Roxy Bar Presents: Pianist Michael Garin

Michael Garin plays a solo resident-piano set at Roxy Bar, drawing from a deliberately far-ranging book rather than a fixed program. The venue describes his approach as blurring the line between pianist and D.J., with music that can move among Shaggy, Om Kalthum, Rossini, Jobim, Frank Zappa and Raymond Scott. Expect a fluid run of references and requests shaped to the room, including Garin’s own comic stage touches: he may invite children to play along, tap-dance from the piano bench, or announce that he is “in his office” taking requests.

Originally from Greenbelt, Maryland, Garin is a pianist as well as a singer, songwriter, composer, poet, actor and song-and-dance performer. He co-created and co-starred in the Drama Desk Award-winning off-Broadway musical Song of Singapore, and his New York appearances have included Elaine’s, the Monkey Bar, the Rainbow Room and Limelight’s VIP Room. NiteLife Exchange reports that he has performed for and with Frank Zappa, James Chance, David Lee Roth and Kool & the Gang; Roxy also notes a performance with A$AP Rocky on Don’t Be Dumb. In The New York Sun, Will Friedwald called Garin “perhaps the most compelling musical omnivore I’ve ever encountered,” praising his placement of pop and rap beside Sondheim and Noël Coward.