Piano Bar Live! (PBL!) streams this Tuesday, March 2 at 7:15 pm ET, celebrating Chicago piano bar and cabaret, co-hosted by Scott Barbarino and Russ Goeltenbodt, with guests Mark and Ann Burnell, Karen Mason, Michael McAssey, Beckie Menzie, Judy and Bernie Rice, and Carolyn Wehner.
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.
Join us this TUESDAY, March 2nd at 7:15 pm ET at www.facebook.com/PianoBarLive, on BroadwayOnDemand.com or on YouTube @PianoBarLive
Anne Burnell is a founding member of Chicago Cabaret Professionals (CCP) and currently serves as president. Appearances include Epiphany Center for the Arts, WDCB Jazz Salon, Logan Center for the Arts, Auditorium Theatre, Pianoforte, Mabel Mercer Foundation and CSO’s African American Network. Anne directed CCP’s Jazz at the Cabaret at Victory Gardens Theater. Burnell Music streams live on Thursdays; all recordings available on BurnellMusic.com
Mark Burnell trained singers for 10 years at Carnegie Mellon University, where he earned his MFA. He has performed in New York, Zurich, Geneva, Paris, Freiburg and Amsterdam. His discography includes Summer Days & Dreamy Nights and Blues In The Night (with Anne Burnell). Burnell and Anne have streamed weekly online shows since March 2020.
Russ Goeltenbodt has performed sold-out concerts at the Skokie Theatre and Davenport’s, and as regular guest singer at Petterino’s Monday Night Live, has continued with his musical cabaret at Drew’s On Halsted, where he has been Entertainment Director since November 2018. Goeltenbodt, with producer and “Chicago Queen of Cabaret,” Denise Tomasellos have brought back the supper club experience there, which had all but disappeared from the Chicago scene. This is Goeltenbodt’s second appearance on Piano Bar Live! having previously been a guest a little more than a year ago at Brandy’s.
Most people know Karen Mason as an award-winning Broadway star, but in the world of cabaret and piano bars she’s one of our own. Mason has performed at The Duplex on Grove Street where she could be found singing in the piano bar, doing a promo before her show and hanging out afterwards. Chicago native Mason is a 13-time MAC Award-winner (Major Female Vocalist for six years in a row) and was recently the recipient of the 2019 MAC Lifetime Achievement Award. She also won the 2006 Nightlife Award for Major Female Vocalist and has three Bistro Awards. Theatrically, Mason was recently seen as Madame Giry in the North American Premier of Love Never Dies, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s sequel to The Phantom of the Opera. Other roles include starring as The Queen of Hearts in Broadway’s Wonderland, the original Tanya in Abba’s Mamma Mia! (for which she received a 2002 Drama Desk nomination as Best Actress), Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard, Velma von Tussel in the final Broadway company of Hairspray, Mazeppa in Jerome Robbins’ Broadway, Rosalie in Carnival (Drama Desk nomination) and many more. Mason won the Outer Critics Circle Award for her performance in And The World Goes ‘Round and starred Off-Broadway in her own show, Karen Mason Sings Broadway, Beatles & Brian.
The multi-talented Michael McAssey is an actor, singer, pianist, conductor, musical director, cabaret entertainer and more, who’s had a successful career on stage and in television. Lately, the Chicago native has been front and center behind the piano on his own Open Mac piano bar stream. He was also recently a host of the MAC Award-winning Piano Bar Live! McAssey made his cabaret debut in 1982 at the Duplex and went on to play major clubs in the US and abroad. He made his Broadway debut in Late Nite Comic and has played regionally is many hit shows such as Hairspray, The Producers, The Man Who Came to Dinner, Gypsy and more, as well as conducting and music directing many other hit shows. He was famously the blind pianist-singer, George Baldwin, on TV’s “The Guiding Light,” and a headliner with RSVP Cruises for a decade. His CDs include How Long Has It Been and Requests, to name a few.
Beckie Menzie has appeared at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center Chicago’s Auditorium Theatre and Park West, as well as at concert halls, and with art series and symphonies across the country. Menzie serves as a music director for Michael Feinstein’s Songbook Academy and performs regularly with Tom Michael, as well as the trio, Girls Like Us. www.beckiemenzie.com
A past president of Chicago Cabaret Professionals, cabaret artist Bernard Rice has appeared at Davenport’s Piano Bar and Cabaret, Le Piano, Petterino’s Monday Night Live and Skokie Theatre, as well as Drew’s on Halsted and other venues. An Equity actor, he’s made hundreds of appearances on stage in many dozens of roles.
Judy Rice is a professional actor, singer and director. She’s the Cat Lady in METHOD products’ national commercial. Theatre credits include Rosemary in Picnic, Golde in Fiddler on the Roof and many more. As a cabaret performer, Rice has sold out shows at many of Chicago’s cabaret venues.
Carolyn Wehner is a Milwaukee-based singer-pianist, performing regularly for a variety of audiences throughout Wisconsin and the greater Chicagoland area. She is a longtime member of Chicago Cabaret Professionals, performing at venues that include Davenport’s Cabaret and Drew’s on Halsted. During the pandemic shutdown she has kept busy with live-streamed Cocktails With Carolyn shows on Facebook. Wehner debuted on Piano Bar Live! this past August and has enjoyed several return visits. www.pianistvocalist.com
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