The best cabaret of 2007

1. Judy Collins
Café Carlyle, February
In her cabaret debut, the folk icon used her voice like a fine crystal vessel: to elevate and beautify but also to expose.

2. Paula West
Oak Room, October–November
The forceful beauty of West’s artistry takes your breath away even as it breathes new life into popular music.

3. Taylor Mac: The Be(a)st of Taylor Mac
La Mama E.T.C., January
Outré on the outside, indefinable within, Mac achieves universality by being so extravagantly himself.

4. Steve Ross: Good Thing Going
Oak Room, September
The elegant, supremely witty Ross offered a revelatory and restorative take on the songs of Sondheim.

5. Eartha Kitt
Café Carlyle, September–October
The sui generis siren is still up to her old tricks, and finding new ones every year.

6. Meow Meow
Various venues, various dates
Leaving audiences dangling helplessly at her feet, the postmodern international diva proved that the world is her litter box.

7. Bridget Everett: At Least It’s Pink
Ars Nova, January–March
Everett was in rare form in this hilariously raunchy evening of sex, booze and whatever lies beyond.

8. Tammy Grimes
Metropolitan Room, April and October
After more than five decades, the unsinkable Miss Grimes remains indomitably unique.

9. Terese Genecco: Still Drunk with Love
Metropolitan Room, November
The high-octane Genecco and her swinging band toasted nightclub legend Frances Faye in marvelously high spirits.

10. Maude Maggart: Good Girl/Bad Girl
Oak Room, January–February
The lovely young chanteuse set hearts fluttering in her latest return to the Oak Room.

—Adam Feldman