A fete to remember: the 30th Annual Helen Hayes Awards

At the 30th Helen Hayes Awards April 21, 2014 at the National Building Museum/Photo by Patricia Leslie

There was a big party goin' on. 

Attendees may well have talked while presentations were made, but it was such a good (make that great) party,  and we could hear the winners' names and their brief acceptance talks, so why halt a good time to hear people talk from a microphone?  Besides, they were so far away.

The bars overfloweth with more than water at the 30th Helen Hayes Awards April 21, 2014 at the National Building Museum/Photo by Patricia Leslie

It was a coat of snake skin and tiger with a matching yellow bow tie at the 30th Helen Hayes Awards April 21, 2014 at the National Building Museum/Photo by Patricia Leslie

At the 30th Helen Hayes Awards April 21, 2014 at the National Building Museum, where were the men?/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Well, maybe next year, at the 30th Helen Hayes Awards April 21, 2014 at the National Building Museum/Photo by Patricia Leslie

It's our party and we'll talk if we want to,
Talk if we want to,
You would talk, too,
If it happened to you.

Sweet nothin's at the 30th Helen Hayes Awards April 21, 2014 at the National Building Museum/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Big screens everywhere at the 30th Helen Hayes Awards April 21, 2014 at the National Building Museum/Photo by Patricia Leslie

At the 30th Helen Hayes Awards April 21, 2014 at the National Building Museum, where were the men?/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Stationed at the food tables. At the 30th Helen Hayes Awards April 21, 2014 at the National Building Museum/Photo by Patricia Leslie

A blurry bar at the Helen Hayes Awards April 21, 2014 at the National Building Museum/Photo by Patricia Leslie

It was the night of Washington's Oscars, the annual Helen Hayes Awards (judges are listed here) hosted for the first time at the National Building Musuem all decked out in finery with a big, loud band, efficient registration to accommodate thousands with almost no waiting,  an apt, energetic, and ample wait staff which swooped up every dish languishing for more than 15 seconds, and short bar lines whose length grew with the night. 

He and Kramer may have the same hairdresser.  At the 30th Helen Hayes Awards April 21, 2014 at the National Building Museum/Photo by Patricia Leslie

At the 30th Helen Hayes Awards April 21, 2014 at the National Building Museum where he's looking at a big screen, and she's getting ready to ditch the panty hose?/Photo by Patricia Leslie

"Ahoy, mate!  I've lost my date!" At the 30th Helen Hayes Awards April 21, 2014 at the National Building Museum where the fountain ceased to flow during presentations/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The two intermissions seemed longer than 20 minutes each, but the open bars (until 10:30 p.m.) and mac and cheese (could have stood a bit more flavoring) and chicken bar-b-cue (equivalent to that found in Mumphis (sic)), heaping salmon, and excellent champagne, with popcorn (? a bit too salty) made for a tasty affair catered by Occasions.

In attendance were parents, actors, musicians, press, theatregoers, directors, managers, you name it and why not throw in a member of the U.S. Congress? 

Love between the chicken crepes and the big golden column.  Hey, isn't that U.S. Congressman James Moran (D-VA) at the 30th Helen Hayes Awards April 21, 2014 at the National Building Museum? Photo by Patricia Leslie

Indeed it was the good Congressman James Moran taking up a new seat and relinquishing his old one on Capitol Hill at the 30th Annual Helen Hayes Awards April 21, 2014 at the National Building Museum. Projected retirement certainly bodes well for the congressman who looked rested and happy partying with theatregoers rather than Capitol Hill naysayers/Photo by Patricia Leslie

At the 30th Helen Hayes Awards April 21, 2014 at the National Building Museum/Photo by Patricia Leslie

And you just thought Sinatra was dead.  At the 30th Helen Hayes Awards April 21, 2014 at the National Building Museum/Photo by Patricia Leslie

At the 30th Helen Hayes Awards April 21, 2014 at the National Building Museum mobile devices were out/Photo by Patricia Leslie

"Now, darling, your turn will be next year." At the 30th Helen Hayes Awards April 21, 2014 at the National Building Museum/Photo by Patricia Leslie

