fragments inspired by stage and screen
[article as originally published in Theater Pizzazz, March 3, 2019.] Deep moody melodies, a dark Yiddish lullaby, a few standards, and a smattering of singer-songwriter staples inform the splendid cabaret offering […]
I squeezed adventures in Norway, Sweden, the wilds of central Wisconsin, Georgia, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island into 2018, a year of paring, sifting and sorting of involvement on professional boards […]
Live and filmed performances, as well as readings of works in progress, filled my days in calendar year 2018. I usually attend solo, and yet often host my spouse or […]
[Original published in Theater Pizzazz, October 15, 2018.] What happens when private business interests align with public interests, and public servants determine to destroy existing communities for commercial gain? There […]
[article as originally published in Theater Pizzazz, September 19, 2018.] The show starts on the stairs at 54 Below. Twice in the past few weeks, these aural pre-shows have been somber […]
[Original published in Theater Pizzazz, August 18, 2018.] The first show empties out, and a rapt audience of cabaret enthusiasts files into 54 Below for a late-night show featuring Eric […]
[Published in Theater Pizzazz, August 10, 2018.] You will hear, see, and feel the future of musical theater in the Joe Iconis and Joe Tracz creation Be More Chill, now at The […]
[article as originally published in Theater Pizzazz, July 4, 2018.] We assembled to celebrate, with Broadway Baby and cabaret veteran Vivian Reed, what would have been Lena Horne’s 101st birthday. Some […]
[Original published in Theater Pizzazz, March 22, 2018.] The musical Baby, with music by David Shire and lyrics by Richard Maltby, Jr. opened at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in 1983 and ran […]
[Original published in Theater Pizzazz, March 16, 2018.] Monday night at Feinstein’s / 54 Below, David Yazbek’s multi-modal jazz band of extraordinary performers was family welcoming guests stopping by […]
[Original published in Theater Pizzazz, March 1, 2018.] “What if I told you it’s going to be alright? … What if I told you it began tonight?” Somewhere on a […]
Simplifying, complicating, simplifying again. This has been a year of expanding and paring involvement on professional boards and projects, resuming old roles and assuming new ones. I continue into 2018 […]
[Original published in Theater Pizzazz, December 27, 2017.] Musicians who have played together for years reunite for two Birdland performances this December. Winter tunes, holiday tunes, tunes of remembrance and […]
[Original published in Theater Pizzazz, December 15, 2017.] Stacey Kent is at Birdland to promote her 2017 album I Know I Dream, and lends her delicate vocals and spare musical stylings […]
[article as originally published in Theater Pizzazz, November 25, 2017.] Julie Halston is a librarian of memories, a seeker of wisdom in unexpected places, a literary comedian. She’s been reading to […]
[Original published in Theater Pizzazz, November 3, 2017.] Ann Hampton Callaway is a Chicago girl with one of the biggest hearts in cabaret. On a recent evening at Birdland, on […]
urban excavations 