Ellen Kaye

The magical story of Edith Piaf, the most celebrated French music icon of all time, is like an old folk's tale, it needs to be told regularly. And there is no better time to be reminded of this incredible story of resilience, tenacity, and passion than now!

Just a spoonful of sugara?? Oh, oobee doo, I wanna be like youa?? Chitty Bang Bang, Chitty Chitty Bang Banga?? Supercalifragilisticexpialidociousa?? Do these lyrics sound familiar? Yep, that's right! These are all from the songbook of your childhood!

In Sisters of Swing, produced by Town Hall Arts Center, the lives of LaVerne, Maxene and Patty, are put on display as they sing their way through the years. The show follows the sisters from their early days on the road and rise in fame to their dissembling over irreconcilable differences. With a score chalk-full of hit songs such as, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schon," "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree," and "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy," some audiences members may get a sense of nostalgia that will leave them smiling.

Ellen Kaye's Diamonds on My Windshield is set for September 13th at 6 pm at Silvana, 300 W 116th St, New York, NY 10026. No cover charge.

Ellen Kaye's Diamonds on My Windshield is set for September 13th at 6 pm at Silvana, 300 W 116th St, New York, NY 10026. No cover charge.

The Great Depression was a dark and confusing period in American history, with unemployment at record breaking highs, homelessness and food scarcities, much of the American population was struggling to make ends meet. However, shown the face of adversity, our country was given an opportunity to evolve and created new paths for success, two of those dreamers were the infamous Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, whose search for fame and fortune shook America to its core, brought them coveted fame and infamy, inspiring songs, movies…even a musical.

Urban Stages and Stephen Hanks' Cabaret Life Productions has announced that on Saturday, December 3 at 7 pm, the 2016 Urban Stages Winter Rhythms Festival (December 1-11 at 259 West 30th Street, NYC) will present highlights from seven of the 16 shows that have been presented at Hanks' highly praised monthly series at the Metropolitan Room--New York Cabaret's Greatest Hits (Associate Producer, Fr. Jeffrey Hamblin, MD)--and two shows that will be featured in the series in 2017.  

Liveitlive presents Uptown Friday Night Live in Harlem with Claire Rodman, Ellen Kaye, and Stephen Benson. Co-produced by Ellen Kaye, Ethan Fein, and Seth Goldman.

With a show that is a perfect fit for holiday season and the winter ahead, Cabaret's hottest series, New York Cabaret's Greatest Hits (Producer, Stephen Hanks; Associate Producer Fr. Jeffrey Hamblin, MD), will feature Nightclub Singer/Entrepreneur Ellen Kaye with a reprise of her hit 2010 show, Ice Wine: Songs For Christmas and Dark Winter Nights, at the Metropolitan Room on Tuesday, December 13 at 7 pm. Kaye's show will be the 16th presentation in the series, which launched in August, 2015. The Metropolitan Room is at 34 West 22nd Street (between 5th and 6th Avenues). Tickets for Ice Wine are $25 ($20 for MAC Members) with a two-drink minimum.

'Without Dietrich, there would have been no Madonna...and no Gaga,' Janice Hall announced at the outset of her brilliant revival of GRAND ILLUSIONS: THE MUSIC OF MARLENE DIETRICH, the most recent installment of Stephen Hanks' New York Cabaret's Greatest Hits. Co-produced by Father Jeffrey R. Hamblin and flawlessly directed by Peter Napolitano, Hall's show---for which the former opera singer won both MAC and Bistro awards in 2011 and 2012, respectively---seamlessly weaves together the music and life of the enigmatic movie star and international cabaret sensation whose greatest creation, in Hall's words, 'was herself.'

Liveit!LIVE presents: Uptown Today Night Live in Harlem with Miss Claire Rodman & Ellen Kaye. 

Liveit!LIVE presents: Uptown Friday Night Live in Harlem with Miss Claire Rodman & Ellen Kaye. 

