West Bank Cafe Friday Night After Party

[regnad kcin]

Posted: 2/9/09 at 5:00pm

The Friday Night After Party at the West Bank Cafe -- is this worth a visit?

[Broadway Baby 2]

Posted: 2/9/09 at 7:50pm

Absolutely! I go quite often. It is a great, inexpensive and FUN night!

[dramamama611]

Posted: 2/9/09 at 8:18pm

Fun, fun, fun!!!

[regnad kcin]

Posted: 2/10/09 at 11:57am

What kind of crowd does this draw? Do theater folks actually show up?

[pattilupuppy]

Posted: 2/10/09 at 1:59pm

Yes its a great theatre crowd... with a few crazies mixed in...

Mostly gay crowd i would say... but others are always welcome

[regnad kcin]

Posted: 2/12/09 at 10:52am

This sounds like fun -- my wife and I will plan to go tomorrow night after seeing Speed-The-Plow. Thanks for the information.

[BS]

Posted: 2/12/09 at 11:29am

They have some terrific talent. However the host/star gives a very egocentric performance and in my mind is not at all funny.
This concept with a different host would have me there weekly. Can't therefore really recommend it. Go to birdland on Monday nights or Don't Tell Mama when they are not playing music for middle america.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 2/12/09 at 11:49am

Whoa. Egocentric? What a weird word to use.

Brandon Cutrell, the host, is extremely talented and funny, and Alysha Umphress, his cohort, has a terrific voice and a lot of fans here on BroadwayWorld.

BS is full of BS.

[ItsCalledHistory]

Posted: 2/12/09 at 12:09pm

I do have a nice time when I go there. Can't beat no cover/no minimum.

I will admit I've stopped going as regularly as I once did. The way the evening is normally structured is that the host and servers sing, followed by the special guest, followed by the open mic portion with "regulars" peppered in throughout.

What the regulars (which includes the host and servers) don't do is sing new songs. So if you've been once and someone has sung Taylor the Latte Boy, better believe that person is going to sing the same song the next week... and the next... and the next.

If you go only once a month that's probably not a huge issue, but when you go more than that it gets annoying.

For me, it gets fun when the special guest sings and then again when the open mic really starts.

As for the poster who asked about "theatre folk" showing up - absolutely. You'll see more supporting their friends who are special guests, but I've regularly seen cast members from In The Heights, Wicked, Avenue Q - and back in the day - Hairspray and Rent there.

[BS]

Posted: 2/12/09 at 2:31pm

Alysha Umphress is very talented agreed. No need to get nasty about my opinion.