Carolyn Leigh News

Though Julie Wilson was certainly not the first and by all means not the last great singer to have her heart stomped upon by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht's 'Surabaya Johnny,' there is no one I can name more deserving to claim it as their signature song.  (Okay, maybe Lotte Lenya, but you know that's a special case.)  Though for many years now the 83-year-old beloved cabaret star has been singing songs less and less and speaking them more and more, there are few who can match her for painting vivid word pictures and bringing complex dramatic subtext to a lyric.  With pianist Christopher Denny doing a marvelous job of softly supporting her many pauses and tempo changes, Wilson's crushing performance of Marc Blitzstein's translation, played to a pin-drop silent crowd on opening night of her new show at The Metropolitan Room, is an emotionally striking portrayal of a woman who can explode with anger at the mistreatment she endures from her faithless lover while moments later barely control a sob at the admission that she still loves him.  Through the years I've seen Julie Wilson sing 'Surabaya Johnny' many times but her performance that night was the best I've ever seen or heard from anyone.  (And as is typical of her modesty, she actually introduced the song by complimenting Donna Murphy's performance of it on Broadway in LoveMusik.)  She follows it with a devilishly humored 'Mack the Knife' (also Blitzstein's translation) that builds so slowly and precisely that she goes through the entire song twice in order to hit the climax.  I heard no complaints.

Craig Zadan and Neil Meron--the producers of film version of Hairpray--will bring a movie musical of Peter Pan to the small screen

Journalist and playwright Deborah Grace Winer was recently named Series Artistic Director of the 92nd Street Y's legendary American Songbook series Lyrics & Lyricists (beginning with the 2009 season). This month, she comes to the 92nd Street Y as host and artistic director of L&L's I've Got Your Number: Romance, the Rat Pack and Carolyn Leigh, which runs March 29-31. Winer's Carolyn Leigh tribute features vocalists Debby Boone, Loston Harris, James Naughton, and Karen Ziemba. John Oddo is music director, and Mark Waldrop is stage director.

The 92nd Street Y has named Deborah Grace Winer, journalist, playwright and author of several books on the topic of American song, Series Artistic Director of the Y's long-running American Songbook series Lyrics & Lyricists.

Brent Barrett, Diana Canova, Tyne Daly, and David Garrison are all set as guest artists for 'Life Is a Cabaret: A Tribute to Fred Ebb,' to be presented as part of the 92nd Street Y's Lyrics and Lyricists series running February 23-25. Rob Fisher will be the guest artistic and musical director for the evening, which will salute Ebb, the lyricist of such shows as Cabaret, Chicago, Zorba!, and Kiss of the Spider Woman.

'Come to the Place where Dreams Are Born!' This all-new production of J.M. Barrie's classic tale is presented with great imagination and respect for the creators of this enchanting story.

The Metropolitan Room (34 West 22 St. between 5th & 6th) announces its upcoming September concert schedule. Guests include Suzanne Carrico, Jimmy James, Penny Fuller, Cary Hoffman and Marilyn Maye.

Elegant cabaret star Karen Akers returns to New York for her highly anticipated eighth consecutive spring engagement at the legendary Oak Room at the Algonquin Hotel

The Metropolitan Room has announced its March schedule of cabaret performers.

A new musical revue at Birdland salutes women songwriters from Katherine Lee Bates and Nora Bayes to Donna Summer and Stevie Nicks

Philadelphia's Walnut Street Theatre has announced its 2007-2008 season

Henry Winkler, the 'Happy Days' star who last appeared on Broadway in The Dinner Party, has taken on the role of swashbuckling villain Captain Hook in a London holiday pantomime of Peter Pan.

Her Song, a revue celebrating the work of female composers and lyricists, will open at Birdland on September 24th

Reviews of 3 male vocal CDS

Craig Zadan and Neil Meron--the producers of the upcoming film version of Hairpray--will bring a movie musical of Peter Pan to the small screen

Due to his commitment to the upcoming Simon Cowell series 'America's Got Talent,' 'Baywatch' star David Hasselhoff will no longer be playing Captain Hook in a London holiday pantomime of Peter Pan

David Hasselhoff has been cast as Captain Hook in a London pantomine production of Peter Pan, which will run during the holiday season

FEINSTEIN'S AT THE REGENCY, the nightclub proclaimed 'Best of New York' by New York Magazine and a 'throwback to the classic era of supper club entertainment' by Time Out New York, will feature a return engagement of Tony Award nominated Broadway star REBECCA LUKER from May 9 - 20.

San Francisco heralds in a highly-anticipated season of pre-Broadway premieres and special engagements, including 'Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake,' 'Slava's Snowshow,' and 'A Chorus Line.'

In her farewell performance as Peter Pan, Tony Award nominee and two-time Olympic Gymnast Cathy Rigby stars in the classic family musical version of the immortal James M. Barrie novel, PETER PAN. Celebrating the 100th anniversary of this timeless story about the boy who won't grow up, PETER PAN is currently touring the country.