Eric Michael Gillett News

Composer Dan Furman has reworked his first musical, Impossible But True, and is preparing to present it starting in April - first in Brooklyn then across the river in Manhattan.

Urban Stages presents this year's award-winning series, WINTER RHYTHMS 2017, which begins tonight, December 12, featuring some of New York's best musical performances through Saturday, December 23, 2017 at Urban Stages Theatre (259 West 30th Street, just East of 8th Avenue).

Next week, Feinstein's/54 Below, Broadway's Supper Club & Private Event Destination, presents some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz, and beyond.

Urban Stages announces the line-up for this year's award-winning series, WINTER RHYTHMS 2017, which will begin Tuesday, December 12 and will feature some of New York's best musical performances through Saturday, December 23, 2017 at Urban Stages Theatre (259 West 30th Street, just East of 8th Avenue).

FIG Productions' New York premiere of Go Get the Axe, the new play by James L. Menzies, directed by Richard C. Aven (Smoke, Algorithmism), begins performances Thursday, June 8, 2017 at The Theatre at 30th Street (259 West 30th Street).

FIG Productions' New York premiere of Go Get the Axe, the new play by James L. Menzies, directed by Richard C. Aven (Smoke, Algorithmism), begins performances Thursday, June 8, 2017 at The Theatre at 30th Street (259 West 30th Street).

The EMGCollective/Singers Forum AEA Scholarship Program, sponsor of the Songbook Project, is proud to announce the last Songbook Project program of the year, The Holiday Project, conceived and directed by Eric Michael Gillett.

Jarrod Spector began performing at three years old. A film of his singing 'Toot, Toot, Tootsie' with emphatic gestures shows the talented artist preternaturally polished. We're then treated to a clip from Ed McMahon's Star Search in which the six-year-old, pint-sized pretender performs Bertolt Brecht/Kurt Weill's 'Mack the Knife.' His parents, he explains, favored Bobby Darin to the extent that they overlooked the song's subject was 'a serial killer.' Tonight's version is brass-centric, Las Vegas swing. JUKEBOX LIFE, presented at Feinstein's 54/Below, is the most recent iteration in a series of biographical shows. ('Time to move on.') It adds Spector's marriage and his role as songwriter Barry Mann in the Carole King musical BEAUTIFUL to that of playing Frankie Valli in JERSEY BOYS and early aspirations. (Interestingly, he was unaware of both the men into whose shoes he has stepped.) Its title was inspired by a fan who asked, 'What's it like to have this incredible jukebox life?'

The Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs presents the 30th Annual MAC Awards tonight, March 29, 2016, at 7:30pm, at BB King Blues Club & Grill on 42nd Street in New York City.

'Words & Music: The Songbook Series', a four-program line-up of stellar cabaret entertainment curated by Tom Andersen, kicks off in Catskill on April 1 with five-time MAC Award winner Eric Michael Gillet in 'Man About Town: The Wit and Wisdom of Noel Coward'. This stylish and sophisticated evening will be presented at 8:00pm in Bridge Street Theatre's intimate 'Speakeasy', located at 44 West Bridge Street in the Village of Catskill.

The Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs has just announced the 2016 MAC Award nominees and complete list of honorees for the 30th Annual MAC Awards.

Karen Oberlin's original performance of Heart & Soul: The Songs of Frank Loesser in 2010 (Loesser's Centennial celebration year) at The Algonquin Hotel's legendary Oak Room earned her a MAC Award nomination for “Best Major Artist” (as well as an award for the Live CD) and sterling reviews. Hence, the show's inclusion in Producer Stephen Hanks' monthly Metropolitan Room series, New York Cabaret's Greatest Hits (which launched last August and runs through 2016). Oberlin's captivating performance Wednesday evening showcased not only her acknowledged prowess with plumy ballads, but also her flair for comedy and an aptitude that handles nuanced jazz with seamless transitions. The vocalist was joined by her original collaborators, Musical Director Jon Weber on piano and Sean Smith on bass, while the show was directed by the piece's original helmsman, Eric Michael Gillett.

The first thought one has when powerhouse performers Jarrod Spector and Kelli Barrett unleash their voices is that they should be married. Style, control, and range are unusually balanced for a duet show; the artists feel palpably simpatico. They even look like a “set.” In fact, still flush with romance, Spector and Barrett are coming up on their first anniversary. The married duo performed a clever idea for an evening of song, This is Dedicated: Music's Greatest Marriages,that opened Tuesday night for a four-show run at Feinstein's/54 Below.

Sondheim Unplugged, New York's long-running hit revue (currently in residence at Manhattan's 54 Below), will make a special, one night only appearance in Putnam County tonight, May 30th at 8pm at the Philipstown Depot Theatre, located on Garrison's Landing in Garrison, NY.

Journey with us through the illustrious history of New York's Algonquin Hotel, as told by a man who grew up there. Michael Colby's grandparents, Ben and Mary Bodne, owned the hotel from 1946 to 1987.

 Sondheim Unplugged, New York's long-running hit revue (currently in residence at Manhattan's 54 Below), will make a special, one night only appearance in Putnam County on Saturday, May 30th at 8pm at the Philipstown Depot Theatre, located on Garrison's Landing in Garrison, NY. Tickets, $30, may be obtained by visiting http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/1167073 or by calling 1.800.838.3006. A smash, sold-out success when it was presented at the Depot in 2011 & 2013, the show makes its' triumphant return this Spring - get your tickets fast!

With very few exceptions since the beginning of cultural history, the sweet sand passage of time marches across the vocal cords of the greatest singers of all during their time in cabaret and nightlife circles.

From the Oscars to the Tonys, the Grammys to Emmys, awards ceremonies are always a hit-or-miss situation. Either the event is absolutely excellent or ends with spectators saying, 'Well, they'll do a better job with it next year.' The 2015 MAC Awards, presented by the Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs, and held once again this year at BB King's on West 42nd Street, absolutely fell into the former category. It was a splendid affair (albeit it's usual 3-plus hours) that was expertly directed by MAC President Lennie Watts.

At a ceremony held last night in New York, the Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs announced the winners of the 2015 MAC Awards. The show was hosted by Karen Mason, with musical direction by Barry Levitt, and was produced by Julie Miller and directed by Lennie Watts.

Lauren Stanford (who won the MetroStar Singing Competition at the Metropolitan Room in 2013) has convincingly done herself up to look like the legendary Helen Morgan in her new show, More Than You Know, which she introduced at the Laurie Beechman Theatre in late October and brought to 54 Below this past Friday night. Stanford's presentation is 2/3 singing and 1/3 biography. Research is evident; specific adds color. The use of framed photographs and several conjectured telephone calls is effective (the actress listens). Vocals don't emulate Morgan's controlled vibrato, but Stanford has sufficient musical feel for the period to make mimicry unnecessary. Her uneven contralto can add feeling to a song rather than diminishing it. There are, however, other issues.