a&e features
Megan Mullally bares all
From ‘Will & Grace’ to ‘Nancy and Beth,’ singer says music was her first love
Actress/singer Megan Mullally, right, says her band with fellow singer STEPHANIE HUNT is a quirky, musically eclectic outfit that made sense instinctually. (Photo courtesy Kid Logic Media)
Nancy and Beth (Megan Mullally, Stephanie Hunt)
Monday, May 8
7 p.m.
U Street Music Hall
1115 U St., N.W.
$30
Megan Mullally cemented her legacy as the boozing and wise-cracking Karen Walker on the hit sitcom, “Will & Grace.” She later would go on to play opposite her husband Nick Offerman as his character’s ex-wife on “Parks and Recreation.” Since then, Mullally has started a side passion project with fellow actress Stephanie Hunt (“Friday Night Lights”), known as Nancy and Beth.
Bonded by a mutual love for quirk and music, the duo’s self-titled album is an eclectic mix of cover songs from rapper Gucci Mane’s “I Don’t Love Her” to the country classic, “He Stopped Loving Her Today” by George Jones. Mullally and Hunt bare it all on the cover art, appearing naked with the album’s title lettering strategically placed.
Mullally spoke with the Blade on the eagerly awaited “Will & Grace” reboot (a limited, 12-episode run with the original cast and crew on NBC is expected to air this fall), dropping her clothes for an album cover and the struggle to be taken seriously as an actress pursuing music.
WASHINGTON BLADE: Where did the name Nancy and Beth come from?
MEGAN MULLALLY: Nick, Stephanie and I had sat around at dinner one night and bounced around a bunch of band names and none of them seemed exactly right, but I wrote them all down. When I got back to Los Angeles I made a list of those, and a few others that I thought of, and I had thought of Nancy and Beth. For some reason it just seemed like the perfect name. I don’t know why. I stuck it in the middle of the list without any comment. I emailed the list to Stephanie and she emailed back right away, “Nancy and Beth.” I thought, well there you have it. That would be a good way of describing our entire vibe together. We’re completely on the same page. We have a real synchronous sort of affinity for each other.
BLADE: On the album cover, the both of you are naked. How did that concept come about?
MULLALLY: We’re both modest people. I don’t think Nick has ever seen me naked, for example. I’m not someone who rips my clothes off and goes galavanting about. I’m the opposite of that. I know Stephanie is too. I was in a very relaxed state one day and that image, exactly the way the album cover ended up being, came into my mind. Even though I didn’t want to take my clothes off necessarily, and I knew that Stephanie didn’t either, I pitched it to her and she was like, “Yeah we should do that.” It’s hard for me to put into words why I feel that’s the right record cover. It has something to do with bringing everything down to its most basic, elemental level. It’s the most stripped down, pure state. It’s two humans on the planet and we tried to keep it as absolutely neutral as possible. Except on the back cover art you see that we don’t mean it just as taking ourselves seriously, we also mean that there is humor included. I don’t think either one of us are very analytical people, we’re more instinctual.
BLADE: The music video for the single “Please, Mr. Jailer” has a quirky vibe paired with a classic song. Is that the vibe of the album?
MULLALLY: Yeah, it is. There’s only 10 songs on the record.They’re all a very eclectic mix from every genre, every era. Originally for the video there’s one rap song on the record by an artist named Gucci Mane. Initially I thought that should be the video because the track came out pretty well. It’s pretty funny. It’s not a comedy band at all, but that track has a lot going for it. So I sent it out to a bunch of people I know who are really good directors and said, “Hey do you want to direct our music video?” and for whatever reason everybody said no, mostly for scheduling reasons. It occurred to me that I didn’t want to get in a situation with a music video where we were going to have to sell our house and move into a tent so I thought, “Well I’ll just direct the music video.” And I thought we shouldn’t do that track because it’s an anomaly, it’s the only rap/hip-hop song on the record. We should do “Please, Mr. Jailer” which is more representative of our record as a whole and the spirit of the band. So I thought, I’ll just direct it and I’ll shoot it on my phone.
