Here are a few MUST SEE suggestions for the next few "cabaret days". Details on all these events can be found in the DIARY/DATEBOOK pages on the CABARET HOTLINE ONLINE website.
First off, if you are in the Boston/New England area, there is a show this Saturday, January 24th at 8:00 pm at THE BLACKSMITH HOUSE called a "Winter Festival Showcase" - a fundraising event for BACA (Boston Association of Cabaret Artists). Featured Performers are singer/actress/educator Celia Slattery, David Thorne Scott and Mark Shilansky. It's a good cause, and I am told it promises to be a great show. Wish I could be there.
Next, another reminder of the best awards show in town - the N.Y. NIGHTLIFE AWARDS on Monday, January 24th at 7:00 pm at THE TOWN HALL. No acceptance speeches - the top choices by the NYC entertainment press in the areas of cabaret, comedy and jazz will perform (including Karen Akers) instead to demonstrate why there were chosen. Good seats are still available.
Tonight there is a great show at DON'T TELL MAMA at 6:30 pm - Grace Cosgrove's GRACE NOTES - a singers' soiree. What is so fantastic about these monthly events is the fact that both audience and performer take home with them something special. The audience gets to see some of the top performers in cabaret (plus a newcomer or two) and the performer gets to try out new material for their upcoming shows before a "live audience." Several performers have mentioned to me how much being part of this show has helped them formulate their upcoming shows - testing new arrangements, and medleys in advance to see if they work. I'm going to try to be there as week - a great "sampler" for press folks as well.
Suzanne Carrico brings back her fantastic "The Friendliest Thing" show to THE METROPOLITAN ROOM on Friday and Saturday nights - I am going to try to make it to one of the performances (so much cabaret my calendar is jam filled with "must sees" and many I just won't be able to make). I saw the show last year, and it is a winner in all departments.
Saturday night Tom D'Angora turns 30 and brings back his hit, award winning and wildly funny "Divas I've Done" show for one night only to THE LAURIE BEECHMAN. If you missed this show when it played 10 years ago (first a DON'T TELL MAMA and then "all over the world") be sure to catch it this time around. You might have to wait another 10 years.
Hey, if I was in Los Angeles I would be checking out Julie Wilson's new show this weekend (and next) at THE GARDENIA. In Chicago I would try to make it to piano bar on Friday or Saturday with Daryl Nitz and Beckie Menzie at DAVENPORT'S, and in San Francisco I would head to the "wine country" to catch Wesla Whitfield and Mike Greensill at SILO'S in Napa.
The shows are all there - including Steve Ross at THE OAK ROOM, Marianne Challis at THE LAURIE BEECHMAN, "Menage" at THE METROPOLITAN ROOM, Marilyn Maye at THE ROYAL ROOM in Florida, Mark Murphy at THE IRIDIUM, Cait Doyle at THE DUPLEX - you have read about them all in the newsletters over the past few weeks and they are all listed in the DIARY/DATEBOOK on the website. Now its up to you to be there - at one or more - in the audience! Now - more than ever - cabaret needs your support.
Details on all these events can be found in the DIARY/DATEBOOK pages on the CABARET HOTLINE ONLINE website.
