2025 1 Jan Newsletter | New Music-Theatre

Our Monthly Newsletter - January 2025

What’s Ahead for Alliance for New Music-Theatre in our 2024 -25 Season?

We are stepping up our activities this season in anticipation of celebrating in 2024-25 season our 30-Year Anniversary of our humble beginnings as a workshop for local artists to advance their collaborative capacities to experiment in the many art forms of music-theatre.

Greg Watkins Kicks Off 2025 with

Unforgettable: A Valentine Tribute to Nat King Cole

Alliance for New Music-Theatre’ continues its partnership with the Arts Club of Washington in our George Fulginiti Cabaret series, and, for one night only, Tuesday, February 11 at 7:00 pm.

The fabulous Greg Watkins will star in his own cabaret – Unforgettable: A Valentine Tribute to Nat King Cole. This promises to be an evening not to be missed as Greg channels the iconic American singer with some of his most memorable, and yes, romantic songs for this Valentine celebration.

The Arts Club will continue 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’re calling “Je vous aime beaucoup.” Also thrown into the price of a ticket, the Arts Club will provide a small bites buffet and a refresher beverage following the show where you can meet the artist and enjoy other fine company.

The bar opens at 6:30 pm, the show starts at 7:00 pm.

The venue is intimate, perfect for an optimal cabaret experience, but limited seating suggests you should book early to avoid disappointment. Reserve tickets HERE.

Read more about Greg Watkins in our Featured Artist section below.

Line-Up of future Cabaret Series at the Arts Club of Washington

Tuesday, May 6 - Amy Bormet “Amy Bormet’s Cabaret of Love & Longing”
Tuesday, June 3 - Daniel Smith “Unmasked: Freedom in Full Color”

Shows start at 7p.m. Bar with Signature Cocktail opens at 6:30 p.m.

Read more about the Cabaret Series HERE.

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2025 Composer-Librettist Studio

The application forms for professional Composers, Librettists, and Singers/Actors for the 2025 Composer-Librettist Studio are now open on our webpage HERE.

The CL Studio will take place from June 7 through June 22 and will once again be hosted by the Music Department of the University of the District of Columbia. The CL Studio will be co-led by Artistic Director Susan Galbraith and Music Director Sonja Thompson and will continue in the spirit of Ben Krywosz, who developed and led such studios across the country. This nationally-renowned training program has been preparing professional artists to deepen their understanding of collaborative principles across the spectrum of music-theatre since 1986.

Decision will be made by April 2025 with invitations going out to five composers, five librettists, and five singers. All artists receive a stipend but must make their own travel and accommodation plans. Please note this is a full-time commitment, with no exceptions for the good of the whole group.

For more information, go to Composer-Librettist Studio | New Music-Theatre

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Live & About Winter/Spring Season 2025

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Featured Artist - Greg Watkins

One of Washington’s greatest cultural gifts and most versatile artists is the singer, pianist, actor, music-director and arranger, choral conductor, and master teacher Greg Watkins. As a performer, he has been featured in shows as different as last year’s great history-telling through Step Afrika!’s dance production of The Migration: Reflections on Jacob Lawrence at Arena Stage to the musical Legally Blonde at Keegan Theater, for which he garnered a Helen Hayes Award. He has performed opera, notably playing the great writer and poet Paul Laurence Dunbar in the work by local composer Steven M. Allen. He has also become a favorite go-to performer for Director and Writer Tazewell Thompson, for whom last Fall with Seattle Opera, he reprised his role for a second time as Benjamin M. Holmes in Jubilee, singing with full orchestra.

But it hasn’t always been thus. Greg began playing the piano at age 5. He spent much of his early years with grandparents who hailed from Beech Island, South Carolina. “Performing on stage was not in my genes, but I knew I had talent,” says Greg, lighting up with that megawatt smile.

