Nicolas King to Perform at Birdland Theater in February

King’s concert will feature Russ Kassoff on piano, Steve Doyle on bass, and Daniel Glass on drums.

By: Jan. 27, 2023
Nicolas King to Perform at Birdland Theater in February
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BIRDLAND THEATER will present Nicolas King - the celebrated pop and jazz vocalist on Thursday, February 9 at 8:30 PM. King's concert will feature Russ Kassoff on piano, Steve Doyle on bass, and Daniel Glass on drums. "This show is my return to Birdland for the first time in four years," says King. "So it's a look back at the last few years, some songs that got me through a few challenges, some old favorites, some new songs, and just an all-around old fashioned nightclub act!" There is a $35 music charge. Birdland is located at 315 West 44th Street in New York.

Nicolas King has been performing since age four. He was seen first on Broadway in Beauty and the Beast, then in A Thousand Clowns opposite Tom Selleck, and Hollywood Arms, directed by Hal Prince, all before age 12. Other credits include eight consecutive annual performances on "The Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon," Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, "The View," NBC's "Today" show, "Liza & David," "Sally Jesse Raphael" and twice on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno." Other career highlights include originating the role of "Oscar" on Discovery Kids' "Kenny the Shark," as well as over two dozen national Television commercials. His "Oscar Mayer Lunchables" commercial went international, and won the Golden Marble Award in 1998. Nicolas went on the road with his mentor Liza Minnelli to perform as her opening act from 2002-2012. The Mabel Mercer Foundation awarded Nicolas their "Julie Wilson Award" at the 2010 Cabaret Convention at Lincoln Center. He's the recipient of the 1995 Talent America Award, 2012 Bistro Award for Outstanding Performer of the Year, 2015 AMG Heritage Award for Artist of the Year, the winner of the 2019 Legends Award, as well as receiving a Grammy consideration for his album, On Another Note with jazz great Mike Renzi.

His latest album is Act One: Celebrating 25 Years of Recordings, released through Club44 Records, which looks back with a lively history of King's already multi-decade career. While focusing on his suave vocals, and showcasing both eternal standards and newer songs, the album boasts guest appearances from stage and screen luminaries Liza Minnelli, Tom Selleck, Jane Monheit, and Norm Lewis.

Will Friedwald - noted author and Wall Street Journal scribe - perhaps said it best: King "is a compact dynamo, a whirlwind of a performer who balances incredible excitement and high energy with restraint and nuance. He gets the crowd in his pocket within the first 30 seconds of walking out on stage and keeps them there for the rest of the night."

BIRDLAND THEATER will present Nicolas King on Thursday, February 9 at 8:30 PM. There is a $35 music charge and a $20 food and beverage minimum. Birdland is located at 315 West 44th Street (between 8th and 9th Avenues) in Manhattan. For reservations, please call (212) 581-3080 or visit www.BirdlandJazz.com.

UPCOMING HIGHLIGHTS AT

BIRDLAND THEATER AND BIRDLAND JAZZ CLUB


Every Monday at 9:30 PM - Birdland Jazz Club

Jim Caruso's Cast Party

"Jim Caruso's Cast Party," a New York institution for almost two decades, is a wildly popular weekly open mic night/variety show that has brought a sprinkling of Broadway glitz and urbane wit to Birdland since 2004. Called "show-business heaven" by The New York Times and "the gold-standard of open mic nights" by The Wall Street Journal, "Cast Party" will take advantage of the city's post-pandemic nightlife renaissance to keep presenting a potent mix of Broadway stars, jazz swingers and cabaret legends, in addition to new faces and rising talent from every genre. The buoyant, sharp and charming Caruso guides the entire affair, while musical genius Billy Stritch (Liza Minnelli, Tony Bennett) holds court at the ivories and leads the Cast Party Symphony Orchestra (Steve Doyle on bass and Daniel Glass on drums).

$30 + $20 food/drink minimum

Every Tuesday at 8:30 PM - Birdland Theater

The Lineup with Susie Mosher

"The Lineup with Susie Mosher" is a wild, anything-goes variety show featuring entertainers from the Broadway, cabaret and comedy scenes, ranging from today's hottest headliners to the best up-and-coming stars of tomorrow. Mosher - the noted actress and singer from Broadway and beyond, called "one of those talents you need to see to believe" by Time Out New York - hosts the spontaneous extravaganza every Tuesday, and each Lineup is unique and promises to deliver an unforgettable night of quintessential New York City entertainment.

