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 […]
Just Do Art: The ‘EPIC’ Edition

“YOU’RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN” | The run of their show is only four days, but this one’s going to be EPIC — as in, another ambitious project from the EPIC Players Inclusion Company. Back in July, when we last heard from the neuro-inclusive troupe (comprised of artists and technicians both with and without developmental […]
Julien Baker’s Assuredness

BY STEVE ERICKSON | For an artist who has only released two albums, out lesbian singer/ songwriter Julien Baker has an astonishingly assured vision. She wrote all the songs on her second album, “Turn Out the Lights,” produced it, and plays the main instruments on it. Her production and the album’s arrangements sound relatively spare even […]