Feature: A Cabaret Christmas Wish List

Dear Santa, 

I've been particularly good this year, so I was hoping you might grant a few special Christmas wishes for me and the other cabaret devotees of New York City.  You see, I've been at this job for four years and five months and I've been attending presentations in cabarets, clubs and concert halls for almost all my life, and there are some artists that I have longed to see in one of the small, intimate venues of New York City, to no avail.  Perhaps they have played in the past and I have simply missed them, and, certainly, some of them have dropped in on friends to do a number in their show, while others have been cast members in group shows.  But, Santa, the people of New York City deserve some solo show action from these artists that I see in my dreams.  Do you think that, maybe, you might do some work on it for me, please?  The list of names is attached with a sampling of their work.  I'll keep my fingers crossed and hope that you agree with me.

Yours most sincerely,

Ste

Skyler Astin has done the musicals of Broadway, Off-Broadway, and television.  He has appeared at the Hollywood bowl and in big specials and he has made the very most of the internet with many DIY videos of him at home, at his piano, singing out, Louise.  Isn't it time he had a solo show at 54 Below or Joe's Pub?  If he produces it, they will come.

Scott Bakula started on Broadway and off, doing musicals like MARILYN: AN AMERICAN FABLE, THREE GUYS NAKED FROM THE WAIST DOWN and the sublime ROMANCE, ROMANCE.  Then he took his musical talent to television, occasionally singing on various programs over the years - they really made the most of his singing talent on QUANTUM LEAP.  And , of course, there have been benefits and impromptu songs at conventions, many of which can be found on YouTube.  So where is our Scott Bakula club act?  Because we really need one.

Christine Baranski has certainly done her fair share of musicals, both on stage and on screen.  She has played Mame and Mrs. Lovett and Margie McDougal, and she MILF'd out in the movie MAMMA MIA! and chances are she would make for one amazing nightclub act.  She gave this Sondheim fan one of the most interesting "I'm Still Here"s off all time, creating a constant craving for a Christine Cabaret.

Annette Bening sang for justthismuch of a moment in the movie LOVE AFFAIR, and if you listen to it, you can tell that it's really her doing the singing (also, on what planet would Annette Bening allow herself to be dubbed?).  Ever since I saw this movie and heard this clip I have been dreaming, day and night, of an Annette Bening musical - on Broadway, Off-Broadway, on film, in a recording studio, in a nightclub.  Anything where Annette Bening is singing, I want to be there.

Matthew Broderick has won a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical and Sarah Jessica Parker was one of THE Annies!  So why has there never been a boy-girl act with this real life couple?  I think everyone can agree that it is what we need right now, and any time of any year.  They even played HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS... together.  We should all be happy to keep their dinner warm til they get to the cabaret stage.

Toni Collette was nominated for a Tony Award for her breathtaking performance in THE WILD PARTY and, as everyone knows, there is nothing she cannot do.  When she sings, she usually sings a kind of pop music that fits the Toni Collette aesthetic, but it would be the living end if she were to do a show of some original music, some radio hits, and some show tunes.  And, naturally, she would have to kick off the concert with "Welcome To My Party' - it's a built-in opening number!

 Deborah Cox is headed back to Broadway as Glinda in THE WIZ.  It's her third trip to the Great White Way and it is time for her to take her place as one of the divas of Broadway, including a cabaret show at 54 Below.   She is one of the music industry's concert greats, selling out concert after concert with her dance hits and r&b music, and what New York City needs is an intimate Deborah Cox show with a mixture of jazz, standards, show tunes... and one or two of those famous remixes.  When that show happens, everybody's supposed to be here.

Taye Diggs has starred on Broadway in musicals like RENT and HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH but most of his time is spent being in front of the camera, making movies and TV shows.  But when you have a voice like this, and such stage presence, it should be in the rule book that you give a little concert every now and then, shouldn't it?  Birdland has a Broadway night and these smooth as silk vocals would go great with a jazz combo.

Minnie Driver is a bonafide singer, with a band and some record albums to back that up.  She sang in the movie BEAUTIFUL and her role as a Bond Girl was as a SINGING Bond Girl.  She is always exciting and interesting, and just listen to this gorgeous voice of hers.  And if you've ever seen her in a chat show situation, you know how funny she is.  Minnie Driver would put on one heck of a nightclub act, and Joe's Pub is just the place for her to be.

Ann Jillian is just a wish that won't come true, but that's what wishes are for, isn't it?  The popular television actress who played Broadway as the Soubrette in SUGAR BABIES was a singer all her life (she was in the movie GYPSY for cryin' out loud) and a great singer, too, whose skills were showcased in several of her television appearances.   Sadly, the limelight of show business lost its lustre and Ann Jillian retired from the entertainment industry to pursue other interests, many of them charitable and philanthropic.  But since this is a wish list, I had to include her because she is one of my longtime favorites.  If Santa were really out there, an Ann Jillian comeback would be at the top of my list.