He is over at the fountain looking for you at the 30th Helen Hayes Awards April 21, 2014 at the National Building Museum/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Tired feet and $5 got you comfy slippers at the 30th Helen Hayes Awards April 21, 2014 at the National Building Museum/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Stargazers at the 30th Helen Hayes Awards April 21, 2014 at the National Building Museum/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Joseph came, too, for the 30th Helen Hayes Awards April 21, 2014 at the National Building Museum.  Overall, the costumery was sedate and much more conservative than one might have expected for the theatre community, but this is Washington, D.C. Nominees wore small flashing multi-colored stars on their lapels/Photo by Patricia Leslie

At the dessert bar at the 30th Helen Hayes Awards April 21, 2014 at the National Building Museum/Photo by Patricia Leslie

 

They looked real at the 30th Helen Hayes Awards April 21, 2014 at the National Building Museum/Photo by Patricia Leslie

In good humor the trio of Sam Ludwig, Rachel Zampelli, and Ashleigh King sang right off the stage any speaker who talked longer than 30 seconds, including Linda Levy, the president and CEO of theatreWashington, the event's host.

And the winners were... all those in attendance, and the award recipients were... right here. 

Patricialesli@gmail.com

Mamet's 'Glengarry Glen Ross' leaves this weekend

Alexander Strain (Richard Roma) and Rick Foucheux (Shelly Levene) in Round House Theatre’s production of Glengarry Glen Ross/Photo by Danisha Crosby

For theatregoers who can’t get enough, this is the last weekend to see David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross now on stage at the Bethesda Round House.

It is outstanding theatre with some of the best acting seen in the Washington area, and I am not just talking about a portion of the cast, but the entire cast.

Starring in the all male production are Jeff Allin, Conrad Feininger, Rick Foucheux, Stephen Patrick Martin, KenYatta Rogers, Alexander Strain, and Jesse Terrill.

This is not a performance for those only musically inclined and/or who like happyeverafter endings. Prepare to be shocked by coarse language which is not sprinkled here and there, but runs the gamut of the show which is harsh reality.  The speech is germane. 

It's all about a real estate office populated by desperate men who employ desperate measures to save themselves from the bleak economic environment. 

Mamet (b. 1947) worked in a real estate office in Chicago, where he grew up, and likely observed similar verbal exchanges (on a reduced level) to those he wrote about in Glengarry, as have any of us who have worked in a real estate office, or in any office for that matter.

Driven into a corner, the crazed salesmen respond like animals, like most humans would. How about you? 

The set by James Kronzer is marvelous and surely will gain a Helen Hayes nomination.  A Chinese restaurant starts the play and is so lifelike, I could almost smell Chinese. The backdrops and the clinking of china stage the play in the 1970s but it could be any time.

Conrad Feininger (George Aaronow) and Jeff Allin (Dave Moss) in Round House Theatre’s production of Glengarry Glen Ross/Photo by Danisha Crosby

The next scene is the real estate office, typical of any office "back then": an unkempt business filled with wooden desks, doors, filing cabinets, and paper, lots of paper.

It's a short play (80 minutes) which never languishes. Glengarry Glen Ross won the Pulitzer for Best Drama and New York Drama Critics Circle for Best American Play in 1984.

Helen Hayes would also do well to nominate Glengarry's lighting designer (Daniel Maclean Wagner) in addition to all the actors (is this what the Outstanding Ensemble Award is about?) and, certainly, the director, Mitchell Hebert.

Plus, (another plus) the Bethesda Round House was a marvelous venue.  It was my first visit there, and I was delightfully surprised by the accommodations, the services, and the ushers, one of whom told me the actors would be disappointed with just a half-full house on a Saturday afternoon, but it was more than a respectable showing, I thought, considering all the competition for time in Washington, D.C.

My only regret is my tardiness filing this post.  Professional theatregoers will not want to miss it. 

P.S. The Paris Review has a great interview with Mamet from 1997.

Prices at the Round House start at $26.

Bethesda Round House Theatre

4545 East-West Highway
Bethesda, MD 20814
Ph. 240-644-1100

Metro station:  Bethesda (one block away)

Primary

patricialesli@gmail.com