Dan Finnerty News

BWW Cabaret Editor invites the journalists on the team to an informal discussion about the art form of cabaret, their passion, and what excited them in 2019.

OFF the TOP! with JASON KRAVITS, the solo, completely improvised musical, flies home to Birdland Theater on December 8th at 7pm. The lights come up, the music starts, and Jason Kravits walks on stage with... nothing. No script, no songs, no story. Over the course of an exhilarating 75 minutes, he keeps you on the edge of your seat by using audience suggestions pulled from a fishbowl (e.g. 'The last text you received,' 'Words to live by,' etc.) to create an entire life story in song, with every bit of it- including every lyric and melody- made up by Jason on the spot! Backed by the most fearless band in the business, OFF the TOP! is music, comedy, improv, cabaret, and magic, all stirred together and poured into a one-man martini glass, creating one intoxicating cocktail of fun!

On November 1st, 2019, The Dan Band lit up Joe's Pub once again with laughter and thumping bass lines. A well-documented and hilarious run of gig band appearances at on-screen weddings, Bar Mitzvahs and the like has created stage king, Dan Finnerty. The result? A once-in-a-lifetime experience for those lucky enough in the audience to play along.

Check out what Joe's Pub has on tap for the next few weeks.

OFF the TOP! with JASON KRAVITS, the solo, completely improvised musical, flies home to Birdland Theater on December 8th at 7pm.

This Variety Show plays New York City once every week at Birdland and, with an impressive roster of guest artists and the inimitable Suse Mosher, The Lineup is where it's at.

Monday nights belong to Jim Caruso's Cast Party at the legendary Birdland and now in less than a year the place to be on Tuesday night is Birdland's new downstairs theatre and The Line Up with Susie Mosher.

The Broadway at Birdland concert series presented two-time Tony-nominated Broadway songwriter and award-winning performer Amanda Green to the stage on Monday, June 17. Amanda is currently represented on Broadway by the smash hit revival of Kiss Me Kate starring Kelli O'Hara and Will Chase, for which she contributed a revised book and lyrics.

 Comedy Central, the #1 brand in comedy, Superfly, the founders behind Bonnaroo, and Outside Lands co-producer Another Planet Entertainment, today announced that Amy Poehler & Friends, Fred Armisen, Neal Brennan, and a live read of Clueless featuring Issa Rae, have been added to this year's Clusterfest lineup, joining an impressive roster including John Mulaney, Patton Oswalt, Leslie Jones, The Roots, Chelsea Peretti, Courtney Barnett, My Favorite Murder, and many more. In addition, the daily lineup was released for the three-day comedy and music festival with single-day tickets on sale today at 10 a.m. PT. General admission three-day, VIP and Platinum tickets are already available. All tickets can be purchased exclusively at www.clusterfest.com.

The Lineup with Susie Mosher is a wild, anything-goes variety show featuring entertainers from the Broadway, cabaret and comedy scenes. Actress/singer Mosher hosts the spontaneous extravaganza with her "dynamite voice, heartfelt observations and ridiculously funny improv." (Go Magazine) 

It's a good thing Gianni Valenti built the new Birdland Theater incorporating substantial soundproofing material. The screams and laughter coming from last night's audience would have alarmed the upstairs music lovers enjoying a great performance in the legendary 'Jazz Corner of The World'

Vassar & New York Stage and Film have announced additional casting for the highly anticipated 34th Powerhouse Season in Poughkeepsie, NY, which is currently running through Sunday, July 29.

Vassar & New York Stage and Film will soon present the 34th Powerhouse Season, which brings together some of the most influential theatrical voices working today for fully-staged productions, workshop presentations, and readings of new plays and musicals in progress.

Powerhouse, the theater development program by Vassar and New York Stage and Film, has announced its 2018 season, according to Variety. The season will include new musicals by Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater, the duo behind Spring Awakening, as well as Jason Robert Brown.

Actress and activist Kathy Najimy is teaming up with America's Most Produced Playwright Lauren Gunderson for a benefit reading at the Minetta Lane Theater on Monday, April 23, 2018 at 7pm. Presented by the WP Theater with Erica Rotstein and Christina Wallace, the reading of Gunderson's new play NATURAL SHOCKS is in support of the Ms. Foundation's programs and grants that address domestic violence and gun violence against women. Tickets range from $100-1000, with discounted tickets available for students ($25) and a limited number of $50 early bird tickets available through April 16. Tickets available at www.naturalshocks.com/nyc.

Merrimack Repertory Theatre (MRT) is proud to premiere Little Orphan Danny, a musical memoir from Dan Finnerty about what it means to be a good son. This surprisingly touching and irreverently funny show is for everyone out there who has a mother. Julie Foldesi, a veteran Broadway actor who recently appeared in Sunday in the Park with George with Jake Gyllenhaal, plays, among many roles, Dan's birth mother and adoptive mother. The show is Music Directed by Dan Lipton, who was recently the Associate Music Director for Sting's The Last Ship on Broadway.

Merrimack Repertory Theatre (MRT) is proud to present the world premiere of Lost Laughs: The Slapstick Tragedy of Fatty Arbuckle, written by Andy Bayiates and Aaron Muñoz, directed by Nathan Keepers, with performances February 14 - March 11, 2018, at the Nancy L. Donahue Theatre located at 50 East Merrimack Street in historic downtown Lowell. In addition, MRT is hosting a panel discussion on the historical context of Lost Laughs titled "Women's Rights, Prohibition, and the Fall of Fatty," on Thursday, March 1, immediately after the 7:30 pm show (details below).

Merrimack Repertory Theatre (MRT) is pleased to share the news that The Kleban Foundation's 28th Annual Kleban Prize for Musical Theatre for the most promising musical theatre librettist has been awarded to Christian Duhamel for his work on My 80-Year-Old Boyfriend, a musical that received its world premiere at MRT in Lowell in April 2017.

Merrimack Repertory Theatre (MRT) starts off 2018 with the latest in its 39th season: the world premiere production of Vichet Chum's KNYUM. Vichet Chum will make both his playwrighting and acting debut at MRT with his brand new, one-man play following the story of Guy, a hotel night clerk who spends the quiet hours of the night shift studying Khmer, the language of his family's home of Cambodia, in preparation for his first visit to the country his parents fled from decades before. Guy stumbles awkwardly towards fluency to awaken to parts of his heritage, both beautiful and excruciating, which shine through in his wildly luminous dreams.

Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC) on Monday night honored multitalented performer Kathy Najimy with the 2017 Howard Ashman Award for her contributions to the LGBT community and the fight against HIV/AIDS at Joe's Pub in New York City. BroadwayWorld has photos from the concert below!