The Manhattan Association of Cabarets (MAC) has announced the nominees and honorees for the upcoming 40th Annual MAC Awards. The awards presentation and show will take place on Monday, March 23, 2026, at 7:00 PM, at Peter Norton Symphony Space. The MAC Awards show is produced by JULIE MILLER and directed by AMY WOLK. The musical director and leader of the MAC Awards Band is JOHN FISCHER.
In addition to the previously announced presentation of Lifetime Achievement Awards to Lillias White and Karen Akers, additional honorees are as follows: The Ruth Kurtzman Benefit Award will be presented to THE SEASON: GOLDIE’S KIDS! A benefit for ST JUDE CHILDREN’S RESEARCH HOSPITAL, created and produced by GOLDIE DVER, and the NiteLife Exchange Barry Levitt Jazz Award, an award presented in partnership between MAC and NiteLifeExchange.com, will be presented to the jazz duo of VICKI BURNS and JOE ALTERMAN.
THE 2026 MAC AWARD NOMINEES ARE:
FEMALE VOCALIST
CORINNA SOWERS ADLER
All That Matters
Don’t Tell Mama
DIANE D’ANGELO
Closing Credits
Chelsea Table + Stage, The Green Room 42, The Laurie Beechman Theatre
ANN KITTREDGE
Romantic Notions, When in Love, You Sleigh Me
Chelsea Table + Stage, Act2PV (Puerta Vallarta)
SUSAN MACK
‘Tis Autumn, The Susan Mack Quartet
Birdland, Jazz on Main
LINDA MIRONTI
Perfectly Imperfect
Don’t Tell Mama
DEBORAH STONE
String Theory
Don’t Tell Mama, The Green Room 42
EVELYN SULLIVAN
The Ev Sullivan Show
Don’t Tell Mama
MALE VOCALIST
FRANK DAIN
A Celebration 24 Years in the Making
Don’t Tell Mama
MICHAEL KIRK LANE
Right Where I Belong
The Laurie Beechman Theatre
FRANK McDONOUGH
Frank Sings Frank
Don’t Tell Mama
JOHN MENDIOLA
Are You Ready for Me?
Don’t Tell Mama
MAJOR ARTIST – FEMALE
MARIEANN MERINGOLO
Shades of Love, You Must Believe in Spring, A Century of Song: Celebrating Alan and Marilyn Bergman, In the Spirit:2025
Chelsea Table + Stage, 54 Below
CHRISTINE PEDI
Snow Bizness/With a Little Help from My Friends
The Laurie Beechman Theatre
STEPHANIE POPE
Livin’ It Up!, Simple Joys
54 Below, Josephine’s Cabaret at Club Café
MAJOR ARTIST – MALE
ARI AXELROD
A Place for Us: A Celebration of Jewish Broadway, Now That That’s Off My Chest
54 Below, The Green Room 42
SEAN HARKNESS
Just Me
Don’t Tell Mama
CRAIG POMRANZ
Berlin to Dylan to Simon and Garfunkel: It’s All Kosher!, It’s All Kosher: Part 2!, It’s The Holidays!
Don’t Tell Mama
NEW YORK DEBUT – FEMALE
BILLIE BROUSE
Thinking Out Loud
Don’t Tell Mama
TERRI DANNENBERG
Everything!
Don’t Tell Mama
JANICE McCUNE
Let’s Start Tomorrow Tonight!
Don’t Tell Mama
GRACE PEÑA
Heartstrings!
