Jeff Harnar News

Urban Stages has announced the line-up for this year's Award Winning series, WINTER RHYTHMS 2016, which will begin Thursday, December 1 and will feature some of New York's best musical performances through Sunday, December 11, 2016 at Urban Stages Theatre (259 West 30th Street, just East of 8th Avenue).

This November, Feinstein's/54 Below, Broadway's Supper Club & Private Event Destination, presents some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz, and beyond. Scroll down for details!

Hold your hats and hallelujah. After an electrifying opening night, the Mabel Mercer Foundation's 27th Annual Cabaret Convention continued Wednesday night in a packed Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center. Hosted by Jeff Harnar and Andrea Marcovicci, the cabaret community gathered to salute the music of Stephen Sondheim, the EGOT-winning composer/lyricist whose oeuvre has been simultaneously catapulting and tripping up artists for decades. Despite 30 performances on the evening, you'd be hard-pressed to find a weak spot in Wednesday night's lineup, hosting what is arguably the best rotation of the four nights, featuring cabaret giants, up-and-comers, expert arrangers (plus the talents of Jered Egan on bass and Dan Gross on drums), and Sondheim role originators.

The second night of the 27th New York Cabaret Convention at Rose Hall was hosted by long time cabaret artist favorites, Jeff Harnar & Andrea Marcovicci. The evening including performances by: Sally Mayes, Aaron Morishito, Julie Reyburn, Maureen Taylor, Raissa Katona Bennett, Will Nunziata, Anthony Nunziata, Jennifer Sheehan, Kevin Dozier, Sarah Rice, Donna McKechnie, Jon Weber, Marissa Mulder, Eric Michael Gillett, Celia Berk, Josephine Sanges, Steve Ross, Karen Akers, Sidney Meyer, Iris Williams, and Marta Sanders. Tonights evening will be hosted by Rex Reed and the Conventions closing night honoring Charles Strouse will be hosted by Klea Blackhurst

Ask Celia Berk what she loves about New York and she'll give you a list. Or, better yet, an album. Corporate executive by day, cabaret chanteuse by night (and a damn good one), Berk has won a MAC Award (New York Debut – Female), a Bistro Award (Vocalist), a BWW Award (NY Cabaret Debut), and The Margaret Whiting Award from The Mabel Mercer Foundation since her 2014 debut album You Can't Rush Spring. Her latest, Manhattan Serenade, is an eclectic collection of New York and New York-esque songs steeped in nostalgia and romance, complete with arrangements by Alex Rybeck and a stunning orchestra. Extended by popular demand, Berk will celebrate its release once more at the Metropolitan Room this Friday, October 14 at 7:00 pm. Before the show, we sat down for a discussion on her love note to New York, carving out a space for yourself in the city, and typical New York resilience.

Librettist/Lyricist Michael Colby offers up more favorites from his musicals to benefit ChildFindofAmerica.org at The Triad Theater ( 158 West 72 St) on Sunday OCTOBER 30, at 7 pm, featuring Bethe Austin, PJ Benjamin, Lori Tan Chinn, Robert Cuccioli, Natalie Douglas, Eric Michael Gillett, Jeff Harnar, Eddie Korbich, Jeanne Lehman, Heather MacRae, N'Kenge, Neva Small, Ted Williams and so many more. Musical Director: Greg Kenna - Directed by: Sara Louise Lazarus A NIGHT TO REMEMBER!

SALLY MAYES  (Tony Nominee 'She Loves Me,' 'Closer Than Ever,' 'Urban Cowboy' and JEFF HARNAR finished their September run at The Laurie Beechman Theatre with an audience that included TOVAH FELDSHUH (Tony Nominee 'Golda's Balcony'), PENNY FULLER (Tony Nominee 'Applause'), Anita Gillette (Tony Nominee 'Chapter Two'), KAREN AKERS (Tony Nominee 'Grand Hotel' and 'Nine'), BILL HUTTON (the original Joseph 'Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat'), Mark Waldrop (Director 'When Pigs Fly'), songwriter Tom Toce and award-winning singer JULIE BUDD.

