Here are five cast albums; the first three have the spectre of death hanging over them, but the last two are cheerier.

Floyd Collins and Elmer McCurdy were true-life figures (and, in the latter case, a true-death figure), born several years apart and both dying in their 30s. They captured public attention in a spectacle-like wa…

Let's begin with a recording of a compelling concert presenting low profile/high quality songs of Peter Foley. Moving from Peter to Peterson, it was Jon J Peterson who portrayed a Broadway and vaudeville legend…

New cast recording reviews.

Once Upon a Mattress, Dot and the Kangaroo cast recordings reviewed.

ANY TIME IS A GOOD TIME TO GIVE MY REGARDS TO [THE MAN WHO OWNED] BROADWAY The tribute show is called George & Me. The only singer on the bill is a man named Bill: That’s Bill Bartus, bow tie at his neck …

HARNICK…HEARTFELT & HEARTWARMING Sheldon Harnick, who passed away in 2023 at age 99, is alphabetically in good company among the great Broadway writers. His name comes after E.Y. “Yip” Harburg — who…

The “J2” in the name J2 Spotlight Theater Company of Manhattan doesn’t refer to descriptions that start with the letter “J,” like “joyful” and “joke-filled,” but it might as well, because thei…

Don’t look for anything very heartbreaking or groundbreaking in the familiar musical ground surveyed by the generally joyful Judy Whitmore. When she toasts love, it’s with a glass she sees as much more than…

THIS IS HOW GLORY FEELS Here’s an especially poignant and powerful musical about a real episode from the past that finally gains the word “Broadway” to its history exactly 100 years after the actual incid…

HOORAY FOR THIS BANQUET OF BLISS— ALL THOSE SENSATIONAL SONGS AND ENERGY— BEING ALIVE ON STAGE Words seem woefully inadequate to praise the wonderful, song-stuffed, dazzling and polished production featurin…

A FUN, LIVELY KANDER & EBB MUSICAL AND THE TICKET PRICE ISN’T EX-ZORBA-TANT Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness: If a character in musical theatre is going to make a declaration of independence, t…

A BARE-BONES BOBBY IN BROOKLYN: A COMPANY THAT GHOSTS THE GOODS IS STILL ABOUT BEING ALIVE A revival of a show featuring the smart songs by the late Stephen Sondheim is sure to draw interest and audiences. Broa…

DONNA MCKECHNIE TAKES US INTO SONDHEIM’S WORLD It may be impossible NOT to be charmed by the mega-vivacious, sunny-spirited, endearing veteran Donna McKechnie. Her smile and talent light up the room and the m…

BRAVURA BELTING, BONDING, AND BONHOMIE A double dose of old-school star power, show biz history, and charisma radiated through the showroom at 54 Below, fondly received and encouraged by a cheering, packed audi…

TAKE ONE: J2 AND A TALE OF TWO SMILES: THE FINAL SCORE AND WHAT CAME BEFORE While some companies reviving musicals long after their time on the Great White White might restore one or more songs that had been cu…

IT WON’T LAST FIVE YEARS, BUT IT WAS NEVER MEANT TO (THE RELATIONSHIP AND THE BROADWAY MUSICAL) Although the traditional wedding vow includes the pledge to stay together “‘til death do you part,” someti…

A REWARDING TIME SPENT SUSPENDED WITH THE ARTISTS OF SUSPENDED IN TIME Some musical performances—in concert or on recordings—while unquestionably or undemandingly enjoyable, may go in one ear and out the ot…

MAKING THE IMPLAUSABLE APPLAUSEABLE, SMASH IS A WILD, WACKY, WONDERFUL WOW “S” is for “splashy”; “M” is for “Marilyn Monroe”; “A” is for “audience-pleasing”; “S” is for “snarky”;…

THE NONPAREIL NONAGENARIAN REMAINS A NON-STOP WHIRLWIND OF TALENT There’s a problem with singer Marilyn Maye’s appearances. And it’s this: For reviewers, all the positive adjectives have been used up, rep…

GRINS, GOWNS, AND GRIT: A WINNING SMILE SASHAYS BACK ONSTAGE In the year 1919, the Ziegfeld Follies on Broadway featured an ode to female finery as a bevy of beauties graced the stage to the strains of the Irvi…

MR. GREENSPAN, PARTY OF FOUR Here’s a one-of-a-kind, one-person, one-act play in which one man plays four women—simultaneously—without ever leaving the stage. Three (sometimes all four) of these women are…

HERE’S THE SCOOP ON BOOP! ENDEARINGLY CUTE, ASTUTE AND A HOOT Some things are meant to last. Cartoon character Betty Boop has been around for 95 years and has been rejuvenated—as youthful, spirited, spunky,…

QUITE A NIGHT WITH MISS WHITE The series of concerts by Lillias White at 54 Below—running nightly through March 29 (and live streamed on the 28)—is billed as Divine Sass: A Tribute to Sarah Vaughan: An Albu…