Nonetheless, later he attended the Duke Ellington School of the Arts, but enrolled to study piano and voice. It was at Ellington where he was broadly introduced to jazz by teacher and mentor Davey Yarborough. It was also here teachers began to hear and promote the young man’s vocal talents. Soon he was performing and then mentoring other aspiring musicians. (Many years later, he would return to the school for a stint as an administrator to give back to this sacred training ground that raised him and to champion the inner life of the next generation of students and global citizens. His office, he said, was a sanctuary of sorts to all these students and the challenges they had to face in their daily lives.)

Join our Live & About Subscription Series where we take you along to different theaters representing large and small companies approximately once a month, introducing you to different expressions across the spectrum of music-theater. Enjoy seeing shows with friends, followed by conversation delving into the artists’ intentions, learning from others in the group about different perspectives, and sharpening our critical appreciation of different of this most hybrid of performance forms.

By joining in this series, you support companies across the DMV, save money by getting in on a group discount, and make new friends to expand your minds and appetite for new and different voices and genres in our culturally rich and diverse community.

Weeknight and weekend matinees are, in most months, options.

For this upcoming season, we are focusing on different venues, and some may surprise you. How does the space affect the experience? And how does the space expand and enhance what we may call music-theater?

Learn more about the subscription aeries and rates for this season. Email us at info@newmusictheatre.org

Winter/Spring Season Outings

February 11 - Greg Watkins brings his own Cabaret to the Arts Club of Washington in A special Valentine Tribute to Nat King Cole. Arts Club will provide a featured cocktail and light buffet ,ensuring this will be a terrific Valentine party to dispel the winter blahs, (One night only)
March - Come see Synetic Theatre in a new venue for this company as it takes on the era of classic silent film in its trademark blend of voiceless movement-music theater in The Immigrant.
April - New Music-Theatre will share its tribute to the history of Back Georgetown and the leaders who made possible the early DC Emancipation & The Right to Vote (Venue TBA) in an original work of music-theatre by company member Ronald ‘Trey’ Walton
May - Washington National Opera presents a new work by composer Mason Bates and Librettist Mark Campbell (also advisor to our company ), The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs. Come with us on this operatic journey through the interior workings and spiritual journey of an innovator.
June - Signature Theatre offer us a return trip to Arlington’s anchor cultural destination and another biographically-inspired work , this month a musical in The Untitled Unauthorized Hunter Thompson Musical.

As a student, Greg was listening and soaking up everything he could and grew his reputation as a serious, disciplined artist. He found a special connection to the man and the voice of Nat King Cole, the great, perhaps even the greatest of mid twentieth century popular singers.

“People have made comparisons between us over the years, and I keep coming back to wanting to tell his story on stage. He didn’t have it easy. At one point, living in L.A, in an all- White neighborhood, neighbors made it clear that a man of his complexion and heritage was not wanted. At one point, the KKK came and threw rocks at his home, burned a cross on his lawn, and even poisoned his dog. But he never publicly retaliated. That was not his way. Sometimes that bothered others within his own cultural community. They wanted him to be more outspoken as an activist which he never claimed or aspired to be.

But I think we have a lot to learn from him, maybe especially now as we revisit his legacy. He was always elegant, resilient, dignified. A class act. I think Nat King Cole teaches us that in the face of slights, injustice, and even bigotry, first step back and breathe. There’s courage in that, and you don’t let them get to you or rule your life. And he especially wanted to connect with his audience and to make people happy through his music. I want that too.”

Read more about Greg Watkins HERE. That smile again. Je vous aime beaucoup.

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As a small not-for-profit 501(c)3 public charity organization, Alliance for New Music-Theatre’s mission is to:

Nurture the creation, development and production of new works of music-theatre
Foster the growth of professional and aspiring artists and their collaborations across cultures and musical languages;
Engage community by bringing audiences and other partners into the creative process to promote a deeper understanding and critical appreciation of the transformative power of music-theatre.

We need your support to continue to fulfill our mission. There are many opportunities to provide support at various levels by supporting an artist, a production, or general support.

The Donate page on our website has information about ways to contribute. Donate | New Music-Theatre (newmusictheatre.org)