Broadway at the Cabaret - Top 5 Cabaret Picks for February 15-21, Featuring Claybourne Elder, Julie Halston, and More!
By: Louisa Brady Feb. 14, 2016
Broadway's 40 theatres aren't the only places to catch performances from your favorite stars! Well after Broadway orchestras begin their overtures, ensemble members take their dance breaks, and performers belt out their eleven o'clock numbers, the party continues at various cabaret venues throughout New York City.
Below, BroadwayWorld brings you some cabaret highlights for this week as picked by our theatre editors, including: The Nutty Professor Reunion Concert; Comedy Tonight: Broadway's Funniest Clowns; 54 Sings ABBA; Claybourne Elder at 54 Below; Hold On The Musical in Concert.
Click here for BroadwayWorld's Full Cabaret Listings!
The Nutty Professor Reunion Concert
Where: Birdland NYC (315 W 44th Street)
When: February 15th at 7:00 PM
Tickets: $30-40 http://www.birdlandjazz.com/event/1049765-nutty-professor-reunion-new-york/
The award-winning cast of the 2012 world premiere production of The Nutty Professor, written by Rupert Holmes and the late, great Marvin Hamlisch, will reunite to sing songs from their award-winning score in concert, joined by other Broadway notables. The concert will feature broadway favorites Danny Gardner (Dames at Sea), Adam Jacobs (Aladdin), Bryce Pinkham (Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder), Jed Resnick (Avenue Q), and Ryan Worsing (Finding Neverland), who will be sharing the leading role of Julius Kelp/Buddy Love. Also starring Marissa McGowan (A Little Night Music) as Stella Purdy, Klea Blackhurst as Miss Lemon, Fred Inkley (Les Miserables) as Maury, Jamie Ross (Damn Yankees) as Doctor Warfield, Kristopher Thompson-Bolden, Meghan Glogower, Autumn Guzzardi, Sarah Jenkins, Lindsay Moore, Ronnie Nelson, Dominique Plaisant, Carly Blake Sebouhian, Allison Little, Christopher Spaulding and Kyle Vaughn. Musical director will be Brad Gardner, with Rupert Holmes acting as narrator for the evening.
Click here for more information.
Comedy Tonight: Broadway's Funniest Clowns
Where: 54 Below (254 W 54th Street)
When: February 15th at 7:00 & 9:30 PM
Tickets: $35-75 at http://54below.com/artist/comedy-tonight-broadways-funniest-clowns/
Julie Halston hosts Comedy Tonight! Need a pick me up? Tired of the mid-winter blues? Get out of the cold and warm up with the hysterically gifted, gorgeous, infectious, (and certifiably insane) Julie Halston as she hosts Broadway's most inspired clowns for an evening of merriment, mirth and musical comedy. You can expect the lunatics to indeed be running the show when some of Broadway's funniest farceurs belt, bellow, and maybe even butcher your favorite Broadway (and not so Broadway) melodies. Comedy Tonight! promises a little song, a little dance, a little seltzer down your pants...and a whole lot of laughs.
Julie Halston is the award-winning star of Broadway (You Can't Take it With You, On the Town, Anything Goes, Gypsy, Hairspray), Off-Broadway (The Divine Sister, Red Scare On Sunset), and television (Sex and the City, The Class). She has received four Drama Desk nominations, two Drama League nominations, and a Lifetime Achievement Award for her Off-Broadway performances and her work with Charles Busch.
Featuring performances from Brad Oscar (Something Rotten!, The Producers), Kevin Chamberlin (Disaster! The Musical, Seussical, The Addams Family), Christina Bianco (Two-time Drama Desk Award nominee for Forbidden Broadway and YouTube Sensation with over 23 millions views), John Bolton (Dames at Sea, A Christmas Story), Eddie Cooper (Little Shop of Horrors), Kristine Zbornik (9 to 5, A Catered Affair), Anne L. Nathan (It Shoulda Been You, Once, Thoroughly Modern Millie), Jason Graae (Falsettos, Snoopy, Grand Night for Singing), Peter Scolari (Wicked, Bronx Bombers, Lucky Guy) at the 9:30pm performance, and more to be announced!
Musical Direction by Jeffrey Lodin. Directed by Evan Pappas (Parade, My Favorite Year, Putting It Together).
Come on along and listen to...yeah, yeah, you know the rest. Just COME ALONG!!!
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54 Sings ABBA
Where: 54 Below (254 W 54th Street)
When: February 18th at 7:00 & 9:30 PM
Tickets: $30-75 at http://54below.com/artist/54-sings-abba/
54 Sings ABBA will offer a stunning cast of former Mamma Mia!stars and other Broadway and nightclub headliners that will bring back the music that led to the group being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010. ABBA's greatest hits will live again in this loving tribute to one of the most stunningly musical of all groups to ever achieve worldwide fame.
