The new season of the Tudor City Greens FREE outdoor concert series continues on Tuesday, August 3^rd at 6pm. (Rain date: Wednesday, August 4th) This event will feature performers from Broadway and the New York City cabaret scene. The concert will be hosted by Tudor City resident, Broadway and cabaret performer Raissa Katona Bennett (Phantom of the Opera, Chess). Performers scheduled to appear in the concert – entitled A Night at the Opera: Vocal and Instrumental Classics - are Willy Falk (Tony nominee for Miss Saigon), the cast of I’ve Got a Little Twist (Bistro Award), Bistro and MAC Award winner Mark Janas, The Metropolis Opera Project, Sarah Rice (the original Johanna in Broadway’s Sweeney Todd), cabaret artist Maureen Taylor and composer/lyricist Bill Zeffiro.

Like so many million other schoolchildren from New York in the 1970s, your humble writer and his siblings would race home every day to watch "The Magic Garden," the daily half-hour TV show presented by co-hostesses Carole Demas and Paula Janis on WPIX-TV Channel 11; therein, the two took their throng of youthful spectators through a magical thirty minutes of song, stories, short plays, lessons about the world, and such characters as Sherlock the pink squirrel and Flapper the bird (both given virtual life by the great puppeteer Cary Antebi) as well as journeys with the Storybox, the Chucklepatch, and the Magic Tree growing lollipop sticks.

Although Joe Pintauro may not be a playwright who instantaneously leaps into the consciousness when discussing the modern masters, it's admirable to think that nearly every piece with his name on it ever presented for the stage has made a sizable splash in its debut, and more often than not in revivals as well. A recent example of same is his Raft of the Medusa, presented by the Secret Theatre in Astoria and not only gloriously directed by Alberto Bonilla, but featuring one of the most talented ensemble of actors enjoyed by this writer in many a moon. One might think, in our present age of medical advances towards combating HIV/AIDS,

On Friday, July 23rd, at the Honorary Golden Pineapple Awards of International CringeFest '10, the coveted golden fruit will be served up to: Broadway & Off-Broadway playwright-actor Charles Busch, Broadway & Off-Broadway playwright Israel Horovitz, Off-Broadway playwright & Gay Rights activist Doric Wilson, BackStage's Editor-at-Large Sherry Eaker & Dixon Place's Founder & Executive Director Ellie Covan. The event takes place in the Grand Theatre at the Producers' Club. Admission for the evening's theme, Sex Encounters of a Disturbed Mind, directed by Robert Bartley & starring Richard Pryor Jr.,

Jim Caruso is pleased to announce the Birdland debut of Rebecca Spencer and Philip Fortenberry on Monday, July 26 at 7pm.  This event will be part of the long-running Broadway at Birdland concert series. Rebecca Spencer & Philip Fortenberry perform as solo artists, and as a duo with symphonies and in major concert hall and performing arts center engagements, nationally.  Each performer has Broadway, Las Vegas and Hollywood credits, and their collaboration is a magical exchange that stimulates the mind and enriches the soul. 

Hello, NiteLife Exchange Readers!  Before you read on, please look at the logo of this website.  You’ll notice the slogan “It’s All About Entertainment,” not   “It’s All About Cabaret.”  On this site, you’ll find Penny Landau’s irreverent column “The TV Junkie,” as well as reviews and articles about current plays, CDs, web sites, etc. This is a smart policy.  If cabaret is to take its rightful place on the entertainment food chain, it needs to mix with the other items on the menu! 

Tony Award Winner Joe DiPietro's latest offering (he wrote Memphis), puts a new spin on the real first couple and procreation. With Angels Sarah (Jennifer Blood) and Michael (Nehal Joshi) as narrators never far behind, droll matter-of-fact God (Adam Kantor) tells it like it is in a swinging pop opening "God, It's Good To Be Me" – "when you are the architect, you get respect!"

Hello, NiteLife Exchange Readers!  First off, I’d like to thank those of you who sent me comments on my first piece last week entitled Sondheim at the Cabaret.  The response was gratifying, and leads me to believe there’s a need for a column that puts the nightly events in the cabaret world in a larger perspective.  Please know that the blurb at the bottom of your screen is for real – if you have a strong (or weak!) reaction to my musings, I’d like to hear from you.  And do pass on the link to those you think might be interested.  Now, on to the show that’s my jumping-off point of the week.  Let’s hope the pool I jump into holds water!