This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Back Stage Bistro Awards, established in 1985 by the late Back Stage columnist Bob Harrington. The Bistro Award was the first award of its kind to recognize excellence and achievement in cabaret—a distinctive art form that demands honesty and openness from a performer and, figuratively speaking, baring one's soul before an audience. No mean feat.
Of course, the awards have a history. For the first five years, Bob simply announced them in his Bistro Bits column and certificates were sent to the recipients. In 1990, we made the move to a more formal presentation, which we held at Eighty Eight's for the next three years. There the winners performed in the upstairs cabaret room, as Bob served as emcee, and guests and other invitees watched the show on closed-circuit TV downstairs in the piano-bar area. We upgraded the award to a small trophy.
After Bob died in October 1992, we moved the event to a much-needed larger venue, the Ballroom, and we were very happy there until the Ballroom's owner, the late Tim Johnson, told us that he needed to sell the space. He suggested The Supper Club, and at this beautiful art deco ballroom, the show became bigger than ever. We filled the 400-seat space to capacity. Once again we upgraded the look of the award, now an engraved Lucite plaque. After several years, The Supper Club changed its rental policy, and though we were all disappointed, we decided to return to our simple roots—a small, intimate venue—which we've done for the past two years, now going into our third year. By the way, the Bistro Award is now a handsome engraved block of glass.
Read the comments from 20 of our past (and one current) winners in this week's feature, which begins on page TK, to find out what they thought when winning their Back Stage Bistro.
Bob set up certain guidelines to determine the previous year's recipients, and these guidelines have slowly evolved over the years. These are the guidelines to which our current Back Stage cabaret critics, David Finkle and John Hoglund, adhere, and an explanation of them is in order.
The Bistro Awards recognize achievement in a wide variety of categories—from outstanding performances to outstanding accomplishments and contributions by members of the cabaret community. They are by no means limited in nature. New categories can easily be drawn up each year as they best describe the recipients, and categories can be dropped as well.
The object is not to choose the "best" anything-of-the-year, but to recognize the accomplishments of and congratulate those who have done something special during the year—in this case, during 2004.
The Back Stage Bistro may recognize performers who are newly arrived on the scene (Outstanding Debut); it may acknowledge a performer who has shown growth in his or her art during the past few years (this applies to a number of our awards this year, but especially to the newly established Ira Eaker Special Achievement Award). It also recognizes those who have spent their entire careers dedicated to the art (our Bob Harrington Lifetime Achievement Award).
The Bistro is a one-time honor—in a single category. If previous winners weren't excluded from consideration each year, the awards would be glutted with their names; each winner would most likely have to be reconsidered annually because of the high quality of work he or she does. So if you feel that a name has been omitted in a particular category when you're looking over the list of winners that follows, it's most likely because that person is a previous winner. On the other hand, if you see a performer's name and recognize that name as a former Bistro recipient, it's because that person previously received his or her award in a different category. There are 871 winners listed in our Bistro Hall of Fame, not including this year's winners. (You can find the Bistro Hall of Fame list following my column at www.backstage.com.)
So, without further ado, here are the winners of the 2005 Back Stage Bistro Awards for Outstanding Excellence in Cabaret:
VOCALIST: Brandon Cutrell at the Duplex; Nora York at Joe's Pub and Makor.
DEBUT: Spencer Day at Don't Tell Mama; Beth Eunice at Mama Rose's.
MAJOR ENGAGEMENT: Jason Graae at the Hideaway Room @ Helen's.
JAZZ ENGAGEMENT: René Marie at Le Jazz au Bar.
INTERNATIONAL ARTIST: Micheline Van Hautem at the French Institute/Florence Gould Hall.
MUSICAL COMEDY PERFORMER: John Tartaglia in "John Tartaglia: AD-LIBerty" at Joe's Pub.
MUSICAL DUO: Leslie Anderson and Ricky Ritzel for "Mercer: A–Z" at the Hideaway Room @ Helen's.
MUSICAL COMEDY ACT: "3 Tenors in Search of an Act," written by Bill Brooks, Edd Clark, Paul Stephan, and Steven Tharp, and performed by Brooks, Clark, and Tharp at Don't Tell Mama.
IMPERSONATOR: Kate Botello in "Judy Garland and Uninvited Company" at the Hideaway Room @ Helen's.
MUSICAL REVUE: "Christmas Radio Hour," written and performed by Jenifer Kruskamp, Anne Steele, and Stephanie Harwood at Don't Tell Mama.
PERFORMANCE IN A REVUE: Jonny Peterson for "The George M. Cohan Revue" at Danny's Skylight Room.
THEME SHOW: "The METHod to My Madness," written and performed by Tommy Foster at Don't Tell Mama.
SONGWRITER/INSTRUMENTALIST: Ritt Henn for "The March to the NYC Cabaret Debut" at the Duplex.
SONG OF THE YEAR: "I'd Rather Be Sailing," music and lyric by William Finn.
SPECIAL MATERIAL: "Not Good Enough," music by Peter Lurye and lyric by Lurye and Peter Yawitz.
MUSICAL DIRECTOR: Tracy Stark.
DIRECTOR: Phil Geoffrey Bond.
TECH DIRECTOR: Shane Mathews at the Hideaway Room @ Helen's.
PIANO BAR: Brandy's Piano Bar for over 25 years of consistent excellence.
RECORDING: Deborah Tranelli for "A Lot of Livin' "; Valentine Ryder for "Love Who You Love."
SPECIAL AWARDS: To Bernie Bierman, for 60 years of sustained excellence in the field of American popular song; Ruth Brown, for appearing in R&B palaces, in concert halls, and on Broadway for over 40 years; Dick Gallagher, posthumously, for consistent and inspired excellence as an arranger, musical director, and occasional songwriter in cabaret and concerts; and Les Paul, for his pioneering electrical guitar work and for his advancement of recording-studio technique.
IRA EAKER SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD, now in its third year, named for my late dad, the co-founder and co-publisher of Back Stage, goes to an outstanding performer on the rise, Maude Maggart.
Winners of the 2005 Bistro Awards will be celebrated at a private party hosted by Back Stage. Congratulations to you all!