The Manhattan Association of Cabarets presented The 39th MAC Awards on Monday, April 10, 2025, at a ceremony at NYC’s Peter Norton Symphony Space. In addition to announcing the 2025 MAC Award winners, special honoree awards were presented, including Lifetime Achievement Awards to TOVAH FELDSHUH and CHARLES BUSCH, a Board of Directors Award to BRANDY’S PIANO BAR, the Hanson Award to DIANE D’ANGELO, and through a new partnership between MAC and NiteLifeExchange.com, the first NiteLife Exchange Barry Levitt Jazz Award was presented to jazz singer MARIANNE SOLIVAN, in a show directed by AMY WOLK, produced by JULIE MILLER, and musical directed by JOHN BRONSTON.
Here are the 2025 MAC Award winners:
FEMALE VOCALIST: SUSAN MACK
No More Blues, The Susan Mack Quintet
Birdland, Jazz on Main, Maureen’s Jazz Cellar
MALE VOCALIST: TIM CONNELL
Tis the Season, It’s the Joy in Your Heart
The Green Room 42, Pangea
MAJOR ARTIST – FEMAL: TANYA MOBERLY
Standards
Don’t Tell Mama
MAJOR ARTIST – MALE: NICOLAS KING
Various
Post Office PTown, 54 Below, Davenport’s, Crooners
NEW YORK DEBUT – FEMALE: SHEREE SANO
Tension and Release – The Cole Porter I Know and Love
Salmagundi Art Room, Winchester Garden, The Ellington Room
NEW YORK DEBUT – MALE: MATTHEW MARTIN WARD
What I Love
Don’t Tell Mama
CELEBRITY ARTIST: GABRIELLE STRAVELLI
Birdland
ICON: ANDRÉ De SHIELDS
André De Shields Celebrates The 40th Anniversary of Harlem Nocturne
54 Below
IMPERSONATION/CHARACTERIZATION/DRAG ARTIST: SHANNON DALEY
Love And Let Die: Confessions of a Bond Girl
Don’t Tell Mama
MUSICAL COMEDY PERFORMER: AMY WOLK
Amy Has Some Things to Wolk On
Don’t Tell Mama
DUO/GROUP: KAREN MACK AND ELLIOT ROTH
Twofer Tuesday, Live at The Sands, Elliot & Karen’s 3rd Ever Holiday Thing
Pangea, Crown and Anchor, The Triad
REVUE: JOE ICONIS AND FAMILY
Created, written, and directed by Joe Iconis
54 Below, The Laurie Beechman Theatre
RECURRING SERIES: THE LINEUP
Created and hosted by Susie Mosher, produced by Hope Royaltey
Birdland
EMCEE: SUSIE MOSHER
The Lineup
Birdland
TRIBUTE SHOW: CAROLYN MONTGOMERY
girlSINGER, A Celebration of Rosemary Clooney
Birdland, 54 Below
SPECIAL PRODUCTION: MAMA’S NEXT BIG ACT
Produced by Don’t Tell Mama and Lennie Watts, created by Lennie Watts, musical direction by Yasuhiko Fukuoka
Don’t Tell Mama
DIRECTOR: LENNIE WATTS
Sarah Carson/Strange Magic – A Musical Journey Through the Unconscious Mind (Don’t Tell Mama); M. Can Yasar/Turkish Rhapsody (Don’t Tell Mama); Deborah Zecher and Joshua Zecher-Ross/Family Matters: A Celebration of All Things Rodgers, Rodgers, and Guettel (Richard, Mary, and Adam) (Don’t Tell Mama); Shannon Daley/Love and Let Die: Confessions of a Bond Girl (Don’t Tell Mama); Joe Fox/Don’t Cry for Me – My Yeshiva (Don’t Tell Mama)
MUSICAL DIRECTOR: TEDD FIRTH
Susan Mack/No More Blues (Birdland), Carolyn Montgomery/girlSinger, A Celebration of Rosemary Clooney (54 Below), Melissa Errico/A Manhattan Valentine (Birdland), Marilyn Maye/By Request (54 Below), Sally Mayes/Now and Then (The Green Room 42)
TECHNICAL DIRECTOR: KELLY WOHLFORD
Renee Katz/Lost in his Arms: Renee Katz Sings Irving Berlin (Don’t Tell Mama); Andrea Marcovicci/Beyond Compare (Don’t Tell Mama); American Popular Songbook Society (Don’t Tell Mama); Yael Rasooly and Daniel Rein/Hymn to Love-A Cabaret with Piaf (Don’t Tell Mama); Goldie Dver/What a Man! – The Songs of Anthony Newley (Don’t Tell Mama)
ENSEMBLE INSTRUMENTALIST: RITT HENN, Bass
Amanda McBroom/Wintersong (Birdland); Ann Hampton Callaway and Liz Callaway/NY State of Mind (54 Below); Jeff Harnar/It’s Delovely (Birdland); Renee Katz/Lost in his Arms: Renee Katz Sings Irving Berlin (Don’t Tell Mama); Tanya Moberly/Standards (Don’t Tell Mama)
PIANO BAR SINGING ENTERTAINER – UPTOWN: ANNA ANDERSON
Don’t Tell Mama, Brandy’s
PIANO BAR SINGING ENTERTAINER – DOWNTOWN: MARIA GENTILE
The Duplex, Stonewall Inn
PIANO BAR INSTRUMENTALIST – UPTOWN: BILL ZEFFIRO
Le Rivage, Tudor City Steakhouse, Da Marino
PIANO BAR INSTRUMENTALIST – DOWNTOWN: DARNELL WHITE
The Nines, Soho Grand Club Room
SONG: BETTER PLACE
Music and Lyrics by Tracy Stark
COMEDY/NOVELTY SONG: THE TEACHERS I REMEMBER
Music by Matthew Martin Ward, Lyrics by Peter Napolitano
RECORDING (LaMott Friedman Award): KAREN MACK
Catch & Keep
MAJOR RECORDING: NATALIE DOUGLAS
Back to the Garden