My pilates teacher, who is a really good friend of mine, I was talking to her about it and I realized that her husband is a really great VP, editor and director. So I thought, “Maybe I’ll just get Alex to come over and take some pictures or hold my phone.” Then I thought, “Wait, why don’t I just have Alex shoot it?” It was just really simple. We had a really easy shoot. It was just me, Stephanie, Alex and his assistant and hair and makeup. There was no other crew. It was all just very chill. I think it came out really well and I’m excited about it. The music video is more reflective of the tone of the album cover. So I think there’s an enigmatic quality that pulls you in that’s not necessarily reflected in our live show. Our live show we have facial expressions and every song is choreographed full-on. The video is different from the live show but I think the video is reflective of a weirdness that is inherent in my and Stephanie’s take on music.
BLADE: Lots of actors have musical side projects. Did you ever fear that the public wouldn’t take you seriously when you embarked on Nancy and Beth?
MULLALLY: Oh, I know they won’t. Nobody gives a shit if an actor does music. If a musician wants to act, people are like, “Oh my god. Amazing, brilliant.” If an actor reveals that they also have a musical side people are like, “Please, take your childish musical aspirations elsewhere.”
Well the fact of the matter is that I, and probably many other actors who also would like to express themselves musically, that was my start. I was into music way before I even thought about acting. I was in a ballet company. I was a serious ballet dancer for years also. I have done three musicals on Broadway and two of them were before “Will & Grace.” So two of them were before I was ever known as an actress on television. I think I’ve said that I came out the womb in a top hat and tap shoes. I’ve always loved music. Music has been the driving force in my creative life. It’s just that the public at large has no idea. They have not seen me in a Broadway musical. They don’t know anything about me being a singer. I’ve done a lot of concert singing. Singing is really my first, or maybe my best, thing. People don’t know that and that’s not their fault. It’s just the way it is. I don’t expect to ever sell one ticket, one record or anything. So each ticket or record that gets sold, I’m like, “Great. Bonus.”
BLADE: The last time you were on tour with Nancy and Beth your husband came along. Is he coming along this time?
MULLALLY: He is. Sometimes he’ll make an appearance during the show so we’ll see what happens. He’s our roadie.
BLADE: Fans are super excited for the “Will & Grace” reboot. Was it easy to slip back into the role of Karen Walker after so long?
MULLALLY: Frighteningly easy. I never doubted that it would be, but I also never thought there would be any reason for it to be. It never crossed any of our minds that the show would come back as the same exact show on the same exact network because that’s never happened before.
Although I did feel Karen was living a happy existence in some kind of alternative universe. It never occurred to me that universe would then be on NBC. It’s very exciting. I think the weirdest thing about the whole reboot is the fact that it doesn’t feel weird. It seems totally normal like we were just here two days ago, we went away for the weekend and we came back on a Monday. We’ve only had like two photoshoots and we’ve already just been like, “Hey” when we walk in like no time has gone by. We just had a photoshoot and I walked in and Eric (McCormack) and Sean (Hayes) were sitting there and I was like, “Hey guys” as I was heading to my dressing room. I came back and was like, “Wait a minute. No crazy casual, ‘Hey guys.’” This is great, we’re doing this. It’s crazy. It’s pretty fun. We’re already back to total, full-time groping, humping and laughing hysterically. It’s bizarre, nothing has changed.
BLADE: You’ve performed in D.C. before with your husband. What about D.C. makes it different from other cities you’ve performed in?
MULLALLY: I love D.C. as a city. I love performing there, the audiences there are great. I have a good friend who lives in D.C. She just organized this huge benefit for D.C. Public Libraries and they had two stages, music going all night, speakers, art installations. She sent me some stuff about it afterwards and one of the articles that was written about it had said how great it was that you live in a city where reading and libraries and that aspect of the culture, as well as all other aspects, are celebrated and all go hand in hand. I think that’s why D.C. is a great city for us to perform. I find our band entertaining across the board for all different kinds of audiences but at the same time its an eclectic band. I think the fact that we’re able to entertain everyone equally is a bonus so D.C. is a great city for that.
