This show celebrates the lesser known but highly acclaimed Jazz icon, Irene Kral. She performed from the late 50's through to the late 70's when she passed at the age of 46 just one year after she released her last album. She collaborated with many great songwriters like: Fran Landesman & Tommy Wolf, Bob Dorough, Dave Frishberg and Steve Allen as well as singing the likes of Porter, Hammerstein, Kern, Livingston & Evans and more! We will even celebrate her older brother with a few Jackie & Roy (Kral) duets. What a life...what a singer...come learn  more about this American treasure! Featuring the Gregory Toroian Trio - Tom Hubbard on bass, David Silliman on drums & Gregory on the keys!Sue MatsukiKral Space: Celebrating Irene KralDon’t Tell Mama, NYC, May 2, 2025Review by Betsyann FaiellaOn May 2 at Don’t Tell Mama, Sue Matsuki elegantly performed a superb set of music that the great jazz singer Irene Kral popularize...

Sue Matsuki & Gregory Toroian's Heartfelt RESERVATIONS FOR TWO …The dynamic duo delighted the crowd! By: Analisa Bell- April, 2025 In Reservations for Two at Don't Tell Mama this past Friday evening, April 4, cabaret chanteuse Sue Matsuki and musical director/pianist/arranger Gregory Toroian celebrated their 31 year artistic partnership with a performance brimming with polish, playfulness, and mutual respect. Directed by Lina Koutrakos and supported by Skip Ward on bass and David Silliman on drums, the evening paid loving tribute to legendary duos of the past while reaffirming why some collaborations (like Matsuki and Toroian's) truly stand the test of time. Opening with a seamless mash-up of Hammerstein & Wilkinson’s "Because of You" and Cole Porter’s "Night and Day," Matsuki and Toroian immediately set the tone — elegant, heartfelt, and completely in sync. Thei...

BUT BEAUTIFUL...MY TRIBUTE TO JULIE WILSON "TONIGHT YOU WERE A STAR!!!" - Roy Sander, NY Reviewer***** "The band, the arrangements, and especially your performance were superb!! I didn't remember that my song was very good until you did it! You brought a depth to the song that I don't think even Francesca (Blumenthal-lyricist) thought of!!!" - Ronny Whyte, NY Icon Jazz Singer/Songwriter***** "A Night No One Will Ever Forget! WOW! “But Beautiful” and “Quiet, Please” Devastated Me. Congratulations!" - Sidney Myer*****BUT BEAUTIFUL, SUE MATSUKI'S TRIBUTE TO JULIE WILSON: A REVIEW - May 25, 2024 by Jed Ryan, Lavender After DarkOn Friday, May 19th, cabaret luminary Sue Matsuki took the stage at New York City’s 54 Below for But Beautiful: A Tribute to Julie Wilson directed by Lina Koutrakos, one of Matsuki's frequent creative collaborators.&nb...

“An author and a performers’ advice columnist, Matsuki is also a LONG-ADMIRED ENTERTAINER.” – The New York Times Arts & Leisure section - Sue is listed as one of the 75 Pop and Jazz Albums and Shows in 2022. ***“Despite a broken foot, Sue Matsuki brought elegance to the stage and sophisticated understanding mixed with a naiveté to the wicked lyrics of “When in Rome” (Cy Coleman/Carolyn Leigh). Later she explored the darkness underlying Irving Berlin’s beguine “Let’s Face the Music and Dance.” – Bart Greenberg for Cabaret Scenes Re: Someone Else’s Hat—A Sondheim Wishlist: Vol. II***Speaking of songs that are just begging to be heard again… The phenomenal Sue Matsuki performed When in Rome (I Do as the Romans Do).  It was a crowd-pleasing foot-tapper for sure… and the audience also got to hear Sue rhyme “happily” with Napoli”: W...

Here are 3 wonderful reviews we received for this show. The premise of which was that the show was composed of all Opening Numbers from several of my shows over the past 30 years but the "hook" was that it was not a show about Opening Numbers.****Sue Matsuki HOW'S THAT FOR OPENERS? Is Cause For Celebration at Don't Tell Mama - Stephen Mosher, Broadway WorldThirty-three years to the day. That's what September 16, 2019, was - thirty-three years since Sue Matsuki stepped onto the stage at Don't Tell Mama to audition for Sidney Myer. Nervous, scared, excited, Ms. Matsuki gave it the old college try; and though it wasn't her best audition, Sidney saw something in her and decided to give her a shot, something Sidney has been known to do over the years, and Sue Matsuki had a place to sing. Three plus decades later, the elegant Ms. Matsuki stepped, once more, onto the stage that she has occupied many times, and opened her mouth t...

I have seen Sue Matsuki perform many times over the past eleven years. As I've said before, and will doubtless have occasion to say again, one of the most gratifying aspects—no, make that greatest pleasures—of covering cabaret over an extended period of time is seeing artists develop and grow, so it is with great pleasure that I can report that Matsuki's new show not only represents her best work to date, it is also one of the finest shows I've seen anyone deliver this year. Working for the first time with director Eric Michael Gillett, and for the umpteenth time with her musical director for the past thirteen years, Gregory Toroian, Matsuki has put together a very intelligent, tight show, with no blah-blah-blah patter and a nice mixture of classics and new discoveries. The most striking element of the evening is the remarkable quality of her interpretations0each based on a chosen point of view and delivered with commitment and a singularity of purpose, devoid of extrane...