The Central Park Café is bringing the finest in New York cabaret to their restaurant across the street from Carnegie Hall. les chanteuses de cabaret featuring Meg Flather, Karen Mack, Rosemary Loar and Tracy Stark will be presented in an inaugural event produced by Marcello Rollando & Jay Michaels

The event will take place on Saturday Night, March 9 at 7:00 p.m.

Sidney Myer, a legendary figure in Cabaret, told the NewYork Times recently, “Cabaret has always offered performers an opportunity tobe themselves… In cabaret, it’s all your vision, your dream. Barbra Streisandwas a cabaret star before she was a star in movies or theater.” With that in mind, the Central Park Café has brought together legendary names from the New York cabaret scene and Broadway to launchits new venue. Each a visionary performer with a story, a vision, a dream.

Maestra Tracy Stark, a definitive name in the cabaret world brught together for this event three of the genre’s most visisble names. Meg Flather, Karen Mack, and Broadway alum, Rosemary Loar.

“It happened when I moved to NYC,” Cabaret artist KAREN MACK says with her trademark exuberance, “I grew up in NE Pennsylvania, there weren’t any clubs or music rooms, but there were several theaters. So if you wanted to sing, you did musicals, and that’s what I did and where I thought I’d end up,” she continued bridging then and now.
But it was in college where she realized if there’s only one game in town … leave town!

“I discovered lots of other ways to make music and be creative, and I moved into vocal jazz and ensemble singing, as well as improv and songwriting,” this gave her the last push to move to NYC where the first thing she did was check out piano bars and cabaret performance classes.” She entered into an accepting and joyous community and an artform that allowed her nature power to shine.

I’d say we sat down with Karen but really she commanded the room from the start.  

Who or what inspires you?

I love female jazz singers – Nancy Wilson, Carmen McRae, Anita O’Day, Ella, Sarah Vaughan, Carol Sloane, Catherine Russell, Janis Siegel, Maureen Budway, Gabrielle Stravelli, Nicole Zuraitis. I spend a lot of time seeing live shows in all kinds of rooms – you learn from everything! And I’ve always loved listening to records. Right now, I’m especially into horn players – Blue Mitchell, Chet Baker, Stan Getz, Clifford Brown, Danny Bacher, Benny Benack III, Nadje Noordhuis. I’m fascinated by how great musicians find a way to convey the emotion and story within songs without being able to share the lyric verbally, and how that influences their phrasing, dynamics, melodic choices for improvisation. And I’m always inspired to see more women on the bandstand, especially young female musicians starting out that aspire to build great skills and lead their own bands. 

What influences your song choices? 

At our core, singers are storytellers, so lyrics are important to me and the craft of the song itself. Is the melody interesting? Is the range and the kind of poetry in it a good fit for my voice? And is there room for me to bring something to it that’s authentic and unique for the listener, not just for my own enjoyment. I’m definitely a hybrid – I listen to lots of different styles, classic to contemporary. I’m also really into shining light on songs by writers that may be underexposed, including those known more as performers than writers. In our Pangea residency downtown, my duo partner Elliot Roth and I focus a lot on this – it’s a great gig to showcase new material (next up for that is Tues 3/12.)

What is your fondest cabaret memory? 

Impossibly hard to pick just one – I’ve seen so many wonderful performers. Today the memory that comes to mind is seeing Karen Akers with Alex Rybeck on piano at The Beach Cafe – the way she held that room, how she made theatrical moments feel so intimate, and so exactly right for that time and place. This was a music space in a cozy restaurant. I’d only ever seen her on big stages before, where she was equally magical. I was knocked out by how she & Alex could make each moment as big or as small as they wanted, like a photographer deciding how to zoom in (or not) in a shot to bring something unexpected to the forefront, something there all the time, but you didn’t see it until they showed it to you.   

In this post-pandemic cyber obsessed world – what does the future hold for the artform of cabaret? 

I think more and more artists now consider virtual content and livestreaming a regular part of creative connection. It’s a good thing – it really expands our reach. I love being able to share my gigs with people that don’t live close enough to come in person, but thankfully want to be part of that moment, that conversation, in real time. I do hope, though, that people keep stepping up to support our clubs and music rooms in person. That still feels like a slow build post-covid & there’s just no substitute for the vibe of a live room. Our clubs need us as much as we need them! 

What’s next for you? 

Very excited to be part of kicking off the new music series at Central Park Cafe on March 9th. They have a lovely reputation for good food and good service, and now to see the owners enthusiastic about bringing live music to the mix is really great. The vocal group I’m in THOSE GIRLS are in Susie Mosher’s “The Line-Up” at Birdland on March 26th. I’m a grateful Bistro Award winner this year for Variety in Cabaret Performance – that’s a press driven award, and winners from all categories get to perform at the ceremony on April 1st. I’m in Pangea’s front lounge with my jazz/swing partner Elliot Roth the second Tuesday of every month at 8:30pm. AND if you’re a “plan ahead” type, we do a holiday show on December 1st at The Triad. No, it is not too early to put that in your phone.