Happy Thanksgiving, lalala!
Hello All!
Hope this finds you happy, healthy, and coming off of a terrific Thanksgiving!
I've been to a bunch of great shows since my last post and I know that the next few weeks are going to be chock-full of great performances to write about, so I figured I'd better take a few minutes to get caught up now, before I get hopelessly behind!
So...let's see...the last show I wrote about was the Metrojam on Friday, November 6th, which means that next up is Scot Wisniewski's show, which I saw on Saturday, November 7th at Don't Tell Mama. I've only gotten to know Scot over the past several months, and I'd never seen him perform, so I was quite eager to do so - and I'm so happy I did! Scot has a lovely, pleasing voice and a warm personality which immediately puts his audience at ease. Entitled It's Time, his show was full of songs that had been on his "list" to do for a while, but that he'd never put in a show before. Most of these songs ended up being old, beloved standards, which put the show right up my alley! The show was completely sold out, and everyone seemed to have a fantastic time - I know I sure did, and if the smiles on everyone else's faces were any indication, they definitely did, too! Jason Wynn's show was up next, later that same evening at the Laurie Beechman. Jason made his solo cabaret debut a few years ago with a fun, irreverent show called Not The Same Old @#$%, and he returned to the cabaret stage this year with a follow-up show aptly named Not More Of The Same Old @#$%. Seated at the piano for most of the show, Jason romped through a number of pop and rock songs, including a couple of originals, and kept the audience rockin' and boppin' in their seats for most of the evening. The arrangements were well-done, and most included his four fantastic back-up vocalists - Rob Langeder, Miles Phillips (who also directed the show!), Dara Seitzman, and Alisa Schiff.
The following afternoon, I returned to the Laurie Beechman to catch Jackie Draper's show, and I was so happy I did. Elegant, poised, and classy, Jackie put on a very enjoyable show that even included some ballroom dancing onstage! The room was filled to the gills and everyone had a terrific time.
On Thursday, November 13th (which, by the way, was the 19th anniversary of my first New Kids on the Block concert!), I headed to the Metropolitan Room to see my friend Maureen Taylor in her show, Taylor Made. I've gotten to know Maureen quite well over the past few years, and have heard her sing a number of times, but had never had the pleasure of seeing her in her own full-length show, so I was very excited to finally have the chance! Warm, engaging, funny, intelligent, and blessed with a terrific voice, Maureen really put on a great show. Accompanied by musical director Mark Fifer on piano and Maryann McSweeney on bass, Maureen's show told the tale of her enjoyment of life and loves and what she's learned along the way. Cole Porter's "Let's Not Talk About Love," which had been updated with witty, contemporary lyrics in the spirit of the song, was my personal favorite, although Ray Jessel's "I'm Outta Here" was a close second! Congrats to Maureen on a show well done!
On Monday, November 17th, it was off to Feinstein's to catch Miles Phillips make his debut in this classiest of classy rooms (I know, exciting, huh?!). Along with his musical director (the aforementioned Jason Wynn), Miles put on a terrific show and truly did himself proud. He had the honor of premiering a Kander and Ebb trunk song called "If You Leave Me Now," a beautiful ballad that suited his voice perfectly. Other favorite moments for me were Miles' "V&V" (that's Venom and Vitriol) medley and "Another Hundred Eleanors," which was an arrangement of "Eleanor Rigby" woven with "Another Hundred People," and also featured the lovely and talented Julie Reyburn as a guest performer. Overall, the show was a great success - kudos to Miles and Jason on such a major accomplishment!
The following night, I was able to catch the first set of Broadway Jazz on Broadway at the Iridium. Hosted by Raissa Katona Bennett, the show featured Broadway performers crossing over into the world of jazz for an evening, and doing "jazz" arrangements of Broadway songs. In addition to Raissa, the featured performers for the set I saw included Devin Richards, Ilene Kristen, and Julie Reiber. Backed by the Don Rebic trio, the performers did an excellent job of crossing boundaries and blending the two genres of music. Raissa, always, was a charming and gracious hostess, and kept things running beautifully!
