Gregory Toroian Presents: sNOwEL at Pangea

Vocalist Leslee Warren found a new home on the cabaret stage with her debut solo show, Me Myself & Eye: Songs of a Nearsighted Girl. This piece combined her love of music and storytelling with her blurry life experiences of the world through thick glasses. Songs from the show will be released as an album in 2025. Warren, a re-planted midwesterner, arrived in the Big Apple in pursuit of a stage career. She landed national tours of Titanic and The King and I, many stock productions including Ragtime, Noises Off, It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues, Little Shop of Horrors, Hamlet and The Sound of Music, and a leading role in a Musicals Tonight production of Cabin in the Sky.

Ann Talman is a four-time Broadway veteran, actress, storyteller and documentary filmmaker based in New York City. She made her stage debut in 1981, in the Broadway production of The Little Foxes with Elizabeth Taylor, portraying her daughter, Alexandra. The show traveled the world for eighteen months and their loving friendship lasted for the rest of Miss Taylor’s life. Talman’s latest award-winning show, Ann Talman: Elizabeth Taylor and The Shadow of Her Smile, is an evening of story and song celebrating their amazing bond. Talman's stage credits include Yours, Anne, The House of Blue Leaves, Carnival, Some Americans Abroad, and the Broadway revival of The Women. Talman has appeared in several motion pictures, including Serendipity, Limitless, and Wall Street. Television credits include guest starring roles on “Seinfeld,” “Ellen,” “Murphy Brown,” “The Street” and “Law & Order,” and a year on “General Hospital,” among others. She wrote, starred in, and produced the multiple award-winning documentary film Woody’s Order!, based on her solo play about her lifelong dedication to her older brother Woody who lived a full life with cerebral palsy. It premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. 

Deanna Monaco was bitten by the cabaret bug after seeing Helen Baldassare’s students perform at Don’t Tell Mama in the original front room. Not long after, she performed her first solo show there. In her debut, Come Summer, directed by Baldassare with musical director Paul Greenwood on piano, Monaco shared stories about her summers growing up on Long Island. Monaco’s roots are in theater on Long Island with leading roles in Kiss Me Kate, Annie Get Your Gun, Brigadoon, and The Mikado.

Vocalist Kati Neiheisel has studied with Helen Baldassare, Marilyn Maye, and the late musical director Barry Levitt. Her early mentors included Sue Matsuki, Susan Winter, and Deb Berman, the director of Neiheisel’s MAC Award-nominated debut, Among the Stars. Her most recent shows, Yesterday…Once More, celebrating the musical legacy of the Carpenters, and London by Night, featuring songs performed by Julie London, were directed by Lina Koutrakos, with musical direction and arrangements by Gregory Toroian.

Gregory Toroian is a musical director, arranger, jazz pianist, vocalist, songwriter, and educator. He has been featured in Cabaret Scenes magazine and was the 2020 Bistro Award winner for Outstanding Collaboration with Sue Matsuki, with whom he had also won a MAC award for Best Duo Production. In addition to working with such artists as Tony Bennett, Jon Hendricks, Cab Calloway, Donna Summer, Melissa Errico, Marilyn Maye, Karen Mason, and Jane Olivor, he has appeared in almost every jazz club and cabaret (major and minor) in New York. He has toured with principal dancers from the New York City Ballet and has made numerous radio and television appearances including the Today Show and Maury Povich. His recording work includes CDs of Leslee Warren, Suzanna Ross, Nancy Stearns, and Sue Matsuki. Gregory’s vocal arrangements have been featured on a series of albums in the US and Japan, by the vocal group String of Pearls. He currently offers an array of performance workshops.

Skip Ward is a Grammy Award Winning Bassist, Guitarist, Ukulele-ist (is that a word), Lap Steel, Tuba and Penny Whistle. Ward is a classically-trained jazz musician with a penchant for rock n' roll, and fusion, blues and bluegrass. Artists he has played/recorded with include: Tony Trischka, with Steve Martin, Phoebe Snow, Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, Cyndi Lauper, Cassandra Wilson, David Sancious (Sting, Eric Clapton), Melissa Manchester, Glenn Miller Orchestra and more! You may have also seen him on David Letterman, SNL or the Ellen DeGeneres Show. You'll hear Skip on many soundtracks, and he has been on national tours with a number of major theatrical productions. In New York City: Shakespeare in the Park (As You Like It), Hands On A Hardbody, Million Dollar Quartet, High School Musical, Jesus Christ Superstar, Song & Dance, A Chorus Line and West Side Story.

David Silliman is a drummer and percussionist. David's middle name should be “versatility”. Whether accompanying song stylists such as Mariah Carey, Cassandra Wilson, and Blossom Dearie or playing with Colombian Harpist Edmar Castaneda, David's exciting rhythmic energies add color and mood to any musical performance. He's also comfortable playing in the pit of a Broadway show or with the New Jersey Symphony. David has over 20 years of experience. His performances have taken him to concerts and festivals in Italy, Vienna, Berlin, the North Sea, Monterey, Uruguay and Lithuania. David was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he was exposed to a wide variety of music. David's first studies were in the Classical field, studying snare drum, xylophone and timpani. Later studies exposed him to Jazz, Latin Jazz, Brazilian and Funk music.“ I love living in NY because it gives me the opportunity to play and perform with so many diverse artists, across all styles of music!”

Geoff Stoner is an actor, cabaret performer, and director. As an actor, Stoner appeared as the title character in a theatrical adaptation of Lois Lowry's novel The Giver, directed by Wynn Handman and performed in New York City schools as part of the American Place Theatre's “Literature To Life” series. Other New York productions include Tom in the New York premiere of Nightsweat by Robert Chesley, and Rupert in Booth Tarkington’s The Trysting Place at the St. Peter's Theater. He also appeared in Yoko Ono's video “Sky People” as the Leading Man. Stoner most recently appeared as Tom in Lanford Wilson’s A Poster of the Cosmos, directed by Mark Cirnigliaro and produced by Deep Flight Productions. As a cabaret performer, Geoff's solo shows include A Short Visit Only, based on the life and songs of Noel Coward, You're The Top, featuring the songs of Cole Porter, and Words Wit Music, his slice-of-life account of growing up Episcopalian and randy in small-town Connecticut. As a director, he has worked on many cabaret solo shows and workshops around New York City. Stoner studied acting with Uta Hagen, Hal Holden, Wynn Handman, Phillip Gushee, and Ron Stetson. He also studied improvisation at The Pit.