EDGE New York City

Time to catch up on cabaret in Manhattan again in this second installment of EDGE’s new monthly feature, a toast to the clubs and performers embracing classic and new songs in a close-up manner. I’m ready for my close-up.....Some performers I’ve enjoyed in the past and can happily recommend are heading back to cabarets early this fall. And I’ve had my first encounters with a couple of new talents reported on below. If you’re interested in joining the Manhattan Association Of Cabarets and Clubs (MAC) yourself as a cabaret lover or one actually toiling in the fields, their meeting is September 18th at 6 pm at Judson Church next to Washington Square Park.....The same night debuts a new series of shows called Cabaret On Demand. It will prove that cabaret doesn’t have to involve a night club with a two-drink minimum, which is good news if you don’t especially care about mixing booze with your blues and ballads or worry about tipping and getting tipsy. These concert-style programs will be at B-PAC, the Baruch College’s Performing Arts Center, Engelman Recital Hall, 55 Lexington Avenue at East 25th Street. Tickets are $20 but it’s free if you’re a student at Baruch. There will be three events this fall, the last being a December 4th "Cavalcade" with 13-count ’em, 13- performers. The shows are being put together by talented singer Anthony Santelmo Jr. , who does admirable work in his shows where he Seeks Out The Tunes, coming up with some treasures by newer songwriters. He’ll be doing the seek and ye shall find bit as the featured performer on October 16th, along with guests. But first, on September 18th, he’ll be a guest along with Pamela Jane Myers and comedy star Nancy Witter/ when the featured performer is Tommy Femia As Judy Garland. Tommy’s long been over the rainbow and over the top as the icon, still holding court late nights on Saturdays at the popular cabaret Don’t Tell Mama on West 46th Street.

.....Speaking of that club, this month among its attractions, you have your choice of two Seths. Seth Bisen Hersh is there this weekend with his self-proclaimed Neurotic Tendencies as he and others presents his original material -- and Seth Rudetsky who has his own very funny tendencies continues his Thursday 6:30 pm Broadway Chatterbox dishfests with theater luminaries. The $10 cover charge goes to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS....Meanwhile, Don’t Tell Mama’s impressive impresario and ever-impudent performer in his own right, Sidney Myer, will be toasted and roasted (semi-gently) with love from cabaret regulars this Sunday night September 10 at The Lucille Lortel Theatre on Christopher Street. He’ll receive the new cabaret award that was named after him, The Sidney, in this last of six celebrations put together by singer Carolyn Montgomery. Dynamic and delightful Julie Reyburn is the co-host (with Jay Rogers from the gay romp of a revue When Pigs Fly, etc.). I caught Julie twice recently, among other singers, in the first two shows at a new space for cabaret in the lower level of the DR2 Theatre on East 15th Street. They’re calling it The D Lounge and have plans for many Coffee House events: cabaret folks, new songs, new writings. Oh, and they have beverages more intoxicating than coffee.

The Metropolitan Room, which I guess I have to stop calling "the new club in town" because it’s well past its neophyte stage and has established a solid reputation, continues to book acts I find scribbled in my calendar, pulling me back in. Franc D’Ambrosio’s Broadway is exciting, full-voiced theater singing on the CD and DVD of the same name and now Franc, veteran of a zillion and a half performances as Phantom Of The Opera comes to that club September 21-24. The day before opening, there’s a free preview with him at the Any Wednesday series of weekly concerts at Tower Records, Lincoln Center.

(Note:( After we first posted this information, it was announced that Franc D’Ambrosio has to cancel engagements for a few weeks due to vocal-related illness. His Sept. 22 slot at The Metropolitan Room will be filled by comedienne Nancy Witter. His in-store free concert slot at Tower Records/ 66th St. & Broadway, 6 pm on Wednesday, September 20th will be filled two singer-actors: the versatile MAC Award-winning singer Miles Phillips and Jonathan Rayson, who played the leads on Broadway in "Little Shop Of Horrors" and "A Year With Frog & Toad" and whose album of ’70s songs, "Shiny And New," is exceptional.)

On September 26, the Metropolitan Room will be graced by a singer I especially like, the jazzy Catherine Dupuis-with a pianist I especially like, the jazzy Russ Kassoff, who has a debut CD I especially like, called Somewhere. You get the idea: they’re cool.

And now for something completely different... Two fierce and fearless performers I saw recently have in-your-face acts and will take you for a wild ride if you dare. Camille O’Sullivan at Pier 17, South Street Seaport, is a force to be reckoned with for sure. Yikes! One moment she’s collapsing after wrenchingly wailing one of the dramatic Jacques Brel songs that’s heavier than the combined weight of the packed audience in a way that make you want to turn your banished cell phone back on and dial the suicide hotline for her. Then, suddenly she’s roaring with laughter-or just roaring. Before you know it, she’s giving an audience member a lap dance and then breaks your heart and is crying real tears with a tender ballad, Look Mummy, by Dillie Keane of Fascinating Aida. With a voice that can be a rocking or theatrical powerhouse or a wistful whisper and a strutting style that flaunts her sexuality, she could be the love child of Edith Piaf and Mick Jagger. She’s accompanied by a hot band she alternately eggs on or gestures to pull back, as she goes on her roller coaster rides. She’ll be "a bit much" for some, mesmerizing for others. Boring she’s not. Skilled she is. Despite the act’s high-impact visual aspects (great lighting, intense facial expressions, sashaying about in tight costumes) it’s surprisingly well captured in a CD recorded live, with the same name as the act: La Fille du cirque. The forthcoming DVD of course will give a fuller sense of the high drama. Remaining performances are September 13th and 19th.

The other daring performer didn’t have his next gig booked for sure at press time, but remember the name Booth Daniels. He’s got an act that lives up to its name: Unconventional. I caught him in a return engagement at Rose’s Turn on Grove Street in Greenwich Village. Billed as "a cabaret...sort of..," it also has plenty of the word for which this website is named: EDGE. Presenting himself as an outsider with issues, Booth rants and raves to great effect, with tongue in cheek, as he goes through some mostly high-energy pop songs that let him show his humor and his humanity. With a few tunes by Ben Folds (he opens with a smart There’s Always Someone Cooler Than You), he’s particularly effective. He playfully tosses off many an aside that must be called snide but knows how to jeer in a way that makes his audience cheer. Also an actor, he comes off as a likeable but exasperated Everyman: one for whom you’d happily buy a gift certificate for an anger management class. But then he probably wouldn’t be so much fun. Booth could benefit from including a couple more varied tunes and serious pieces, as his handling of Randy Newman’s sensitive ballad called Marie shows he can perhaps be just as fearless in baring his soul. And I think he has the potential to use more colors and shadings in his voice; the showmanship and energy get more attention. "Unconventional" follows one of the most important conventions of good cabaret: connect with your audience by presenting what’s special about you. He’s awfully entertaining.

The latest intriguing invitation I got is for something else that also sounds kind of different. It’s at The Duplex around the corner from Rose’s Turn on Christopher Street, and it’s called The ’O’ Train with a mix of gay humor and music in a one-man show by Oren Stenesh-a touch of musical comedy and apparently a healthy serving of merry madness. So, I’m off to see that as I turn in this column. It’s just running two nights for now: September 7th and 8th. So, I don’t want to miss the boat (or I guess I should say I don’t want to miss the train.)