Cabaret | Michael & Mardie

Michael Garin & Mardie Millit by Gene Reed

MULTI-AWARD WINNING PIANO/VOCAL DUO

"This husband-and-wife team always packs a powerful punch"

John Amodeo, Cabaret Scenes

"He's silly, she's sassy, and they're sexy in that way that can only be achieved through relationship longevity. They are modern-day vaudevillians, pink hair and all"

Stephen Mosher, BroadwayWorld

"A modern Louis Prima and Keely Smith."
- Joel Zwick, director of My Big Fat Greek Wedding

"[Michael is] a virtuoso musical wit; [Mardie] evokes both Bette Midler and a young Carol Burnett. "

- The New York Times

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Photo by Gene Reed

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CabaretFest Provincetown 2023: Sondheim by the Sea: A Celebration of His Musical Life & Work

John Amodeo | August 18, 2023

Mardie Millit and Michael Garin, Sorry/Grateful: Our View of Sondheim, Saturday, June 10, Crown & Anchor

This husband-and-wife team always packs a powerful punch, performing shows that disarm with humor but have important messages that sink in as the laughter subsides. This show was no exception, but it has a new spin—it is based on Millit’s own personal story. Still, Garin, provided vocals and is also the duo’s music director/pianist, put together some lovely arrangements for Millit’s very personal show about her special relationship with Sondheim, which she premiered at CabaretFest. To say anything more about her story would be a disservice to both performer and audience, but suffice it to say that she tells her story with humor and humility, and it unfolds until it becomes an astonishing tale of a lifelong connection between two unlikely mates. Millit lent her crisp, pitch-perfect voice, intelligent phrasing, and personal interpretations to “Sorry/Grateful,” “Anyone Can Whistle,” “Everybody Says Don’t,” and “Like It Was.” But she also gave Garin the spotlight, where he offered a piano mashup of “Losing My Mind” and “Stop! In the Name of Love,” both given a rock-and-roll beat. He also offered a fun “Hard Hearted Hannah,” a song he said Sondheim had wished he had written, combined with “Uptown/Downtown,” (cut from Follies). The high point of the show was a powerful duet medley of “Take Me to the World” and “Our Time” that soared into the stratosphere. This may be the first time Millit, with Garin’s able help, has told her story, but I hope it won’t be her last, because this is a story and a show that needs to be experienced.

2022 MAC AWARD WINNERS
DUO/GROUP

“Catch Michael Garin—pianist, singer, raconteur, mash-up maestro—with Mardie Millit serving as his comedy partner and lending a lustrous soprano”

Elysa Gardner, The New York Times

New York Times 2021 Fall Preview: Cabaret

“Silly, sassy, sexy...modern-day vaudevillians”

Stephen Mosher, BroadwayWorld.com

Read the Full Review:
Michael & Mardie at the West Bank Café

Michael & Mardie
Featured in the New York Times 2020 Cabaret Fall Preview!
(Click to read)

bio

MUSIC

“I loved their album. A modern Louis Prima and Keely Smith.”

Joel Zwick, Director of My Big Fat Greek Wedding

Chock full of ballads, peppy stuff, and their signature goofball original material, this eclectic mix of songs old and new will have you chortling, humming along and even wiping away a tear or two.

“Delightfully entertaining. A giddily fun romp!”

Michael Dale, BroadwayWorld.com

BIO

2022 MAC Award winners (Duo/Group) Michael and Mardie are back at work making music in Manhattan, in person and streaming live! Michael Garin is a Drama Desk Award-winning composer/lyricist/performer (for Song of Singapore) who has made a living entertaining for over three decades, playing piano and singing at the Monkey Bar, the Rainbow Room, the VIP room at Limelight, the Williamstown Theater Festival, and many more. Mardie Millit has a degree in opera and spent many years doing classic musicals (Eliza in My Fair Lady and Maria in The Sound of Music, to name a couple) in regional theatres around the country. They have been performing together since they met in 2005 — most notably their late-night Sunday shows at the legendary Elaine’s, from 2008 until its closing in 2011. They have brought their unique blend of musical virtuosity and goofy charm to numerous Manhattan clubs, delivering a wildly eclectic repertoire that veers from Cole Porter to Porter Waggoner, from Elvis Presley to Elvis Costello, and from Sondheim to Mozart.

They have been touring the country recently, bringing their patented cocktail of delicious musical mayhem to nightclubs in Provincetown, Boston, Connecticut and San Francisco, as well as their beloved New York City.

Michael is in his seventh year as the house pianist at the Roxy Hotel in Tribeca, where he plays his renowned musical mashups every Tuesday through Saturday from 6:00-8:00 pm EDT, and streams Wednesdays and Fridays live on Facebook from 6:00-7:00 pm EDT.

Mardie's popular LIVE FROM LOCKDOWN! streaming series (with Michael at the piano) was nominated for a 2020 BroadwayWorld Cabaret Award and a 2022 MAC Award, broadcasting weekly from the Chartreuse Living Room in their apartment in Manhattan. Mardie is also a member of the theatre company Dream Productions, where she has performed such roles as Joanne in Company and the Baker's Wife in Into the Woods at the Laurie Beechman and Triad Theatres in NYC.

Together, Michael and Mardie are collaborating on a new musical, Mary Astor's Purple Diary, based on the book by Ed Sorel, currently in development. They live in Harlem and have been married to each other since 2012.

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