About
Maureen Kelley Stewart is an American cabaret singer, actress and live performance artist. Winner of the prestigious Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs (MAC) Hanson Award, she has presented a number of beautifully crafted salutes to iconic Great American Songbook composers, lyricists and singers including E.Y. “Yip” Harburg, Johnny Mercer, Cole Porter, George and Ira Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Richard Rodgers, Lerner & Loewe, Tom Jones & Harvey Schmidt, Bing Crosby, and others. She enjoys collaborating with with noted Musical Directors Don Rebic, Tedd Firth, Daryl Kojak, Alex Rybeck, David Maiocco, John McMahon, and a cherished 13-year collaboration with the late Dick Gallagher.
Maureen is a graduate of San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theater, Iowa’s Clarke University, and the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s Cabaret Symposium. In addition to innumerable appearances in Manhattan cabarets (The Laurie Beechman Theatre, Eighty-Eights, Don’t Tell Mama, Metropolitan Room, Danny’s Skylight Room, Judy’s Chelsea, Helen’s Hideaway and others), Maureen has appeared at New York’s Town Hall for the Mabel Mercer Foundation as well as over twenty performances at the national historic landmark resort, Mohonk Mountain House (New Paltz, NY). Her CD, “Seventeen on Mars”, is available through CDBaby.com.
Music
Maureen’s CD, “Seventeen on Mars” features an eclectic mix of classic popular standards from the Great American Songbook, plus the works of contemporary songwriters. Available at CDBaby.com, the album includes songs by Peggy Lee & Dave Barbour, EY Harburg & Jerome Kern, Harold Arlen & Truman Capote, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Louis Rosen & Thom Bishop, Tom Jones & Harvey Schmidt, George & Ira Gershwin, Carole Bayer Sager & Marvin Hamlisch, Leslie Bricusse & Anthony Newley, Barry Harman & Keith Herrmann, John Bucchino, Peter Allen, Johnny Burke and others.
Musical Direction and all arrangements by Dick Gallagher.
Reviews
“Stewart has a voice to close your eyes and dream to”.
-Peter Leavy, Cabaret Scenes Magazine
“In her show, ‘The Wizard of Words: E.Y. Harburg’ at the Laurie Beechman Theatre, Maureen Kelley Stewart pays tribute to one of the lyricists who helped make the Great American Songbook great. With deceptive simplicity, she gets directly to the romantic heart of “It’s Only a Paper Moon”…We can feel the singer’s depressed disillusionment on “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?”…Her take on “Happiness Is a Thing Called Joe” is sweetly introspective and she brings great sensitivity to her lovely, rueful rendition of “Last Night When We Were Young”….The evening’s highlight is “April in Paris” which Stewart infuses with a palpable sense of longing enveloped by a mantle of tristesse. This is hands-down the most emotionally potent interpretation I’ve ever heard – partly because she includes the rarely, if-ever sung verse, and partly because she is that good. What’s more, the emotions develop as the song progresses. It is a revelation. Stewart has a sweet, pretty voice, but it is also capable of considerable strength – which she displays selectively and purposefully. Tedd Firth is the show’s musical director/pianist and as usual, his work is masterful.”
– Roy Sander, Bistro Awards
MAC Hanson Award winner Maureen Kelley Stewart, she of the golden voice and beautiful hair…has chosen to celebrate “The Wizard of Word: E.Y. Harburg” in her new show…with masterful arrangements and accompaniment by Tedd Firth…there were two great medleys – Harburg/Schwartz’ “Then I’ll Be Tired of You” and “Right as the Rain”, which may have been the first Broadway show about a feminist…The second medley was a series of songs from Harburg’s biggest Broadway hit, Finian’s Rainbow written with Burton Lane. Kelley Stewart sensitively sang “How Are Things In Glocca Morra”, “Look to the Rainbow” and “Old Devil Moon”.
-Joe Regan Jr., Theater Pizzazz
“She recognizes that Crosby was the supreme recording artist of the 20th century, and she’s done something coolly entertaining about it … A Pocketful of Bing [looks] long and lovingly at aspects of Der Bingle’s movie and recording career…”
– David Finkle, BackStage
Thank You
Maureen Kelley Stewart
Cabaret Singer and Performance Artist
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