Review: Michael McAssey Makes Music and Mirth With OPEN MAC and Open Mic at Pangea

A famous musical tells the tale of a man named Harold Hill who purported to be a maker of music, even though he wasn't. The play, one of the most beloved of all time, was made into two different movies and is produced in theaters all over the country on a regular basis; it has been revived multiple times and there is a new revival on the way. Everybody loves the classic musical about the lovable con-man and looks forward to seeing it, whenever they get the chance.

Meanwhile, there is a real-life music man who really does know how to make music, and he can be found every Monday night at Pangea.

Each week, as society gets going once more after a weekend that was, hopefully, either relaxing, festive, or productive, a crowd of people in the know head up, down or over to Pangea for Michael McAssey's Open Mic night, appropriately named OPEN MIC MONDAYS WITH MICHAEL MCASSEY. The evening is oft populated by young show folk and students of the art of singing, all ready, willing, and able to provide musical entertainment for the patrons of the lower East Side eatery where the menu is exquisite and the drinks well-made. Mr. McAssey, a veteran of several Broadway shows, tours, and nightclub acts, makes the perfect host and pianist for the Open Mic evening, as he is also a crackerjack performer in his own right, capable of entertaining the crowd with his own musical offerings throughout the program. In fact, these last few weeks of summer Mr. McAssey has been doing double-duty at Pangea, opening their cabaret room at 7 pm for the live stream of his weekly lounge show OPEN MAC and then moving into the lounge for the 8:30 open mic show.

During the quarantine, Maestro McAssey did what many performing artists did: he took his act to the internet, creating a weekly show that would take him and his music right into the homes of his friends, family, and what would become a continually growing fan club, reaching many worldly parts unknown. When the stay at home order was lifted, Michael continued to produce his DIY show but after about a minute he asked Pangea owner Stephen Shanaghan if the one-man music show might move into the cabaret room at Pangea and OPEN MAC got a new set - and Michael began broadcasting from someplace other than his bedroom. With all those tables at his disposal, Michael put the word out to friends that they were welcome to come and watch the live broadcast, free of charge, though they were certainly encouraged to buy drinks at the bar to enjoy during the show. A few days ago, that is exactly what a collection of cabaret artists did, and Michael McAssey went full-on early days NBC, performing live in front of a studio audience.

Michael McAssey is a marvel. An entertainer of hilarious humor and superior vocals, he keeps his audience (both online and live) fully engaged and thoroughly entertained with his unscripted banter, zany antics, musical versatility, and on-the-spot performances of requests. Whether watching him perform his OPEN MAC program online or in person, the pleasure factor gets high marks, particularly each time that the realization springs on you that he is doing this in real-time, spur of the moment, live, without a script. It's like watching a juggler or a high-wire act... or a live television performer. Maybe it would be just as much fun if there weren't a ring light and laptop aimed at his face, but the fact of the tech just creates a heightened awareness of McAssey's abilities, abilities he takes right with him from the room where OPEN MAC happens to the room where the Open Mic occurs.

Just inside the door at Pangea, there is a piano and, nightly, that piano plays home to a different musical artist, each one unique, each one gifted, and each one worth seeing, and they should all be checked out at some point in one's schedule. On Monday this writer was on hand to check out the Monday night Open Mic with Michael McAssey, and what fun we all had. Cabaret artists Joanne Halev, Dorian Woodruff, and Joseph C. Townsend, Broadway World Cabaret writer Ricky Pope, and author Brady Schwind were on hand with a number of show business talents to enjoy an atmosphere relaxed and casual, experimental and entertaining, as people took turns conferring with Mr, McAssey for a moment before wowing the crowd with songs they wanted to try out, tunes from their repertoire, or just something pretty they had on their wishlist. Using physical sheet music, something stored in Mr. McAssey's tablet, or music they air-dropped to Michael from their phones, each performer presented pleasurable musical entertainment and endearing personalities, something made greatly easy by the mood McAssey has created. Sometimes open mic nights can tend toward the stress-inducing, with singers feeling a bit of pressure to give show-ready performances, and where's the fun in that? A good Open Mic should be fun and playful, a place to experiment without worrying from making mistakes. One suspects that, somewhere in his personal history, Mr. McAssey has either witnessed or experienced Open Mic angst because he manages to successfully avoid the sensation at his own Pangea party. The air of the open mic is as comfortable and welcoming as the venue itself, and with drinks in hands and splendid ambiance all around, it was impossible for anyone not to have a good time, and while it is entirely due to the good folks at Pangea that the establishment is of such high quality, it is thanks to Michael McAssey that the Monday night entertainment is so much fun. And even though it is the start of the week and the next weekend is days away, is there any reason that a Monday night shouldn't be as fun as the two days that preceded it? No.

And if Michael McAssey has anything to say about it, every Monday night will be just that: fun.

In the slang of the day, one might even say Fun AF.

Pangea's Open Mic Mondays with Michael McAssey is every Monday at 8:30 pm. There is a fifteen-dollar food and drink charge but the Open Mic has no cover charge. Don't miss the pasta or the french fries - I'm just sayin'. For information on this program and all the shows at Pangea, please visit their website HERE.

OPEN MAC will broadcast from Pangea one last time on August 9th. The cabaret room needed to house cabaret performances, the free program will be relocated uptown to Brandy's beginning September 6th, with performances starting at 7 pm. For information visit the Brandy's website HERE.

Visit the Michael McAssey website HERE and YouTube channel HERE.

Photos by Stephen Mosher