I headed to Caroline's for my first time ever on Wednesday, November 19th to catch several of my favorite comedians who happened to be on the same bill! The show was Darlene Violette and Friends, and included in the lineup were Emmy Rivera, Sidney Myer, Jay D'Ercola and my good friend Danny Leary, among a host of other funny folks! I went with a friend of mine from work, and it was just the thing we needed after a long day at the office. We had some cocktails, ordered some zucchini chips, and laughed till our cheeks hurt!
The following night found me back at Don't Tell Mama for Sue Matsuki's birthday celebration, which was hosted, produced and organized by the fabulous Richard Skipper. My goodness, it was QUITE a lineup! I was thrilled to be asked to do a number, and to join the ranks of some of my good cabaret pals including Lennie Watts, Rob Langeder, Cynthia Crane, Scott Coulter, Miles Phillips, Gretchen Reinhagen, Terese Genecco, Shaynee Rainbolt, Maureen Taylor, and more (including, of course, our charming host and the birthday girl herself)! There were so many talented folks there, the show had to be split up into two acts! Whew, what a night!
On Tuesday, November 25th, I had a great time at Julie Reyburn's show at the Metropolitan Room. I always enjoy listening to Julie's beautiful voice, and I LOVED the song selection in this show! The material ranged from standards to musical theatre to pop/rock, and it was all very well done. She was backed by a rockin' band, comprised of Musical Director Mark Janas on piano, Ritt Henn on bass, Wally Usiatynski on drums, and her husband Thor Fields on guitar. After Julie's show, it was off to the Iridium for the fabulous Terese Genecco and her little big band. As usual, Terese & co. delivered a super-high-octane performance and blew the roof off the place with their faboo arrangements! Sadly, I could only stay for one set, but I'm sure Terese wowed 'em and zowed 'em with her second set!
Wednesday morning, November 26th, I headed upstate for a lovely Thanksgiving weekend with my family - and boy, was it hard tearing myself away from my sweet little nephew, Charlie, to come back to the city! However, I've got a ton to look forward to this week - most notably my All-Star Birthday Bash on Wednesday, December 3rd at the Metropolitan Room - so I forced myself on the train and got home in time to finish this blog!
As I mentioned at the beginning of this entry, I've got a lot of events on the agenda this month, so I can't make any promises...but I will do all I can to get another blog done soon!
Hope this finds you happy, healthy, and coming off of a terrific Thanksgiving!
I've been to a bunch of great shows since my last post and I know that the next few weeks are going to be chock-full of great performances to write about, so I figured I'd better take a few minutes to get caught up now, before I get hopelessly behind!
So...let's see...the last show I wrote about was the Metrojam on Friday, November 6th, which means that next up is Scot Wisniewski's show, which I saw on Saturday, November 7th at Don't Tell Mama. I've only gotten to know Scot over the past several months, and I'd never seen him perform, so I was quite eager to do so - and I'm so happy I did! Scot has a lovely, pleasing voice and a warm personality which immediately puts his audience at ease. Entitled It's Time, his show was full of songs that had been on his "list" to do for a while, but that he'd never put in a show before. Most of these songs ended up being old, beloved standards, which put the show right up my alley! The show was completely sold out, and everyone seemed to have a fantastic time - I know I sure did, and if the smiles on everyone else's faces were any indication, they definitely did, too! Jason Wynn's show was up next, later that same evening at the Laurie Beechman. Jason made his solo cabaret debut a few years ago with a fun, irreverent show called Not The Same Old @#$%, and he returned to the cabaret stage this year with a follow-up show aptly named Not More Of The Same Old @#$%. Seated at the piano for most of the show, Jason romped through a number of pop and rock songs, including a couple of originals, and kept the audience rockin' and boppin' in their seats for most of the evening. The arrangements were well-done, and most included his four fantastic back-up vocalists - Rob Langeder, Miles Phillips (who also directed the show!), Dara Seitzman, and Alisa Schiff.
The following afternoon, I returned to the Laurie Beechman to catch Jackie Draper's show, and I was so happy I did. Elegant, poised, and classy, Jackie put on a very enjoyable show that even included some ballroom dancing onstage! The room was filled to the gills and everyone had a terrific time.
