When you are using coordinates from a table to make a featureclass/event theme, the values in the table do not get changed. You have to use the Add Geometry Attributes tool if you want to see their new values in the new coordinate system.
Now to make sure, once you have made a layer from your tabular data, you need to use the Define Projection tool to set its coordinate system. After it knows what coordinate system it is in, then you use the Project tool to make a new featureclass in the desired coordinate system. It is a two step process... Define, then Project. If you skip the first, your points won't show up in the right place.