Cabaret’s Christmas Dream Team, live on the Birdland stage.
A SWINGING BIRLDAND CHRISTMAS | Stuffed like a Yuletide stocking with the evergreen gift of top-notch talent, this old-fashioned Christmas show for our brave new world has earned its reputation as a Manhattan popular standard.
Klea Blackhurst, Jim Caruso and Billy Stritch amaze, charm and engage with their awesome cabaret superpowers: tugging at the heart, bouncing jokes off one another, and ripping the roof off the joint in a single vocal bound. With Stritch at the piano, Steve Doyle on bass and Daniel Glass on drums, the swinging arrangements of seasonal favorites recall the very best of classic holiday TV variety specials (think Judy Garland, Andy Williams). The music is hot, the cast is cool, and the determination to entertain is as pure as the driven snow.
Mon., Dec. 21 through Fri., Dec. 25. All shows at 6 p.m., except the 7 p.m. Mon. show. At Birdland (315 W. 44th St., btw. Eighth & Ninth Aves.). For reservations ($30 cover, $10 food/drink minimum), visit BirdlandJazz.com or call 212-581-3080. “A Swinging Birdland Christmas” is available on iTunes, and on CD via the Birdland website.
THE GREENWICH VILLAGE CAROLING WALK | It’s off the grid and back in time, for this holiday tradition that invites you to sing and stroll through the narrow, often winding, streets of a neighborhood full of Dickensian charm and a history all its own.
Members of the West Village Chorale will lead several groups along routes, while singing seasonal carols and songs. All roads lead back to where it began — for refreshments, conviviality, and more singing at Judson Memorial Church. Can’t quite recall all of the words? Songbooks will be provided!
Free (donations accepted). Sat., Dec. 19. Gather at 4:30 p.m., in the Meeting Room of Judson Memorial Church (55 Washington Square South, at Thompson St.). Visit westvillagechorale.org or call 212-517-1776.
CHELSEA MARKET’S HOLIDAY SPECTACULAR | Paper Garden Records and Chelsea Market, the team behind the monthly Chelsea Nights live music series, team up for this holiday concert.
The lineup of NYC talent filling the Market’s decked-out evergreen forest-inspired interior includes Salt Cathedral, The City and Horses, vocalist and guitarist Isaac Gillespie’s The Due Diligence, Dear Georgina, and “electronic doo-wop” artist Shane Conerty’s Color Collage.
Free. Sat., Dec. 19, 2–7 p.m. at Chelsea Market (75 Ninth Ave., at W. 16th St.).
–BY SCOTT STIFFLER
