Michael Feinstein’s Many Passions

Michael Feinstein is a musical multi-hyphenate. A singer-pianist since he started working in piano bars as a teenager, his recordings have moved from romantic balladry to big band jazz. He is as comfortable in a small cabaret room as he is onstage at the Hollywood Bowl.

Lesser known but no less significant has been the work he does as a music historian and archivist, an interest stimulated by the six years he spent as the assistant to Ira Gershwin. Feinstein, 44, owns a vast collection of autographs, scores, manuscripts and memorabilia from both Gershwins, Irving Berlin, Harold Arlen and others.

As if all that weren’t enough, he became a club owner 18 months ago with Feinstein’s in Manhattan’s Regency Hotel. Friday and Saturday he performs with Broadway singer Barbara Cook at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts in a program billed as “Feinstein’s West.”

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Question: Did you ever, in all the busy years of your career, imagine that you would become a club owner?

Answer: I’ve had a fantasy of having a club for a long time. I think many performers dream about having a venue where they can perform regularly. It just never seemed as though it could become a reality to me. But when my manager asked if I had any ambitions that were as yet unfulfilled, I said, ‘Yes, I’d love to have a nightclub.’ And he pursued it. He contacted the Tisch family, who own the Loews hotels and who own the Regency, and the timing was impeccable. They were interested and thinking about doing something like that at the very same time. So it was like it was meant to be.

Q: How does it feel to switch hats, so to speak, to be both proprietor and performer?

A: It really feels great, but it is not devoid of headaches. Because I’m not involved in name only; I’m involved in many aspects of its operation. But I think it’s bringing something special to New York, and to people who visit. And it’s had a tremendous impact upon my visibility even though I never thought about that at the time.

Q: But you presumably are continuing to do your tours and performances outside of New York?

A: Oh yes. I love touring. I need the variety of the different experiences. My ambition is to do one major engagement a year at Feinstein’s with occasional other special appearances. I did a Christmas engagement last December. When we were deciding who we were going to put in the room, I thought, ‘Well, gosh, maybe it’s time for me to do a holiday show.’ I didn’t even call it a Christmas show, because I wanted to be able to do numbers like the Tom Lehrer song ‘Hanukkah in Santa Monica.’ ”

Q: Tom Lehrer aside, you have been one of the most vigorous advocates for the continuing exploration of the Great American Song book. Do you see that as a kind of complete catalog, or do you believe there are no songs that have the quality to move into that fairly exalted collection?

A: There are a lot of new songs being written, and some of them [laughing] are good. There are very talented people in New York and Los Angeles, and points beyond--people like John Bucchino and Lindy Robbins and Adam Gettel. But it can be difficult for any contemporary song to stand up next to, say, a Lorenz Hart or a Johnny Mercer lyric.

Q: You’ll be working with Barbara Cook at Cerritos--a Broadway star who is another great supporter of the American Songbook. Is that one of the reasons you choose her for the “Feinstein’s West” series?

A: Well, sure, but Barbara Cook has been a family favorite for years. My parents’ love of her goes back to when they saw “The Music Man,” and I grew up with the recording of the show. There’s something seminal about her voice that moves me in a very deep way. Also, she’s at an age at which you might expect her voice to be diminished. And yet she, like Cleo Laine, another singer of similar vintage, absolutely sounds--to my ears--exactly the same as she did 40 years ago.

Q: And what about you, standing at what one might describe as the mid-chronological point in your career? With all the action, the activity and the responsibilities, how’s your life?

A: It’s better than its ever been. And that has come from a concerted effort to really focus on the wonderful things that I have. I’ve shed some of the baggage of issues I had in the past and just really started thinking about where I am at this point in my life. Not only how lucky I am, but how amazing it is to have a perspective. If I ever complain about anything, I want somebody to kind of hit me on the side of my head and say, “Wait a minute--take a good look at your life.”

* Barbara Cook and Michael Feinstein at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, Friday and Saturday, 8 p.m. 12700 Center Court Drive, $47-$75. Information: (562) 916-8500. For tickets: https://www.cerritoscenter.com or (800) 300-4345.