NOW HEAR THIS! Film may be first and foremost a visual medium, but where would it be without music to bring out the emotions, heighten the drama, quicken the heart, create tension, and tie things together? At t…

A GRANDLY GREASE-Y SPOOF! Poking fun, flinging a pun, prizing satirizing — that’s the paradise that is parody and Vape!, blatantly billing itself as “The Grease Parody,” aims its playfully poisoned arro…

Songs and gab at this swell cabaret Starting the party is Mame‘s “It’s Today.” Hear the cheer in the singer’s voice With this merry Jerry Herman choice. The room has no gloom. There’s joy. We feel j…

AN AMAZING NIGHT OF STARS GALORE –AND IT’S COMING TO PBS Filmed to be shown on PBS stations later this year, the concert cavalcade called Broadway’s Leading Ladies at The Town Hall on West 43rd Street in …

Marital Mayhem and Matrimonial Mishaps: My First Ex-Husband’s Second Cast Delivers Divorce Tales with Bite “Do you take this man — To have and to hold — from this day forward — for better, for worse �…

TICK, TICK… ENCORE! LARSON’S TRUNK SONGS SHINE If you’re a fan of potent post-Golden Age theatre music, you should check out a show that just officially opened downtown last night. There’s a lot to see,…

WHEN CHILDREN’S THEATER IS A BEAUTIFUL THING Two “P” words—“professional” and “pleasant”—describe the stage production in Greenwich Village with two “B” words in its title: Beauty and the …

THINGS ARE O.K. WITH MR. K For decades, three words—“by Barry Kleinbort”—have often appeared in cabaret and theatre credits, typically preceded by “directed” or “written.” At Birdland, The Klein…

A DATE WITH KATE She looks and sounds radiant, and the audience knows it. Tonight, March 6, she was greeted with some of the most enthusiastic and sustained cheers I’ve heard in a long time. Accompanied by pi…

HOW TO URN AUDIENCE SYMPATHY This one-man show is described as an “immersive” experience, and the immersiveness begins right at the entrance of the particularly fitting venue, the oh-so-appropriate First Re…

BRIGHT, BROMIDIC BRYCE AND HIS FREEWHEELING FRABJOUS FRIVOLITY Take note, nightclub-goers: Attending an edition of the spiffy soiree The Bryce Edwards Frivolity Hour might just make you believe in reincarnation…

IN THE STILL OF THE NIGHT, WILL EX-LOVERS REUNITE OR FIGHT? After decades apart, can the passion of once-young lovers sizzle again, like leftover pizza zapped in the microwave? Picking up an old relationship is…

BACKSTAGE BABBLE AT STUDIO 54: TOPS WITH FLOPS Not every musical is a hit, and some barely get a chance to stumble before vanishing into obscurity. The midtown Manhattan nightclub 54 Below has an ongoing concer…

DIANNE REEVES’ WITH LOVE RECEIVED WITH LOVE If Grammy-winning singer Dianne Reeves’ suitcase could talk (and I’m guessing that it can’t), it would tell tales of trekking all over the world for her engag…

EVERYTHING TO GAINES AND NOTHING TO LOSE No, he doesn’t sing “My Funny Valentine” in his entertaining show called Love Is in the Air on the night before Valentine’s Day at Green Room 42 (repeated on the…

A COLORFUL, KINETIC AND PUPPET-FILLED POW Emilio’s A Million Chameleons at Soho Playhouse offers family-friendly, fabulously frenzied fun. Like many offerings aimed at, or at least semi-targeted, to kids, it�…

Here are three releases that celebrate songwriters, each from a long-careered, stylish female singer. Karen Mason mines the oeuvre of the team of John Kander and Fred Ebb. Including selections from Broadway sco…

If you walk through Manhattan's theatre district, you pass locations of theaters owned by a man who wrote many shows (music, lyrics, book) and directed, produced, and often performed in them. Stop at West 46th …

Reviews of new theatre and cabaret recordings.

Let's start with a recent Off-Broadway cast recording of a show that takes on religion, relationships, and right wing propaganda. Then it's love's ups and downs taking center stage for two singers with Jane Sch…

Maybe the musical Lucky Stiff wasn't enormously lucky the first time around, managing only 15 performances in its 1988 Off-Broadway debut, but it has continued to pop up over the years around the country, had a…

There's a place for a glib, undemanding, unpretentious old-school musical comedy that seeks to entertain and just wants to make someone happy. "Make Someone Happy" was the big song that came out of Do Re Mi (mu…

Reviews of three new cast recordings.

Reviews of albums from Stephen Pasquale & John Pizzarelli, Jan Cronin, Judy Whitmore, and Andy Pratt.

Reviews of cast recordings from Guys and Dolls, Wild About You, Walking with Bubbles, and The New Peggy.

