Extended by popular demand! Olney's 'Fela!'

 

Duain Richmond as Fela Kuti and Melody A. Betts as Funmilayo in Olney Theatre Center and Round House Theatre's Fela! By Teresa Castracane

Strap on your seat belt, baby, and join the fun and dance at Olney Theatre Center with the best of 'em at Fela!  the new stage show which will leave you breathless…and maybe several pounds lighter. 

And the run is extended through August 20!

Co-produced with Round House Theatre, it's the first regional production, the first professional production anywhere in the world since Fela!'s national tour more than ten years ago.

Duain Richmond as Fela Kuti in Olney and Round House's Fela! By Teresa Castracane

It's an electric production of fast happenins with African music and gorgeous costumes, right from 1970s Nigeria, where Fela Anikulapo-Kuti (1938-1997) grew up to native sounds which he sculpted into his own music, a mix of Afrobeat with James Brown and some western instruments thrown in.

Don't be fooled at the beginning by the lazy spin of the ceiling fans as band members take their seats:  They don't match the lightning speed of this show within a show!

Duain Richmond as Fela Kuti in Olney and Round House's Fela!  By Teresa Castracane 

Ten musicians (under the strong arm of pianist S. Renee Clark) play on stage with a colorful backdrop which scenic designer Arnel Sancianco has realistically modeled after Fela's real club, Lagos's Afrika Shrine. Here Fela's life unfolds in jukebox style in oranges, yellows, warm and bright pigments of the sun. 

Director Lili-Anne Brown brings a huge, happy cast to the stage to sing and dance Fela's life wearing different African  designs in splashing colors (by Rueben D. Echoles).

Duain Richmond as Fela Kuti in Olney and Round House's Fela! By Teresa Castracane

Fela Kuti was more than just a composer and sax player: He was also a poet, composer, band leader and activist who used his voice and music to assail Nigeria's oppressive regime which came looking to silence his message, kill his mother and commit other atrocities. 

Leading the way for his followers is Duain Richmond, a Broadway star who takes hold of Fela with seeming ease which is no surprise after starring in the New York show and on national tour.  

Richmond is an energetic saxophonist who plays his instrument often and astonishingly, in-between songs and stunning dance routines (by Breon Arzell).

But it’s Fela's mother, Funmilayo  (Melody A. Betts) in an angelic appearance dressed from head to toe in white, who captures every scene when she utters a song's note, in a beautiful soprano voice bringing whoops and shouts from the audience in enthusiastic approval. Her too few duets with Richmond were the best vocals of the night.  

Not to forget about all the other women in his life (and there were a few), some who line up with 'tude to stand by their man, the women dressed in colorful apparel of the day with striking headgear to match.   

Despite tragedy, theatregoers leave with an an uplifting message that 

“Hope” is the thing with feathers -

That perches in the soul -

And sings the tune without the words -

And never stops - at all -*

As long as people use their voices, speak up, sing, and write, change will happen! 

Fela! was nominated for 11 Tonys in 2010 and won for best choreography, costumes, and sound. The show was nominated for a Grammy in 2011. 

Other cast members are:Malachi Alexander, Bryan Archibald, Terrence Bennett, Simone Brown, Patrick Leonardo Casimir, Shantel Cribbs, Jyreika Guest (also, intimacy consultant), Bryan Jeffrey, Raquel Jennings, and Emmanuel Kikoni (dance captain). 

Also, Amadou Kouyate, Raven Lorraine, Vaugh Ryan Midder, Yewande Odetoyinbo, Nova Y. Payton,  Jantanies Thomas, Galen J. Williams, Jalisa Williams, Kanysa Williams, Shawna Williams

Creative team members include Sherrice Mojgani, lighting; Kelly Colburn, projections; Matt Rowe, sound; Kim James Bey, dialects; and Jamie Berry, production stage manager. 

