A DC-BASED COMPANY, and at our core:
DEVELOPING AND PRODUCING ORIGINAL WORKS OF MUSIC-THEATRE,
FOSTERING THE GROWTH OF ARTISTS,
AND ENGAGING WITH THE COMMUNITY IN PARTNERSHIP
Changing the Conversation Through the Arts
The CAbaret Series
We closed out our 2025- 2026 Cabaret Season with a very successful show!
The George Fulginiti Series: Cabaret, Cocktails, & Conversation
This curated series with sessions every other month gives outstanding local performers and Company artists opportunity to devise and deliver their own unique take on Cabaret.
On Tuesday, June 2, we presented our last cabaret of our second season at The Arts Club of Washington on a beautiful mild summer evening and a packed house for artist Alan Naylor. This multi-talented singer-actor often surprises you and always delights. For this, his curated cabaret, when the curtains opened, there he was seated in an homage to the Muppets as Kermit the Frog. He even got the room singing the ‘Mr. Rogers theme song.’
But it wasn’t always giggles and light-hearted banter. The theme of the evening was “Songs We Need Now.” Alan acknowledged some of our unrest, our sorrow, and our fears. He invited us to accompany him on a journey into tender and dark places, and the program included poetry, piano pieces, and songs. The program took risks with what most of us probably expected of the cabaret form, but his performance was as brave as it was honest and always emotionally true. Sharing the stage with him were two fine artists, pianist Erin Lee and Ukrainian-American singer and musician Marie Nikolaevna Herrington.
This is our lineup for our 2026-2027 Cabaret Season
October 6, 2026. CARMEN MEETS LOLA
Crossover Artist, Company Member, and Dominican Republic songstress Melisa Bonetti blends different music genres, pairing operatic arias with jazzy standards to express wild and deep emotions.
December 1, 2026. CURTAIN CALLS: HOWARD EDITION
Company Member Daniel ‘Deacon’ Smith takes the lead, helps us embark on a partnership with Howard University, leading award-winning student performers from a cabaret competition.
February 2, 2027. A GATSBY FOR OUR TIME
This cabaret will feature songs from Company Member Josh Cleveland's adaptation of Fitzgerald's novel with original music and lyrics inspired by 20’s jazz.
April 6, 2027. SUZY PLAYS THE SAXOPHONE
Prominent silent film musician Andrew Earle Simpson screens an exuberant 1928 French/German silent film, Saxophone Suzy, accompanied by a new live score plus new arrangements of Weimar-inspired cabaret.
May 4, 2027. SING THE UNSUNG
Company Member Cara Schaefer shares her wit, expressive voice, and enormously generous heart, especially for all creatures great & small whose stories are overlooked in the mainstream narrative.
June 1, 2027. MEPHISTO AS A WEIMAR CABARET
Join us when our whole cabaret ensemble reassembles in a season finale and a preview of a new work based on Klaus Mann’s novel, Mephisto, about making art in a growing Fascist society.
Subscribe to our 2026-2027 season
All six cabarets for the discounted rate of $330.
To sign up, please contact us or purchase here.
We are partnering with The Arts Club of Washington, DC’s oldest continuing cultural club and not-for profit organization for an exploration into what makes for an optimal cabaret experience.
For the Cabaret Series events, Audiences are invited to join us in an exploration of the boundaries of global cabaret and what makes for an optimal experience. What can you expect coming to our cabaret evenings? Sometimes familiar tunes, to be sure, but we specialize in original cabaret compositions, sometimes crossover genres, and we encourage artists to bend and push boundaries of the cabaret form and always speak to our current times, in the space and the place where we are. We come together for an intimate experience with artists who have something to say and engage in lively conversation with the artists following every performance.
You can always count on being part of a birthing process that is magic of music-theatre, “Seeing the back of the tapestry.”
The Arts Club of Washington venue is intimate, perfect for an optimal cabaret experience. Also thrown into the price of a ticket, the Arts Club will provide a small bites buffet and a signature cocktail created for this performance. Following the show you will meet the artist and enjoy other fine company. For each performance, the bar opens at 6:30 pm, the show starts at 7:00 pm.
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The Cabaret Series is in honor of Founding Member of Alliance for New Music-Theatre George Fulginiti-Shakar, who was for many years a local star in the DC theatre orbit, serving as music director of many productions at Arena Stage, Ford’s Theatre. Shakespeare Theatre, Studio Theatre, as well as serving as Founder/Director of the DC Cabaret Network and many of our own productions,.
