Craig Rubano, a onetime Broadway Marius in Les Miserables, the musical known for its rousing Act One closer, is singing a slew of first act finales on a new disc dubbed "Finishing the Act."

The release date of the CD is Feb. 15 in anticipation of 12 cabaret performances at the Laurie Beechman Theater at the West Bank Cafe in Manhattan, Feb. 25-March 20.

The 13-track disc includes 20 songs (a handful of medleys) with guest artists Jeff Harnar, Catherine Hickland, Andrea McArdle, Alice Ripley and Marsh Hanson.

Tunes includes "Give My Regards to Broadway," "Welcome to the Theater," "Anything Goes," "The Impossible Dream" (with some Spanish), "Before the Parade Passes By," "Take the Moment," "You're Nothing Without Me," "There's Always One You Can't Forget," "Who Can I Turn To?," "My Own Best Friend," "All at Once You Love Her," "Song of Love," "Dear Friend," "Nobody Told Me," Stephen Sondheim's "Sunday," "Where Do You Go?," "Now You Know," "Momma, Look Sharp," "Father to Son," "Climb Ev'ry Mountain."

Rubano, who played more than 700 performances as Marius, has two of New York's highest-profile conductors on the project: David Friedman and Ted Sperling. The singer looked at 250 act-one closers and ended up with 20, representing Charles Strouse, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Bock and Harnick, Jerry Herman, Cole Porter, William Finn and Cy Coleman. He explores popular show tunes, but has also unearthed lesser-known numbers from Dance a Little Closer, No Strings, Pipe Dream and Do I Hear a Waltz?

The disc, whose subtitle is "Act One Finales From Broadway," is available on the AF Records label.

Rubano is a graduate of Yale and earned a MA at Columbia University. He also appeared in Broadway's The Scarlet Pimpernel and was Zeppo Marx in Goodspeed Opera House's Animal Crackers.

Try Craig Rubano's website at www.craigrubano.com.

For information about the Rubano gig at West Bank, call (212) 695 6909.

-- By Kenneth Jones