BACK STAGE'S BISTRO
AWARDS GALA SET FOR APRIL 9th
Back Stage will
fete Tony Award winner Betty Buckley and 38 winners of its annual
Bistro Awards, which celebrate and honor outstanding excellence
in cabaret and distinguished work during last year, at a gala awards
ceremony in early April. The Bistro Awards will be held on Monday,
April 9th at GOTHAM COMEDY CLUB (208 West 23rd Street, NYC - 212-367-9000
-
http://www.gothamcomedyclub.com/
). At the gala Back Stage will fete Tony Award winner Betty Buckley
and 38 winners of its annual Bistro Awards, which celebrate and
honor outstanding excellence in cabaret and distinguished work during
2006.
Tickets cost $35 plus a two beverage minimum. Premium
tickets cost $60, plus a two drink minimum, and include a champagne
reception and preferred seating in the showroom. To purchase,
call (646) 654-5725 or email bistros@backstage.com
Ms. Buckley, who is playing a limited engagement
at FEINSTEIN'S at the Regency Hotel (540 Park Avenue, NYC - 212-339-4095
- http://www.feinsteinsattheregency.com/
) beginning March 27th, has been named the winner of the Bob Harrington
Lifetime Achievement Award. (Bob Harrington is the late cabaret
columnist for Back Stage.)
One of the highest honors of the evening, The Ira
Eaker Special Achievement Award, will be presented to Sheera Ben-David,
who made her cabaret debut at the Oak Room at the Algonquin last
year. This honor is named for the late co-founder and publisher
of Back Stage and is always presented to a rising artist.
Click
here for a full list of this year's winners.
The event will be emceed by comic Jim David and
hosted by Sherry Eaker, Back Stage's editor-at-large, while award-winning
singer and pianist Jerry Scott will entertain the audience. The
reviewers of Back Stage's regular feature "Bistro Bits," John
Hoglund and David Finkle, will also be attendance.
The Back Stage Bistro Awards recognize achievement
in a wide variety of categories û from outstanding performances
to outstanding accomplishments and contributions by members of
the cabaret community. New categories can be drawn up each year
as they best describe the recipients, and categories may be dropped
as well.
The object is not to choose "the best," but to congratulate
those who have done something special during the year. The Bistro
categories may recognize performers who are newly arrived on the
scene (Debut) as well as those who have returned to the community
after many years (Return to Cabaret). They honor performers who
have shown enormous growth in their art during the past few years
(the Ira Eaker Special Achievement Award) and also those who have
spent their entire careers dedicated to the art (the Bob Harrington
Lifetime Achievement Award).
What makes the Bistro Awards so unique is that they
are a one-time honor in each category. If Bistro winners could
be considered in the same slot each year, not only would the task
of choosing the honorees be nearly impossible, but it would decrease
the chances of others winning in that category. So when you're
looking over the following list, if you feel that a name has been
omitted in a particular category, it's very likely because that
person is a previous winner. On the other hand, if you see a performer's
name and recognize him or her as a former Bistro recipient, it's
because that person was previously honored in a different category.
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