On the eve of her 95th birthday, Kansas City’s Marilyn Maye wows NYC’s Carnegie Hall

It must have been like a scene out of “Mad Men.”

Imagine Kansas City in the 1950s and ’60s. Downtown is all ablaze with lights and buzzing with activity. You slip into the President Hotel, order a Manhattan, and then kick back and listen to Marilyn Maye and her combo, the same Marilyn Maye you’ve seen so many times on “The Steve Allen Show” on TV.

It doesn’t get any cooler than that.

Maye turns 95 on April 10, and she’s going stronger than ever. Last month, she gave a two-hour solo concert with orchestra at Carnegie Hall. It was a sellout, with people like Warren Buffett in attendance. Maye had performed at Carnegie Hall before, but this was the first time she was the headliner.

“When I entered, there was a standing ovation from the whole audience before I ever sang anything,” Maye said. “It was just incredible. We had an 80-piece orchestra, and the musicians were fantastic. The mayor of New York City proclaimed it Marilyn Maye Day. They’re comparing it to the Judy Garland concert (in 1961). It was triumphant.”

Stephen Mosher, critic for Broadway World, wrote, “On Friday night, March 24th, 2023, there was a concert at Carnegie Hall that people are calling legendary, and that, years from now, people will be speaking of in the same way that the Judy Garland show has been described. Those people are not, and will not be, wrong. The Marvelous Marilyn Maye concert became legendary, while it was happening, in real-time.”

The legendary Marilyn Maye was born in Wichita in 1928, but spent her high school years in Des Moines, where she had a radio show when she was 15 called “Marilyn Entertains,” which pretty much sums up the rest of her life. By the 1950s, Maye’s singing career was taking off. While she was performing at the President Hotel in downtown Kansas City, she met a dancer, Jimmie DeFore. He became her opening act.

“We fell in love, and I moved here,” Maye said. “We opened a dance studio, which we had for nine years. We had 80 kids, and we’d do big recital shows with all of them. I taught the singing and Jimmie taught the dancing. We had a darling daughter during that time, who now teaches singing at the Miller Marley School of Dance in (Overland Park). The owner, Shirley Marley, was a student at our dance studio when she was a teenager.”

After her stint at the President, Maye became a mainstay at Ralph Gaines Colony Steakhouse on Broadway, where she appeared for 11 years. But Maye’s career really hit the stratosphere when Steve Allen, one of America’s most prominent TV personalities of the time, heard one of her records.

“Steve Allen asked who is this singer from Kansas City?” Maye said. “She is so good.”

Soon, Maye was performing regularly on “The Steve Allen Show,” but she always maintained Kansas City as her home base.

“We would do ‘The Steve Allen Show,’ and then return to the Colony in a room that seats 50 people night after night after night, and then go back and do a national television show.”

Maye’s commuting grew after she encountered Ed McMahon, announcer on “The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson.”

“Ed heard me in a club in New York called the Living Room,” Maye said. “After the show, he waited to say hello to me, and he said you’ve got to do the Johnny Carson show. And I said, ‘Yes, I do.’”

And did she ever. She became one of Carson’s favorite guests, appearing on his show 76 times.

“There’s no singer who’s done it that many times,” Maye said.

Amid all those appearances, Maye also starred in many musical productions. She has fond memories of performing at Starlight Theatre.

“‘Can-Can’ was the first musical I did at Starlight Theatre,” she said. “The next year, they decided I should do ‘Hello, Dolly!’ Starlight Theatre had been open for 20 years, and we broke all attendance records.”

Throughout the Swinging ’60s, Maye was appearing at the Colony on Broadway, with a trio that included her third husband, pianist Sam Tucker.

“Eleven years in one club, five days a week.” Maye said. “That was a great part of my life. A lot of the people who came to see me at the Colony saw me (in March) at Carnegie Hall.”

On her birthday, Maye will be giving a special concert at the New York cabaret where she has been a staple for years, 54 Below.

