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Josie de Guzman at The Green Room 42. Photo by Edward Kliszus
Cabaret
Edward A Kliszus

Josie de Guzman at The Green Room 42

Two-time Tony Award nominee Josie de Guzman performed her show “Back Where I Started” and enthralled listeners at The Green Room 42.The enchanting and vivacious de Guzman performed a musical biopic of her remarkable stage career. She spoke of the many fellow luminaries with whom she performed and collaborated. The amazing list includes Leonard Bernstein, Nathan Lane, Arthur Laurents, Jerome Robbins, Alan Jay Lerner, and Burton Lane, to name a few.

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In The Trenches. by Rachel Graham:RDGPhotography
Off Broadway
Edward A Kliszus

In The Trenches

In the Trenches is fun and one feels just a bit sorry to see young adults leave behind their single, childless lives. But they muddle through and discover that raising a family is rewarding, time is fleeting and precious, and your single friends will have to deal with you and your yoga pants, PTA meetings, trips to the mall, a barking lab, and dinner moved up from 10 pm to 5 pm.

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Natalie Douglas Photo credt: Lynn Redmile
Cabaret
Edward A Kliszus

Natalie Douglas

The audience was packed with Douglas’ loyal followers. As she introduced songs and told anecdotes of her mingling with the likes of Dolly Parton, Lena Horne, or Roberta Flack, people nodded and smiled in affirmation. She projects a sentimental, nostalgic, and caring persona and each song she sings creates a warm, safe, embracing space. Balancing her view of life through song is her sense of humor, a sweet smile, and joie de vivre.

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The Cutting Room banner. Photo credit: Sora Vernikoff
Cabaret
Sora Vernikoff

Boozy Brunch at the Cutting Room

Mark and Mathew know thousands of tunes and what’s performed works starts with requests paid for via Venmo. If someone in the audience doesn’t like the song they’re playing, they can outbid that song. whereas Mark and Mathew stop immediately and play the new request. If no one sends a paid request, Mark and Mathew play the Baby Shark Song until the audience is numb and desperate for something new.

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Amber Gray. Courtesy of Victoria L. Dammer
Cabaret
Victoria L. Dammer

Amber Grey at 54 Below

Full of exuberant energy, Gray opened the show with the moving musical piece Devil’s Gonna Rise Up, written by Abigail and Shaun Bengson. Gray’s musical director, Cody Owen Stine, accompanied her on the accordion. The song is a haunting, almost spiritual tune, showcased in The National Theatre of Scotland’s performance of Anything That Gives Off Light. That show was created in response to the Scottish independence referendum several years ago and involved the Scottish-US relationship throughout history. Gray’s style of singing gave the song great depth.

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Tyce Green in Turn the Beat Around at 54 Below. Photo by Gloria Alvarado
Cabaret
Victoria L. Dammer

Turn the Beat Around at 54 Below

The thrill of the disco era returned to 54 Below on March 1 for an exciting night as the famous and glamorous nightclub opened the dance floor to all who came to participate in two sold-out shows of Turn the Beat Around.

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L-R Darius De Haas, Seth Rudetsky, Natalie Wachen, and Sharon Catherine Brown, at Café Carlyle. Photo by Julia Silverstein
Cabaret
Edward A Kliszus

Seth Rudetsky Presents DREAMGIRLS at Café Carlyle

Seth Rudesky hosted an event at Café Carlyle that, in the annals of theater, shall remain a night of incredible music, cherished remembrances, personal anecdotes, and Broadway history told by the artists who live it. It was indeed a biographical sojourn of epic artistic proportions.

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A Broadway Valentine's Day at 54 Below. From 54Below.com
Cabaret
Edward A Kliszus

A Broadway Valentine’s Day at 54 Below

Tonight’s Broadway Valentine’s Day at 54 Below was an evening of love, song, romance, nostalgia, fine dining, unique beverages, and thematic desserts. The messages of love portrayed were universal, celebrating spiritual beings connected through energy, generosity, compassion, and harmony. As Shakespeare noted in Love’s Labour’s Lost, “When Love speaks, the voice of all the gods makes heaven drowsy with the harmony.”

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Salty Brine. Photo by Daniel Albanese
Cabaret
Edward A Kliszus

Bigmouth Strikes Again

Brine honored the music of The Smiths through an auto-biographical perspective revealing universal human needs like love, friendship, and realized ambitions. We discovered Brine’s Bible Belt roots in North Carolina and the paths leading him to New York City. The exceedingly talented Brine danced, sang, and spoke in ways that evoked uncontrollable laughter, empathy, or sublime wistful affection.

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Kat and Dave. Photo: Love Imagery
Cabaret
Victoria L. Dammer

The Kat and Dave Show at MPAC

Ethereal and magical best describe the two-hour experience of  The Kat & Dave Show: An Intimate Evening with David Foster and Katharine McPhee at the Mayo Performing Art Center (MPAC) on December 2.

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