Piano man Michael McAssey hosts Piano Bar Live! tonight, Tuesday, May 19th at 7:15 pm, following New York City’s 7 O’Clock Cheer. This week’s guests will be David Edwards, Kelly Briggs, Joan Ryan, Elora Von Rosch, JD Smurthwaite and Jim Caruso. Broadway veteran and recording artist Lisa St. Lou, along with her partner, grammy-nominated songwriter Tor Hyams, will also being joining PBL! this evening.
PBL! is the 2020 MAC (Manhattan Association of Cabarets) Award winner for Show of the Year “for excellence in getting the word out about Cabaret and Piano Bar” through live-streams from The Duplex Cabaret and Piano Bar and Brandy’s Piano Bar in 2019.
Join us this TUESDAY www.facebook.com/PianoBarLive Take a break from your busy day and let’s have some fun! …because the Piano Bar is that special place where we can gather, entertain, support and create as we connect with live music.
David Edwards and Michael McAssey have known each other for decades and have collaborated on many theatre and cabaret projects. David made his professional debut as a child in the Broadway musical The Rothschilds. Other Broadway/National Tour credits include The Producers and By Jeeves. Off-Broadway, he was the final “El Gallo” in the record-breaking original run of The Fantasticks and starred in the critically acclaimed revival of Room Service. Other New York credits include The Roar of the Greasepaint…, That’s Life, Bittersuite, What’s a Nice Country Like You Doing in a State Like This?, Zion, Company and Ionescopade. His film & TV work included “Belly,” “The Fantasticks: Try to Remember,” “Meshuggah-Nuns TV Special” and “The Good Wife.” David has sung with NY City Opera, Virginia Opera and Skylight Opera Companies and appeared as a concert soloist with the El Paso and Albuquerque Symphonies and the Palm Beach Pops.
Kelly Briggs is an actor, singer and director who appeared on Broadway in Les Miserables and CATS. He also toured extensively with both productions. He has performed in over 40 regional productions and is the recipient of 10 BroadwayWorld Awards, The New York Nightlife Award and the Backstage Bistro Award. Kelly also performs in concert whenever he can. He is also the Vice President of KCKB Productions with his husband of 35 years, Keith Cooper. Along with Jerry Christakos and musical director John McMahon, he performed for many years in Lovely, a musical comedy.
Winner of Broadway World’s Top Female Artist, Joan Ryan’s four-octave range led to a recent appearance at famed Carnegie Hall. Joan originated the role of Judy Denmark/Ginger Del Marco in the cult favorite, Ruthless! Other starring roles including Little Shop of Horrors, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Footloose, Les Miserables, Suds, Brava Broadway, Nunsense and more. Joan’s self-titled debut solo recording remains a best-selling CD. Her other recordings include many original cast albums too numerous to mention. Television audiences know Joan from her long-running role as Tina Pallodrino, on “Saved by the Bell” and by her work in “The Young and the Restless.” Joan has also been featured in numerous guest starring TV roles and in variety shows. She was honored to have performed the national anthem for the Lakers and the Harlem Globe Trotters at the Staples Center. Ryan has also performed sold-out concerts nationwide and has sung in the world’s most prestigious venues, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and The Hollywood Bowl.
Elora von Rosch is a native New Yorker and a graduate of the Boston Conservatory and British Academy of Dramatic Arts. She is a working actor and has worked as a piano bar performer at Don’t Tell Mama NYC for several years. She has now found her new home at Pianist Envy in Jersey City, NJ.
JD Smurthwaite has performed for over 12 years and sung for almost 20. He has been seen in musicals, talent shows, a capella groups, bands and short films. Art and music has always be a part of JD’s life, and he’s excited to officially be part of the PBL family. He’d like nothing better than to perform as a piano bar player as his main artistic outlet.
The multi-talented Jim Caruso made his Broadway debut alongside Liza Minnelli in the Tony Award-winning Liza’s At The Palace!, singing, dancing and celebrating the music and arrangements of Kay Thompson and the Williams Brothers. He has won six MAC Awards for his nightclub appearances, performed with the New York Pops in a tribute to Kander & Ebb, with Rosemary Clooney celebrating Bing Crosby, and sang the songs of Hope and Crosby with Michael Feinstein at Carnegie Hall. Caruso was honored to sing with Barbara Cook, Lauren Bacall and a bevy of Broadway stars at President Clinton’s First State Dinner at the White House. For seventeen years, he has hosted the weekly showbiz bash Jim Caruso’s Cast Party at Birdland, Jazz at Lincoln Center and across the country. He also produces the Broadway at Birdland concert series and performs regularly with Billy Stritch at Bemelmans Bar at The Carlyle Hotel. His weekly radio segment, “A New York Minute with Jim Caruso” can be heard on Legends Radio 100.3 FM. His two CDs, The Swing Set and Caruso Live and In Person are available online.
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