By Melissa Griegel…
Photos by Melissa Griegel Photography
The Thorne Mansion in Morristown, NJ was alive with music on Sunday, September 28th, 2025 with the sounds of tunes from the American Songbook, Broadway, and original compositions. Presented by NiCori Studios &Productions | Bloomfield NJ, the series Music at the Mansion™ features award-winning and renowned singers and musicians from the New York metropolitan area and beyond and has been active for the past 15 years. The events include three performers each entertaining for 25 minutes and a Young Musician Moment, all hosted by multi-nominated singer Corinna Sowers Adler with Jim Horan on piano. The entertainment is followed by a wine and cheese reception where guests have a chance to meet the performers. Sunday’s performance featured Jim Horan, Jada Camacho, Randie Levine-Miller, and Dan Manjovi.
Corinna Sowers Adler started the afternoon off with song, and served as the emcee introducing all of the performers. Adler is a frequent cabaret performer in the New York scene and will be back at Don’t Tell Mama (343 West 46th Street, NYC) with her show “All that Matters” on Sunday, October 5th and Saturday October 11th. NiCori Studios and Productions will be presenting the New Jersey Cabaret Festival on Sunday, November 30th, 2025, featuring performers with ties to New Jersey. For tickets visit NiCoriStudios.com.
First up was Jim Horan, who regularly serves as music director and accompanist at Music at the Mansion™ events. Horan talked about his love of musical theater going way back to when he and his twin brother would listen to cast albums such as Camelot as children. He began with “One of Those Songs” made famous by Jimmy Durante, and then launched into a medley of Broadway tunes from his favorite vinyls. The audience had a lot of fun when Horan encouraged everyone to join in singing his piano bar medley of “Downtown”, “Dancing Queen”, and “Sweet Caroline.” The personable Horan regaled the audience with stories and finished the set with his original composition “I Can Sing”. Horan has accompanied and sung at prestigious music halls and cabaret venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center Rose Theater, Barclay Center, Town Hall, The Duplex, Don’t Tell Mama, The Metropolitan Room, Green Room 42, and most notably, served as the Musical Director/Co-Producer of the financially and artistically successful Second Act Series at 54 Below.
NiCori Studios aims to instill the love of theater and cabaret in young people and has yearly recitals and staged productions. Student Jada Camacho was the Young Musician Moment artist on Sunday. She has been doing shows with Adler since she was 12, and will be playing Velma Kelly in the upcoming NiCori Studios production of Chicago (Teen Edition). She performed “Giants In The Sky” from Into The Woods as well as “It Won’t Be Long Now” from In The Heights, and ended with a sneak peak of Chicago. Next up was Randie Levine-Miller who sang her way down the aisle to Sondheim’s “Old Friends”, stopping to greet old friends along the way. Levine-Miller shares her love of theater with her column for thethreetomatoes.com called “Broadway Babe” and a newsletter on Theaterlife.com. She also hosts a monthly Randie’s Roundtable at Sardi’s where she includes theatrical and other show business veterans for afternoons of sharing show biz memories, stories and anecdotes.
Randie Levine-Miller
Levine-Miller’s set list aimed to bring some hope and positivity to the room during the difficult times we now live in. From “Gee, But It’s Good to Be Here”, to “My Favorite Year” and “A Cockeyed Optimist”, and ending with “Heart” and “I’ve Gotta to Be Me”, Levine-Miller lightened up with day with her warm smile and strong vocals. You can see her love of performing and connecting with her audience as she sings.
Dan Manjovi
Award-winning vocalist, pianist, actor, writer, and teacher, Dan Manjovi does it all. His original music and arrangements have been featured in film, stage, radio, and television. Manjovi’s song “Somethin’s Comin’ My Way” was featured in the Academy Award-winning Lionsgate film Precious; his original musical I Am, I Will, I Do, premiered at the 2017 New York Musical Festival (NYMF, Playwrights Horizons). Dan has also written three original plays and has several albums, all available for streaming.
Manjovi has a great vocal range and the ability to get you to want to clap along, stamp your feet, and sing. He interweaves storytelling and music both at the piano and by standing in front of the crowd. He started off with a mash-up of two Cole Porter songs, “All Of You” and “You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To” before singing an original piece about his favorite day of the week, “Sunday” from his self-titled first album. My favorite song was his original love song “There Is No One More Beautiful Than You”. I was drawn in by his lyrics and the quiet passion in his voice. The audience really perked up with his Julie Andrews-esque falsetto with “I Could Have Danced All Night” and sang the bridge to Joseph’s Cosgriff’s humorous “I like Jersey Best”. He concluded with “Some Other Time” (Leonard Bernstein/Betty Comden/Adolph Green), incorporating in his own piece “Tonight Is Ours”.
Music at the Mansion Performers
Just as she began the afternoon, Adler sang us out and invited everyone to a reception where we got to mingle with the performers and guests. Music at the Mansion is a lovely way to spend the afternoon. I highly recommend a trip out to Morristown for the next one.
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