Conversations with today’s most iconic cabaret artists and innovators, hosted by award-winning cabaret performer and 92NY School of Music faculty member Michael Kirk Lane.
In this series, Michael speaks with performers, directors, and journalists, who share stories of backstage and onstage antics and interrogate the current state of this unique performance style.
Each conversation ends with a lively Q&A session for participants to ask their burning questions. These conversations may be purchased individually, or as a package at a discounted price!
Sally Mayes made her Broadway debut in Cy Coleman’s Welcome to the Club. Her performance won critical praise along with a Theater World Award and Outer Critics Circle nomination as one of Broadway’s Outstanding Newcomers. On Broadway, Sally is perhaps best known for her performance in the Roundabout Theater revival of She Loves Me for which she won Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominations. Sally appeared as Aunt Corene in Urban Cowboy (Drama Desk nomination). She drew raves as Mae West in the National Tour of Dirty Blonde and also appeared in the Broadway revival of Steel Magnolias. Sally starred in several Off-Broadway productions including Closer Than Ever (Outer Critics Circle nomination), Das Barbecu, Pete N’ Keely (Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Actress in a Musical), Play It Cool, Good Ol’ Girls, and The Best is Yet to Come. Film and television credits include Bye Bye Birdie Alpha House, City Hall, Double Parked, Law And Order Criminal Intent, Sex And The City, and The Job. Sally has five solo albums, The Dorothy Fields Songbook, Our Private World: The Comden and Green Songbook, The Story Hour, Boys and Girls Like You And Me, and Valentine. Sally’ s much anticipated nightclub appearances have garnered her rave reviews from coast to coast, she has been nominated for twelve Manhattan Association of Cabaret awards and has won two Back Stage BISTRO awards for excellence in cabaret and recording.
Leslie Uggams is a Tony and Emmy Award-winning actress, singer, and recording artist whose landmark career took off at the age of nine, opening for Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald at The Apollo Theater in Harlem. As a teenager she went on to break barriers as a series regular on Sing Along with Mitch and later starred in her own history-making network variety series, The Leslie Uggams Show. She also won an Emmy for co-hosting the daytime series, Fantasy.
Leslie made her Broadway debut at the age of 24 in the groundbreaking musical Hallelujah, Baby!, earning TheatreWorld and Tony awards. Since then, she has starred on Broadway in Blues in the Night, Her First Roman, Jerry’s Girls, Anything Goes, King Hedley II (Tony Award nomination), Thoroughly Modern Millie, and On Golden Pond with James Earl Jones. She was recently inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame.
Perhaps best known on screen for her stirring portrayal of Kizzy in the landmark TV mini-series Alex Haley’s Roots (Critics Choice Award, Emmy and Golden Globe nominations), Leslie, now in her seventh decade, continues to create memorable roles. Most notably, she can be seen in American Fiction; Dotty & Soul; Nanny; Deadpool; on television in New Amsterdam and Empire; and in the streaming series Extrapolations, The Bite, and the upcoming Fallout.
Leslie also continues an active concert and cabaret schedule with her one-woman show Uptown/Downtown and in her recent appearances at 54 Below in New York City. For more information, please visit www.leslieuggams.com, or follow her on Facebook, YouTube, Threads @LeslieUggams1 and Instagram @LeslieUggams1.
Mary is the recipient of the Legend of Off-Broadway Award, Three Tony nominations, two Lucille Lortel nominations, six Drama Desk nominations, two Drama League nominations, two Outer Critic’s Circle nominations, an Obie Award, and a special Drama Desk award celebrating Queen of the Mist and ‘Three Decades of Outstanding Work.’ Broadway: Oklahoma!, Wicked, Guys and Dolls, Xanadu, Chicago, 42nd St, Marie Christine, On the Town, Forum, etc. Opera: Anna Nicole/BAM. Off-Broadway: The Gardens Of Anuncia, Oklahoma!, The Portuguese Kid, The Government Inspector, First Daughter Suite, Caucasian Chalk Circle, Queen of the Mist, Love Loss.., A New Brain, See What I Wanna See, etc. Film: Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical, The Mother (short; 3 Best Actress Awards), Big Stone Gap, Eat Pray Love, The Bounty Hunter, etc. Television: The Good Fight, Divorce, Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Bull, SMILF, Two Broke Girls, Difficult People, and Whoopi. Featured on fifteen original cast albums, Mary’s album with Michael Starobin, Have Faith, is now available.
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KT Sullivan, world renowned performer, and Artistic Director of the Mabel Mercer Foundation, will kick-off our Cabaret Conversation Series. Michael Kirk Lane curates a series of conversations about the artform of cabaret in New York City. Welcoming, performers, directors, and journalists, these conversations will delve into the history and current state of this unique performance style.
Featuring award winning composer, lyricist, and playwright Joe Iconis. His musical, Be More Chill (with Joe Tracz) is currently playing London’s West End, after running at Broadway’s Lyceum Theatre and off-Broadway’s The Pershing Square Signature Center after a world premiere at Two River Theater.
Join in the conversation with internationally recognized master musical theater and commercial music voice technique teacher and performer, David Sabella, and award-winning cabaret/jazz singer Sue Matsuki, who has performed in virtually every NYC cabaret room! David and Sue are the editor and co-editor of CabaretHotspot.com, and authors of the book So you Want to Sing Cabaret.
Join Cabaret Conversations with Broadway, off-Broadway, television and recording artist Karen Mason, who has garnered rave reviews starring as The Queen of Hearts in Wonderland and originating the role of Tanya in Abba’s Mamma Mia, and many more!
Kicking off the Fall, we welcome critically acclaimed performer Natalie Douglas, who has been called, “a true force of nature,” and "in a league of her own," by Clive Davis of The Times (UK) in his TWO five-star reviews of two different London appearances. Natalie is a Nightlife, two-time Bistro, twelve-time MAC, and BroadwayWorld Best Cabaret Vocalist Award Winner and recipient of the Donald F. Smith & Margaret Whiting Awards from the Mabel Mercer Foundation. Natalie’s portrait also hangs on the legendary Birdland Jazz Club Wall of Fame.
A theatrical icon and one of Broadway’s greatest triple-threat talents, Chita Rivera is one of the most nominated performers in Tony Award history having earned 10 nominations, won twice and received the 2018 Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre. She created iconic starring roles in such landmark Broadway musicals as West Side Story, Bye Bye Birdie, Chicago, The Rink, Kiss of the Spider Woman and The Visit. Among her many honors, The Presidential Medal of Freedom presented by President Barack Obama and the coveted Kennedy Center Honor.
Join the Conversation with the quintessential example of New York Cabaret, Sidney Myer. He has been a Cabaret Booking Manager for almost four decades at iconic clubs like Don’t Tell Mama, Rose’s Turn and Panache. Artists he has presented have gone on to careers on Broadway, Television, Motion Pictures; become the Star Search $100,000 Grand Prize Winner, the highest jackpot winner in Lotto history, receive multiple Emmys, Grammys, Tonys, Oscars and a Pulitzer Prize.
Kicking off the new year, Cabaret Conversations is joined by world-renowned performer and winner of season 5 of RuPaul’s Drag Race, Jinkx Monsoon. They are a 6-time MAC Award-nominee, winning in 2020 for Major Drag Artist. Their debut cabaret show, alongside performing partner Major Scales, The Vaudevillians, played over 100 performances at The Laurie Beechman Theatre, and was a New York Times Critics’ Pick, before going on an international tour.
Next on the hotseat, Broadway performer, recording artist, producer, & theater arts teacher, Telly Leung joins the conversation. His Broadway & national touring credits include Aladdin in Disney's Aladdin, Godspell, Rent (final Broadway company), Wicked (Boq, original Chicago Company) and television audiences will remember him as Wes the Warbler on Glee.
This duo features 16-time MAC, 5-time Backstage Bistro, and 3-time Nightlife Award-winner Lennie Watts and performer, writer, host, director, singer, and current President of MAC, Amy Wolk.
Recognized as an outstanding vocalist, director, producer and booking manager, Lennie Watts has been active in the New York cabaret scene for 30 years and was recently named one of “The 50 Most Influential People in New York Cabaret” by Nightlife Exchange.
4-time MAC Award winner, Amy Wolk, was the recipient of the 2014 Bistro Award for Outstanding Musical Comedy for her show A Wolk on the Wild Side. Amy has won 2 MAC Awards for her cabaret performances, including the 2011 MAC for Musical Comedy, and the 2004 MAC Award for Best Female New York Debut for her show Different For Girls. Her solo shows include A Wolk in Progress, We Can Wolk It Out, and Wolk This Way.
For the past 20 years, T. Oliver Reid has worked on Broadway shows including Hadestown; Once On This Island; Chicago; Thoroughly Modern Millie; Kiss Me Kate, and more, which have amassed more than 20 Tony Awards from the American Theatre Wing's Tony Awards. He is also an accomplished cabaret artist and multiple award winner for his solo show Drop Me Off In Harlem which he directed, wrote and starred in. T. Oliver Reid is the co-founder of Black Theatre Coalition.
