Jazz Around Town by Scott Yanow
Craig Pomranz, a fine cabaret singer with a high tenor voice, performed at The Gardenia with solid and witty backing by pianist Steve Bocchino. The one-hour cabaret show moved fast and featured concise interpretations of 28 songs, ranging from "You Stepped Out Of A Dream" and Cole Porter's "Throwing A Ball Tonight" to four songs dealing with flowers, violets and roses. Filled with topical jokes and humor, the show was quite entertaining and found Craig Pomranz stretching himself into the Jazz World.
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With female singers predominating on the cabaret and club scene, it is of more than passing interest to note the return of Craig Pomranz at THE DUPLEX, 55 Grove St., where he made an impressive debut in September and where he
appears again Nov. 29 at 8p.m.
Pomranz has the all-American boy-next-door good looks which can take a turn to handsome seductiveness when the mood of a song dictates it.
He has a velvet smooth tenor voice, which responds to his quiet, romantic approach on such songs as his opening one, "You And I", and the very pretty "Goodnight, My Love."
Pomranz's acting experience in Shakespeare and musical comedy is a decided advantage when put to use in songs requiring more dramatic intensity such as "Life Is A Hard Thing To Live" from "The Me Nobody Knows" and the good natured humor of his singing double-talk on "Their Things Were Out."
Pomranz's program, a particularly entertaining one, offering a comfortable mix of show tunes, pop and ballads with a performance set apart by insistent gentleness which may make it appear that he sings for you, not to you.
This is by an effective encore song as he tells us, "I Was Singing The Song For You."
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Cabaret lives on Broadway!
Take a trip to New York and you'll find cabaret is very much alive - in late-night shows and piano bars, Broadway hits of past and present are constantly heard. OLEG KERENSKY takes a look at the venues and stars that make the music.
Another new cabaret room is at the Horn of Plenty, an old-established restaurant in Greenwich Village. One of the biggest attractions there is Craig Pomranz, who only came to New York last year and has already been described by the New York Post as "the best new male singer".
Graduating from The Duplex, New York's oldest cabaret which regularly discovers and promotes new talent, he seems set for fame and fortune. His tenor voice, ranging from near falsetto to low chest notes, is allied with a boyish appearance and a charming, friendly manner. His set is well varied, with just the right amount of talk to establish audience contact.
He is good in romanitic numbers from the shows and hilarious in comedy, notably in "Their Things Were Out", a satirical song about the fashion for nudity in the theatre, and Carole King's "Do You Want To Dance", which he turns, vocally and physically, into an implicit invitation to sex!
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FLOWERS
21 West 17th Street
(between 5th and 6th avenues)
212-691-8888
One of New York's most critically-acclaimed saloon singers (Sinatra, Rogers %26 Hart, Chet Baker)Craig Pomranz, is kicking off an exciting new musical hot spot: "Upstairs at Flowers" Wednesday's at 9:00 p.m.
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Everyone wants Craig Pomranz, it seems. He has been steadily employed in New York cabarets for the past 11 months, having sung at Mickey's, the Duplex, Carolines, Brandy's, On-Stage, Freddy's and Horn of Plenty. Currently he is appearing at Horn of Plenty Thursdays through April 29. On Sundays, From April 4-25 he will be at East Five Three and his dates at Freddy's are March 30, April 26-27 and May 3-4. Obviously, he has built up a large and loyal following, singing a range of selections from the rock era to a Shirley Temple ballad, all handled with his three-octave, alto-tenor voice...
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CLUBS
By Doris Feldman
Craig Pomranz is our newest, fastest rising star. He has the tripple threat of boyish good looks, Paul Newman blue eyes, and he can seduce you with his sensitivity to his audience, he has them share with him personally every note, phrase and sound, backed by his excellent pianist and musical director, Leslie Lipton.
His songs ranged from romantic ballads to a parody of commercials, well done and clever. Most important, he is an artist well suited to the intimate cabaret atmosphere. He uses his musical skills dramatically, his rich, polished 3-octive voice, soars to fill the room with an electric magic. A new talent, he's appearing at rooms all over town, like the Horn of Plenty. You'll enjoy him thoroughly.
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APPLE BITES: Three of New York's finest female vocalists are joining singer Craig Pomranz during his Sunday April gigs at the new East Five Three club. "The Detroit Diva" Roz Ryan put Craig through his paces on April 11 with Marta Sanders taking up the gauntlet the following Sunday. D'Jamin Bartlett joins him this Sunday, April 25. Roz appears in Ain't Misbehavin' and Marta was featured in The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas while D'Jamin made her Broadway debut in A Little Night Music. The club owners would love to get all three ladies on stage with Craig at the same time as audience response has been very enthusiastic, to say the least... L.A. feminist comic Robin Tyler, who has been dubbed the female Lenny Bruce by the San Francisco Chronicle, will appear for one evening only on May 1 at 2 West 64th Street. Robin Tyler in Concert is presented by The Glines, the producers of the current off-Broadway hit, Torch Song Trilogy.
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Gallery of Events
Singer Craig Pomranz to open three week engagement at The Ballroom on August 4th
To perform Thursdays. Fridays and Saturdays, at 11 p.m.. until August 20.
Once upon a time...and even now...you could say that you heard so-and-so first, at The Ballroom, before they reached Madison Square Garden. But the case of singer Craig Pomranz is a tiny bit different. While you'll still be able to hear him at The Ballroom before Madison Square Garden, we can't lay claim to having first presented this very exciting performer. Sadly. But there's a reason.
For one thing, he "burst" upon the New York cabaret scene... and that's really the word for it. burst... after The Ballroom in SoHo closed (in 1979). Then, when we re-opened (albeit briefly) where we are now, in Chelsea. he was performing everywhere else, all at once, it seemed. But now The Ballroom and Craig Pomranz have at long last caught up with each other. Happily.
I won't quote the reviews he received, because they sound like he wrote them himself (he didn't). I will say that I've seldom heard a male singer as young as he is, whom I liked so much. That's very rare today, it seems to me; really good male singers. I don't know why. In the days of the so-called Big Band era. when they had resident male singers. Craig would have been with the best bands. In the days when Broadway had roles for young male singers. Craig would have been on Broadway. I believe he will, soon. But until then come to see him at The Ballroom.
Craig Pomranz was born in St. Louis and at the age of 12 performed at the St. Louis Municipal Opera, with John Cullum and Salley Ann Howes in Camelot. Later he studied at the Goodman Theater in Chicago, and at Carnegie-Mellon.
He came to New York three years ago and almost immediately began performing in cabarets and clubs all over town. The lists of his appearances reads like a tour of nightlife in New York...Mickey's. Freddy's, OnStage, Horn of Plenty, Sweetwater's... and he earned a living by doing tv commercials and appearing out of town in many plays and musicals. Recently he recorded And Love Was All on Ben Bagley's new Jerome Kern Revisited, Part II album. And he's being considered for a movie based on the life of Bobby Darin.
But here, in this Summer in the City, Craig will be at The Ballroom at long last. It's been nine months since his last performance in New York, and I believe that if this is the first time you've seen him, you'll be as surprised as I was the first time I saw him. You know, there's a natural tendency to inwardly groan in advance when you go to see someone who's been so highly touted. Well. I did just that. I'm happy to report that the groan turned into an outward cheer.
I'm also happy to report that Craig Pomranz will be accompanied on piano by a very good old friend of The Ballroom. dating back to SoHo days: the very gifted pianist/songwriter Diane Bulgarelli.</COPY>
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