Highly recommended: 'Your Table Is Ready'

Drugs, sex, rock ‘n’ roll… And would you like some food with that? 

That pretty well sums up the first half of Your Table Is Ready by Michael Cecchi-Azzolina.

If you can get past the initial soft porn (if that turns you off or on), this is one fascinating, fun book to read, especially if you are a New Yorker and you eat. 

Even if you're not a New Yorker, it's still a good read.

It's behind-the-scenes descriptions of what goes on at New York's fanciest restaurants, many managed and run by the author who had first-hand experience how they serve 'em up and save the best seats for the most money and cave to the reviewers.  

Everyone knows what the reviewers look like, right?  You'd better.  Stand guard, everyone, and turn on your earbuds for the first alert..err, warning:  They are here!

Who knew there was so much sex in restaurants? Only in New York City? I kept plugging away and gave it a few more pages before my appetite was whet. 

Surprise! Advance money makes a difference! Slip the maître d' an easy $100 bill (in the 80s and 90s; better up the ante now) and sit at whatever grand table they seat you. 

Who cares about reservations when it comes to money?  

The most famous arrived, like the hucksters Cecchi-Azzolina knew: Ivanka Trump, Trump, the mob, the FBI and more.

Many times I laughed out loud at this fast-paced, detailed description of what's happening behind the bar. 

Cecchi-Azzolina writes that 98 percent of the guests are fine, but it's the other two percent that "we in the business hate."  

Where do you stand?

Sex drugs and maybe some food, too, at New York's finest are what it's all about. Read it and eat!

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Jamie Wyeth at Chadds Ford

Jamie Wyeth (b. 1946), Kent House, 1972, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Wyeth.  This is a house built in 1907 on Monhegan Island in Maine by Rockwell Kent and later purchased by Jamie Wyeth with money he earned at age 22 from his first solo show. Wyeth lives and paints there still.

Jamie Wyeth in front of Roots, Revisited, at Brandywine Museum of Art, March 15, 2024/By Patricia Leslie

Jamie Wyeth (b. 1946), Roots, Revisited (detail), 2019, The  Phyllis and Jamie Wyeth Collection

A prize to whomever named the newest Jamie Wyeth exhibition at the Brandywine Museum of Art, Unsettled.  It is that and much more.

It is dark, foreboding and one can't help but wonder if it is Wyeth's invitation to the grave. Little hope, enthusiasm or anything resembling "pretty" is found among the more than 50 paintings in this collection which spans almost 60 years (1964-2022). It falls in the manner of Mark Rothko who painted darks, and Van Gogh who painted black birds, both near the end of their lives, but Wyeth has been painting "darks" for decades.

Wyeth's collection represents a lot which is old, decaying, no more.

Jamie Wyeth (b. 1946), Fallen, (detail) 1975, private collection. The small white circles in the center are reflections of lights at the museum.

Jamie Wyeth (b. 1946), River Trunk, 1968, The Phyllis and Jamie Wyeth Collection

Jamie Wyeth in front of Roots, Revisited at Brandywine Museum of Art, March 15, 2024, pointing to Spring, The Hanging of the Tree Rocks, below/By Patricia Leslie

 

Jamie Wyeth (b. 1946), Spring, The Hanging of the Tree Rocks, 2017, The Phyllis and Jamie Wyeth Collection. Wyeth's wife, Phyllis, may be the person pictured here. Wyeth told members of the press that he woke up in the middle of the night to work on the painting which he carried to the frame's edges. 

Jamie Wyeth (b. 1946), Portrait of Michael Jackson, 1985, The  Phyllis and Jamie Wyeth Collection. One source says the frame surrounding the portrait was a gift from Jamie's father, Andrew.

 

Jamie Wyeth (b. 1946), Julia on the Swing, 1999, private collection

Jamie Wyeth (b. 1946), My Mother and the Squall, 2016, private collection

Jamie Wyeth in front of Roots, Revisited, at Brandywine Museum of Art, March 15, 2024, with Amanda C. Burdan, Brandywine's senior curator and organizer of the exhibition/By Patricia Leslie

On March 15, 2024, he attracted about 25 members of the press who came to see his latest exhibition. He seemed shy and disquieted, not eager to talk but agreeable to it, perhaps pushed by his handlers to show up and draw the media, and it worked.

