Interview: Brian De Lorenzo Talks TOAST OF THE TOWN VOL. 2 Debut

Talent America’s "Performer of the Year," two-time MAC Award Nominee, and "Top Ten of New York Cabaret," Brian De Lorenzo is an award-winning singer, actor, and songwriter equally at home in nightclubs, concert halls, and theatres, as well as cruise ships in Alaska, the Mediterranean, and crossing the Atlantic.

The singer is releasing his second big band album, "Toast of the Town, Vol. 2," on Friday, April 24, celebrating with a Club Café album release concert that same evening in Boston. The new recording revisits classic Great American Songbook standards associated with singers like Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and Tony Bennett, but with unexpected twists: rarely heard verses, inventive song pairings and fresh arrangements created with veteran arranger and bandleader Tom LaMark and his orchestra. De Lorenzo’s previous album, "Vol. 1" was recently nominated for the Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs’ (MAC) LaMott Friedman Recording Award.

Read a conversation with De Lorenzo about the new album.

How does it feel to be releasing Volume 2 of Toast of the Town?

It’s very exciting to finally reach this point, because this project has been eight years in the making. I made the decision to contact someone to create “big-band” arrangements for me back in spring of 2018. But things were sidetracked for a number of reasons. That was okay, because I ended up working on a very different project, which became my album, “I Know More Now.” It’s comprised of songs I had been collecting over the years to record “someday,” including three songs from one of my favorite cabaret songwriters, David Friedman.

“I Know More Now” was released in the winter of 2020, just before COVID disrupted all our lives. That also meant we couldn’t go into the studio to record the tracks for “Toast of the Town” for a couple more years. We finished the bulk of the recording for both volumes between the summer of 2023 and the winter of 2024, followed by mixing Volume 1, which was released in June of 2025. We did the mixing of Volume 2 this year.

Are you planning anything special for your Boston album release show?

The first thing that’s special about it is that I’ll be accompanied by seven members of the Tom LaMark Orchestra. In the cabaret world, one doesn’t often have the opportunity to perform with that many instrumentalists – partly because cabaret stages are so small! Secondly, because I grew up as a fan of Barbra Streisand, and the album release and concert are on her birthday – April 24 – I have to do one of Barbra’s songs. But the song will be a surprise

By the way, I grew up listening to Streisand’s pop repertoire, then later discovered her first few albums from the early 1960s, which included a lot of freshly interpreted standards, as well as songs from contemporary musicals. That’s when I began to prefer her early albums to her pop albums. The concert will be mainly songs from TOTT Vol. 2, with some numbers from Vol. 1 as well.

What has the response to volume 1 been like so far?

It’s received really positive notices and was nominated for the 2026 Manhattan Association of Cabarets (MAC) Award for “Album of the Year,” so I’m very pleased! My very first album, “Found Treasures,” was also nominated for the same award, 26 years ago.

What have you been filling your time with lately?

Since I was I child I’ve loved choral singing, so I try to get professional choral gigs as much as possible. I have a regular assignment (Tenor Section Leader) at an Episcopal church in the Boston area and I sometimes substitute at other churches. Spring being Easter time, there has been a lot of extra choral singing. I also have a full-time day-job working at a social services nonprofit for seniors called Boston Senior Home Care.

What's next on tap for you after this new album release?

So many things! First, I’ll sing a number at “Jim Caruso’s (Boston) Cast Party” with Billy Stritch at the Regattabar on Saturday, April 25.

Speaking of choral gigs, I’ll be singing in the chorus for a performance of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony on Boston’s North Shore at the end of May.

In June I’ll perform twice at CabaretFest Provincetown where I’ve appeared numerous times since its founding in the year 2000 by John O’Neil. It’s always fun to be immersed in the festival in such a beautiful and charming a location. Then my husband and I will be celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary and 35 years together.

I’m excited to appear on the third and final night of the 37th Mabel Mercer Foundation Cabaret Convention on October 15 at the Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York. The evening is hosted by Artistic Director of the foundation, KT Sullivan, and is entitled “With a Song in My Heart.”

Also in October, exactly six months after the album release, I’m teaming up with friends Robert Saoud and John Abernathy for “The Ladies Who Brunch: Men’s Edition” at Club Café’s Napoleon Room, hosted by John O’Neil. I did one of the “Ladies Who Brunch” shows with John Abernathy and John O’Neil a couple of years ago. And Robert and I go way back. We were in the musical “Forever Plaid” at Stoneham Theatre (now Greater Boston Stage) and in the musicals “She Loves Me” and Sondheim’s “Assassins” at the Lyric Stage Company of Boston. The latter production was the Boston professional premiere and was named “Best Theatre Production of the Year” in 1998 by “The Boston Globe”. It’s always lots of fun to work with John, John, and Robert!

Is there anything else you’d like to add?

I’m starting to think about what my next recording might be. Will it be some more numbers from the Great American Songbook? Or will I go in a completely different direction and record some pop songs that I used to listen to on the radio in the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s? We shall see…