On Thursday, November 13th (which, by the way, was the 19th anniversary of my first New Kids on the Block concert!), I headed to the Metropolitan Room to see my friend Maureen Taylor in her show, Taylor Made. I've gotten to know Maureen quite well over the past few years, and have heard her sing a number of times, but had never had the pleasure of seeing her in her own full-length show, so I was very excited to finally have the chance! Warm, engaging, funny, intelligent, and blessed with a terrific voice, Maureen really put on a great show. Accompanied by musical director Mark Fifer on piano and Maryann McSweeney on bass, Maureen's show told the tale of her enjoyment of life and loves and what she's learned along the way. Cole Porter's "Let's Not Talk About Love," which had been updated with witty, contemporary lyrics in the spirit of the song, was my personal favorite, although Ray Jessel's "I'm Outta Here" was a close second! Congrats to Maureen on a show well done!
On Monday, November 17th, it was off to Feinstein's to catch Miles Phillips make his debut in this classiest of classy rooms (I know, exciting, huh?!). Along with his musical director (the aforementioned Jason Wynn), Miles put on a terrific show and truly did himself proud. He had the honor of premiering a Kander and Ebb trunk song called "If You Leave Me Now," a beautiful ballad that suited his voice perfectly. Other favorite moments for me were Miles' "V&V" (that's Venom and Vitriol) medley and "Another Hundred Eleanors," which was an arrangement of "Eleanor Rigby" woven with "Another Hundred People," and also featured the lovely and talented Julie Reyburn as a guest performer. Overall, the show was a great success - kudos to Miles and Jason on such a major accomplishment!
The following night, I was able to catch the first set of Broadway Jazz on Broadway at the Iridium. Hosted by Raissa Katona Bennett, the show featured Broadway performers crossing over into the world of jazz for an evening, and doing "jazz" arrangements of Broadway songs. In addition to Raissa, the featured performers for the set I saw included Devin Richards, Ilene Kristen, and Julie Reiber. Backed by the Don Rebic trio, the performers did an excellent job of crossing boundaries and blending the two genres of music. Raissa, always, was a charming and gracious hostess, and kept things running beautifully!
I headed to Caroline's for my first time ever on Wednesday, November 19th to catch several of my favorite comedians who happened to be on the same bill! The show was Darlene Violette and Friends, and included in the lineup were Emmy Rivera, Sidney Myer, Jay D'Ercola and my good friend Danny Leary, among a host of other funny folks! I went with a friend of mine from work, and it was just the thing we needed after a long day at the office. We had some cocktails, ordered some zucchini chips, and laughed till our cheeks hurt!
The following night found me back at Don't Tell Mama for Sue Matsuki's birthday celebration, which was hosted, produced and organized by the fabulous Richard Skipper. My goodness, it was QUITE a lineup! I was thrilled to be asked to do a number, and to join the ranks of some of my good cabaret pals including Lennie Watts, Rob Langeder, Cynthia Crane, Scott Coulter, Miles Phillips, Gretchen Reinhagen, Terese Genecco, Shaynee Rainbolt, Maureen Taylor, and more (including, of course, our charming host and the birthday girl herself)! There were so many talented folks there, the show had to be split up into two acts! Whew, what a night!
On Tuesday, November 25th, I had a great time at Julie Reyburn's show at the Metropolitan Room. I always enjoy listening to Julie's beautiful voice, and I LOVED the song selection in this show! The material ranged from standards to musical theatre to pop/rock, and it was all very well done. She was backed by a rockin' band, comprised of Musical Director Mark Janas on piano, Ritt Henn on bass, Wally Usiatynski on drums, and her husband Thor Fields on guitar. After Julie's show, it was off to the Iridium for the fabulous Terese Genecco and her little big band. As usual, Terese & co. delivered a super-high-octane performance and blew the roof off the place with their faboo arrangements! Sadly, I could only stay for one set, but I'm sure Terese wowed 'em and zowed 'em with her second set!
Wednesday morning, November 26th, I headed upstate for a lovely Thanksgiving weekend with my family - and boy, was it hard tearing myself away from my sweet little nephew, Charlie, to come back to the city! However, I've got a ton to look forward to this week - most notably my All-Star Birthday Bash on Wednesday, December 3rd at the Metropolitan Room - so I forced myself on the train and got home in time to finish this blog!
As I mentioned at the beginning of this entry, I've got a lot of events on the agenda this month, so I can't make any promises...but I will do all I can to get another blog done soon!
posted by Jenna @ 5:34 PM
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