I had the opportunity in December to see Steven Maglio at The Cutting Room for a second time. I reviewed his show for Theater Pizzazz last year. (Read HERE). Steve invited me back, and when I saw Tom Cotter would be his opening act, I couldn’t resist! I was lucky to be in the audience when Tom did the tightest “tight three” I’ve ever seen, at his audition for America’s Got Talent a dozen years ago. I was floored, and immediately connected with him on Facebook. Tom went on to come in second place for the entire season – behind a dog act! Trust me, the dogs couldn’t tell a joke.
Tom Cotter’s set was quite funny, if a little looser than his AGT material, and he played off the audience well. It was great to see him in person again.
Steven was in excellent form, and included a number of different songs than the previous show. He’s always a great act, and if you love Sinatra like I do, he does a great job of capturing the energy of a Sinatra show with a big-band sound. While Steven doesn’t effect an impression, his voice naturally has a similar timbre and his phrasing is quite influenced by the Chairman’s. The charts are all vintage Nelson Riddle and Billy May, et al.
Steven does his weekly Sinatra show at the Carnegie Cigar Bar. I’ve seen it once. That show, he claims, is the same every week, including the jokes, though there’s a loyal fan who has seen it dozens of times. The Cutting Room show changes each month, with Steven mixing in songs by other singers of Sinatra’s time, albeit with arrangements that Sinatra would have been quite comfortable singing.
Definitely catch Steven Maglio at either The Cutting Room or, if you don’t mind tobacco smoke, at the Carnegie Cigar Bar.
Learn more about Steven Maglio at https://stevenmaglio.com. The Cutting Room is located at 44 East 32nd Street in Manhattan (https://thecuttingroomnyc.com/).