During my adolescence, Labor Day weekend basically meant two things to me: a new school year was about to start and the Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy (ALS) Telethon would be on the air for 20 hours. In the second half of the 1960s and early 1970s, when the telethon was in its televised infancy and broadcast out of New York, I watched in awe of Jerry Lewis and his relentless comedic talent. I especially loved those points in the telethon when, armed with a bucket, Jerry would frantically rampage through the studio audience, grabbing money out of people’s hands, pockets, and purses, doing hilarious over-the-top Jerry shtick along the way. It was all to finance research and a possible cure for “Jerry Kids.” 

Last Thursday night at the Laurie Beechman Theater, Cabaret performer and Award-winning variety show host Goldie Dver (pronounced Da-Vear) didn’t race through or climb on top of tables for cash, but she did pull out all the cabaret show stops over three hours to raise money for “Goldie’s Kids.” It was her third annual benefit for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, which works to treat and hopefully defeat childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases. Her kinship with Jerry Lewis’ humanitarian efforts for children was obvious in her show promotion logo; a drawing of her face by illustrator Ken Fallin in the style of the caricature image Jerry Lewis used for decades in the MD telethon promotions. 

Dver was drawn to St. Jude’s and to helping children with cancer after her own battle with breast cancer, which was first diagnosed in 2006. She then put her cabaret performing career on hold until 2019, a year after her husband Paul died. They had been married for 41 years. “When I did return to performing, it helped me reconnect with my soul and my passion,” Dver says. “I was very grateful to have that in my life again. But I also realized that the only things of value in life is what we’ve been able to give to the people we love and care about, and how we’ve been able to enrich or improve their lives in some meaningful way.”

Dver says that when she heard the words “you have cancer” 19 years ago, she couldn’t imagine how a parent would feel hearing those words about their child. Never having children herself, the cancer survivor wanted to focus more of her life on supporting kids with the disease (“my connection to children with cancer is profound,” she says) and that’s where St. Jude’s came in. 

“At St Jude’s, they go above and beyond treatment,” Dver explains. “Parents never pay a penny for treatment, housing, transportation, or food. They make it possible for families to be together during this most challenging time of their lives and all that can make the difference between that child having a positive outcome or not. The amazing research they support has made St Jude Children’s Research Hospital very near and dear to my heart, and I want to do everything in my power to support their efforts.” 

Hence, the third annual “Goldie’s Kids” cabaret “telethon” benefit show for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. 

Cabaret variety show performances can be a mixed bag, especially those with many performers delivering one-off songs after little rehearsal. In this seemingly one-night-mini-Cabaret Convention featuring more than 30 singers, Goldie’s experienced director James Beaman (who also designed the homage to “Jerry’s Kids” show logo) did very well keeping this marathon moving and just under three hours. The performances were generally solid and a few outstanding. The real stars of this show (besides those who donated funds), were the members of the band: Music Director Dan Pardoon piano, John Miller on bass, and Chip Fabrizi on drums. Pardo was outstanding in playing every style of music imaginable, while Miller and Fabrizi added wonderful accompaniment in spite of zero rehearsals. Talk about PROS. 

The marathon fundraiser consisted of three blocks of performances separate by announcements of the donation totals. The first block left the starting gate with cabaret up-and-comer and the evening’s co-host Justin Dylan Nastro joined by 16-year-old Ethan Mathias for an up-tempo, rousing opener on “There Is a Santa Claus.” Nastro then introduced the event’s producer, host and LAAADDDYYY! of the evening, and the duo offered the cheeky “Sugar and Booze” (written in 2019 by Saturday Night Live alum Ana Gasteyer). These opening numbers were a foreshadowing that this show would not be one filled with the usual holiday song suspects. 

Karen Mason

Musical theater and cabaret veteran Aaron Lee Battle delivered a jazzy take on “My Favorite Things,” and Richard Skipper followed with a fun and manic “We Need a Little Christmas.” Celebrated vocalist Lorna Dallas told the audience about the “Twelve Days After Christmas,” a funny flip on the classic holiday standard, complete with fake golden rings and geese that wouldn’t lay. With her frequent music director Tracy Stark on piano, multiple MAC award-winner Meg Flather channeled her persona as a TV shopping club queen with “Keep Young and Beautiful,” a song first introduced by Eddie Cantor in the film Roman Scandals in 1933. Flather and Dver than staged an impromptu auction of three skincare products. It wasn’t quite like Jerry Lewis rampaging through the audience and snatching dollars, but it did garner more than $300 for “Goldie’s Kids.” Stark, who refers to herself as “another Jew writing Christmas songs,” stayed on stage to offer her sweet original song “The Perfect Christmas.” 

ALGONZO (Isaac Ketter on Sax)

Singer/actor Tim Connell, a 2023 Bistro Award and 2025 MAC Award-winner, brought his ukulele to the stage for the “12 Drunken Daze of Christmas,” another twist on that iconic song and filled with references to various kinds of cocktail concoctions. Connell acted progressively sauced through the song, but musical theater and cabaret star Karen Mason sobered up the audience with a lovely “It’ll Be Christmas Before You Know It,” composed by her husband Paul Rolnick. The first block’s 11-o’clock number at 8-o-clock featured the smooth, swinging, saxophone sound of ALGONZO (Isaac Ketter), who mesmerized on “Saving All My Love For You,” the song which won the late Whitney Houston her first Grammy Award in 1986.

