Stephen Hanks News

'Without Dietrich, there would have been no Madonna...and no Gaga,' Janice Hall announced at the outset of her brilliant revival of GRAND ILLUSIONS: THE MUSIC OF MARLENE DIETRICH, the most recent installment of Stephen Hanks' New York Cabaret's Greatest Hits. Co-produced by Father Jeffrey R. Hamblin and flawlessly directed by Peter Napolitano, Hall's show---for which the former opera singer won both MAC and Bistro awards in 2011 and 2012, respectively---seamlessly weaves together the music and life of the enigmatic movie star and international cabaret sensation whose greatest creation, in Hall's words, 'was herself.'

No matter the song, style, or setting, Janice Hall, the multi-talented opera singer, cabaret chanteuse, and character actress, is her own master. She broke into the cabaret scene in 2010 in a big way with the 2011 Bistro Award Winner for Best Tribute Show and 2012 MAC Award Winner for Best Female Vocalist. The show that earned her those awards? 'GRAND ILLUSIONS: THE MUSIC OF MARLENE DIETRICH,' which Hall debuted in 2010 and will revive for one night on September 13 at 7:00 pm at the Metropolitan Room. Before Hall takes the stage this upcoming Tuesday night, we sat down for a discussion on career invention, reinvention, and versatility--- both Dietrich's and her own.

Cabaret Performer Meg Flather certainly didn't rest on her laurels after capturing two MAC Awards over the last three years (the 'Hanson' Award in 2014 and the Award for 'Best Original Song' in 2016). If some cabaret website or magazine comes up with an award next year for 'the hardest working cabaret star' over the past year, Flather will definitely be one of the candidates. Since early March, the charming singer/songwriter has been performing runs of two different shows at Don't Tell Mama, the famed cabaret hotspot on Restaurant Row in Manhattan. Flather has recently announced that she will be continuing her runs of two different shows at Don't Tell Mama, bringing back 'Carly & Me' on September 27 at 7 pm, and on November 7 at 7 pm, and reprising 'Portraits' for a fourth show on December 11 at 7 pm.

Sarah Rice first burst onto the Broadway musical theater world in 1979 as the original Johanna in Stephen Sondheim's TONY Award-winning musical Sweeney Todd. The dazzling soprano later became a cabaret star, winning a 2010 Bistro Award and 2011 MAC Award for Best Female Vocalist. After performing cabaret in almost every major venue in New York, Rice has been performing an exciting new show-MUSIC OF THE NIGHT--at the popular restaurant/club PANGEA (178 2nd Avenue, between 11th and 12th Streets) and will be presenting her third performance at the venue on September 20 at 7 pm.

When one describes a meal or a performance as 'interesting,' it's usually a euphemism for awful, or at least deeply flawed. But Rosemary Loar's STING*chronicity, the musical theater and cabaret performer's second show devoted to Sting's songbook, is genuinely interesting---and ballsy. Featuring 13 characters who share little beyond a profound love for Sting (and mutual attendance at the Police reunion tour at Madison Square Garden in 2007), the show presents Loar's highly stylized and unusual interpretations of songs both from the Police era and Sting's forays into jazz as a solo artist.

When a show at the Metropolitan Room starts over thirty minutes late because the staff is frantically trying to find chairs and room for the better part of New York's cabaret community, you know you're in store for something truly special. And unless there's a chair thief on the loose in Flatiron who doesn't like Broadway, someone clearly oversold this show and/or lost track of comps; this was extremely vexing with a heat advisory in effect. Still, the mood was festive in anticipation of Jeff Harnar's 1959 Broadway Songbook, the 12th installment in Stephen Hanks' impressive (and increasingly well-known) New York Cabaret's Greatest Hits series. Harnar's show premiered 25 years ago at the Algonquin's Oak Room. Two years later, PBS filmed the collaboration with musical director Alex Rybeck, whose arrangements honor the original compositions but reimagine them in sometimes astonishing ways, making them genuinely creative acts.

Broadway and opera performer and multiple award winner Sarah Rice is in her first solo cabaret act since 2013 -- with a pianist, David Vernon, and her Theremin all at her side.