$20 + $20 food/drink minimum

Every Saturday at 5:30 PM - Birdland Jazz Club

Eric Comstock & Barbara Fasano

Hailed as "the truest heir to Bobby Short" in The New York Times, pianist/singer Eric Comstock returns to Birdland with star bassist/composer Sean Smith with songs by everyone from George Gershwin to George Harrison. These two masters met on the Off-Broadway hit Our Sinatra (which Eric co-wrote) and have since worked separately and together around the world. Vocalist Barbara Fasano joins them at Birdland for a swinging Saturday supper where the music and stories are equally great. Sean Smith has been an integral part of the international jazz scene for over 25 years, and has performed with Gerry Mulligan, Phil Woods, Benny Carter, Art Farmer, Flip Phillips, Clark Terry and many others. Barbara Fasano has been praised as "a gorgeous, soulful singer who has an actor's intensity in whatever she sings" by The New York Post and "a lyrically sensitive interpreter" by The New York Times. Her latest album Busy Being Free is the recipient of the MAC Award for "Major Recording of the Year."

$30 + $20 food/drink minimum

January 30 (Monday) 7:00 PM - Birdland Jazz Club

Julie Halston - "Back by Popular Demand!"

The brilliant Tony Award-winning comedic actress returns to Birdland. With her show, :Back By Popular Demand," Ms. Halston will assess the state of the world, the state of her life and the state of her hair. Halston was awarded the Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award in 2021 for her advocacy on behalf of The Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation. Her extensive Broadway and Off-Broadway credits include Tootsie, You Can't Take It with You, Hairspray, Anything Goes, Gypsy, Twentieth Century, Fairycakes, and many more. She is a co-founding member of Charles Busch's legendary theatre company, Theatre-in-Limbo, and has garnered several Drama Desk nominations for her performances with the company including The Divine Sister, Red Scare on Sunset, and The Lady in Question. TV credits include the recurring role of Sharon on HBO's "Gossip Girl," "The Good Fight," "Almost Family," and "Divorce." She also reprised her popular character of Bitsy Von Muffling on HBO's "And Just Like That." She can be seen in the upcoming independent features The Sixth Reel, Intermedium, Simchas and Sorrows, and Dirty Rhetoric.

$40 tables / $40 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

January 30 (Monday) 8:30 PM - Birdland Theater

Ari Axelrod - "A Place for Us: A Celebration of Jewish Broadway"

Bistro Award winner Ari Axelrod brings his acclaimed award-winning show back to Birdland. Ari will celebrate songs and stories of Jewish composers and their contributions to the American Musical, including beloved songs by Bernstein and Berlin to Sondheim and Schwartz. A portion of ticket sales will be donated to Anti-Defamation League. Ari is a multi-hyphenate storyteller and Jewish activist. He received the 2022 Bistro Award for Theatrical Performance in Song. "A Place for Us" began with a sold-out run at Birdland, featuring six-time Emmy and Tony nominee Tovah Feldshuh, and has since grown to international acclaim performing to sold-out audiences around the world. In 2020, he received a MAC Award nomination for Best Male Vocalist and won the BroadwayWorld Award for Best Live Zoom Performance. Ari's first solo show, "Taking the Wheel," directed by Tony Award winner Faith Prince, and music directed by multiple MAC Award-winner Alex Rybeck, has been performed in numerous cities around the country. Ari's debut album, Ari Axelrod Live at Birdland, is now available on all streaming platforms.

$30 tables / $20 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

February 10-14 (Friday-Tuesday) 7:00 PM & 9:30 PM (2/10-12); 8:30 PM (2/13); 5:30 & 8:30 PM (2/14) - Birdland Jazz Club

Melissa Errico - "A Noir Romance"

The sound of a lonely saxophone, the melancholy patter of midnight rain, the velvet black of a city at night, and a chanteuse in a strapless gown...there's one word for it: Noir. This Valentine's week, Melissa Errico returns to Birdland with a seductive suite of Noir songs inspired by her album Out of the Dark. From songs like "Angel Eyes" to "The Man That Got Away," celebrate with Melissa the sexy, swinging music of voluptuous fatalism & doomed love, of smoky nightclubs and half-lit hotel rooms. "A Noir Romance" luxuriates in the darkness the reminds us of the light that love can bring. With her trademark sexy smarts, Errico will be a Valentine's femme fatale, feeling her way through a night-lit world of uncertainty and mischief with a sound that came to life in American movies of the forties, passed on to the world as a permanent emotional field. The show features classic standards - including selections by Harold Arlen, David Raksin, Harry Warren, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Michel Legrand and Stephen Sondheim - in addition to new songs written especially for her by David Shire, Peter Foley and Adam Guettel. Special guests will join the show nightly.

$30-$40 Table / $20-$30 Bar + $20 food/drink minimum

February 13 (Monday) 7:00 PM - Birdland Jazz Club

Steve Ross - "Falling in Love... Again"

Vocalist and pianist Steve Ross - widely heralded as "The Crown Prince of New York Cabaret" - in a special new show. Ross will sing

romantic ballads and a few light-hearted standards by Stephen Sondheim, Irving Berlin and of course Cole Porter. Ross has been a fixture of the cabaret community in Manhattan for over forty years. In 1981 he re-opened the legendary Oak Room at Manhattan's famed Hotel Algonquin where he held forth for over 15 years. He has appeared on Broadway in Noël Coward's Present Laughter and off-Broadway in his Fred Astaire tribute I Won't Dance. Internationally, he has performed in London, Paris, Tokyo, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Melbourne and Sydney as well as cabarets and theatres across America and on the high seas.

