Critics’ picks: Best live music in NYC

PJ Adzima, who currently plays the hopeful but hopelessly repressed Elder McKinley in Broadway's The Book of Mormon, hosts a neovaudevillian monthly variety show at the Slipper Room that proffers an eclectic mix of musical-theater, comedy, drag, circus and burlesque performances. A down-and-dirtier version of the show also plays there every week on Saturdays at midnight.

Understudies, alternates and standbys get their moments in the sun in Stephen DeAngelis's longevous cabaret series, which began in 2003 and has so far shone a spotlight on more than 1,200 performers. The April edition features sometime Gypsy Rose lead Tryphena Wade, Kelly Belarmino, Andrew Montgomery Coleman, Sam Hartley, Hannah Kevitt, Jessi Kirtley, Michael Milkanin and Sunset Boulevardiers Emma Lloyd and Diego Andres Rodriguez. Rachel Dean is the musical director and accompanist.  

Part cabaret, part piano bar and part social set, Cast Party offers a chance to hear rising and established talents step up to the microphone (backed by the slap and tickle of Steve Doyle on bass and Billy Stritch at the ivories, plus the bang of Daniel Glass on drums). The waggish Caruso presides as host.

He’s worked with Liza Minnelli, Kylie Minogue and just about every downtown act in NYC. Now composer, pianist and performer Lance Horne hosts his own wild night of singing, drinking and dancing, strip-teasing and bad behavior at the East Village nightlife hub Club Cumming. Expect advanced show-tune geekery and appearances by Broadway stars looking to get down by the piano. Plan to sleep in on Tuesday.

Mosher is one of those talents you need to see to believe: warm, funny, biting, ferociously committed. In her biweekly series—now held at the Green Room 42 after years at Birdland—she invites a gaggle of performers from Broadway and beyond to show their talents. Guests at the April 15 edition include Jelani Remy, Jeff Harnar, Richard Jay-Alexander, Ava Nicole Frances, Keve Wilson, Yael Rasooly, Ivory Fox, Juson Williams, Annie Thomas, Ella Miller and Izzy Casciani.

The longtime New York entertainer, drag performer and political activist Marti Gould Cummings hosts a new weekly late-night talk show at Red Eye, joined by different guests from the theater world each week and Yaz Fukuoka at the piano. The series kicks off this month with an impressive roster of interviewees: Broadway soprano Ali Ewoldt (April 2), songwriters Stephen Trask and Our Lady J (April 9), musical comedian Cat Cohen (April 16), silver-voiced leading lady Melissa Errico (April 23) and masked country star turned Cabaret emcee Orville Peck (April 30).

Julia Mattison and Joel Waggoner's holiday show began as an online lark: they challeneged themselves to write a new song for each December day before Christmas. But it has since grown into a yearly live tradition, most recently at Joe's Pub. This year, popular demand has propelled the show into a longer run (eight shows) in a larger space at the Public (the Shiva Theater). Mattison and Waggoner are very gifted performers and musical comedians—she earned a Tony nomination earlier this year for co-writing the score to Death Becomes Her—so their yuletide originals and improvised carols have the potential to knock your stockings off. 

Caustic wit, witchy charisma and fearless queer wisdom have made Justin Vivian Bond one of New York’s essential performers. Now the alt-cabaret star, trans icon and McArthur "Genius" Grantee returns to her frequent roost at Joe’s Pub for a two-week engagement with a solstice show to melt the hearts of snowflakes everywhere, joined by a five-piece band led by musical director David Sytkowski.

Joe Iconis is a mainstay of local musical-theater songwriting, and he parties as well as he composes: His shows, stuffed with longtime friends and collaborators, have an exuberant sense of community. Now he returns to 54 Below with the 15th annual edition of his rollicking holiday show. In addition to the usual gang—which has swelled to almost 50 performers—he is joined here by Broadway treasure Annie Golden.

Jackie Beat has been doing Christmas shows for more than two decades: You can’t stop the Beat. Her classic carol parodies—such as "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Syphilis" and "Santa's Baby"—are hilarious, and her powerhouse vocals are impressive. But it's her improvisations and crowd work that demonstrate what a natural-born entertainer looks like in the spotlight.