Marty Thomas Presents 'DIVA Hosts Carrie Manolakos!' 1/23

Grammy nominated recording artist and Broadway performer, Marty Thomas (Xanadu, Secret Garden, Wicked) prepares to redefine the nightclub scene with his new act Marty Thomas Presents: Diva at the hottest spot in Hell's Kitchen. With Industry-Bar dominating every happy hour crowd of the week in the heart of the Theatre District, it only seemed fitting that the neighborhood destination finally brings the cabaret-style spotlight back center stage. Industry-Bar and Thomas are breathing life back into the doldrums and monotony of a Music-less Monday night.

Bob Pontarelli the proprietor of Industry-Bar describes the event: "The Divas night is a weekly salute to all the divas we know and love from film, recordings and video...from Madonna, Tina, and Aretha, to Gaga and Beyoncé...the list is endless! The centerpiece each week is a live tribute featuring the biggest, belting, show-stopping voices on Broadway. What's not to love?"

"Diva will hit home with the theatre crowd," Thomas explains. "It'll be a brand new show every week, featuring diva material - all the songs that fans like to hear, but in a new light. This is really a way to feature and celebrate some wonderful female talent."

Diva promises a return to glamour and the theatrics lost onto a culture starved for original performers, who sing live and regaled their adoring audiences in fabulous fashions. "It'll be more burlesque/cabaret/concert and less karaoke," elaborated Marty, who is not only the MC of the weekly Monday night event, but will be musically arranging and conceptualizing the varying themes. The girls, emerging starlets in their own rites are pop-songstresses Kelly King (Michael Bolton and Babyface), singer-actress Marissa Rosen (My Big Gay italian Wedding), and Anne Fraser Thomas (How the Grinch Stole Christmas).

"The girls will be working as a group, providing three-part harmonies," continuEd Thomas, "they will also be featured as solo artists." They will be performing some favorite popular standards, hits made famous by Whitney, Celine, Barbra, Mariah, Aretha and other divas throughout history.

Each week, the divas are joined by a guest act from the Broadway stage, recording or dance industry. Past guests have included Orfeh, Rachelle Rak, Ramona Keller, Leslie Kritzer, Sabra Johnson, Felicia Finley, Alysha Umphress, Carly Jibson, Rachel Potter, Celina Carvajal, Christine Pedi, Emma Hunton and many more.

Monday Jan. 23, Carrie Manolakos will grace the diva stage as special guest.

Carrie is a New York City based actor and singer/songwriter. Born and raised in Upstate New York, in the snowy city of Syracuse, family sources say she was singing before she could talk. Carrie has been performing since before she can remember, starring in community and professional theatre at the young age of 10, and singing wherever she could find a microphone.

After high school, Carrie left Syracuse and attended NYU Tisch School of the Arts (CAP21). While at NYU, Carrie performed in many of the shows there and was a member (and president) of the internationally ranked a capella group N’Harmonics.

In the summer before Carrie’s senior year, Carrie was cast in the national tour of Mamma Mia! For the next year and a half, Carrie toured with this wonderful company throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico, gaining valuable experience and having more fun than she could possibly describe. Carrie came back to New York to finish her degree, and shortly after was asked to join the Broadway company of Mamma Mia as Sophie.

A few weeks after her close on Broadway, Carrie was cast as the Elphaba Standby in the Second National Tour of Wicked. While on the road, she used her time to write music, drawing from her eye opening experiences traveling the country and her moments of missing home. Playing piano since a child, and knowing a few basic chords on guitar, Carrie taught herself how to play, and began writing music. Her first concerts of her original music were backstage at the theatre for the unbelievably supportive swings. Through their encouragement, and from her friends and family back home, Carrie came back to the city, and took New York by storm. She sold out Joe’s pub for her first concert of original tunes, and has since been playing all over the city. She has finally found her voice in all this and is ready to share it with the world.

Carrie has performed for sold out houses at Birdland, Googie’s Lounge, Rockwood, the Bitter End, the Triad, The Laurie Beachman, The Duplex, and Comix. Carrie spins the musical influences of Alicia Keys, Sara Bareilles, Jazon Mraz and Carole King into a unique style all her own, blending pop, soul and folk moving her audiences with purity and heart.

Carrie is currently in New York and has been working on many workshops and reading of new musicals such as as Bare: A pop opera, Chix6, and the Daughters, 35mm, and Jawbreaker. She is also playing shows throughout new york of her own music and is planning her upcoming album.