Gretchen Reinhagen News

At age 82, singer-raconteur, Ira Lee Collings is thrilled to be nominated for a 2018 MAC Award in the "Musical Comedy Performer" category. The self-proclaimed "gay geezer" is over the moon; the only other performer to claim an "oldest" distinction is Marilyn Maye (she'll be 90 years old in April) who won her first MAC in 2010. And while it's true that Carol Shedlin has a few years on both Maye and Collings, she'll be receiving the non competitive Hanson Award this year, an honor given to a performer who has never received a MAC nomination, but who has, none the less, done excellent work over a sustained period of time. Last year's Hanson Award winner, by the way, was - Ira Lee Collings!

The Manhattan Association of Cabarets (MAC) is pleased to announce the 2018 MAC Award nominees. The nominees, in a majority of the categories, were determined by votes cast by the active MAC membership. The MAC Board of Directors selected the nominees for Show of the Year. Special committees selected the nominees in the Ensemble Instrumentalist, Piano Bar Instrumentalist, Piano Bar Singing Entertainer (Female; Male), Recording (LaMott Friedman), Major Recording, Song and Comedy/Novelty Song categories. The names of the songwriters in the Song and Comedy/Novelty Song categories are being withheld during the voting period, but will be announced publicly as soon as the voting period concludes.

Becca C. Kidwell reprises her debut show, "A Song & Its Girl," at Don't Tell Mama for its fourth time on Wednesday, March 7th at 7pm. Her professional debut explores her journey from being a shy, quiet girl to a strong, confident woman under the artful direction of Gretchen Reinhagen and musical direction of Tracy Stark, both MAC and Bistro Award winners.

Becca C. Kidwell shares each moment of joy in song as she brings back her debut performance for a second encore, 'A Song & Its Girl' to Don't Tell Mama on Saturday, September 23, 2017 at 4pm.

Becca C. Kidwell discovers her voice through singing and performing as she reprises her cabaret show, "A Song & Its Girl" on Wednesday, June 28, 2017 at Don't Tell Mama.

The 2017 MAC Award winners were revealed last night at the 31st MAC Awards on Tuesday, March 28, 2017 at B.B. King Blues Club & Grill, New York City. Take a look at the full list of winners below!

Becca C. Kidwell sings of her Gen-X midlife exploration in her new cabaret act, 'A Song & Its Girl' on Saturday, April 1, 2017 at 4:30pm at Don't Tell Mama.

Urban Stages has confirmed the line-up for this year's award-winning series, WINTER RHYTHMS 2016, which will begin tomorrow, Thursday, December 1, and will feature some of New York's best musical performances through Sunday, December 11, 2016 at Urban Stages Theatre (259 West 30th Street, just East of 8th Avenue).

Lyricist/librettist, Michael Colby, author of the memoir,  'The Algonquin Kid-Adventures Growing Up at New York's Legendary Hotel," celebrated his 65th Birthday on Sunday, Oct. 30th with a fundraiser/musical event for Child Find of America. 'Quel Fromage II'  featured performers from Broadway and cabaret, including members of TADA! Youth Theater, who gave a 90 minute concert at TRIAD on the upper west side, singing songs from Colby's musicals. Scroll down for photos from the event!

Urban Stages has announced the line-up for this year's Award Winning series, WINTER RHYTHMS 2016, which will begin Thursday, December 1 and will feature some of New York's best musical performances through Sunday, December 11, 2016 at Urban Stages Theatre (259 West 30th Street, just East of 8th Avenue).

Located in the heart of Times Square, Royal Family Productions is presenting a one-night-only, 'live concept album' concert performance of Serving Time, a new musical revue capturing the frantic, eclectic and eccentric world of restaurant life conceived by Michele Foor, who also wrote the lyrics, along with composers David Gaines, William TN Hall, Timothy Huang, Ryan Langer and Frank Spitznagel.

?The Metropolitan Room erupted into wild cheers when David Baida was announced as the next MetroStar last night. 

Five exceptional and well-matched singers were chosen to advance as finalists in this year's MetroStar Talent Challenge on Monday.

Richard Skipper is introducing a new show that encourages all to seize the day and celebrate each and every day and all the gems that each day holds. The series kicks off tonight, May 25th at The Triad Theatre (158 W 72nd St, New York, NY 10023) at 8 p.m.

It has been 10 years since MAC and Bistro Award-winning producer, Joseph Macchia, founded of the 501c3 non-profit, Help Is On The Way Today.

?Richard Skipper is introducing a new show that encourages all to seize the day and celebrate each and every day and all the gems that each day holds. To kick off this series, he has chosen May 25th at The Triad Theatre (158 W 72nd St, New York, NY 10023) at 8 p.m.

Former Palm Desert performer, Gretchen Reinhagen brings her acclaimed cabaret show "Both Sides Now" to Palm Desert's Arthur Newman Theatre on Sunday, October 18, 2015 at 2 PM. Joining her on piano will be Andrew David Sotomayor.

The Metropolitan Room hosted two simultaneous events last night. The 10th year of the MAC Award Winning Benefit Series Cabaret Cares, and the 3rd 40th Birthday of the charities creator Joseph Macchia. The non profit Joseph started 10 years ago has raised over $100,000 to help children living with HIV and AIDS. It was a cabaret spectacular and Broadwayworld was there to catch all the action. Check it out below!

 Minda Larsen eeked out a MetroStar win last night, finishing on top of a strong and tightly matched Top Five line-up in a spellbinding contest finale at the Metropolitan Room.  To win the 8th annual MetroStar Talent Challenge Larsen captivated the judges with her confessional and inspirational story of having competed in the contest three other times (unsuccessfully) and dramatically changing her attitude about her work this time around.  The attitude adjustment succeeded as Larsen soared in the finale, beating out the delightful everyman Thomas Dieter (1st runner-up) and gloriously-voiced Josephine Sanges (2nd runner up). The two other Top 5 finalists were Lisa Remick and April Leonhard.

 In nail-bitingly close voting Monday night, the MetroStar Talent Challenge bid farewell to two audience favorites in a hotly contested semi-final round.  Let go by the jury were the contest's popular 9th grader Josephine Bianco and the veteran piano bar performer Sheree Sano.