If nightlife had a Hall of Fame, Daniel Nardicio would be enshrined in rhinestones. For more than three decades, the Ohio-born impresario has turned gay dreams into glitter-drenched reality: Fire Island’s notorious underwear parties, Club Cumming with Alan Cumming, and now Red Eye NYC, the 24/7 queer playground rising in Hell’s Kitchen.
At 55, Nardicio has lived a hundred fabulous lives—opera student, law firm receptionist, burlesque hustler, Liza Minnelli’s accidental house host—and he’s still spinning gold out of wild ideas that others would call impossible
Liza on Fire Island: A Gay Fable
Want Liza Minnelli to perform with Alan Cumming on Fire Island? Most would say, “dream on.” Nardicio just picked up the phone.
“They said yes, as long as the money went to The Actors Fund,” he recalls, still amused. “You can’t give Liza a fee, but you can give her a good time.”
And boy, did he. Liza shopped the Grove boutiques, held court like a queen, and when she finally sailed away, hundreds lined the dock screaming her name. She burst into song on the deck—an impromptu concert for the ages. Then she turned to Nardicio and deadpanned: “My mother created a monster.”
Only Daniel could produce a moment that belongs in Broadway folklore and Fire Island gossip all at once.
From Opera to “Daddy’s Chicken”
Nardicio didn’t stumble into nightlife—he clawed his way into it with heels and humor. Trained as an opera singer in San Francisco and Berlin, he arrived in New York in 1995 dreaming of the stage. But when auditions didn’t love him back, he scribbled a new life plan: find another way to get the applause.
The answer? Promotion. His first attempt was a weekly burlesque revue called Daddy’s Chicken. (Yes, really.) Go-go boys were banned thanks to Mayor Giuliani, so Nardicio invented “no-go dancers.” One week, Project Runway’s Austin Scarlett lay on a blanket eating bratwurst as others wrestled around him. High art? No. High camp? Absolutely. And New York ate it up.
Alan, Bianca, and the Birth of Club Cumming
By the 2000s, Nardicio had teamed up with a then-unknown Bianca Del Rio for shows at Eastern Bloc. One night, Alan Cumming wandered in and ended up running a spotlight for Bianca. Years later, that spark became Club Cumming, the East Village bar that ditched drag race lip-syncs for smoky jazz, cabaret, and crooners.
“I wanted a place where you could take a date, listen to jazz, and sip an Old Fashioned,” Nardicio says. “People would tell me, this is why I moved to New York. That meant everything.”
Fire Island Daddy
But Fire Island is where Nardicio truly reigns. His underwear parties at the Ice Palace are legendary—hundreds of bodies dancing in their skivvies, every age, every size, every fantasy. “It’s the most thrilling thing,” he grins.
He also runs Reflections, a seven-room guesthouse, and produces towel-only spectacles like Amber Martin’s Bette Bathhouse and Beyond, where the crowd channels 1970s bathhouse chic. For Nardicio, Fire Island isn’t just a party. It’s history, community, and a stage for queer joy. “Around every corner is intrigue,” he says. “It’s magic.”
Red Eye: A Queer Palace for the Future
After parting ways with Club Cumming during the pandemic, Nardicio plotted his boldest move yet: Red Eye NYC, a Hell’s Kitchen day-and-night queer palace. Picture this: coffee and bagels at 10 a.m., rehearsal space at 2 p.m., a cabaret show at 8, and cocktails until dawn. And for those craving sweat and bass, a downstairs dance club, Cockpit, with its own entrance.
“It’s everything,” he beams. “A place where queer life doesn’t clock out when the office closes.”
The Lasting Glitter Trail
Sure, there were bumps—tabloid spats, canceled gigs, the occasional pearl-clutching critic. But Nardicio never stayed down for long. “I picked myself up by my bra straps and kept going,” he says, laughing.
Today, his legacy is undeniable. He’s brought Broadway divas to beach houses, turned underwear parties into pilgrimages, and given queer New York spaces that feel like home.
“I used to want applause for myself,” he reflects. “Now I love creating the stage where everyone else gets it.”
Daniel Nardicio is more than a promoter. He’s a fairy godfather of queer nightlife—part mischief-maker, part impresario, part historian—and he’s still making magic. Wherever there’s a dance floor, a cabaret stage, or a towel-only dress code, chances are Daniel’s the one pulling the strings. And thank goodness for that.
Rob Shuter is a celebrity journalist, talk-show host, and former publicist who has represented stars including Jennifer Lopez, Alicia Keys, Kate Spade, Diddy, Jon Bon Jovi, Tyra Banks, Naomi Campbell, Jessica Simpson, and HRH Princess Michael of Kent. He is the author of The 4 Word Answer, a bestselling self-help book blending Hollywood stories with personal breakthroughs. Rob hosts Naughty But Nice with Rob, a top 20 iTunes podcast, and was the only entertainment columnist at The Huffington Post. A veteran of PR and magazines, he also helmed OK! Magazine. Read his latest exclusives at robshuter.substack.com
55? Oh, honey…