Elvira Tortora: The Bookmaker's Daughter at Chelsea Table + Stage
Dates: 4/11/2026
Theatre:Chelsea Table + Stage |
|
152 W 26th Street, Hilton Fashion District Hotel
New York,NY 10001
Phone: (929)-501-8803
Tickets: $28.52-$39.19 cover (fees included) + $25 food & beverage minimum per person
Elvira Tortora reprises her 2024 Bistro Award-winning and MAC Award-nominated show The Bookmaker's Daughter, the story of her childhood as the daughter of a bookie living and raising a family in Brooklyn, NY. With much love and good humor, Tortora shares her story through the songs of Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, John Kander and Fred Ebb, Frank Loesser, Stephen Sondheim, and more spanning the 1960s through 2001. Directed by Lina Koutrakos with Musical Director/Arranger Gregory Toroian on piano, Tortora performed seven sold out shows at Don’t Tell Mama. Now, she brings her award-winning show to Chelsea Table + Stage with the exciting Gregory Toroian Trio, led by Toroian on piano, and featuring Skip Ward on bass, and David Silliman on drums. "Absolutely exquisite in every way...Tortora has the old school moxie that any of us born and raised in the boroughs know and love." ~ NiteLife Exchange “Tortora’s own rhythm and wry outlook are elemental…a cabaret/theater crossover. And oh, you’ll laugh!” ~ Woman Around Town "A vivid re-creation of a very specific time, place, and culture in American history...a story full of heritage, humor, heart, and happy endings." ~ Lavender After Dark "A warm and often hilarious account of growing up with a Brooklyn bookie dad." ~ Bistro Awards "One of the most original, authentic, and real stories being told on the cabaret stages today...the show to see this season." ~ BroadwayWorld THE BOOKMAKER’S DAUGHTER ELVIRA TORTORA - Vocalist GREGORY TOROIAN - Musical Director / Arranger / Piano SKIP WARD - Bass DAVID SILLIMAN - Drums Directed by LINA KOUTRAKOS Chelsea Table + Stage Hilton Fashion District Hotel 152 W 26th Street New York, NY 10001 APRIL 11 at 7:00 PM (doors open 6:00 PM) $28.52-$39.19 cover (fees included) + $25 food & beverage minimum per person LiveStream: $23.18 (fees included)
Cast and Creative team for Elvira Tortora: The Bookmaker's Daughter at Chelsea Table + Stage
Cast
Elvira Tortora
Vocalist
Elvira Tortora is a proud native of the great borough of Brooklyn. She returned to her first love, musical theatre, after a 30-year career in the fashion industry, 23 of those years at Jones New York. A new-found devotion to the study of acting and improv led to various roles in independent films, commercials, and print ads, and eventually to voice teacher Celeste Simone. After Simone encouraged Tortora to enroll in the cabaret workshops of Lina Koutrakos, she found her calling: Telling her own stories. And this lady has a story to tell!
Gregory Toroian
Musical Director/Arranger/Pianist
Gregory Toroian is a musical director, arranger, jazz pianist, vocalist, songwriter, and educator. He has been featured in Cabaret Scenes magazine and was the 2020 Bistro Award winner for Outstanding Collaboration with Sue Matsuki, with whom he had also won a MAC award for Best Duo Production. In addition to working with such artists as Tony Bennett, Jon Hendricks, Cab Calloway, Donna Summer, Melissa Errico, Marilyn Maye, Karen Mason, and Jane Olivor. He has appeared in almost every jazz club and cabaret (major and minor), in New York. He has toured with principal dancers from the New York City Ballet and has made numerous radio and television appearances including the Today Show and Maury Povich. Recordings include his work as musical director, arranger, and pianist on the recent debut album of Maria Corsaro, “Love Makes the Changes”; “A New Take”, the debut album of award-winning cabaret artist Sue Matsuki; and CD’s with Suzanna Ross, Leslee Warren, Lina Koutrakos, Linda Kahn, Meri Ziev, and Lisa Kantor. Gregory’s vocal arrangements have been featured on a series of albums in the US and Japan, by the vocal group String of Pearls. Gregory also wrote the music to the title song of the Boston Red Sox documentary, “Joy of Sox”. He currently offers an array of performance workshops.
Skip Ward
Bassist
Skip Ward is a Grammy Award Winning Bassist, Guitarist, Ukulele-ist (is that a word), Lap Steel, Tuba and Penny Whistle. Ward is a classically-trained jazz musician with a penchant for rock n' roll, and fusion, blues and bluegrass. Artists he has played/recorded with include: Tony Trischka, with Steve Martin, Phoebe Snow, Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, Cyndi Lauper, Cassandra Wilson, David Sancious (Sting, Eric Clapton), Melissa Manchester, Glenn Miller Orchestra and more! You may have also seen him on David Letterman, SNL or the Ellen DeGeneres Show. You'll hear Skip on many soundtracks, and he has been on national tours with a number of major theatrical productions. In New York City: Shakespeare in the Park (As You Like It), Hands On A Hardbody, Million Dollar Quartet, High School Musical, Jesus Christ Superstar, Song & Dance, A Chorus Line and West Side Story.
David Silliman
Drummer
David Silliman is a drummer and percussionist. David's middle name should be “versatility”. Whether accompanying song stylists such as Mariah Carey, Cassandra Wilson, and Blossom Dearie or playing with Colombian Harpist Edmar Castaneda, David's exciting rhythmic energies add color and mood to any musical performance. He's also comfortable playing in the pit of a Broadway show or with the New Jersey Symphony. David has over 20 years of experience. His performances have taken him to concerts and festivals in Italy, Vienna, Berlin, the North Sea, Monterey, Uruguay and Lithuania. David was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he was exposed to a wide variety of music. David's first studies were in the Classical field, studying snare drum, xylophone and timpani. Later studies exposed him to Jazz, Latin Jazz, Brazilian and Funk music.“ I love living in NY because it gives me the opportunity to play and perform with so many diverse artists, across all styles of music!”
Creative Team
Lina Koutrakos
Director
Lina Koutrakos is an award-winning singer/songwriter/teacher/director based in New York City. As a singer, she has repeatedly received rave reviews from The New York Times to Billboard Magazine in both rock and roll and cabaret and has been awarded Cabaret’s most prestigious awards for “Best Female Vocalist” and “Entertainer of the Year,” multiple times. Her directorial nods include being a 4-time winner for “Best Director” from the MAC Association as well as a lifetime Backstage Bistro Award-Winner for “Best Director.” Koutrakos was on staff as a Master Teacher for years at both the Eugene O'Neill Cabaret Symposium and The Yale Cabaret Conference. She was the first Master Teacher with The St. Louis Cabaret Conference and co-founded NYC’s Summer in the City yearly workshop on weekends. She has since gone on to start her own performance workshop “Performance Connection,” which umbrellas many ongoing and specialty workshops and seminars both online and in person. The Advance Performance Workshop in NYC has produced many award-winning performers and shows over the last 2 decades. Her singing and being the founder of the Midwest Cabaret Conference in Chicago for 10 years won her the “Gold Coast” Award with the Chicago Cabaret Professionals in 2019. She spearheads an annual Advanced Performance Workshop on the island of Mykonos. Due to her performance workshops with full bands to one-on-one clients across the U.S. to her own award-winning original material and one woman shows, Koutrakos has been called a “Walking Master Class” by Billboard Magazine. For more information, visit linasings.com
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