Jeff Harnar To Return To Don’t Tell Mama With BLAME IT ON MY YOUTH
The February concert series revisits songs first performed at the venue in the 1980s.
By: A.A. Cristi Jan. 15, 2026
Award-winning cabaret and concert artist Jeff Harnar will return to Don’t Tell Mama with a new concert, Blame It on My Youth, presented over four Thursday evenings in February. Performances will take place February 5, 12, 19, and 26 at 7:00 p.m.
Harnar will be joined by longtime music director Alex Rybeck as they revisit songs they first performed together at Don’t Tell Mama in the 1980s, when their musical collaboration began. The concert takes its title from the Oscar Levant song “Blame It on My Youth,” one of the first pieces the duo performed during that period, and examines how lyrics first sung decades ago resonate differently over time.
About the Concert
Blame It on My Youth features songs by Irving Berlin, Kander & Ebb, Richard Rodgers, Jerry Herman, Stephen Sondheim, Charles Aznavour, Paul Simon, Carole King, and Billy Joel. Musical arrangements are by Alex Rybeck and Brian Lasser, an early collaborator with Harnar and Rybeck. The promotional photograph for the concert was taken by Michael Ian, who also photographed one of the original Don’t Tell Mama posters from the 1980s that still hangs in the venue.
Performance Details
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Dates: Thursdays, February 5, 12, 19, and 26, 2026
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Time: 7:00 p.m.
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Venue: Don’t Tell Mama, 343 West 46th Street, New York, NY 10036
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Cover: $25
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Minimum: $25 (must include two drinks)
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Payment: Cash only
About Jeff Harnar
Jeff Harnar is an award-winning cabaret, concert, and recording artist. His appearances at Carnegie Hall include the Cole Porter and Noël Coward Centennial Galas. His PBS concert specials include The 1959 Broadway Songbook and American Songbook: Stephen Sondheim, both with Alex Rybeck. Harnar has toured nationally in symphony pops concerts and has received multiple MAC, Bistro, BroadwayWorld Cabaret Awards, and the Noël Coward Foundation Cabaret Award.
In recent years, Harnar released I Know Things Now: My Life in Sondheim’s Words (PS Classics) and A Collective Cy: Jeff Harnar Sings Cy Coleman. He has also been honored by Chicago Cabaret Professionals, the Mabel Mercer Foundation, and the Manhattan Association of Cabarets. He appears in the film Joshua Tree, 1951: A Portrait of James Dean.
About Alex Rybeck
Alex Rybeck is a music director, composer, arranger, and pianist whose work spans Broadway, cabaret, recordings, and concert performance. His Broadway credits include Merrily We Roll Along and Grand Hotel. He has collaborated with artists including Eartha Kitt, Marni Nixon, Julie Wilson, Faith Prince, Liz and Ann Hampton Callaway, Donna McKechnie, Tovah Feldshuh, and Jeff Harnar, among many others.
Rybeck has received numerous honors for his work as a music director and songwriter, and his recording To Steve, With Love: Liz Callaway Celebrates Sondheim received a Grammy nomination.
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