Daily News from New York, New York • 637

entertainment TllfflSilSSS IS Hit MONDAY THROUGH SUNDAyr si' -a. it 'S 'tl a' jgl, -f 'Kfc. 1 1 4 1 MONDAY BENEFIT Hoping to turn "A Night of Musical Magic" into dollars for leukemia research and treatment, Skitch Henderson and the New York Pops, John Kander and Fred Ebb, Maureen McGovern, Jane Olivor and others perform tonight at Carnegie Hall, Seventh Ave. at 57th St It's for the Lauri Strauss Leukemia Foundation, named after a 26-year-old victim of the disease. 8 p.m.

(212) 247-7800. TUESDAY UNEXPECTED TENDERNESS. By Israel Horovitz. With Steve Ryan, Jonathan Marc Sherman, Caitlin Clarke, Scotty Bloch, Paul O'Brien and others. Set by Edward T.

Gianfrancesco. Directed by Steve Zucker-man. At the WPA Theatre to Nov. 6. By THOMAS M.

DISCH THE TENDERNESS IN the title of Israel Horovitz' darkly comic family chronicle that opened last night at the WPA Theatre has to be thought of as very much in quotation marks. Unless this tenderness is the kind that comes from bruises. It's the story of a battering husband and father, Archie Stern, who out-Othellos Othello in the jealousy department. His wife played by Caitlin Clarke with a long-suffering nobility that Desdemona herself could not improve on isn't allowed out of the house. When Archie tires of brutalizing his family, he falls into a teary heap of self-pity the "unexpected tenderness" of the title and the end of Act I.

Act II starts with a alarm cameo of Archie's coworker Willie, who shouts moronic obscenities at passing women from a truck. If there is a theatrical award for playing Yahoo of the Year, it would have to go to Paul O'Brien. Scotty Bloch, as Archie's "enabling" mother, would be a contender for Best Jewish STALEMATES: Jonathan Marc Sherman and Caitlin Clarke in "Unexpected Tenderness," by Israel Horovitz at the WPA Theatre ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER: "BLVD." of dreams Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein 2d are having quite a year: Not only is "Show Boat" the first big hit of the theater season, but their "Very Warm for May," first performed in 1939, is set for six full-length concert-style performances at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall, starting today. With Jon Lovitz, Brent Barrett, Jeanne Lehman and other Broadway vets. $39.

(212) 247-7800. THURSDAY Shtick. Her explanation of how the Stern men have been pathologically jealous all the way back to Adam is the show's best-polished turn. The one big dramaturgical error occurs in the relation between Archie and Roddy, his son and potential heir to the insanity. Steve Ryan, who plays Archie, doubles as the adult Roddy, even though the point of the play is that the son will break the cycle of abuse against women.

The doubling sows only confusion. Both Ryan as Archie and Jonathan Marc Sherman as young Roddy deliver performances full of actorly nuance, but no amount of competence can get them around the emotional stalemate at play's end. Is it crude to crave an out-and-out, slam-bang confrontation? Perhaps, but that's what makes a playwright like O'Neill or Horovitz at his best great in his willingness to pull out all the stops. (Disch writes about theater for The News.) Cabaret Crooners a Vocal Minority CIRCUS No need to run off; the Big Apple Circus is here, setting up its (heated) tent for business today through Jan. 8 in Dam-rosch Park, Lincoln Center.

(212) 268-0055. FRIDAY CABARET A trio of terrific women opens tonight: Weslia Whitfield begins her fall run at the Algonquin's Oak Room with "I Have Dreamed: Songs of Rodgers and Hart and Hammerstein." 9 p.m. at 59 W. 44th St $30. (212) 840-6800.

