Leslee Warren: Light Dark & Stormy - Lena Horne at Chelsea Table & Stage

Leslee Warren found a new home on the cabaret stage with her solo debut, Me Myself & Eye: Songs of a Nearsighted Girl. Combining Warren's love of music and storytelling with her blurry life experiences, seen through thick glasses, the show was nominated for a BroadwayWorld Cabaret Award, Best Show in 2022. A transplanted midwesterner, Warren arrived in the Big Apple in pursuit of a stage career. She landed national tours of Titanic and The King and I, stock productions including Ragtime, Noises Off, It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues, Little Shop of Horrors, Hamlet, and The Sound of Music, and a leading role in a Musicals Tonight production of Cabin in the Sky. As happens for many artists along the way, a part-time job became a full-time career and her dream was buried - but never lost. During these years, Warren joined Lathan's Way, a vocal quartet, that helped stretch her range and hone her harmonic skills. Soon after, she found her own voice and Musical Director/Arranger Gregory Toroian, with whom she told her own story in Me Myself & Eye: Songs of a Nearsighted Girl at Don't Tell Mama. Since her cabaret debut, she has appeared in NYC at Laurie Beechman Theatre, Pangea, The Triad, Urban Stages, and in Mt. Kisco, NY, at Jazz on Main. She is thrilled to debut her new show, Light Dark & Stormy - Lena Horne, at Chelsea Table + Stage. LesleeWarren.com, instagram: lesleewarrensinger

Gregory Toroian is a musical director, arranger, jazz pianist, vocalist, songwriter, and educator. He has been featured in Cabaret Scenes magazine and is a Bistro Award-Winner for Outstanding Collaboration with Sue Matsuki, with whom he also won a MAC Award for Best Duo Production. In addition to working with such artists as Tony Bennett, Jon Hendricks, Cab Calloway, Donna Summer, Melissa Errico, Marilyn Maye, Karen Mason, and Jane Olivor, he has appeared in almost every jazz club and cabaret (major and minor) in New York. He has toured with principal dancers from the New York City Ballet and has made numerous radio and television appearances including the Today Show and Maury Povich. Recordings include his work as musical director, arranger, and pianist on Love Makes the Changes, the recent debut album of Maria Corsaro; A New Take, the debut album of award-winning cabaret artist Sue Matsuki; and CD’s with Suzanna Ross, Leslee Warren, Lina Koutrakos, Linda Kahn, Meri Ziev, and Lisa Kantor. Gregory’s vocal arrangements have been featured on a series of albums in the US and Japan, by the vocal group String of Pearls. Gregory also wrote the music to the title song of the Boston Red Sox documentary, Joy of Sox. He currently offers an array of performance workshops.

Skip Ward is a Grammy Award Winning Bassist, Guitarist, Ukulele-ist (is that a word), Lap Steel, Tuba and Penny Whistle. Ward is a classically-trained jazz musician with a penchant for rock n' roll, and fusion, blues and bluegrass. Artists he has played/recorded with include: Tony Trischka, with Steve Martin, Phoebe Snow, Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, Cyndi Lauper, Cassandra Wilson, David Sancious (Sting, Eric Clapton), Melissa Manchester, Glenn Miller Orchestra and more! You may have also seen him on David Letterman, SNL or the Ellen DeGeneres Show. You'll hear Skip on many soundtracks, and he has been on national tours with a number of major theatrical productions. In New York City: Shakespeare in the Park (As You Like It), Hands On A Hardbody, Million Dollar Quartet, High School Musical, Jesus Christ Superstar, Song & Dance, A Chorus Line and West Side Story.

David Silliman is a drummer and percussionist. David's middle name should be “versatility”. Whether accompanying song stylists such as Mariah Carey, Cassandra Wilson, and Blossom Dearie or playing with Colombian Harpist Edmar Castaneda, David's exciting rhythmic energies add color and mood to any musical performance. He's also comfortable playing in the pit of a Broadway show or with the New Jersey Symphony. David has over 20 years of experience. His performances have taken him to concerts and festivals in Italy, Vienna, Berlin, the North Sea, Monterey, Uruguay and Lithuania. David was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he was exposed to a wide variety of music. David's first studies were in the Classical field, studying snare drum, xylophone and timpani. Later studies exposed him to Jazz, Latin Jazz, Brazilian and Funk music.“ I love living in NY because it gives me the opportunity to play and perform with so many diverse artists, across all styles of music!”

Lina Koutrakos is an award-winning singer/songwriter/teacher/director based in New York City. As a singer, she has repeatedly received rave reviews from The New York Times to Billboard Magazine in both rock and roll and cabaret and has been awarded Cabaret’s most prestigious awards for “Best Female Vocalist” and “Entertainer of the Year,” multiple times. For three decades Koutrakos has been a New York City musical fixture - as both soloist and as a director and performance coach. Her directorial nods include being a 4-time winner for “Best Director” from the MAC Association as well as a lifetime Backstage Bistro Award-Winner for “Best Director.”. Koutrakos was on staff as a Master Teacher for years at both the Eugene O'Neill Cabaret Symposium and The Yale Cabaret Conference. She was the first Master Teacher with The St. Louis Cabaret Conference and co-founded NYC’s Summer in the City yearly workshop on weekends. She has since gone on to start her own performance workshop “Performance Connection,” which umbrellas many ongoing and specialty workshops and seminars both online and in person. The Advance Performance Workshop in NYC has produced many award-winning performers and shows over the last 2 decades. Her singing and being the founder of the Midwest Cabaret Conference in Chicago for 10 years won her the “Gold Coast” Award with the Chicago Cabaret Professionals in 2019. She spearheads an annual Advanced Performance Workshop on the island of Mykonos. Due to her performance workshops with full bands to one-onone clients across the U.S. to her own award-winning original material and one woman shows, Koutrakos has been called a “Walking Master Class” by Billboard Magazine. linasings.com