Santino Fontana, Clint Holmes, and More Join Jamie DeRoy & Friends Benefit For The Entertainment Community Fund

Show business tour de force and 10-time Tony Award-winning producer Jamie deRoy brings her acclaimed Jamie deRoy & friends cabaret show back to New York's famed Birdland, Monday, October 3rd, at 7:00 p.m.

 

Performers who light up the marquees of cabaret, theatre, music and comedy will join Ms. deRoy. The one-night only show is part of the club's Broadway at Birdland Concert Series. Birdland is at 315 West 44th Street in New York's theatre district.

 

Proceeds from the event, produced by Ms. deRoy, will benefit The Entertainment Community Fund which assists those in the cabaret industry who have medical needs and concerns. The Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs honored her with a MAC Award for her many shows that have benefited her signature initiative. The Jamie deRoy & friends cabaret series has been attracting New York audiences for over 30 years.

 

Ms. deRoy will host the show and welcome special guests:

 

Santino Fontana has cemented himself as one of Broadway’s foremost leading men as well as a formidable screen talent. In 2019, Santino won the Tony Award, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Awards for his virtuosic performance as “Michael Dorsey”/”Dorothy Michaels” in TOOTSIE. He is widely known for lending his voice to the villainous ‘Prince Hans’ in Disney’s Academy Award winning animated feature, FROZEN. He was also seen in Universal Studio’s SISTERS, opposite Tina Fey & Amy Poehler. On television, Santino was seen on the recent season of the critically acclaimed THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL.  He also starred on CW’s comedy CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND and NBC’s drama series SHADES OF BLUE, opposite Jennifer Lopez and Ray Liotta, simultaneously.  His independent film work includes the romantic comedy OFF THE MENU, psychological thriller IMPOSSIBLE MONSTERS, and comedy PAPERCOP, for which he won a Best Actor Award at the Williamsburg International Independent Film Festival.  Other television credits include FOSSE/VERDON, MOZART IN THE JUNGLE, THE GOOD WIFE, NURSE JACKIE, and ROYAL PAINS. One of Broadway’s brightest stars, Santino is highly regarded for his work onstage. The New York Times wrote, “Santino Fontana [is] one of the most promising actors to emerge in the New York theater.”  His other Broadway credits include his roles in the Tony-winning mega-hit, HELLO DOLLY! opposite Bernadette Peters, as “Moss Hart” in the Tony nominated ACT ONE opposite Tony Shalhoub, CINDERELLA (Tony nomination), THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST (Clarence Derwent Award), A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE, BRIGHTON BEACH MEMOIRS (Drama Desk Award), BILLY ELLIOT and SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE. Santino won a Lucille Lortel Award, Obie Award, Outer Critics Circle Award and was nominated for a Drama Desk Award and Drama League Award for his acclaimed performance in Stephen Karam’s SONS OF THE PROPHET. He also starred as ‘John Adams’ in 1776 and ‘Elliot Rosewater’ in GOD BLESS YOU, MR. ROSEWATER, both for New York City Center Encores!  As a vocalist, Santino has performed in jazz venues such as Lincoln Center’s Appel Room and Birdland. As an orchestra soloist, Santino has sung at Carnegie Hall, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and other top tier venues with symphonies, big bands, and smaller ensembles, including the New York Philharmonic, the New York Pops and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. 

 

Clint Holmes is a 40+ year veteran of the stage, screen and TV. His big break came in 1972 when he released his chart toping song, "Playground In My Mind". Throughout his career, he has received a GRAMMY nomination for his album, Rendezvous, hosted his own Emmy Award winning talk/variety show, served as Joan Rivers' sidekick and announcer, and headlined his own Las Vegas theater, the Clint Holmes Theater. As an accomplished musician, lyricist, and author, Clint wrote the book and lyrics to Comfortable Shoes, which was produced at the Paper Mill Playhouse (New Jersey) in 1996 and The Royal George Theater (Chicago) in 2002. He also wrote the book and lyrics for Just Another Man (JAM) produced at The Judy Bailey Theater (UNLV) and My Own Song produced at Flat Rock Theater (North Carolina). In New York City, he won two Broadway World Awards with Billy Stritch and Christian Tamburr for a show he co-wrote and co-starred in, Straighten Up and Fly Right... A Nat King Cole Tribute. He won the 2013 Bistro Award (NYC) for "Best Male Singer" for his performance in Stop this Train (a show which he also co-wrote) and was directed by Larry Moss. He continues to tour with the Georgia On My Mind Tour, along with Take 6, Nnenna Freelon, Kirk Whalum, and Tom Scott featuring the music of Ray Charles. Currently, Clint is working on a one-man theater piece called, If Not Now When, and as a lyricist on Frank Wildhorn's new musical, La Ronde.

