2023 MAC Award Winner Rian Keating Returns To Don't Tell Mama For Final Jacques Brel Performances

Rian Keating, the Manhattan Association of Cabarets' Male Vocalist of 2023, will return to Don't Tell Mama on June 18th and 24th to perform his acclaimed program of songs by Jacques Brel to benefit the Golden Door Scholarship Fund.

Known for his masterful storytelling, Keating has long been a staple on the New York City cabaret scene, but his affinity for the songs of Jacques Brel go back to his early twenties when he discovered the original cast album of Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living In Paris in a record bin at the Times Square Sam Goody's.  When he first heard the words, he recalls, “I had a eureka moment and realized I had to sing those words, but what does a twenty-one year old really know about such adult things?”   

But forty years on with the world in a state of uncertainty, Keating feels he has the life experience to illuminate Brel's observations about love and life in a way that is both personal and universal.  “The songs remind us that life is both cyclical and temporal,” Keating says, “and I think with the pandemic, school shootings and the world on the brink of war, the lyrics are more timely than ever.  They resonate in a way that hopefully allows the audience to reflect on our collective experience and bring the human condition into sharp relief.”

Both performances will benefit the Golden Door Scholarship Fund.  

A NYC public school teacher by day, Keating founded the fund in 2004 to help aid undocumented immigrant students who dream of pursuing an American college education.   “Many of my students did not choose to come to America, but came because of circumstances beyond their control.   Who are we to refuse them?   Today many are here because of the war in the Ukraine or they are migrants bussed up from Texas seeking asylum,” Keating says.  “The lessons they have taught me about life are immeasurable and cannot help but enhance my understanding of Brel's lyrics.”

Directed by Tanya Moberly with Darryl Curry musical directing, Rian Keating Sings Jacques Brel will be performed Monday, June 19th at 7 pm and Saturday, June 24th at 3:30 at Don't Tell Mama.   

For reservations:  Click Here

There is a $15 cover change and $20 minimum.