Catch-Up on Cabaret: Valentine's Voices

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The groundhog saw his shadow on February 2, so you know what that means: six more weeks of freezing during cabaret-going while wearing lots of layers.  But then again, cabaret has always been a multi-layered experience.  Bundle up, because there are bundles of music experiences to have this month, until the time comes that you can go out to cabaret without a couple of scarves (except as a fashion statement, as my cabaret-reviewing colleague Barbara Siegel will do in all kinds of weather).

You’ll probably see her with husband Scott Siegel, lurking near a theatre or cabaret, handing out flyers for the first in this year’s series of   Broadway by the Year concerts at The Town Hall,123 West 43 Street.  It’s on February 22.  You’ll hear stars from this season’s Broadway shows – Ragtime, Memphis, Finian’s Rainbow --- taking on shows that preceded them on the Great White Way: all from the year1927, such as Show Boat, Hit the Deck! and Good News. This is “good news” indeed.   Tickets are at the box office and at Ticketmaster.

Another cabaret couple with the wife also named Barbara, can be seen as they open a new show at The Algonquin’s Oak Room, a couple of blocks from The Town Hall.  I speak of Barbara Fasano and Eric Comstock, exploring This Thing Called Love, starting Tuesday.  If you were at the Siegel-produced "Nightlife Awards" a couple of weeks ago, you got a sample of this pair, who won for their last show in the Duo or Group category.  Of course, this thing called love is all over town because of Valentine’s Day.  For those who want to give into OR prefer to resist the hearts and flowers and mush, The Duplex in Greenwich Village offers both options.  See their website calendar at www.theduplex.com and click on a date for terse, helpful, one-sentence descriptions of shows as early as February 9: Danny Satin, Jackie LaVanway and Rachel McPhee, as well as Albert Walsh (arriving two full weeks after Valentine’s Day for A Diva’s Valentine, perhaps for those who miss it or are still recovering?).  And two days before Valentine’s Day and on the big day itself, how’s this for a title: Bitter Songs for Bitter People: A Valentine’s Cabaret. Performing are the ladies from HonKBarK! who invite you to “celebrate life’s disappointments by embracing the shame, wrestling it to the ground, and swirling it up into a cocktail or twenty.”

It’s not a big surprise that someone promoting her new recording called My Romance, would have a Valentine’s Day show lined up.  The venue is The Triad on West 72 Street and the singer is Jane Burbank.  She has a four-piece band, ready and set for the set and for “You and the Night and the Music,” which is one of the tracks.

At the Laurie Beechman Theatre in the West Bank Café on West 42 Street and Ninth Avenue, on Valentine’s Day, there’s Eileen Tracy with Love Songs and Love Letters. She warms up the room for the show to follow: that sweetheart of a cabaret talent, Lisa Asher, presenting her annual Valentine vocals.  Four blocks north, I’m hoping that the V.D. in The V.D. Show booked at Don’t Tell Mama on February 14 stands for Valentine’s Day.

The Metropolitan Room on West 22 Street, has not one, not two, but three acts booked on Valentine’s Day.  Returning with her Connie Francis tribute, Jenna Esposito will be smoochy enough to get “Lipstick on Your Collar” via that winged, be-diapered  Valentine enabler himself, “Stupid Cupid.” (Note: These are Connie Francis hits in case you aren’t Connie-connected.)  Following this, the club becomes the place “Where the Boys Are” (Note: see Note above) for Gianni Russo’s show titled Evening Filled with Love. And then, to close out the night, Craig Pomranz, truly one of the most romantic-voiced male singers, sings high and mighty for love, love, love.     

If Broadway is your true love, you’ll want to consider For the Love of Broadway, the newest act by Broadway’s Betty Buckley – she’s at Feinstein’s at Loews Regency now and on most nights throughout the month.  She gets Valentine’s night off, when another Broadway lady, Ashley Brown, uses her Mary Poppins umbrella to fly in for her own show.  At Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola (why am I suddenly so thirsty?) at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s complex on Columbus Circle,  Freddy Cole & Valentine Swing swing forth into Valentining starting this week.  The next act heading in is Ann Hampton Callaway, always a pleasure as rich as a box of the best Valentine candy, like the kind with brandy inside (why am I suddenly so hungry?).  The last time I saw her she was sharing the bill a few weeks ago with sister Liz Callaway, for a preview of their show of Baby Boomer-era songs, neatly called Boom! They were at The Iridium on Broadway and West 51 Street, packing them in.  No surprise.  The club tends to book great acts and the Callaways’ focused and/or fun takes on songs from the ‘60s and a little before and a little after, makes for an outstanding evening.  Whether solo or blending together in great harmony when they “Come Together” – as they did in that Beatles’ tune, it’s groovy, man.  The Iridium’s Valentine’s Day acts are, in separate shows, the Andy Bey Quartet and Lillias White, two real standouts who really pull you into a song in very different ways.  “Riveting” is the word.

Yes, love is all around; no need to waste it.  You can have the town; why don’t you take it?  You might just make it (to a cabaret) after all.  (Why am I suddenly humming and throwing my hat into the air?  It must be the giddy romantic effect of Valentine’s Day.)

The Catch-Up on Cabaret Column is made possible by the generosity of Jamie deRoy and friends.  Jamie’s next multi-performer show, this time at Birdland, salutes the Academy Award. (see below).  It comes on February 28, 2010.