Susan Winter News

Lynne Meadow (Artistic Director) and Barry Grove (Executive Producer) have just announced that Manhattan Theatre Club will present its 2017 Fall Benefit, honoring 21-time Tony Award winner Harold Prince, on Monday evening, October 23 at 583 Park Avenue (63rd Street and Park Avenue).

The Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs (MAC) has announced the 2017 MAC Award nominees.

Urban Stages has confirmed the line-up for this year's award-winning series, WINTER RHYTHMS 2016, which will begin tomorrow, Thursday, December 1, and will feature some of New York's best musical performances through Sunday, December 11, 2016 at Urban Stages Theatre (259 West 30th Street, just East of 8th Avenue).

Urban Stages and Stephen Hanks' Cabaret Life Productions has announced that on Saturday, December 3 at 7 pm, the 2016 Urban Stages Winter Rhythms Festival (December 1-11 at 259 West 30th Street, NYC) will present highlights from seven of the 16 shows that have been presented at Hanks' highly praised monthly series at the Metropolitan Room--New York Cabaret's Greatest Hits (Associate Producer, Fr. Jeffrey Hamblin, MD)--and two shows that will be featured in the series in 2017.  

Manhattan Theatre Club will present its 2016 Fall Benefit, honoring two-time Tony Award winner Nathan Lane, next Monday evening, November 21 at 583 Park Avenue (63rd Street and Park Avenue). The event just announced its celebrity lineup!

Urban Stages has announced the line-up for this year's Award Winning series, WINTER RHYTHMS 2016, which will begin Thursday, December 1 and will feature some of New York's best musical performances through Sunday, December 11, 2016 at Urban Stages Theatre (259 West 30th Street, just East of 8th Avenue).

The 27th Annual Cabaret Convention, presented by the Mabel Mercer Foundation, kicked off on October 18, putting forth performances by some of the most iconic cabaret artists which the arena has to offer, as well as introducing new but equally captivating talent of the art form. Hosted by KT Sullivan, a cabaret stalwart herself, the evening moved briskly through an impressive 19 performers, each of whom was accompanied by their very own pianist--- if they weren't accompanying themselves, that is.

Lovers of Cabaret flocked to New York's Jazz at Lincoln Center's Rose Theatre last night to attend The 27th New York Cabaret Convention and BroadwayWorld was there. Unlike a political convention there was complete agreement that this annual event produced and sponsored by the Mabel Mercer Foundation is one of the best entertainment experiences of the year.  Madam Chairman' and artistic director KT Sullivan kept complete order as one by one the wonderful vocalists made their case to the extremely knowledgeable 'delegates' filling Rose Hall at Jazz at Lincoln Center. It's not politically correct to pick winners at the annual event, which presents newcomers and veterans of the cabaret art form, but if there's one......  The Audience!  For two hours they hear some great music and get a potpourri of diverse singing styles that make the long evening seem brief.  The superb song stylist and New York based vocalist Natalie Douglas was deservedly presented the prestigious Donald F. Smith award, and legend Maureen McGovern received the Mable Mercer Award. 

'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.'

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.

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.

the 2016 Cabaret Convention returns to the Rose Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center's Frederick P. Rose Hall, from Tuesday, October 18th through Friday, October 21st  to present four different music programs. More than seventy singers are scheduled to appear, and the productions include specific tributes to the songs of Stephen Sondheim, the lyrics of Sheldon Harnick, the melodies of Charles Strouse, and the repertoire of legendary jazz artist Sylvia Syms.

We are lucky in New York City. The talent here is unbelievable. Sometimes you settle in for an intimate evening at a little local club and you get your socks blown off. On Friday the 13th (of May, to be exact), I had such an experience at the latest monthly installment of Stephen Hanks' Metropolitan Room series (Associate Producer, Fr. Jeffrey Hamblin, MD), New York Cabaret's Greatest Hits. The featured performers were Vocalist Laurie Krauz and her Musical Director Daryl Kojak celebrating their 25-year musical collaboration “It's a 'Greatest Hits' show within a Greatest Hits series!” Hanks extolled before introducing his stars for the evening.

It has been 10 years since MAC and Bistro Award-winning producer, Joseph Macchia, founded of the 501c3 non-profit, Help Is On The Way Today.

The Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs presents the 30th Annual MAC Awards tonight, March 29, 2016, at 7:30pm, at BB King Blues Club & Grill on 42nd Street in New York City.

Next week, FEINSTEIN'S/54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club & Private Event Destination, presents some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz and beyond.

The Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs has just announced the 2016 MAC Award nominees and complete list of honorees for the 30th Annual MAC Awards.

Described as “An Afternoon of Famous Duets,” Saturday's Urban Stages Winter Rhythms presentation (Day Four of the 11-day, 20-show festival) was unexpectedly sweeping in its approach, covering duos that sang pop, folk, jazz, Great American Songbook, and musical theater tunes. With veteran cabaret singer Sue Matsuki serving as producer and host, and Musical Director Gregory Toroian on piano, the show encompassed both the predictable and the surprising and was a genuine pleasure.

Stephen Hanks' Cabaret Life Productions and Associate Producer Fr. Jeffrey Hamblin, MD, are bringing back Karen Oberlin's 2010 Frank Loesser Tribute Show (with original Musical Director Jon Weber and bass player Sean Smith) as the first 2016 installment of the 'New York Cabaret's Greatest Hits' series at the Metropolitan Room on January 13 at 7 pm. 'I entered the cabaret world as a reviewer in late 2010 so I never saw this show,' says Hanks. 'I'm thrilled Karen Oberlin agreed to bring it back so those like me who didn't experience it will get a chance now.'

Urban Stages (Frances Hill, Founding Artistic Director, Peter Napolitano, Producer/Director of Musical Programming) today announced the line-up for this year's Award-Winning Musical event WINTER RHYTHMS 2015, which will begin Wednesday, December 2 and will feature some of New York's best musical performances through December 13, 2015 at Urban Stages Theatre. WINTER RHYTHMS 2015 marks the seventh year that Urban Stages has brought noted musical artists to its stage during the holiday period. The mission of Winter Rhythms is to bring the talents of known and unknown singers, musicians, lyricists and composers to the attention of the New York theater community while performing at Urban Stages Theater. Winner of the 2015 Ruth Kurtzman Benefit Series MAC Award, WINTER RHYTHMS benefits Urban Stages' acclaimed Outreach Program, which brings more than 200 free "arts in education" presentations to libraries and schools throughout the five boroughs. This year's event features 20 shows and more than 100 artists.