About This Show
Entertainer extraordinaire Jamie deRoy has been declared “The Fairy Godmother of Cabaret” because she has helped so many performers in the cabaret world. But life is much more than a cabaret for the versatile performer, who is a celebrated comedienne, singer, cabaret performer, actress, producer, and talk show host.
Winner of six MAC Awards, Jamie has acted as host and executive producer of the critically-acclaimed variety show, Jamie deRoy & friends, for the past eleven years at clubs in New York, Los Angeles, and Hilton Head Island. Her most recent CD, Jamie deRoy & friends – Volume 3: ‘Tis the Season, released in 2001 by Harbinger Records, has quickly become a holiday favorite and was selected as one of Time Out New York’s hot Holiday Gift Ideas. DeRoy’s current projects include the revival of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) off-Broadway, at The Century Center, and serves as the Executive Producer on several of Harbinger’s upcoming CDs, including Mabel Mercer Rarities and Songwriters Showcase: Broadway Tunesmiths.
Jamie made her professional debut at The Living Room in 1970, performing as a “girl singer.” By the mid-1970s, her act evolved, incorporating elements of musical comedy, singing, and stand-up comedy. Throughout her eclectic career, the effervescent singer and comedienne has earned critical acclaim and legions of fans for her parodies and musical monologues, appearing as Joan Rivers’ opening act in New York and Los Angeles. She has headlined at every
major club in New York, including Caroline’s, The Ballroom, The Triad, Don’t Tell Mama, Eighty Eights, and The West Bank Café’s Laurie Beechman Theater.
Jamie has also enjoyed successful engagements at Caesar’s, Showboat and Trump Plaza in Atlantic City, and The Sahara in Lake Tahoe.While Jamie wears many hats in the entertainment industry, she is perhaps best known as the host of Jamie deRoy & friends, a weekly variety show
highlighting theatre and cabaret entertainers ranging from Law and Order’s Jerry Orbach to cabaret great Billy Stritch. The critically acclaimed variety show, which airs in New York City, Westchester County, Queens,
Brooklyn, Connecticut, New Jersey, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles, has garnered four Telly Awards. Now in its eighth celebrated year on the air, Jamie deRoy & friends earned First Place in the Northeast Video Festival,
sponsored by The Alliance for Community Media. Jamie deRoy & friends has also aired on MetroArts/Thirteen, the popular cable offspring of New York public television station Thirteen/WNET.
Recently venturing into recordings, Jamie has produced three albums available on Harbinger Records. Her first CD, Jamie deRoy & friends: The Child in Me, Volume 1, won the 2000 MAC Award for Recording of the Year. Volume 2 of this popular recording — featuring Tony winners Faith Prince and Roger Bart — was released in November 2000 with a fundraiser benefiting Variety: The Children’s Charity. Jamie deRoy & friends, Volume 3 ‘Tis the Season, a collection of holiday songs, was released in November 2001.
Jamie also enjoys a successful career beyond the cabaret spotlight as a successful producer, producing 3 MAC Award Shows, as well as Channel Thirteen’s Emmy Award-winning City Arts series, numerous MAC/ASCAP Songwriters Showcases, special events for the Friars Club, countless benefits, and the off-Broadway hit The Compleat Works of Wllm Shkspr(Abridged) at the Westside Theatre. With partner Rick McKay, she produced the Emmy-nominated segment “The Biggest Little Operas in Town” for City Arts, as well as “Where Do Musicals Come From?” and “All That Glitters,” which earned Telly Awards. Jamie has also produced McKay’s new feature film, Broadway: The Golden Age.
Jamie boasts an impressive list of television credits as the co-host of Cabaret Beat and as a guest star on numerous series including Alice, Spiderman, and Knight Rider. Her film credits include GoodFellas, Raging Bull, See No Evil, Hear No Evil, and Married to It. Onstage, Jamie appeared with Rene Auberjonois in Three Penny Opera and made her off-Broadway debut in The Drunkard with musical direction by Barry Manilow, who then became her musical director for several years.
Throughout her impressive career, Jamie has earned six MAC (Manhattan Association of Cabaret Clubs) Awards, three Back Stage Bistro Awards, a Board of Directors Award for her informative series of “Performers Seminars,” CaB Magazine’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and a Special Back Stage Award for her contributions to the Art of Cabaret. She is currently MAC’s President Emeritus and one of the first women to join the famed New York Friars Club.
Jamie also sits on the Boards of The Friars Foundation and CAP21, is on the Honorary Board of the Humane Society of New York, and is involved with New York Women in Film & Television.
A native of Pittsburgh, Jamie de Roy lives in New York City.
December 2001