54 Below, Don’t Tell Mama, The Green Room 42
DEBI TONI
Double Trouble
Don’t Tell Mama
NEW YORK DEBUT – MALE
ETHAN MATHIAS
Outside the Lines
Don’t Tell Mama
MACON PRICKETT
Macon: His Own Way
54 Below
CELEBRITY ARTIST
ANN HAMPTON CALLAWAY
The Best of Ann Hampton Callaway
54 Below, Crazy Coqs, many more
LIZ CALLAWAY
Liz Callaway Sings Stephen Schwartz
54 Below
NATALIE DOUGLAS
Sammy at 100, Juneteenth Jubilee 2025 The Nat Pack: Sammy & Nat & Stevie & Joe, Tributes: The ‘70s
Birdland
CHRISTINE EBERSOLE WITH BILLY STRITCH
54 Below
NORM LEWIS
54 Below
DUO/GROUP
MARIA CORSARO AND LESLIE VINCENT
Jazz à Deux
Chelsea Table + Stage, Josephine’s Cabaret at Club Café, Jazz on Main, Deer Head Inn
JENNIE LITT AND MIRABELLE ALPHER
Relatively Singing!
Don’t Tell Mama
CHRISSY AND DAN PARDO
Dreams Don’t Come True in Pennsylvania, Christmastide for Empire State Ride, Wine Hour at the Hotel Edison
Chelsea Table + Stage, The Stonewall Inn, The Hotel Edison
THE RANDY ANDYS
Vintage Valentines, Spring Swing, Holiday Spectacular
Pangea, The Green Room 42
MAJOR DUO/GROUP
LAURA AND LINDA BENANTI
Mothers Know Best
54 Below
JIM CARUSO, BILLY STRITCH and KLEA BLACKHURST
A Swinging Birdland Christmas
Birdland
ERIC COMSTOCK AND BARBARA FASANO
Spring Swing, 20 For 20, Painting the Town, So Nice to Come Home To
Birdland, Don’t Tell Mama, Brownville Concert Series
RECURRING SERIES
THE AMERICAN POPULAR SONG SOCIETY SERIES
Created, produced, and hosted by Linda Amiel Burns
Don’t Tell Mama
BARBARINO’S BIG NITE OUT
Produced by Scott Barbarino
Lips Drag Queen Show Palace
JIM CARUSO’S CAST PARTY
Created, produced, and hosted by Jim Caruso
Birdland
THE LINEUP
Created and hosted by Susie Mosher, produced by Hope Royaltey
The Green Room 42
SCAT SCHOOL
Created and hosted by Kelly Wohlford
Don’t Tell Mama
SONDHEIM UNPLUGGED
Created by Phil Geoffrey Bond, produced by Lucia Spina and Rob Maitner
54 Below
SPOTLIGHT ON YOU OPEN MIC
Produced and hosted by Natasha Castillo, co-created with John Koprowski
53AboveBroadway
EMCEE
JIM CARUSO
Jim Caruso’s Cast Party
Birdland
GOLDIE DVER
Sneak Peek
Don’t Tell Mama
LENA MOY-BORGEN
Mama’s Next Big Act
Don’t Tell Mama
JUSTIN DYLAN NASTRO
Singnasium Game-A-Palooza, The Season: Goldie’s Kids, BSP Holiday Playlist
AMDA Studios, The Laurie Beechman Theatre, Chelsea Table + Stage
TRIBUTE SHOW
LUCILLE CARR-KAFFASHAN
8 Days A Week – 60 Years of Beatles Music
Don’t Tell Mama
DAWN DEROW
Sing Happy: The Wonderful Women of Kander and Ebb
The Triad, The Post Office Cafe
MARNIE KLAR
Karen Carpenter Covers
Don’t Tell Mama
LIORA MICHELLE
Songbirds of the Silver Screen
Don’t Tell Mama
SPECIAL PRODUCTION
JOE ICONIS AND FAMILY
Created, written, and directed by Joe Iconis
54 Below
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
PENZANCE-ISH
