Some news items you might have missed: • The Advocate: A new report from GLAAD found a sharp increase in the number of LGBTQ+ Americans reporting they’ve experienced discrimination. Seventy percent of respondents in this year’s study say they’ve experience discrimination due to their sexual orientation or gender identity. That’s up from 59 percent in 2021 and 46 percent in 2020. Continue reading “Study Shows LGBTQ Discrimination Is Up + More News”
New Music From Faultlines, Travis Moser & Citizen Queen
Faultlines – Ashley Morgan and John Flanagan (photo: Steve Limones)
Cabaret artist Travis Moser recently released a new EP, So Many People: The Sondheim Sessions, which “explores the experience of 2020 and the effects of COVID-19 through the lens of the music and lyrics of Stephen Sondheim.” The five-track EP, a collaboration with music director/pianist Drew Wutke, includes new takes on Sondheim tunes from Merrily We Roll Along, Follies, Dick Tracy, and Saturday Night. “This collection of songs represents my feelings and emotions over the past 6 months through the lens of Stephen Sondheim,” shares Moser. “Family, friends, politics, self-identity, and love…Sondheim says it better than I ever could.” The stripped-down collection of songs, created entirely by queer artists, was done as a homage to the albums of the great Julie Wilson. The EP is available on all digital download/streaming sites.
The all-girl group Citizen Queen drops its first original single, “Call Me Queen.” Gays love talented, strong female singing groups, and this pop/R&B track is wrapped firmly in self-empowerment and swagger. “These brilliant young women are exactly what a girl group should be in 2020,” says songwriter Justin Tranter, who co-wrote the song. “Diverse, inclusive, passionate, loving and truly dedicated to every detail of their craft. They don’t take their extraordinary vocal gifts for granted for one second.” Dressed in stunning outfits embellished with Swarovski crystals, the music video showcases the girls’ powerful vocals and dance skills as they prepare their heist to reclaim their rightful crowns. “Call Me Queen” is available on all digital sites now.
My Favorite Thing Today: Broadway Star Lee Roy Reams In Concert
Broadway star Lee Roy Reams
Lee Roy also directed the acclaimed 1995 revival of Hello, Dolly! with Channing (and me!) which was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical. Lee Roy asked me to handle the choreography duties for the post-Broadway national tour of Dolly! and since then we’ve staged the show together several times in major regional theatre companies across the country. Each time, it was just as Cornelius Hackl tells his Dolly! sidekick, “It’s an adventure, Barnaby!” I won’t go on as I want you to hit the play button below and enjoy Lee Roy’s masterful storytelling as he sings his way through his incredible career. Authentic, earnest, captivating and magical – just a few of the superlatives that come to mind after watching this true artist weave his spell. I was especially moved by the medley from Dolly! beginning at the 31:00 mark. And can I say – I wish we all could look and sound so good at 78-years-old. #LikeAFineWine Big applause for Alex Rybeck’s robust and artful musical direction and accompaniment as he does what he does so very well. Enjoy.
New Music: Michael Longoria Wants To Kiss ‘Like They Do In The Movies’
Michael Longoria (image via Skollar PR)
TRR: I understand you grew up on Mariachi music. How did that, as a musical foundation, form how you listen to or approach music? ML: Because I didn’t speak Spanish, I had to learn Mariachi songs by hearing and emotion. My parents would teach me how to pronounce the words and then explain the general idea. The music and melody would reveal what the true meaning was without me knowing the words. I somehow would know what to feel when belting out a classic Mariachi tune. TRR: Is there a favorite song on the new album? ML: Besides “Kiss Me,” which is my favorite because it’s about my own life, I love singing “It Must Have Been Love” from the movie Pretty Woman. It’s a heartbreaking song about being alone on Christmas after a breakup. 
Michael Longoria releases his new album ‘Like They Do In The Movies’ (image via Skollar PR)
TRR: With years of experience on stage in long-running shows and concert work, do you approach studio recording projects differently? If so, how? ML: Yes! When I’m recording a song it’s just me and an engineer after we record the band. I’m in a small sound box singing my feelings all alone with an amazing engineer recording my every breath. It’s a very intimate and emotional journey when you record like that. When you listen to Like They Do In The Movies, you are hearing into my deepest emotions. It’s not a performance I’d give under pressure for a 2,000 seat theater. It’s more of a one on one singing just you and me vibe. TRR: This is your third studio album. With that experience now, is there any advice ‘2019 Michael Longoria’ would tell ‘2016 Michael Longoria’ about recording an album? ML: Keep writing! Tell your story. Someone will need to hear what you are going through and it will let them know they are not alone. Like They Do In The Movies, produced by Grammy nominee and 12-time Emmy Award winner Michael Croiter, is available now in stores and online. Longoria celebrates the new release with concerts in New York (last night at The Green Room 42), and in San Francisco on October 16 at Feinstein’s At The Nikko. Follow Michael Longoria on Instagram here.