Join the Conversation with Grammy and Emmy Award winning Music Director, Composer, Director, Arranger, Orchestrator & Producer and Artistic Director at the Tony Award winning O’Neill Theater Center, John McDaniel. Recently, McDaniel produced and directed a virtual concert of Sticks & Stones, for which he is also the composer, starring Audra McDonald & Javier Muñoz. He is also one of the camp directors of Kristin Chenoweth’s Broadway Boot Camp. John has collaborated with Cab Calloway, Shirley MacLaine, George Burns, Joel Grey, Carol Burnett, Betty Buckley and Bette Midler.
A veteran of Broadway’s Hairspray, Susie Mosher hosted the hugely successful BACKSTAGE at 54 Below for two years. She currently hosts THE LINEUP WITH SUSIE MOSHER at the legendary Birdland, an anything goes night of live entertainment featuring everything from Broadway stars to mariachi bands. Susie has received the 2013 BroadwayWorld award for Best Host of a variety show/reoccurring series, and the 2020 BroadwayWorld award for best variety show.
Lina Koutrakos is an award winning, rave reviewed, and accomplished singer/songwriter based in New York City. From rock and rolls legendary nightclubs: The Bottom Line, BB Kings, The Ritz, Joe’s Pub to Cabarets most prestigious awards for best Female Vocalist to Entertainer of the Year from the Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs Koutrakos has spanned nearly 3 decades as a New York City musical fixture.
Eric Michael Gillett is an award-winning director/actor/singer who has collaborated on solo shows for Broadway and cabaret artists including Tony nominees Jarrod Spector (Beautiful, Jersey Boys) and Karen Akers (Nine, Grand Hotel), Tony Award winner Jessie Mueller (Beautiful, Waitress), as well as Mandy Gonzalez (Hamilton, In the Heights), Alexandra Socha (Spring Awakening, Death Takes a Holiday), KT Sullivan (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes), Grammy winner Lari White, and a host of others. A six-time MAC Award recipient, Gillett conceived and directed The Amanda McBroom Project. As an actor, Gillett has most recently appeared on television in FBI: Most Wanted, Wu Tang: An American Saga, The Loudest Voice, and Daredevil.
Tony Award-Winner Lillias White returned to Chicago on Broadway September 14, 2021 after first appearing in the role of Matron ‘Mama’ Morton in the Broadway production in 2006. A Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award-Winner for her performance in The Life, White has appeared on Broadway in Barnum, Dreamgirls, Cats, Carrie, Once on this Island, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and Fela! (for which she received a Tony Award nomination). She’s also made countless appearances throughout her illustrious career in film and television including the lead muse Calliope in Disney’s animated feature Hercules. Recent TV credits include the Baz Luhrmann-directed Netflix series The Get Down, Russian Doll and Search Party. She won acclaim for her work in the Carnegie Hall Concert version of South Pacific starring Reba McEntire, which was broadcast on PBS’s Great Performances. In 1992, she received the Daytime Emmy Award for her work on Sesame Street. She has appeared in cabarets and concert halls around the world including The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center and the Sydney Opera House. Her first solo studio album Get Yourself Some Happy! is available now at LilliasWhite.com and on all streaming platforms.
Ben Cameron is your Broadway Buddy! Ben has appeared on Broadway in the original casts of Wicked and Footloose. He has also appeared on Broadway in Aida and in tours of Footloose, State Fair, Fame, The Who’s Tommy and Sweet Charity opposite Molly Ringwald. Ben is the creator/host of the long running NYC staple, Broadway Sessions at The Laurie Beechman Theatre (2018 MAC Award). Ben is also the MainStage host of Broadway Con, host of Broadway Buskers concert series w/ Times Square Alliance, hit podcast talk show The Broadway Cast, web series Dance Captain Dance Attack on BroadwayWorld.com.
Cabaret Warhorse, Ricky Ritzel has been a fixture on the nightclub and cabaret scene in NYC for over 38 years and his latest venture, RICKY RITZEL’S BROADWAY, received the 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 & 2020 MAC Award for Outstanding Recurring Series. Ricky has received most Cabaret awards including 20 Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs Awards in 11 different categories. An accomplished solo performer, Ricky has also accompanied such greats as Vivian Blaine, Varla Jean Merman, Julie Wilson, Lenora Nemetz, Nanette Fabray, and Miss Coco. With famed Chicago jazz vocalist Spider Saloff, Ricky created several award-winning revues such as 1938, which was recorded on the Kopathetics label, Porgy & Bess: a Cabaret Concert and Ira and Others.
Sherry Eaker has been producing the Bistro Awards, an award given to cabaret and jazz artists, since the awards’ inception in 1985. The Bistro Awards are now entering its 37th year. She served as Editor in Chief of Back Stage, the performing arts trade paper, for over 30 years (1977-2008). She compiled and edited four editions of the Back Stage Handbook for Performing Artists, and compiled and edited the Cabaret Artists Handbook—Creating Your Own Act in Today’s Liveliest Theater Setting. Sherry is a member of the National Theatre Conference and the American Theatre Critics Association, serves on the Board of the League of Professional Theatre Women, and is an advisor to the Women in the Arts & Media Coalition and the Manhattan Association of Cabarets.
Roy Sander has been covering cabaret and theatre for over thirty years. He’s written reviews, features, and commentary for seven print publications, most notably Back Stage, and fo. CitySearch and BistroAwards.com on the Internet. He covered cabaret on New York Theatre Review on PBS TV, and cabaret and theatre on WLIM-FM radio. He was twice a guest instructor at the London School of Musical Theatre and chairman of the judges of the MetroStar Talent Challenge for the Competition’s 10-year run. He first participated in selecting Bistro Award winners and putting on the annual Awards show in 1993; in 2013 he became the show’s Associated Producer. He is Chairman of the Advisory Board of MAC.
Adam Feldman is the Theater and Dance Editor and chief theater critic for Time Out New York, where he has been a staff writer since 2003. He covers Broadway, Off Broadway and Off-Off Broadway theater, as well as cabaret and dance shows and other events of interest in New York City. He is the President of the New York Drama Critics’ Circle, a position he has held since 2005.
Marta Sanders was in the original Broadway production of The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas. She is a graduate of The American Musical Academy, where she studied voice with the great Paul Gavert. She has been singing in cabarets and nightclubs in NYC and around the world ever since. Sanders has won the MAC and BISTRO Awards for “Outstanding Female Vocalist.” In 2018 she won the BISTRO Award for “Consummate Cabaret Artistry.” In 2019 Marta joined forces with Leanne Borghesi to create Showbroads, which debuted Upstairs at Birdland to sell out houses and rave reviews.
Melissa Errico is a Tony Award-nominated Broadway star, concert artist, and author. The Wall Street Journal recently referred to her as a “nonpareil cabaret singer” and called her 2018 album, Sondheim Sublime, “The best all-Sondheim album ever recorded.” That album led to sold-out concert dates around the country, as well as in London and Paris. Her Sondheim roles on stage include Dot in Sunday In The Park With George at The Kennedy Center and Clara in Passion at Classic Stage Company. In 2020, she sang “Children and Art” in the Sondheim 90th Birthday Concert “Take Me To The World,” and was featured on PBS television in a documentary special in which she sang “Finishing The Hat” and discussed Sondheim and his lyrics for Poetry in America.
Her starring roles on Broadway include My Fair Lady, Amour, High Society. Among her other musical mainstays is Michel Legrand who arranged and conducted her symphonic album Legrand Affair. She was the only American performer invited to sing at the extraordinary two-day memorial to Legrand in 2019 in Paris. She has also sung countless concerts of American song, ranging from Randy Newman to Irving Berlin, including stints at the 92nd Street Y, Birdland, Joe’s Pub, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center’s Allen Room, and Feinstein’s/ 54 Below, where her special concert-essay about coming back to New York was held over for encores twice last fall. Her latest album, Out Of The Dark: The Film Noir Project was just released from Warner Music/Ghostlight Records and began life as a specially commissioned bilingual series of concerts at the French Institute/Alliance Francaise.
An active writer all her life, she has since 2016 authored a series of pieces for The New York Times under the special rubric of “Scenes From The Acting Life,” which she is in the process of adapting into a book.
Jeff Harnar has won multiple MAC, Bistro and BroadwayWorld Cabaret Awards and The Noel Coward Foundation Cabaret Award. His Carnegie Hall appearances include both the Cole Porter and Noel Coward Centennial Galas. Jeff’s televised PBS concerts include The 1959 Broadway Songbook with Music Director Alex Rybeck, American Songbook: Stephen Sondheim co-starring KT Sullivan, and Michael Feinstein’s Live from NJPAC. Jeff toured with Shauna Hicks in their Symphony Pops Concert “I Got Rhythm: Mickey & Judy’s Hollywood.”
Jeff is also a BroadwayWorld, MAC and Bistro Award winning Director. He has directed shows for Tovah Feldshuh, Rita Gardner and award-winning shows for Celia Berk, Dawn Derow, Josephine Sanges and Margo Brown.
