IN COLLABORATION: GEORGE CALDERARO & STEVE ROSS

Cabaret legend Steve Ross will perform popular songs of the day, including medleys of “After the Ball,” “Hello! Ma Baby,” “Bird in a Gilded Cage,” and Irving Berlin’s glorious “I Love a Piano.” George Calderaro will speak on the landmark designation and other commemorations of Tin Pan Alley, NYC’s historic music publishing block (28th Street between Broadway & 6th Avenue). 

Steve Ross rose to fame as a cabaret entertainer during his lengthy sojourns at New York’s fabled Algonquin Hotel and Ted Hook’s Backstage in the late 1970’s. H has spent the ensuing decades singing and playing in smart clubs and at swank parties all over the world. The London Ritz, the Paris Ritz, the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo in addition to festivals in Hong Kong, Perth, Sydney and Adelaide  - these are but highlights of Steve’s appearances on six continents. I 1997 he made his Broadway debut in the acclaimed revival of Noel Coward’s Present Laughter performing at the keyboard as well as portraying the role of Fred, the Cockney valet, opposite Frank Langella. On the airwaves Steve has been a performer/host for radio series for both the BBC and National Public Radio. In 1992 he made his Off-Broadway debut in his own tribute to Fred Astaire, I Won’t Dance. He’s performed this show in London, Brazil, Australia and on the high seas. His many Songbook tribute shows include as their subjects  Noel Coward, Cole Porter,  Irving Berlin and several others.  Steve is proud that he was for eight seasons on the Concerts and Lectures roster at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and continues his interest in passing on the legacy of his talent and his knowledge to younger audiences in Master Classes at universities and schools of performing arts.    

George Calderaro is founding director of the Tin Pan Alley American Popular Music Project which commemorates and continues the legacy of the birthplace of American popular music on West 28th Street.  He is a longtime board member of the Historic Districts Council as well as the 29th Street Neighborhood Association, the Friends of the Upper East Side, the Art Deco Society New York, and the Victorian Society New York among other organizations.   He was a founding member of Save Gansevoort Market and a member of the Landmarks Committee of Manhattan Community Board 1.   Professionally he has worked in communications in several museums, the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission, the New School and Columbia University where he currently serves as Senior Associate Director for Auditing and Community Programs at the School of Professional Studies.

Of a recent performance of this program at a private Manhattan club, audience a members write: 

“I want to say that last night's Tin Pan Alley event featuring Steve Ross was one of the most memorable of all my evenings at the Club counting back a quarter century . . . unforgettable because the harmony between the performance and the audience—many of us mouthing every word to every song.”

“I was among the lucky ones who attended your wonderful evening…all sorts of congratulations on one of the most delightful evenings the club has ever hosted.  I do hope our standing ovation conveyed to you how much we all loved it.  Pure nostalgia and delight.  Thank you!”