Rob Lester

FUN & DRAMATIC: A MATTER OF LAUGH AND BETH With her fans bursting into fond applause as she entered, sang, joked, or mentioned in passing a couple of shows on The Great White Way in which she’d made a great big splash, it’s no wonder that Beth Leavel treated her 54 Below attendees like old…

REWIND FIVE DECADES AND STIR THE MEMORIES On an August night at a nightclub in Manhattan, in a concert focused on musicals from 1975, Robert Cuccioli revealed that “the seed was planted” in his desire to make musical theatre his career when he saw and was inspired by John Cullum playing the lead in Shenandoah….

13,000 SHOWS LATER, FILICHIA STILL DRAWS A CROWD: THIS TIME, THE STARS CAME OUT FOR THE GUY WHO’S SEEN IT ALL The number in the next sentence is NOT a typographical error: Peter Filichia, who recently regaled an audience at 54 Below with anecdotes about theatre productions he attended (some of which he reviewed), has…

JOHN + SWING 7 = JAZZ HEAVEN Attend a set by John Pizzarelli and you’re set for a satisfying songfest, whether it’s a solo affair with just the mega-musical Mr. P. playing guitar and singing or sharing the stage with any number of other instrumentalists or singers. His latest of many nestings at Birdland was…

A LOOK BACK AT AN OLD MUSICAL ABOUT STRIKING OIL STRIKES IT RICH AS IT STRIKES ALL THE RIGHT NOTES   “Kid, when you need the crowd the tickets are hard to sell.” That’s a line from “Hey, Look Me Over,” the best-known (and arguably the best) number from the old musical Wildcat. Because of the…

FLYING HIGH, CAROLE DEMAS’S FIREFLY LIGHTS UP THE ROOM “I could say life is just a bowl of Jello / And appear more intelligent and smart / But I’m stuck like a dope with a thing called hope / And I can’t get it out of my heart” That habit of favoring hoping over moping…

SONGS OF MR. STROUSE IN THE HOUSE One of the greats of The Great White Way’s great golden age, Charles Strouse was the honoree in absentia in an especially splendid presentation on July 20, a look at the lesser-known works of the man who passed away this May, just a few weeks shy of turning 98….

THE HISTORY, HYSTERICAL HAPPENINGS & HAPPINESS THAT SPELL “BROADWAY” Broadway musicals feature a parade of talent which, like time, marches on. Sometimes it seems that parade of pizzazz passes by pretty quickly, but the talented stage veterans who were guests at Backstage Babble on July 7 at 54 Below didn’t seem to have lost their…

THE SHOW MUST GO ON, MOORE OR LESS She’s a singer, certainly a star, and a survivor. Melba Moore has had a decades-long career that includes musical theatre, film, TV, and recordings covering such genres as R&B, dance music, and pop, and disco. Her stage work began with a role in the legendary rock musical…

REED ALL ABOUT IT! SHAW BIZ WITH THE ANDERSON TWINS When jazz musicians of the current generation explore and embrace the repertoire of stars of the past, it can be an enjoyably educational experience. Such was the case when, along with four fine colleagues, Peter and Will Anderson turned their attention to bandleader Artie Shaw…

IN THE TRADITION OF THE GREAT JAZZ SINGERS When Ashley Pezzotti sings, it will only take a few notes for listeners new to her manner to gratefully discover that their ears will be caressed, rather than assaulted, by her timbre and talents. Some vocalists whose main asset is being long on loveliness and legato lines…