Manhattan Cabaret Arts  is a full service community for all things cabaret. We offer performance workshops, non-performance workshops, private coaching, private voice lessons, and direction of individual and group shows.  

Our mission is to keep  Cabaret alive and thriving!!

We celebrate the telling of stories through song. Our teaching and coaching approach is supportive, inclusive and nurturing. We firmly believe in the healing power of music and encourage any one with a song in their heart to lift up their voice in song.

 

Collette Black (Founder)

Collette was a driving force in the NYC Cabaret Community for decades.

She founded Manhattan Cabaret Arts with one major goal in mind: to create a cabaret family.

Collette was the recipient of a Nightlife Award and BroadwayWorld Award for Best Cabaret Director.

She was awarded the very first Bistro Award as an actor.

Collette  produced and directed over 200 cabaret acts and musical revues including the Mac and Bistro Award winning Our Life & Times Revue and the Nightlife Award winning production of What In The World? - which later became Newsical the Musical....the idea for that title also being Collette's.

She produced the 20th anniversary production of The Club at Rose's Turn, All The News Un-fit To Print at The Tropicana in Atlantic City and A Wing And A Prayer at Queens Theater In The Park.

Off-Broadway directing credits include Take It Easy at The Judith Anderson Theatre and The Newsical Revue at The John Houseman Theatre.

Other notable directing credits include several cabaret benefits for The Lawrence F. Hickey Center starring Magee Hickey, (PIX 11 News) Ernie Anastos, (Fox 5 News) and multi award winners Karen Mason, Stacy Sullivan and Jeff Harnar.

Her work has been featured on Entertainment Tonight and Fox TV News.

Collette served as an associate booking manager at Don't Tell Mama and 53 Above. Collette taught  Exploring Cabaret at the 92nd Street Y for 10 years.

She was  honored with a 2016  and 2017 MAC Award for outstanding technical direction.

Her legacy continues with the current Artistic Director, Eadie Scott.

 

Eadie Scott( Artistic Director)

Eadie has been singing since she was old enough to speak and studied privately in High School with an adjunct professor from SUNY Purchase. Eadie was selected for various choral competitions in High School and was cited in the Who’s Who of music.

Eadie has a BFA degree in Musical Theater from SUNY Fredonia and has been teaching voice for over 20 years. She was hand picked by the Director of the Vocal Department at SUNY Fredonia to teach voice for non majors in her senior year at Fredonia and performed an honors recital ( one of 2 candidates chosen for this prestigious honor) prior to graduation.

She has studied voice at the renowned Chautauqua Institute under the guidance of Marlena Malas.

As a theater performer Eadie has worked at some of the most highly regarded theaters in the country. As a cabaret performer, Eadie has worked extensively in New York City.

She has produced over 100 cabaret shows; group theme shows, and solo performers. In addition to directing weekly workshops she has directed She Rock, a tribute to 70's female rock legends, Jerry's Women, a revue of the music of Jerry Herman ( which she also wrote) . Eadie has been commissioned to write and direct several specific theme revues including Thou Swell, the music of Rodgers and Hart, and Face the Music, an Irving Berlin tribute show. 

Cabaret credits include: Our life and Times, Bistro award. What in the World?!, Nightlife award. Wished on the Moon: a tribute to Dorothy Parker, Laurie Beechman and Don’t Tell Mama. Are You Having Any Fun ?, The Duplex, Eighty Eights , Cabaret Magazine Award for best debut. Several featured appearances at Town Hall in The Mabel Mercer Cabaret Conventions.

Regional Credits include: Oliver: Mrs Bedwin (TUTS), Fiddler on the Roof : Golde (Fireside Theater), Man of La Mancha (TUTS), Fiddler on the Roof: Grandma Tzeitel / u/s Golde and Yente (Westchester Broadway Theater), Fiddler: Shaindel/ u/s Yente and Evita: Mama (Walnut Street Theater ), The Pirates of Penzance: Kate/ u/s Ruth (Pittsburgh Public ), A Christmas Carol : Mrs Fezziwig and My Fair Lady: Mrs. Hopkins (Geva). 

Theater credits In New York City : Newsical- original cast, Jonestown, the Musical (Fringe Festival), Voice of the City (York Theater).