What can you expect in the series and New Music-Theatre’s exploratory foray into this genre? We want you to assist us as we weigh in on the question, “What Is cabaret?” And more particularly, “What makes for an optimal cabaret experience?” We may feature, in the process, culturally international sounds and interpretations and even cross-disciplinary approaches. All bets are on that there will be transgressive themes, adult beverages, and a whole lot of fun when the artists invited in break the fourth wall and make their personal statements in this form.
You won’t want to miss up-to-date original cabaret songs, some newly minted for our series, and addressing peculiarly DC themes.
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Previous Cabaret Performances
Baritone Javier Arrey in his curated program "Music without Borders"
on February 6 at the Lyceum in Alexandria, VA and on February 27 at the Arts Club.
Javier curated his own program for the Cabaret series that highlights his extensive performances around the world in many different music genres.
His program included works of Dvorak, Schumann, Chilean composers, and some ‘popular’ Spanish songs, showcasing different ‘musical textures’ and styles from Europe to Latin America.
A versatile bel canto baritone, this Chilean born American baritone has appeared with The Vienna State Opera, The Metropolitan Opera, Opéra de Monte-Carlo, Palau de Les Arts, Boston Lyric Opera, Opera Nacional de Chile, Washington National Opera, San Francisco Opera. Read more HERE.
On Tuesday, December 2 Awa Sal Secka performed her original program "Bi-Coastal Acoustic." Awa, a first generation Gambian-American multi-award winning artist working all over the country. Awa has a large DMV following who was recently featured in PLAY ON! and won the Helen Hayes award for Outstanding Supporting Performer in a Musical in the role of Sarah in Ragtime, both at Signature Theatre.
A New York native, she moved to the DMV in 2005 and has lived here since. Awa has forged a place for herself in the theatrical world and is intent upon re-imagining what kind of art people of color can be a part of, and adding to the canon of stories that people of color were always meant to tell.
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On Tuesday, October 7 we welcomed back Josh Cleveland.
Thanks to all who were able to join us for the program titled “One True Sentence," an evening of classic cabaret selections that illuminated versions of his own story as a young songwriter and educator, as well as original songs drawn from his works, including musical adaptations of The Great Gatsby and Despicable Me.
Josh was joined by performer, composer, and lyricist, Alyssa Payne.
We didn't promise they could heal our nation's fractious discourse in one night of musical storytelling, but, while enjoying a specialty cocktail designed for the occasion, we could open our ears, share laughs, and find at least one or two true sentences along the way.
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Greg Watkins created
Unforgettable: A Valentine Tribute to Nat King Cole
Tuesday, February 11, 2025 & Saturday, February 22, 2025
Both evenings lived up to our promise as one not to be missed as Greg channeled the iconic American singer with some of his most memorable, and yes, romantic songs for this post- Valentine celebration. The venue is intimate, perfect for an optimal cabaret experience.
(Our Performance on Tuesday, February 11 was sold out, but the weather was not cooperative, so we offered an encore performance.)
The Arts Club continued the new-found tradition of coming up with a signature cocktail for the occasion to pay honor to the lusciousness of Mr. Cole’s voice in something we called “Je vous aime beaucoup.” Also thrown into the price of a ticket, the Arts Club provided a small bites buffet and a refresher beverage following the show where our guests could meet the artist and enjoy other fine company.
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Roz White was Featured Artist on Tuesday, December 3, 2024
Roz White called her original program “First Take: Roberta Flack at Mr. Henry’s.”
The amazing Roberta Flack is considered by many to be one of the greatest songstresses of all time. She began her career here in Washington and had a regular gig at Mr. Henry’s on Capitol Hill, and you could count on her to be sitting behind the piano “killing you softly.” Her songs brought insight into our lives, loves, culture and politics, while she effortlessly traversed a broad musical landscape from pop to soul to folk to jazz. She is the only solo artist to win the GRAMMY Award Record of the Year for two consecutive years.
Most of all, she had a superlative ability to tell a story through her music – she just “does it to you.” Roz does the same.
As a singer-actress, Roz has portrayed many iconic Black singers and music styles from Pearl Bailey to Etta James, and most recently Billie Holiday at Mosaic Theater. If you were wowed by her Billie, you will love her as Roberta. Read more about Roz White HERE.
The Cabaret series includes a cocktail prepared especially for each performance at the Arts Club. For Roz White's performance we enjoyed Roberta Flack’s favorite cocktail – "Killing me Softly.".