ScoBar Entertainment and The Iridium announced that Kathleen France--two-time Emmy Award Nominee and 2015 MAC Award Winner (for 'Best Cabaret Revue' with Dawn Derow)--will present her new show, LA BELLA VITA, for one-night-only on October 4 at 8 pm. Directed by MAC Award-winning vocalist and MAC Award-nominated director Tanya Moberly, France's show is a tribute to Italian-American singers and what she calls 'a celebration of what they've contributed to help us all live the good life.' From Frank Sinatra to Dean Martin, from Tony Bennett to Bobby Darin, from Madonna to Lady Gaga, and more, France will sing tunes they made famous, backed by Musical Director Ian Herman on piano and an eight-piece band (led by Sean Harkness on guitar, Tom Hubbard on bass, and Dave Silliman on drums) playing everything from big band jazz, to doo-wop, to classic standards, to movie themes.

Eight years after launching her show 'Love Rolls On' (originally directed by Lina Koutrakos) at the Metropolitan Room, Susan Winter will reprise her critically acclaimed show, featuring classics of the Great American Songbook and future standards by contemporary writers, at the same venue in the 13th installment of the celebrated monthly series produced by Stephen Hanks' NEW YORK CABARET'S GREATEST HITS (Associate Producer Fr. Jeffrey Hamblin, MD). With Rick Jensen as Musical Director on piano and Tom Hubbard on bass, Winter will perform LOVE ROLLS ON on October 7 at 7 pm.

Fresh off her 2016 MAC Award for best original song after a successful revival of Portraits (1993) for Stephen Hanks' New York Cabaret's Greatest Hits series, Meg Flather paid tribute in Carly & Me to the 'artist who gave [her] her voice.' With her longtime musical director Paul Greenwood on piano and the versatile John Mettam on guitar and drums both singing backup, Flather performed hits and lesser-known songs alike from Carly Simon's oeuvre, along with a handful of original songs influenced by her musical heroine.

Cabaret producer, promoter, and performer Stephen Hanks is bringing his highly praised show, Don McLean: Storyteller to the popular restaurant/club Pangea (178 2nd Avenue, between 11th and 12th Streets) for a special performance on August 26 at 7 pm. The show features the Award-Winning Guitarist Sean Harkness as Musical Director, with Skip Ward on bass, and Special Guest Vocalist Rob Davis.

Cabaret audiences who fell head over heels for opera singer Janice Hall's 2010-2011 solo debut show—Grand Illusions: The Music of Marlene Dietrich—will get to fall in love all over again (and a new audience can become smitten for the first time) when Hall reprises her Award-winning show at the Metropolitan Room on September 13 at 7 pm, in the 12th installment of Stephen Hanks' monthly New York Cabaret's Greatest Hits Series (Associate Producer, Fr. Jeffrey Hamblin, MD). Hall's Marlene Dietrich show is directed by Peter Napolitano, with Matthew Martin Ward as Musical Director/Pianist and Ritt Henn on bass and ukulele.

Sarah Rice first burst onto the Broadway musical theater world in 1979 as the original Johanna in Stephen Sondheim's TONY Award-winning musical Sweeney Todd. The dazzling soprano later became a cabaret star, winning a 2010 Bistro Award and 2011 MAC Award for Best Female Vocalist. After performing cabaret in almost every major venue in New York, Rice is bringing an exciting new show-MUSIC OF THE NIGHT--to the popular restaurant/club PANGEA (178 2nd Avenue, between 11th and 12th Streets) for three performances on August 17, 18, and September 20, all at 7 pm.

In her A-line black and white polka dot dress with petticoats, a lively (and lithe!) Maureen Taylor delivered an entertaining tribute to lyricist Bob Merrill at the Metropolitan Room (on July 13). Originally directed by Peter Napolitano when the show debuted in 2008-09, Taylor Made is the latest installment of Producer/Promoter Stephen Hanks' outstanding New York Cabaret's Greatest Hits, which almost always lives up to its name.

Back in 2010, Broadway Musical actor and cabaret artist Rosemary Loar performed her highly praised cabaret show Sting, Stang, Stung!, which featured jazzy and emotional interpretations of the pop icon Sting's (Gordon Sumner) vast collection of hits. Five years later, Loar created a new show—STING*chronicity—based on the Sting songbook and her Metropolitan Room performances received universal acclaim from the cabaret press. Loar is now bringing her tour-de-force performance to the popular downtown venue Joe's Pub at The Public Theater (425 Lafayette Street, 212-967-7555) on August 22 at 7 pm. Tickets are $20 with a $12 food minimum or two drink minimum per person. STING*chronicity is directed by Barry Kleinbort and boasts a band featuring Musical Director Frank Ponzio with Tom Hubbard on bass.