Book:  Bill T. Jones and Jim Lewis

Lyrics and music:  Fela Anikulapo-Kuti

Related community events: 

Fashion show and trunk sale, Sat., July 22, 4:00 p.m. free. Olney's first fashion show featuring designs by  the works of local Nigerian creator Busayo Salahdeen, director of Bibiré International. 

The movie, Finding Fela, Tues. July 25, 6:45 p.m., AFI Silver Screen 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring, MD 20910, $8 - $13.

How to dance Afrobeat, Sun., July 30, 6:30 p.m., Omi’s Pavilion at Olney, $10.

Viva Africa! Community Night at Olney Theatre, Thurs., AG 3, 6:00 p.m. $45 

Aug. 10. 8 p.m., a sign-interpreted performance. Contact Weldon Brown, Director of Sales and Audience Experience (wbrown@olneytheatre.org) to confirm. 

What:  Fela!

When:  Now through August 20, 2023, Wednesday through Saturday nights at 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. 

Where: Olney Theatre Center, 2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Road, Olney, MD 20832.

Tickets: Start at $47.  Sit side stage, cabaret-style for $100! 

Ages: For mostly all ages  

Rating:  (Mostly) G 

Masks: None required.

Refreshments available which may not be taken to seats.

Parking: Free, lighted and plentiful on-site

Duration:  About 2.5 hours with one intermission

Printed programs?  Yes!  Thank you, Olney and Round House!

For more information: 301-924-3400 for the box office or 301-924-4485  

patricialesli@gmail.com

Interview with Dante's curator at the National Gallery of Art

At the entrance to Going Through Hell: The Divine Dante at the National Gallery of Art/By Patricia Leslie

Before the show closes Sunday in the West Building of the National Gallery of Art, come and see Dante's Hell and the effects of his poem, The Divine Comedy, on artists and writers which they created over several centuries.  

By two years Covid delayed the opening of Going Through Hell: The Divine Dante which the Gallery had originally planned to celebrate in 2021, the 700th anniversary of The Divine Comedy's publication, but the disease could not stop the show.

Gretchen Hirschauer, curator of Italian and Spanish paintings for the National Gallery of Art who curated the Dante show, with the Allegorical Portrait of Dante, late 16th century, National Gallery of Art, Samuel H. Kress Collection/By Patricia  Leslie

In the painting above, the National Gallery of Art describes Dante looking across the water at small figures walking along the elevated circles of Purgatory, where souls await purification before admission to Paradise. 

And rather than patting Dr. Hirschauer on the head as it appears above, Dante's right hand in the allegory hovers over the bell tower and cathedral (Duomo) of Florence, illuminated from below by flickering flames, perhaps of Hell itself, the portrait which you must see in person. 

According to the Gallery, Dante holds in the painting a large manuscript copy of his poem opened to the 25th Canto of Paradise which focuses on his hope and longing to return to the place of his birth, Florence.

 Detail of Allegorical Portrait of Dante

Detail of Allegorical Portrait of Dante

Gustave Dore, 1832-1883, Dante’s Inferno, 1880, National Gallery of Art, gift of Huntington Cairns  “From the mouth of each [hole] projected the feet of a sinner and his legs as far as the calf…their soles on fire, because of which their joints were twitching so hard that they could have snapped ropes….” (The white circles of light are ceiling lights reflected in protective glass covering the drawing.)

 Gy. Szabó Béla, 1905-1985,  Dante: L'enfer, Chant XXI, Ongles sales (Dante's Inferno, Canto XXI, Nasty Claws), 1963, National Gallery of Art, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Le Bovit.

“The sinner sank under and rose again, rump up; but the devils, who were under cover of the bridge, cried….”  That is Virgil in the foreground, identified by the laurel wreath on his head, overlooking a black pit of bubbling liquid where demons gather and aim their pitchforks at politicians to keep them in line. (Hmmm...perhaps another use for the Capitol Reflecting Pool?)

Gretchen Hirschauer, curator of Italian and Spanish paintings for the Gallery who curated the show from the Gallery's collection, sat down for an interview.

