Scott Perrin, the producer of Secrets Every Smart Traveler Should Know, has been doing some traveling himself and come across loads of unheralded theatre and cabaret performers who deserve their share of the spotlight. To that end, he's about to start up a cabaret series called "Garrick Gaieties," dedicated to bringing talented unknowns and semi knowns to an intimate venue. The series begins Dec. 1 at the Garrick Cabaret on 49th Street (between Broadway and 8th Avenue). "It's a brand new restaurant," explains Perrin, "across the street from Noise/Funk. It's very intimate and small... Some performers are on Broadway, some not. We'll have fresh faces -- the youngest, the newest the greatest. The stars of tomorrow. It's not at the level of, say, Joe's Pub [the new cabaret space at the Public Theatre], but our job is to ask, `who's the next Audra McDonald?'"

The original Garrick Gaieties were founded in 1925 and ended up introducing material by such theatre luminaries as Richard Rodgers.

-- By David Lefkowitz