(Photo courtesy of Kid Logic Media)
a&e features
New book celebrates 1970s dance music icons
‘A Night at the Disco’ features interviews with Donna Summer, Debbie Harry, more
If you’re a fan of 1970s-era dance music, don’t miss the irresistible new book by Christian John Wikane and Alice Harris, “A Night at the Disco,” which revisits more than 90 interviews conducted with some of the biggest names in pop culture.
“A Night at the Disco” (ACC Art Books) was published on March 24, and distributed by Simon & Schuster. It celebrates more than 100 artists who sparked a phenomenon in dance music from 1970-1979 and features excerpts from interviews with everyone from Donna Summer to Debbie Harry.
Lost City Books (2467 18th St., N.W.) will welcome author Christian John Wikane for a book signing and conversation about “A Night at the Disco” on Thursday, April 16 at 6 p.m. Details at lostcitybookstore.com. Bird in Hand Coffee & Books in Baltimore (11 E. 33rd St.) )will also host a Q&A with the author on Wednesday, April 15 at 6 p.m. Details at theivybookshop.com.
Below is an excerpt from “A Night at the Disco.”
“I’ll let in anyone who looks like they’ll make things fun.” Steve Rubell is guiding a New York Times reporter through Studio 54 as resident DJ Richie Kaczor dazzles the crowd with records by CHIC, Odyssey, and T-Connection. “Disco, that’s where the happy people go,” The Trammps sing as dancers spin and twirl underneath tubes of flashing lights. Seven months since Rubell and co-owner Ian Schrager opened Studio 54 in April 1977, it’s welcomed untold numbers of “happy people” … at least those lucky enough to pass through the doors.
“We were part of the chosen few,” says André De Shields, who immortalized the title role in The Wiz on Broadway at the time. “We could show up at Studio 54 and the doorman at the velvet stanchion would look over everyone and point to us from The Wiz to come in, that kind of thing.” As the lead vocalist in the GRAMMY-nominated Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band, whose debut modernized big band sophistication for the discothèques, Cory Daye had carte blanche in the club. “The energy was like a New Year’s Eve party every night,” she says. “I would go up to the mezzanine and watch the mechanical light pillars go up and down, metallic confetti falling from the ceiling, the spoon and the moon. I was so fascinated and enamored by it.
“When a certain song came on, the people would just rush to the dance floor. There was no contact dancing — the hustle was pretty much on its way out — but it was just an amazing experience to see all the cultures together. It was a fusion of cultures, which described my life and my band, so I was right at home there.”
“Studio 54 was the place,” adds Linda Clifford. “Crazy parties. If you could think it, you would see it. It was like a circus. Just an amazing place to be. I worked 54 so many times. It was like a second home to me. The people there treated me so well. The crowd always seemed to enjoy my show. I always had a good time with them. That was the most important thing: making sure that they had fun.”
Well before Studio 54 opened, disco had become a business juggernaut. “A four billion dollar market and still growing,” Billboard announced in February 1977, with dance music offering more variety than ever. “There is no longer a single, readily identifiable disco beat, but a kaleidoscope of sounds that are melodic and danceable,” Tom Moulton told the magazine. In the clubs, records by veteran artists like Stevie Wonder and the Bee Gees were mixed in with a range of new acts like Grace Jones, Boney M., and The Ritchie Family, while everyone from ABBA to Marvin Gaye scored number one pop hits with songs that had club-centric storylines.
Beyond the charts, disco itself remained as idiosyncratic as ever, especially on several productions by Laurin Rinder and W. Michael Lewis, whose studio creations, El Coco (“Let’s Get It Together,” “Cocomotion”) and Le Pamplemousse (“Le Spank”), joined their own “Lust” from Seven Deadly Sins (1977) among the most tantalizing releases on AVI Records. Rinder & Lewis also produced acts for the newly hatched Butterfly Records in Los Angeles, where Saint Tropez (“On a Rien à Perdre”) and Tuxedo Junction (“Moonlight Serenade”) reflected the duo’s high gloss sound, spanning everything from European sophistication to a more literal translation of the ’40s sensibilities popularized by Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band.