Book and music adapted by Jason Ellis and Ted Stafford, directed by Jason Ellis, musical direction by Ted Stafford
53AboveBroadway
THE BEAT OF A WANDERING HEART: THE SONGS OF MARTY SILVESTRI AND JOEL HIGGINS
Directed by Mark Nadler, score by Marty Silvestri and Joel Higgins
The Laurie Beechman Theatre
DIRECTOR
JAMES BEAMAN
Dan and Chrissy Pardo/Dreams Don’t Come True in Pennsylvania (Chelsea Table + Stage), Richard Skipper Celebrates (The Laurie Beechman Theatre), Goldie Dver/Sneak Peek (Don’t Tell Mama), Alex DeSuze/Nina & Sarah & Aretha & Alex (The Green Room 42), The Season: Goldie’s Kids (The Laurie Beechman Theatre)
JEFF HARNAR
Celia Berk/For the Record (54 Below), Christy Trapp/The Tender Trapp (Don’t Tell Mama), Renee Katz/Lost in His Arms (54 Below), Judi Mark/Merely Marvelous (The Triad)
BARRY KLEINBORT
Ann Kittredge/When in Love, Romantic Notions, You Sleigh Me (Act2PV Theater, Chelsea Table + Stage), Karen Mason/Encore-Nucopia, SPF, Just in Styne (Birdland, Don’t Tell Mama), Madelaine Warren/Warren Sings Fields (Don’t Tell Mama), Lorna Dallas/Snapshots (Chelsea Table + Stage), The Kleinbort Collection (Birdland)
LINA KOUTRAKOS
Deborah Stone/String Theory (Don’t Tell Mama, The Green Room 42), Diane D’Angelo/Closing Credits (The Laurie Beechman Theatre, Chelsea Table + Stage, The Green Room 42), Dorian Woodruff/Forever Me with Love (Chelsea Table + Stage), Terri Dannenberg/Everything! (Don’t Tell Mama), Juliet Ewing/Simply ‘S Wonderful: The Magic of Gershwin (Chelsea Table + Stage)
TANYA MOBERLY
Frank McDonough/Frank Sings Frank (Don’t Tell Mama), Becca Kidwell/Love Songs (Don’t Tell Mama), Dan Thaler/Life in 3D (Pangea), Steve Magnussen/That Happy Feeling (Don’t Tell Mama), Michelle Della Fave/Diggin’ Life (Don’t Tell Mama)
MUSICAL DIRECTOR
CHRISTOPHER DENNY
Ann Kittredge/When in Love, Romantic Notions, You Sleigh Me (Act 2PV, Chelsea Table + Stage), Karen Mason/Encore-Nucopia, SPF, Just in Styne (Birdland, Don’t Tell Mama), Madelaine Warren/Warren Sings Fields (Don’t Tell Mama), Lorna Dallas/Snapshots (Chelsea Table + Stage), The Kleinbort Collection (Birdland)
YASUHIKO FUKUOKA
Michael Kirk Lane/Right Where I Belong (The Laurie Beechman Theatre), Mama’s Next Big Act (Don’t Tell Mama), Robbie Rozelle (54 Below), Anthony Nunziata/Christmas and You (The Laurie Beechman Theatre), Anne-Marie Kavula/Songs for a Midlife Crisis (The Laurie Beechman Theatre)
SEAN HARKNESS
String Theory (The Green Room 42, Don’t Tell Mama), Kumara (West Side Community Garden), Sophia Ramos/No Parental Guidance (Pangea), New York Irish Center Christmas (New York Irish Center), Broadway by Guitar (54 Below)
DARYL KOJAK
Laurie Krauz/Sets (Don’t Tell Mama), Audrey Appleby/A Seduction Tour (Gardenia, Pangea), Deborah Stone/String Theory (Don’t Tell Mama), Jo Walker and Vayle/Two for the Road (Don’t Tell Mama), Carolyn Montgomery/Girl Singer (Long Beach Public Library)
