Interview: Michael & Mardie Celebrate 10 Years of Their Album at The Beechman

The “silly, sassy, sexy” (Stephen Mosher, Broadway World) multi-award-winning duo Michael Garin and Mardie Millit return to the Laurie Beechman Theatre on October 12 at 7 pm to celebrate the 10th anniversary of their album, Hey, Look! It’s Michael & Mardie!

Last seen in NYC in their 2024 MAC-Award-winning show Sorry Grateful: One Sondheim Story in Letters and Song, Michael and Mardie are bringing their signature cocktail of musical virtuosity and goofy charm back to Theatre Row. It’s a celebration of 10 years of their funny, eclectic and moving album, but there will be additional material from the ensuing decade, including songs that made their pandemic-era live streams a must-watch for fans all over the world.

Michael Garin and Mardie Millit have been entertaining Manhattan audiences together for the last two decades, delivering a wildly eclectic repertoire spanning genres, generations and cultures. Their most recent accolade was the 2024 MAC Award for Best Female Vocalist for their show about Mardie’s longtime correspondence with Stephen Sondheim, Sorry-Grateful. They previously won a MAC for Best Duo in 2022 for their residency at the West Bank Café.

Michael is a Drama Desk Award-winning composer/lyricist/performer (for Song of Singapore) who has made a living entertaining New Yorkers, playing piano and singing at nightclubs all over the city for the last three decades. He is currently in his ninth year as the house pianist at the Roxy Hotel in Tribeca, where he plays his renowned musical mashups every Tuesday through Saturday.

Mardie has a degree in opera and spent many years doing classic musicals in regional theatres around the country. She is a founding member of Broadway World Award-winning Dream Productions, performing in staged readings of Sondheim musicals with full orchestra since 2017. Most recently she appeared with Nicolas King in Boston in their duo show, Their Coloring Book: Sketches of Kander & Ebb.

As a duo, Michael & Mardie have been performing together since 2005 — most notably their long residency at the fabled night spot Elaine’s, from 2008 until its closing in 2011. In recent years they have taken their act on the road to Provincetown, Boston, San Francisco, and Austin, to name a few, with more dates and places coming soon. Their Middle Eastern pop band, The Habibi Kings, is dedicated to spreading world peace through the classic party music of the Mediterranean. Michael and Mardie are also collaborating on a musical adaptation of the book Mary Astor’s Purple Diary by Ed Sorel, currently in development.

How does it feel to be celebrating the 10th anniversary of your album, Hey, Look! It’s Michael & Mardie!?

Mardie Millit: It feels surreal. Probably the wildest part is being old enough that 10 years doesn't seem very long ago! But then we look at how we, and the world, have changed since 2015 -- for better and for worse -- and it can seem like several lifetimes ago. For one thing, we actually printed up CDs for the original release! This time we'll be holding one up from the stage and encouraging people to stream it. 

Michael Garin: It feels goofy. I mean we're still doing show biz and that was a decade ago. Kind of an homage to everyone who said, "when are you gonna get a real job?"

What went into putting the album together originally?

MM: A lot of crowdfunding, done mostly on Facebook! A lot of collaboration -- our album featured our friends Billy Stritch and Steve Doyle, and also our dentist, Maitreya Padukone, who is a fantastic tabla (Indian drum) player. And then there were about 6 calls from my mother on the first day we went to the studio, begging me not to record my song, "Douchebag at the Bar." "People just don't like that kind of language!" she said -- and of course, that was everybody's favorite track. I have a friend who calls it up on Alexa every time I go to her house. (Try it!) But mostly it was just a lot of fun making music together. We really love what we do. 

MG: We had a great run at Elaine's and had been gigging a lot elsewhere. So musically, it felt like we needed to do inventory to codify what on earth we were thinking.

What have some of the highlights of your career over the past decade since you released this album been?

MG: Me? I've been the Resident Pianist at the Roxy Hotel. Starting my ninth year. Mardie and I have been working on a musical adaptation of Ed Sorel's book Mary Astor's Purple Diary. I play piano on A$AP Rocky's new release. I've done some guest spots on TV dramas. And I just turned 71, so that's enough.

MM: We played 5 nights a week in restaurants and fancy bars all over the city for about 10 years. Then we transitioned to cabaret, and in 2022 we won a MAC Award for Best Duo for our residency at the West Bank Café, which started during the outdoor dining phase of the pandemic. In 2024 I won the Female Vocalist MAC for my Sondheim show, with all the arrangements by Michael. In between we performed at a bunch of different venues around the country, which we're still doing. I also did a few roles in Sondheim musicals with Vanessa Paradis's Dream Productions, which was really important for me. 

How did you try to balance this show between selections from this album and newer material?

MM: We've been performing together for 20 years now, and some songs get rotated out, and fresh material comes in. The show will reflect that, with some of our more recent mashups and original songs making appearances alongside selections from the album. The pandemic changed things, especially for me -- all the guard rails were gone, and suddenly I was doing a livestream on Facebook every Sunday night (with Michael on piano, of course), putting together a new show every week, and singing songs and genres I'd never done in public before. It was an insane time, and for me, a period of huge artistic growth. So some of that variety will be represented, along with favorites from our residency at the West Bank Café, and from my Sondheim show -- and also from our musical, Mary Astor's Purple Diary, for which Michael has written music and lyrics (I'm the book writer). We're squeezing a lot in!

MG: We just do the stuff we already like and pretend there's a theme.

Aside from putting this show together, what have you been filling your time with lately?

MM: Writing! Writing the book for a musical has been (and continues to be) an incredible ride. It's such a different art from from performing -- I'm not me at all. I let the characters talk, and it's incredibly freeing. I also just did a couple of shows with my pal Nicolas King, in both Provincetown and Boston. It's been great to step out of my comfort zone and work with a good friend who's got a totally different energy -- and lots of it! Michael and I have also continued performing together, including at Austin Cabaret Theater earlier this year, and coming up in the New York Cabaret Convention (we're opening the show on October 23), and we have a couple of dates coming up soon in Florida. 

MG: Anything that doesn't involve watching the news.

What music has been inspiring you recently?

MM: When I'm at home, I listen to two stations: WFUV out of Fordham University, and the classical station, WQXR. So my answer is: Wet Leg, because they remind me of my misspent youth in the early '80s, and J.S. Bach, because that guy wrote a cantata every week, and made it THAT GOOD.

MG: For me, the focus is music from around the world. South America, The Middle East and North Africa.

Is there anything else you'd like to add?

MG: Sharing my life and career with Mardie has made me happier than I deserve to be.

MM: Ditto. And I'd also add, to quote Michael, "It's a blessing to be in the Happy Business."

Header photo by Gene Reed

You can hear songs from Marnie and Michael’s musical at maryastormusical.com and read more about them at michaelandmardie.com.