12-inch singles had also grown as the preferred format to approximate the club music experience at home. Nearly a year after Atlantic Records introduced its series of promotional 12-inch singles for DJs, New York-based Salsoul Records released the industry’s first commercially available 12-inch single, “Ten Percent” by Double Exposure, in May 1976. A year later, T.K. Records was the first label to certify a gold record for a 12-inch single when Peter Brown’s “Do You Wanna Get Funky With Me” tallied one million sales.— Christian John Wikane
(From “A Night at the Disco” by Alice Harris & Christian John Wikane. Published by ACC Art Books.)
The Blade may receive commissions from qualifying purchases made via this post.
a&e features
Award-winning D.C. chef reaching new culinary heights
Anthony Jones of Marcus DC competing on ‘Top Chef’
In Anthony Jones’s kitchen, all sorts of flags fly, including his own. Executive chef at award-winning restaurant Marcus DC, Jones has reached culinary heights (James Beard Award semifinalist for Emerging Chef, anyone?), yet he’s just getting started.
Briefly stepping away from his award-winning station, Jones took a moment under a different set of lights. Recently, he temporarily gave up his post at the restaurant for a starring small-screen slot on the latest season of “Top Chef,” which debuted in March. (The show airs weekly on Bravo and Peacock).
Before his strategic slice-and-dice competition, however, Jones, who identifies as gay, draws from his deep DMV roots. In the years before “Top Chef” and the top chef spot at Marcus, he was born and raised in Sunderland, Md., in southern Maryland, near the Chesapeake.
Early memories were steeped in afternoons on boats with his dad bonding over fishing, and wandering the garden of his great-grandparents spread with fresh vegetables and a few hogs. “It was Southern, old-school ethics and upbringing,” he said. “Family and food went hand in hand.” Weekends meant grabbing bushels of crabs, dad and grandma would cook and crack them. Family members would host fish fries for extra cash. In this seafood-heavy youth, Jones managed time to sneak in episodes of the “OG” Japanese “Iron Chef” show, which helped inspire him to pursue a career in the kitchen.
Jones moved to D.C. after graduating from college, ending up at lauded Restaurant Eve, and met famed chef Marcus Samuelson, who brought him to Miami to be part of the opening team for Red Rooster Overtown. After three years, Jones moved back to D.C., where he ran Dirty Habit, reinventing and reimagining the menu, integrating West African flavors and ingredients.
Samuelson, however, wouldn’t let a talent like Jones stay away for too long. Pulling Jones back into his orbit, Samuelson elevated Jones to help him open his namesake restaurant Marcus DC, which has been named a top-five restaurant by the Washington Post. Since then, Jones has been nominated as a semifinalist for the RAMMYs Rising Culinary Star in 2026 and won the Eater DC’s Rising Chef award in 2025.
Samuelson’s Marcus is a tour de force interpreting the Black Diaspora on the plate, from the American South to West Africa, along with his signature “Swedopian” touches. Yet it’s Jones who has deeply informed the plate, elevating his own story to date. Marcus DC is primarily a seafood restaurant, which serves Jones well.
“Where I’m from is seafood heavy, and as I’ve progressed in my career, I’ve moved away from meat.” Veggies and fish are hero dishes. His own dish, Mel’s Crab Rice, was not only lauded by the Washington Post, but is framed by his youth carrying home the crustaceans from Mel’s crab truck. It’s a bowl of Carolina rice, layered with pickled okra, uni béarnaise, and crab. Jones also points to a dish on the opening menu, rockfish and brassica, paying respect to a landmark D.C. institution, Ben’s Chili Bowl. Jones reverse engineered a favorite bowl of chili that’s seafood instead of meat forward, leveraging octopus and rockfish along with different riffs of cauliflower: showing his intellectual, creative, and cultural sides.