Only one singing group has sold more records than ABBA: The Beatles. Estimates range as high as 500 million records sold for this Swedish group - the first to come from a non-English speaking country to have major and consistent success all over the English-speaking world. Their greatest success as a team was between 1975 and 1982. After 1982, ABBA's reputation and popularity was refurbished when their music was prominently used in several hit motion pictures, includingMuriel's Wedding and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Then came Mamma Mia!, both the juggernaut stage musical and the hit motion picture, that consisted of a whole raft of their hit songs.
54 Sings ABBA will be produced, written, and hosted by New York impresario Scott Siegel, who is the creator/writer/host of Town Hall's signature series, Broadway by the Year, which begins its 16th season in February. He has, in the past, presented Louise Pitre (the original Broadway star of Mamma Mia!) in concert, as well as worked with more than a dozen of the major stars of ABBA-related Broadway musicals - and many of them will be back for this special night of 54 Sings ABBA!
With Special Guest Star Judy McLane, who starred in Mamma Mia! for 11 years!
Also starring:
Maxine Linehan - "Fiercely Talented" -NY Times; Phillippa Lynas - Australian Star!; Michael Winther - Mamma Mia!; and Patrick Boll - Mamma Mia!
More Stars to be Announced
Click here for more information.
Where: 54 Below (254 W 54th Street)
When: February 19th at 7:00 PM
Tickets: $30-70 at http://54below.com/artist/claybourne-elder/
Comedian, actor, writer, and singer Claybourne Elder is perhaps best known for originating the role of Buck in Broadway's Bonnie and Clyde and as Pete O'Malley on television's in The Carrie Diaries. He received a Drama Desk Nomination for Lead Actor in a Play for his work in the premiere of Tennessee William's One Arm directed by Moises Kaufman and a Lucille Lortel Award for Lead Actor in a Musical for John Doyle's Allegro. After originating the role of Hollis in Stephen Sondheim's Road Show, he has gained recognition as a modern interpreter of Sondheim in his performances ofSweeney Todd, Into the Woods, and in the Helen Hayes award winning and critically acclaimed Signature Theatre revival ofSunday in the Park with George.
In this candid show, Clay won't just sing show tunes and share reminiscences about the theater, but also reflections on travel, adventure, romance - along with what it felt like to get shot in the head eight times a week in Bonnie and Clyde and playing a 19 year-old at 32 on television. He'll bring along some bizarre mementos from his career to show-and-tell and open up about his life growing up in rural Utah as a Mormon. Get intimate with one of New York's favorite theatre personalities in this hilarious and heartfelt solo debut.
Click here for more information.
Hold On The Musical In Concert
Where: 54 Below (254 W 54th Street)
When: February 19th at 9:30 PM
Tickets: $25-65 at http://54below.com/artist/hold-on-the-musical-in-concert/
Prepare to rock when Hold On: The Musical explodes onstage at Feinstein's/54 Below! With a soaring score of 80s hits with a present-day twist from the Canadian Hall of Fame rock band, Triumph ("Magic Power," "Fight the Good Fight," and "Lay it on the Line"), Hold On: The Musical depicts the present day struggles of a gay singer-songwriter and seemingly unattainable quest for acceptance and happiness. Book writer Beth Crawford has teamed up with New York City director Richard J. Hinds (Associate Director of Broadway's Newsies) and Music Director Eric Fotre Leach to develop a piece that not only resonates with those who seek love, but with those who wish companionship for their loved ones. Be one of the first to hear this exciting new musical featuring Jennifer Dinoia (Broadway and West End Wicked - Elphaba), Kacie Sheik (Broadway's Hair) and a cast of Broadway's best!
Featuring:
Renée Albulario (Here Lies Love), Jenn Colella (If/Then, Chaplin, High Fidelity), Dan DeLuca (Newsies), Tia DeShazor (Memphis - Regional), Jennifer Dinoia (Wicked), Aaron Finley (Rock of Ages), Jeremy Greenbaum (Newsies), Haley Hannah (Bring It On, Flashdance), Parker Krug (West Side Store, Elf), Benjamin Mapp (High School Musical), Jamie Parton (Next to Normal, Rent in Japan), Zane Phillips (How to Succeed..., Gypsy - Regional), Keven Quillon (Annie, Grease, Shrek), Mike Schwitter (Pippin), Kacie Sheik (Hair, Songbird), Perry Sherman (Next to Normal), Neil Starkenberg (Mamma Mia!), and Meredith Swanson (The Sound of Music - Regional).
Click here for more information.
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