 

Jason Kravits began his career at 13 years old in Washington, DC playing Lolo in the highly acclaimed PBS series, Powerhouse. Several years later, after graduating from the University of Maryland, he found a home in the Washington, DC, theater community, where he became a well-known presence in theaters such as the Round House Theater, the Shakespeare Theater, and the Woolly Mammoth Theater Company (of which he is still a member). Alongside fellow writer-performer Joel Jones, he developed the material for Making Faces, which would eventually go on to win Best Sketch Show at 1999's U.S. Comedy Festival in Aspen, Co. Shortly after, he landed a guest-starring role on David Kelley's The Practice. In addition to TV credits, he has appeared on Broadway in Relatively Speaking, The Drowsy Chaperone, and Sly Fox.

 

Karen Mason has starred on Broadway, Off-Broadway, television, and recording and is the recipient of the 2019 MAC Lifetime Achievement Award, a 12-time MAC Award winner and has won the MAC Award for Major Female Vocalist of the Year for six consecutive years. She has also won the 2006 Nightlife Award for Major Female Vocalist and has three Bistro Awards. Her theatrical career includes: the North American premier tour of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Love Never Dies, playing Madame Giry; Tanya in the original Mamma Mia! (Drama Desk Nom); Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard; Queen of Hearts in Wonderland; Velma in Hairspray; Jerome Robbin's Broadway, Torch Song Trilogy. Karen won the Outer Critics Circle Award for her performance in And The World Goes 'Round. Karen has headlined Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Feinstein's 54 Below, Birdland, The Fairmont Hotel (San Fran), and The Park West (Chi). Her seven highly acclaimed recordings include her newest single, "It's About Time" an anthem for Marriage Equality, and single "Hold Me', which won the 1998 Emmy Award for Best Song.

 

Luba Mason the classically trained singer, actor, dancer and pianist has starred in nine Broadway shows: Girl from the North Country (Lucille Lortel nomination), Jekyll & Hyde, Chicago, How to Succeed..., The Capeman, Sid Caesar & Company, Sunset Blvd., The Will Rogers Follies and Late Nite Comic. Off Broadway: Pretty Filthy (Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel nominations), Unexpected Joy. Film : Tonya Pinkins' Red Pill. TV guest starring roles: Person of Interest, Forever and Law & Order. 2019 Bistro Award for Outstanding Vocalist, Luba has released four critically-acclaimed solo albums : Triangle (2020) Mixtura (2016) Krazy Love (2009), and Collage (2006.) Graduate of NYU's Tisch SOA (drama)/ Circle in the Square.

 

Multi-award winning Composer, Book Writer and Lyricist Barry Kleinbort directs Ms. deRoy's October 3rd show with musical direction by award-winning arranger, orchestrator and conductor, Ron Abel and Ritt Henn on Bass.

 

Ms. deRoy is an acclaimed producer; cabaret, stage, film and TV performer; recording artist and humanitarian. In addition to Tony Awards, she has won nine MAC Awards, four Back Stage Bistro Awards and 11 Telly Awards for her extensive work on stage and screen. She has appeared on stage with such luminaries as Joan Rivers and has headlined at many New York nightclubs. Ms. deRoy has produced nine CDs in the Jamie deRoy & friends series, all of which are available on Harbinger and PS Classics labels. Her cabaret shows serve as the basis for her award-winning cable television show which spotlights well-known entertainers and newcomers.

 

 

 

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