Life In A Cabaret
BY CHRISTOPHER BYRNE | They were the icons of an era — The Tropicana, El Morocco, and The Stork Club — clubs that defined New York’s nightlife in the 1940s through 1960s as the sine qua non of the glamorous life, dripping with stars and churning with gossip, all to the tune of fantastic entertainment. […]
New Theater Space Expands Birdland’s Vocal Range
BY SCOTT STIFFLER | Ages and ages in the planning stages, venerable Midtown music mecca Birdland Jazz Club is finally sitting in the catbird seat, having announced the completion of a nesting place that promises to up its game by taking audiences down a level — to the lower level, that is, which is where the […]
Singing Cowboys in Love
BY ELI JACOBSON | Back in 2008, the late impresario Gerard Mortier, then general director designate of the New York City Opera, commissioned from composer Charles Wuorinen an operatic adaptation of Annie Proulx’s 1997 short story “Brokeback Mountain” to be the centerpiece of his inaugural season. Mortier ended up never taking over the opera — […]
Affirmations and Adrenaline as Singer Celebrates 60th at Port Authority
BY LINCOLN ANDERSON | Broadway or bust, so the saying goes. Or… you could also sing near Broadway — in a bus terminal. Not just any bus terminal, that is, but the most famous and busiest one in the world. That’s what Jonathan Kuhn did for his 60th birthday, giving a 90-minute virtuoso performance during […]
Rick Skye’s Liza Returns to Mama
BY SCOTT STIFFLER | Whether crossing herself for the spiritual strength to knock “New York, New York” out of the park or repurposing a song from “Cabaret” to address the mobility issues of an aging hoofer, Rick Skye’s Liza Minnelli walks (and occasionally Fosse-Fosse-Fosses) the thin line between reverent and ruthless. Singing in his natural voice […]
World Music Enlivens Carnegie Family Program
BY ALEXANDRA SIMON | Haitian songstress Emeline Michel will perform a few of her classic hits at Carnegie Hall on Dec. 16 in a special program geared to young children. The singer is performing at “My City, My Song,” a family-oriented show that is part of Carnegie’s Musical Explorers program — an in-class musical education segment […]
Alvin Ailey’s City Center Engagement Enthralls
BY DUSICA SUE MALESEVIC | Alvin Ailey’s “Revelations,” 57 years on, is, well, still a revelation. Performed as part of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s 2017 season at New York City Center, the piece — created when the choreographer was just 29 — feels as fresh and as relevant as ever, and certainly got […]
R.E.M.’s Pinnacle, A Quarter Century On
BY STEVE ERICKSON | At the time “Automatic For the People” came out in 1992, I had abandoned my earlier fandom of R.E.M. — who helped popularize college radio in the ‘80s and pave the way for the commercial success of grunge and indie rock in the ‘90s — because hits like “Stand” and “Shiny […]
Vivian Reed’s Boldly Wide Range
BY DAVID NOH | In show business, there are no divas held in higher regard than Lena Horne. So, if anyone even entertains the notion of doing a project on her, like, say, Leslie Uggams or Vanessa Williams, they’d better be able to fill her Ferragamos. Such a one is definitely that total bombshell of a […]
No Exit
BY ELI JACOBSON | One of the more adventurous offerings of the Metropolitan Opera’s 2017 – 2018 opera season is the US premiere of Thomas Adès’ “The Exterminating Angel.” The Adès opera, based on Luis Buñuel’s enigmatic 1962 surrealist film “El Ángel Exterminador,” arrived in New York after premiering last summer at the Salzburg Festival with […]