Jeff’s fifth solo album will be released worldwide by PS Classics on June 17, 2022. The album, I Know Things Now (My Life in SONDHEIM’S Words), features a 20 piece orchestra conducted by jazz virtuoso Jon Weber. This year Jeff and Jon have performed this show at Feinstein’s/54 Below, Feinstein’s at Vitello’s, in Chicago, St. Louis and London. The album release engagement is at The Laurie Beechman Theater June 15, 22 & 29, 2022.
Robbie Rozelle (he/him) is a celebrated entertainer, director, writer and producer. Frequently playing to sold out crowds across Manhattan, his show “Songs From Inside My Locker” was recorded live at 54 Below and released in 2020 to much acclaim. He has sold out Birdland, 54 Below, London’s Crazy Coqs and is currently headling a new residency at The Green Room 42 called “Party Mix”, and recording a new studio album with musical director Yasuhiko Fukuoka. In 2019-2020, he had a seven-month residency at Feinstein’s/54 Below. As a writer and director, he has frequently collaborated with two-time Tony Award nominee Kate Baldwin, Tony award nominee Melissa Errico, Broadway stars Nikka Graff Lanzarone and Nathan Salstone. His frequent collaborations with 15th Anniversary Elphaba Jessica Vosk culminated in her debut album “Wild and Free,” which debuted on four Billboard charts. By day, he is the A&R Director of the Grammy Award-winning Broadway Records, where he regularly produces albums; and he is the co-host of the popular podcast “Gay Card Revoked.” robbierozelle.com @divarobbie
Carolyn Montgomery is a multi MAC, Bistro and Nightlife award winning singer/songwriter, who has performed in major venues across 36 states, Montreal and London. In 2017, she co-founded the American Songbook Association, a 501(c)3 nonprofit arts organization that promotes and preserves classic American musical legacies (Jazz, Musical Theatre and the American Songbook, old and new) through education programs, senior enrichment, live events, and Cabaret Scenes magazine. As the Executive Director as well as the Director of Education and Outreach, Carolyn creates programs that reach thousands of public school students annually, across all five boroughs of New York City. She employs some of New York’s finest entertainers as instructors. She partners with some of New York’s most underserved communities, nurturing their students with music.
Carolyn lives on the West Side of Manhattan with her son Eli and a Jack Russell terrier named George.
Mark Nadler is the recipient of eight awards from the Manhattan Association of Cabarets, three Backstage Bistros, two New York Nightlife Awards and two Broadway World Awards. Additionally, he was awarded two Bay Area Outer Critics’ Circle Awards. He has been a soloist with major orchestras, playing everywhere from Carnegie Hall to Philadelphia’s 14,000 seat amphitheater at The Mann Center. His most recent off-Broadway show, I’m a Stranger Here Myself, was honored with a New York Nightlife Award, a Drama Desk nomination and a nomination for Australia’s highest performing arts honor, the Helpmann Award. www.MarkNadler.com.
Ken Page is widely known as the voice of Mr. Oogie Boogie in the classic Disney/Tim Burton animated film, The Nightmare Before Christmas. He has performed the score sung live at The Hollywood Bowl, Barclay Center N.Y. UK, Glasgow, London (SSE Arena Wembley), Dublin and Los Angeles’ Banc of California Stadium. Film: Dreamgirls, Torch Song Trilogy, All Dogs Go To Heaven, etc. Mr. Page’s television appearances are numerous. Ken made his Broadway debut in Guys and Dolls as Nicely-Nicely Johnson in the all-black revival, (Theatre World Award). He recreated that role at The Hollywood Bowl where he also performed the role of Sebastian in The Little Mermaid, live to film. Ken has performed in Cabaret/Concert since 1976, more recently at the Eugene O’Neil Cabaret Conference. Mr. Page was a 2021 nominee for the L.A. Ovation Award for his performance in Grumpy Old Men the Musical. This year, Mr. Page performed in Broadway Backwards annual benefit for BC/EFA, in New York City and to a sold out, critically acclaimed, one night only engagement at the city’s popular 54 Below. He most recently directed Ain’t Misbehavin’ for The California Performing Arts Center Escondido and will next appear at Lincoln Center in The Cabaret Conferences salute to Nat King Cole.
Lee Roy Reams has been hailed by the New York Times as “Broadway’s song & dance man nonpareil” for his leading Broadway roles in The Producers (Carbonell, Helen Hayes & Las Vegas Life Awards), 42nd Street (Tony & Drama Desk Nominations), Beauty & The Beast, La Cage Aux Folles, Hello, Dolly!, An Evening with Jerry Herman, Applause, Lorelei, Oklahoma! & Sweet Charity. On Broadway, he directed the last revival of Carol Channing’s Hello, Dolly! & An Evening with Jerry Herman. His TV, concert & cabaret appearances have taken him around the world and to the White House before four U.S. Presidents (Carter, Reagan, Bush Sr. & Clinton). Most recently, he played to another sold out house at Broadway’s Feinstein’s / 54 Below & made history as the first American male to star as Dolly in an Equity production of Hello, Dolly! at the Wick Theatre where he also starred in La Cage Aux Folles. He’s a board member of the Chita Rivera Awards & received the Friars Club Thespian of the Year Award. He also is the proud recipient of an Honorary Doctorate from his alma mater, CCM / University of Cincinnati.
Faith Prince has been dazzling Broadway audiences since winning the Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for her performance as “Ms. Adelaide” in Guys and Dolls. As one of Broadway’s best loved leading ladies, Faith most recently starred on Broadway in Disaster! the musical. In 2008 she was nominated for Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for A Catered Affair. Other Broadway credits include Annie, The Little Mermaid, Bells Are Ringing (Tony, DD, OCC noms), Nick & Nora (OCC Award), Jerome Robbins’ Broadway (Tony, DD noms), Little Me, The Dead, and Noises Off.
Faith is currently starring as Nellie on Fox’s musical drama Monarch. She recurred as Joey Lawrence’s mother on the long running series Melissa & Joey and had a 5-seasons run as Brooke Elliott’s mother on Drop Dead Diva. She was a series regular on Huff and recurred for five seasons on Spin City. Other television credits include Emily in Paris, Modern Family, Chicago Justice, Ugly Betty, Grey’s Anatomy, CSI, House, Medium, Monk, and Law and Order. Film credits include Dear Christmas, Our Very Own, Picture Perfect, Dave, and My Father the Hero.
Faith has performed at the Sydney Opera House and the Adelaide Music Festival. She works often with the Boston Pops, Utah Symphony, Cincinnati Pops, and Philly Pops, and starred in the Orlando Philharmonic’s concert version of Sweeney Todd. Faith toured her original show Moving On, and travelled the U.S. in Over the Rainbow, a concert celebrating the centennial of Harold Arlen. Faith has two critically acclaimed albums: Total Faith, and A Leap of Faith.
Ari is an actor, singer, and director. He recently received the 2022 Bistro Award for Theatrical Performance in Song for his show, Ari’s Arias. His award-winning show, A Place For Us: A Celebration of Jewish Broadway, began with a sold-out run at the historic Birdland Jazz Club, featuring six-time Emmy & Tony nominee Tovah Feldshuh, and has since grown to international acclaim performing to sold-out audiences around the world. In 2020, he received a MAC Award nomination for Best Male Vocalist. Ari Axelrod’s first solo show, Taking the Wheel, directed by Tony Award winner Faith Prince, and music directed by multiple MAC Award winner Alex Rybeck, has been performed in numerous cities around the country. Ari’s work as a director has been seen at the Tony Award-winning Paper Mill Playhouse, Birdland Jazz Club, 54 Below, and The Green Room 42.
Ari was the recipient of The Jewish Week’s prestigious 36 Under 36 Award, which “honors 36 noteworthy Jewish leaders, all 36 years old or younger, who make New York — and its many Jewish communities — better. These entrepreneurs, young leaders, and changemakers bring remarkable energy and new ideas to religion, philanthropy, the arts, Jewish learning, campus life, social action, inclusion, and justice.”
Gillette made her Broadway debut in the original production of Gypsy alongside Ethel Merman. Since then she has been seen in Carnival, Cabaret, All American, Don’t Drink The Water, They’re Playing Our Song, Brighton Beach Memoirs, and Chapter Two for which she received a Tony nomination for Best Actress in a Play.
She made her television debut on The Ed Sullivan Show and was a frequent game show panelist with stints on What’s My Line, Match Game, Password, and Pyramid. She co-starred on a string of seventies sitcoms (Me and the Chimp, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, All That Glitters, and The Baxters). On Quincy ME, she played Quincy’s late wife in a flashback and then recurred as Dr. Emily Hanover (who he married). She played mothers to John Goodman (Normal, Ohio), Tina Fey (30 Rock) and Catherin Willows (CSI). Other guest spots include Modern Family, Elementary, Sesame Street, St. Elsewhere, Mad About You, Frasier, the Law & Order franchise, Blue Bloods and Sex and the City. In film she is best remembered for her role as Mona in Moonstruck.
As a prolific cabaret and nightclub performer she was the recipient of the 2020 Manhattan Association of Cabaret Lifetime Achievement Award. She had previously won two other MAC awards and is also a recipient of a Bistro Award.
