Room 2002

Subtle British comedies of sex, morality and class like Mary Broome rarely wash up on these shores without the name George Bernard Shaw attached to them.  But thankfully the beachcombers of the Mint Theatre Company, specialists in providing sturdy mountings of the once popular/now obscure, came across this 1911 Allan Monkhouse curiosity that hasn't been seen in New York since 1919.

Before anyone removes a lick of clothing in EndTimes' decidedly secular song and sketch revue, Naked Holidays, an unlikely matchup of a perky and cultured Brit (Ruthie Stephens) and a snarling Mexican heavy metaler (Alessandro Colla) leads the cast of nineteen young and attractive performers, most of whom you will see naked by the evening's end, in a brief orientation of the history of the holidays that grace our December calendars.  The sketchy reasons for the celebration of the birth of Christ occurring on December 25th, they conclude, originates from the already present pagan solstice festivals, which were loaded with drunkenness, orgies and crude comedies and spectacles.

While I certainly wouldn't suggest that Andrea McArdle has been living in the past, that's where she's spent most of her Broadway career; first getting noticed as the Depression-era social climber in Annie, and then nabbing roles in Les Misérables, State Fair and Beauty and The Beast (Hey, 'once upon a time' counts as the past.); not to mention playing young Judy Garland in the TV bio-pic, Rainbow. (Taking a cigarette break along the way to play Ashley in Starlight Express.

Just in time for the centennial of the great lyricist's bar mitzvah, Mark Nadler arrives at The Metropolitan Room with a smashing celebration of the words of Ira Gershwin. Titled ...His Lovely Wife, Ira, after an infamous fopaux made by a British radio announcer, Nadler explains his mission here is to explore beyond the 'indelible ampersand attaching him to George' and honor the elder Gershwin's brilliance outside of his more gregarious brother's shadow.

The vocal miracle that is Marilyn Maye is once again working magic in the cozy confines of The Metropolitan Room, where, in the past two years, she's opened a wondrous quartet of engagements to break a 16-year exile from Manhattan.

Yes, she sings it. And if you've never heard her sing it as a full-fledged, poised, articulate, sexy and self-effacingly humorous adult then you haven't really heard her sing it yet.

You'll please forgive me if I've run out of superlative adjectives with which to describe the work of Marilyn Maye, who, after a 15-year absence from New York's cabaret scene, just opened her 4th Metropolitan Room show in a baker's dozen months.

Though The Metropolitan Room's fine martini selection always suits my refreshment needs very nicely, on Monday night I was feeling a severe hankering for something their bar doesn't stock, PBR in a can.  That's because I was having a swell ol' time watching Daryl Glenn, Jo Lynn Burks and company singing the entire soundtrack to Robert Altman's 1975 drama, Nashville.

The thing that always strikes me about Euan Morton, from his New York debut in Taboo to his Obie-winning stint in Measure For Pleasure and various other plays, musicals, concerts and cabarets, is that the guy seems incapable of expressing a dishonest emotion.  While some performers may dazzle you with their creativity or their exceptional craft, Morton draws you in with a comforting safety that makes artistry out of sincerity.  He opens his four-week run at The Oak Room (through March 29th), titled Here and Now, with Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley's 'Pure Imagination,' glowing with a naturally boyish earnestness and a gentle smile.

When a cabaret show is promoted as containing 'an eclectic mix of style and sound,' I generally don't expect to hear 8, count 'em 8, Rodgers and Hart classics, but who am I to question Christian Hoff's good taste in music?  Though never officially announced, Hoff was to star in a proposed Broadway revival of Pal Joey, and though that project has been placed on hold, his one-night gig at The Metropolitan Room this past Monday night, titled 'Exiled,' often seemed like a preview of how he'd play the title role.