Feature: More Cabarets and Piano Bars Turn To Crowdfunding To Help Families

Broadway World Cabaret has learned that more cabaret venues are using crowdfunding to keep their families flush during the health crisis than, at first, we knew. An article posted on Broadway World yesterday inspired recent MAC Award recipient Michael Kirk Lane to reach out to inform that piano bar/cabaret rooms Brandy's, Don't Tell Mama, and The Duplex had similar Gofundme pages with the exact same mission as the clubs reported on in that day's story, not surprising since these clubs are well known to have a family mentality among their staff and, indeed, their patrons. Lane, who began his career in cabaret in the piano bars of the city, attributes the familial ambiance of these clubs to the longevity of his work in the industry that has seen him working both and off the stage, most notably at Don't Tell Mama and The Laurie Beechman Theatre, where he currently serves as House Manager. Anyone who has spent enough time in any of the clubs of Manhattan can validate the claim that these employees make a family and that family makes their club a home, each of them offering a welcome to the various neighborhoods they inhabit.

Brandy's is reported to be one of the Upper East Side's best kept secrets - but someone is talking because they have been entertaining customers new and old for four decades. This bonafide piano bar is just that - a club with a piano and folks who get up to sing for the crowds who pack the room. It truly harkens back to an era seen depicted in old MGM musicals and the team there works hard to keep it that way. With a rotating cast of more than 25 performers, a person can always count on a good time at Brandy's, especially when the performers include the likes of Jennifer Pace, Michael McAssey and Bobby Belfry. Brandy's is the broadcast location from the weekly PIANO BAR LIVE! Which won the MAC Award for 2020 for Show of The Year. Their Facebook page is filled with archival videos of past performances and the Piano Bar Live producer, Scott Barbarino, has adamantly promised they will be back in action as soon as it is possible. They are devoted to their craft, their staff, and their patrons, which is why Brandy's has been going strong for the last forty years.

Don't Tell Mama is an institution in Manhattan, serving the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Midtown West for decades. Their advertising says that they are famous and it is not false advertising. Many celebrated artists have sat in the seats of the 44th Street hotspot to see their friends perform, and why shouldn't they, when the people who have stood on the stage of Don't Tell Mama include Ann Hampton Callaway, Anita Gillette, Jenifer Lewis, Karen Mason and the late, somewhat legendary, Nancy LaMott. With one of the most popular piano bars in the front and two cabaret rooms in the back, and a team of servers who remember your name and who are always ready to jump up for a song, Don't Tell Mama is an inviting oasis in the middle of the busiest part of the city... and if you're lucky, the Patriarch of the establishment, Sidney Myer, might be on hand to sing a song the night you are there.

The Duplex is in the heart of Greenwich Village and it is never empty - it never has been in the 69 years that the club has been in operation. With the piano bar downstairs and the smallest, most intimate, cabaret room in The Village, The Duplex continues to bring art to the downtown set. That small room upstairs is the place where Hal Holbrook created Mark Twain Tonight, and it has been a stage where Joan Rivers and Barbra Streisand played. Today, while people sing along downstairs and dance to club music in the upstairs bar, the cabaret room showcases talents like Michael Buchanan, Anna Lively, Ben Moss, and cabaret great, Molly Pope. The Duplex has a mission statement to provide a safe space for artists to go out on a limb and Thomas Honeck, who manages and books that room, takes particular care to give artists a chance to create and display new projects with series like In The Works, which assists songwriters to ply their craft. Rarely is there an empty seat in The Duplex and there is always a considerable crowd to appreciate the presence of the club, 70 years later.

These are three more of the nightclubs with staff members suddenly cut off from an income, gig workers who take home tips to pay their bills, and who have nothing coming in during the period of physical isolation. It's a scary time for everyone in the world right now, but it can be made less scary for some, through the assistance of those who have it a little easier, maybe people who are still drawing a salary, or those who have a little money put aside, which is what crowdfunding was created for - emergencies. It's a time to help those in need if we can. It takes a lot of courage to ask for help, it would be nice to think that if each of us needed help we would have that courage and someone would be there to lend a hand.

Thank goodness these folks have that courage and thank goodness there are those with outstretched hands of assistance.

Visit the Gofundme page for Brandy's HERE

Visit the Gofundme page for Don't Tell Mama HERE

Visit the Gofundme page for The Duplex HERE