Artists in Partnership Presents 11th Annual Cabaret Festival

Honoring the Great American Songbook in Long Island, NY

May 17- May 19, 2013

Long Beach Library Hosts Live Performances and Special Events

 

(Long Beach, NY, April 15, 2013) - Artists in Partnership (AIP), a non-profit cultural arts organization, will host its 11th Annual Cabaret Festival May 17-19 at the Long Beach Public Library, 111 West Park Avenue, Long Beach, NY.   All performances are FREE to the public.  The festival will be a celebration of the cabaret genre honoring the Great American Songbook with performances by renowned local and New York City-based artists.  

Featured events include double bills:

• FRIDAY, MAY 17, 7:30 pm, FABULOUS BROADWAY AND MORE

 MARISSA McGOWAN, "Listen To My Heart" with her musical director Brian Hertz on piano.

 

MARISSA MCGOWAN is thrilled to be returning to  her roots on Long Island to debut her cabaret!  Most recently Marissa originated the role of Stella Purdy in the new Broadway-bound musical The Nutty Professor (written by Marvin Hamlisch and Rupert Holmes), directed by the legendary Jerry Lewis.  Broadway: A Little Night Music Revival with Catherine Zeta Jones and Angela Lansbury (Original Cast Recording), Bonnie and Clyde (Original Cast Recording), Les Miserables (Revival and National Tour) where she performed both the roles of Eponine and Cosette. Favorite regional: The Sound of Music (Maria), Lyric Theatre; Camelot (Guenevere), Big River (Mary Jane), Goodspeed:  Sweeney Todd (Johanna), Geva Theatre; Love According to Luc (Luc), Greenwich Street Theatre;  ...FORUM (Philia), Kiss Me Kate (Lois/Bianca),Weston Playhouse.  Numerous Concerts and Recordings.  BFA in musical theater from Syracuse University. Much love and thanks to my incredible family, friends, Nick, Brian and Jon!  www.marissamcgowan.com

 

9 pm   COLLEEN McHUGH, "Pret-A-Porter: Cole Porter's French Connections" with musical director Tedd Firth on piano

 Singer, writer, actor, and comedienne Colleen McHugh began her career in Chicago, first with the legendary Second City Touring Company, then by writing and starring in her own award-winning cabaret shows, with material ranging from the Harold Arlen and Randy Newman songbooks to "Tales of Revenge & Regret." Since moving to New York City, Ms. McHugh has made her Carnegie Hall debut as a special guest artist in Michael Feinstein's Now and Then concert series, and she was part of a Lincoln Center tribute to Jerry Herman. She has regularly been a featured performer in the Mabel Mercer Foundation's Cabaret Conventions in New York, Chicago, East Hampton and Philadelphia. For the past five years, Ms. McHugh has been performing her Calendar Girl Project: the creation and presentation of a new cabaret show every month, for one night only. She has won the Back Stage Bistro Award for "Best Entertainer," is a Nightlife Award finalist and a four-time MAC award nominee.  Her debut album ("Songs of Self-Delusion") was recorded live in Chicago.  Her most recent album, Prêt-à-Porter, featuring Cole Porter's French-connected songs, won the 2013 Broadway World Award for Best CD, and Ms. McHugh won a second BroadwayWorld award as "Best Vocalist." Ms. McHugh has performed in comedy sketches on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" and"The Colbert Report." She currently writes original material for theater and cabaret performers, and produces "Reel 13," the NYC weekly classic film series for THIRTEEN-WNET. Her website is colleenmchugh.com.

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SATURDAY, MAY 18, 2 pm- "Cabaret Conversations" Established artists along with musical director and pianist Tedd Firth demonstrate and comment on the cabaret genre as they honor the famous and infamous vocalists - the "divas" of the Cabaret World. Susan James will facilitate the discussion while artists Michael Hughes, Stacy Sullivan, Colleen McHugh and others perform in various song styles along with commentary by critic Rob Lester.