Sharon McNight began her career in San Francisco, and made her Broadway debut in 1989 in Starmites, creating the role of Diva. She received a Tony nomination as “Best Leading Actress in a Musical” for her performance, and is the recipient of the coveted Theatre World Award for “Outstanding Broadway Debut” and a Hirschfeld drawing of her character. She has six solo recordings to her credit, and has played from Moose Hall to Carnegie Hall, from Los Angeles to Berlin. She has won two Lifetime Achievement awards, a MAC, a Bistro award, a New York Nightlife award, and six San Francisco Cabaret Gold awards. Her eclectic repertory ranges from blues to country to good old fashioned entertainment. The Los Angeles Times called her "one of the great wonders of the musical stage." She is most noted for her movie reenactment of The Wizard of OZ and for being one of the few real women to impersonate Bette Davis. Ms. McNight received her Masters of Arts degree in direction from San Francisco State College and was a master teacher on the faculty of the Cabaret Conference at Yale University. She says the greatest day of her life was the day she quit smoking.
Steve Ross has been a fixture of the cabaret community in Manhattan for over forty years. He was born “forty-five minutes from Broadway” in New Rochelle, NY, and was raised in Washington, DC with an opera-loving father and a mother who played on the piano the songs of Gershwin, Porter and Irving Berlin. His first major job in New York was as a successful singer/pianist at the now famous piano bar Ted Hook’s Backstage. In 1981 he re-opened the legendary Oak Room at Manhattan’s famed Hotel Algonquin where he held forth, off and on, for more than fifteen years. He has appeared on Broadway in Noel Coward’s Present Laughter and off-Broadway in his tribute to Fred Astaire entitled I Won’t Dance. Internationally, he has performed in London, Paris, Tokyo, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Melbourne and Sydney as well as cabarets and theatres across America and on the high seas. He’s hosted programs on the BBC and American public radio and was on the lecture/performance roster at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for eight years. His last show at the sadly departed Oak Room at the Hotel Algonquin in New York City, Puttin’ on the Ritz – the Songs of Fred Astaire, prompted Stephen Holden of the New York Times to describe Steve as “the personification of the bygone dream world that his music summons.” He continues to tour and has presented, in the last few years, many well-attended shows at Birdland Jazz Club in Manhattan. He enjoys coaching and teaching the International Songbook.
Ben Rimalower serves as Director of Programming for The Green Room 42 cabaret club in midtown Manhattan. He is the author and star of the long-running solo plays Patti Issues (New York Times Critic’s Pick, M.A.C. and Bistro Awards) and Bad with Money, available everywhere as a double audiobook, as well as host of Broadway Podcast Network’s Cast Offs. He writes the theatre column in Metrosource Magazine and has been a frequent contributor to Vulture, Playbill, Out, Decider, and The Huffington Post. Ben directed Snoopy! (starring Tony winners Sutton Foster and Christian Borle), the Off-Broadway plays Joy and The Fabulous Life of a Size Zero (starring Gillian Jacobs and Anna Chlumsky), and a slew of solo shows, most notably conceiving and directing Leslie Kritzer is Patti LuPone at Les Mouches and subsequently producing Ghostlight Records’ Patti LuPone at Les Mouches. He is recognizable around the world for his four seasons on Bravo’s The Real Housewives of New York City as the writer-director of Luann de Lesseps’s record-breaking cross-country cabaret sensation, Countess and Friends. He also co-wrote de Lesseps’s single, “Feelin’ Jovani.”
Lucie Arnaz has been in show business for over 55 years. On Broadway and in London she’s been seen in They’re Playing Our Song, Lost In Yonkers, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Pippin, and Witches Of Eastwick. She was also in the first national tours of Seesaw, Whose Life Is It Anyway?, Social Security, My One and Only, and Pippin. On television she has appeared on The Lucie Arnaz Show, Sons and Daughters, The Black Dahlia, The Mating Season, Who Gets the Friends?, Washington Mistress, and Here’s Lucy opposite her mother, Lucille Ball and brother, Desi Arnaz, Jr. On film she appeared in The Jazz Singer with Neil Diamond and Sir Laurence Oliver, for which she received a Golden Globe Nomination.
She has performed as a concert and cabaret artist for over 30 years Including producing and starring in Babalu The Music of Desi Arnaz for The 92nd Street Y in 2010. She has multiple albums including Just In Time, Latin Roots, Lucie, Live! at Feinstein’s at the Nikko, and Lucie Live! from the Purple Room. Lucie has performed the opening number on the Academy Awards, at The White House, and Executive Produced the I Love Lucy 50th Anniversary Special (EMMY nomination) and Lucy & Desi: A Home Movie (EMMY winner).
With her brother she manages Desilu, too and with her husband, actor-author, Laurence Luckinbill, she manages five grown children and three grands.
Visit LucieArnaz.com.
Originally hailing from small town Leesburg, Florida, Ginger Minj made her first splash on the global stage as a finalist on RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 7. As a fan favorite and triple threat she was invited back for Drag Race All Stars 2 and made it to the top 3 of All Stars 6. She has starred in the Anne Fletcher helmed Dumplin for Netflix alongside Jennifer Aniston and Dove Cameron, in the Netflix series AJ & The Queen, and most recently in the Disney + Original Movie, Hocus Pocus 2. When she is not touring the world, appearing in movies or performing live theatrical shows or being nominated for two Manhattan Association of Cabaret Awards, Ginger can be heard on her three studio albums, Sweet T, Gummybear and her newest EP, Double Wide Diva! You can learn more about Ginger in her brand new tell all, cookbook, Southern Fried Sass!
James Jackson, Jr. Obie Award-winner from Pulitzer and TONY Award-winning musical A Strange Loop. Most recently seen off-Broadway in Michael R. Jackson’s White Girl in Danger (Second Stage, The Vineyard). His Cabaret/Solo work has been seen at The Provincetown Theater, Joe’s Pub, Chelsea Table + Stage, The Green Room 42, DROM, 54 Below, A.R.T.’s Club Oberon, Tin Pan Alley, and The Lyric Theatre of Los Angeles all alongside his Music Director of 12 years, Elliot Roth. James returns to Provincetown this summer at The Post Office Cafe in August and October. Co-host of Broadway-themed podcast and variety show 5 Questions with James & JAM, with TONY nominee John-Andrew Morrison. Find them at www.5QJandJ.com, where they’ve interviewed greats from Broadway and beyond including Bonnie Milligan, Elizabeth Stanley, Liza Kritzer, BD Wong, and Ryan Reynolds. On stage, James has also been seen — Radio City Christmas Spectacular, Whistle Down The Wind (National tour), Dreamgirls (DASH Award), The Wild Party (SpeakEasy Stage), Henri Gabler (Exigent). www.TheJamesJacksonJr.com and @JJacksonJr.
John-Andrew Morrison received a TONY Nomination, a Lucille Lortel Award and an OBIE Award for his work in the Pulitzer Prize winning musical A Strange Loop. He also was an Outer Critics Circle Honoree for his performance in The Off Broadway premiere of Blues for an Alabama Sky. John-Andrew spent many years working at La Mama with George Ferencz as a member of The Experimentals. He is a co-host and co-creator of the web talk show 5 Questions with James and JAM with James Jackson Jr. He is also a guest interviewer for The Live at the Lortel podcast and served as the pride month and black history month social media curator for the Lucille Lortel Theater Foundation. John-Andrew made his 54 Below solo concert debut with No..Maybe..Why Not? He presented a cabaret show called Youngish at The Laurie Beechman Theater. He has been an adjunct lecturer in musical theater performance at The Edna Manley School for the Visual and Performing Arts in Kingston, Jamaica. John-Andrew holds a BA in Theater Arts from Brandeis University and an MFA in Acting from U.C.S.D.
You may also be interested in: Cabaret Performance: Connecting to Your Lyric with Michael Kirk Lane.
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Michael Kirk Lane is an award-winning cabaret artist, most recently winning Manhattan Association of Cabaret Awards in both 2022 and 2020. He also was the recipient of the 2018 BroadwayWorld Cabaret Award for Best Cabaret Show. Stephen Mosher of BroadwayWorld Cabaret has called Lane “one of the most popular performers and people working in cabaret today.” Cabaret Scenes Magazine has deemed Lane’s work “musical comedy heaven.”
Beyond his own experience performing in cabaret, Lane’s experience managing two of the city’s most renowne ...
Beyond his own experience performing in cabaret, Lane’s experience managing two of the city’s most renowned cabaret venues (The Laurie Beechman Theatre, Don’t Tell Mama) offers him a unique vantage point and perspective on the art form.
As a teaching artist for over 20 years, Lane has taught all ages from pre-school to retirement homes. In each class he brings the same philosophy to his teaching, no matter the age of the students. “Art, Theatre, and Music are ways for us to connect with our most authentic self, and to explore the world around us.”
