Multi-faceted entertainer Michael Feinstein talks with Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson host of
OUTTAKE VOICES™.
Michael is the multi-platinum-selling, two-time Emmy and five-time
Grammy Award-nominated entertainer dubbed “The Ambassador of the Great
American Songbook” and is considered one of the premier interpreters of
American standards. His 200-plus shows a year have included performances
at Carnegie Hall, Sydney Opera House and the Hollywood Bowl as well as
the White House and Buckingham Palace. Micha...
Multi-faceted entertainer Michael Feinstein talks with Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson host of
OUTTAKE VOICES™.
Michael is the multi-platinum-selling, two-time Emmy and five-time
Grammy Award-nominated entertainer dubbed “The Ambassador of the Great
American Songbook” and is considered one of the premier interpreters of
American standards. His 200-plus shows a year have included performances
at Carnegie Hall, Sydney Opera House and the Hollywood Bowl as well as
the White House and Buckingham Palace. Michael will be headlining the
London Festival of Cabaret on November 4th at The Palace Theatre where
he will be performing his acclaimed show “Michael Feinstein &
Friends” joined by special guests Elaine Paige and Julian Ovenden for an
evening of great music, lyrics and performance. We talked to Michael
about his upcoming show in London and his spin on our LGBT issues.
When asked what his personal commitment is to LGBT civil rights
Feinstein stated, “One of the things in my life has been the evolution
I’ve gone through in my perception about LGBT rights. I guess it happens
to everybody but for me I have been less on a soapbox and more just
living my life as openly and freely as I can. So when I come in contact
with people whom I have differing points of view the gentle approach of
them seeing me with my husband Terrence in a social situation is
sometimes more powerful than anything else. Like I was invited to the
younger Bush White House on Valentine’s Day a few years ago to perform
and everyone was saying ‘how can you do that?’ Well, my agreement was
that I would only go to the White House if I could bring my life partner
because we weren’t married then and we would be treated as a couple and
we were. We were introduced together, we were treated as a couple and
we were with on Valentine’s Day almost all the Bush family’s close
friends and that to me was a very powerful statement. The thing that was
interesting for me is that I had to hold in check my own emotions about
some of the people who were there whom I had perceived as being those
who threatened my own freedom and yet I connected with them on a human
level. It was very freeing for me and in a certain way was freeing for
them and I think that’s one of the things that has led us toward more
marriage equality.”
Michael Feinstein was named Principal Pops Conductor of the Pasadena
Pops succeeding Marvin Hamlisch. This year he also released a new CD,
Change Of Heart: The Songs of Andre Previn, (Concord) in collaboration
with legendary composer-conductor-pianist Andre Previn, with an album
celebrating Previn’s repertoire from his catalog of pop songs that have
most commonly been featured in motion pictures. When his Manhattan
nightclub Feinstein’s at Loews Regency that presented the top talents of
pop and jazz from 1999 - 2012 closed in December of 2012 due to a
year-long complete renovation of the Regency Hotel, Michael opened his
new nightclub Feinstein’s at the Nikko in San Francisco’s Nikko Hotel in
May of 2013. He plans to reopen in New York at a new location in the
spring of 2014. He is also currently working on a new musical.
For More Info: michaelfeinstein.com
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