When Covid hit, "we were closed at least a year. I was very pleased when we started back to work to learn that the Gallery wanted to continue" the show which includes 20 works of art  from the 15^th to 20^th centuries, created by artists inspired by Dante to depict compositions and scenes based on the Comedy. 

The poem traces the writer's journey through Hell, Purgatory and then to Paradise, accompanied initially by the poet, Virgil, and lastly by "Beatrice" (not Dante's wife).

William Blake, 1757-1827, The Circle of the Thieves: Agnolo Brunelleschi Attacked by a Six-Footed Serpent, 1827, National Gallery of Art, Rosenwald Collection

On his journey in Hell, Dante (above left in dark flowing robe with his guide, Virgil) saw the thief Brunelleschi who had been captured by a serpent: “On his shoulders behind the nape lay a dragon with outstretched wings that sets on fire whomever it encounters.”

And probably the most gruesome illustration is detail from an illustration, below. I don't know about you, but I'm going to try and stay out of Hell. That ending looks rather unbearable and painful.

Italian 15th Century, The Inferno, after the Fresco in the Camposanto of Pisa, c. 1480/1500, engraving, National Gallery of Art, Rosenwald Collection

Detail of The Inferno, after the Fresco in the Camposanto of Pisa, c. 1480/1500, engraving, National Gallery of Art, Rosenwald Collection

Someone mentioned to Hirschauer that Dante's themes were "an evergreen topic; the whole notion of love and lost love and the journey to the afterlife, and everyone's fears and hopes for it.

"It’s timeless which is one of the reasons Dante is still so well known and popular," Hirschauer said.

"It’s always interesting when I go back and read something he wrote.  He wrote this 700 yrs ago, and it sounds like a story we could have been talking about yesterday."

And indeed we are, and talking about it tomorrow and the next day and the ...

Auguste Rodin, 1840-1917, The Thinker (Le Penseur), model 1880, cast 1901, bronze, National Gallery of Art, gift of Mrs. John W. Simpson

Four thinkers at Divine Dante, National Gallery of Art, with a representation of Rodin's Gates of Hell behind them, July 3, 2023/By Patricia Leslie 

William Blake, 1757-1827, The Circle of the Lustful: Paolo and Francesca, 1827, engraving, National Gallery of Art, Rosenwald Collection, showing the adulterious couple swept away by desire from canto V of Inferno.  Francesca's husband murdered them both but what happened to the husband?  Now that would be a novel!  See also at the exhibition, Rodin's The Kiss based on the two lovers.

Hirschauer has read the Divine Comedy several times, in English and Italian, the latter which - surprise! - is harder than English, she said.

"He wrote this [the Comedy] after he was exiled, but we don’t really know for sure when he wrote it.  He was exiled earlier on and then for life later.  It took many years for him to finish it."

Dante's expressions reflect the hell and depression he endured while wandering the world suffering the losses of his greatest loves: Beatrice and Florence, the former, his lifelong idolization of the woman who captured his fancy beginning when he was nine years old, and the latter, his beloved birthplace  which banished him twice, once for two years for his failure to pay a fine, and the last, for  "public corruption, fraud, falsehood, fraud, malice, unfair extortion practices, illegal proceeds, pederasty ..." condemning him to death by fire if he returned!

It is possible that Beatrice was a figment of his imagination who grew more attractive to Dante over the years.

Robert Rauschenberg, Drawings for Dante's 700 Birthday, II.B, 1965, National Gallery of Art, gift of the Woodward Foundation

Visitors view books and illustrations at Divine Dante, National Gallery of Art, July 3, 2023/By Patricia Leslie 

Hirschauer:  It's "not a fact that they ever were lovers or spent any time together. [Beatrice was also married to someone else.] Maybe he fell in love with the ideal woman, when he was nine.  I am sure he idealized her. She died young, when she was 25" leaving him "very despondent.

