The fancy rooms around town got into high gear in January, presenting such remarkable talent that these performers stood out in high relief against the mostly drab and colorless theater that comes to visit us every year during the first few weeks of the new year. Here are just some of January's triumphs ...

At the Café Carlyle, Elaine Stritch just finished putting on a ferocious show, taking on one iconic Sondheim song after another and showing us, even in her later years, why she is a performer of the highest magnitude. Starting out with a sense of humor, singing "I Feel Pretty," she quickly segues into some of Sondheim's darkest and most challenging work. That she pulls it off is yet another testament to her actor's talent. Inhabiting every lyric with intelligence, wit, and humanity, she provides us with a vision of both Mr. Sondheim and herself. Her show is cabaret at its apex.

Earlier in January, Sandi Stewart and Bill Charlap arrived at the Algonquin Hotel's Oak Room and attacked their musical program with almost the exact opposite emotional pitch of Elaine Stritch's take-no-prisoners approach, yet came out the other end with a largely similar result. With vocalist Ms. Stewart using restraint and subtlety like daggers, she pierced the heart of each song in the repertoire that she and her famous jazz pianist son had assembled—not to mention the hearts of those of us in the audience who were hanging on her every word. When it came time for Mr. Charlap to take center stage for a couple of scintillating jazz numbers, he put on a brief show at the eighty-eights of extraordinary skill that, coupled with a bright interpretative overlay, showed you why he is considered one the greatest of today's young jazz pianists.

Making his New York City solo debut at a sold out show at Birdland on January 4th, young Aaron Weinstein is a jazz violinist who has blossomed almost instantly into a star. Known primarily before this as a jazz violinist who plays with John Pizzarelli's tight-knit band of extraordinary musicians, Weinstein has now stepped out into the spotlight as a solo act with a display of impressive musical chops, a wonderfully goofy sense of humor, and (this will carry him the farthest) ineffable charm. He is, in a word, a born showman.

If there is a means by which his star-power can be gauged, then it is this: whether paying homage to Jack Benny or playing with his guest star Janis Siegel, neither the memory of Jack Benny nor the undeniable brilliance of Janis Siegel could keep Aaron Weinstein from being the center of your attention. Though the Jack Benny tag may follow him, largely because Weinstein is so funny, this amazingly poised performer owes more to Victor Borge than Jack Benny, largely because Jack Benny was a lousy musician and Victor Borge was really a brilliant concert pianist. Weinstein is first and foremost a stunning jazz player. His dry, comic personality, however, will be his ticket to future sold out houses. Your next opportunity to see him will be a one night only gig at the Algonquin Hotel's Oak Room on Saturday, February 20th at 8:30 pm. You'll kick yourself (hard) if you miss seeing Aaron Weinstein now, at the start of his solo career; he's that special.

At the Oak Room right now through February 7th, the legendary Steve Ross is putting on perhaps the best show he is done in years. The new show, a tribute to Fred Astaire, doesn't have a clunker song in it. More to the point, every song in the show is a brilliant standard by the likes of Cole Porter, Johnny Mercer, The Gershwins, et al, made all the more engaging by Mr. Ross who even manages, through his interpretative genius, to make some of these songs seem absolutely brand new.

Mr. Ross, who plays the piano and sings, is not often given credit for his amazing skills as a piano player. One might say that he is a brilliant accompanist for himself. Possessing a voice no more special than Fred Astaire's, Mr. Ross (like Astaire) makes every word count, but he uses his musicianship at the piano to bolster the emotional heft of his songs when his voice, alone, could never do so. Best of all, Steve Ross's patter is smart, sophisticated and funny. He sets up his songs so well that he's done most of his work before he even begins to sing. It's great having him back at the Oak Room, the room he re-opened approximately 30 years ago!

-- Barbara and Scott Siegel