Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – Exuberant cabaret nights: SETH SIKES celebrates Judy’s 104th, SALTY BRINE ecstatically leans in on storytelling, and NORM LEWIS is all giddy showmanship

• By drediman
• June 16, 2026
• No Comments

With the 2025/2026 theater season firmly behind us, I’ve had wonderful recent opportunities to leave my cares behind and close out my lengthening days with exuberant nights at the cabaret. Indeed, over the past week or so alone, I’ve night-capped in the company of masterful cabaret artists — each hailing from, respectively, the worlds of Broadway, traditional nightlife, and the avant-garde — in complete command of their craft. As per usual, read on for my thoughts.

NORM LEWIS: BROADWAY AND BEYOND
54 Below
Through June 20

In his cabaret act Broadway and Beyond at 54 Below this week (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED), Broadway star Norm Lewis just wants to throw a good summer party — perhaps to compliment his beloved Christmastime appearances at the Theater District cabaret club. With his giddy showmanship and charming wide grin, he does exactly that via songs that have influenced both his personal life and accomplished career on the stage (Lewis has the distinction of being the only Black Phantom to have played the Broadway production of The Phantom of the Opera, as well as originating the role of Porgy in Diane Paulus’s 2012 revival of Porgy and Bess and plenty of other shows). Throughout the evening, Lewis was in robust voice, brilliantly showing off a creamy baritone that metaphorically melts in your ears like butter. More importantly, he was in a laidback and uplifted mood, not taking himself too seriously, all the while inviting the audience to feel the groove and spirit of the music as much as he did. From the popular songbook, he compared favorably with legendary pop crooners, putting his own stamp on standards such as “What’s Going On?”, “A House Is Not a Home”, “Rock with You”, and “The Greatest Love of All”. From the vast Broadway songbook, he chose an eclectic set that included “I Could Have Danced All Night” (My Fair Lady), “He Can Do It” (Purlie), “Ten Minutes Ago” (Cinderella), and “Stars” (Les Misérables). Among his special guests was Hugh Panaro, a fellow Phantom alum who dueted with Lewis in a spine-tingling rendition of “The Music of the Night”. Lewis’s superb band included music director Alvin Hough on piano, longtime collaborator Perry Cavari on drums, and Dylan Shamat on bass.

SALTY BRINE: HOW STRANGE IT IS (THE NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL SHOW)
Joe’s Pub
Closed

It’s been a while since I’ve night-capped with Salty Brine, and I’m kind of kicking myself for my neglect. With their show How Strange It Is (The Neutral Milk Hotel Show) at Joe’s Pub (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED) — the latest entry in the ongoing and expanding Living Record Collection (co-developed by Brine and Rebecca Kushner) — they dissect Neutral Milk Hotel’s surreal, largely incomprehensible 1998 indie-rock album In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (e.g., the lyrics of the opening song “The King of Carrot Flowers” may to register to some, despite the catchy melody, as completely random). This is by no means, however, a straightforward NPR-like analysis of the album. Indeed, over the course of the evening, they bring their own meaning to Neutral Milk Hotel’s songs by drawing unlikely yet soulful — and at times devastating — connections to Anne Frank’s seminal memoir The Diary of a Young Girl, as well as Brine’s own adolescent musings. Also throw into the mix meandering thoughts surrounding religion, biology, and the cosmos, and the net result is quite the quirky and wild ride that defies categorization. Indeed, the show straddles cabaret, theatrical memoir, and experimental theatre without compromising any of these practices. Holding it all together, however, is their ecstatic and brilliant ability to spin a yarn (applause must also go to director Max Reuben for the immersive and relatively elaborate staging, which ingeniously traverses the entirety of Joe’s Pub’s space). Throughout, Neutral Milk Hotel’s sound has been faithfully recreated by music director Max Reuben — augmented by additional arrangements by Richard Aufrichtig and Alex Thrailkill — which comfortably allows Brine and their rigorously trained voice to tear through the songs with abandon or soars with passion and heart. The next stop for How Strange It Is is the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where I can absolutely see it being a standout.

SETH SIKES AND FRIENDS CELEBRATE JUDY GARLAND’S 104TH BIRTHDAY
54 Below
Closed

On the evening of Judy Garland’s 104th birthday, I could be spotted among the audience of Seth’s Sike’s cabaret celebration at 54 Below (RECOMMENDED), which has become an annual tradition for the occasion. Appropriately billed Seth Sikes and Friends Celebrate Judy Garland’s 104th Birthday, the one-night-only show was an emphatic reminder of the unique ability of cabaret to allow audiences to be in the “room where it happens”. On the special night, Seth’s deliciously distinctive singing sounded thrilling, his vocals soaring and blaring like a trumpet with ease, power, and a giddy sense of joy. For this year’s iteration of his Judy Garland bash, Sikes made the smart decision to continue to generously spread the wealth, inviting other exceptional cabaret talents to take the spotlight to sing some of Garland’s most iconic standards, which added a welcome curated element to the evening. Although not quite as starry as last year’s edition, this iteration somehow felt more personal, a queer family reunion of sorts. Highlights were aplenty — notably, veteran vocalist Luis Villabon brought to vivid life the relatively unknown gem “By Myself”, while the big-voiced Julie James sang a scintillating “The Man that Got Away”. Refreshingly, comedic turns occasionally made appearances, namely Sikes’ rejiggered version of “Waiting for the Robert E. Lee” for the legendary Marilyn Maye (who was in the audience), as well as record-breaking drag performer Rose Levine’s camped up take on “I Love a Piano”. To conclude, Sikes and his guests all but brought the house down with a powerful and heartwarming  performance of the iconic “Over the Rainbow”.