CABARET LIFE NYC: Dana Lorge's Last Night at the Iguana is One to Remember

Cabaret Features and Commentary by Stephen Hanks

If any New York cabaret performers staging shows last Wednesday evening (July 11) found their audiences a bit sparse, it’s probably Dana Lorge’s fault. The endearing and ditzy entertainment diva’s weekly talent showcase at Iguana NYC Restaurant on West 54th Street (just east of the new 54 Below) didn’t bring out every cabaret connected person in the city, but it sure seemed that way.

Unfortunately, the packed house and party atmosphere was only partly a celebration. It was also a thank you and sendoff to Dame Dana. After three years hosting the city’s coolest cabaret variety show on Wednesday nights in the restaurant’s large upstairs club room, Lorge and the Iguana recently decided it was time she found a new venue (which Lorge hopes to have locked in by the fall). How much affection and respect do people in the cabaret community—many of whom have honed their singing chops and promoted their shows at Lorge’s gigs—have for their Dana Banana? In addition to the 20-plus singers on the final program, there were more than a dozen who attended—and didn’t come to sing. Now that’s love.

Funny, flamboyant and always sartorially fascinating, this Joan Rivers with sex appeal and a singing voice co-hosted the Iguana shows with entertainer Richard Skipper for a year and half before she began flying solo in 2011. After sharing 2010 MAC Awards with Skipper (for Variety Show/Recurring Series and for Hosts of Variety Show, Series or Open Mic), Lorge was livin’ large in 2012, winning both MAC Award categories on her own in 2012. And if MAC had a vote for single "Variety Show of the Year," Dana's last Iguana presentation would win in a landslide.

There wasn’t a single performer who didn’t bring their A-game to the July 11 festivities. Dana got things rolling with David Friedman’s modern cabaret classic “A Little Christmas Wish (I Want to Be Rich, Famous and Powerful),” and then with wonderful support from Barry Levitt on piano, Saadi Zain on bass (both of whom have been Dana’s musician regs for most of her Iguana run), and Howie Gordon on drums, a dynamic dozen singers really rocked the room. (In addition to the performers highlighted below, the program also included: Gary Crawford, Bobbie Horowitz, Joan Jaffe, Sunny Leigh, Tony Middleton, Leslie Orofino, Warren Schein, Michelle Zalkin, and Suzanne Carrico and Joy-Danielle Price, who will perform their cabaret show Great Expectations at The Metropolitan Room on July 29, August 5, and August 12).

Rob Langeder set the bar high for the guys with some nifty scatting on a jazzy, snappy version of Irving Berlin’s “Blue Skies.” His partner-in-cabaret-crime Stacie Perlman followed with the lovely “The Story Underneath,” an original song written by Jason Wynn (her Musical Director) for her current Metropolitan Room show of the same name. From there the talent train really took off, featuring a wide variety of song styles and musical sensibilities. Self-proclaimed “Diva of the High C’s” Dorothy Bishop offered her stunning send-up of Glee, American Idol and some Broadway-esque singing in the hilarious “Kristin Chenoweth Gives a Voice Lesson." Adam Shapiro continued the combination of hilarity coupled with solid vocals on his clever mash-up of Fats Waller’s “Ain’t Misbehavin’” with Whitney Houston’s “Saving All My Love for You.” Even the usually serious Sarah Rice got into the comedy act, coyly seducing the men in the audience with her soaring soprano on a 1919 Richard Whiting (the late Margaret Whiting’s dad) song “I Could Be Happy With One Little Boy, If There Were No Others Around.” (Please click on Page 2 to continue.)

Four queens of cabaret, who are also Iguana regulars, proved to be in excellent voice for Dana’s swan song at the venue. Jillian Laurain was stunning on “Summertime” and “I Loves You, Porgy” from Porgy and Bess, previewing her upcoming show of Broadway standards. Helena Grenot sounded better than ever on Barry Levitt and Peter Napolitano’s “All in Good Time,” which has become Grenot’s signature song and a cabaret standard. Rosemary Loar (photo previous page) soared on the rock ballad “Pink Wings,” from her new musical “Spoolie Girl” (opening at the Midtown International Theater Festival on July 17), and Janice Hall was appropriately swinging, steamy, and sexy on Cole Porter’s “Too Darn Hot.”

Among the surprises of the evening (at least in this corner) were Bruce Clough, whose compellingly raspy voice rocked its way through “Toxic Love,” and Joey Infante, who made his first appearance after a recent illness and was in top form on “Babalu,” casting a Cuban good luck spell on Lorge in the process. What wasn’t a surprise was hearing Lauren Robert (photo left) shake the room rafters as usual on a soulful and rock-a-bluesy “God Bless the Child.” If Lauren and Levitt perform this number at her August 7 show at Iridium Jazz Club, manger Scott Barbarino might have to spring for a new sound system because Robert will blow it out.

Lorge’s former co-host Richard Skipper helped close out the evening, touchingly paying tribute to Dana with Dorothy Fields' “It’s Not Where You Start, It’s Where You Finish” (from the musical Seesaw), before Dana sang the perfect finale. On “Here’s to Life” Lorge likely expressed her personal philosophy and offered a glimpse into her future and the future of her variety show:

No complaints and no regrets
I still believe in chasing dreams and placing bets
For I have learned that all you give is all you get
So give it all you’ve got
I had my share, I drank my fill
And even though I’m satisfied
I’m hungry still
To see what’s down another road beyond the hill
And do it all again

We can only hope she does it all again. Here’s to life . . . and here’s to Dana Lorge.

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