Jun 1, 2020: KT Sullivan

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.

Jul 13, 2020: Joe Iconis

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.

Aug 3, 2020: David Sabella and Sue Matsuki

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.

Sep 14, 2020: Karen Mason

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!

Oct 5, 2020: Natalie Douglas

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.

Nov 16, 2020: Chita Rivera

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.

Dec 7, 2020: Sidney Myer

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.

Jan 25, 2021: Jinkx Monsoon

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.

Feb 22, 2021: Telly Leung

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.

March 22, 2021: Lennie Watts & Amy Wolk

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.

Apr 26, 2021: T. Oliver Reid

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.

May 24, 2021: John McDaniel

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.

Jun 28, 2021: Susie Mosher

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.

Jul 26, 2021: Lina Koutrakos

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.

Sep 27, 2021: Eric Michael Gillett

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.

Nov 1, 2021: Lillias White

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.

Nov 22, 2021: Ben Cameron

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.

Dec 13, 2021: Ricky Ritzel

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.

Jan 24, 2022: Sherry Eaker and Roy Sander of The Bistro Awards

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.

Feb 28, 2022: Adam Feldman

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.

Mar 28, 2022: Marta Sanders

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.

April 25, 2022: Melissa Errico

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.

Jun 27, 2022: Jeff Harnar

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.

Sep 12, 2022: Robbie Rozelle

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

Sep 19, 2022: Carolyn Montgomery

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.

Oct 24, 2022: Mark Nadler

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.

Nov 21, 2022: Ken Page

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.

Jan 9, 2023: Lee Roy Reams

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.

Jan 30, 2023: Faith Prince

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.

Feb 27, 2023: Ari Axelrod

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.”

Mar 27, 2023: Anita Gillette

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.

May 15, 2023: Sharon McNight

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.

Jun 26, 2023: Steve Ross

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.

Jul 10, 2023: Ben Rimalower

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.”

Oct 23, 2023: Lucie Arnaz

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.

Jan 15, 2024: RuPaul’s Drag Race Fan Fave, Ginger Minj

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!

Feb 26, 2024: James Jackson, Jr. and John-Andrew Morrison

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.