Down For The Count
Directed and Organized by Sivan Raz
The Green Room 42 | 570 Tenth Avenue, New York, NY, 10036, Inside YOTEL, Fourth Floor.
Nov 29, 2025
Photo by India Marin Stachyra
As I walked into the lobby of Yotel on 10th ave, riveting in the beautiful fact I found a parking spot right outside (yes, I drove. You read that correctly.), I felt eager to make it up to the fourth floor.
After shuffling my way through some moments of confusion, I found the entrance to The Green Room 42. Welcoming smiles greeted me, and the vibe of the chic, soothingly lit room added to the rivieting feeling I was still holding in my body from finding that parking spot.
All seemed to align – inlcuding the fact that The Green Room 42 didn’t require a drink or food minimum (thank you!). My mini heart palpitation subsided, but because of alignment, I decided to treat myself on this date night with me, myself and I.
My chamomile tea lit up under the tiny table lamp and was soon accompanied by a rich, delicious, chocolate fudge cake. It was still Thanksgiving Weekend, so dessert was Monday’s problem. I was cozy and feeling good.
It was so nice to sit at an actual table for me to write my notes while wearing my review hat. Plus, I had the table all to myself. Alignment.
At 9:39pm the pre-show music faded out and Kade De Angioletti, our accompanist for the evening, hit the keys of a familiar song. Needs More Work Productions’ cabaret, Down For the Count had begun.
“One” from A Chorus Line boomed through the cast’s voice as they opened the night, and it gave us a taste of what was in store for the next hour or so: songs tied together by one common theme – numbers.
As a dancer, I always joke that the only number I count up to is “8.” So, when Sivan Raz, our host, structured a whole cabaret around the concept that performers are not great with numbers, I chuckled and pushed endless respect out of my body hoping that it would reach the stage.
Stand out performances of the night were “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere” sung by Gillian Mackay Brown, “Tonight at Eight” from She Loves Me, “Ten Minutes Ago” from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, a duet performed by Alexandra Rose DeAngelis and Disney’s voice of Mirabel in the Thai version of Encanto, Chan Wannapat, “Fifteen” by Taylor Swift, “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” by Paul Simon, sung by Jules Curtis, “Another Hundred People” from Company, sung by Broadway’s Ramona Mallory (A Little Night Music Revival), and “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles),” the hit by The Proclaimers – yes that one with the “da da da’s!”
As entertaining and sweet as some of Down For The Count was, some of it was equally as questionable. There were performers who noticeably didn’t know their lyrics while singing “One” and other group songs. It was one of those instances where you could tell they were either singing quietly, or weren’t singing at all. Their mouths didn’t match up.
Forgetting lyrics is one thing (it happens to the best of us), by noticeably not knowing them is another. Many moments of the show felt thrown together, unrehearsed, and not fit for certain voices. The vibe was not aligned for the performers, which flooded out into the audience.
All in all, it was a night of enjoyment to watch performers get a chance to…well, perform! Needs More Work Productions’ Down For The Count cabaret was a one-night-only event at The Green Room 42.
Review by Amanda Montoni
Published by Theatre Beyond Broadway on December 1, 2025. All rights reserved.