‘Cast Party’
Mondays at Birdland
Produced, Hosted by Jim Caruso

Jim Caruso has been producing and hosting “Cast Party” at Birdland for 20 years now, and Monday’s show was the big anniversary celebration. I actually remember even earlier, embryonic editions of the series, before he found the name, at the old King Kong room in the Hotel Edison. Even then, his partner at the piano was Billy Stritch, and they had the basic idea of an in-person variety show starring members of the Broadway and jazz communities, and the spice in the mix was a deliberate degree of randomness.  

On Monday, Karen Mason, who represents the very archetype of a veteran singer-actor who moves handily between musical theater and one-woman supper club shows, began with a rousing version of the title song from “Cabaret,” with appropriate special lyrics. Then, Julie Benko, now back doing Thursdays at “Funny Girl” (I can’t imagine that the regular Fannie Brice is any better) and her husband, pianist Jason Yeager, treated us to a highly theatrical reading of “Twisted” that would have made Annie Ross proud. Next, Nicholas King and Mr. Stritch swingingly channeled the spirit of Mel Torme on “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore.”

That was just the opening three numbers.

After Mr. King, another “Cast Party” regular, Amanda Green, a Broadway composer, came forward and presented the first of three government proclamations — from the city, the state, and the city council — officially honoring the occasion. I was expecting an emissary from Prime Minister Netanyahu to arrive any minute. Ms. Green sang a funny, original song: The opening line was, “I would rather be with you than with the best people.” Then, Natalie Douglas showed her soulful side with the Tina Turner hit, “River Deep – Mountain High.”

For 20 years, Mr. Caruso has cultivated his onstage persona like a true old-school entertainer — harkening back to Joe E. Lewis and Frank Faye — occasionally singing or delivering a pre-written joke, but mostly improvising and coming up with stinging retorts on the spot. He sometimes addresses performers with a kind of affectionate snarkiness reminiscent of David Letterman, but his most savage barbs are generally directed at himself.

On Monday there were two exceptional dancers, John Manzari — also from the current cast of “Funny Girl,” he tapped out an uptempo, poignant “Smile” — and Luke Hawkins, offered another smiling song, from “Annie.”   There were also two outstanding pianists: Bryan Eng, who sang a beautifully considered “It Could Happen to You,” and Matt Baker, who delivered a hard-swinging “I Left My Heart in San Francisco,” in a way that both Oscar Peterson and Tony Bennett would have applauded. With Ron Abel perched high on his piano throne — no mere bench for him — Ben Jones sang “I Wanna Be Around” as a hybrid of Judy Garland and the now-late Tony.

There was a time about 15 years ago when “Cast Party” was the hottest ticket in town and open mic nights became the flavor of the week — all of a sudden, every club seemed to have one. In surveying the scene for the Wall Street Journal, I then proclaimed “Cast Party” as “the gold standard of open mic.” Nowadays, most of the competitors have faded, but Messrs. Caruso and Stritch are going strong. They also present “Cast Party” with local talent at cities across the country; they head for Minneapolis on Wednesday. 

The anniversary show featured comedy galore. Bruce Villanch introduced himself as George Santos and spontaneously took the stage for three mirth-filled minutes. Susie Mosher of Birdland’s “The Line-Up” performed her signature improvised monologue set to improvised music, and sounded better than ever with Mr. Stritch, as well as bassist Steve Doyle and drummer Daniel Glass — introduced as the Cast Party Symphony Orchestra, behind her.

One artist new to me, Kenn Boisinger (stage name of MIchael West), is a delightfully subversive comic who does for Broadway and cabaret what Richard Cheese does for rock and pop. Most artists try to make everything — from their attire to the music — fit together smoothly and coherently. Mr. Boissinger, conversely and perversely, devises the most inappropriate juxtapositions imaginable.  

He speaks with a Tennessee Ernie Ford accent and wears a Liberace jacket and Shatner Turbo 2000 hair. After a dialogue in which his snark outdid that of Mr. Caruso, who was content to play straight man, he sang a hysterically misguided medley of “They Call the Wind Mariah” (from “Paint Your Wagon”) and “Maria” (from “West Side Story”), which pivoted around mixing up the pronunciation of those two names. 

There were also regulars parading their specialties: Jenna Esposito as a Brill Building-era pop star for the 21st century with the Italian hit “Io che non vivo (senza te)” (“You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me”). Bryce Edwards likewise presented as a modern vaudevillian, with an arsenal of archaic instruments and “Brown Eyes Why Are You Blue?” Two Broadway baritones, Max Von Essen and Michael Winther, got surprisingly swingy with, respectively, an uptempo “I Could Have Danced All Night” and “I’m Gonna Live Till I Die.” Kate Curran de-bossa-fied “The Girl From Ipanema” into a funk number.  

As if that weren’t enough, Ava Locknar, Ruby Locknar, Sarah Shea, Jonathan Arons, and Jacob Khalil also performed to enthusiastic applause.  By 12:30 a.m., they were still going strong, but I was fading.  So I headed home, yet I watched at least two or three more acts in my dreams. Some of them were pretty good, hey.