 Tony nominee SALLY MAYES ('She Loves Me') and award-winning JEFF HARNAR (Broadway World Cabaret Award) continue their run of DOUBLE TAKE at The Laurie Beechman Theatre.  At Wednesday night's performance the audience included LORETTA SWITT ('Mash'), RITA GARDNER ('The Fantasticks'), JOHN McDANIEL ('The Rosie O'Donnel Show'), MICHAEL ALDEN ('Pippin'), REX REED ('Myra Breckinridge'),and more.  The September performances conclude on Wednesday September 28 at 7pm at The Laurie Beechman Theatre followed by a special Cabaret Convention week matinee on Thursday October 20th at 2pm.  Music Director Alex Rybeck ('Grand Hotel') leads the trio featuring Bob Renino (bass) and Dan Gross (drums).  'A  swell evening of prime, solidly-anchored entertainment.  SALLY MAYES and JEFF HARNAR have created a show full of charm, schtick and creativity, not to mention a fresh song list and well-honed singing chops.  Their distinctive, individual voices work quite well as one.  In addition the show has been cannily crafted to make the most of what each can bring to the act.'  Marilyn Lester THEATRE PIZZAZZ

Donna McKechnie and Teri Ralston were among the good 'Company' at the second night of DOUBLE TAKE, Sally Mayes & Jeff Harnar's show at The Laurie Beechman Theatre.

Last night Sally Mayes and Jeff Harnar opened the further performances of their cabaret show, Double Take: Sally Mayes and Jeff Harnar at the same time! The pair will perform the show on Wednesdays September 21 & 28 at 7pm and again on Thursday 20 October at 2pm, as part of a special cabaret convention week. All performances will take place at the Laurie Beechman Theatre.

Sally Mayes and Jeff Harnar announce further performances of their cabaret show, Double Take: Sally Mayes and Jeff Harnar at the same time! The pair will perform the show on Wednesdays September 7, 14, 21 & 28 at 7pm and again on Thursday 20 October at 2pm, as part of a special cabaret convention week. All performances will take place at the Laurie Beechman Theatre.

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.

the 2016 Cabaret Convention returns to the Rose Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center's Frederick P. Rose Hall, from Tuesday, October 18th through Friday, October 21st  to present four different music programs. More than seventy singers are scheduled to appear, and the productions include specific tributes to the songs of Stephen Sondheim, the lyrics of Sheldon Harnick, the melodies of Charles Strouse, and the repertoire of legendary jazz artist Sylvia Syms.

The Triad will be the setting for librettist/lyricist Michael Colby's 65th Birthday bash on Sunday, October 30th at 7pm, presented by his colleague and pal, Sandi Durell, publisher and editor of entertainment site, TheaterPizzazz.com.

1959 was a very good year for Jeff Harnar. It was the year the future cabaret star was born, but he couldn't know then that 1959 would also provide him with the material for what would eventually become one of his greatest cabaret performances. In 1991, for his second major engagement as a cabaret artist, Harnar made his debut at the famed Oak Room at the Algonquin with a show called THE 1959 BROADWAY SONGBOOK, featuring tunes from 21 musicals (including West Side Story, Gypsy, Fiorello, The Music Man, My Fair Lady, Li'l Abner, and Flower Drum Song), that either opened or were still running that year. Directed by Sara Louise Lazarus with musical direction from pianist Alex Rybeck, Harnar's show strung together iconic Broadway songs into an imaginary musical with commentaries on love, marriage and politics, complete with an overture, entr'acte, intermission, and curtain call. The show and Harnar's performance (which would be filmed for a PBS special in 1993) drew raves from the New York entertainment press.

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.

On May 15, Feinstein's/54 Below hosted an exploration of Kleban songs that range from hilariously funny to heart tugging to outrageous, all models of his impeccable craft. Check out photos below!

Responding to the heightened mood of this election year, SUNY's Empire State College (ESC) Metropolitan Center and The Yip Harburg Foundation (YHF) aim to inspire existing and prospective students with the power of songs of conscience as part of their educational/entertainment partnership. 

?Roger Everingham, Vice President & General Manager of The Colony Hotel, today announced MUSIC, MUSIC, MUSIC: A Unique Palm Beach Weekend package for South Florida residents.