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Ricky Ritzel (Musical Director)

has been a fixture on the nightclub and cabaret scene in NYC for over 35  years and, as Will Friedwald in the Wall Street Journal said, ‘He is the embodiment of the tradition.’ Ricky was recently named one of the 50 Most Influential People in Cabaret by Nightlife Exchange. His latest venture, RICKY RITZEL’S BROADWAY,  received the 2016, 2017 & 2018 MAC Award for Outstanding Recurring Series. He debuted his show, ‘Ricky Ritzel Sings Elaine Stritch’ at 54 Below and has received 18 Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs  Awards in10 different categories. Ricky was named Outstanding Person in the Arts in New Jersey by State Senator, Brian Stack and has performed all over the United States as well as London and Paris. An accomplished solo performer, Ricky has also accompanied such greats as Vivian Blaine, Ruth Warrick, Arthur Prysock, Varla Jean Merman, Julie Wilson, Lenora Nemetz , Nanette Fabray and Miss Coco. Ricky was featured musician/sidekick on MTV's '15 Minutes with Andy Warhol', Sandra Bernhard's Radio Show on SIRIUS Satellite network and was musical director for the Sally Rand Tribute at Town Hall featuring Bebe Neuwirth, Donna McKechnie, 

Julie Wilson, Carleton Carpenter, Marge Champion, Karen Mason and directed by Tony Stevens. With famed Chicago jazz vocalist Spider Saloff, Ricky created several award winning revues such as "1938", which was recorded on the Kopathetics label, "Porgy & Bess: a Cabaret Concert" and "Ira and Others".His performance as Jimmy Durante in "Schnozzola!" earned him critical raves and numerous awards. Ricky is half of the kooky "Lounge does Top 40" duo, THE LOUNGEOLEERS with 5 CD's on the Emenar label. Ricky has been seen in Las Vegas as Jimmy Durante in "Stop the Music!' with Sharon McNight as Sophie Tucker and toured with Leslie Anderson for 5 years performing every known work they could find by Johnny Mercer in 4 different revues. He is also proud to have served as the first Artistic Director for cabaret at the premiere season of the Gettysburg Festival , is on the Advisory Board of Directors for the Manhattan Association of Cabarets, of which he was President from 2006- 2009. 

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Paul Chamlin (Musical Director)

Paul Chamlin has been an integral part of the New York musical scene for over 30 years, where he has served as Musical Director and pianist for hundreds of cabarets shows and concerts as well as fully-staged musicals. Musical Theater Programs:  NYU/Strasberg, Herbert Berghof Studios, Marymount School, Molloy College, Cap 21, New School, Stella Adler, Circle in the Square, Paper Mill Conservatory. Musical Director: State Fair (Cap 21);Hello Dolly, Joseph.....High Society (Mac Hayden Theater);How to Succeed...(Blue Hill Troupe);Watch Your Step(Musicals Tonight);One Night With Fanny Brice, Mad About the Boy (Chip Deffaa Productions); Pal Joey, 70 Girls 70 (HB Studios).

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Rachel Kaufman (Musical Director)

Rachel Kaufman is a multi-instrumentalist who has music directed and/or played for well over 300 musicals and cabaret shows world-wide. She has played at just about every piano bar & cabaret room (on misc. instruments) in NYC, as well as ones in Chicago, St. Louis and Mykonos, Greece, in addition to numerous jazz clubs in NYC, either on piano or bass. Theater credits include: Off-B'way: Tale of Two Cities (10th year reunion concert at the Birdland Theatre), Goldstein: The Musical (with Megan McGinnis), Oliver! (with Brian Stokes Mitchell, James Barbour & Melissa Errico), Schoolhouse Rock Live!, and CYCLE (Composer); Tours: Rent, Phantom of the Opera, Ain't Misbehavin', Five Guys Named Moe, and Smokey Joe's Café; Regional: Tom Jones (North Shore), Hallelujah, Baby! (Arthur Laurents, dir.), and Golf: The Musical. Rachel can also be seen playing for auditions, classes, improv comedy groups, at churches, and, during the summer, she has played in the orchestra and atrium on cruise ships. She is also one of the accompanists for the renowned dance company American Dance Machine, where she has worked with such legends as Donna McKechnie, Baayork Lee, and Pat Birch. In other settings, she has worked with many Broadway greats, including Donna Murphy, Laura Osnes, Christopher Sieber and Jeremy Jordan, just to name a few. Rachel holds a B.A. in Music (and Russian) from the University of Chicago. 

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