Mark Janas News

Aruba Productions today announced upcoming streaming performances of Tony® Award-winning actor Len Cariou (Sweeney Todd, A Little Night Music, Applause, Teddy & Alice) in Broadway & The Bard: An Evening of Shakespeare & Song, conceived by Mr. Cariou, Barry Kleinbort and Mark Janas.

Jessica Jennings, founding member of Ripple Effect Artists, Inc. has kicked off a video dance project featuring over 30 dancers and actors, spanning the globe from Alaska to Italy. Together with LÎLA- Dance Alchemy For The Soul and Mare Nostrum Elements, these artists are utilising cinema and 'dance theatre' to respond to the chaos of 2020.

Newly named MAC Award Recipient for Best Male Debut, Sean Patrick Murtagh is keeping very busy during the quarantine with household projects, long isolated runs, and nachos. Lots and lots of nachos.

With the Coronavirus stopping all social gatherings and causing the closing of Don't Tell Mama for the duration, MAC has made a change from the previously announced event which was to be held at the club.

The MAC Awards were scheduled to be celebrated on March 30th at Sony Hall. Instead they will be announced via Facebook Live from Lennie Watts' home. The times are a little different now, but the celebration of art is the same.

The Manhattan Association of Cabarets (MAC) has announced the 2020 MAC Award nominees. The nominees were determined by votes cast by the active MAC membership, except for the four song and recording categories, which were determined by special committees.

The Bistro Award winning director, producer and performer is having the busiest time of her career. So what better way to celebrate than create the most challenging series of shows possible? That's Tanya Moberly for ya...

The legendary actress spreads her artistic wings in her new work as a musical storyteller in her cabaret show Finding My Voice, thrilling and enthralling grateful fans.

When Connecticut-born and Cape Cod-raised Julie Reyburn launched her cabaret performing career in 2000 with the show Fate Is Kind, it began a meteoric rise in the New York nightclub scene. Over the next dozen years, Julie would win seven major solo cabaret awards (including three MACs, two Bistros, the first ever a?oeNightlife Awarda?? in 2003, and the prestigious Julie Wilson Award from the Mabel Mercer Foundation in 2007). While during the subsequent eight years, Julie often performed one-off solo shows, in group variety shows, and was a founding member of the MAC Award-Winning vocal group Marquee Five, she tabled creating a solo show run to concentrate on raising her two children.

When Connecticut-born and Cape Cod-raised Julie Reyburn launched her cabaret performing career in 2000 with the show Fate Is Kind, it began a meteoric rise in the New York nightclub scene. Over the next dozen years, Julie would win seven major solo cabaret awards (including three MACs, two Bistros, the first ever 'Nightlife Award' in 2003, and the prestigious Julie Wilson Award from the Mabel Mercer Foundation in 2007). While during the subsequent eight years, Julie often performed one-off solo shows, in group variety shows, and was a founding member of the MAC Award-Winning vocal group Marquee Five, she tabled creating a solo show run to concentrate on raising her two children.

At the very back of a dimly lit dinner club with live music, is a little brick room. It's in this intimate space that Julie Reyburn alternately amazed the audience with her singing prowess and entertained them, thanks to her sharp wit and incisive social commentary.

Salon is a weekly open mic night where artists can try out new material in a judgment-free zone. I recently did some undercover reporting. It wasn't dangerous or glamorous, like Hunter S. Thompson or Nellie Bly, though it was both alluring and scary at times. I infiltrated the cabaret community to see what it's like being a nightclub singer - and I had a really good time, but I don't want to do it again. I don't know how cabaret performers do it. It's exhausting and it's expensive. You spend all your time promoting yourself, you pay musicians, press reps, photographers and dry cleaners, and every day you run the risk of waking up with a cold and no voice, and an obligation to sing. It's nerve-wracking. Still, these artists continue to produce art for a willing audience: they do it for love of the art and of the audience. It begs the question, though, when a cabaret performer doesn't have a show to do, how do they keep their skills up? How do they continue to grow without spending precious earned cash on an expensive master class?

Aruba Productions (Ken Denison) and Carew Productions (Len Cariou) in association with Amas Musical Theatre (Donna Trinkoff, Artistic Producer) today announced an 8-city tour of the U. S. and Canada for Tony® Award-winning actor Len Cariou (Sweeney Todd, A Little Night Music, Applause, Teddy & Alice,) in Broadway & The Bard, an evening of Shakespeare & Song, conceived by Mr. Cariou, Barry Kleinbort and Mark Janas.

Aruba Productions and Carew Productions in association with Amas Musical Theatre today announced a 9-city tour of the U. S. and Canada for Tony Award-winning actor Len Cariou (Sweeney Todd, A Little Night Music, Applause, Teddy & Alice,) in Broadway & The Bard, an evening of Shakespeare & song, conceived by Mr. Cariou, Barry Kleinbort and Mark Janas.

