Roxy Bar Presents: Pianist Michael Garin

Michael Garin, the Roxy Hotel’s resident pianist, plays a solo piano set at Roxy Bar. His evening is built less around a fixed songbook than a free-flowing sequence of references and requests, moving among material associated with Shaggy, Om Kalthum, Rossini, Jobim, Frank Zappa and Raymond Scott. The Roxy describes Garin as blurring the line between pianist and DJ, with a playful approach that can include inviting children to try the piano, taking requests from what he calls his “office,” and even tap dancing from the bench.

Garin has been part of New York nightlife for decades, with previous rooms including Elaine’s, the Monkey Bar, the Rainbow Room and Limelight’s VIP Room. He is a Drama Desk Award winner for co-creating and co-starring in Song of Singapore, described by the venue as a groundbreaking environmental musical. His work has also included hosting midnight burlesque shows in the mid-1990s, acting stints with Spike Lee, and daily promotional poems in an Ogden Nash style. A pianist, songwriter, singer, poet, actor and song-and-dance performer, he brings that broad stage background to his long-running Roxy residency.