Cabaret Conversations
Cabaret Performance: Connecting to Your Lyric
92NY Summer Cabaret Conference with Faith Prince
Leslie Uggams is a Tony and Emmy Award-winning actress, singer, and recording artist whose landmark career took off at the age of nine, opening for Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald at The Apollo Theater in Harlem. As a teenager she went on to break barriers as a series regular on Sing Along with Mitch and later starred in her own history-making network variety series, The Leslie Uggams Show …
Mary is the recipient of the Legend of Off-Broadway Award, Three Tony nominations, two Lucille Lortel nominations, six Drama Desk nominations, two Drama League nominations, two Outer Critic's Circle nominations, an Obie Award, and a special Drama Desk award celebrating Queen of the Mist …
Mary is the recipient of the Legend of Off-Broadway Award, Three Tony nominations, two Lucille Lortel nominations, six Drama Desk nominations, two Drama League nominations, two Outer Critic's Circle nominations, an Obie Award, and a special Drama Desk award celebrating Queen of the Mist and 'Three Decades of Outstanding Work.' Broadway: Oklahoma!, Wicked, Guys and Dolls, Xanadu, Chicago, 42nd St, Marie Christine, On the Town, Forum, etc. Opera: Anna Nicole/BAM. Off-Broadway: The Gardens Of Anuncia, Oklahoma!, The Portuguese Kid, The Government Inspector, First Daughter Suite, Caucasian Chalk Circle, Queen of the Mist, Love Loss.., A New Brain, See What I Wanna See, etc. Film: Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical, The Mother (short; 3 Best Actress Awards), Big Stone Gap, Eat Pray Love, The Bounty Hunter, etc. Television: The Good Fight, Divorce, Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Bull, SMILF, Two Broke Girls, Difficult People, and Whoopi. Featured on fifteen original cast albums, Mary's album with Michael Starobin, Have Faith, is now available.
Sally Mayes made her Broadway debut in Cy Coleman’s Welcome to the Club. Her performance won critical praise along with a Theater World Award and Outer Critics Circle nomination as one of Broadway’s Outstanding Newcomers …
Obie Award-winner from Pulitzer and TONY Award-winning musical A Strange Loop. Most recently seen off-Broadway in Michael R. Jackson’s White Girl in Danger (Second Stage, The Vineyard). His Cabaret/Solo work has been seen at The Provincetown Theater, Joe’s Pub, Chelsea Table + Stage, The Green Room 42, DROM, 54 Below, A.R.T.’s Club Oberon, Tin Pan Alley, and The Lyric Theatre of Los Angeles …
Obie Award-winner from Pulitzer and TONY Award-winning musical A Strange Loop. Most recently seen off-Broadway in Michael R. Jackson’s White Girl in Danger (Second Stage, The Vineyard). His Cabaret/Solo work has been seen at The Provincetown Theater, Joe’s Pub, Chelsea Table + Stage, The Green Room 42, DROM, 54 Below, A.R.T.’s Club Oberon, Tin Pan Alley, and The Lyric Theatre of Los Angeles all alongside his Music Director of 12 years, Elliot Roth. James returns to Provincetown this summer at The Post Office Cafe in August and October. Co-host of Broadway-themed podcast and variety show 5 Questions with James & JAM, with TONY nominee John-Andrew Morrison. Find them at www.5QJandJ.com, where they’ve interviewed greats from Broadway and beyond including Bonnie Milligan, Elizabeth Stanley, Liza Kritzer, BD Wong, and Ryan Reynolds. On stage, James has also been seen — Radio City Christmas Spectacular, Whistle Down The Wind (National tour), Dreamgirls (DASH Award), The Wild Party (SpeakEasy Stage), Henri Gabler (Exigent). www.TheJamesJacksonJr.com and @JJacksonJr.
John-Andrew Morrison received a TONY Nomination, a Lucille Lortel Award and an OBIE Award for his work in the Pulitzer Prize winning musical A Strange Loop. He also was an Outer Critics Circle Honoree for his performance in The Off Broadway premiere of Blues for an Alabama Sky. John-Andrew spent many years working at La Mama with George Ferencz as a member of The Experimentals. He is a co-host and co-creator of the web talk show 5 Questions with James and JAM with James Jackson Jr. …
Lucie Arnaz has been in show business for over 55 years. On Broadway and in London she’s been seen in They’re Playing Our Song, Lost In Yonkers, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Pippin, and Witches Of Eastwick. She was also in the first national tours of Seesaw, Whose Life Is It Anyway?, Social Security, My One and Only, and Pippin. On television she has appeared on The Lucie Arnaz Show, Sons and Daughters, The Black Dahlia, The Mating Season, Who Gets the Friends?, Washington Mistress, and Here’s Lucy opposite her mother, Lucille Ball …
Originally hailing from small town Leesburg, Florida, Ginger Minj made her first splash on the global stage as a finalist on RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 7. As a fan favorite and triple threat she was invited back for Drag Race All Stars 2 and made it to the top 3 of All Stars 6 …
Ben Rimalower serves as Director of Programming for The Green Room 42 cabaret club in midtown Manhattan. He is the author and star of the long-running solo plays Patti Issues (New York Times Critic’s Pick, M.A.C. and Bistro Awards) and Bad with Money, available everywhere as a double audiobook, as well as host of Broadway Podcast Network’s Cast Offs …
Sharon McNight began her career in San Francisco, and made her Broadway debut in 1989 in Starmites, creating the role of Diva. She received a Tony nomination as “Best Leading Actress in a Musical” for her performance, and is the recipient of the coveted Theatre World Award for “Outstanding Broadway Debut” and a Hirschfeld drawing of her character …
Steve Ross has been a fixture of the cabaret community in Manhattan for over forty years. He was born “forty-five minutes from Broadway” in New Rochelle, NY, and was raised in Washington, DC with an opera-loving father and a mother who played on the piano the songs of Gershwin, Porter and Irving Berlin. His first major job in New York was as a successful singer/pianist at the now famous piano bar Ted Hook’s Backstage …
Gillette made her Broadway debut in the original production of Gypsy alongside Ethel Merman. Since then she has been seen in Carnival, Cabaret, All American, Don’t Drink The Water, They’re Playing Our Song, Brighton Beach Memoirs, and Chapter Two for which she received a Tony nomination for Best Actress in a Play …
Ari is an actor, singer, and director. He recently received the 2022 Bistro Award for Theatrical Performance in Song for his show, Ari’s Arias. His award-winning show, A Place For Us: A Celebration of Jewish Broadway, began with a sold-out run at the historic Birdland Jazz Club, featuring six-time Emmy & Tony nominee Tovah Feldshuh …
Faith Prince has been dazzling Broadway audiences since winning the Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for her performance as “Ms. Adelaide” in Guys and Dolls. As one of Broadway’s best loved leading ladies, Faith most recently starred on Broadway in Disaster! the musical …
Lee Roy Reams has been hailed by the New York Times as “Broadway’s song & dance man nonpareil” for his leading Broadway roles in The Producers (Carbonell, Helen Hayes & Las Vegas Life Awards), 42nd Street (Tony & Drama Desk Nominations), Beauty & the Beast …
Lee Roy Reams has been hailed by the New York Times as “Broadway’s song & dance man nonpareil” for his leading Broadway roles in The Producers (Carbonell, Helen Hayes & Las Vegas Life Awards), 42nd Street (Tony & Drama Desk Nominations), Beauty & the Beast, La Cage Aux Folles, Hello, Dolly!, An Evening with Jerry Herman, Applause, Lorelei, Oklahoma! & Sweet Charity. On Broadway, he directed the last revival of Carol Channing’s Hello, Dolly! & An Evening with Jerry Herman. His TV, concert & cabaret appearances have taken him around the world and to the White House before four U.S. Presidents (Carter, Reagan, Bush Sr. & Clinton). Most recently, he played to another sold out house at Broadway’s Feinstein’s / 54 Below & made history as the first American male to star as Dolly in an Equity production of Hello, Dolly! at the Wick Theatre where he also starred in La Cage Aux Folles. He’s a board member of the Chita Rivera Awards & received the Friars Club Thespian of the Year Award. He also is the proud recipient of an Honorary Doctorate from his alma mater, CCM / University of Cincinnati.
Ken Page is widely known as the voice of Mr. Oogie Boogie in the classic Disney/Tim Burton animated film, The Nightmare Before Christmas. He has performed the score sung live at The Hollywood Bowl, Barclay Center N.Y. UK, Glasgow, London (SSE Arena Wembley), Dublin and Los Angeles’ Banc of California Stadium …
Mark Nadler is the recipient of eight awards from the Manhattan Association of Cabarets, three Backstage Bistros, two New York Nightlife Awards and two Broadway World Awards. Additionally, he was awarded two Bay Area Outer Critics’ Circle Awards …
Carolyn Montgomery is a multi MAC, Bistro and Nightlife award winning singer/songwriter, who has performed in major venues across 36 states, Montreal and London. In 2017, she co-founded the American Songbook Association, a 501(c)3 nonprofit arts organization that promotes and preserves classic American musical legacies …
Carolyn Montgomery is a multi MAC, Bistro and Nightlife award winning singer/songwriter, who has performed in major venues across 36 states, Montreal and London. In 2017, she co-founded the American Songbook Association, a 501(c)3 nonprofit arts organization that promotes and preserves classic American musical legacies (Jazz, Musical Theatre and the American Songbook, old and new) through education programs, senior enrichment, live events, and Cabaret Scenes magazine. As the Executive Director as well as the Director of Education and Outreach, Carolyn creates programs that reach thousands of public school students annually, across all five boroughs of New York City. She employs some of New York’s finest entertainers as instructors. She partners with some of New York’s most underserved communities, nurturing their students with music. Carolyn lives on the West Side of Manhattan with her son Eli and a Jack Russell terrier named George.