When a show at the Metropolitan Room starts over thirty minutes late because the staff is frantically trying to find chairs and room for the better part of New York's cabaret community, you know you're in store for something truly special. And unless there's a chair thief on the loose in Flatiron who doesn't like Broadway, someone clearly oversold this show and/or lost track of comps; this was extremely vexing with a heat advisory in effect. Still, the mood was festive in anticipation of Jeff Harnar's 1959 Broadway Songbook, the 12th installment in Stephen Hanks' impressive (and increasingly well-known) New York Cabaret's Greatest Hits series. Harnar's show premiered 25 years ago at the Algonquin's Oak Room. Two years later, PBS filmed the collaboration with musical director Alex Rybeck, whose arrangements honor the original compositions but reimagine them in sometimes astonishing ways, making them genuinely creative acts.

Coming up at The Iridium are: NYC's all-women blues band JANE LEE HOOKER on July 23; ELLEN KAYE with UK guitarist PAUL ROSE and Ethan Fein and the LiveIt!LIVE Band on July 26; VERNON REID POWER TRIO on July 29; and soul singer/songwriter/guitarist RAUL MIDON on September 24 & 25. Scroll down for details!

The Colorado Theatre Guild's 11th Annual Henry Awards will take place Monday, July 18, 2016 at the PACE Center, 20000 Pikes Peak Avenue in Parker, Colorado. The evening begins at 6 p.m. with cocktails and the awards ceremony will begin at 7 p.m., followed by an after-party. Tickets are $23 for CTG members (limit 2 per person online with the code Henry2016), $30 non-members or $50 VIP. Tickets go on sale June 20 through the PACE Center website, parkerarts.org, or by calling the box office at 303-805-6800. 

We are lucky in New York City. The talent here is unbelievable. Sometimes you settle in for an intimate evening at a little local club and you get your socks blown off. On Friday the 13th (of May, to be exact), I had such an experience at the latest monthly installment of Stephen Hanks' Metropolitan Room series (Associate Producer, Fr. Jeffrey Hamblin, MD), New York Cabaret's Greatest Hits. The featured performers were Vocalist Laurie Krauz and her Musical Director Daryl Kojak celebrating their 25-year musical collaboration “It's a 'Greatest Hits' show within a Greatest Hits series!” Hanks extolled before introducing his stars for the evening.

While Violet may appear to be in new musical in some theatergoers' eyes, the show actually has been around for a couple decades. Making its start Off-Broadway in 1997, Violet was considered a revival for its 2014 Broadway run starring Sutton Foster. Adapted from Doris Betts' story 'The Ugliest Pilgrim,' the musical has a book and lyrics by Brian Crawley with music by Jeanine Tesori (whose work can currently be heard on Broadway in Fun Home).

Stephen Hanks' Cabaret Life Productions and Associate Producer Fr. Jeffrey Hamblin, MD, are bringing back Karen Oberlin's 2010 Frank Loesser Tribute Show (with original Musical Director Jon Weber and bass player Sean Smith) as the first 2016 installment of the 'New York Cabaret's Greatest Hits' series at the Metropolitan Room on January 13 at 7 pm. 'I entered the cabaret world as a reviewer in late 2010 so I never saw this show,' says Hanks. 'I'm thrilled Karen Oberlin agreed to bring it back so those like me who didn't experience it will get a chance now.'

Back in January, BroadwayWorld's lead cabaret reviewer Stephen Hanks announced he was giving up critiquing shows to start his own company, Cabaret Life Productions, through which he would publicize, promote, and help book cabaret performers, and also produce cabaret shows. Hanks' first major production out of the box is a monthly series at the Metropolitan Room called New York Cabaret's Greatest Hits, that features talented artists recreating award-winning or highly-praised shows we wish we'd seen--a really good idea. Hanks' series launched Wednesday night with Mark Nadler's award-winning 2003 show Tschaikowsky (And Other Russians). The Metropolitan Room was filled to the gills and abuzz with anticipation, as most of the audience was only familiar with the show's second-hand praise and/or the CD version of Nadler's performance.