Stalking Vernon Duke

Stalking Vernon Duke

Klea Blackhurst overcomes a sad new nightspot with an upbeat style

Opia, the recently opened room that bills itself as “the East Side’s newest cabaret hotspot” is, to put it mildly, a dreary little room. Done in waiting room beige, the singer has to appear between two enormous, and dying, potted plants in front of a tinted mirror. Moreover, he or she has to be heard over the arguments of the sullen wait staff, the clattering of china and the occasional rowdy eruption from the hotel lobby right outside the door. The Algonquin, Helen’s and the Duplex have nothing to fear from this new arrival.

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