Melissa Errico is a Tony Award-nominated Broadway star, concert artist, and author. The Wall Street Journal recently referred to her as a “nonpareil cabaret singer” and called her 2018 album, Sondheim Sublime, “The best all-Sondheim album ever recorded” …
Photo Credit: Andre Werner
Jeff Harnar has won multiple MAC, Bistro and BroadwayWorld Cabaret Awards and The Noel Coward Foundation Cabaret Award. His Carnegie Hall appearances include both the Cole Porter and Noel Coward Centennial Galas. Jeff’s televised PBS concerts include The 1959 Broadway Songbook with Music Director Alex Rybeck …
Photo Credit: Eric Stephen Jacobs
Sherry Eaker has been producing the Bistro Awards, an award given to cabaret and jazz artists, since the awards’ inception in 1985. The Bistro Awards are now entering its 37th year. She served as Editor in Chief of Back Stage, the performing arts trade paper, for over 30 years (1977-2008) …
Photo Credit: Maryann Lopinito
Roy Sander has been covering cabaret and theatre for over thirty years. He’s written reviews, features, and commentary for seven print publications, most notably Back Stage, and for CitySearch and BistroAwards.com on the Internet …
Roy Sander has been covering cabaret and theatre for over thirty years. He’s written reviews, features, and commentary for seven print publications, most notably Back Stage, and for CitySearch and BistroAwards.com on the Internet. He covered cabaret on New York Theatre Review on PBS TV, and cabaret and theatre on WLIM-FM radio. He was twice a guest instructor at the London School of Musical Theatre and chairman of the judges of the MetroStar Talent Challenge for the Competition’s 10-year run. He first participated in selecting Bistro Award winners and putting on the annual Awards show in 1993; in 2013 he became the show’s Associated Producer. He is Chairman of the Advisory Board of MAC.
Photo Credit: Marc Meyerbröker
Adam Feldman is the Theater and Dance Editor and chief theater critic for Time Out New York, where he has been a staff writer since 2003. He covers Broadway, Off Broadway and Off-Off Broadway theater …
Photo Credit: Adam Feldman
Marta Sanders was in the original Broadway production of The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas. She is a graduate of The American Musical Academy, where she studied voice with the great Paul Gavert. She has been singing in cabarets and nightclubs in NYC and around the world ever since …
Photo Credit: Bob Bessoir
Tony Award-Winner Lillias White returned to Chicago on Broadway September 14, 2021 after first appearing in the role of Matron ‘Mama’ Morton …
Photo credit: David Barnum, Courtesy of Old Mill Road Recording
Ben Cameron is your Broadway Buddy! Ben has appeared on Broadway in the original casts of Wicked and Footloose …
Ben Cameron is your Broadway Buddy! Ben has appeared on Broadway in the original casts of Wicked and Footloose. He has also appeared on Broadway in Aida and in tours of Footloose, State Fair, Fame, The Who’s Tommy and Sweet Charity opposite Molly Ringwald. Ben is the creator/host of the long running NYC staple, Broadway Sessions at The Laurie Beechman Theatre (2018 MAC Award). Ben is also the MainStage host of Broadway Con, host of Broadway Buskers concert series w/ Times Square Alliance, hit podcast talkshow The Broadway Cast, web series Dance Captain Dance Attack on BroadwayWorld.com, Broadway Sessions Beach Party on Fire Island and countless theatre industry events and benefits. Ben is a frequent face on PBS THIRTEEN/ WLIW hosting various specials including Downton Abbey New Years Marathon, Broadway on THIRTEEN marathon and Hamilton’s America. Ben has enjoyed 3 sold out runs of his one man show Different Is Good (Sam’s, The Duplex, Laurie Beechman Theatre) and served as the long time host of the legendary open mic Mostly Sondheim at The Duplex (3x MAC nom). Ben has written and directed several solo shows for top Broadway and cabaret talent and is a contributing writer for CSMUSIC.net. Ben travels the world teaching high energy theatre and dance masterclasses. To keep up with all things Ben, follow on social at @BenDoesBroadway and visit www.bencameron.nyc. Ben likes you.
Photo credit: Helane Blumfield
Cabaret Warhorse, Ricky Ritzel has been a fixture on the nightclub and cabaret scene in NYC for over 38 years …
Cabaret Warhorse, Ricky Ritzel has been a fixture on the nightclub and cabaret scene in NYC for over 38 years and his latest venture, Ricky Ritzel’s Broadway, received the 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 & 2020 MAC Award for Outstanding Recurring Series. Ricky has received most Cabaret awards including 20 Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs Awards in 11 different categories. An accomplished solo performer, Ricky has also accompanied such greats as Vivian Blaine, Varla Jean Merman, Julie Wilson, Lenora Nemetz, Nanette Fabray and Miss Coco. With famed Chicago jazz vocalist Spider Saloff, Ricky created several award winning revues such as 1938, which was recorded on the Kopathetics label, Porgy & Bess: a Cabaret Concert and Ira and Others. Ricky is half of the kooky “Lounge does Top 40” duo, THE LOUNGEOLEERS with 5 CDs on the Emenar label. He can also be seen as SCARY MAN who comes on to Christian Campbell in the film Trick. Ricky has been seen in Las Vegas as Jimmy Durante in Stop the Music! with Sharon McNight as Sophie Tucker and toured with Leslie Anderson for 5 years performing every known work they could find by Johnny Mercer in 4 different revues. He is also proud to have served as the first Artistic Director for cabaret at the premiere season of the Gettysburg Festival, and is on the Advisory Board of Directors for the Manhattan Association of Cabarets, of which he was President from 2006-2009.
Photo Credit: Ben Storthmann
Lina Koutrakos is an award winning, rave reviewed, and accomplished singer/songwriter based in New York City. From rock and rolls legendary nightclubs: The Bottom Line, BB Kings, The Ritz, Joe’s Pub …
Lina Koutrakos is an award winning, rave reviewed, and accomplished singer/songwriter based in New York City. From rock and rolls legendary nightclubs: The Bottom Line, BB Kings, The Ritz, Joe’s Pub to Cabarets most prestigious awards for best Female Vocalist to Entertainer of the Year from the Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs Koutrakos has spanned nearly 3 decades as a New York City musical fixture. She has been reviewed and featured numerous times in Billboard Magazine and The New York Times and garnered extraordinary reviews in nearly all of Manhattan’s major publications as well as foreign press and throughout the United States. As a performance coach her credits are too many to list but include being a 4 time winner for Best Director from the MAC association and she is a lifetime Backstage Bistro Award Winning Director. Koutrakos was on staff as a Master Teacher/Performance Coach for years at both the Eugene O’Neill Cabaret Symposium and The Yale Cabaret Conference, The St Louis Cabaret Conference and Summer in the City yearly workshop weekends. She has since gone on to start her own performance workshop “Performance Connection” which umbrellas many ongoing and specialty workshops and seminars now both online and in person. The Advance Performance Workshop in NYC has produced many award-winning performers and cabaret shows over the last 2 decades. Her singing and being the founder of the Midwest Cabaret Conference in Chicago for 10 years now won her the Gold Coast Award with the Chicago Cabaret Professionals in 2019 and the now coveted spots in the yearly workshop on the island of Mykonos are full a year in advanced!
From Performance workshops with full bands to one on ones, to her own award-winning original material and own one woman shows it’s no wonder Koutrakos was referred to as a “Walking Master Class” by Billboard Magazine.
Eric Michael Gillett is an award-winning director/actor/singer who has collaborated on solo shows for Broadway and cabaret artists including Tony nominees Jarrod Spector …
Eric Michael Gillett is an award-winning director/actor/singer who has collaborated on solo shows for Broadway and cabaret artists including Tony nominees Jarrod Spector (Beautiful, Jersey Boys) and Karen Akers (Nine, Grand Hotel), Tony Award winner Jessie Mueller (Beautiful, Waitress), as well as Mandy Gonzalez (Hamilton, In the Heights), Alexandra Socha (Spring Awakening, Death Takes a Holiday), KT Sullivan (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes), Grammy winner Lari White, and a host of others. A six-time MAC Award recipient, Gillett conceived and directed The Amanda McBroom Project, an award winning concert series featuring the music and lyrics of Amanda McBroom, and also conceived and directed the 2010/11 edition of New York’s own Big Apple Circus, Dance On! As an actor, Gillett has most recently appeared on television in FBI: Most Wanted, Wu Tang: An American Saga, The Loudest Voice, Daredevil, and many others. Film appearances include Maid in Manhattan, My Brother, and The Producers. He was seen on Broadway in Kiss Me Kate, Sweet Smell of Success, and Sondheim’s The Frogs. Eric Michael’s private vocal studio, EMGCollective, administers the Singers Forum/AEA Scholarship Program, which provides subsidized vocal technique lessons for qualified professional actors and vocalists. His most recent cabaret solo acts include Stop This Train, Jump/Cut (for MetropolitanZoom), and a special 70th birthday show, Water Under the Bridge, which is set to begin streaming on August 26th! ericmichaelgillett.com
T. Oliver Reid has spent the past 20 years working on Broadway shows, (Hadestown; Once On This Island; Sunset Boulevard; After Midnight; Sister Act; Mary Poppins; The Wedding Singer …
T. Oliver Reid has spent the past 20 years working on Broadway shows, (Hadestown; Once On This Island; Sunset Boulevard; After Midnight; Sister Act; Mary Poppins; The Wedding Singer; Chicago; La Cage Aux Folles; Never Gonna Dance; Thoroughly Modern Millie; Follies; Kiss Me, Kate), which have amassed more than 20 Tony Awards from the American Theatre Wing’s Tony Awards. He is also an accomplished cabaret artist and multiple award winner for his solo show, Drop Me Off In Harlem which he directed, wrote and starred in. He has produced and directed concerts for Feinstein’s 54 Below and continues to work in film and television. He is on faculty at NYU-Tisch’s Grad Acting Program and Columbia University School of the Arts’ Grad Acting program.
