Rian Keating to Return to Don't Tell Mama with WOMANSONGS Beginning This Month

Cabaret veteran Rian Keating will return to Don't Tell Mama with Womansongs, an evening of songs and stories about the women he has encountered in his life, both real and in song.  The performances will benefit the Golden Door Scholarship Fund, which aids undocumented immigrants in their pursuit of a college education. 

“When I was looking through my trunk of songs that I had yet to sing, I noticed many of them were about women,” Keating said.  “The question became how to link them together with a narrative that could frame the songs best.   And when I saw a post on Facebook asking if you remembered your second grade teacher's name, I had a eureka moment.   I have fond memories of some and hold grudges against others.  And then I went down the ancestry.com rabbit hole and it all fell into place.  ”   

Weaving together songs about women with anecdotes about the teachers who have had an indelible influence on him as well as discoveries he has made on ancestry.com about family history that had been shrouded in mystery.   Songs are by Irving Berlin, Harry Chapin, John Dankworth and Cleo Laine, Amanda McBroom, Rod McKuen, Cole Porter and James Taylor, among others.   Tanya Moberly directs, with Darryl Curry at the piano. 

Winner of the 2023 MAC Award for Male Vocalist, Keating also received the 2022 MAC Award for Special Production for his musical memoir, Time Stamps:  Life Fragments in Story and Song. A staple on the cabaret scene since the mid-1980s, Keating was well known for the popular Manhattan Cable talk show, Spotlight!, on which he interviewed such luminaries as Gwen Verdon, Kathy Bates, Cleavon Little, George Rose and Julie Wilson.   The archive can be found on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@riankeating8649. 

A veteran high school English teacher, Keating founded the Golden Door Scholarship Fund in 2003 to help aid undocumented immigrants pursue their dream of an American college education.  In the past twenty years, over $80,000 has been awarded to students from all over the world. 

Performances are on October 24th and 28th at 7 pm and November 5th at 3:30 pm.   Reservations can be made at the link below.  There is a $15 cover and a $20 minimum.