The Triad New York, NY
THEMED SHOWS CAN BE TRICKY sometimes, especially ones that focus on a single composer or artist. Often, they consist of stringing together a group of songs with a sprinkling of patter in between without any particular focus. This was not the case with Sing Happy: The Wonderful Women of Kander & Ebb, Dawn Derow’s recent show celebrating not only the works of Kander & Ebb, but specifically the women that were the featured heroines in their music. Spanning the 1960s through the 1990s with songs ranging from shows like Cabaret, Woman of the Year, Kiss of the Spider Woman, to Funny Lady, Derow captures the mood of the various eras through costume, staging, and choreography while effortlessly weaving in anecdotes from her own life. Kicking off the set with “Don’t Tell Mama” from Cabaret, Derow, in full Sally Bowles regalia, moves through the song embodying her essence while ironically drawing comparisons to 1930s Berlin. Recounting her tomboy days in “One of the Boys,” from Woman of the Year, Derow shares a story from a visit to Westpoint and the pushup contest she challenges the cadettes to. As she gloats, “I came out on top.” Operatically trained, Derow has the ability to sing in genres from jazz to cabaret to pop which has given her the foundation to master this challenging repertoire. With a nod to Kristin Chenoweth, she showed off her operatic coloratura soprano in “Two Little Words,” from
DAWN DEROW
Steel Pier. Later in the set, as if one diva was not enough, Derow invited Karen Mason (Mama Mia, Sunset Boulevard, and The World Goes Round), for a tour de force duet complete with humor and good-natured ribbing. At one point, Derow leaves the stage, reappearing in a hooded raincoat, donning an Eastern European accent and we hear the haunting “I Don’t Care,” also from Cabaret.
Reflecting on her various performances; “Producing my own shows gave me the freedom to sing the music I truly love and keep growing as a performer and producer,” she says. “With 'Sing Happy,' I’m creating and performing my first revue devoted entirely to one songwriting team—the legendary Kander & Ebb.” Entertaining from start to finish, Sing Happy is brimming with exceptional music and a wellthought-out presentation. -Ellen Woloshin
cleared, the thing revealed itself for what it was: a precision-built groove machine, surprisingly cohesive and deeply intentional. At the center stood Folsom, 70 years old and entirely unburdened by it, calmly steering this sprawling ensemble through a sequence of songs that unfolded like a long-form musical conversation. “Written in Your Hair” kicked the doors open, followed by “Heaven on the Beach,” the anthemic “Situations,” and the gospel-tinged “Jericho.” It wasn’t just a setlist—it was a guided tour through decades of lived-in songwriting. Behind him, the band was exceptional. At its core, a classic guitar-based outfit—but with left-field colors woven throughout: glockenspiel, organ, flute, even saxophone. On paper, that sounds like trouble. Onstage, it was magic. These textures added dimension and surprise without clutter, giving each song room to breathe and bloom. “Strolling Along” launched a four-song jam sequence that eventually wrapped with “One
More Song,” and somewhere in that stretch the band found a pocket that felt gloriously unhinged yet completely locked. There was a Zappa-esque looseness at play, tempered by smooth Seals & Crofts-style harmonies, the muscular drive of Chicago (minus the horns), flashes of Terry Kath’s fire, and the raw pulse of the James Gang. What truly bound it all together, though, was an almost accidental channeling of “Workingman’s Dead”—not as homage, but as spirit. Most of these players weren’t alive when that record dropped, yet there they were, tapping into its communal, song-first ethos like it was hardwired into the room. “Sitting on the Moon” opened another foursong arc, rolling through “Blues Stay Away,” “Ginger,” and “See You Later I’m Gone,” before closing the night with the crowd favorite “Singing in the Shower.” As the final notes dissolved into the back-room cosmos of the Cat’s Cradle, the audience drifted out slowly—shellshocked, smiling, and thoroughly worked over by the tidal force they’d just witnessed. These young players—and the audience with them—have grown up in a culture that often confuses image for substance and volume for value. What they encountered instead was a reckoning: a songwriter, decades removed from their playlists, commanding the room not with flash, but with songs. – Eric Sommer
ROBERT LESTER FOLSOM
Cat’s Cradle Carrbora, NC
Contact: zach@mexicansummer.com Web: robertlesterfolsom.com Players: Landon Gay (Howdy), pedal steel; Kevin Peacon, guitar; Mike Monahan, drums; Robert Lester Folsom, lead; Brooke Gardwood, glockenspiel; Jeremy Marshall Blanton, bass; Jeremy Prince, keys, organ, flute, sax WHEN ROBERT LESTER FOLSOM HIT the Cat’s Cradle stage, flanked by what looked like a small army of 20-something players, it felt like a deliberate misdirection—a smokescreen of youthful motion and sound. But as the haze
Photo: Jeff Smith
Contact: beatrice@empktmedia.com Web: dawnderow.com Players: Dawn Derow, vocals; Ian Herman, piano, musical director; Karen Mason, guest artist; David Sabella, director.
February 2026
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