Manhattan Holiday Carolers: Bobby Underwood, Sierra Rein, Maggie Day Roberts, Doug Shapiro

As they would do for all three show blocks, The Manhattan Holiday Carolers (Sierra Rein/alto, Maggie Day Roberts/soprano, Doug Shapiro/bass, and Bobby Underwood/tenor) delivered delightful acapella harmonies, the first offering a “Christmas Time Medley.” 

Then it was time to check the donation tote board and like Ed McMahon during the Jerry Lewis telethons, Goldie announced that ticket sales, live streaming, and donations had already brought in almost $4,000 of the $6,000 goal for the event. The only thing missing was the band breaking into “What the World Needs Now Is Love.” 

New York cabaret legend and long-time Don’t Tell Mama club manager Sidney Myer opened the show’s second block with his usual charming rendition of a retro number, this time the sweet and clever “You Meet the Nicest People (In Your Dreams),” first recorded by Fats Waller in 1939. Cabaret performer and Don’t Tell Mama piano bar regular Anna Anderson followed with the powerful Jesus ballad “Who Would Imagine a King,” sung by Whitney Houston in the 1996 film The Preacher’s Wife. Vocalist Frank Dain (the editor of Cabaret Scenes Magazine) conjured Barbra Streisand from her 2001 holiday-themed album with a poignant and nostalgic “Christmas Memories.” Craig Pomranz showed off his range—a gradual vocal build from a drizzle to blizzard—on “Let It Snow.” 

Lianne Marie Dobbs

It wouldn’t feel like holiday season without a “Wizard of Oz” reference and Lianne Marie Dobbs—stunning, smoky, and sensual—supplied it on a bluesy then jazzy “If I Only Had a Brain.” Ninety-year-old self-proclaimed “Gay Geezer” Ira Lee Collings revealed meeting a 50ish-year-old man from England through the online dating site Silver Daddies, before an adorable take on “Love Is Just Around the Corner.” “Don’t” was the operative thought when Long Island-based singer/songwriter and vocal coach Debi Toni then delivered a somewhat over-the-top mashup combining “Don’t Rain on My Parade” with “Everybody Says Don’t.” 

On a “Broadway Medley,” the dynamic performing duo Eric Comstock and Barbara Fasano (celebrating 20 years of marriage this year) were as energetic as a couple celebrating a night of theater and bar hopping. Alex De Suze followed with cool and swinging “My Baby Just Cares For Me” from her Nina Simone tribute show, a jazz standard by Walter Donaldson and Gus Kahn that was a signature song for Eddie Cantor almost a century ago. Broadway performer turned New Jersey minister Craig Rubano (who made a cabaret comeback in 2024) was soaring on the ballad “Just In Time for Christmas.” Joanne Halev reminisced about her grandparents in Brooklyn during the early 1920s, which was her segue into “Nesting Time in Flatbush.” The penultimate number for this block of the show was Carolyn Montgomery’s bossa nova-style take on “Merry Christmas, Darling.”

After the Manhattan Holiday Carolers returned with “(Everybody’s Waitin’ for) the Man With the Bag,” (first introduced by Kay Starr in 1950), multiple award-winning variety show host of “The Lineup” Susie Mosher stormed the stage and was wild and hilarious singing an improv song about herself. It was the closest thing on the night to a manic Jerry Lewis-type moment. Goldie Dver then went to the virtual tote board and announced the revised fundraising total had reached $4,300. 

Laurie Krauz

The third block of numbers was the shortest of the evening but also the sweetest. With her long-time music director Daryl Kojak on piano, Laurie Krauz brought all her jazz vocal chops to bear on a seductive version of “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town,” transforming it into a seasonal song way too sophisticated and sensual for the kiddies. Lennie Watts, who seemingly has as many cabaret show directing awards as Kris Kringle gives away toys on Christmas Eve, channeled his inner Stubby Kaye on “Sit Down You’re Rockin’ the Boat” from Guys & Dolls, but with a cool and bluesy arrangement from Tracy Stark on piano. Over the years, Marieann Meringolo has consistently performed wonderful Christmas cabaret shows and she didn’t disappoint on this night with a lovely “Christmastime (It’s Time to Fall in Love),” written by Kurt Whiting who beamed from the audience. 

Quinn Lemley, Broadway World’s 2025 award-winner for best cabaret vocalist will be celebrating the release of her new album Remembering Rita Hayworth at The Triad Theater on December 21 with her show Rita Hayworth: The Heat Is On! Quinn certainly brought the heat for this benefit show, putting a first-person twist on “The Lady Is a Tramp” from Pal Joey. Rising star Ava Nicole Frances, a two-time Broadway World Cabaret Award winner, stunned the Beechman audience with a soaring, powerful, and poignant take on “Over the Rainbow.”

In introducing the last performer, Dver reminded the audience how Jerry Lewis would emotionally end his Muscular Dystrophy telethons singing “You’ll Never Walk Alone” from Carousel. The stage then went from Goldie to Gold as Julie Gold played piano on her own “From a Distance,” which became a classic after Bette Midler recorded it 35 years ago. The Manhattan Holiday Carolers then provided lovely harmonies on “The Christmas Song,” especially fitting since Jack Frost would be nipping at everybody’s nose after they left the Beechman. 

There was still the business of reaching that $6,000 fundraising goal for St. Jude’s and Goldie’s Kids, and when an audience member added a $650 donation to the $5,400 that had been raised by show’s end, everyone was merry and bright on a “White Christmas” singalong finale. What the world needs now is love, indeed. 

Photos by Stephen Hanks
Top photo: Justin Dylan Nastro and Goldie Dver

To donate to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, go to the website.