During his talk, he often referenced his wife,  Phyllis, who died in 2019. From observations, it seems that they were very close and enjoyed a happy marriage. Jamie Wyeth said he works from four to six hours a day. "I have no hobbies," he said, but if you enjoy it, isn't "work" a hobby? Or is it the other way around?

Jamie Wyeth (b. 1946), Gull and Windsor, 1993, Collection of Lindsay and Candice Hooper

Jamie Wyeth (b. 1946), Snow Owl, Fourteenth in a Suite of Untoward Occurrences on Monhegan Island, 2020, The  Phyllis and Jamie Wyeth Collection

Jamie Wyeth (b. 1946), Wake,  2008, The  Phyllis and Jamie Wyeth Collection

Jamie Wyeth (b. 1946), First in the Screen Door Sequence, 2015, Brandywine River Museum of Art, gift of George A. Weymouth.  This is Andy Warhol and his dog, perhaps telling viewers, the label says, "our friends and loved ones may be in our lives only briefly." Warhol and Jamie Wyeth were friends.

Jamie Wyeth (b. 1946), Consomm

é,

 2013,  Greenville County Museum of Art, Greenville, South Carolina.  According to the label copy, this is a portrait of a ghost of the twin (?) of Jamie Wyeth's friend, Andy Warhol, who died in 1987. 

Jamie Wyeth (b. 1946), Child Chairs, 1988, private collection

N.C.Wyeth (1882-1945), Chadds Ford Landscape July 1909, 1909, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Wyeth

Jamie Wyeth (b. 1946), Frolic, 2016, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Herbert V. Kohler, Jr.

 This honors one of Jamie Wyeth's close friends, George A. "Frolic" Weymouth, one of the founders of the Brandywine Museum of Art, and its chairman for almost 50 years. Jamie Wyeth painted this the year George Weymouth died (1936-2016).

Jamie Wyeth (b. 1946), Deo du Pont Weymouth, c. 1966, gift of McCoy duPont (sic) Weymouth.  Ms. Weymouth's son, George A. Weymouth, was one of the founders of the Brandywine Museum of Art.

N.C. Wyeth (1882-1945), The Mysterious Island, cover illustration, 1918, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Hallock du Pont, Jr.  Ceiling lights at the top reflect on the book jacket, many similar covers which N.C. drew to support his family.  (For an excellent biography of N.C. Wyeth, read David Michaelis's book.)

Henriette Wyeth (1907-1997), Self Portrait, c. 1928, recent acquisition by the Brandywine River Museum of Art. Henriette Wyeth was trained by her father, N.C. Wyeth and later, at the Boston Museum of Art Academy and the Pennsylvania Academy of the FIne Arts.  Her husband was Peter Hurd, chiefly known for his portrait of President Lyndon Baines Johnson who called it "the ugliest thing I ever saw," and rejected it.  Hurd gave the portrait to the National Portrait Gallery in Washington with the agreement that it would not be displayed until LBJ left office (1969).  You can see it today in the Hall of Presidents at the Portrait Gallery.

Carolyn Wyeth (1909-1994), N.C.Wyeth's Barn, 1974.  Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Wyeth.  N.C. Wyeth was Carolyn Wyeth's father and first art teacher when she was 12, according to the label copy.  She gave art lessons to her nephew, Jamie Wyeth, also when he was 12. 

Thomas Hart Benton (1889-1975), Still Life, 1951, Brandywine River Museum of Art.

Looking dapper in stockings and knickers when he met the press, Jamie Wyeth's red sneakers matched the shoe color worn by Amanda C. Burdan, Brandywine's senior curator and organizer of the exhibition.

I have included notable works hanging on other floors at the museum which are not part of the exhibition but some drawn by Wyeth's father, grandfather, aunts and one by Thomas Hart Benton. 