“It seats about 140 people,” she said. “They started selling tickets on Saturday after my Carnegie Hall concert, and we were sold out in less than an hour. I’ve celebrated at least 10 birthdays and maybe 12 in that club. I work with a trio of musicians, a piano, bass and drums. They were all in the orchestra at Carnegie Hall.”

Maye may own a home in Kansas City, but she’s most often in New York, performing at 54 Below and, ahem, Carnegie Hall.

And that’s a crying shame. Why isn’t she performing in Kansas City? Maye is a living legend, our legend. I hope some performing arts organization will wake up and realize what a gem we have in our midst, and give her a concert to celebrate her 95th birthday with all the hoopla it deserves. I know she’d be game for it.

“I would love to perform in Kansas City,” Maye said. “I would like to do the Folly Theater again. I’ve done the Folly many times. It would be fun to do a concert with full orchestra at Starlight Theatre. It was quite a legacy to spend those formative years in Kansas City. I recorded songs for the Chiefs, like ‘The Chiefs are on the Warpath.’ Yes, I love Kansas City.”

William Baker Festival Singers

One of the most beloved works in the choral repertoire is Brahms’ German Requiem. Singers seem to especially love the richly scored work. The William Baker Festival Singers will perform it on April 16 at Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral. Baker brings a special sensitivity to the Requiem, having conducted the work many times. And his full-throated singers can really do the work justice.

2 p.m. April 16. Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral, 415 W. 13th St. $6.94-$107.72. 913-488-7524 or festivalsingers.org.

Piazzolla’s Four Seasons with Destiny Mermagen

Violinist Destiny Mermagen is doing such wonderful work with young musicians at Village Presbyterian Church. Her “side-by-side” concerts allow young musicians to perform alongside professionals, providing aspiring talents experience and inspiration.

“Piazzolla’s Four Seasons in Buenos Aires” will feature Mermagen, her husband, cellist Michael Mermagen, the Village Players and young musicians performing Piazzolla’s always popular tangos.

“I’m especially excited about this concert because each time we do these side-by-sides, the level increases exponentially,” Mermagen said. “It was fantastic the last time we performed, and it will only be better this time. Plus, it’s tango! Who doesn’t love strings doing the tango

7:30 p.m. April 15. Village Presbyterian Church, 6641 Mission Road, Prairie Village. Free. villagepres.org

Friends of Chamber Music 2023-24 season

The Friends of Chamber Music has announced its 2023-2024 season, and it features a terrific selection of chamber music, early music and piano. The Master Pianist Series is especially strong, with great musicians like Andras Schiff on Nov. 14 and the husband and wife duo of Alessio Bax and Lucille Chung on Dec. 5.

For early music lovers, there’s the baroque ensemble Le Consort and the return of Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin. Of course, there’s a lot of great chamber music, including the Apollon Musagète Quartet and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

This is the first season completely programmed by Dmitri Atapine and Hyeyeon Park, who became co-artistic directors in 2022, and it bodes well for the future. It’s obvious Atapine and Park are maintaining the diversity and high quality of the series that audiences have come to expect.

All concerts begin at 7:30 p.m. For tickets and more information, 816-561-9999.

Sept. 23: Aizuri Quartet, 1900 Building, 1900 Shawnee Mission Parkway

Oct. 7: “New Horizons,” 1900 Building

Oct. 21: VOCES8, Village Presbyterian Church, 6641 Mission Road, Prairie Village

Oct. 28: Quartetto di Cremona, Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral, 415 W. 13th St.

Nov. 14: András Schiff, Helzberg Hall, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts

Dec. 5: Alessio Bax and Lucille Chung, Folly Theater, 300 W. 12th St.

Jan. 20: Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Folly Theater

Feb. 2: Apollon Musagète Quartet, Folly Theater

Feb. 13: Jeremy Denk, Folly Theater

March 1: Le Consort, Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral

April 5: Quicksilver, Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral

April 12, 2024: Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Atonement Lutheran Church, 9948 Metcalf Ave., Overland Park

April 26, 2024: “Spark of Genius,” Folly Theater

You can reach Patrick Neas at patrickneas@kcartsbeat.com and follow his Facebook page, KC Arts Beat, at www.facebook.com/kcartsbeat.