Amanda McBroom, singersongwriter who wrote "The Rose," makes her debut at Rainbow Stars at 8:30 p.m. at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. $35. (212) 632-5000. Jazz pianistVocalist Barbara Carroll returns to Bemelman's Bar at 9:45 p.m.

at 35 E. 76th St WEDNESDAY LECTURE Ah, those were the days or were they? Get the perspective of writers Gay Talese, Avery Corman and Gus Tyler in the program "The Way We Were," tonight at 8 at the 92d St 1395 Lexington Ave. THEATER Consider it a red-letter day: Cynthia Nixon makes the fashion statement as Hester Prynne when the Classic Stage Company presents a new adaptation of "The Scarlet Letter." Opens tonight at 7. 136 E. 13th.

Through Nov. 13. at 8 p.m.. Sun. at 3 p.m.

Matinee this Saturday at no performance this Thursday $25, $27; discounts available. (212) 677-4210. UMDACATAFFO DAILY NEWS MUSIC MEN: From left, Phillip Officer, Jeff Harnar and Tom Andersen, who all won rave reviews at last year's Cabaret Convention, ask why it's so rare to see male vocalists of any sort booked in the big rooms. swoon over," says Arthur Pom- reers have to be built. These rooms need to make more of a commitment to the performers and really sell a singer, like Phillip Officer or Tom Andersen, so they can build a following.

Continuity is what leads to success in cabaret." In another era, critically acclaimed actor-singers like Harnar, Officer and Marotta would be starring in Broadway musicals. And Andersen, who has been compared to a young Johnny Mathis, would be recording pop hits. Instead, many of the guys play the smaller, respected rooms, such as Eighty Eight's and Don't Tell Mama. And like most cabaret artists, they'll spend a few thousand on an act and work for the cover (these clubs don't pay them a salary). To make ends meet, they'll do catering, hotel work, word-processing, etc.

"If you want to make money, there's no future for men in cabaret," says Marotta. "But I do it because it gives me a chance to be really me." On a more hopeful note, Andersen says, "I think things are getting a little better; people now are more open to a guy who's not afraid to show some emotion when he sings." Officer adds, "Maybe in years to come, the big rooms'll take more of a risk; we know there's an audience for (Wong is on The News staff.) MUSIC Just in case people don't know he's one of the hottest new guitarists to come out of the Memphis blues scene. Little Jimmy King (real name: Manuel Gales) has appropriated the surname of his mentor the late, great Albert King. He's at Lola tonight and tomorrow at 12:30 a.m. 30 W.

22d St, between Fifth and Sixth Aves. $15 with reservations, $20 at the door. (212) 675-6700. SATURDAY Andrew Lloyd Webber, whose musical "Sunset Boulevard" opens next month, talks with author Martin Gottfried about his various productions. 7 I p.m.

Metropolitan Museum, Fifth Ave. and 82d St $30. (212)570-3949. Tony winnerCarlinGlynnis ia "The Cover of Life," pre- mieringtoday at 6 m. at the 1 American Place Theatre.

It tells ofthree war brides, married to brothers, who are interviewed by a Life magazine photojounalist 111 W. 46th St. $35, $40. (212) 239-6200. posello, who books the Algonquin.

"One with sex appeal. Not pathos or a sympathetic, motherly Oedipus Rex complex. Women should want to eat his shorts off. A macho man, like Sergio Franchi." Asked if female singers needed to be the type that men swoon over, Pomposello says: "No. People come to see women to admire their talent." With rare exceptions, the few male cabaret stars tend to be singerpianists like Bobby Short and Steve Ross rather than outright vocalists.

If money were no object, the major rooms say, they'd love to book folks like Vic Damone, Jack Jones or Tony Bennett "In the big rooms, they do opt for a name," says Donald Smith, the organizer of the Cabaret Convention, "But ca- FROM COVER Harnar. "They believe women sell, men don't," Marotta adds. And what do the cabaret owners and bookers say? "It doesn't matter to me if the performer is male or female," says Ed Micone of Ra- dio City Music Hall Productions, which books Rainbow -Stars. "Talent is the bottom line. We books tars, and" there's just more women than men at that stage in their careers to play our room." Faith Stewart-Gordon, owner of the Russian Tea Room, says: "We've been beating out our brains, but it's hard to find good male vocalists." "I wish I could find a male singer that women would fjr CYNTHIA NIXON: As Hester Prynne to.

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