92Y Announces Melissa Errico, Norm Lewis & Jeff Harnar in Cabaret Conversations

The 92Y School of Music has announced new guests for their popular interview series, Cabaret Conversations, now in its second year. Previous speakers in the Manhattan Association of Cabaret Award and BroadwayWorld Cabaret Award-nominated series have included Chita Rivera , Lillias White, and Joe Iconis. Each edition of Cabaret Conversations focuses on the guest's achievements, contributions to and work in the art form of Cabaret in New York City. Led by award-winning cabaret historian and performer, Michael Kirk Lane. Joining Lane this spring are Melissa Errico, Norm Lewis, and Jeff Harnar.

The 92Y School of Music will also be offering new sessions of their classes Cabaret History and Great Performances and Cabaret Performance: Connecting to Your Lyric, both of which are taught by Michael Kirk Lane. All three of these offerings are perfect for both practitioners and fans of the art form of cabaret.

*** Virtual ***
CABARET CONVERSATIONS
Mondays, 7-8:30 pm ET; $20 each or subscribe to all three for $50. Register here

April 25: Melissa Errico, 7-8:30 pm ET

Melissa Errico is a Tony Award-nominated Broadway star, concert artist, and author. Her Sondheim Sublime album led to sold-out concert dates around the country, as well as in London and Paris. Her Sondheim roles on stage include Dot in Sunday In The Park With George at The Kennedy Center and Clara in Passion at Classic Stage Company. In 2020, she sang "Children and Art" in the Sondheim 90th Birthday Concert "Take Me To The World," and was featured on PBS television in a documentary special in which she sang "Finishing The Hat" and discussed Sondheim and his lyrics for Poetry in America.

Her starring roles on Broadway include My Fair Lady, Amour, High Society. Among her other musical mainstays is Michel Legrand who arranged and conducted her symphonic album, Legrand Affair. She was the only American performer invited to sing at the extraordinary two-day memorial to Legrand in 2019 in Paris. She has also sung countless concerts of American song, ranging from Randy Newman to Irving Berlin, including stints at the 92nd Street Y, Birdland, Joe's Pub, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center's Allen Room, and Feinstein's/ 54 Below, where her special concert-essay about coming back to New York was held over for encores twice last fall. Her latest album, Out Of The Dark: The Film Noir Project was just released from Warner Music/Ghostlight Records and began life as a specially-commissioned bilingual series of concerts at the French Institute/Alliance Francaise.

An active writer all her life, she has since 2016 authored a series of pieces for The New York Times under the special rubric of "Scenes From The Acting Life," which she is in the process of adapting into a book.

May 23: Norm Lewis, 7-8:30 pm ET

Norm Lewis is an Emmy, Tony, and SAG-nominated performer with a career spanning film, television, and theater. He most recently starred in the hit Broadway comedy Chicken & Biscuits, which marked Lewis' first turn in a Broadway play. The play was one of seven new plays in the 2021 season written by Black playwrights (Douglas Lyons); it was also directed by the youngest Black director in Broadway history (Zhailon Levingston). Most recently, Lewis made his solo debut at the iconic Carnegie Hall on March 4, 2022 with the New York Pops.

Lewis' Broadway credits include The Phantom of the Opera - making history in 2014 as Broadway's first African American Phantom - the Tony Award-winning revival of Once on This Island, The Gershwins' Porgy & Bess, Sondheim on Sondheim, The Little Mermaid, and Les Misérables. He also starred in the 2017 Off-Broadway production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, receiving the AUDELCO Award for his performance. Lewis' screen credits include Spike Lee's critically acclaimed film, Da 5 Bloods, FX's Pose, Hulu's Mrs. America, NBC's Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert!, ABC's Scandal, Lifetime's Christmas in Tune , six PBS specials, and most recently, ABC's Women of The Movement.

Lewis is also a proud founding member of Black Theatre United, an organization which stands together to help protect Black people, Black talent and Black lives of all shapes and orientations in theater and communities across the country.

Jun 27: Jeff Harnar, 7-8:30 pm ET

Jeff Harnar has won multiple MAC, Bistro and BroadwayWorld Cabaret Awards and The Noel Coward Foundation Cabaret Award. His Carnegie Hall appearances include both the Cole Porter and Noel Coward Centennial Galas. Jeff's televised PBS concerts include The 1959 Broadway Songbook with Music Director Alex Rybeck, American Songbook: Stephen Sondheim co-starring KT Sullivan, and Michael Feinstein's Live from NJPAC. Jeff toured with Shauna Hicks in their Symphony Pops Concert "I Got Rhythm: Mickey & Judy's Hollywood."

Jeff is also a BroadwayWorld, MAC and Bistro Award winning Director. He has directed shows for Tovah Feldshuh, Rita Gardner and award-winning shows for Celia Berk, Dawn Derow, Josephine Sanges and Margo Brown.

Jeff's fifth solo album will be released worldwide by PS Classics on June 17, 2022. The album, I Know Things Now (My Life in SONDHEIM'S Words), features a 20 piece orchestra conducted by jazz virtuoso Jon Weber. This year Jeff and Jon have performed this show at Feinstein's/54 Below, Feinstein's at Vitello's, in Chicago, St. Louis and London. The album release engagement is at The Laurie Beechman Theater June 15, 22 & 29, 2022.

*** Virtual Classes ***

CABARET HISTORY AND GREAT PERFORMANCES

Thursdays, 7-8:15pm ET, May 10-31 , $149; register here
In four sessions, using video and audio recordings of influential performers throughout the decades - including Mabel Mercer, Bobby Short, Julie Wilson, Baby Jane Dexter, Nancy LaMott, and many more, the series will explore the history of the art form and where it is headed into the future

*** In Person Classes ***

CABARET PERFORMANCE: CONNECTING TO YOUR LYRIC

Thursdays, 7-8:30 pm ET, May 5- June 9, $349; register here
Students will bring in songs they are familiar with and work to find their unique and honest take on the lyrics and how to communicate their meaning and intention with an audience. This in-person class will culminate in a live performance at one of New York City's cabaret venues. An accompanist will be provided for all sessions and the performance.

ABOUT Michael Kirk Lane

Michael Kirk Lane is an award-winning cabaret artist, having most recently won the 2020 Manhattan Association of Cabaret Award for Male Musical Comedy Performer. Along with 3 previous MAC nominations, Lane has been nominated for 11 BroadwayWorld Cabaret Awards, winning in 2018 for Best Show. Stephen Mosher of BroadwayWorld Cabaret has called Lane "one of the most popular performers and people working in cabaret today." Cabaret Scenes Magazine has deemed Lane's work "musical comedy heaven."

Beyond his own experience performing in cabaret, Lane's experience managing two of the city's most renowned cabaret venues (The Laurie Beechman Theatre, Don't Tell Mama) offers him a unique vantage point and perspective on the art form.

As a teaching artist for over 20 years, Lane has taught all ages from pre-school to retirement homes. In each class he brings the same philosophy to his teaching, no matter the age of the students. "Art, Theatre, and Music are ways for us to connect with our most authentic self, and to explore the world around us."

The 92Y School of Music is under the direction of Yana Stotland.

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