In what he is calling the third part of a “Cabaret Trilogy of Classic Hollywood Songwriters,” 2016 MAC Award nominee and 2015 BroadwayWorld.com New York Cabaret Award Nominee Jeff Macauley will launch his new show, Le Grand Tour: The Music of Michel Legrand, at the Metropolitan Room (34 West 22nd St., New York, NY) on August 12 at 7 pm. Over the past four years, Macauley has celebrated the songbooks of Academy Award-winning and Grammy Award-winning songwriters of the 1960s, '70s, and '80s, Norman Gimbel (It Was Me: The Lyrics of Norman Gimbel) and Henry Mancini (Mr. Lucky: The Songs of Henry Mancini). Now, Macauley will turn his evocative vocals and on-stage charm to exploring the work of the legendary French film composer who wrote the scores and themes to the movie musicals, “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg,” “Young Girls of Rochefort” and “Yentl,” as well as countless other films.

1959 was a very good year for Jeff Harnar. It was the year the future cabaret star was born, but he couldn't know then that 1959 would also provide him with the material for what would eventually become one of his greatest cabaret performances. In 1991, for his second major engagement as a cabaret artist, Harnar made his debut at the famed Oak Room at the Algonquin with a show called THE 1959 BROADWAY SONGBOOK, featuring tunes from 21 musicals (including West Side Story, Gypsy, Fiorello, The Music Man, My Fair Lady, Li'l Abner, and Flower Drum Song), that either opened or were still running that year. Directed by Sara Louise Lazarus with musical direction from pianist Alex Rybeck, Harnar's show strung together iconic Broadway songs into an imaginary musical with commentaries on love, marriage and politics, complete with an overture, entr'acte, intermission, and curtain call. The show and Harnar's performance (which would be filmed for a PBS special in 1993) drew raves from the New York entertainment press.

On the heels of her recent critically acclaimed show PORTRAITS (which premiered last December in the Stephen Hanks produced Metropolitan Room series NEW YORK CABARET'S GREATEST HITS and then enjoyed a three-show run at Don't Tell Mama), two-time MAC Award- winner Meg Flather will launch a three-show run of her new show CARLY & ME at Don't Tell Mama on July 31 at 4 pm (with additional shows on August 28 at 4 pm and September 27 at 7 pm). Flather's band features Paul Greenwood on piano and John Mettam on guitar and drums. Multiple award-winning Lennie Watts is the director. Don't Tell Mama is located at 343 West 46th Street. The cover for this show is $20 ($15 for MAC Members) with a 2-drink minimum.

Manhattan Musical Theatre Lab, a non-profit developmental organization founded 16 years ago by the late Director and Choreographer Bick Goss, announced that it will present a preview of the new musical #MARS at the St. Luke's Theatre on June 22 at 6:30 pm. (St. Luke's is at 308 West 46th Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues.) With music by Willem Oosthuysen and book and lyrics by Laura Kleinbaum, #MARS is the story about how CBS-TV has conducted a worldwide search for qualified Americans to man the first ever mission to Mars. Tune in as Miami's premier plastic surgeon, everyone's favorite romance novelist, a girl next-door type, a retired mathematician in a wheelchair, and an actual astronaut takes human kind's next giant leap.

In 2009 and 2010, opera singer turned cabaret performer Maureen Taylor staged a cabaret show tribute to Bob Merrill's music at the Metropolitan Room in New York and critics raved. Six years later, on July 13 at 7 pm, Maureen Taylor will reprise her highly praised show, Taylor Made: Bob Merrill, at the Metropolitan Room in cabaret's hottest monthly series, New York Cabaret's Greatest Hits, produced by Stephen Hanks (with Fr. Jeffrey Hamblin, MD, Associate Producer). Taylor's Musical Director is Matt Castle on piano, with Joe Brent on guitar, mandolin, and violin. Her special guest performer is two-time MAC Award winner Rev. Yolanda (Roger Anthony Yolanda Mapes).