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HAPPENING IN MARCH “A Perfectly Peculiar Jazz Cabaret”
Featuring James Benn and Brent E. Marty
Saturday, March 21, 2026, 7:30pm
Sunday, March 22, 2026, 3:30pm
The District Theatre
627 Mass Ave
Downtown Indy 46204
Tickets and info:
$25 adult
$18 students and seniors
IndyDistrictTheatre.org
(317) 522-8099
On the second day of spring, singer/actor James Benn, and music director/pianist Brent E. Marty, will kick off the season with a brand-new lively jazz cabaret show entitled “A Perfectly Peculiar Jazz Cabaret.”
The performances are set for Saturday, March 21 at 7:30pm; and Sunday, March 22 at 3:30pm; at The District Theatre, 627 Massachusetts Ave in downtown Indianapolis. Tickets are available online at IndyDistrictTheatre.org or by calling (317) 522-8099.
The press has said of Benn’s performances, “He wins the audience over with boisterous humor and the underlying tenderness of his storytelling and personal testimony,” Jay Harvey Upstage; “He has a set of pipes and knows how to use them…you’ll leave knowing the answer for living in these troubling times is love,” Randy Clark, IndyFringe Talks.
In their upbeat jazz music set, vocalist James Benn, and extraordinary pianist, Brent E. Marty, will be performing songs of jazz and pop legends like Nat King Cole’s “Straighten Up and Fly Right,” Cab Calloway’s “Minnie the Moocher,” Paul Simon’s “American Tune,” along with show tunes from “Dreamgirls,” “A New Brain,” songs by Benn’s favorite Broadway composer, Stephen Sondheim.
A longtime Mass Ave resident and audience favorite, “A Perfectly Peculiar Jazz Cabaret” follows James’s past acclaimed appearances on The District Theatre stage in “Back in Business” and “In the Life: Songs of Gay Harlem.” He is also known for his biographical one-person show, “Little Butchie Sings: A Cockamamie Colored Cabaret,” presented at the IndyFringe Festival.
This is a cabaret for mature audiences who loves great music, a good story, and the kind of performance that reminds us why gathering together still matters—especially in uncertain times.
Come spend an evening with two master musicians putting their own special spin on songs that feed the soul.
Tickets and info:
$25 adult
$18 students and seniors
IndyDistrictTheatre.org
(317) 522-8099
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JAMES BENN is a cabaret singer, actor, stage director and activist. He produced his one-person show, Little Butchie Sings, at the IndyFringe Festival. He toured the U.S. with Five Guys Named Moe and has an association with the musical Ain’t Misbehavin’ as a performer and a director. At IRT he’s been in several plays including To K*ll a Mockingbird, A Christmas Carol, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He appeared in August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom at the Phoenix Theatre directed by Bryan Fonseca. He lived and worked in New York City for twelve years, where he performed Off-Off Broadway and with the performance art ensemble Rev Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping.
BRENT E. MARTY, the man on the keys. Brent has been actively involved in the Indianapolis arts community for many years working with several local organizations as a director, musical director, performer, instructor and accompanist. He currently serves as Director of Music and Education for Booth Tarkington Civic Theatre where he administrates all education programming and oversees all “musical” aspects of production. Local audiences may recognize Brent from onstage appearances in many productions including How I Learned to Drive, Die! Mommy! Die!, Miss Gulch Returns, and that old chestnut, The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Brent is a graduate of Ball State University and was the first graduate of its nationally-recognized Musical Theatre program. Brent was named a 2015 Creative Arts Renewal Fellow by the Arts Council of Indianapolis and attended the Music Directing Intensive at the Goodspeed Opera House in Connecticut. Brent has played on Hoagy Carmichael’s piano, restored and now housed at the Columbia Club downtown. He launched a series of open-mic cabaret events in Indianapolis entitled That is Brentertainment!
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Event Venue
The District Theatre, 627 E Massachusetts Ave, Indianapolis, IN 46204-1606, United States
Tickets
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