Past Appearances

Broadway's dazzling Liz McKendry is back, performing the most memorable songs from the most celebrated musicals, composers and lyricists of our time. The show also features the New York City premiere of new & original songs written and arranged by Rick Knight. "Love & Pain & The Whole Damn Thing" tells the spirited story of one woman's journey through disarray, euphoria, and ultimately survival, all while never losing sight of her dreams. Conceived, directed and musically staged by the much-admired New York director Spider Duncan Christopher, the show premieres Thursday, November 18, 2010 at The Metropolitan Room. A stunning and gifted Buffalo Gal, Liz McKendry's impressive performance gets underway with lively interpretations from "Steel Pier," "Jeckyll and Hyde," "Funny Girl" and many more. 

Liz McKendry was recently seen performing in Harold Square for Macy's new fall ad campaign 2010 and was featured at the Atlantic Theatre in the first NYC Presentation of 'Great White,' a new opera with Writer/Director Matt Morrow and Composer/Lyricist Sean Jeremy Palmer based on the true accounts of the New Jersey shark attacks the summer of 1916, and Moby Dick. From The Vegas Strip to the Great White Way, Liz was featured as a singer & dancer in Donn Arden's Jubilee! Las Vegas and made her Broadway debut in the Mel Brooks' musical, "The Producers." She played Hope in "Tall Tales of the Little Black Book" for Working Artists Theatre Project at The Michael Weller Theatre. Her screen credits include: the film "The Producers", "DWI" Director Holly Moore at The Queens International Film Festival and Buffalo International Film Festival, "Anomaly" Director Terrry Wickham, "Queer Eye For The Straight Guy," "The Young & The Restless", and MTV Europe. Liz has appeared at the Hideaway Room at Helen’s, as a special guest star for Peter Mac in Judy & Me, the 2005 summer series Cabaret Cares and several cabaret cares benefits for Joseph John Productions. Liz made her solo cabaret debut with 'Love & Pain & The Whole Damn Thing' with Director Spider Duncan Christopher at Helen's with 5 sold out performances in April 2007. She is currently working on "Yankie Doodle Sweetheart" with Writer, Director Karen Patricia McDonald about the life and times of Fay Templeton 'The Toast of Broadway.' 

Spider Duncan Christopher (Director)

Mr. Christopher, a master acting teacher and coach in New York City and one of the founding members with William Esper of the Mason Gross School of the Arts Acting Department of Rutgers University, has been involved in all facets of performance since he was 16yrs old. Some career highlights include a command performance of Hello Dolly with Carol Channing , at the Lyndon Johnson White House; choreographing and assistant directing, with Peter Masterson, the original pre-Broadway production of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas at the famed Actors Studio; directing and choreographing Jacques Brel...for the Vocal Arts Foundation at the Music Mansion in NYC; and serving as an Associate Director for The Circle Repertory Lab. Most recently directed a production of Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House, the world premiere of Kari Floren's new Off Broadway play, Voices of Swords with Rosemary Prinz, and Recent Tragic Events for the Chesapeake Bay Floating Theatre. As co-founder and artistic director/choreographer of Infinity Dance Theatre, his ground-breaking choreography for their signature piece The Last Night of the World was videotaped for the Lincoln Center Archives; and La Bonne Dame, a dance drama about the life of George Sand, was filmed by the Jerome Robbins Foundation at the Danny Kaye Playhouse in NYC. His cabaret credits began at "Gypsys" in the early 70's. Currently he is directing a tribute to Dean Martin, called Dino, featuring Tony Messina and A Vision of My Vision with Orah Gibbons. Spider's direction in "Love & Pain & The Whole Damn Thing" at Helen's in April 2007 was a success resulting in 5 sold out performances featuring the fabulous Liz McKendry. 

Rick Knight (Musical Director) is a self-taught composer and keyboardist whose show "The Rainbow Room" played in San Francisco. A song from the show, "Needs of the Common Man" was nominated for a GLAMA award in New York in 1999. Rick was musical director for "A Gay Evening in May", an annual AIDS benefit held in Santa Cruz, California. For the last year he has been at work on his latest musical, "A Cruise Line" about a group of New Yorkers who are trying to get out of town at the end of summer on a cruise to the Caribbean. The song motifs cover a broad range of styles from world beat and Latin to 80s synth pop and jazz-fusion ballads. His musical influences from the stage are Schwartz, Sondheim, Bacharach, Rodgers & Hammerstein and Kander & Ebb. His pop music influences include Elton John, Billy Joel, Ben Folds, Steely Dan and The Beatles. Rick is delighted to be musically directing Liz in her latest cabaret show which features numbers written and arranged by him.