The Ars Nova presentation of "New Year's Eve with Nellie McKay" is billed as "an evening of music and a special champagne toast to ring in the New Year" and will take place Dec. 31 at 10:30 PM. McKay will appear as the young bride Polly opposite Alan Cumming, Ana Gasteyer, Cyndi Lauper and Jim Dale in the Scott Elliott-directed Roundabout Theatre Company production. The Wallace Shawn adaptation of The Threepenny Opera will begin March 24, 2006 at Broadway's Studio 54 and open April 20.

Songstress McKay was signed to Columbia Records in 2003 and released her debut double-disc album, the jazz-influenced edgy "Get Away from Me" in Febuary 2004. The up-and-coming blond Harlem native has opened for Cyndi Lauper, Sting, Barenaked Ladies and Alanis Morissette as well as Lou Reed at Carnegie Hall. Her sophomore album, Pretty Little Head, is set to be released in January 2006.

Tickets for the one-night-only event at Ars Nova, 511 West 54th Street (just west of 10th Ave.), are $35 (includes a champagne toast at midnight) and are available for purchase at (212) 868-4444. For more information, visit www.arsnovanyc.com.