He is co-founder of Black Theatre Coalition.
John McDaniel is a Grammy and Emmy Award winning Music Director, Composer, Director, Arranger, Orchestrator & Producer and is an Artistic Director …
John McDaniel is a Grammy and Emmy Award winning Music Director, Composer, Director, Arranger, Orchestrator & Producer and is an Artistic Director at the Tony Award winning O’Neill Theater Center. Recently, McDaniel produced and directed a virtual concert of Sticks & Stones, for which he is also the composer, starring Audra McDonald & Javier Muñoz. He is also one of the camp directors of Kristin Chenoweth’s Broadway Boot Camp. John directed Into The Woods & Hair in Concert at the historic Patchogue Theater, Sondheim Originals at 54 Below and Piano Men at Birdland. Broadway music credits include Bonnie and Clyde (Drama Desk Nomination, Best Orchestrations), Catch Me If You Can, Brooklyn (Producer and Orchestrator), Annie Get Your Gun (Grammy Award), Taboo, Chicago, Grease, Patti LuPone on Broadway and Company – the Original Cast in Concert at Lincoln Center. On Television: The Rosie O’Donnell Show (2 Emmy Awards & 8 nominations). John has collaborated with Cab Calloway, Shirley MacLaine, George Burns, Joel Grey, Carol Burnett, Betty Buckley, Bette Midler and has guest conducted at 15 Symphony Orchestras across America, including 5 concerts with his hometown St. Louis Symphony. John received a BFA in Drama from Carnegie Mellon University.
Susie Mosher has been entertaining people since she first appeared in the west coast premiere of Godspell in 1842 …
Susie Mosher has been entertaining people since she first appeared in the west coast premiere of Godspell in 1842. She has been in countless films and television shows, but her focus has always been live performance. Doing her own variety show at the legendary Birdland has been a dream come true.
The Lineup with Susie Mosher is a night of terrific live entertainment. Anything goes, from Broadway stars to mariachi bands, from comedians to recording artists, from old pros to kids fresh off the boat. Every show has a new Lineup of talent, and the goal is to entertain our audience within an inch of their lives.
Susie Mosher was in the last two years of Hairspray on Broadway and cut her hosting teeth at 54 Below where she helmed the hugely successful Backstage for two years. Known for her hilarious musical improvs and for keeping the evening bouncing along with her quick wit and candor, Susie received the 2013 BroadwayWorld award for Best Host of a variety show/reoccurring series, and the 2020 BroadwayWorld award for best variety show.
Jinkx Monsoon, the drag persona of performer Jerick Hoffer, is a world-renowned performer …
Jinkx Monsoon, the drag persona of performer Jerick Hoffer, is a world-renowned performer and winner of season 5 of RuPaul’s Drag Race. They are a 6-time MAC Award-nominee, winning in 2020 for Major Drag Artist. Their debut cabaret show, alongside performing partner Major Scales, The Vaudevillians, played over 100 performances at The Laurie Beechman Theatre, and was a New York Times Critics’ Pick, before going on an international tour. Of Jinkx Hoffer states “She is definitely a zany, off the wall, irreverent, gorgeous anachronism,” Hoffer adds “She simply refuses to let her audience sit idly; she is a powerhouse of song and comedy, igniting her audiences in a frenzy of laughter and sexual tension.” Beyond Drag Race, they have appeared on shows such as AJ and The Queen, Blue Bloods, and Steven Universe. On stage they have appeared in regional productions of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Rent, Hairspray, and Spring Awakening. They also have released two albums: The Inevitable Album and The Ginger Snapped.
Telly Leung is a New York City native, Broadway performer, recording artist, producer, & theater arts teacher …
Telly Leung is a New York City native, Broadway performer, recording artist, producer, & theater arts teacher. His Broadway & national touring credits include Aladdin in Disney's "Aladdin" on Broadway, In Transit, Allegiance (with George Takei & Lea Salonga), Godspell, Rent (final Broadway company), Wicked (Boq, original Chicago company), Pacific Overtures, Flower Drum Song. In 2010, he starred as Angel in RENT at the Hollywood Bowl opposite Wayne Brady, directed by Neil Patrick Harris. Regionally, he's performed at Philadelphia Theater Company, Pittsburgh CLO, The St. Louis MUNY, Dallas Theater Center, The Shakespeare Theater Company in D.C., North Carolina Theater, and North Shore Musical Theater. Television audiences will remember him as Wes the Warbler on “Glee", as well as his guest star appearances on "Instinct", “Odd Mom Out,” “Deadbeat” and “Law and Order: Criminal Intent.” Telly is featured as a coach for the Jimmy Awards in the PBS documentary, "Broadway or Bust". He can be heard on many original Broadway cast recordings and has released two solo albums - I’ll Cover You (2012) and Songs for You (2016) - on The Yellow Sound Label. He holds a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University's School of Drama. He has taught master classes and courses at American universities like NYU, Nazareth College, The University of Michigan, Carnegie Mellon and Point Park and has been a guest teacher at drama programs all over the world, from Edinburgh to Tokyo. His producing credits include the concert series “Broadway Back Together”, the musical short film GRIND (starring Anthony Rapp), and "THE NICE LIST", a virtual family-family holiday musical. Twitter / Instagram: @tellyleung. Website: www.tellyleung.com
Lennie Watts is a 16-time MAC, 5-time Backstage Bistro, and 3-time Nightlife Award-winner …
Lennie Watts is a 16-time MAC, 5-time Backstage Bistro, and 3-time Nightlife Award-winner. Recognized as an outstanding vocalist, director, producer, and booking manager, he has been active in the New York cabaret scene for 30 years. In addition to directing in small cabaret venues, he has directed events at Symphony Space, Town Hall, BB King’s, and Sony Hall. As an actor, he has toured nationally and internationally with productions of The Music Man (Marcellus) and The Wizard Of Oz(Lion). Other roles: Man in Chair (The Drowsy Chaperone) Pseudolus (A Funny Thing...), Herod (Jesus Christ Superstar), Nicely Nicely Johnson (Guys and Dolls), Jinx (Forever Plaid). He has performed at Town Hall in several concerts, including Broadway Unplugged and Broadway By The Year, 1949, and can be heard on the cast recordings of both shows. As a theater director, he has directed productions of Godspell, Dames at Sea, Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and Phantom. Watts is the creator and Artistic Director of Singnasium, a nonprofit vocal school in New York City, as well as The Singers Retreat at Heron’s Landing. David Finkle of The Village Voice calls him "A one man cabaret army!" He appeared on The Rosie O'Donnell Show,, and released his debut CD I Want...You Want, in 2000. He served as the President of MAC for 11 years, and is currently on the advisory board. He was recently named one of “The 50 Most Influential People in New York Cabaret” by Nightlife Exchange. Singnasium.org
Amy Wolk is a performer, writer, host, director, and singer based in New York City …
Amy Wolk is a performer, writer, host, director, and singer based in New York City. She is the current President of MAC. Her most recent cabaret show, Hungry Like the Wolk played an extended run at both The Duplex and Don’t Tell Mama. A 4-time MAC Award winner, she was the recipient of the 2014 Bistro Award for Outstanding Musical Comedy for her show A Wolk on the Wild Side. Amy has won 2 MAC Awards for her cabaret performances, including the 2011 MAC for Musical Comedy, and the 2004 MAC Award for Best Female New York Debut for her show Different For Girls.Her solo shows include A Wolk in Progress, We Can Wolk It Out, and Wolk This Way. With William TN Hall, she wrote the award-winning “The Brit Song” which won both the Dirty Little Songs contest and the MAC Award. Other songs include the MAC-nominated “Hey, Hey, It’s Ok” (written with Lorinda Lisitza) and “The Ladies Who Tony”, written for Nikki M. James. In July 2021, she will co-write to the #SLACabaret for the Salt Lake Acting Company.
