FINDING FELICIA (PART 1)
In Search of the Jazz Singer Felicia Carter
Barry Singer (on The ARTS and Otherwise)
Music - Theater - Musical Theater - Books. And Otherwise
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"STEPPIN' OUT:" Another New eBook & A First Chance to Subscribe
I used to rue the late-night live music scenes in New York that I had missed.
Hear Me Talkin' To You: "LA CAGE AUX FOLLES" at Encores!
When I heard that Encores! was going to revive La Cage au Folles to conclude its 2026 season, I thought (I confess): Why on earth, why? We need something right now way more confrontational than that period piece.
ROBERT KIMBALL: MY N.Y. TIMES OBITUARY FOR A MENTOR
I grew up reading Robert Kimball to learn more about all of the songwriters I most admired — Gershwin, Porter, Berlin, Rodgers and Hart.
"BLACK AND BLUE" RETURNS
BLACK AND BLUE: The Life and Lyrics of Andy Razaf has now been out of print far, far longer than it was in print.
THE TONYS: Meh
The Tony Awards are a week away and … I got nothin’.
Encores!: "THE WILD PARTY" Unmasked
On the cusp of a new millennium, in the summer of 1999, I wrote about something really silly for the New York Times Arts & Leisure section.
MASTERVOICES: "Sins and Grace"
I had a small epiphany at Alice Tully Hall recently but it passed.
"HIGH SPIRITS:" 'Encores!' Revives Itself
Encores! pulled off not one but four revivals this month with its singular production of a little-known yet eminently worthy 1964 musical called High Spirits.
"TWO STRANGERS (CARRY A CAKE ACROSS NEW YORK" & "MAYBE HAPPY ENDING:" Two-By-Two
Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) feels like a wave of the future.
"OEDIPUS:" The Candidate Self-Smeared
Oedipus is a tough one.
"SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS:" Match me, Sidney
I walked into MasterVoices’ recent concert revival of the musical Sweet Smell of Success at Jazz @ L.C.’s Rose Theater carrying a lot of baggage; or, you might say, bags from the river.
"QUEEN OF VERSAILLES:" The Country Takes A Bow
I called Stephen Schwartz to talk about Queen of Versailles after I saw it.
"LITTLE BEAR RIDGE ROAD:" Grasping For Life Behind A Screen
Sometimes you turn up the TV to hear better; other times, to hear better, you just turn it off.
"BAT BOY:" A Bloody Fountain of Youth
I am not really the audience for Bat Boy: The Musical, so I’m writing about its recent high-octane revival at Encores! as an outsider looking in — kinda like Bat Boy himself but without the fangs.
"ORATORIO FOR LIVING THINGS:" Sing Out Loramentum
Oratorio for Living Things, by the recently-MacArthur-awarded composer Heather Christian, has its own antecedents but is still unlike almost anything I’ve heard or seen in the musical theater.
"RAGTIME:" NOW!
The devastating new production of Ragtime that just opened at Lincoln Center Theater has hurled me back in time to the original Ragtime, which I first saw almost thirty years ago up in Toronto, where Garth Drabinsky, the show’s future-jailbird producer, first mounted it.
TROUBLE? Right Here in River City?
We are back.
Two Good Books: "SEEING THROUGH" & "THEATER KID"
This is not a book review.
"LOOK FOR THE SILVER LINING:" SHEILA JORDAN N.Y. TIMES OBITUARY
I found writing about Sheila Jordan cathartic.