"He started writing this more than 10 years after she died, when he was about 35, but we don't know really when he started.  It may have taken him 15 years [to write]."

He was middle-aged and experiencing a crisis in his life,  Hirschauer said.  

In his Nine Circles of Hell, Dante (1265-1321) ranks treachery and traitors as the worst kinds of sin, because, Dr. Hirschauer believes,"he himself was exiled from Florence.

"He was a very proud Florentine and he loved his city very much and he feels (I can’t speak for him, but) betrayed by the city he loved so much. I think that’s why he put traitors at the very bottom because of the wrong that was done to him."

(It took the City of Florence 700 years - until 2008 - to rescind Dante's sentencing of death.)

Beginning with a ceiling illuminated in red, two galleries usher visitors in to explore displays, books, maps, and statues like The Thinker (1880, 1901) by Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) who was inspired by the first part of the Comedy, the Inferno which he sculpted for his The Gates of Hell, two bronze doors found now in Philadelphia and Paris at the Rodin museums.  

(At the Gallery, a lifesized photograph of the doors stands behind the The Thinker who may have been modeled on Dante himself.)

Dante's themes of love, rejection, and justice are those experienced by every adult at one time or another. 

Is life a comedy? My cousin sometimes wonders if Hell is life on Earth!  

Come to the show and shed light on your own life and, by all means, when entering your afterlife, pass Hell, pass Purgatory and go straight to Paradise. Tell them Dante sent you.

The Divine Comedy has been translated into more than 50 languages.

What: Going Through Hell: The Divine Dante 

When: Through July 16, 2023. The National Gallery hours are 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. daily.

Where: West Building, Main Floor, Galleries 10 and 11, National Gallery of Art, 6th and Constitution, Washington

How much: Admission is always free at the National Gallery of Art.

Metro stations for the National Gallery of Art:
Smithsonian, Federal Triangle, Navy Memorial-Archives, or L'Enfant Plaza

For more information: (202) 737-4215

Accessibility information: (202) 842-6905

patricialesli@gmail.com

At Divine Dante, National Gallery of Art, July 3, 2023/By Patricia Leslie

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eating my way through southeastern Europe

The table is set for us at a winery/olive oil farm, Restaurant Kameni mlin, in the Konavle region near Dubrovnik, Croatia/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Our first course at Kameni mlin. Also on on our menu were veal cooked "under the bell," potatoes, vegetables, and kontonjata ("quince cheese")/By Patricia Leslie

Watching the entertainment (below) at Kameni mlin/By Patricia Leslie

 

The entertainment at Kameni mlin! Later, we danced the "Lindo," a Dubrovnik celebratory dance/By Patricia Leslie

Our hotel veranda in Dubrovnik where we ate many fine meals/By Patricia Leslie

A lunch stop at the Sedrvan restaurant next to the old bridge (read below) in Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina, a UNESCO World Heritage site. I found Mostar to have the lowest prices for souvenirs/By Patricia Leslie

Turkish coffee in Mostar.  It was pretty powerful stuff, requiring instructions the first time or two we had any.  If I remember correctly, first you skim off the top with a spoon, add sugar, and drink. I was never able to drink more than a couple of sips. Isn't the table covering gorgeous?/By Patricia Leslie

Suleiman the Magnificent ordered the conversion from wood to stone of the Stari Most Bridge in Mostar in 1566. It lasted about 427 years until it was destroyed in the Bosnia War, 1992-1995. International donors and UNESCO funded the $13 million cost to rebuild the bridge which opened again in 2004. Rick Steves says it's the "longest single-span arch" in the world. 

