Nellie McKay Returns to Kenosha's White Lilac

Quite possibly one of the most delightfully unpredictable performers you will ever see.

Nellie McKay is coming back to Kenosha—and White Lilac could not be happier to welcome back one of our absolute favorites.

Some artists fit comfortably into a genre.

Nellie McKay makes genres nervous.

She can move from sophisticated jazz and Great American Songbook elegance to biting satire, folk, pop, cabaret, rock, piano balladry and razor-sharp comedy—sometimes in the space of a single performance. The New Yorker called her “funny and touching, ceaselessly clever and scarily talented.” Rolling Stone described her as “a renegade songwriter with an ultraflexible Great American Songbook sensibility.”

And then there’s David Byrne.

The Talking Heads legend told The Wall Street Journal that McKay’s cabaret performances were “jaw-dropping” and said they “completely subverted the genre,” praising the way she combines a “tragic noir vibe” with a wicked sense of humor.

In 2025, McKay became part of the world-premiere New York production of Academy Award-winning filmmaker and playwright Ethan Coen’s Let’s Love! at Atlantic Theater Company.

The star-studded production featured Aubrey Plaza, Chris Bauer, Mary Wiseman, Dion Graham and others—with Nellie McKay officially billed as “Musician & Original Song.” McKay performed as part of the production itself, bringing her singular musical voice into Coen’s darkly comic exploration of love and relationships.

Yes: the Ethan Coen of Fargo, No Country for Old Men and the Coen Brothers.

Yes: the Aubrey Plaza of The White Lotus, Parks and Recreation and Emily the Criminal.

And right there in the company with them: Nellie McKay.

Vogue covered the production and its collaboration between Coen and Plaza, with McKay appearing as part of the ensemble in one of New York’s major Off-Broadway companies.

McKay’s remarkable debut album, Get Away From Me, was produced with Geoff Emerick—the legendary recording engineer whose work with The Beatles included Revolver and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Years later, McKay reunited with Emerick for My Weekly Reader, her wildly eclectic exploration of 1960s music.

That record even included McKay’s interpretation of The Beatles’ “If I Fell.” NPR’s Fresh Air noted that McKay and Emerick approached the music without simply leaning on nostalgia, instead making the material distinctly her own.

Think about that lineage for a moment:

The Beatles → Geoff Emerick → Nellie McKay.

And now: Nellie McKay → White Lilac.

McKay made her Broadway debut as Polly Peachum in The Threepenny Opera at Studio 54, performing in an extraordinary company that included Alan Cumming, Cyndi Lauper, Jim Dale and Ana Gasteyer. Her performance earned her a Theatre World Award.

She later co-created and starred in the acclaimed Off-Broadway production Old Hats with legendary physical comedians Bill Irwin and David Shiner, writing and performing original music for the show.

Her music has appeared in film and television including Mad Men, Boardwalk Empire, Weeds, Grey’s Anatomy, Nurse Jackie, P.S. I Love You, Monster-in-Law and more, while McKay herself has appeared on television with David Letterman, Conan O’Brien and The View, as well as numerous NPR programs.

She has built acclaimed theatrical portraits around subjects as wonderfully varied as Doris Day, environmental pioneer Rachel Carson, jazz musician Billy Tipton, Joan Rivers and convicted murderer Barbara Graham. Her Billy Tipton show, A Girl Named Bill, was named among The New York Times’ best concerts of 2014.

This is why Nellie McKay is difficult to describe—and incredibly easy to recommend.

She isn't simply a singer-songwriter.

She isn't simply a jazz artist.

She isn't simply a cabaret performer.

She isn't simply a comedian, actress, pianist, ukulele player or social satirist.

She is all of those things, filtered through a musical mind unlike anyone else's.

And live, she can be hilarious one minute, achingly beautiful the next, politically wicked, wonderfully strange, disarmingly sweet—and completely unpredictable.

Those who have already seen Nellie McKay at White Lilac understand why we are so excited to have her back.

She is a White Lilac favorite.

And this is exactly the kind of artist this room was built for: someone whose performance rewards actually listening, whose humor can turn on a dime, and whose smallest musical gesture is worth being close enough to catch.

Artists with résumés like this don't normally perform in rooms this intimate.

Don't make the mistake of assuming you'll catch her next time.

Come see the artist praised by The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, The New York Times and David Byrne—the Broadway award winner who has shared creative worlds with Ethan Coen, Aubrey Plaza, Alan Cumming, Cyndi Lauper, Bill Irwin, David Shiner and legendary Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick.

Then see her the way we love seeing her:

up close, in Kenosha, at White Lilac.

Nellie McKay returns. Get your tickets early.