Interview: Rising Star Ethan Mathias on OUTSIDE THE LINES at The Green Room 42

On Thursday July 9, 2026 at 7 pm, MAC Award-winner Ethan Mathias returns to The Green Room 42 with his brand-new show, Wait 'Til You See What's Next.

The impressive 17-year-old singer is fresh off his solo cabaret debut. He won the MAC Award for New York Debut – Male for that show at just 15 (the youngest recipient in the award's history), as well as the BroadwayWorld Cabaret Award for Best Debut Show. Now he's back with a show that asks the question every great debut raises: what comes next?

Featuring new music and a journey through the songs and stories, Wait 'Til You See What's Next is part cabaret, part declaration — from a young baritone with a rare gift and a great deal more to say.

Read a conversation with Mathias about the show.

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This is your first solo show after making your debut last year with Outside the Lines. Did the experience of putting that show together teach you anything you're taking forward into this one?

Outside the Lines taught me what cabaret actually is — how to be in a room with people, how to tell a story through a song, how to just be present. This time I feel like I actually know what I'm doing, which is both exciting and a little terrifying. The big difference is that this show was built with Michael Lavine and director Eric Michael Gillett from the ground up — we started working together, started exploring music, and the show grew out of that process. It feels much more like a real collaboration, and I think that shows in the material we chose.

What have you been filling your time with lately?

A lot. I just graduated from high school and Manhattan School of Music PreCollege, which still doesn't feel real. I performed at the MSM Gala at the Rainbow Room. I traveled to Clarinda, Iowa for the Glenn Miller Festival. I performed at the American Popular Song Society gala honoring Sidney Myer at The Cutting Room alongside Marilyn Maye, Lee Roy Reams, Charles Busch, and Seth Rudetsky. I've been doing open mics and working with Michael Lavine and Eric Michael Gillett on the new show. And somewhere in there I turned 17.

What projects or shows are coming up next for you?

Right now the entire focus is July 9 — I want this show to be everything it can be. In mid-July I will travel to Indiana again, to participate in Songbook Academy with Michael Feinstein for the third time. After that I start at Mannes School of Music at The New School in the fall, where I'll be studying with Arthur Levy. I have some things in the works that I'm not quite ready to talk about yet, but I'll say that the plan is to keep performing while I'm at school (since it’s here in Manhattan). I'm not going anywhere.

Is there anything else you'd like to share?

Just that this show is available via livestream for anyone who can't make it to New York — so there's no excuse not to come! Tickets are at The Green Room 42's website and there's a discount code, MAC20, for anyone who wants to use it. I've worked really hard on this and I'm genuinely proud of it. I hope people will come and see what's next.

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Photo credit: Conor Weiss

Learn more about the singer at www.ethanmathias.com