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, he’s 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.
NiteLife Exchange (NLE) asks Michael McAssey (MM) Six Questions:
NLE: You’ve certainly done it all––acted, sung, music directed, conducted and more; is there one activity that gives you more satisfaction than the others? If so, why?
MM: I started as an actor/singer/dancer way back when. It wasn’t until high school when I started to play rehearsals for some shows. Pianists were hard to come by, I guess. When I apprenticed at Little Theatre On The Square in Sullivan, IL during college (EI-EIU), they found out I could play so they made me play 2nd piano in the pit when I REALLY wanted to be onstage. However, after that summer I was hired to Music Direct a season at The Greenbrier in W.Va and I realized I had a second career. When I moved to NYC I started playing piano at Great Aunt Fanny’s on W. 46th Street for rep-show dinner and Sunday and Monday late nights. I was a terrible waiter so this was a good survival job!
NLE: What drew you particularly to cabaret? What was creating your first show like?
MM: While I was playing at Great Aunt Fanny’s, Erv Raible and Rob Hoskins were building Don’t Tell Mama across the street. They would come in for dinner and I was “adopted/kidnapped” by them and was one of three alternating pianists in the front room on Opening Night. From there, though terrified, I made my stand up cabaret debut at The Duplex (Erv and Rob’s first club, in addition to Brandy’s), and it went so well they booked me at Mama’s. Back then you had to audition and it was NOT easy to get a show there. I started with funny songs, a few ballads and a lot of personal stories.
NLE: What’s been your favorite acting role(s) and why?
MM: In Chicago, where I grew up, I did three productions each of You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown (Charlie Brown) and as Jesus in Godspell. Once I got to New York, things slowed a bit, so I was grateful to get hired to Music Direct shows if I wasn’t exactly right to be IN them. I made my Broadway debut singing and dancing (yes, DANCING) in Late Nite Comic, which ran about an hour and a half, LOL. Back to much music directing, until I was finally old enough to play Edna in Hairspray (two times so far) and Max Bialystock in The Producers (two times so far). I’ve done other shows, but those two tie for my favorites. Sometimes IN a dress, sometimes in a fedora!
NLE: As a youngster in your native Chicago, how old were you when you set your sights on New York City?
MM: I think I was in Junior High when I started to realize it. I wanted to be Ricky Ricardo and work nights at the Copa; I wanted to be Bing Crosby and own Holiday Inn. I loved any movie that took place in New York City and featured Broadway—Auntie Mame, The Women, Stage Door, etc (you get the picture).
NLE: You have a particular talent for the art form of the piano bar; what makes it special?
MM: I fell into it, actually. Like I said earlier, I started playing piano at GREAT AUNT FANNY’S and there I didn’t sing at all, just played dinner music. Slowly I started to sing, but only ballads because I couldn’t play fast and sing at the same time! The more I worked there, and then at Don’t Tell Mama, I got more comfortable. Piano bar, and cabaret as well for that matter, are special because they are PERSONAL. You interact with your audience. In piano bar you take requests and joke with people and feel the room. Do I do a ballad here? Up tempo? Comedy? Sing Along? In cabaret you have a set show though you still have that personal relationship with your audience. There’s nothing like it.
NLE: So many of us have been entertained and warmed by your “Morning Max” photos of Max the pug dog; how did this special relationship come about? Why has it been meaningful to share Max with us?
MM: One of my best friends in the world is Lynn Heiligman. I met Lynn in Atlantic City over 30 years ago through my friends Lenny Babbish and the late, great Pudgy. I was playing piano bar on weekends in AC and we just clicked. Instant family. When Broadway shut down last March I packed up a few things and went to stay with her for a couple of weeks until the pandemic was over. Little did I know I’d live there for eight months! Lynn has owned pugs for years. In April she was awaiting the arrival of her new boy, Max. He’s a rescue from the Northwest and was being flown in. Flights, of course, were delayed weeks and weeks but finally in May Max arrived. He’s been my buddy ever since and such a personality. But I love her other dogs just as much. Disco, Sammi and Abbie (who I call BEAN coz she looks like a little coffee bean). The photos naturally followed and I jokingly called one Your Morning Max—and a star was born!
Leave a Reply