by Elizabeth Ahlfors   Michael Feinstein returned to Feinstein’s/54Below with Swingin’ With The Season, delivering timeless songs punctuated with jolts of surprise. Standing in front of the piano for most of the show, Feinstein was backed by musical director/pianist Tedd...

    by Elizabeth Ahlfors     In his fourth Christmas show at Feinstein’s 54/Below, Broadway baritone Norm Lewis’ Nutcracker Cool promises a warm, friendly, “safe place,” away from the fracas and noise of the outside world. It keeps that promise,...

    by Elizabeth Ahlfors     The road to women’s rights has not been smooth. It has been disjointed in battles for the right to vote, gain equality in virtually every area of employment, earn equal pay, gain the right to choose and be viewed with respect. Currently,...

  by: Elizabeth Ahlfors   Peeking through the door before the introductions, she looks happy, not at all nervous, smiling broadly as the audience in a packed Feinstein’s 54 Below are chatting, drinking, anticipating the main event, the “Queen of Cabaret,” Andrea...

    Review by Elizabeth Ahlfors    Some may scoff, but I can get weepy at the start of a vamp and cannot resist a good wrist-slasher song marathon with six distinctive performers from the theater and pop worlds. A like-minded audience braved a low-record freeze and icy streets...

    Review by Elizabeth Ahlfors      Broadway’s knockout sister act, Alice Ripley and Emily Skinner, are back at Feinstein’s/54 Below, still Unattached!, and ready to raise the roof. Opening and closing with “I Will Never Leave You,” their show-stopper from Henry...

   by Elizabeth Ahlfors   New York has its own Catagory 5 hurricane crashing into the Irish Arts Center with powerhouse waves of music, madcap energy and a fierce interpretation of the music of Belgian Jacques Brel. Her name is Camille O’Sullivan, and she is backed by a...

      By Elizabeth Ahlfors   Those of us who remember going to a Broadway musical back in the good old days know that singers like John Raitt and Patricia Morison performed without amplification.  Their pure voices reached the back of the house.  Scott Siegel’s annual...

      A Celebration of Sinatra’s Timeless Hit Songs!   by Elizabeth Ahlfors   Frank Sinatra ruled popular music in the last half of the 20th century and his style and influence still rules today, not only with his singular interpretations of the Great American...

  A Celebration of the Music of The Beatles         by Elizabeth Ahlfors     If you haven’t seen Barb Jungr and John McDaniel’s state-of-the-art tribute show, Come Together: A Celebration of the Music of The Beatles, it’s hard to fully...

  Here they are! Take a look at the Best Five of the 2016 Season in Theater and Cabaret. It’s the end of 2016 . . . hard to believe it raced by so quickly with all its turbulence. Theater Pizzazz writers, in both theater and cabaret, were extremely busy seeing many, many shows. Each one...

       by Elizabeth Ahlfors   Politically and traditionally, “I Want To Be In America” is relevant today, a show recognizing the valuable contribution of immigrants to the United States. Depend on Scott Siegel to make that happen at the Metropolitan Room with...

    by Elizabeth Ahlfors     Janice Hall mesmerized the Metropolitan Room audience with the revisit of her 2010 show, Grand Illusions: The Music of Marlene Dietrich, delving into the songs Dietrich sang, not imitating her but evoking the chimera of this fascinating...

      By Elizabeth Ahlfors, July 7, 2016     “The Times They Are A-Changin’,” wrote Bob Dylan. Though times may be a-changin,’ chances are that many songs from your past, perhaps “In My Life” and “Can’t Take My Eyes Off...

      Review by Elizabeth Ahlfors     Christine Andreas takes a trip back to the days when a night on the town brought you from the Story Club to the Cotton Club, with swanky gowns, smoky rooms, swinging bands and a grab-bag of swellegant songs. The show tunes and pop...

    by Elizabeth Ahlfors   At Feinstein’s/54 Below charismatic Liliane Montevecchi opened her show slyly emerging from the back of the house. With a flirtatious air, she strolled among the tables, singing Charles Aznavour’s, “Je Cherche Un Billionaire.”...

  By Elizabeth Ahlfors     Presented by New York’s Fault Line Theatre, playwright Nick Gandiello’s The Wedge Horse examines adolescents in a contemporary zeitgeist with all the trauma of sudden loss, a splintering family and in-your-face world upheavals witnessed by...

      From all of us – – writers, photographers, filmmakers and behind the scenes geniuses at Theater Pizzazz – – to all of you . . .  we wish you health, peace and a happy New Year! Thanks for supporting us and helping us grow.   Sandi Durell...

    By Elizabeth Ahlfors   On Broadway, Andrea Burns is currently seen playing Gloria Estefan’s controlling mother in On Your Feet!, but this month, she delivered an engaging look at her own vibrant, saucy personality. She stepped into the spotlight at...

  Piaf! The Show at Symphony Space – October 23rd   By Elizabeth Ahlfors   “Whatever happens, regret nothing.” With this theme stamping the image of Edith Piaf, chanteuse Anne Carrere, brought to Symphony Space her homage to the legendary voice of France. In...

    By Elizabeth Ahlfors   Traveling with your aunt may not be your idea of wild and crazy fun, unless your auntie is Mame. Henry Pulling, a mild-mannered retired bank manager, was lucky enough to meet his own peripatetic Aunt Augusta, who turned his life around when they met....

        By Elizabeth Ahlfors   Opera comes to cabaret and versatile Jason Graae is the one to bring it. How versatile is he? Graae’s resume includes oboist, Broadway actor, comic, singer, opera, musicals, dramas in roles as varied as Harry Houdini in Ragtime,...

                              By Elizabeth Ahlfors     The New Morality, a frothy comedy of manners, comments on a society advancing toward World War I and a drastically different world. The heroine, Betty Jones,...

                                                            By Elizabeth Ahlfors   Outside Town Hall there was a heat wave and inside the...

                By Elizabeth Ahlfors       “Your identity has nothing to do with your passport.” An observation that proves increasingly valid today.   In a U.S. premiere at the Horizon Theatre Rep, Jalila Baccar’s...