It’s been a long-standing reality for women performers that a lot of the great roles in film and theater have been written for men, women delegated to supporting roles often in service to the male lead. Only recently have these scales started to balance out, with more and more rich, dynamic roles for women becoming prevalent. Maybe that’s part of the reason for the popularity of concerts that allow for women to perform songs originally written for men, giving people the chance to tackle material they’d never get to perform otherwise.

The Women Do It Better concert series at 54 Below, directed and produced by Paris Martino and Meghan Fitton, follows in this grand tradition. Each show brings together an incredible and diverse ensemble of women singing songs written for male characters. Each one has managed to round up an outstanding, talented group of powerhouse singers, and each one has a well chosen set list ranging from the fun and upbeat to beautiful ballads. All accompanied, of course, by a skilled band. While there are some songs that are sad or sweet or gentle, the prevailing energy at the concerts is joyous, celebratory, vibrant. They’re just plain fun. It relishes in showing off what these talented performers can do. All the songs have felt perfectly at home in each singer’s voice, which is a testament to great performers but also fantastic music direction.

Apart from having proven itself to be a fun and enjoyable concert series, Women Do It Better has a fantastic mission behind it. The performances have been raising money for various charities that support women and do work relating to issues that impact them. The series was created to lift up women’s voices, and each ensemble has presented a wonderfully diverse group of women on stage. There is still progress to be made in terms of gender equality and equality in representation, and this series is doing a small bit to help keep pushing for empowerment.

Further installments of the series are already planned at 54 Below and hopefully Martino and Fitton and their wonderful collaborators can continue to entertain Manhattan audiences for a long while.