Dawn Derow, the 2018 MAC Award-Winner for 'Best Female Vocalist,' will display her great vocal range and outgoing performing personality at New York's Beach Cafe (1326 2nd Avenue, corner of 70th Street) with THE DAWN DEROW BIRTHDAY PARTY SHOW today, November 24 at 9:30 pm (Dinner seating at 8:00 pm). Directed by Lina Koutrakos and featuring Music Director Mark Janas on piano and Sean Harkness on guitar, Derow's Birthday Party Show will offer an eclectic mix of songs, including favorites from Legit and her 2011-2014 show with Harkness, Music 4 Two. Helping Dawn celebrate her birthday will be special guest vocalists, including multiple award-winning cabaret performer Celia Berk (who was a guest singer in Legit), MAC Award-nominee and concert performer Suzanne Fiore (also a Boston Conservatory graduate), and Jason Reiff, who has starred as 'Marius' in the national tour of Les Miserables. Fiore and Reiff will join Derow on songs by Heart, Brandi Carlyle, The Indigo Girls, and Sara Bareilles.

Dawn Derow, the 2018 MAC Award-Winner for 'Best Female Vocalist,' will display her great vocal range and outgoing performing personality at New York's Beach Cafe (1326 2nd Avenue, corner of 70th Street) with THE DAWN DEROW BIRTHDAY PARTY SHOW on Saturday, November 24 at 9:30 pm (Dinner seating at 8:00 pm). Directed by Lina Koutrakos and featuring Music Director Mark Janas on piano and Sean Harkness on guitar, Derow's Birthday Party Show will offer an eclectic mix of songs, including favorites from Legit and her 2011-2014 show with Harkness, Music 4 Two. Helping Dawn celebrate her birthday will be special guest vocalists, including multiple award-winning cabaret performer Celia Berk (who was a guest singer in Legit), MAC Award-nominee and concert performer Suzanne Fiore (also a Boston Conservatory graduate), and Jason Reiff, who has starred as 'Marius' in the national tour of Les Miserables. Fiore and Reiff will join Derow on songs by Heart, Brandi Carlyle, The Indigo Girls, and Sara Bareilles.

Sierra Rein launched her much-anticipated debut solo cabaret show RUNNING IN PLACE at The Laurie Beechman Theater in April and May and earned raves for a performance that weaved together American Songbook gems, contemporary Broadway and pop, and new cabaret classics, in an inspiring rundown on dreaming against all odds. Directed by James Beaman with Musical Direction by Bill Zeffiro (with Matt Scharfglass on Bass and Rex Benincasa on Drums), RUNNING IN PLACE features compositions by Stephen Sondheim, Dave Frishberg, Jeff Blumenkrantz, Zina Goldrich & Marcy Heisler, Kander & Ebb, and more. Such terrific notices merited a return engagement so Sierra will be reprising RUNNING IN PLACE on Saturday, September 22 at 2 pm and Today, September 26 at 9:30 pm at The Laurie Beechman Theatre (407 West 42nd Street, Downstairs at the West Back Café, 212-695-6909).

Sierra Rein launched her much-anticipated debut solo cabaret show RUNNING IN PLACE at The Laurie Beechman Theater in April and May and earned raves for a performance that weaved together American Songbook gems, contemporary Broadway and pop, and new cabaret classics, in an inspiring rundown on dreaming against all odds. Directed by James Beaman with Musical Direction by Bill Zeffiro (with Matt Scharfglass on Bass and Rex Benincasa on Drums), RUNNING IN PLACE features compositions by Stephen Sondheim, Dave Frishberg, Jeff Blumenkrantz, Zina Goldrich & Marcy Heisler, Kander & Ebb, and more. Such terrific notices merited a return engagement so Sierra will be reprising RUNNING IN PLACE today, September 22 at 2 pm and Wednesday, September 26 at 9:30 pm at The Laurie Beechman Theatre (407 West 42nd Street, Downstairs at the West Back Café, 212-695-6909).

Sierra Rein launched her much-anticipated debut solo cabaret show RUNNING IN PLACE at The Laurie Beechman Theater in April and May and earned raves for a performance that weaved together American Songbook gems, contemporary Broadway and pop, and new cabaret classics, in an inspiring rundown on dreaming against all odds. Directed by James Beaman with Musical Direction by Bill Zeffiro (with Matt Scharfglass on Bass and Rex Benincasa on Drums), RUNNING IN PLACE features compositions by Stephen Sondheim, Dave Frishberg, Jeff Blumenkrantz, Zina Goldrich & Marcy Heisler, Kander & Ebb, and more. Such terrific notices merited a return engagement so Sierra will be reprising RUNNING IN PLACE on Saturday, September 22 at 2 pm and Wednesday, September 26 at 9:30 pm at The Laurie Beechman Theatre (407 West 42nd Street, Downstairs at the West Back Café, 212-695-6909).

Tony award-winning actor Len Cariou (Sweeney Todd, A Little Night Music, Applause), in collaboration with Aruba productions, proudly presents and stars in Broadway and the Bard: An Evening of Shakespeare & Song at 7456 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90046, Thursday, June 28 - Sunday, July 1, 2018.