ALEX RYBECK
Jeff Harnar/Confessions of a New Yorker (54 Below), Lee Roy Reams/Me and Betty (54 Below), Liz Callaway/The Wizard and I (54 Below), Karen Akers/Come with Me to Paris (Birdland), Lee Roy Reams/42nd Street (54 Below)
TRACY STARK
Meg Flather/Walk Home (Don’t Tell Mama), Kim David Smith/Comme Un Folle (Post Office Café, Joe’s Pub), Justin Dylan Nastro/Live and In Person Whether You Like It or Not (Don’t Tell Mama), Ethan Mathias/Outside the Lines (Don’t Tell Mama), Linda Mironti/Perfectly Imperfect (Don’t Tell Mama)
BILLY STRITCH
Jim Caruso’s Cast Party (Birdland), A Swinging Birdland Christmas (Birdland), Christine Ebersole (54 Below)
TECHNICAL DIRECTOR
ADAM DeCARLO
Janice McCune/Let’s Start Tomorrow Tonight (Don’t Tell Mama), Evelyn Sullivan/The Ev Sullivan Show (Don’t Tell Mama), Corinna Sowers Adler/All That Matters (Don’t Tell Mama), Gloria Bangiola/I Dreamed Last Night (Don’t Tell Mama), Bruno Giraldi/Love or Death (Don’t Tell Mama)
GIAN RAFFAELE DiCOSTANZO
The Inkwell Singers (Don’t Tell Mama), Taylor Beyer/Pride 2: The Pridening (Don’t Tell Mama), Meri Ziev/From 8 Tracks to Live Streams (Don’t Tell Mama), Steve Magnussen/That Happy Feeling (Don’t Tell Mama), Liora Michelle/Songbirds of the Silver Screen (Don’t Tell Mama)
SHERIDAN GLOVER
Eva Noblezada & Reeve Carney/An Evening with Eva Noblezada & Reeve Carney (The Green Room 42), Mark William/Technicolor Dreams 2.0 (The Green Room 42), Karen Mason/Christmas! Christmas! Christmas! (The Green Room 42), Leslie Carrara-Rudolph/Bizarre Brunch (The Green Room 42), Marilu Henner/Memory Girl (The Green Room 42)
AMANDA RAYMOND
Lee Roy Reams/Me and Betty (54 Below), Marilyn Maye (54 Below), Charles Busch/My Leading Ladies (54 Below), Lorna Luft & Andrea McArdle/Two of a Kind (54 Below), Liz Callaway/The Wizard and I (54 Below)
KELLY WOHLFORD
Frank Dain/A Celebration 24 Years in the Making (Don’t Tell Mama), Karen Mason/More SPF! (Don’t Tell Mama), American Popular Song Society (Don’t Tell Mama), Terri Dannenberg/Everything! (Don’t Tell Mama), Billy Brouse/Thinking Out Loud (Don’t Tell Mama)
ENSEMBLE INSTRUMENTALIST
STEVE DOYLE, bass
Jim Caruso’s Cast Party (Birdland
DON KELLY, drums & percussion
Lucille Carr-Kaffashan/8 Days a Week (Don’t Tell Mama), Marnie Klar/Karen Carpenter Covers (Don’t Tell Mama), Bennett Silverstein/Just Sing (Don’t Tell Mama), Chad Peterson/Late Bloomer (Don’t Tell Mama)
MATT SCHARFGLASS, bass
Billie Brouse/Thinking Out Loud (Don’t Tell Mama), Lucille Carr-Kaffashan/8 Days a Week (Don’t Tell Mama), Scott Coulter & Friends/Silly Love Songs: 50 Years of #1 Hits (54 Below), Can Yasar/Turkish Rhapsody (Don’t Tell Mama)
DAVID SILLIMAN, drums & percussion