While “Top Chef” is showing Jones’s spotlight side, he also lets his identity show at work. “In the kitchen, I make sure we’re inclusive. We don’t tolerate discrimination. Everyone that’s here should feel confident to express themselves. There are so many different flags in the kitchen.”
Jones says that he didn’t fully express his gay identity until fairly recently. He felt reluctant coming out to certain family members, “you’re scared to tell them about being different,” he says, and while that anxiety ate at him, “I’m lucky and fortunate to have unconditional love and that weight off my shoulders.”
Today, “I’m me all the time, Monday to Sunday. I’m honest with people, and my staff is honest with me.”
“Being a chef is hard,” he says, “and being a chef of color is even more difficult.”
Yet his LGBTQ identity is a juggling act, he says. “I need to keep that balance, because once someone finds out something about you, their opinion can change, whether you want it or not.”
Being on a whole season of TV cooking competition, however, might mean millions more might have an opinion of him (Jones has appeared on TV already, on an episode of “Chopped”). To prepare, he says, “I’ve just kept a level head. It’s just an honor to be on top chef with amazing people happy to be there.”
Plus, this season is set in the Carolinas, and Jones attended Johnson & Wales University in Charlotte, N.C. “It’s a full story of my life, now a monumental moment for me.”
Jones also recently was nominated for a James Beard Foundation Award. “JBF has been a north star, a dream for so long. I always had this goal on my wall.”
Being at the top spot at Marcus DC, making waves through his accolades, and cooking on Bravo means that Jones is highly visible. “I think that if someone has a similar background to me, and can see our story, trajectory, and success, they can have more ability to be themselves. This is my goal.”
Back at Marcus, Jones has plenty up his chef’s white’s sleeves. A new spring menu is in the works. He’ll be launching a new tasting menu “dining experience,” he says, and has plans to work on more events and collaborations with chefs and friends to bring in new talent and share the culinary wealth.
a&e features
Introducing the Torchbearers Awards honoring queer, trans women and nonbinary people
Meet the Legends and Illuminators lighting new paths
The Torchbearers Awards are more than recognition—they are a continuation of legacy. They honor the quiet architects of progress in our community: those who organize, advocate, build, and protect, often without fanfare but always with purpose. Rooted in a belief in intentional recognition, this honor names those who carry our movements forward—those who make room for others, who remind us that change is both generational and generative. In a time marked by uncertainty and challenge, these leaders push forward with courage, clarity, and an unwavering commitment to expanding opportunity and equity.
This year’s honorees reflect the full breadth of our community, spanning generations, backgrounds, identities, and industries. From Legends, with decades of leadership and having created pathways for others, to Illuminators, who are lighting new paths with creativity and innovation, each Torchbearer represents the power of intergenerational leadership and the strength found in our diversity. They are organizers, advocates, artists, policy leaders, healers, and changemakers whose lived experiences shape a shared vision for equity and liberation.
This award is our love letter to queer and trans women and nonbinary people who carry the flame when it would be easier to let it dim. To those who consistently show up, who use their voice and visibility and stand firm, often without recognition, so that others may live more freely and fully. The Torchbearers Awards celebrates not just what has been done, but the enduring spirit, responsibility, and collective care that ensure the work continues, and that the flame is always passed forward.