Your visit is more complete when you see divers in their Speedos leap from the bridge (after receiving adequate compensation from tourists, of course) 75 feet into the Neretva River below/By Patricia Leslie

Ahem... a roasting goat? Lamb?  At a rest stop somewhere in Bosnia- Herzegovina/By Patricia Leslie 

At the same rest stop/By Patricia Leslie

Dinner entertainment at the Restaurant Dulagin dvorin in Sarajevo, the capital  of Bosnia-Herzegovina, rich with history/By Patricia Leslie

 

The delicious dinner in Sarajevo of cevapi, a grilled dish of minced meat and considered the national dish of Bosnia-Herzogovina/By Patricia Leslie

In Sarajevo, more Turkish coffee at our hotel, the Hotel President Sarajevo, adjacent to the Miljacka River. A bit of the hotel is pictured in the background in the photo below/By Patricia Leslie

In Sarajevo, we debated what to order in the magnificent, huge marketplace/By Patricia Leslie  

 

In Sarajevo, we debated how to pay for dinner...with Bosnia marks, euros or dollars which don't have the cachet of yesteryear! Nobody wants dollars much anymore/By Patricia Leslie

 

In Sarajevo, more Turkish coffee, complete with instructions on how to drink it. I left what you see...a bit too strong for me/By Patricia Leslie 

Midday prayers in Sarajevo, but where are the women?/By Patricia Leslie

On our way to have dinner with a Muslim family who live three generations in about 1,000 square feet in this Soviet-style apartment building/By Patricia Leslie

The family lives on the eighth floor and stayed throughout the Bosnia War (1992-1995) when they had no electricity for four years.  To escape the snipers' fire from nearby "Sniper Alley," they gardened at night. An excellent book about the times is Love Thy Neighbor: A Story of War by Peter Maass which I took on my trip and never read a word until I returned to the U.S. when it all came realistically to life, sadly. It's the first book on war I have read and I highly recommend this Los Angeles Times book prize winner/By Patricia Leslie

July 11 commemorates the 8,000 males who were slaughtered in the war in Srebrenica in 1995. This year and every year, thousands in Sarajevo and Srebrenica honored three teen boys and 27 men whose remains were identified during the past year by DNA. Remains of many more remain under analysis, as forensic scientists seek to identify them.  

The United Nations took a long time during the war to act. (See Maass.) Our Croatian guide called the UN:  "the United Nothing." Ukraine, anyone?

If you're wondering what happens to the boxes of food and dry goods to which you may sometimes contribute, the mother told us how much they appreciated and welcomed them during the war when they had little to eat! Peanut butter was one of the most popular and sought-after food items.  

The view of Sarajevo from their apartment/By Patricia Leslie

The lovely table set for our dinner/By Patricia Leslie

Lemonade, salad, grape leaves or dolme, cevapi (minced lamb, beef, or pork hand rolled and grilled), begova corba, a soup with chicken and okra, and more were on the menu. Wherever we went, our hosts (and restaurants) served us delicious salads with special dressing which our guide told us they knew Americans liked/By Patricia Leslie

The dinner/By Patricia Leslie

The dessert with the fork outlined in chocolate shavings/By Patricia Leslie 

Three generations who live happily in Sarajevo/By Patricia Leslie

When the husband/dad came home from work, he immediately sat down with his daughter and began coloring with her in her coloring book, a first for me to witness! Never did I see my children's dad nor my own father color anywhere.  Family ties seems much stronger in Europe than in the U.S./By Patricia Leslie

A Serbian restaurant where we stopped for lunch on our way to the village of Karanac in the Baranja region of Croatia/By Patricia Leslie

Our lunch at the Serbian restaurant/By Patricia Leslie

Our dessert at the Serbian restaurant/By Patricia Leslie

At the Serbian restaurant/By Patricia Leslie 

We spent a night at a farm in Karanac, Croatia where we made cheese and meals (below), everything raised and grown on the farm! Talk about fresh!/By Patricia Leslie

Making the next day's meal with all fresh ingredients from the farm/By Patricia Leslie

"You see," the farmer said, "here is the cheese you made!" With a little help from our friends, we were fabulous cooks/By Patricia Leslie

