Singing in the City

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The New York Sun

Far from being a specific, clearly defined term, “cabaret” has evolved into a catch-all category covering everything from singers interpreting the Great American Songbook with an emphasis on show tunes to Barb Jungr singing Bob Dylan, Anna Bergman singing Franz Lehar, or Paula West doing Johnny Cash. The main difference between cabaret and Broadway is that the former is geared toward intimate, single-performer shows; the main difference between cabaret and jazz is that cabaret is primarily a vocal, rather than an instrumental, music. But as with jazz and theater, New York is the home of cabaret. If it doesn’t happen here, it just ain’t happening.

THE HARDEST-WORKING MAN IN SHOW BUSINESS John Pizzarelli has fixed it so fans don’t have to go for very long without him: The singer-guitarist is ensconced at the Café Carlyle until November 1, sharing the bill with wife and sparring partner Jessica Molaskey. Then, less than a fortnight later, he’ll open again at Birdland (November 11).

HEAVY-DUTY DIVAS AND E-TICKET RIDES The three gold-standard ladies of cabaret, all past masters of the concept-driven show, are in town this fall: K.T. Sullivan’s new Jerome Kern Songbook comes to the Oak Room (September 23-October 11), Mary Cleere Haran’s “Mad for Manhattan” — here’s hoping she’ll sing “Underneath the Harlem Moon” — arrives at Feinstein’s (October 7-18), and Andrea Marcovicci comes home for the holidays at the Oak Room (November 11-December 27).

LIVING LEGENDS Annie Ross, the jazz diva who sings the words, continues her winning Tuesday night series at the Metropolitan Room, while Jimmy Scott, the artist formerly known as “Little,” returns to Iridium to break hearts citywide for three nights (October 3-5). There’s a rare chance to hear Britain’s Cleo Laine and Johnny Dankworth at the Blue Note (October 25-28), and two old smoothies at Birdland, Grady Tate (with Kenny Barron, December 3-6) and Freddy Cole, just in time for “The Christmas Song” (December 17-20). On October 30, the powerhouse vocalist Marilyn Maye is back in business at the Metropolitan Room. Just try and stop her.

LEADING LADIES The gals who made it big on Broadway continue to flock to Birdland, mostly for the 7 p.m. spot on Mondays (before Jim Caruso’s open-mike “Cast Party”). They include the adorable Michele Lee (September 22), the formidable Betty Buckley (September 23-27), and the high-powered duo of Christine Ebersole and Billy Stritch (November 26-29). For a Broadway-country combo, I’m looking forward to the Nashville Nightingale, Crystal Gayle, and Laura Bell Bundy (of “Legally Blonde”) at Feinstein’s (October 28-November 1).

TESTOSTERONE TIME The male headliners in the big rooms this fall include two very different Broadway stars at Feinstein’s: Brian Stokes Mitchell (November 11-15) and the hysterical 85-year-old George S. Irving (November 3). At the Carlyle, lounge lizard Steve Tyrell moves in for the holidays (November 4-December 31), while industry champ Michael Feinstein takes over at his own room for December, spelled by the devastating wit of Garrison Keillor on Sundays.

CROSSOVERS Performers in this group include a few swinging ladies who are equally likely to turn up in either a cabaret room or a jazz club: Tierney Sutton (November 11-15) and Jane Monheit (October 21-25) at Birdland, and the one to catch, Paula West, at the Oak Room (October 14-November 8).

SINGING SONGWRITERS Merkin Hall is presenting “close up” evenings with two of the most successful musical theater words-and-music teams of recent decades: Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt (“The Fantastics,” “110 In The Shade”) on October 6 and Richard Maltby and David Shire (“Baby,” “Big,” “Closer Than Ever”) on November 3.

BEST OF THE FESTS The cabaret world now has two ongoing institutions of the fall. The Mabel Mercer Foundation’s 19th annual Cabaret Convention will be held over four nights (October 29-November 1) this year at Rose Hall, although the lone theme evening is Thursday’s salute to the gossip columnist Liz Smith, with Catherine Russell, Ann Hampton Callaway, Tommy Tune, and other headliners. The Mercer’s baby brother, the 4-year-old Broadway Cabaret Festival at Town Hall, consists of three distinctly themed nights: the latest in the “Broadway Originals” series (October 19), an evening with “Les Miserables” star Colm Wilkinson (October 18), and the one that really floats my particular boat, an evening of Lerner & Loewe (October 17). Town Hall will also host the fifth annual “Broadway Unplugged” a month later (November 17).

SUI GENERIS A pair of personal favorites gradually attaining headliner status are the fun and frisky Klea Blackhurst with Billy Stritch (Metropolitan, October 15-18) and that scintillating soprano, Anna Bergman, the operetta queen of cabaret (Feinstein’s, September 21).

AND FINALLY, A BIG BATCH OF BERNSTEIN Carnegie Hall and City Center are teaming up to cap off the composer-conductor’s 90th birthday year with a big Bernstein bash including a lot of Leonard: The New York Pops orchestra will back up Lillias White, pianist Fred Hersch, violinist Sara Caswell, and others (October 17, Isaac Stern Auditorium). The following week, Michael Feinstein and the Bill Charlap Trio will celebrate Bernstein in their own way in Zankel Hall (October 22 and December 10). The finale is a new Encores! production of the composer’s first Broadway triumph, “On the Town” (November 19-23), to help prepare for the forthcoming full-scale revival of “West Side Story.” There are more events in the lineup, too: “the Best of All Possible Worlds” indeed.


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