Singer Karen Mason, of Broadway's Sunset Boulevard, will inaugurate a new Manhattan cabaret spot, Arci's Place, Nov. 3, beginning a month-long engagement of show tunes and pop standards.

Barry Kleinbort directs and Christopher Denny musical directs Mason's interpretations of songs by the Gershwins, Sondheim, Bernstein, Kander & Ebb, Kleinbort, Burton Lane and Alan Jay Lerner, Brian Lasser, Paul Rolnick, Larry Grossman & Hal Hackady, and others.

Performances continue Wednesday to Saturday through Nov. 27 at restaurateur John Miller's Italian-menu Arci's Place, 450 Park Avenue South (between 30th and 31st streets).

Over the 1999 Labor Day weekend, part of Arci's Place was soundproofed and partitioned to create a new 80-seat cabaret room.

Miller hopes Mason (Sunset Boulevard, And the World Goes 'Round) will be the first of many marquee-name artists to perform at the spot. Matt Berman, a MAC Award winner, designed the new lighting and sound system. Cabaret admission is $25 cover and a $15 minimum. Performances are Wednesday through Saturday. The Mason gig coincides with the release of her new CD, "Christmas! Christmas! Christmas!," recorded in 1998.

For Arci's Place information, call (212) 532-4370.

-- By Kenneth Jones