Co-Creators of the Torchbearers Awards: Shannon Alston, June Crenshaw, Heidi Ellis
Torchbearers Awards Advisory Board: Aditi Hardikar, Lesley Bryant, Jasmine Wilson-Bryant, Stephen Rutgers
ILLUMINATOR AWARDEES
- Representative Sharice Davids (she/her), (D, KS-03)
— U.S. House of Representatives - Greisa Martinez Rosas (she/her/ella)
— Executive Director, United We Dream - Paola Ramos (she/her)
— Journalist & Correspondent - Meagan A. Fitzgerald (she/her)
— Journalist & Correspondent - Jessica L. Lewis (she/her)
— Founder / Producer, Play Play DC - Savannah Wade (she/her)
— Founder, OAR Agency - Suhad Babaa (she/her)
— Filmmaker/ Former Executive Director of Just Vision - Ashlee Davis (she/her)
— Global Head of Inclusive Outcomes, Ancestry - Jazmine Hughes (she/her)
— Journalist and Former Editor at New York Times Magazine - Queen Adesuyi (they/she)
— Policy Advisor & Organizer, ReFrame Health & Justice - Michele Rayner, Esq. (she/her)
— Civil Rights Attorney, State Representative (Florida House of Representatives) - Gaby Vincent (she/her)
— Sports/Cultural Commentator and Community Leader - Jenny Nguyen (she/her)
— Founder & Owner, The Sports Bra - Denice Frohman (she/her)
— Independent Artist, Poet / Performer - Vida Rangel (she/her)
— Founder, Our Trans Capital - Roxanne Anderson (they/them)
— Executive Director, Our Space - Ann Marie Gothard (she/her)
— Co-Founder & President, Pride Live (Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center) - Diana Rodriquez (she/her)
— Co-Founder & CEO, Pride Live (Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center) - Wendi Cooper (she/her)
— Founder / Executive Director, Transcending Women - Toya Matthews (she/her)
— City of San Antonio, Texas - Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones (she/her)
— Sports/Cultural Commentator and Community Leader - Charity Blackwell (she/her)
— Poet, LGBTQ Advocate & Community Leader - Wilhelmina Indermaur (she/her)
— Director of Communications, Tyler Clementi Foundation - Em Chadwick (she/her)
— CMO, For Them & Autostraddle - Kylo Freeman (they/he)
— CEO, For Them & Autostraddle
LEGEND AWARDEES
- Sheila Alexander-Reid (she/her)
— Executive Director, PHL Diversity, Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau - Cassandra Cantave Burton (she/her)
— Interim Director of Thought Leadership & Senior Research Advisor, AARP - leigh h. mosley (she/her)
— Photographer / Educator, PhotoFlo Photography - Jenn M. Jackson, PhD (they/them)
— Assistant Professor of Political Science; Author & Columnist, Syracuse University - Jordyn White (she/her)
— COO, Washington Prodigy / VP of Leadership Development & Research, HRC Foundation - AJ Hikes (they/them)
— Deputy Executive Director, ACLU - RaeShanda Lias (she/her)
— Digital Creator, RL Lockhart - Donna Payne-Hardy (she/her)
— Educator, EEO Specialist, Founder of NBJC, Former Leader at the Human Rights Campaign - Courtney R. Snowden (she/her)
— Principal, Blueprint Strategy Group - Gaye Adegbalola (she/her)
— Musician & Activist, Musician / Inductee of the Blues Hall of Fame - Cheryl A. Head (she/her)
— Independent Author, Novelist (Crime Fiction) - Letitia Gomez (she/her)
— The American LGBTQ+ Museum, Board Chair - Lynne Brown (she/her)
— Publisher, Washington Blade - Shay Franco-Clausen (She/Her/Ella/Queen)
— Political Strategist and Organizer - Melissa L. Bradley (she/her)
— Founder & Managing Partner, New Majority Ventures - Meghann Burke (she/her)
— Executive Director, NWSL Players Association - Victoria Kirby York, MPA (she/they)
— Director of Public Policy & Programs, National Black Justice Collective - Joli Angel Robinson (she/her)
— CEO, Center on Halsted - Jeannine Frisby LaRue (she/her)
— CEO, Moxie Strategies - Alice Wu (she/her)
— Film Director (Saving Face, The Half of It) / Screenwriter - Storme Webber (she/her)
— Interdisciplinary Artist / Educator, University of Washington - Kim Stone
— CEO of the Washington Spirit, Washington Spirit - Mickalene Thomas
— American Visual Artist, Mickalene Thomas Studio - Erika Lorshbough (any/they/she)
— Executive Director, interACT - J. Gia Loving (she/ella)
— Co-Executive Director, GSA Network
Calendar: April 10-16
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Key lifestyle changes can help patients cope with diabetes
Trump budget would codify expanded global gag rule
Man faces first S.C. ‘hate intimidation’ charge
Police mental health struggles gain growing attention
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