Meg Flather News

On Monday, March 30th, the 2020 MAC Awards were broadcast via Facebook Live from the living rooms or Lennie Watts and Amy Wolk/Lorinda Lisitza in a split-screen presentation in which The Three Stooges of Cabaret made their community of artists laugh with many hi-jinks, giggles, grins, silliness, and an ongoing series of the new MAC Award theme song, penned by Wolk and Lisitza themselves. The intent was to bring some levity to a difficult time in the world and, judging by the comment scroll during the home-made telecast, the hardworking trio tickled the funnybones of many. As names were announced, recipients called in to say a few words (apropos to the proceedings, Mr. Watts' telephone ringtone is the Benny Hill theme song) and particularly moving speeches from the proceedings came from Lisa Viggiano, Meg Flather, and Jeff Harnar. The entire show can be seen on Broadway World HERE. Results of the voting can be seen below.

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.

Let's get to know our cabaret artists even better with a fifth day of looking at their amazing artistry!

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.

STEPHEN HANKS' CABARET ALL-STARS FIGHT CANCER, a fundraiser dedicated to the late cabaret performer Charlotte Patton, will be presented on March 10, 2020 at 7 pm at Hidden Cabaret (at The Secret Room), Behind the Cooper Door at 707 8th Avenue, between 44th and 45th Streets. Featuring Musical Theater Composer Michael Roberts at the piano, the roster of All-Stars include: Sandra Bargman, Remy Block, Lane Bradbury, Bruce Clough, Meg Flather, Laurie Krauz, Erica Linn, Jeff Macauley, Marissa Mulder, Craig Pomranz, Scott Raneri, Julie Reyburn, Sarah Rice, Billie Roe and Tom Toce. All proceeds from ticket sales will be donated to the Melanoma Research Foundation. Main table tickets are $20 and can be purchased at www.hiddencabaret.com/march-10th.

Award-winning singer/songwriter, Meg Flather and Musical Director, Tracy Stark, make their Beach Cafe debut by revisiting past shows with a few new surprises mixed in. From Paul Simon to Rodgers & Hammerstein, this “Cockeyed Optimist” shares her stories of love, loss, and lipstick through song. Directed by Lennie Watts.

One of the cabaret community's newer artists, Deborah Stone, comes of age in her new show HERE I AM! After a run downtown at Pangea, she debuts at The Beach Cafe. In this interview with Stephen Mosher, Stone talks about the journey that got her where she is.

Stephen Mosher looks back at the cabaret scene, as captured by his camera in 2019

In the final moments of her one-woman musical play OUTBOUND PLANE, Meg Flather compares the process of recovering from pain and failure and loss to being trapped in mud. The analogy immediately conjures images of the saying about the Lotus -- that is when one realizes that Meg Flather is the living, breathing, walking, talking embodiment of that philosophy. All the parts of Meg Flather make up the ideology of the Lotus and the Mud. She is the earth, and she is the water; together she makes the mud. And out of the mud has bloomed the blossom. Meg Flather has, herself, created that which makes her bloom so bright, so fresh, so replete of color, of fragrance, of peace and of tranquility. Meg Flather is everything that she, herself, needs to shine brightly in a world rife with the dingy and the dank.

Award winning cabaret singer Lisa Viggiano enters her 20th year in cabaret by kicking off 2020 at The Beach Cafe with a new show. Stephen Mosher chats with the powerhouse performer as 2019 comes to a close.

Urban Stages (Frances Hill, Founding Artistic Director and Tom Toce , Musical Director) announces the line-up for this year's award-winning series, WINTER RHYTHMS 2019, which will begin Wednesday, December 11 featuring some of New York's best musical performances through Saturday, December 21, 2019 at Urban Stages Theatre (259 West 30th St., East of 8th Ave.)

Seven months prior to the 2018 Midterm Elections, Cabaret Show Producer, Publicist, and Performer Stephen Hanks launched a variety show series as fundraisers for Democratic Senate, Congress, and State Legislature candidates. The critically acclaimed CABARET CAMPAIGNS: RIDE THE BLUE WAVE 2018! at Don't Tell Mama featured 28 different performers and raised more than $6,000 divided among 30 candidates. Election Day 2018 was indeed a a?oeBlue Wave,a?? as the Democrats flipped 40 seats in Congress.

New York: Urban Stages (Frances Hill, Founding Artistic Director and Tom Toce , Musical Director) announces the line-up for this year's award-winning series, WINTER RHYTHMS 2019, which will begin Wednesday, December 11 featuring some of New York's best musical performances through Saturday, December 21, 2019 at Urban Stages Theatre (259 West 30th St., East of 8th Ave.)

There was so much heart, love and entertainment on the stage of The Rose Theater last night, as The Cabaret Convention celebrated the legacy and the music of the legendary Judy Garland

Acclaimed singer and voice teacher Corinna Sowers Adler returned to The Laurie Beechman Theatre with a new show titled SECOND STORIES and fans old and new have been delighting in her musical storytelling.

Critically-acclaimed performers Erika Amato (Flashdance - The Musical), Aaron Lee Battle (Bistro Award), and Meg Flather (MAC and Bistro Awards) have been added to the starry lineup for producer Joseph Macchia's first annual ONE HEART ONE CURE CONCERT, hosted by Broadway's Doreen Montalvo (On Your Feet, In The Heights) at the Baruch Performing Arts Center on October 14th at 8pm.

Celebrated cabaret singer Sue Matsuki celebrates 33 years on the Don't Tell Mama stage.

Venerated songwriter and singer Meg Flather brings immaculate marriages of her music and her singing sisters of cabaret to Don't Tell Mama in this show celebrating her work, her friends and sisterhood.

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?