Frank Dain

Frank Dain is a vocalist, graphic designer and, since 2003, the Editor-in-Chief of Cabaret Scenes, the only print publication dedicated to cabaret.

As a vocalist, Frank has appeared at Carnegie Hall/Weill Recital Hall, Café Pierre, Waldorf Astoria (Cocktail Terrace; Peacock Alley), The Knickerbocker, Kitano Jazz, Don’t Tell Mama, Metropolitan Room, Pangea, Steve McGraw’s, Danny’s Skylight Room, and Judy’s. He made his New York City The Town Hall debut at The Mabel Mercer Foundation’s summer Cabaret Convention entitled Grand Nights for Singing and was part of the cast for the Foundation’s first cabaret convention in Philadelphia. He was a frequent guest of pianist/singer Kathleen Landis at Café Pierre. Kathleen invited him to appear with her at the Cocktail Terrace in the Waldorf Astoria as part of a Cole Porter birthday celebration hosted by Daryl Sherman. He was also Kathleen’s guest vocalist at the Sheet Music Society’s event celebrating the release of the book, The Complete Lyrics of Oscar Hammerstein, II, written by Amy Asch, with a special appearance by Hammerstein’s daughter, Alice Hammerstein Mathias. He has also appeared as a guest singer for a number of cabaret performers in New York, been a part of numerous benefits and has been featured on Jersey's Talking, hosted by Lee Leonard, performed live on Jim Lowe's radio program, and was a guest host discussing Cabaret Scenes Magazine on many editions of David Kenney's radio program Everything Old Is New Again on WBAI.

Frank's debut CD, I Thought About You, has received critical praise from critics across the country. The CD features 13 songs by such songwriters as Rodgers and Hart, Cole Porter, Leslie Bricusse, Johnny Mercer, Jerome Kern, Dorothy Fields and Oscar Hammerstein II. In addition to the title track, the CD includes “The Way You Look Tonight,” “Night and Day,” “You Go to My Head” and “All the Things You Are”/”The Nearness of You”as well as Rick Jensen's haunting, “In Passing Years.” Frank has been interviewed on a number of radio stations and his CD receives extensive airplay across the country. Bill Miller of All Music Guide said, “Frank knows how to use his vocal equipment to full advantage” and Stephen Peithman of Capital Public Radio said, “Frank Dain has a warm intensity to his voice that suits the romantic nature of the songs. I haven't had this one off my CD player for a week.” Show Music declared this “is a thoroughly romantic affair, in no small part because of Dain’s warmly expressive baritone” and Cabaret Scenes’ Jeff Rossen enthused “a beautiful voice infused with lyrical interpretations that tear at the very core of a song's heart.”

As an actor, Frank has performed in regional theaters across the country with roles in such musicals as A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (Hysterium), Cabaret (The Emcee), The Fantasticks (The Mute), Godspell (Herb), Gypsy (Tulsa) and Jesus Christ Superstar (King Herod). He has also had roles in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Oberon), Much Ado About Nothing (Claudio) and has appeared in A Streetcar Named Desire, Can-Can and Pippin.

In New York, he played Lucky in an Off-Broadway production of Dames At Sea. He has taken part in various readings and recordings of new musicals and songs by new composers.

Frank has been a graphic designer since 1999, providing designs for CD packages, logos, postcards, posters, ads, programs, business cards and web sites for many in the cabaret community. He has also provided design work for a number of Off-Broadway productions, including When Everything Was Possible (starring Kurt Peterson and Victoria Mallory), Proud Ladies (starring Kurt Peterson), Zero Hour (starring Jim Brochu), Stephen Schwartz's Captain Louis, Capture Now, and numerous productions of the Peccadillo Theatre Company. He has provided various designs for the MAC Awards and the Bistro Awards.

Since the fall of 2003, Frank has been the Editor-in-Chief of Cabaret Scenes, a magazine dedicated to the art of cabaret. He was named “Best Editor-in-Chief” of a Cabaret Publication by the Federation of American Musicians, Singers and Performing Artists in their just published Who's Who in Jazz, Cabaret, Music and Entertainment.

Frank is also associate to Kurt Peterson and his company, James William Productions (JWP). JWP is dedicated to creating, nurturing, developing and producing new works for Theater and Musical Theater.

Frank is a Board member of the American Songbook Association (Treasurer), the Manhattan Association of Cabarets (MAC), and is on the Advisory Board of the Mabel Mercer Foundations.