From Brandywine, the exhibition travels to: 

Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, ME, July 4–September 29, 2024; 

Greenville County Museum of Art, Greenville, SC, November 27, 2024–February 16, 2025; 

Dayton Art Institute, Dayton, OH, March 15–June 8, 2025; 

and Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA, July 12–October 5, 2025

Rizzoli Electa has published a hardcover catalogue about the exhibition ($55).

The museum calls its newest show, "the art of visual storytelling. Fiercely independent in the face of prevailing art world trends, Jamie Wyeth stands apart in a shadowy and strange world of his own creation."  Amen to that!  Thank you, Jamie Wyeth. 

For another post I have written about the Wyeths, please see:

Wyeth's 'windows' closing at the National Gallery of Art, Nov. 28, 2014

What:  Jamie Wyeth: Unsettled 

When:  Now through June 9, 2024. 9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Closed Tuesdays.

Where:  Brandywine Museum of Art, One Hoffman's Mill Rd., Chadds Ford, PA 19317

How much: $20,adults; $18, seniors (65+); $8, children ages 6-18 and students with ID. Free for children ages five and under and members of the Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art

For more information, call 610-388-2700

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Bob Schieffer's art at the Katzen

This one Mr. Schieffer titled Our Very Best and wrote: "We've lived through a difficult period, but we must never forget that Washington, Lincoln and Roosevelt dealt with far worse during their presidencies."

The artist from CBS and "60 Minutes" and more was there, of course, with his curator, Michael Beschloss, presidential historian, and a packed gallery at American University's Katzen Arts Center.

I can't call it an elbow to elbow crowd; it was more like cheek-to-cheek. You guess.

From left, Michael Beschloss, the curator; Jack Rasmussen, the director of  American University's Katzen Arts Center; and Bob Schieffer/photo by Patricia Leslie, AP 6, 2024

Bob Schieffer, Paradise Lost, 2023 (detail).  The label says:  "The horrible fire that swept Maui was the perfect example of the new threat that extreme weather now poses."

Bob Schieffer, Honest Abe ... "I drew this picture in 1983 and I included it because I always feel better when I think about Honest Abe."

For 87 years old (! where does time go?), Bob Schieffer paints well, mixing mostly non-fiction subjects in a collage fashion in large-sized works. His colors are bold and brassy; his style is mostly realism with some impressionism (Election Night, 2020 and the celebration in Lafayette Park, my favorite). His portraits of celebrities (a startled Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sandra Day O'Connor, John Lewis, Amanda Gorman, John McCain, George Floyd) are unadorned. 

Every time I look at his art, I find myself with growing admiration for his talent for it's obvious that he didn't first pick up a paint brush when he retired, but years ago when his grandmother taught him. 

Bob Schieffer, The Bump, 2020:  "After Biden won, hundreds of celebrants poured into Lafayette Park to let the world know." 

Bob Schieffer, The Face of Evil, 2022: "This was the easiest painting to name. I have no idea who first painted it, only that is appeared on hundreds of signs carried by Ukrainians fighting the Russian invaders."

Schieffer has modeled many of his works on notable scenes and photographs, such as his Napalm Girl, a sad token of the 1973 Pulitzer Prize winning photograph, "The Terror of War," by Huynh Cong "Nick" Út.  Growing up during the Vietnam War, I hate to be reminded.

Bob Schieffer with Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson with a Schieffer painting:  Cassidy Hutchinson: Profile in Courage. Ms. Hutchinson testified before the January 6 Committee about Trump's actions on January 6 and, on another day, she helped a White House valet clean catsup off a wall where someone had thrown it. Who in the White House eats catsup and has temper tantrums?/Photo by Patricia Leslie, April 6, 2024 

Bob Schieffer with Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson at the exhibition opening/Photo by Patricia Leslie, April 6, 2024 

There's a painting of Maggie Haberman smiling.  Maggie Haberman smiles? Since when did she smile? She's spent so much time with Trump, she's become schooled in the Trump Center for Facial Expressions:  "Never smile." (He's also pictured scowling in front of St. John's Church.)

