Gossip Central

Linda Lavin’s Debut at the Café Carlyle

Beloved Broadway and television star Linda Lavin plays the Café Carlyle as if she is the most gracious host, inviting guests into her living room for an intimate soiree. One of those guests on the night we attended was Hal Prince who directed her in Candide, a reminder that though she’s known more for dramatic roles, and comedy, she can sing. As chanteuse for her Café Carlyle debut she is warm, charming, providing a distinct comfort zone of classic tunes. Age-less in sparkling blue, she wants to know, “I look pretty good, don’t I?” as if she needed to ask!

Megan Hilty at the Café Carlyle: Incurably Soprano

Introducing her song, “Popular,” on her opening night at the Café Carlyle, Megan Hilty quipped, ““Wicked” is about a beautiful blond who helps others.” Tweaking the theme of the popular Broadway musical, making her Glinda the star, was a glimpse into the humor and charm Hilty brings to her intimate supper club act. At the Café Carlyle, it would be odd to have an evening of musical theater from Megan Hilty without this signature number, this being her fourth time at the Carlyle, she says proudly, “and I’m not pregnant.” She studied opera, she tells us, and learned she loved musical theater. Revealing the demands of the genre for a soprano, she goes low for the tune “Alto’s Lament,” obsessed with the songwriters Zina Goldrich and Marcy Heisler, and warning everyone, this would be a weird, eclectic set.

At Lunch with Priscilla Presley: HBO’s Elvis Presley: The Searcher

At lunch at the Rainbow Room recently, Priscilla Presley joined a panel of Elvis experts, journalists and filmmakers to illuminate "The King's" rags to riches career. Certainly an American original, Elvis Presley was a dreamboat to teens when he first began to sing, swiveling his hips on the Ed Sullivan Show. Of course they famously photographed him from the waist up for television’s primetime viewing. But on stage, that was something else. Music aficionados knew his sources, gospel, country, and rhythm and blues, idioms of the South. While many thought his moves brazen, no one contested his musicianship. Priscilla Presley, keeper of the flame who has worked well to maintain his legacy in the public eye, wants everyone to know he was a “Searcher,” the theme of the new two-part HBO documentary about him, that she hopes will force a reappraisal of his art.

MATA Celebrates 20

At the Paula Cooper Gallery for MATA’s 20^th birthday celebration, Mexican percussionist Diego Espinosa faced the challenge of performing a 1967 work by Philip Glass, with the world-class composer seated several feet away. Instrument: an ordinary caterer’s foldup table. Soon in the cathedral style space, the sound of rhythmic scratching rose to the skylights. The piece, “1 x 1,” had been created on a kitchen table, Espinosa explained later, and he memorized the notes, applying them freely. Crouching down, he added the metal of the table’s spindly legs to the act, improvising on every surface. If a definition of “new music” were needed to kick off MATA’s week of experimental music concerts, this opening performance illuminates.

Judy Collins at the Carlyle: “I’m the American Idol of 1957”

“I love you,” Judy Collins, a vision in white from mane to silvery toe, shouted out to Clive Davis, and to everyone present at the Café Carlyle for opening night of her enchanting show. She calls the evening “A Love Letter to Sondheim,” but her range of feeling, and vocals, encompasses all, even in her finale, “Send in the Clowns,” which she introduces with a most subtle political jab, “we know where the clowns really are.”

Her own composition, “Maria,” a nod to West Side Story, reminds her, “This land was made by dreamers.” Of course her career spans lots of political moments, as she knew Dylan, Stephen Stills, and Leonard Cohen. When she sings his “Suzanne,” her crystalline voice fills the room, and out pour memories of his coming to her with material because he knew she could sell a song: “What can I tell you about Leonard Cohen?” Her friend brought him to her, saying, “His poetry is obscure. He’s never going to go anywhere.” But, says Judy, he was the smartest one. He died the morning of the election.

John Pizzarelli’s Tribute to Nat King Cole at the Café Carlyle

For his run at the Café Carlyle this week, John Pizzarelli focuses on one of his inspirations, Nat King Cole, who would be 99. On guitar and vocals, John fronts an outstanding band of jazz musicians: Mike Karn on bass, Konrad Paszkudski on piano and “the sheriff” Andy Watson on drums for standards including “Paper Moon,” “Sweet Lorraine,” and “Straighten Up and Fly Right.” Yes, regulars wanted to know, where is Jessica? Well John’s wife and partner in music Jessica Molaskey was taking the night off. And how is Bucky? John’s father doesn’t make the rounds any more. Still, Bucky Pizzarelli is often the star of the lore and anecdotes by which this erudite and schmoozy performer laces together his not-to-be-missed show.

Escape to Margaritaville: Last Mango in Paradise

Brrr! It’s been so cold in New York, the tropical island in the new musical, Escape to Margaritaville at the Marquis Theater, is a vision of welcoming palm trees asway in a warm breeze. Who wouldn’t want to veg in Paradise, drink in hand, with hunks all around? But early on in this entertaining show of Jimmy Buffett’s greatest hits, you feel the grind for those who make it their life, dropouts like Tully (Paul Alexander Nolan) and his sidekick Brick (Eric Petersen), and Marley (Rema Webb) who owns the rundown resort where the guys serenade on guitar and tend bar, respectively. Serving the never ending ferry loads of vacationers sporting wide brim straw hats, Hawaiian shirts, and sandals, Tully for one has island fatigue when we meet him. Well, you know what they say about nirvana, it’s so boring. That is, until, and you can guess, a smart and snappy workaholic scientist named Rachel (Alison Luff) arrives with her best pal Tammy (Lisa Howard) who’s set for, not a fling but a flirt, on the eve of her wedding to the wrong guy.

Waiting for Alec Baldwin at the Guild Hall Gala

Yes, G. E. Smith previewed Guild Hall’s first annual guitar masters festival, to take place in July, but that was not the only music at this year’s winter celebration of Guild Hall. Honored for her career in the visual arts, Audrey Flack, brought her History of Art band to The Rainbow Room to perform her tribute to Jackson Pollock on banjo and spoons. Her feminist take on the iconic painter dovetails with the current Me Too movement, and as she is quick to tell you, “he came on but nothing happened. He was way too drunk.”

Ute Lemper: Rendezvous with Marlene at the Café Carlyle

“Music, champagne, dancing—wonderful things that make you forget, until you find something to remember,” Ute Lemper laughs dramatically perched on a barstool close to the Café Carlyle’s grand piano, skin showing through her skirt’s slit. She chides the audience, “Stop looking at my legs. They are not that good. I just know what to do with them.” This was opening night of Ute Lemper's show at the Café Carlyle, “Rendezvous with Marlene,” this week, and many of her fans attended to hear the leggy redhead recount the history that forms this tribute performance to the legendary Marlene.

Hello, Dolly with Bernadette Peters: The Best of Old New York

Now that’s a Broadway musical! One breathtaking moment in Hello, Dolly is Dolly, professional meddler, glamorous in red descending the stairs. As in the grand tradition of Dolly Levi before her, Bernadette Peters takes her turn in the superb revival of Hello, Dolly at the Schubert Theater, replacing the much-adored Bette Midler. At a recent performance, we did not miss Bette, as good as she was. Feisty, petite and taking Dolly as a practical businesswoman, Peters fits the role like a fine kid glove, dancing, and oh that voice. She’s a Broadway star without the diva posture and best of all, she has chemistry galore with Victor Garber as the curmudgeonly Horace Vandergelder. These Broadway musical veterans look like they are having a wonderful time in old New York, and watching them, so are we.