Roxy Bar Presents: Pianist Michael Garin

On New Year’s Eve, Roxy Bar presents its resident pianist Michael Garin for a live solo piano set. Garin’s Roxy performances blur pianist and DJ, moving through a deliberately wide-ranging stream of music rather than a standard piano-bar program. The venue describes a repertoire that can connect Shaggy, Om Kalthum, Rossini, Jobim, Zappa and Raymond Scott, with requests welcomed as part of the proceedings. Expect a set shaped for the room, with Garin’s comic asides and occasional song-and-dance additions part of the format.

Garin is a Drama Desk Award-winning New York nightlife mainstay whose résumé includes Elaine’s, The Monkey Bar, The Rainbow Room and the VIP Room at Limelight. Beyond piano, he has worked as a songwriter, singer, poet, actor and song-and-dance performer. He co-created and co-starred in Song of Singapore, described as a groundbreaking environmental musical, and hosted midnight burlesque shows in the mid-1990s that helped launch the burlesque revival. His acting work includes stints with Spike Lee. At the Roxy, his style has drawn a new generation of piano listeners, bringing together listeners of different ages through a smart, playful flow of songs and references.