Lillias White and Karen Akers to Receive Lifetime Achievement Awards at 2026 MAC Awards | Playbill

Cabaret & Concert News Lillias White and Karen Akers to Receive Lifetime Achievement Awards at 2026 MAC Awards

The Manhattan Association of Cabarets will present its annual ceremony at Symphony Space.

Lillias White and Karen Akers

Two Broadway favorites—Tony winner Lillias White and Tony nominee Karen Akers—will receive Lifetime Achievement Awards at the 40th Annual MAC Awards in March.

The Manhattan Association of Cabarets' biggest night of the year is scheduled for March 23 at 7 PM at Peter Norton Symphony Space at 2537 Broadway at 95th Street in New York City.

The MAC Awards honor excellence in NYC nightlife during the 2025 calendar year. In addition to live musical performances, competitive awards will be presented in multiple categories to performers, songwriters, directors, musical directors, piano bar performers, behind-the-scenes technical experts, and more. 

White, most recently on Broadway as Hermes in the Tony-winning Hadestown, won her Tony for her performance as Sonja in Cy Coleman’s The Life. She was also Tony-nominated for her work as Funmilayo in Fela! Her other Broadway credits include Barnum, Dreamgirls, Cats, Carrie, Once On This Island, How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, and Chicago. She received a Daytime Emmy as part of the cast of Sesame Street; her other screen credits include Pieces of April and Baz Luhrmann’s The Get Down. White’s solo studio album, Get Yourself Some Happy!, was released in July 2021 via Old Mill Road Recording. She has also toured internationally with her solo show, From Brooklyn to Broadway, and she's graced the stages at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Sydney Australia Opera House, the Singapore Opera House, and the Palm Beach Pops, among others. 

Akers received a Tony nomination for her Broadway debut as Luisa Contini in the original Tommy Tune-directed production of Nine and returned to Broadway in another Tune musical, Grand Hotel. Her film roles include Mike Nichols’ Heartburn, opposite Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep; Woody Allen’s The Purple Rose of Cairo; and Vibes, while her TV credits include Cheers, Hart to Hart, Presenting Karen Akers, and On Stage at Wolf Trap. It's been the concert and cabaret stage where Akers has been most acclaimed. Her numerous solo recordings include Like It Was, Presenting Karen Akers, In a Very Unusual Way, Simply Styne, and If We Only Have Love. Akers is the recipient of the 2005 New York Nightlife Award for Outstanding Female Cabaret Vocalist in a Major Engagement and the 2009 Nightlife Legend Award.

The MAC Awards show is produced by Julie Miller and directed by Amy Wolk. The musical director and leader of the MAC Awards Band will be John Fischer.

For ticket information click here.

 
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