Bob Schieffer, Journalism 101  featuring Maggie Haberman

Bob Schieffer, The Unforced Error:  Leaving the Graveyard of Empire, 2021 (detail). Schieffer writes:  "Unlike the American experience in VIetnam, Biden envisioned a dignified end to America's longest war. Instead it was a debacle."

Bob Schieffer, The Irony of War, 2022-2023 (detail) with the label: "Russian and American astronauts returned to Earth after working together for a year in space, something no longer possible back home."

A large crowd turned out for the opening of Bob Schieffer's art exhibition at the Katzen Arts Center, American University/Photo by Patricia Leslie, April 6, 2024 

It was cheek to cheek for the opening of Bob Schieffer's art exhibition at the Katzen Arts Center, American University/ Photo by Patricia Leslie, April 6, 2024 

Celebrities at the event included Gloria Borger, Judy Woodruff, Al Hunt, Gloria Bohan, Christine O'Dwyer, Mary Gotschall and Bruce Guthrie.

Most of the women wore Washington Safety Black with the exception of Norah O'Donnell in a matching rose pink jacket and pants, and Cassidy Hutchinson in a spring garden dress.

Jake Tapper reportedly showed up in a Phillies jersey after a game between the Nationals and Philadelphia who won.  

Mr. Schieffer laughed (and the crowd laughed with him) about all the talk about presidential candidates being old:  He would love to be 80 again!  

In the artist's statement posted on the wall, he wrote that his interest in an exhibition started in early 2020: "What I soon understood was that Covid was just the beginning. One crisis after another settled over a society already reeling from the pandemic."  

The title of the show, Looking for the Light, originated with Amanda Gorman's poem delivered at President Biden's inauguration. Schieffer: "I found hope in a dark and dangerous time."

On April 20 from 2 - 3 p.m., Mr. Schieffer and Jack Rasmussen, the AU museum director, will give a talk (with perhaps Curator Beschloss on hand; the website is unclear).  Go here to sign up at Eventbrite. Signed catalogues will be available.

WHAT: Looking for the Light

WHEN:  Through May 19, 2024, 11 a.m. - 4 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday 

WHERE:   Katzen Arts Center at American University, 4400 Mass. Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20016-8031

ADMISSION:  Free!

PARKING:  Garage parking is free on weekends and after 5 p.m., weekdays. Paid parking is available, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m., weekdays.

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Alexandria loved this 'Murder'!

From left, Brian Lyons-Burke is Monsieur Bouc, Michael Kharfen is Hercule Poirot, Brianna Goode is Countess Andrenyi and Paul Donahoe is the Head Waiter/Michel in Little Theatre of Alexandria's Murder on the Orient Express/ photo by Matt Liptak

Leaving the show, all I heard were gushes of adoration coming from the crowd for Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express, the newest production of the Little Theatre of Alexandria with its huge cast who all deliver marvelous performances on a knockout set!  (By Matt Liptak)

My head did spin a few times ogling the elegantly designed 1930s parlor/lounge car which swings to compartments and hallways and who went where?

We go chug, chug, chugging along, just like we're on the train, too. 

Indeed, after experiencing Ken and Patti Crowley's big train headlamp shining in our eyes, coming right at us (with sound by Janice Rivera) against a black backdrop surrounded by long drapes, I was on the Polar Express

Get out of the way!

On left, Patricia Nicklin is Princess Dragomiroff and Julia Rudgers is Greta Ohlsson in Little Theatre of Alexandria's Murder on the Orient Express/ photo by Matt Liptak

The show is an adaptation by notable playwright Ken Ludwig who makes this train ride one heckuva really big show, loaded with tricks and detours to keep the audience guessing. Mr. Ludwig has infused the production with a goodly amount of humor to stir the interactions and make it more fun.  

 

Murder is near the top of Agatha Christie’s most loved mysteries, made into films, television productions, radio, a graphic novel, and games.  She keeps the audience (and readers) guessing.

