54 Below

Talented singers from the Broadway and cabaret worlds sing side by side in this monthly dive into the fathomless depths of the late musical-theater deity Stephen Sondheim. Guests at the March 30 episode include Ramona Mallory, Daniel May, Orville Mendoza, Shereen Pimentel, Jim Poulos, James Seol and Lucia Spina. The saucy Rob Maitner plays host, and music director John Fischer is at the piano. 

Lorna Luft and Andrea McArdle have both been stars since they were children: Luft as the talented oldest daughter of Judy Garland, McArdle as the copper-haired, big-belting moppet in Broadway's original Annie. ("Tomorrow" belongs to her.) They teamed up for a show at 54 Below in December, and now they reunite for an encore. 

It turns out that Jeff Daniels—the star of films both bittersweet (Terms of Endearment) and salty (Dumb & Dumber)—has been writing bluesy ditties on the side. For 25 years, in fact! Tonight he shares a range of them, along with appealingly self-effacing stories from his show-business career.

Maye’s stellar past includes a string of classy RCA albums in the ’60s and countless Tonight Show appearances, but this husky-voiced, earthy belter still sounds great at the age of 96—and she turns 97 on April 10, toward the start of her two week run at 54 below. Beyond her remarkable energy and musical acuity, the astonishing Maye has a bone-deep comfort that imbues familiar songs with fresh simplicity, truthfulness and power.    

Few singers have the sheer macho swagger of Lea DeLaria, who rose to fame as a butcher-than-thou stand-up comic and Broadway star, and more recently earned new fans as Big Boo on Orange Is the New Black. As a jazz vocalist, she has tough-guy sell and a penchant for scat. In her monthly brunch set at 54 Below, she tackles Great American Songbook standards and showtunes by such upper-echelon writers as Stephen Sondheim, Michael John LaChiusa and Kander and Ebb. 

After a brilliant career as one of the all-time great Broadway dancers, Donna McKechnie (A Chorus Line) has refocused her energies on her other two threats, acting and singing. In this second encore run of her 2022 set at 54 Below, she takes on songs by Broadway deity Stephen Sondheim—including tunes from Company (she was in the original 1970 production) and Follies (she was a memorable Sally in the 1998 Paper Mill revival).