Broadway Blogs - Anne Steele at The Metropolitan Room & Maggie Wirth at Marie's Crisis and More...

As the denizens who frequent Manhattan's halls where two-drink minimums rein are well aware, the lass or laddie serving your cocktail is often an artist of greater experience and show-stopping talent than the perfectly fine entertainer who is on stage putting his or her own personal spin on "This Is The Moment."  Being a serious, full-time cabaret singer usually means being the president, CEO, investor and product of your own unintentionally non-profit corporation in a world where hobbyists with deep pockets and lots of friends who don't need to think twice about spending $50+ for an hour of supporting a buddy can sully the field's reputation.

So when a first class venue like The Metropolitan Room holds a competition like this past summer's Metrostar Talent Challenge, the intention is not to discover a fresh-faced newcomer but to give a career-supporting boost to someone who is already an established part of New York's cabaret scene.

Anne Steele, who opened her prize of a prime time five performance engagement produced and presented by the Metropolitan Room (along with a live CD recording) on Wednesday night, was nominated for a 2002 MAC Award for her cabaret debut.  Her gigs serving drinks and singing for tips at Brandy's on Friday nights and at Don't Tell Mama on Saturdays earned her another MAC nom plus two honors as a New York Nightlife Award finalist as Outstanding Piano Bar Entertainer.  She's also one third of the Bistro Award winning trio, Tipping The Velvet.  But despite notoriety within the business, her Metrostar victory grants a first opportunity for a high-profile, well-publicized engagement standing alone in the star's spotlight.

With the multi-talented Lennie Watts (the award-winning entertainer who is also the room's booking manager) directing, Steele's program, Strings Attached, has music director/pianist Kenny Davidsen arranging a mixed bag of popular hits - ranging from Bob Dylan to Britney Spears to Stephen Sondheim to Charlie Chaplin - for guitar, violin, cello, bass and supporting vocals.  His sterling work is loaded with movement, elegance and occasional humor.

Taking the stage like gangbusters, Steele uses Freddie Mercury's "Don't Stop Me Now," to celebrate her career's momentum with joyous abandon.  Her mezzo belt is clear and attractive, with good diction and a pop style that lovingly hugs melodies.  Feeding off her opening night crowd's high energy and smacking it back with fun stuff like The Jackson 5's "I Want You Back" (Freddie Perren/Alphonso Mizel/Barry Gordy/Deke Richards), Corinne Bailey Rae's "Put Your Records On" (Rae/John Beck/Steve Chrisanthou) and a quirky pairing of Britney Spears' "Toxic" (Cathy Dennis/Christian Karlsson/Pontus Winneberg/Henrick Jonback) and Duffy's "Mercy."

Quieter moments included an elegantly and dignified "Tennessee Waltz" (Redd Stewart/Pee Wee King), a tender "It Might Be You," (Stephen Bishop) and her most requested tune on the piano bar circuit, Charlie Chaplin, Geoffrey Parsons and John Turner's "Smile," sung with gushing affection for both the song and her listeners.  And to Steele's credit, she makes a point of singing lyrics as written, without changing pronouns to ensure the heterosexuality of each number.

If there's a flaw in her program - and this could simply be a matter of my own personal taste - it's that by song selection and vocal styling Steele's 17 song set is lacking in textures.  There's certainly a variety of composers and lyricsts represented (Bob Dylan's "Don't Think Twice," Cat Stevens' "Father and Son" and Lennon & McCartney's "Here, There and Everywhere" are also given enjoyable renditions) but her reach-out-and-grab-the-audience appeal dominates the evening and she never takes advantage of the opportunity the cabaret stage grants to be introspective and let the people come to her.  Stephen Sondheim's "Move On" is her rare selection that provides such an opportunity, but her lightly rhythmic interpretation - though a perfectly legitimate choice - pretties up the song to a point where the dramatics of the lyric become secondary.  And while Davidsen's arrangements give each song a fresh sound, there were no apparent attempts to dig into lyrics for unique phrasings and interesting interpretations.

Still, for those who enjoy their cabaret evenings peppy and melodic, Anne Steele is certainly a crowd-pleaser.

Photo by Brian Friedman

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One of the many great joys of spending an evening at Marie's Crisis, the Grove Street showtune bar that former owner Marie Dumont named for the revolution-saving pamphlet penned by founding father Thomas Paine, is hearing the warm, husky tones of singer Maggie Wirth.  (Yeah, she serves drinks too, but that's just a hobby.)  Many a post-midnight hour of mine has been spent in that crowded basement delighting in her comfort-food vocals of "Ring Them Bells," "Fifty Percent" and the nastiest interpretation of "Goody Goody" north or south of 14^th Street.

The New York Times web site features Maggie as one of their "1-in-8-Million" New Yorkers.  Click here for terrific audio-visual profile of one of the people who make this town so special.

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Can you dramatize the story of Al Jolson without showing the man performing in blackface?  The producer of a British production of Stephen Mo Hanan and Jay Berkow's bio-musical, Jolson & Co. is going to try.  As explained in this article, the production will omit the use of blackface when the star sings "Mammy" as the first act's closer.  While the script does not celebrate the use of blackface, it does objectively explain Jolson's reasons for using it, but producer Michael Harrison believes showing his star Allan Stewart in the controversial makeup would offend modern audiences.  What do you think of his decision?  Let us know in our new poll.

"Take care of the luxuries and the necessities will take care of themselves."

-- Dorothy Parker

The grosses are out for the week ending 2/22/2009 and we've got them all right here in BroadwayWorld.com's grosses section.

Up for the week was: THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (22.8%), THE 39 STEPS (17.8%), SHREK THE MUSICAL (12.7%), BILLY ELLIOT: THE MUSICAL (12.5%), SOUTH PACIFIC (11.7%), MARY POPPINS (11.0%), THE LION KING (9.6%), JERSEY BOYS (8.5%), MAMMA MIA! (8.5%), THE LITTLE MERMAID (8.1%), GUYS AND DOLLS (7.8%), WICKED (6.4%), THE AMERICAN PLAN (5.8%), AVENUE Q (5.1%), CHICAGO (1.2%), YOU'RE WELCOME AMERICA. A FINAL NIGHT WITH GEORGE W. BUSH (1.1%), IN THE HEIGHTS (0.7%),

Down for the week was: PAL JOEY (-16.6%), THE STORY OF MY LIFE (-11.3%), AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY (-7.5%), SPEED THE PLOW (-3.0%), HEDDA GABLER (-1.0%),