Carol Sue Gershman/Carol Sue Gershman at 90! (Don’t Tell Mama), Kati Neiheisel/London by Night (Pangea), Eve Steinberg/All Blues (Pangea), Sidney Myer/Sidney Myer Rides Again! (Pangea), Terri Dannenberg/Everything! (Don’t Tell Mama)
SKIP WARD, bass
Sue Matsuki/Sue Matsuki & The Gregory Toroian Trio (The Cutting Room), Terri Dannenberg/Everything! (Don’t Tell Mama), Sidney Myer/Sidney Myer Rides Again!/(Pangea)
PIANO BAR SINGING ENTERTAINER – UPTOWN
ELAINE BRIER
Don’t Tell Mama
TARA MARTINEZ
Don’t Tell Mama
LAUREN MUFSON
Brandy’s
JENNIFER PACE
Brandy’s
JON SATROM
Don’t Tell Mama, Brandy’s
PIANO BAR SINGING ENTERTAINER – DOWNTOWN
SUSAN CAMPANARO
The Stonewall Inn
YVETTE MONIQUE CLARK
Marie’s Crisis
MARIA GENTILE
The Stonewall Inn, The Duplex
TYLER KENT
Marie’s Crisis
MADDIE McCLOUSKEY
Marie’s Crisis
MILES WHITTAKER
The Stonewall Inn
PIANO BAR INSTRUMENTALIST – UPTOWN
NATE BUCCIERI
Don’t Tell Mama
GERRY DIEFFENBACH
Don’t Tell Mama
DAN PARDO
The Townhouse, Don’t Tell Mama, Brandy’s
BILL ZEFFIRO
Da Marino, Tudor City Steakhouse
PIANO BAR INSTRUMENTALIST–DOWNTOWN
DAN DALY
Marie’s Crisis
BRANDO(N) JAMES GWINN
Marie’s Crisis
KENNEY GREEN-TILFORD
Marie’s Crisis
FRANCA VERCELLONI
Marie’s Crisis
SONG
A SOFT PLACE TO LAND
Music by Ned Paul Ginsburg, Lyrics by Hillary Rollins
I COULD BE A HERO
Music by Peter Millrose, Lyrics by Michael Colby
I USED TO BE YOU
Music by Maria Gentile and Lynn Portas, Lyrics by Maria Gentile
IT’S ALWAYS TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE
Music by Drew Paralic, Lyrics by Bob Levy
MISSING A SCREW
Music and Lyrics by Ava Nicole Frances
SWEET LOVE’S EMBRACE
Music and Lyrics by Paul Rolnick
TWO AT A TIME
Music and Lyrics by Marcus Goldhaber
COMEDY/NOVELTY SONG
A BUTT CALL
Music and Lyrics by John Forster
AUTUMN OF MY LIFE BLUES
Music and Lyrics by Ted Georgaklis
HEATHER
Music and Lyrics by Tom Toce
IT’S SUNNY
Music by Amy Engelhardt, Lyrics by Seth Christenfeld
ODE TO A CODE
Music and Lyrics by Marc Segan
TOO MUCH LOVE
Music by Tracy Stark, Lyrics by Mark Dundas Wood
RECORDING (LaMott Friedman Recording Award)
MARIA CORSARO
Love Makes the Changes
FRANK DAIN
I’ve Had a Love
BRIAN DE LORENZO
Toast of the Town, Vol 1
AVA NICOLE FRANCES
The Dream That I See
BOB LEVY (Featuring Various Artists)
Live, Love & Laugh: The Ronny Whyte and Bob Levy Collaborations
MAJOR RECORDING
D.C. ANDERSON
Songs Stay Sung
ARI AXELROD
A Place for Us: A Celebration of Jewish Broadway
ERIC COMSTOCK AND BARBARA FASANO
Painting the Town
CHIP DEFFAA AND FRIENDS
Chip Deffaa and Friends: Down in Honkey Tonk Town
PHILLIP OFFICER
You Fascinate Me So – Phillip Officer Salutes Mabel Mercer
For tickets, click here. For more information, visit macnyc.com
Symphony Space is located at 2537 Broadway at 95th Street in New York City.
