Critics’ picks: Best live music in NYC

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 weekly series at the downstairs Birdland Theater, she invites a gaggle of performers from Broadway and beyond to show their talents. 

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 newly laureled McArthur "Genius" Grantee returns to Joe’s Pub with a solstice show to melt the hearts of snowflakes everywhere. Shows run between December 12-22.

Three Birdland mainstays—the clarion-voiced Klea Blackhurst, the waggish host Jim Caruso and the velvety pianist-crooner Billy Stritch—get into the swing of the holiday season with their 15th annual set of set of jazzy Christmas classics.

The Divine Sandra's best work gives pop culture a big, sloppy kiss, while simultaneously biting it on the lip. Her annual year-capping residency at Joe’s Pub blends irony, wistfulness, sentiment and tongue-in-cheek (or are they?) rock songs by artists from Burt Bacharach to Lana Del Rey.