Theater News

New York City Nightlife Preview

Betty Buckley, Christine Ebersole, Sutton Foster, Sam Harris, Florence Henderson, Jane Krakowski, Chita Rivera, and Lea Salonga are among the stars on the club scene this season.

Jane Krakowski
(© Soul Brother/FilmMagic)
Jane Krakowski
(© Soul Brother/FilmMagic)

The Great White Way’s upcoming season may be full of stars, but there are plenty of other leading luminaries to be found around town in the city’s myriad clubs and cabarets in the coming months.

Feinstein’s at Loews Regency has a particularly star-studded line-up on tap, starting with Tony Award winner Tyne Daly in The Second Time Around (January 19-30). Next up, Tony winner Betty Buckley will present a brand-new show entitled For the Love of Broadway (February 2-27), followed by Marilyn Maye (March 2-13), Jo Dee Messina (March 16-20), Chubby Checker (March 23-March 27), Sheera Ben-David (March 31-April 3), Linda Eder (April 6-17), Will and Anthony Nunziata (April 20-24), and Tony winner (and 30 Rock star) Jane Krakowski (May 4-15), who will return to the club to celebrate the release of her new CD.

Other performers scheduled to appear at Feinstein’s this season include Eric Michael Gillett (January 15-16), Daryl Glenn (January 17), Sue Matsuki (January 31), Gregg Edelman (February 7-8), Ashley Brown (February 14), Ryan Silverman (February 15),Ugly Betty co-stars Michael Urie and Becki Newton (February 21), Howard McGillin (March 21), Jenna Esposito (March 22), Christopher Fitzgerald (March 28), Megan Hilty (April 26), and Louis St. Louis (May 24).

The Café Carlyle is the hottest spot in town right now thanks to Elaine Stritch, who is back at the club with an all-new show, Singin’ Sondheim…One Song At A Time (through February 2). Proving her peerless skills as performer, Stritch dazzles with one-of-a-kind renditions of such Sondheim classics as “Send in the Clowns,” “Rose’s Turn,” “Everybody Says Don’t,” and “Every Day a Little Death.” Up next will be Tony winner Christine Ebersole with musical director John Oddo (February 3-20), John Standing performing an evening of Noel Coward (February 23-March 6), Tony winner Lea Salonga (March 9-27), singer Judy Collins (May 4-June 12), and Tony winner Sutton Foster (June 15-26).

The Algonquin Hotel’s Oak Room has kicked off its season in style with the superb mother-son duo of Sandy Stewart and Bill Charlap (through January 16). The first-class parade of entertainment will continue with appearances by Steve Ross in a salute to Fred Astaire (January 19-February 6), 2010 Nightlife Award winners Eric Comstock and Barbara Fasano (February 9-March 6), actor Avery Brooks (February 14), cabaret favorites KT Sullivan and Mark Nadler (March 9-April 10), and Maude Maggart (April 13-May 8).

Chita Rivera
(© Joseph Marzullo/WENN)
Chita Rivera
(© Joseph Marzullo/WENN)

Lincoln Center’s American Songbook series will kick off with a concert by legendary pop vocalist Marianne Faithful on January 13, followed by concerts by Broadway veterans Martha Plimpton (January 16), Dee Dee Bridgewater (February 17), Nellie McKay (February 18), Leslie Uggams (February 20), Rebecca Luker (March 2).Jeanine Tesori (March 5), and Chita Rivera (March 6). The always-exciting series will also feature David Hidalgo & Louie Perez of Los Lobos (January 15), Rufus Wainwright, Bill Frisell, Van Dyke Parks, Marc Anthony Thompson, Roy Nathanson, and Steven Bernstein in Hal Willner’s concert, I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues? (January 27), Suzanne Vega (January 28), St. Vincent (January 29), Broadway veterans Norm Lewis, Michael Esper, and de’Adre Aziza in composer/lyricist Michael Friedman’s Adventures in Reality (January 30), Dirty Projectors (February 19), Gabriel Kahane (March 3), and Todd Snider (March 4).

Down at Birdland, audiences will get a chance to see such top-notch acts as jazz singer Jane Monheit (through January 16), Australian stage star Caroline O’Connor (January 17), and Farah Alvin, Stephanie J. Block, Carlos Encinias, Ann Harada, Lauren Kennedy, Kate Reinders, Noah Weisberg, Michael Winther, and Chip Zien in Wordland, which celebrates the lyrics of the extremely talented and versatile Amanda Yesnowitz, who will host the fun-filled evening (January 18).

Also on tap for the midtown club are Natalie Weiss (January 24), Darryl Jovan Williams (January 25), the Tierney Sutton Band (January 26-30), Limbsakimbo, featuring Lindsay Mendez, Mike Aarons, and Chris Fenwick (January 31), Sam Harris (February 1), Nicole Parker (February 7), John Pizzarelli & the Swing 7 (March 9-13), Jason Robert Brown (April 12-15), Terence Blanchard (May 11-15), Karrin Allyson (May 18-22), and Stacey Kent (June 1-5).

Finally, head over to Joe’s Pub, where the eclectic and electric goings on include Tony nominee David Pittu as fictional alter-ego Jacob Sterling in What the World Needs Now (January 17-18), Lauren Ambrose and the Leisure Class (January 21), Sutton Foster (January 24), real-life newlyweds Matt Cavenaugh and Jenny Powers along with a host of stars in Rated RSO: The Music & Lyrics of Ryan Scott Oliver (January 25), Next to Normal co-stars Jennifer Damiano and Adam Chanler-Berat (February 3), Florence Henderson (February 12-13), Hair co-stars Caissie Levy and Kacie Sheik (February 15), Tony Award-winning composer Tom Kitt (February 22), and famed vocal group The Tonics (February 28, March 1, and March 8).