Piano Bar Live! Streams This Tuesday, January 5th with Host Scott Barbarino, Plus Corinna Sowers Adler​, ​Nicholas Adler​, ​​Mark Hartman and More!

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.

Join us this TUESDAY, January 5th at 7:15 pm ET at www.facebook.com/PianoBarLive, on BroadwayOnDemand.com or on YouTube @PianoBarLive​

Corinna Sowers Adler has been nominated for the special Excellence in Theatre Education Tony Award every year since its inception in 2015. She made her solo New York Cabaret Debut in 2010 at the Laurie Beechman Theater in Stories…A Cabaret, and ever since has been performing solo shows in NYC at the Triad, the legendary Duplex Cabaret, Feinstein’s at Loews Regency, Metropolitan Room, Feinstein’s/54 Below and The Green Room 42, as well as the majestic Appel Room at Jazz at Lincoln Center where she debuted the concert series Music Over Manhattan. Sowers Adler has also performed Corinna Sowers Adler in: Something Beautiful around the US and in The Appel Room.

Additionally, Sowers Adler is Founding Artistic Director of NiCori Studios & Productions, with husband Nicholas Adler, dedicated to bringing Theatre and Vocal Arts Education programing and performance to the next generation of the American Songbook. Located in The Mansion at Oakeside Bloomfield Cultural Center in New Jersey. In December of 2011, the Adlers began the monthly series, Music at the Mansion, which was nominated for a 2012 MAC award and has continued as Music at the Mansion: Porch Performances during the summer and early autumn of 2020. 

Amanda Brasher is thrilled to be back at PBL! She has been a soloist with Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops, the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra, the Syracuse Symphony and Symphoria!, with programs ranging from classic Broadway to holiday pops. In the jazz idiom in NYC, she has appeared with Alex Nguyen and The Jazz Conceptions Orchestra as well as with Ben Stapp. Favorite theater roles include Maria in the Sound of Music (Capitol Rep ) and Laura in Swing! (Carousel Theater). Brasher has a BFA in musical theater from The Boston Conservatory and is a proud member of Actor’s Equity.

Mark Hartman is a New York-based pianist, coach, conductor, arranger and composer working in theater, cabaret and concerts around the world. He was the Associate Conductor of Sondheim On Sondheim and Avenue Q on Broadway. He has many Off-Broadway, regional, and national tours to his credit. In cabaret, Hartman has appeared as a music director, pianist and arranger at Café Carlyle, Birdland, Feinstein’s/54 Below, The Nikko, Eighty-Eight’s and many others. Piano bar appearances include New York City (all of them!) as well as internationally. He is the recipient of two MAC Awards and the Backstage Bistro Award for Music Direction.

Clay Johnson was raised in a family of preachers, teachers and Southern Gospel folk singers. He has performed as a crooner for the Fabulous Equinox Orchestra for almost 20 years, appearing nationally and in venues around the world. He is also co-founder of Equinox Entertainment, based in Savannah, Georgia, where he currently resides with his wife and children.

Ryah Johnson is a recent graduate of Savannah Country Day School, where she participated in every High School musical production, as well as appearing in musicals at the Savannah Children’s Theatre since elementary school. One of her favorite roles was Velma in her school’s production of Chicago during her senior year. Johnson is now interning with The Fabulous Equinox Orchestra for a year, where she’ll learn more about the music industry and grow as a performer before going to college in the fall.

Brandi Chavonne Massey is thrilled to be back at PBL! Her credits include West End Nala in Disney’s The Lion King, Broadway and National Tours as Nettie/Celie in The Color Purple, Elphaba in Wicked, The Radio in Caroline or Change and Lucy in Jekyll & Hyde. New York projects include Ghetto Superstar, singing background for Billy Porter and Sam Smith, and Linda Eder’s Christmas Concert, as well as playing Kira in Bare, Pam in Baby, Myrt in Carmen Jones at the York Theater, Muse in the Nike workshop of Ball with L.L. Cool Jay and Savion Glover and Dionne in Hair in the Encore series. Her favorite Regional credits include Lorrell in Dream Girls starring Jennifer Holiday at The Fox Theater, Amunt in Jasper in Deadland at The 5Th Avenue and Apollo Singer in The Buddy Holly Story.

Kevin Ray is a composer-lyricist whose piano-based pop-rock compositions mix elements of theater, jazz and soul music. His musical, Central Avenue Breakdown, received six awards at the 2011 New York Musical Theatre Festival, including Excellence in Music and Orchestration. It had a full production in July 2011 at the Daegu International Music Festival and a return engagement at NYMF 2012. He is currently working on a new project called Maquiladora about factory workers in the Mexican border town of Juarez. As a solo artist, Ray has recorded seven albums and is working on his new CD, Radio Silence. Additionally, his music was featured in the 2010 independent film Zerophilia. In 2006 he produced, wrote and recorded Seasoned Greetings—a CD with 12 original holiday songs performed by the wait staff of a renowned Theater District restaurant. That record went onto receive critical acclaim including a MAC nomination for the song Fat Christmas. For more information go to www.kevinray.net as well as iTunes and CDBaby.com.

JD Smurthwaite has performed for over 12 years and sung for almost 20. He has been seen in musicals, talent shows, acappella groups, bands and short films. Art and music has always been a part of Smurthwaite’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.