Birdland Jazz Club Celebrates 20 Years Of JIM CARUSO'S CAST PARTY

BIRDLAND JAZZ CLUB will celebrate the landmark 20th Anniversary of its wildly popular weekly open mic night/variety show “Jim Caruso's Cast Party” with a special edition on Monday, July 24 at 9:30 PM.

The evening will feature regular favorites and special surprise guests. As usual, music director Billy Stritch holds court at the ivories, along with Steve Doyle on bass and Daniel Glass on drums. There is a $25-35 music charge. Birdland is located at 315 West 44th Street in New York.

  

“Jim Caruso's Cast Party” has brought Broadway glitz and urbane wit to the legendary Birdland in New York City every Monday night since 2003. Showbiz superstars hit the stage alongside up-and-comers, serving up jaw-dropping music and general razzle-dazzle.  It's the ultimate spot to mix and mingle with show folk and the people who love them!  Showman Jim Caruso guides the entire affair with razor-sharp humor and the unbridled enthusiasm of an uber-fan.  But the real fun starts when the audience participates in the onstage festivities. Broadway legends, jazzers, cabaret divas, starry-eyed tourists, and kids right off the bus storm the stage to entertain each other. If you have a voice, a dream, and some sheet music, your “Cast Party” moment awaits.

“Creating and hosting 'Cast Party' changed my life,” Caruso reflects. “For the life of me, I can't remember what I did on Monday nights or who I hung out with before 2003. The past twenty years have been a joyous experience. I've gotten to meet people from all over the world doing what they love to do. I hate to sound corny, but 'Cast Party' continues to be very inspiring. What started as a weird, show-biz adjacent side-gig has come to mean the world to me!”

Caruso and company have hosted over 1,040 “Cast Party” shows at Birdland, to say nothing of the dozens of “Cast Party” events across the country, in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, London, Chicago, San Francisco, Miami, Dallas, Cleveland, Austin, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, Orlando, the Hamptons, Provincetown, and on the high seas.  If each “Cast Party” celebrates a minimum of twenty performers, that's over 20,800 singers in New York City alone.

Some of the bold-faced names who have stormed the “Cast Party” stage include Oscar winners Liza Minnelli, Bobby Lopez, Lauren Bacall, Pasek & Paul, Ariana DeBose and Patricia Neal. Recording artists Ariana Grande, Michael Feinstein, Tony Bennett, Natalie Cole, Jeffrey Osborne, Kenny Loggins, Melissa Manchester, Mary Wilson, Charlie Puth, Donny Osmond, and Dave Koz have all performed, as well as Broadway stars Carol Channing, Kristin Chenoweth, Cheyenne Jackson, Dame Edna, and Chita Rivera.

“Jim Caruso's Cast Party” has been honored with four BroadwayWorld Awards, two MAC Awards, a Bistro Award, and a Nightlife Award. The Wall Street Journal raved “Cast Party” is “the gold standard of open mic nights,” The New York Post called it “the coolest thing ever,” and Time Out New York exclaimed “this Party is a vital pulse point of the musical theater bloodstream.”

When the world shut down during the pandemic, Mr. Caruso, along with the technical know-how of producer Ruby Locknar, wasted no time in migrating to YouTube with 82 episodes of “Pajama Cast Party,” a weekly virtual show presenting starry musical performances via livestream.  The show received five BroadwayWorld Awards and a Summit Award.

  

BIRDLAND JAZZ CLUB will celebrate the 20th Anniversary of “Jim Caruso's Cast Party” with a special show on Monday, July 24 at 9:30 PM. “Cast Party” takes place every Monday at 9:30 PM. There is a $25-35 music charge and a $20 food and beverage minimum. Birdland is located at 315 West 44th Street (between 8th and 9th Avenues) in Manhattan. For reservations, please call (212) 581-3080 or visit www.BirdlandJazz.com.

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