Rob Lester - Page 9

The saga of the seemingly ubiquitous Charles Kirsch continues: He's everywhere: hosting shows on stage, all over YouTube, in the air or on the air with over 150 podcasts of 'Backstage Babble' with his interviews of show people, and maybe sitting next to you at a cabaret or Broadway theatre or just dashing around New York City.

Presenter of variety shows with Broadway stars and podcast 'Backstage Babble' interviewER becomes our interviewEE as we learn about his early start, the current agenda of activities, and look forward to a future celebrating theatre's past (his favorite pastime---and job).

Jason Danieley is a candidate for caring who takes care in how he sings and speaks his heart. 

A golden opportunity to relive musical theatre's golden age: Preview Monday's concert, Scott Siegel's Broadway by the Season, at BroadwayWorld.com's NYC cabaret section. The participants recruited for the festivities are audience favorites, having earned frequent flyer miles in Siegel strolls down the Memory Lane of Broadway and in Broadway musicals.

There was a lot of history crossing that stage, with performers reprising numbers they’d sung on the Great White Way as far back as the 1970s. Giving the proceedings a uniquely touching quality was the sweet meeting of the generations, with these still very vital veterans being welcomed by — and conversing with — a respectful master of ceremonies who’s still in his teens, but is immersed in musical theatre lore.

Highlights of Broadway are in the spotlight, sung (and occasionally danced) in the valued and audience-pleasing concert series at The Town Hall in NYC. Shows from the first five years of the 21st century were represented in the season opener.

Birdland collects songs about NYC in the return of the three-singer revue New York: Big City Songbook the same week that Marilyn Maye reigned supreme once again at Dizzy's. Lots of solid entertainment.

J. Mark McVey's reference point was Broadway (mostly) with some bombast, with a band and guests, while Alexis Cole showed that less can be more with relaxed, classy jazz stylings.

Singer-songwriters doing their own material cuts out the usual intermediary interpreter so we get the intentions and first take from the horses' mouth, so to speak. Recent examples; Susan Werner and Brian Gari.

Many Great American Songbook standards and jazz classics fill the air as Jane Monheit settles into her two-shows-a-night run til the very end of February, with four strong musicians.

When Jerry Herman's songs fill the air, it's always 'The Best of Times.' 92Y's Lyrics & Lyricists concert series proves that again with a strong presentation to enrich afternoons and night-time (February 22-24). The sturdy arts hub continues to honor Broadway's best, whether with a grand staged program like this or a casual classroom chat by Irving Berlin biographer James Kaplan.

Barb Jungr, Lea DeLaria, Karen Oberlin, Marissa Mulder...Each of these female vocalists had plenty to say about love and made some 20th century popular music their own, each in her own quite original way.

Catherine Russell makes her show like a party with happiness overflowing as she and hr band swing sets early and late thru February 15. Birdland is the place.

Eager, competent company members amply demonstrated their wares and polish. (I don't mean bringing shiny silverware from their place of employment.) a?oeWe don't just carry meatloaf!a?? remarked the gregarious host.

At Joe's Pub, the eclectic collective of entertainers offers something for almost everyone, in a parade of approaches that ranges from sincere to oh my dear --- a mixed bag to be sure. Even though uneven, the odds are that most would find reason to smile and happily hop into the hipster heyday melee.

When at her blissful best, Barbara Fasano makes the appealing onion-peeling of phrases judiciously considered, mining the potential of points of view and images that wordsmiths articulate. She luxuriates in the moods that melodists and instrumentalists paint.

Two prolific writers who put the a?oeGreata?? in a?oeThe Great American Songbooka?? were celebrated and explored in the same week at Manhattan's 92nd Street Y. In different presentations, there were embraces of the legacies of lyricist E.Y. (a?oeYipa??) Harburg and composer/lyricist Cole Porter.

Now at Birdland, Karrin Allyson is a great muse for Mose Allison. His wit and satirical edge sound interestingly freshened sung by a modern female voice who is clearly in sync with the way he used to think.  

Witnessing the bliss of Marissa Mulder singing gems from vintage Broadway scores and classic movies, accompanied just by longtime musical director/pianist/pal/pro Bill Zeffiro, is worth risking frostbite.