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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Michael Feinstein in Studio City

Studio City club venue Upstairs at Vitello’s has offered live jazz and other performance art since 1964. But a new multi-platinum selling, five-time Grammy-nominated partner hopes to transform the space into Los Angeles’ premier dinner club. Singer and pianist Michael Feinstein has joined forces with the Italian restaurant to open Feinstein’s at Vitello’s, a rebrand of the swanky second-floor venue that will offer a Broadway-heavy blend of musical theater, cabaret, jazz and comedy. Vitello’s dinner menu will be available to patrons during each event. The club will open its doors to the public on June 14 with two nights of headlining performances from Feinstein. This will kick off a two-week “grand opening” run that features major bookings like Ann Hampton Calloway, Judy Carmichael, Melissa Manchester, Jane Lynch and Kate Flannery, and comedian Kevin Nealon. Feinstein’s at Vitello’s is Feinstein’s first dinner club in Southern California and his third overall, following Feinstein’s/54 Below in New York and Feinstein’s at the Nikko in San Francisco. According to Vitello’s co-owner Brad Roen, the partnership seemed fated. “In September, I was in New York at Feinstein’s/54 Below. I couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that this was 54 Below — what about a concept of 54 above? My club is upstairs. What if I had 54 above?” Roen said. “The second day I’m back in Studio City, unbeknownst to me, Michael Feinstein walks into my club. He’s in the audience seeing the performance. After the show I said, ‘I gotta seize this moment.’” The two exchanged information, and, six months later, signed an agreement on Feinstein’s at Vitello’s. Feinstein, who lives in neighboring Los Feliz, said he was drawn to Upstairs at Vitello’s because of its intimacy — the room has a capacity of just 125 people. “Having been lucky enough to start my career in piano bars and nightclubs, I learned that people crave the personal contact and connection of a room that is smaller because it creates the most honest kind of art,” Feinstein said in a statement. To fit the singer’s preferred aesthetic, the room has undergone renovations that give it the look of a 1930s prohibition-era club. It is now outfitted with glammed-up seats, velvet carpeting and chandeliers, and even features a vintage ticket booth on the street. Tickets for shows will range from $40 to $100. Roen estimated Feinstein will perform there four to six times a year.

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