"Whodunnit"?

The time is 1934 and the train has left Istanbul bound for the west, until it can't, when it gets stuck in snow. 

The year was about six years after Ms. Christie was actually on a train which stalled for six days in Turkey, and it, like the one here, was filled with unusual characters whom the writer used to mold into her fictional characters.

 

Right off the bat (none of these onboard, as far as we know) the bad guy enters, a Mr. RATchett (Paul Caffrey) who is shortly snuffed out, and most of the passengers seem to have a motive to do him in.  

A rat may be dead, but fear not, since

the herculean Detective Hercule Poirot (Michael Kharfen) is onboard and at your service, please, delightful with a twitching mustache, who sets off to find whodunnit (with a little help from his friends) before the killer strikes again!  

Brian Lyons-Burke is Monsieur Bouc, the stuffy train line president a la grumpy Santa.  

Eleanore Tapscott is the eccentric (they all are) and outgoing Helen Hubbard who talks and sings loudly, to the aggravation of all.

 

Avery Lance is Hector MacQueen, Mr, RATchett's secretary while Patricia Nicklin is the arrogant and "titled" Princess Dragomirof of Russia who has a bone to pick. Her servant girl,  Greta (Julia Rudgers) follows nicely along. 

Then there's the beautiful countess from Hungary (Brianna Goode, also the fight captain), Paul Donahoe who has a good time as conductor, Colonel Arbuthnot (John Paul Odle), and Mary Debenham from England (Danielle Comer). 

Aren't these the sort you meet on your train ride?

Costumers Jean Schlichting and Kit Sibley have fitted the players in classy apparel.  After all, who but the well-off could afford a train ride like this in 1934?

Hats off to Larissa Norris, the wig designer, who had more than enough heads to fit!  

Other production crew are Stefan Sittig, director, who has triple responsibilities as the fight choreographer and voiceovers, the latter duties he shares with Samantha Regan. 

Luana Bossolo and Kadira Coley are the producers; Alden Michels, dialect coach;  Jennifer Hardin and Caitlin O'Leary, stage managers; Julia Lisowski, properties design; Art Snow, special effects

Comedrama or dramacomedy? It's also known as a portmanteau dramedy.

All aboard!

 

When: Now through April 13, 2024, Wednesday - Saturday nights, 8 p.m. Sundays at 3 p.m.

Where: Little Theatre of Alexandria, 600 Wolfe St., Alexandria, VA 22314

Tickets: $21 - $24 

Audience: General

Duration: About 2 hours with one 15 minute intermission

Public transportation: Check the Metro and Dash bus websites. Dash is free to ride and has routes which are close to LTA.

Parking: is free on streets and at Capital One Bank at Wilkes and Washington streets, a block away. Paid parking is available at nearby garages.

For more information: 

Box Office: 703-683-0496; Main Office, 703-683-5778 or boxoffice@thelittletheatre.com.

patricialesli@gmail.com

 

Olney's 'Soprano' is a scream!

Carolann M. Sanita and Tom Patterson in Lend Me A Soprano at Olney Theatre Center/Teresa Castracane 

It's that good, that charming, that delightful! 

As my friend Sheila says:  "I don't want 'preachy' at the theater; just give me fun."  This, Sheila, is fun. 

From left, Rachel Felstein and Carolann M. Sanita in Lend Me A Soprano at Olney Theatre Center/Teresa Castracane 

Upon my arrival at the Olney Theatre Center and from the moment I spied the luxurious set, I was happy to have a few moments to sit and swoon a bit with no action on the stage, enthralled by the opulence, the exaggeration, to admire and take it all in, and catch my breath. 

A set which was fit for royalty with the chair rail, the arched doorways, chandeliers, the French provincial look of gay Paree, the view outside the windows, and the vases (pronounced vaaa-sis, darhling) overflowing with flowers, a heavenly contrast for my eyes fixated on the gray drabness of winter on my way to the Olney, awaiting spring and here it was!

