Karen Oberlin's Frank Loesser Tribute Show Launches 2016 Season of NEW YORK CABARET'S GREATEST HITS at the Metropolitan Room, 1/13

In 2010, the entertainment world celebrated the 100th birthday of composer Frank Loesser, who had died 41 years before at age 59. Loesser had achieved American songwriter immortality for writing the scores to classic Broadway musicals such as Guys & Dolls and How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, as well as the score to the film Hans Christian Anderson, which starred Danny Kaye.

In the New York cabaret world, nobody honored the legacy of Frank Loesser better than singer Karen Oberlin (left), who in June of 2010 staged a run of critically acclaimed shows at the famed Algonquin Hotel Oak Room. Oberlin's show Heart & Soul: The Songs of Frank Loesser received a MAC Award nomination for Best Major Artist and the Live CD of the show earned her the MAC Lamott-Friedman Award. Wrote New York Times' reviewer Stephen Holden: "In Heart and Soul Ms. Oberlin concentrates on Loesser's softer-edged zaniness and on his unjustly neglected romantic side . . . Beyond her having a pretty voice, poise, and interpretive insight, this is a smart, polished show." The New York Observer critic Rex Reed said, "Karen Oberlin is lighting up the Algonquin's Oak Room with a show that is subtle, elegant, musically spot on, and sends you out humming. She's a keeper!"

Now Stephen Hanks' Cabaret Life Productions and Associate Producer Fr. Jeffrey Hamblin, MD (photo right), are bringing back Karen Oberlin's Frank Loesser Tribute Show (with original Musical Director Jon Weber and bass player Sean Smith) as the first 2016 installment of the New York Cabaret's Greatest Hits series at the Metropolitan Room on January 13 at 7 pm. "I entered the cabaret world as a reviewer in late 2010 so I never saw this show," says Hanks. "I'm thrilled Karen Oberlin agreed to bring it back so those like me who didn't experience it will get a chance now."

Karen Oberlin is a MAC, Bistro, and Nightlife Award winner, and was named the winner of the Mabel Mercer Foundation's Donald F. Smith Award in 2013. Oberlin has headlined at New York nightclubs such as Café Carlyle, Feinstein's/54 Below, Birdland, Iridium, Kitano, and The Metropolitan Room, and has performed at Carnegie Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and Town Hall.

Besides Oberlin's January 13 Frank Loesser show, the first-half of 2016 lineup of Stephen Hanks' New York Cabaret's Greatest Hits at the Metropolitan Room includes: Jeff Macauley: MWAW! The Dinah Shore Show (Feb. 13); Steve Schalchlin and Jim Brochu: The Last Session (March 13); Rosemary Loar: The Quando Swing (April 13); Laurie Krauz: 25 Years With (Musical Director) Daryl Kojak (May 13); Barbara Porteus: Up On The Roof (June 13). Already booked for the second half of 2016 are: Jeff Harnar: The 1959 Broadway Songbook (July 13); Janice Hall: Grand Illusion, The Songs of Marlena Dietrich (September 13); Susan Winter: Love Rolls On (October 7); Deb Berman: All In Good Time (November 13); Ellen Kaye: Ice Wine, Songs For Christmas and Dark Winter Nights (December 13). All shows run from 7-8:30 pm. The producers are offering a 4th show free for any three reservations and proof of purchase through receipts.

For more information on New York Cabaret's Greatest Hits, contact Stephen Hanks, Cabaret Life Productions, stephenhanks41@gmail.com.

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