Tedd Firth  is a prolific accompanist, jazz pianist, and arranger.  He was the Musical Director for Mary Cleere Haran at the Café Carlyle.  He was also the Musical Director for the televised "Broadway at the White House" with Tom Wopat at the Congressional Picnic on the White House Lawn for President George W. and Laura Bush.  He has accompanied many renowned artists, including Lee Ann Womack, Margaret Whiting, Carol Sloane, Bob Stewart, Nancy Marano, Marlene VerPlanck, Jane Scheckter, Pam Tate, Trudi Mann, and Claiborne Cary.  Among the jazz musicians he has worked and recorded with are John and Bucky Pizzarelli, Jay Leonhart, Frank Wess, Houston Person, Berry Gotson and Joe Morelio.  Mr. Firth's New York appearances include Town Hall, the Blue Note, Birdland, the Iridium, the Algonquin, the Rainbow Room, the Hotel Carlyle and the Russian Tea Room along with numerous East Coast Jazz Festivals.  Mr. Firth's television appearances include "The Today Show", "All My Children" and "The Caroline Rhea Show".  Tedd is a graduate of William Paterson University and the Manhattan School of Music.

  Michael Hughes is a 2013 Bistro Award winner for Outstanding Debut. With his one-man show, Mickey & Judy, Michael toured to the Toronto Fringe Festival (Best of Fringe, Award nominations from: Canadian Comedy Awards, BroadwayWorld Awards, Entertainment World Awards), the Edinburgh Festival Fringe (Hot 100, MTM:UK Award nomination), London's Leicester Square Theatre, New York City's The Duplex Cabaret Theatre (BroadwayWorld Award nomination) and the 5^th Annual Global Cabaret Festival in Toronto, Canada. Michael performed alongside 16-time Grammy Award winner, David Foster on his sold-out concert tour David Foster & Friends. Under the baton of world-renowned conductor David Briskin, Michael sang the role of Tony in the National Ballet of Canada's West Side Story Suite at the Four Season Centre for the Performing Arts.  Michael's self-titled, debut album was a 2010 Toronto Independent Music Award nominee for Best Adult Contemporary Album and is available on iTunes and through his website www.mickehughes.com. 

Winner of the 2013 Female Vocalist of the Year Award from the Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs, Stacy Sullivan has appeared in venues around the world, from The Brasserie Zedel in London to The Cafe Carlyle in New York. She has recorded five albums for the LML Music label, including her latest, "It's a Good Day," winner of the 2013 Lamott/Friedman Award and voted one of the Top Ten Recordings of 2012 by Talkin' Broadway. Stacy can also beheard regularly on Sirius Radio's "Siriously Sinatra," and NPR's "Piano Jazz Rising Stars." Critics are raving about her new show, a tribute to Miss Peggy Lee. Clive Davis, of The London Times wrote, "A commanding, willowy presence, Sullivan captures that rare combination of worldliness and vulnerability." And, from The Times Square Chronicles, "It only happens sometimes. A performer who can captivate an audience on many levels: voice, phrasing, acting, persona, sensuality, physical beauty, and also Swing. She has that extra wisp in her singing that leaves you breathless and everything she does musically flows naturally. For me, a performance is memorable when its glow lasts the entire ride home. This one had me smiling the next morning." Stacy's theatrical performances include Christine in the Yeston/Kopit "Phantom" (Los Angeles Premiere), Rosabud in "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" (West Coast Premiere, George Rose and Karen Morrow), and Toby Bluth's "Babes in Toyland" (World Premiere, Robert Morse), eight Cabaret Conventions in New York and San Francisco, the Pasadena Pops Orchestra with John Raitt, the Knoxville Symphony, and "Lyrics and Lyricists" at the 92nd Street Y, with Andrea Marcovicci. The seventh of eight children, Stacy grew up performing family concerts in Oklahoma with her gifted siblings and mother, Elizabeth Sullivan. Graduating cum laude with her degree in Music from Tulsa University, Stacy was fortunate to study with famed voice teacher, Laven Sowell, becoming the soprano soloist in Hayden's "Teresa Mass" and the Mozart "Requiem," among others. Her film and television credits include movies, soap operas, guest spots, and commercials. One of her proudest moments was creating the role of Sissel Jorgensen on the award-winning television series, "Christy," with Tyne Daly.