My room at the farm/By Patricia Leslie

I'm not sure where this delicious salad was/By Patricia Leslie

This is a recreation of a wedding feast on display in Tito's childhood village, Kumrovec, Croatia. Everything was life-sized/By Patricia Leslie

Approaching Livade in Istria, Croatia, "world truffle center"/By Patricia Leslie

Truffle hunters helped us hunt for the delicacy near Livade/By Patricia Leslie

Off we go with the dogs and mosquitoes to truffle hunt/By Patricia Leslie 

The forest in the left center is where we truffle hunted, seen from Motovun, Istria, a medieval town on top of a hill. It was our next stop to taste truffles and see the town surrounded by four walls built several centuries ago/By Patricia Leslie 

The walls surrounding Motovun, Istria, Croatia with the steeple of the Church of St. Stephen, peeking out in the center.  The church was built between 1580 and 1614, based on a design by Andrea Palladio (1508-1580) whose neoclassical influence can be seen in the design of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie

Motovun's cobblestoned streets for walkers, cyclists, and cars! (Stand back and hug the walls.)/By Patricia Leslie

Enter here to taste truffles/By Patricia Leslie

Truffle samples in Motovun/By Patricia Leslie

A view from a wine shop in Motovun/By Patricia Leslie

Lunch at Hum, Croatia, the smallest city in the world/By Patricia Leslie

The coastline of Opatija, playground for Europe's rich/By Patricia Leslie

Tasty Croatian beer at Molo Opatija at Croatia's Riviera on the Adriatic coast/By Patricia Leslie 

 A veggie salad at Molo Opatija/By Patricia Leslie

A delicious salad at Gostilna Sokol in Ljubljana, Slovenia/By Patricia Leslie

A bread bowl for the wonderful mushroom soup at Gostilna Sokol in Ljubljana, Slovenia.  The menu says "Slovenian dishes by recipes from our grandmothers."/By Patricia Leslie

The soup at Gostilna Sokol which was as good as it looks/By Patricia Leslie

Our cute waiter, "Marko," at Gostilna Sokol in Ljubljana made us laugh when we asked him how he liked wearing his uniform and listening to "tourist music" all day long.  His expression says it all/By Patricia Leslie

How about this pizza which three of us split and still had leftovers! We ordered it at at one of the many outdoor cafes along the Ljubljanica River in Ljubljana/By Patricia Leslie

 This was the dessert at Gostilna Avgustin Z Vrtom in Radovljica, a town around since 1296!/By Patricia Leslie

A street scene in Radovljica/By Patricia Leslie

A street scene in Radovljica/By Patricia Leslie

Back in Ljubljana, I saved the best edibles (drinks, at least) for last to show you!  These are two margueritas (one frozen, one on the rocks) with an "orgasm" at the top, the drinks we ordered at the Skyscraper in Ljubljana. The building was the first skyscraper in Slovenia and one of the tallest in Central Europe when it was built in 1933. Norma, who ordered the "orgasm," said it was!  To order again, and again, and ..../By Patricia Leslie

I did not intend to make this a food trip/photo essay and did not take pictures of most meals on my trip, but these are some of the ones I did take. 

A terrible omission was my failure to shoot any of the outstanding breakfasts at the hotels where we stayed. Everything you can possibly imagine was served by cooks standing by to prepare potatoes, eggs, pancakes, anything you wanted "custom cooked" while guests helped themselves buffet style to all kinds of fruits, cheeses, meats, cereals, juices, coffees, breads and more from tables covered in linen tablecloths and fresh flowers.

Plus (!!!!) champagne!!! Mimosas every day to start the day right.  It was a grand trip, all right!*

Our tour guide said these breakfasts were "standard fare." 

I felt sorry for European citizens who come to the U.S. and stay in hotels/motels which may offer stale cereal in a styrofoam bowl to eat with a plastic spoon, and a thin piece of tissue paper for a napkin, if they get anything to eat at all. Europe is a much better place to visit than the U.S.!

*Overseas Adventure Travel

patricialesli@gmail.com