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New York is both the theater and cabaret capital of America, with a lot of crossover between the two. On any given night in the city, you can find theater stars from every wing of the business—experimental to mainstream, Off-Off Broadway to the Great White Way—singing for you at close range. Here are five of your best options in the next couple of weeks.
Half Straddle: Ancient Lives Benefit (The Kitchen, Oct 5)
Under the leadership of Tina Satter, Half Straddle has emerged as one of the downtown scene’s most exciting young theater troupes, with a playfully smart, female-forward aesthetic that keeps you at once riveted and off balance. Their October 5 variety show—a benefit for their upcoming full-length work, Ancient Lives—includes performances by the ferocious Erin Markey, the amusing Adrienne Truscott and the wacky hip-hop duo Yackez!
The Skivvies (54 Below, Oct 4)
The best cabaret joint in town to see Broadway talent up close and personal is 54 Below; the October lineup includes Sierra Boggess, Jeremy Jordan, Joanna Gleason, Randy Graff and Lesli Margherita. But Lauren Molina and Nick Cearley’s popular late-night series lets you get a whole lot more personal: Their guest stars strip down to their undies to join them for inventive medleys of pop and musical-theater tunes. Scheduled guests on Oct 4 include Asmeret Ghebremichael, Matt Doyle, Hannah Shankman, Emily Padgett and TASTiSKANK (Sarah Litzsinger and Kate Reinders).
Betty Buckley: Ghostlight (Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater, Oct 7–Oct 11)
One of the holy triumvirate of 1980s Broadway divas, Buckley is perhaps best known for her Tony-winning turn as Grizabella in Cats. (Thanks for the “Memory”!) But she has also proved an intense and commanding nightclub singer. Her lovely new album, Ghostlight, is the latest stage in her long-evolving relationship to jazz; produced by T Bone Burnett, it includes such standards as “Body and Soul” and “This Nearly Was Mine,” in arrangements that bring out the haunted quality of her distinctive voice.
Chita Rivera (Birdland, Oct 7–11)
Rivera is Broadway history in action: Her résumé stretches back as far as the original casts of West Side Story and Bye Bye Birdie, but it also stretches back as little as the starring role in this past summer’s Williamstown production of Kander and Ebb’s The Visit. Now 81, she remains ready and willing to strut her showbiz stuff for her many adoring fans.
Dearly Beloved: A 30th Anniversary Tribute Concert to His Purple Majesty (42West, Oct 13)
Not all musical-theater stars can cross over into rock & roll with any dignity, but the Broadway the Hardway series at 42West showcases the ones who can. On Oct 13, the nuclear-lunged Lena Hall (a 2014 Tony winner for Hedwig and the Angry Inch) joins Robin De Jesús (In the Heights), E. Clayton Cornelious (Beautiful) and others to mark the 30th birthday of Prince’s Purple Rain with a pearl-anniversary necklace of songs.