Photos: Sally Mayes Debuts New Green Room 42 Series NOW AND THEN: THE TEASER To Tumultuous Response

It was the evening people have been waiting for all year.  In fact, it was the evening people have been waiting for for years, even if they may not have known it.  Sally Mayes back onstage in New York City.  To be fair, Sally Mayes is onstage in NYC pretty often - in group shows and as a guest artist.  But that's not the same thing as a Sally Mayes show, and we need, quite desperately, to have Sally Mayes shows, and on as regularly scheduled a basis as possible.  And when Sally Mayes finished her December 2nd show, the sold-out theater at The Green Room 42 screamed and cheered as though they had been in the desert and just finished drinking from a lake of clear blue water after stumbling upon an oasis.  It was one of the best nights in a cabaret club in the year 2023.

Now, to be very clear:  I am not here to review Sally Mayes.  I attended the performance with Broadway World Cabaret reporter Rob Lester, whose review will go live in a few days.  I attended with Rob because Rob doesn't make photos of the shows he sees, and, as his editor, it was my determination that a Sally Mayes show is important enough for the review to carry photos.  So this is a Sally Mayes Photo Flash.   It is a Sally Mayes Photo Flash where this frequenter of cabaret for four decades is going to say, in print, out loud, and as often as possible that this was one of the best nights in a cabaret club in the year 2023.  Sally Mayes is in top form, perhaps even better than she has ever been before, which would seem impossible, but she is.  The voice is as powerful as ever (SUCH power) and she sounds as amazing and unique as she has ever done, but what makes today's Sally better than yesterday's is life experience.  Truly one of the great storytellers of the industry, Sally has the incomparable ability of turning on a dime and going from scripted patter as Sally Mayes into immediate character as the woman in the song she is singing, embodying the songwriter's lyrics, intention, and persona with all the skills of an accomplished actress and all the prowess of a one-of-a-kind singer.  But the emotion is, now, a little more informed by decades of being a devoted wife and mother, by the loss of both of her parents (and a mentor or two), and the will to survive life's curveballs, at all costs (which she has done, by the way).  Like that fine wine the people talk about, Sally Mayes has just gotten better and better, and this writer *ahem* photographer is so grateful and so happy that cabaret reviewer Rob Lester let him tag along to NOW AND THEN: THE TEASER, one of the best nights in a cabaret club in the year 2023.  I can't wait to read his review.

In the meantime, doesn't Sally look great in her hot pink sequined tuxedo?

Photos by Stephen Mosher

The NOW AND THEN: THE TEASER band is Tom Hubbard on bass and Ron Abel Musical Directing from the piano.  

The next installment of NOW AND THEN will be JAZZ STANDARD TIME and will play The Green Room 42 on February 21st.

Visit the Green Room 42 website HERE.

Sally Mayes will return to The Green Room 42 with more shows in 2024.  Read an interview with Sally about this series HERE.

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