NYC: New Monthly Variety Show “Bazaaz! A Sequined Variety”
Rick Skye, who won the 2017 MAC Award for “Best Impersonation,” will star in and host Don’t Tell Mama’s new monthly variety show Bazaaz! A Sequined Variety.
Award-winning impersonations, guest performers, and Skye’s Kit Kat Boyz will all be featured in the new show, as well as Skye’s celebrated impersonation as Liza Minnelli singing in his own voice.
Bazaaz! A Sequined Variety will open on Friday, October 27 at 7:00PM.
Via press release:
Skye is well-known in London and New York for having written and performed in a series of outrageously comic, award-winning shows including The Flip Side of Neil Sedaka, which earned him a Bistro Award, A Slice O’Minnelli and The War of the Mama Roses. His show Its Madame with an E! played Atlantic City and Las Vegas and brought him to television where he appeared on Watch What Happens, Live! With Andy Cohen and Celebrity Apprentice as well as Fox & Friends and the WB. His most recent success was Judy and Liza Together Again which closed after an unprecedented seven-year run at Don’t Tell Mama’s and garnered two MAC Awards.
He has performed in many shows as Liza Minnelli in a number of hit shows that played internationally. He co-starred with Steven Brinberg in the London production of Barbra and Liza LIVE! which played the Dublin Gay Theater Festival and he toured with Liza LIVE! playing the New Players Theater in London and many spots in England. A Slice O’ Minnelli enjoyed successful seasons at the Apollo Theatre in London’s West End, The Dublin and Edinburgh Festivals, and from cities New York to Chicago. Critics called Skye “Masterful…Astonishing…Brilliant (Chicago Sun Times) and the show earned him the 2006 MAC Award for Best Impersonation, the “Best Achievement in Performance” Award at the Dublin Theatre Festival and the Terrier Award at the Edinburgh Fringe.
Don’t Tell Mama’s is located at 343 West 46th Street in New York City. There is a $25.00 Cover/2 Drink Minimum (Cash only). Reservations can be made at www.donttellmamanyc.com.
Check out Skye’s “Liza” below.
Cabaret: New York Times Disses Debbie Harry
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| Photo by Michael Wilhoite for Café Carlyle |
Debbie Harry is currently performing a sold-out residency at the Cafe Carlyle in New York City.
Sold-out or not, Stephen Holden of the New York Times was not impressed by the 69 year old punk rock legend’s cabaret act:
Making a grand entrance in a black leather jacket and tinted sunglasses, she was every inch the platinum-haired downtown bad girl and face of the seminal, still-extant post-punk band Blondie. She resembled a tabloid American Catherine Deneuve. Instead of a band, she brought with her a one-man computer-and-synthesizer sound machine in the person of Blondie’s current keyboardist, Matt Katz-Bohen, who also played a little piano and guitar.
Those hoping that Ms. Harry would sing Blondie hits like “Rapture,” “Heart of Glass” and “Call Me” were treated to a program of songs taken mostly from her uneven solo albums, whose musical styles ranged from poppy dance numbers like her minor 1986 hit, “French Kissin’, ” to more sophisticated ballads like “Imitation of a Kiss,” which she recorded with the Jazz Passengers.
[snip]
Nothing could camouflage Ms. Harry’s vocal difficulties. She was so consistently off-pitch that the songs nearly disappeared under her struggle to sing the notes. The show was the professional equivalent of a very shaky audition.
OUT’s Greg Garry felt differently:
At 69, this NYC legend’s voice still sounds strong and clear, with a slight husky tone but still able to hit those high notes, and these shows should take full advantage of that. Hopefully this will inspire her to record an album of torch songs. Then she can be the punk rock Peggy Lee. Comparisons aside, there’s only one Debbie Harry.
Cast of CABARET reunites on TODAY Show for 40th Anniversary
Amazing that 40 years have gone by since the release of the ground-breaking CABARET. Eight Academy Awards!
It really was a tremendous performance by Liza. Still great 40 years later.
The newly re-mastered Blu-Ray/DVD is being released February 5th.
(h/t JMG)