$40 tables / $30 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

February 20 (Monday) 7:00 PM - Birdland Jazz Club

Lina Koutrakos - "One Night Only"

Lina will be perfectly perched at Birdland with her stellar trio: Tedd Firth at the piano, David Finck on bass and Matt Zebrowski on drums. Witness the compelling synthesis of seasoned voice, joyful exuberance, unique interpretative, and storytelling skills, while Lina explores music from (mostly!) the Great American Songbook. Koutrakos is a singer, songwriter, director and teacher. She has been called "a walking Master Class" (The New York Times) and "The Pied Piper of song" (Billboard). From the Rainbow Room to the legendary Bottom Line she has successfully straddled the musical worlds of rock and cabaret simultaneously, earning her rave reviews and major awards across the country and in Europe.

$30 tables / $30 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

February 27 (Monday) 7:00 PM - Birdland Jazz Club

Amanda Green & Friends - "Merry February"

Come catch the post-post Holiday Spirit and join Birdland favorite, two-time Tony-nominated and Grammy-nominated songwriter and performer Amanda Green and her Amazing Friends in her least favorite month, for an evening of her hilarious and moving songs. Guest performers include Tony nominee Jenn Colella, two-time Grammy-winning Tamika Lawrence, and Tony-nominated Howard McGillin. Musical Direction is by James Sampliner. Amanda Green is a Tony Award-nominated lyricist and composer. She revised the book and lyrics for the recent revival of Kiss Me, Kate, starring Kelli O'Hara and Will Chase. She is currently writing lyrics for a new musical with Billy Crystal and Jason Robert Brown, and Female Troubles, an original musical comedy conceived by Amanda and composer Curtis Moore. Her Broadway credits include On the Twentieth Century revival, starring Kristin Chenoweth (Addt'l Lyrics); Bring It On, co-lyricist, with Lin-Manuel Miranda; Hands on a Hardbody, lyrics and co-composer; High Fidelity (Lyrics) TV: "Peter Pan Live!" on NBC (Addt'l Lyrics). As a performer, Amanda has appeared in concerts everywhere from Carnegie Hall to Birdland, Joe's Pub, 54 Below, and beyond. She has received two MAC Awards and a Bistro Award.

$40 tables / $40 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

February 27 (Monday) 8:30 PM - Birdland Theater

Karen Oberlin - "Bewitched: The Life and Lyrics of Lorenz Hart"

Oberlin - hailed as one of premier interpreters of the Great American Songbook by both The New York Times and London's Classical Source - will present this show with dazzling arrangements by Tedd Firth, fleshing out the complexities and genius of Lorenz Hart's songbook while delving into the details of this complicated, troubled and fascinating figure. Lorenz "Larry" Hart transformed the world of lyric writing, and we've never looked back. Where many songwriters had been rehashing love-story tropes, Hart delivered substance and sophistication to create songs that were fresh, substantial, and utterly contemporary. His legendary ability to create intricate yet conversational rhymes remains unparalleled. The show features iconic hits such as "The Lady Is a Tramp," "Manhattan," "My Romance," and "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered." Oberlin has received the Mabel Mercer Foundation's Award for Excellence in Cabaret and the New York Nightlife Award for Jazz Vocalist of the Year. She has had major engagements at the Algonquin's Oak Room, Feinstein's/54 Below, the Café Carlyle and Birdland, along with performances at Carnegie Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and Caramoor.

$30 tables / $30 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

April 6-7 (Thursday-Saturday) 7:00 PM & 9:30 PM - Birdland Jazz Club

Rickie Lee Jones - "Pieces of Treasure"

An exclusive six-show engagement from Rickie Lee Jones will preview her upcoming album Pieces of Treasure. Rickie Lee will be backed by Rob Mounsey on piano, guitarist Russell Malone, bassist Paul Nowinski and drummer Mark McLean.. A livestream option is for Friday, April 7 at 7:00 PM. Rickie Lee Jones' upcoming album Pieces of Treasure is a reunion with her lifelong friend, legendary producer Russ Titelman, co-producer of Jones' star-making debut and Pirates. Throughout her career, the Grammy-winning singer songwriter has interpreted an extraordinarily wide range of songs and has recorded celebrated jazz-leaning albums including Girl at Her Volcano and Pop Pop, but until now, she had never devoted an entire album to the American Songbook. "This album is as much about being human, the view of surviving - which means aging, and loving relentlessly - as it is about anything," says Jones. Pieces of Treasure will be out April 28 on BMG Modern Recordings. The first single "Just in Time" features Mike Mainieri on vibraphone. Her acclaimed memoir Last Chance Texaco is out now.

$80-100 tables / $50 bar + $20 food/drink minimum




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