98, onstage at Dizzy’s Club in New York, singing, swinging, looking terrific, and thrilling an audience just as she has for generations.

Her voice was in magnificent form, her wit as sharp as ever, and she commanded the room with the effortless authority of a true master. Watching her perform at this stage of her remarkable career was not simply a concert experience—it was a rare opportunity to witness music history in the making. Her arrangements seem to live in the very bones of her fantastic trio—Mark McLean on drums and Tom Hubbard on bass—and you will rarely hear a tighter, more intuitive display of musicianship supporting a singer. Tedd Firth, her pianist and arranger, seems to breathe the same musical air as Marilyn. He creates an ocean of sound that surrounds and enhances her, perfectly complementing her extraordinary sense of time and phrasing.

It feels as though Marilyn and Tedd continually inspire one another, each pushing the other to greater heights. The result is something truly rare—a once-in-a-lifetime musical experience. What a privilege to have been in the room for yet another unforgettable Marilyn Maye performance.

I, like most MM friends have many Marvelous Marilyn stories, but here’s one of my favorites. After a late-night performance on a cruise ship, Eda and I shared an Apple Martini with Marilyn and then escorted her back to her cabin. As the three of us linked arms and did our best to remain “steady” navigating the passageway Marilyn suddenly blurted out, “Oh, my dear, I do hope this is the ship that’s rocking!”

BTW, Marilyn told me a while ago to keep this story to myself. So, Marilyn, if you’re reading this…oops!

MARILYN MAYE

TEDD FIRTH & MARILYN MAYE

MARILYN MAYE

DIZZY’S CLUB

DIZZY’S CLUB

TEDD FIRTH, MARILYN MAYE, TOM HUBBARD

TEDD FIRTH & MARILYN MAYE

MARILYN MAYE

DIZZY’S CLUB

MARILYN MAYE

EDA SOROKOFF, MARILYN MAYE, STEPHEN SOROKOFF

MARILYN MAYE & SHANE HARTKE

EDA SOROKOFF, MARILYN MAYE, SUSIE CLAUSEN

TEDD FIRTH & MARK McLEAN

DIZZY’S CLUB