"The rich are different from you and me." 

Say it again, Scott, but enough about Andrew Cohen's set, already!

From left, Tina Stafford, Rachel Felstein, Dylan Arredondo, and Carolann M. Sanita in Lend Me A Soprano at Olney Theatre Center/Teresa Castracane 

I loved, loved, loved Lend Me A Soprano! Hilarious and with the acting, the costumes, the plot, combined, it's absolutely smashing. 

Hometown playwright Ken Ludwig has done it again, written another fantastic play, this farce based on his successful Lend Me A Tenor, which won two of nine or ten Tony Award nominations (depending upon which Wikipedia site you read), and opening in London in 1986 three years before it reached Broadway. 

Tenor has been translated into 16 languages and has run in 25 countries, and it's not necessary to know a Tenor to enjoy a Soprano.

Soprano is a delightful escape with Shakespeare thrown in (both playwright and director are Shakespeare scholars, but don't let that keep you away), mistaken identities, doors opening, closing, mismatched persons, and the list goes on.  (Shakespeare knowledge is not required for pure enjoyment.)

Lucille Wylie (Tina Stafford), is a strong, domineering woman who's also the Cleveland Grand Opera's manager and absolutely beside herself with worry that the diva hired to sing the title role in Carmen for a "one night stand" will not show up. 

The time is 1934.  

Suddenly, there's commotion and ... boom!  

Enter, please, the diva Elena (Carolyann M. Sanita) and her perfectly stereotypical husband, Pasquale (Dylan Arrendondo), a big, robust fellow with a voice to match. 

Like the fiery Italians they are with passions inflamed, their ardor knows no bounds, and they continue their argument upon landing, surprise!

Elena becomes "incapacitated," unable to perform, and who's this?

Jo (Rachel Felstein) is Mrs. Wylie's assistant, an "understudy" who comes to the rescue and away we go.

Not only are we treated to hysterics, but beautiful singing, including duets by Ms. Felstein and Ms. Sanita (and how I wished for more! Musical direction is by Christopher Youstra).

In and out of bed(s) and couches they roll and one of the most hilarious characters is "Leo" (Tom Patterson), who struts his talents (in several ways), gathering more likes with every appearance as his apparel takes off (?). 

He is Jo's boyfriend, but wait, that is Jerry (skillfully acted by understudy Ben Topa when I saw Soprano), so maybe Leo belongs to Elena when her husband is "away"?

Sweet "Julia" (Donna Migliaccio) is the opera guild president, who makes a late arrival on set to temper things, dressed in a beautiful gown with a crown on top, reminiscent of New York's Chrysler Building.

Meanwhile, the impish, mischievous bellhop (Natalya Lynette Rathnam) pops in every so often, producing more audience laughter whenever she's on stage.

Soprano debuted worldwide in Houston in 2022 with the same Olney director, Eleanor Holdridge, and aren't we lucky to have her experience? ("Practice makes perfect"! She's also "local," chair of the Catholic University's drama department.)

Chandelier lights (by Alberto Segarra) dim and glow, depending upon who is where.  And the costumes!  Oh, la, la!  Sarah Cubbage has made them more than adequate for a Met gala, gowns, resplendent in exquisite designs. Larry Peterson was wig designer. 

Other members of the creative team are Ashara Crutchfield, assistant director; Matt Rowe, sound designer, and Ben Walsh, stage manager.  

Also, Robb Hunter, fight choreographer; Helen Aberger, intimacy choreographer; Melissa Flaim, dialect consultant; and Tori Niemiec, assistant costume designer.

At the end, Mr. Topa received special recognition from the cast while the rest of us wildly applauded the entire cast and team for a  marvelous show.    

What: Lend Me A Soprano

When: Now through Mar.10, 2024, at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday matinees at 1:30 p.m.

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

Tickets: Start at $40 with discounts for seniors, students, military, and groups.

Ages: PG-13 

Refreshments available.

Parking: Free, lighted and plentiful on-site

Duration: About two hours with one 15-minute intermission

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

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