Featuring new performers with every show, the weekly, award-winning Piano Bar Live! (PBL!) A Night at Rose’s Turn, Part 3, streams tomorrow Tuesday, December 22nd at 7:15 pm ET, with hosts Scott Barbarino and Mark Alan celebrating the now iconic club, Roses Turn. PBL! is proud to continue the long-established tradition of the piano bar—that special place where we can gather, entertain, support and create, as we connect with live music. Best of all, PBL! is the the unique chance to see veteran performers pass the torch to the next generation of blossoming young talent. The line-up always features a mix of veteran and rising star performers from the world of piano bars, cabaret and Broadway.
This week’s guests are Leslie Anderson, Matt Berman, Elaine Brier, Rick Crom, Bruce Ensinger, Lisa Hall, Kevin Scott Hall, Kelly Howe, Jim Keefe, David Meadows, Rick Peets, Traci Reynolds and Cayte Thorpe, plus Mystery Guests and MORE!
Join us this TUESDAY, December 22nd at 7:15 pm ET at www.facebook.com/PianoBarLive, on BroadwayOnDemand.com or on YouTube @PianoBarLive
For over fifty-six years, 55 Grove Street in Greenwich Village was the address of several venerable NYC institutions, which variously operated as a piano bar, cabaret and comedy club. Established in 1951, the legendary space, originally known as Upstairs at the Downstairs, became the cradle of New York City cabaret. In the 1950s, under the direction of Tony Award-winning actor Hal Holbrook, the club began its reputation as a dynamic platform for new and emerging talent. It soon established itself as a place where performers seeking to launch their careers and hone their craft found a welcoming home. Over the decades, through several changes in ownership, the club continued to be a vibrant part of the flourishing nightlife scene in New York City.
During the 1960s, with Jan Wallman at the helm, the club helped launch the careers of a multitude of stars of the day including Woody Allen, Dick Cavett, Barbra Streisand, Joan Rivers, Richard Pryor and Rodney Dangerfield. In 1979 the space was renovated and rechristened The Duplex by Erv Raible and Rob Hoskins. These beloved entrepreneurs also opened Don’t Tell Mama on West 46th Street and Brandy’s on the Upper East Side, creating a mini-circuit with a tightly knit family of piano bar performers. Performers in the cabaret room included Karen Mason, Nancy LaMott, Lina Koutrakos and Sharon McNight, to mention just a few.
In the mid 1980s the then owners of 55 Grove Street, Larry Shumel and Rick Panson, continued to keep the place vibrant with a party going on every night in thr downstairs piano bar, while upstairs booking classic cabaret as well as Friday and Saturday night comedy shows (booked by Angela Scott and Maxine Lapiduss). Jon Stewwart, Brett Butler, Caroline Rhea, Joy Behar and Mario Cantone all graced its stage.
In 1990 the club continued to be a center of the piano bar and cabaret worlds when it became Rose’s Turn, owned and operated by Rose Pham and managed by her son Henry Pham. During that time the piano bar became one of the busiest music venues in the city, keeping the nightlife going into the wee early hours on Grove Street, along with its neighbors Marie’s Crisis, Arthur’s Place and The Five Oaks. Celebrities including Liza Minnelli and Olivia Newton-John stopped in to join the fun. For seventeen years, Rose’s Turn continued the long traditions of piano bar and was a West Village institution until its closing in 2007.
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