I've been doing a deep dive into songs by Stephen Sondheim lately, gorging on the new recording of Merrily We Roll Along, and then, wanting more, I went merrily scavenging through my "waiting list" that include…

"New York, New York" OBC, Matthew Scott, "Other Lives", and Chloé Jean album reviews.

Two "Anything Goes" albums from JAY Records.

A Collective Cy: Jeff Harner Sings Cy Coleman and "Harmony" OBC cast recording reviewed.

New album reviews: "Lewberger: The Wizard of Friendship," Fanny Brice: Rare and Unreleased Recordings, and "The Flasher!" soundtrack.

"New York, New York" OBC, Matthew Scott, "Other Lives", and Chloé Jean album reviews.

Reviews of newly released albums: Eleri Ward; Legends of Broadway and Vaudeville; Chet Baker Blue Room.

et's open our minds and ears to alternate versions of classic musicals as presented in cast recordings: Camelot's recently opened revival and a complete South Pacific with a studio cast from 1996 reissued with …

Rob reviews the new OBC cast recordings for "Shucked" and "KPOP."

... Laurie Winer sees many sides to the icon, with her own eyes wide open rather than with myopic wide-eyed fandom, and with the advantage of 20/20 hindsight fueled by modern-day perspectives on stage represen…

Now we give due appreciation to duos–with a retrospective of the oeuvre of a long-standing, outstanding songwriting twosome, and then it's time for spare pairings of one singer accompanied by just one instrum…

Reviews of new Funny Girl cast recording, A Beautiful Noise OBC recording, plus Harry Connick Jr.'s newest holiday album, and The Skivvies' Sleigh My Name.

Part one of reviews of 2022 Christmas music releases, starting with Million Dollar Quartet Christmas.

Maury Yeston's song cycle and two sets of Sondheim songs: The calendar inching us to December is an apt cue to turn to December Songs, with Victoria Clark taking on Maury Yeston's one-character song cycle (wher…

The comet at hand is not the celestial object but a musical comedy with a title character named Regina Comet. Constellations and Under the Stars are the names of cool jazz releases. In any case, there's some he…

Miracle of The Music Man: The Classic American Story of Meredith Willson, while full of affection and appreciation, is also full of familiar tales and tidbits if you've read some of the others. The writer, howe…

When the feats of production are at their most dense and intense, there's a risk of upstaging the essence of the material's drama or delicacy–at least on the first or second hearing. And I suppose that would …

Full of fascinating facts, fond memories, musings, and proffered preferences, Peter Filichia's newest book may be a haven for the theatre maven unable to put it down. While perusing The Book of Broadway Musical…

Let's check out two London cast recordings of newer musicals–The Pleasure Garden and It Happened in Key West–and then turn our focus to southern California to report on two singers based there with standard…

In her candid memoirs, self-aware Mary Rodgers (1931-2014) states this about the princess protagonist of the show she worked on as composer in the late 1950s, Once Upon a Mattress: "Despite her exalted provenan…

Here's some "colorful" music: tweaked scores of The Unsinkable Molly Brown and 13 (music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown), and the concept recording for Anne of Green Gables, plus vocals by Carol Lipnik and Ja…

Reviews of "Joe Iconis & Family: Album" and others.

New cast albums from two Broadway shows of this season: "Girl from the North Country" and "Caroline, or Change."

Don't expect Funny Girl's twin sister, but more of a distant cousin who's so cute and enthused that one don't want to rain on her parade.

I’m so glad I landed in Oz with the delightful Harlem Rep’s reputable version of a beloved tale. It’s easy to get to this terrific stage show: just follow the yellow brick road. Oh, your starting point sh…

When art imitates life in the arts, there can be artistic differences. At the festival closing Sunday, August 6, two ambitious NYMF shows celebrate real-life artistic American men: one still famous (Liberace), …

What better message for a musical than, “Find and be your true self, despite pressures to be a clone, and you’ll be a happier true you.” Backbeard and Happily don’t have lyrics saying those exact words,…

Looking for musicals about teens and their troubles? See our Pick of the Week for info on Happily (August 3 & 4) at NYMF. And here are reviews at two that came by first: along first at the at two that came by …

Opening in NYC: Hal Prince saluted in The Prince of Broadway …..or do we mean Faith Prince who turns 60 this week (on Sunday)? Or The Student Prince, since that operetta’s composer, Sigmund Romberg, deserve…

This Friday, see a 3-man Little Shop of Horrors. Its composer, Alan Menken, who turned 68 this week, has more than a birthday to celebrate: the 35th anniversary of that musical’s off- Broadway opening …

Wow! At affordable prices, with top-notch stars, cabaret, class, and classic Cole come East for a feast: merry Mark Nadler launches a Cole Porter-centric series and his own custom brand of late-night mix of mu…