The Ladies Who Brunch Series
Josephine’s Cabaret at Club Café’s Napoleon Room
Boston, MA
November 11, 2026
By John Amodeo
“My big joy in the cabaret community is that everyone has a platform from which to perform, from seasoned professionals to emerging performers,” exclaimed John O’Neil, business manager for Josephine’s Cabaret at Club Café’s Napoleon Room. “Because there is no place [else in Boston] to do this, there is no place [else] for people to collaborate. The Ladies Who Brunch (TLWB) series [at Josephine’s Cabaret] allows performers the place to do that. It’s a great cross pollinator.” O’Neil, who is also a veteran cabaret performer himself, knows the struggles, heartbreak, and thrill of performing in a cabaret setting. He has built up Josephine’s Cabaret himself, using Club Café’s Napoleon Room as the setting, with the support of Club Café’s owner/manager Jim Morgrage.
The Napoleon Room has been Boston’s place for live music and cabaret since Club Café owner/manager Jim Morgrage and the late founding owner Frank Ribaudo opened it in 2010 by sectioning it off from their restaurant’s dining room. Initially it held open mic nights Wednesdays through Sundays hosted by local pianists and singers. O’Neil, ever the entrepreneur, noticed that Mondays and Tuesdays were dark at the Napoleon Room and saw an opening. “The business side of being a performing artist is not a gift all performers have, and it’s a gift I do have,” maintained O’Neil. “When I started First Mondays at the Napoleon Room, that was a once-a-month thing outside of the open mic nights. But now we have 12-15 shows a month at the Napoleon Room, and TLWB series is now an anchor for that.”
The way O’Neil structured TLWB performances was to invite three local performers, often a mix of seasoned and emerging performers, to alternate small sets of two to three songs in two one-hours sets. For some performers, this might be their first time performing that many songs in a row for an audience in a nurturing and supportive environment. The series began in 2022, and many performers who did their first small sets in TLWB series have gone on to perform solo shows shortly after.
One of those performers was Lauren Schultes, who has taken off with her solo show Tall Girl’s Lament, which she has performed extensively over the past couple of years. This past summer, she had a nightly gig in the dining room at the Pilgrim House in Provincetown. “I did [my first TLWB show] in Spring 2025 with two fabulous singers. It was a great time and a great learning experience,” she admitted. “The shorter sets create a mini moment with the audience. How much can you pack into a three-song set and still make an impact?” She took that as a challenge. “My first TLWB show helped me start learning how to write for short sets,” she explained. “The Pilgrim House was a two-hour gig at this supper club, and the tables turn over during that time, so I came up with short three-to-five song sets so no matter when you came in or left, you got a whole story.” Schultes returns to TLWB on November 22, performing with her close friends Stephanie Cotton-Snell and Faith Kasparian. “So now I can get up there in the upcoming TLWB and plug that kind of structure right in,” she affirmed.
Cotton-Snell is especially excited to perform in her first TLWB show with her friends Schultes and Kasparian. The three of them bonded as students at Provincetown CabaretFest where they have also performed short Spotlight sets as part of the Festival. “The three of us are very different kind of performers and tell very different stories,” Cotton-Snell noted. “It will give the audience such a great variety of entertainment. We are friends. We like each other and support each other, and the audience can see that.”
Kasparian, who is also making her TLWB debut, likes that a brunch show is early in the day, which can enable a certain demographic to attend that would otherwise have difficulty attending evening shows. “I do have friends with young children,” she explained. “It’s great that we can cultivate young audiences at a time of day that’s more optimal to bring young people and introduce them to the arts.” Kasparian contends a short set is as much work as a full show. “I had to think about how to show variety within the five songs. I think very carefully about my material,” she stressed. “I work with my director Faith Prince. She encouraged me to give as much thought for five songs as one would for a one-hour show.” Returning audiences to the TLWB series look forward to the encore where the trio sings “The Ladies Who Lunch” (Stephen Sondheim). “I’m looking forward to singing the closing number with these two who are so good,” chirped Kasparian. “It’s also exciting for the audience to see the three people who performed separately all morning to come together for this big number. And for those who have come to other TLWB shows, they can compare the finale with the finales of other TLWB trios.”
The popularity of the TLWB series inspired O’Neil to create a Men’s Edition, the next of which will be November 14 and 15 with Rod Ferguson, Nick Panagiotou, and Josh Redman. Redman explained there is a behind-the-scenes collaboration that audiences aren’t aware of. “I’ve worked with Nick before, but not with Rod,” he began. “Nick and I have a strong Ven diagram overlap, but Rod has his own style. We’ve talked amongst ourselves about who gets to occupy which section of the emotional spectrum.” Redman pointed out how this differs from a solo cabaret show. “For me, it’s fewer people who are familiar with me as a performer,” he noted. They might be more familiar with one of my colleagues, so I try to come up with songs that might connect with them and give them a flavor of who I am. I want to convey a mini story in each set.”
As with Redman, this will be Panagiotou’s first TLWB. He sees a clear benefit for the performers. “I get to perform in front of some audience members for whom I haven’t performed before who came to see Rod or Josh,” he chimed. “It’s also nice to see the other two performers because I learn so much by seeing what other performers are doing and what songs they are incorporating into their acts.”
Ferguson, a singing comedian, likes the format of the TLWB series. “It’s shorter, and for comedy, that’s actually better,” he conceded. “It will encourage each of us to be more thoughtful about the material and putting it forward to the faces in the audience that are new to us.” He pointed out that audiences benefit from the format of the TLWB as well. “They get to sample multiple performers who are doing their best with five songs to win them over,” he averred. “Variety is a great thing. The contrast between the three of us will make our differences shine.” Ferguson’s Man Overboard show premiered at CabaretFest a few years ago and launched his cabaret career. It also changed the trajectory of his life and encouraged his move from Boston to New York, where he’s performed at Don’t Tell Mama. He later became a headliner in Mark Cortale’s Broadway and Cabaret summer season in Provincetown.
The performers agree that the cabaret brunch is a novelty that audiences enjoy. Cotton-Snell marveled, “Who doesn’t like brunch? It’s a wonderful break in the middle of a weekend to enjoy cocktails and some great music. It has a more casual atmosphere and the chance to see three different performers in one day.”
O’Neil has already booked the TLWB series through the spring, along with many solo acts. His efforts have put Club Café at the epicenter of Boston’s cabaret scene. “There are so few venues for live music [in Boston],” he lamented. “The reality was 30-60 years ago there was live music everywhere in the city, and Jim Morgrage has generously given us a venue to keep live music alive. I have a commitment to get as much produced in this room as possible.” The TLWB series is holding up that end of the bargain and then some.
John O’Neil presents The Ladies Who Brunch with Rod Ferguson, Nick Panagiotou and Josh Redman on Saturday, November 14 and Sunday, November 15, and with Lauren Schultes, Stephanie Cotton-Snell, and Faith Kasparian on Sunday, November 22, 11:30 AM at Josephine’s Cabaret in the Club Café’s Napoleon Room, 209 Columbus Avenue, Boston, MA. Admission, $25-$30. For tickets, visit: https://www.clubcafe.com/club-events/the-ladies-who-brunch-111526/?occurrence=2026-11-15 and https://www.clubcafe.com/club-events/the-ladies-who-brunch-112226/?occurrence=2026-11-22