Cheryl Ladd had a sweet recording career during the Seventies and Eighties.  She put out some albums, she sang on TV specials, she even sang on the 'Angels In The Wings' episode of her iconic television show CHARLIE'S ANGELS.  She played Annie Oakley on Broadway and she didn't need a gun to get her audience.  She sang in the 2022 film A COWGIRL'S SONG and her heavenly voice is as wonderful as ever.  Nostalgia is in right and we need, really need, for Cheryl Ladd to play out in NYC.  You know you want to go.

Jessica Lange, this writer has read, was reluctant to take acting jobs that involved singing, for a long time.  But when the right job comes along, a wise actor jumps.  So the almost EGOT (missing: the Grammy) took those right jobs and, as a result, has sung in two different seaons of AMERICAN HORROR STORY and the TV movie GREY GARDENS.  A person has only to look at the "Name Game" clip from AHS to know that she would be a fantastic purveyor of cabaret.  You just know the stories bridging the music numbers would be the best.

Donna Murphy has sung in concerts, she has popped in for guest appearances at 54 Below and Joe's Pub, and she is one of the best storytellers this industry has.  We have all craved a Donna Murphy solo show for a long time but the two-time Tony winner is so busy acting up a storm in shows like THE GILDED AGE that the cabaret stage must wait, patiently, for what will, certainly, be the show of any season.  So will the rest of us because the wait is worth it, and when the Donna Murphy solo show happens, the payoff will be unfathomable.

Annette O'Toole belted out "Man Wanted" in the 1985 TV movie COPACABANA starring alongside Barry Manilow, so it's a wonder why she never got to do a Broadway musical, (she would have been a great Roxie Hart).  She also did all the vocals when she played Tammy Wynette in 1981, and there is the little matter of an Oscar nomination that she and her husband Michael McKean got for writing "Kiss At The End Of The Rainbow" for A MIGHTY WIND.   She is a great American actress, she is the coolest person ever, and she is just perfect for Joe's Pub, where she has played, but not recently, doggone it.

Stefanie Powers is a true blue chanteuse.  With an album of standards and some cabaret and concert appearances (not to mention a handful of musicals in regional theater and London's West End), she is a wonderful vocalist with impressive interpretive skills.  She is also an actress with the star power and elegance to fill a room like The Carlyle, and, if there were any justice, she would be there every season.

Colton Ryan has landed on the stage at 54 Below in some group shows, and he sang for a big crowd in Bryant Park this last summer.  He is a singing actor whose star is definitely on the rise, and now he has a Tony nomination for his extraordinary performance in NEW YORK, NEW YORK.  A Colton Ryan cabaret could not come fast enough for this writer, but it hasn't happened yet... and when it happens, I will be front and center because the man is amazing.

William Shatner has, for years, been made fun of for a performance of Rocket Man he did in the Seventies.  But in 2004 he worked with Ben Folds on an incredible album titled HAS BEEN for which he provided almost all of the lyrics, which are pure poetry.  One has only to listen to Has Been to know that a live music performance from William Shatner would be out of this world.

Anna Uzele is one of the new Queens of Broadway.  After starring as one of the OG Royals in SIX and taking on a collection of songs in NEW YORK, NEW YORK that had been originally written for Liza Minnelli and Barbra Streisand AND claiming all of those songs as her own, Anna Uzele is a force with which to be reckoned and a force for good - especially good entertainment.  We need an Anna Uzele solo show and we needed it yesterday.  Fingers crossed that 2024 is the year that Anna Uzele tears up the nightclub stages of New York and the world.

Lesley Ann Warren is a musical legend.  She has done Broadway, she has done Disney, she has done the Oscars (by way of Victor/Victoria) and she IS Cinderella (one of them, at least).  She can sing, she can dance, she can tell stories, and she can sell tickets.  She should be doing a club act, and she should be doing it in New York, Los Angeles, London, Chicago, San Francisco, and anywhere else where quality cabaret and concert is presented.  

Kerry Washington sang on a Disney special, she sang in the movie THE PROM, she sang in an apple commecial, and she sang in a viral TikTok video that spoofed the song "Pure Imagination."  The prolific actress who never seems to stop working is one of the best in the show business and it seems she is a GA-REAT singer, even if there is so little proof of it on YouTube.  But just check out the snippet below and you'll know - Kerry Washington should be singing all the dangnab time, and we should all be bying tickets.

Bellamy Young was on Broadway in THE LIFE and she is missed.  She is missed very badly.  And although her success on television has given us all lots and lots of Bellamy to be found on various streaming services, the Bellamy Young for which we long is the one standing at a mic, in the light, in a swanky Manhattan nightclub.  It's enough to make you wish upon a star.  Bellamy Young is that star.

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