After a successful run at the Gardenia in Los Angeles, Marjorie Hayes, associate professor of dance and theatre, made her New York City cabaret debut with Taking Chances at The Duplex this summer. The show, featuring a mix of ballads, rock, blues and her favorite story songs, garnered high praise in a Bistro Awards review. The reviewer says the actress/ singer “proved herself to be an artist of considerable depth and subtlety,” and he calls her rendition of “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen “quite possibly the best I’ve ever heard” and “certainly the most emotionally textured.”

Hayes, who has worked off-Broadway, in regional theatres and in film, has performed her solo concert Song Stories From Home at the Non-Stop Festival in Poland and was a lead soloist in Story Songs, a benefit concert directed by Tony Award winner Betty Buckley. In August, she finished shooting a leading role in the feature film Uncertain, TX, due out in the spring.

Video: Marjorie Hayes sings "Grandma's Song" from the Elton John musical BILLY ELLIOT at the International Cabaret Conference at Yale - August 2009.