Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – Venerable nightlife venues doing what they do best: Checking out late night offerings at Joe’s Pub, 54 Below, and Birdland

• By drediman
• November 3, 2025
• No Comments

In addition to partaking in the busy fall theater season, I’ve occasionally pursued late night offerings at some of New York’s most iconic nightlife venues — namely Joe’s Pub, 54 Below, and Birdland Jazz Club — to compliment my primetime outings with cabaret, jazz, and other such shows. Read on below for my thoughts on some of these night owl excursions, which showcase these indispensable venues doing what they do best.

JOE’S PUB
Joey Arias: Let’s Make Love / Will Butler + Sister Squares

For more adventurous fare, one need not look further than Joe’s Pub, which has gotten the reputation over the years for hosting some rather outrageous, anything goes nightlife experiences. A case in point was Joey Arias’s latest late night cabaret act Let’s Make Love! (RECOMMENDED). With a theme centered on eroticism and sensuality, Arias unabashedly embraced and flaunted sex positivity as only the downtown legend can — with sass, graphic references, and a whole lot of black magic. Sprinkled between their naughty banter, the rabid audience was treated to the singer’s singularly smoky, multi-octave vocals of handpicked songs like the Billie Holiday standard “You’ve Changed” (a longtime go-to number of Arias’s) and The Beatles’ “A Hard Day’s Night”, alongside deeper cuts. Throughout, Arias often broke the fourth wall, spilling out into the audience to usher in some unpredictability as they interacted uninhibitedly with the audience. Another late night at Joe’s Pub involved kicking back with Will Butler (RECOMMENDED), the Tony-nominated songwriter of the award-winning play Stereophonic and an ex-member of the band Arcade Fire. In Butler’s two Joe’s Pub appearances, he joined forces with his band Sister Squares for sessions of harmonic, dancey art rock music.

54 BELOW
Seussical 25th Anniversary Reunion Concert

54 Below has all but cornered the market for presenting anniversary celebrations of cult favorite musicals. Indeed, a recent night at the well-appointed midtown cabaret venue had me and the rest of a sold out audience beaming throughout the 25th Anniversary Reunion Concert of Seussical The Musical (RECOMMENDED), which brought together a number of members of the show’s original company (e.g., Anthony Blair Hall and Andrew Keenan-Bolger as Jojo, Janine LaManna as Gertrude McFuzz, Darren Lee as Vlad, William Ryall as The Grinch, and Stuart Zagnit as Mr. Mayor, along with Joyce Chittick, Jen Cody, Natascia Diaz, Justin Gomlak Greer, Eddie Korbich, David Lowenstein, and Jerome Vivona), alongside alumni of the original production and national tour (e.g., Bryan Batt as Cat in the Hat, Cameron Bowen as JoJo, Gaelen Gilliland as Mayzie LaBird, Ann Harada as Mrs. Mayor, Brian Michael Hoffman as Horton, Catrice Joseph as the Sour Kangaroo, and Michael Farina). Although originally met with mixed reception, the musical has gone on to become one of the most frequently performed musicals out there, especially amongst schools and amateur presenters. For the celebratory evening, nearly the entirety of Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty’s joyful score was performed — lovingly directed by Jerome Vivona and music directed by David Madore — and was capped off by an appearance by none other than Ahrens and Flaherty themselves, who seemed a bit stunned at the ecstatic adoration spawned by their little show that could.

BIRDLAND JAZZ CLUB
Ron Carter’s Foursight Quartet

Ten blocks south at Birdland Jazz Club, I continued to take in Ron Carter’s sublime artistry during his monthlong residency at the venerable midtown jazz venue. For the month of October, the legendary jazz bassist curated four distinct programs — a different bill for each week — starting with a duo and increasing in scale with each subsequent week, culminating at the end of the month with a big band presentation. In the third week, I caught Carter’s Foresight Quartet (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED), featuring a superb band of highly accomplished musicians playing alongside the bassist — Jimmy Greene on tenor saxophone, Renee Rosnes on piano, and Payton Crossley on drums. Unlike the first week, which found Carter creating articulate musical dialogue with great jazz guitarist Bill Frisell (you can read my review of that very fine first concert here), the quartet show was an inspired all-out jam session of nearly wall-to-wall music-making with nary a break for a quick banter, instead opting for each number to melt deliciously into the next. The most noticeable shift was the addition of Crossley on percussion, which although contributing rhythmic propulsion to the music, never got in the way of nor overpowered Carter’s elegant and meticulous playing. Despite the seamlessness of it all, each member of the quartet got several moments in the spotlight to show off their virtuosic play. Aside from Carter, particularly affecting was Greene’s quietly dazzling work on saxophone, which regularly drew impressed ovations from the sold out audience.