Written and hosted by Leslie (Hoban) Blake
"Manhattan Masters" with Eric Comstock
performing Sunday and Monday evenings at 7 pm The Metropolitan Room 34 W. 22nd St. 212-206-0440 Feb. 4, 5: Charles Strouse (Bye Bye Birdie, Applause, Annie) Feb. 11, 12: It's a Barnum & Bailey World: Offbeat Love Songs of Yip Harburg Feb. 18, 19: The Music That Makes Me Dance: A Jules Styne Songbook Feb. 25, 26: Lush Life & Other Saloon Songs www.metropolitanroom.com
Eric Comstock will be performing throughout February at The Metropolitan Room
Mr. Comstock giving host Leslie (Hoban) Blake a preview of the songs he will be performing
Leslie (Hoban) Blake, theater critic and TimesSquare.com video interviewer
Welcome to Timessquare.com's latest vid-cast series, "Cabaret Beat," where we'll be chatting with New York's top performers in the actual venues where they're appearing. And you'll be able to sample their wares, so to speak, as we get "a taste" of what they'll actually be doing in their music and/or comedy shows.
I can't think of a more exciting performer to kick off our new series than Eric Comstock, who's been described by Stephen Holden of The New York Times as, "Smart, funny, and utterly delightful… keen interpretive intelligence... a polished, enthusiastic storyteller… an ideal balance between swinging precision and good-humored warmth." WOW!
And it's all true! Comstock has been singing while tickling the ivories around town everywhere from Birdland to Lincoln Center. And he's quick to cite his influences--everyone from singer/pianist Steve Ross and the late, great American cabaret singer Bobby Short, to jazz composer Duke Ellington, Fred Astaire, and popular music composer Noel Coward. All of which merely underscores Comstock's own distinctive stylings.
So join us as Eric discusses his latest mammoth undertaking--four separate shows--one for each of February's four weekends. Explains Comstock, as we dig into some of the Metropolitan's desserts from The Little Pie Company, "These are composers [including Charles Strouse, Yip Harburg, and Jule Styne] who were either from New York or celebrated New York in their music."
Three-time Tony Award-winner Strouse wrote the music for several Broadway productions such as "Bye Bye Birdie," "Applause," and "Annie." Harburg was one of the top American pop lyricists of the 1930s and '40s who wrote many hits for Broadway and Hollywood. He worked with Harold Arlen on the legendary songs for "The Wizard of Oz." Styne was a singer/songwriter who wrote such hits during the '40s, as "I'll Walk Alone," "Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!," and "I Fall in Love Too Easily." His career on Broadway was a show-maker and it included his work on "Gypsy," "Funny Girl," and "Bells Are Ringing."
So show up on those Sunday and Monday evenings at 7 pm, and hear the singer salute the composers he calls the "Manhattan Masters," at the enchanting Metropolitan Room.
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