With Nikki M. James, Amy is the creator, producer, and MAC-Award winning host of I Only Have Lies For You, a live gameshow that pits Broadway panelists against each other in a lying contest. Now in its third season at the Beechman, the show can be heard as a podcast, and is also being played live on Facebook until the world goes back to normal.
Amy works as a freelance teacher with On Location Education as an on set tutor on films and Broadway shows. This job has given her the opportunity to meet great people, teach amazing kids, and has allowed her to eat for free at opening night parties and from craft service tables.
Karen Mason has starred on Broadway, Off-Broadway, television, and recording …
Karen Mason has starred on Broadway, Off-Broadway, television, and recording and “has few peers when it comes to ripping the roof off with her amazing voice that knows no bounds!” She is “an American Idol!” (New York Times)
Karen, the recipient of the 2019 MAC Lifetime Achievement Award, is a 12-time MAC Award winner and has won the MAC Award for Major Female Vocalist of the Year for six consecutive years. Her highly acclaimed recordings include her newest single, “It’s About Time.” She has also won the 2006 Nightlife Award for Major Female Vocalist and has three Bistro Awards.
On Broadway, she garnered rave reviews starring as The Queen of Hearts in Wonderland and she originated the role of Tanya in Abba’s Mamma Mia! (Drama Desk nomination). Her other leading roles include Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard; Velma von Tussel in the final Broadway company of Hairspray; “Monotony” singer, Mazeppa in Jerome Robbins’ Broadway; Rosalie in Carnival (Drama Desk nomination); plus featured roles in Broadway’s Torch Song Trilogy; and Play Me a Country Song.
Karen won the Outer Critics Circle Award for her performance in And the World Goes ‘Round, and starred Off-Broadway in her own show Karen Mason Sings Broadway, Beatles and Brian.
Karen has headlined Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Feinstein’s, Rainbow & Stars, The Algonquin, Arci’s Place, The Supper Club and The Ballroom in NYC; The Plush Room, The Fairmont Hotel, The Orinda in San Francisco; and The Park West, Davenport’s in Chicago.
Called, “a true force of nature,” and "in a league of her own," by Clive Davis of The Times (UK) in his TWO five-star reviews of two different London appearances, Natalie Douglas is a Nightlife …
Called, “a true force of nature,” and "in a league of her own," by Clive Davis of The Times (UK) in his TWO five-star reviews of two different London appearances, Natalie Douglas is a Nightlife, two-time Bistro, twelve-time MAC, and BroadwayWorld Best Cabaret Vocalist Award Winner and recipient of the Donald F. Smith & Margaret Whiting Awards from the Mabel Mercer Foundation. Natalie’s portrait also hangs on the legendary Birdland Jazz Club Wall of Fame.
Her performances have brought crowds to their feet across the U.S. and the world with many different concerts featuring tributes to Nina Simone, Lena Horne, Nat "King" Cole, Roberta Flack, Ella Fitzgerald, Sammy Davis, Jr., Stevie Nicks, Stevie Wonder, Dame Shirley Bassey, Elvis Presley, Barbra Streisand, Dolly Parton, and Cher as well as shows about Cafe Society, the music of the 70’s and 80’s, songs of various civil rights movements, and gospel-influenced jazz and blues.
Natalie's critically acclaimed, award-winning third album, Human Heart, and her first two CDs, To Nina...Live At Birdland and Not That Different are available at most major streaming services and music stores. She also appears on Fine and Dandy for PS Classics and Broadway By The Year: 1940 on Bayview Records. She is a great favorite of broadcasters and her music is often featured on NPR and Sirius XM Radio & BBC London Radio.
In addition to her work as a singer/actor, Natalie is a popular & much sought after educator, working worldwide with singers of all ages in her capacity as the master teacher for the Mabel Mercer Foundation and the Eugene O’Neill Cabaret Conference. Natalie specializes in diversity workshops & masterclasses for public and private schools, as well as devoting attention to individual study.
A theatrical icon and one of Broadway's greatest triple-threat talents, Chita Rivera is one of the most nominated performers in Tony Award history having earned 10 nominations …
A theatrical icon and one of Broadway's greatest triple-threat talents, Chita Rivera is one of the most nominated performers in Tony Award history having earned 10 nominations, won twice and received the 2018 Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre. A versatile actress/singer/dancer, her most recent starring roles include The Visit, the final John Kander/Fred Ebb/Terrence McNally musical directed by John Doyle and choreographed by Graciela Daniele on Broadway; the Broadway revival of The Mystery of Edwin Drood; the Broadway and touring productions of The Dancer’s Life, a dazzling musical celebrating her spectacular career, written by Terrence McNally and directed by Graciela Daniele and the revival of the Broadway musical Nine with Antonio Banderas. She trained as a ballerina (from age nine) before receiving a scholarship to the School of American Ballet from the legendary choreographer George Balanchine. Chita’s first appearance (age 17) was as a principal dancer in Call Me Madam. Her electric performance as Anita in the original Broadway premiere of West Side Story brought her stardom, which she repeated in London. Her career is highlighted by starring roles in Bye Bye Birdie, The Rink (Tony Award), Chicago, Jerry’s Girls, Kiss of the Spider Woman (Tony Award), and the original Broadway casts of Guys and Dolls, Can-Can, Seventh Heaven and Mr. Wonderful. On tour: Born Yesterday, The Rose Tattoo, Call Me Madam, Threepenny Opera, Sweet Charity, Kiss Me Kate, Zorba, Can-Can with The Rockettes. Chita was awarded The Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama in 2009 and received the coveted Kennedy Center Honor in 2002. In 2019, Chita performed her solo concert at London’s Cadogan Hall; in 2018 she was honored as a Living Landmark by the New York Landmarks Conservancy; in 2016 she headlined at Carnegie Hall and in 2015, Great Performances aired their special Chita Rivera: A Lot of Livin’ To Do, a retrospective of her extraordinary life and career nationally on PBS. Her current solo CD is entitled And Now I Swing. Her most treasured production is her daughter, singer/dancer/choreographer Lisa Mordente.
Sidney Myer is the quintessential example of New York Cabaret. He has been a Cabaret Booking Manager for almost four decades at iconic clubs like Don’t Tell Mama …
Sidney Myer is the quintessential example of New York Cabaret. He has been a Cabaret Booking Manager for almost four decades at iconic clubs like Don’t Tell Mama, Rose’s Turn and Panache. Artists he has presented have gone on to careers on Broadway, Television, Motion Pictures; become the Star Search $100,000 Grand Prize Winner, the highest jackpot winner in Lotto history, receive multiple Emmys, Grammys, Tonys, Oscars and a Pulitzer Prize. In 2009, he was featured above the fold in the cover story of The Sunday New York Times Arts & Leisure Section with the Headline: “Saviors Of The American Songbook.” Theater: Off-Broadway: Grandma Sylvia’s Funeral, Dressing Room, Split Ends, Irene (Kaye Playhouse-25th Anniversary Revival); Edinburgh Fringe Festival La Gran Scena Opera Co.; Beauty and the Beast (Theatre By The Sea). Off-Off-Broadway: Times Square Angel with Charles Busch, The Boys in the Band, Laughing Wild, The Ball, Midnight At The Never Get. Film: 20th Century Fox’s Headin’ For Broadway. Television: Seasons 1 & 2 of the 5-Time Emmy Award-winning After Forever on Amazon Prime. Celebrity Interviewer on Cable’s Broadway Beat & Cabaret Beat and Nancy Lamott’s DVD I’ll Be Here With You. Commercials for RCA Victor and New York Lotto. Radio: Regular on The Joey Reynolds Show. He's entertained from New York to San Francisco to London. Recipient of MAC, Broadway World, Backstage Bistro, Mabel Mercer Foundation's Cabaret Classic & Paula Laurence awards. DVD: Sidney Myer: Live At The Beechman.
KT Sullivan most recently co-starred with Steve Ross in the sold-out run of Love, Noël at The Irish Repertory Theatre. She was named artistic director of The Mabel Mercer Foundation in 2012. She starred in the Broadway revival of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes …
KT Sullivan most recently co-starred with Steve Ross in the sold-out run of Love, Noël at The Irish Repertory Theatre. She was named artistic director of The Mabel Mercer Foundation in 2012. She starred in the Broadway revival of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, as well as appearing alongside Sting in Three Penny Opera. She headlined for almost two decades in The Oak Room of The Algonquin Hotel. One of the shows she created there, “Rhyme, Women, and Song” was presented on PBS’ WNET 13 and her award winning Sondheim show with Jeff Harnar was filmed for PBS from the New Jersey Performing Arts Center.
Besides regular appearances in such New York venues as The Laurie Beechman Theatre and Birdland, she stars annually at The Pheasantry in London, and has been showcased at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, Spoleto Festival, Chichester Festival, CLUB RaYé in Paris, and The Adelaide Festival in Australia.
She guest starred on Garrison Keillor’s Prairie Home Companion. KT has seven albums on the DRG label, including Crazy World (voted #1 in the vocals category of Tower Records’ Pulse Magazine). She was the star vocalist on two tours of China with The Manhattan Symphonie, and was twice named one of The Top 100 Irish Americans by Irish America Magazine.
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