Did you see today's story (below) of Broadway show tunes return to the Theater District? MAMA'S booking manager Sidney Myer hinted at the concept a few weeks ago and now we see it is brought to fruition. Now lovers of show-tunes have a place to congregate in mid-town again - Tuesday nights at DON'T TELL MAMA! The project is starting during the summer, so it is up to fellow show-tune lovers to get behind this during the slow summer period - most tourists don't have a clue as to what a show tune is.
Other trends in cabaret and nightlife that go to prove (as David Kenney always says) "Everything Old is New Again". Have you noticed in my listings the increasing number of shows that are using the "burlesque" format? This style, formerly confined to "downtown" is permeating every nook and cranny in NYC cabaret and nightlife lately - THE TRIAD, THE DUPLEX, DON'T TELL MAMA, BROADWAY BABY - they are all presenting these types of shows lately. And it is spreading to Los Angeles and San Francisco as well.
And, slowly but surely, the "nightclub" style is returning - perhaps best exemplified by the popularity of nightclub-style performances by gals like Marilyn Maye, Terese Genecco, Jenna Esposito, Gretchen Reinhagen and others who fill their shows with excitement and "through the roof" vocals and blasting, brassy arrangements.
Mini-revues - like those written by Hector Coris - are having a comeback as well. New shows at MAMA'S and THE DUPLEX in this format are sprinkled through their schedules. Creative, talented songwriters, composers, writers and singers are finding new ways via cabaret to present their works. These shows might never be presented at the so-called "major" rooms, where decorum is king. But those rooms cater to the "elite" who are usually about 5 years behind the times. Cabaret is evolving - or actually more accurately - returning to is multi-faceted roots.