 Rob Lester has long had his eye on cabaret, his ear on good music, both his thumbs thumbing through the Great American Songbook, while his other fingers type reviews for Cabaret Scenes  Magazine and the websites TalkinBroadway.com, NiteLifeExchange.com, and CabaretScenes.org.  He is a voting judge for the Nightlife Awards and the Bistro Awards and the MAC Awards' selection committee for CDs, new songs, and their Hanson Award.  He also judges the annual singing talent contests at the Metropolitan Room: MetroStar (for beginning and established performers) and MetroMinor (for kids and teens).  He's been on cabaret panels for MAC, Summer in the City workshops, and is here on the AIP panel for the third time.  His other writing includes involvement with AIP participants: CD liner notes for Marilyn Maye and Susan Winter and lyrics for songs with music by Bill Zeffiro.  He grew up in NYC and Long Island.    

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• Saturday, May 18, 7:30 pm    FABULOUS LADIES       

SHIRLEY CRABBE, "The Incomparable Ethel Waters" with David Budway at the piano.

Jazz vocalist Shirley Crabbe sings songs that speak to the heart. As a teenager, Shirley was inspired by a performance of Ella Fitzgerald singing the song "A Tisket, A Tasket" in an old Abbot and Costello
movie. "I've always had a passion for singing, but when I heard Ella sing, I knew that "jazz singing" was what I really wanted to do." Following her passion, Shirley pursued her dreams first to Illinois to earn a Bachelor of Music from Northwestern University, and then back home to New York, to study Voice at the distinguished Manhattan School of Music (MSM). During the day she studied classical music uptown at MSM, but in the evening, she traveled downtown to sing jazz in the clubs. Shirley has performed at festivals, jazz clubs and concert series in New York City and it's surrounding area. Her most recent appearance was at Harlem's historic Jazz room, Lenox Lounge, where to a sold out audience, she performed music from her inaugural CD Home. She has also appeared at the Metropolitan Room and at the world-famous jazz club Birdland. Once the opening act for the jazz icon Abby Lincoln, Shirley has also performed with the celebrated jazz pianist Harold Mabern and bassist Jamil Nasser. In 2010, she was one of the top 5 finalists at Jazzmobile's "Best of the Best" Jazz Vocalist Competition held in New York City. In 2009, she was awarded Rockland County's highest arts award: the County Executive Performing Artist Award. Shirley is also the Stanton Bronze Medalist of the 2008 American Traditions Vocal Competition at the Savannah International Music Festival in Georgia. Shirley is a versatile performer and has appeared in various stage productions including Coming to the Mercy Seat at Shetler Studio's theater 54 in the role of the Poet and in Ain't Misbehavin' at the Elmwood theater, where she performed the role of Armelia. She is the featured soloist on the jazz CD Africa by the Mystic Pilgrims. On September 27, 2011 Shirley released her debut CD Home. For the ensuing 26+ weeks (with 6 weeks Chartbound) the album remained on the Jazz Week Album Chart, the definitive jazz national radio chart that reports the top Jazz albums played each week on radio stations across the US.

9 pm    NATALIE DOUGLAS, "To Lena...A Tribute to the Lady and Her Music" with Mark Hartman on piano

A set of gorgeous pipes, combined with effortless vocal styling and inspiring song interpretation are the hallmarks of nightclub diva Natalie Douglas, a seven-time MAC Award, Nightlife Award and Backstage Bistro Award Winner, whose  recent appearances include Birdland Jazz Club, Carnegie Hall, Town Hall, London's hottest new cabaret, The Crazy Coqs and numerous Cabaret Conventions presented by The Mabel Mercer Foundation across the U.S. and in London. 

Her musical tributes to Nina Simone, Lena Horne, Nat "King" Cole and Café Society have had US & International audiences on their feet clapping long, loud and yelling for more.

Natalie's second CD, To Nina...Live At Birdland, was released to critical delight and selections from that CD and her first, Not That Different, continue to be heard on NPR and Sirius Radio. She also appears on Fine and Dandy for PS Classics and Broadway By The Year: 1940 on Bayview Records.

For more info, please visit www.nataliedouglas.com. CDs are available at Amazon.com & nataliedouglas.com. Natalie returns to Birdland (212.581.3080) on Monday June 24 at 7:00PM, with a brand new show.

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 Sunday, May 19. 2 pm     FABULOUS JAZZ

  MARILYN MAYE RETURNS!  with Tedd Firth on piano

 

  In the years since Marilyn Maye first appeared in the spotlight as a tiny pre-teen vocalist in a series of amateur contests in Topeka, Kansas, she has received an endless stream of kudos. The late Johnny Carson called her "Super Singer." Ella Fitzgerald dubbed her "The greatest white female singer in the world." The Houston Chronicle termed her "A National Treasure." And the prestigious Smithsonian Institution chose her recording of "Too Late Now" (from her RCA Lamp Is Low album) for inclusion in its Best Performers of the Best Compositions of the 20th Century permanent collection, along with such other singing greats as Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra and Judy Garland.

Add 76 appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, a Grammy nomination in the mid-Sixties as Best New Artist, a bevy of awards reflecting her showmanship, and you have an illustrious singing career that is still going strong after a life-time spent entertaining audiences who are now amazed to discover she still exudes the vocal strength and stamina of a singer half her age.

       

   

STEPHANIE NAKASIAN with jazz pianist Hod O'Brien and guest artist Veronica O'Brien 

Known as one of the world’s leading jazz singers, Stephanie Nakasian will take you on a fantasy swing voyage, fresh and authentic that transcends the Great Ladies of Song in both tribute and originality.  Capturing the heart of audiences with her extensive repertoire, reaching from Jazz to Broadway, Stephanie creates an atmosphere of romance and excitement that will transport you to another place and time. All About Jazz.com has dubbed her the "Renaissance Woman of Jazz".

A prolific recording artist with 15 celebrated albums, including her recent “Billie Remembered” which was featured on NPR’s “Fresh Air” with Terry Gross, Stephanie continues to perform live with ensemble,  orchestra or in duo with her partner, internationally acclaimed jazz pianist Hod O’Brien. Stephanie comes to Long Beach direct from concerts at the Kitano in New York City.

Concert appearances as a featured artist include performances with Urbie Green, Pat Metheny, Bobby McFerrin, Milt Hinton, Clark Terry, J.R. Monterose, Joe Temperly, Scott Hamilton, Harry Allen, Sheila Jordan, Bob Dorough, Valery Ponomarev and (with Jon Hendricks) Philly Joe Jones, Roy Haynes, and Annie Ross to name a few.

MAY 2013

Cabaret Festival (honoring Great American Songbook) - May 17,18,19

                                                                       

Featured events include double bills:

 

• FRIDAY, MAY 17, 7:30 pm, FABULOUS BROADWAY AND MORE

 MARISSA McGOWAN, "Listen To My Heart" with her musical director Brian Hertz on piano.

  9 pm  COLLEEN McHUGH, "Pret-A-Porter: Cole Porter's French Connections" with musical director Tedd Firth.

 SATURDAY, MAY 18, 2 pm- "Cabaret Conversations" Established artists along with musical director and pianist Tedd Firth demonstrate and comment on the cabaret genre as they honor the famous and infamous vocalists - the "divas" of the Cabaret World. Susan James will facilitate the discussion while artists Michael Hughes, Stacy Sullivan, Colleen McHugh and others perform in various song styles along with commentary by critic Rob Lester.

• SATURDAY, MAY 18, 7:30 pm, FABULOUS LADIES

 SHIRLEY CRABBE presents "The Incomparable Ethel Waters" with David Budway at the piano.

  9 pm  NATALIE DOUGLAS  in "To Lena...A Tribute to the Lady and Her Music" with Mark Hartman on piano.

 SUNDAY, MAY 19, 2 pm - FABULOUS JAZZ

  MARILYN MAYE performs with pianist Tedd Firth

STEPHANIE NAKASIAN  with Hod O'Brien on piano, and guest artist Veronica O'Brien

 

 Schedule is subject to change .

This event is made possible with public funds from the Long Beach Public Library and a special Burst Grant from NY State Assemblyman Harvey Weisenberg.

The library is handicapped accessible, located two blocks from the LIRR station in Long Beach, a 50-minute train ride from New York City's Penn Station.

For further information, visit website www.aip-arts.org. To arrange performer interviews, call 516-322-1138.