Celebrity bishop Gene Robinson in town

Bishop Gene Robinson at the Center for American Progress/Patricia Leslie

 

Retired bishop Gene Robinson, whose homosexuality spawned the departure of some conservative members from The Episcopal Church in 2003 when he was nominated for the episcopate, was in Washington last week where he attended a religious liberty presentation at the Center for American Progress.

The discussion centered on the creeping growth of religious expression which threatens to usurp civil rights and is increasingly found in legislation on state and federal levels to discriminate against gays, for example.  Panelist Sarah Warbelow of the Human Rights Campaign said religious liberty exemptions would give license to bully those who are different. 

The Rev. C. Welton Gaddy of the Interfaith Alliance said he was "so proud of the ACLU because they are taking on the Catholic bishops," referencing  a case in Michigan where a pregnant woman at a Catholic hospital was given insufficient information leading up to the miscarriage of her fetus. Panel member Eunice Rho of the ACLU provided elaboration.

Sitting in the rear of the audience, Bishop Robinson was recognized by a panel member who asked him for a comment. 

Robinson, whose national identity and honesty have helped increase Americans' acceptance of gays, said to combat discrimination "nothing works better than personal stories…. [and] getting people to tell stories about spiritual pain."

Said Mr. Gaddy: "You can't substitute anyone's holy book for the Constitution because the Constitution protects everyone."

Lissy Moskowitz from NARAL Pro-Choice America was another panelist.  CAP's Sally Steenland served as moderator, and Tom Perriello made opening remarks.

A report by CAP's Joshua Dorner which outlines the current debate, Religious Liberty for Some or Religious Liberty for All?, was available at the meeting.

According to the report, almost 70 percent of Americans believe civil rights trump religious beliefs and that business owners, for example, should not be permitted to discriminate against those whose lifestyles do not match their own.





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McLean art show is a holiday treat

 

Betty Ganley's Spring Diva captured first place at the McLean Art Society's December 2013 show.

For art lovers there are few things more enjoyable than visiting a new show and viewing paintings, accompanied by vino and hors d'oeuvres and talk with the artists.

And so it went last week at the McLean Project for the Arts at the McLean Community Center where a crowd showed up to see the McLean Art Society's new competition, 40 works selected by juror and artist Kurt Schwarz.

The grand prize winner was Betty Ganley's Spring Diva, which was not the first time Ms. Ganley has won a blue ribbon.  Indeed, her works have won several first, second, and honorable mentions in national and area competitions.

Her story is one which gives hope to new and/or struggling artists. 

Years ago when she was a part-time nurse who rose at 4 a.m. to get to work, Ms. Ganley began painting, a diversion from work and family responsibilities.  Fearful that the oils and materials stationed in her bedroom where she painted were too tempting for her young children, she turned to watercolor and worked in her kitchen. 

Watercolor is much easier to set up and take down, she explained. And she still paints in her kitchen.  In watercolor.

"I can't imagine retiring without something to do," she said at the McLean opening.  At Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring where she worked, she directed an employee art show where one surgeon was a glass blower and another, a deep sea photographer. 

For a contemporary show, few abstracts are found in the McLean display, but plentiful scenics and pleasant landscapes fill the gallery. The only unsettling piece is a self-portrait watercolor whose female frown stops you on the ramp walk, not only because of the unhappy stare directed at the viewer, but because of the vast difference from the other subjects. 

Carmen Uribe's Les Champs Elysees won second prize at the McLean Art Society's December 2013 show.

 

Judge Schwarz, whose oils hang in collections around the world and who teaches at the Art League in Alexandria and the Loudoun Academy of the Arts, said both Spring Diva and Les Champs Elysees by Carmen Uribe, which won second, "grabbed my attention immediately."  Diva has "beautiful use of rhythmic shapes, lost and found edges, and masterful control of the medium," while the contrasting colors in Les Champs help make it "a striking composition," according to program notes.

He said it was difficult to narrow choices to 40 for the show:  "I get rejected a lot myself and know what it feels like."

 

Two Goats by William Dunn won third place which Schwarz said he would "love to see hanging in my home."

Honorable mentions went to Hill Town by Carol Higgs, Harbor Colors by Virginia Luster, and Spirited Journey by Betty MacDonald.

Norma Anderson, Queen's Lace, did not win a prize but its beauty and detail drew attention.

Most of the paintings are for sale and provide a lovely change from the malls for holiday shoppers, and who would not welcome finding a new piece of art under the tree?

What: McLean Art Society's Members' Juried Show

When: Now through January 6, 2014, Monday through Thursday: 9 a.m. - 11 p.m., Friday and Saturday: 9 a.m. - 12 a.m., and Sunday: 12 - 6 p.m.  (Closed Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Year's Day.)

Where: McLean Project for the Arts at the McLean Community Center, 1234 Ingleside Avenue, McLean, VA 22101. For directions and a map, click here.

Admission: No charge

Parking:  Plentiful and free

For more information: 703-790-1953 or 703-790-0123

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Washington Post's John Kelly responds to criticism

 

The stained-glass window at the Washington National Cathedral which honors General Stonewall Jackson/Wikimedia Commons  

 

The stained-glass window at the Washington National Cathedral which honors General Robert E. Lee/Wikimedia Commons

 

 

John Kelly isn't as placid as he comes across most days in his column in the Washington Post.

Here he is responding to criticism about his suggestion to add "some sort of sign" at the Washington National Cathedral to explain the presence of stained-glass windows devoted to Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, windows Kelly labels "niches":

The fact is Lee and Jackson chose to take up arms against the country they had sworn to protect. Now, you may decide that this makes them men of honor. Fine. And you may believe that lots of people had slaves back then – the old, “Hey, everybody else is doing it” defense. Cling to your weird Lost Cause cult as tightly as you want. But don’t inflict it on the rest of us by having your womenfolk sneak overly pious memorials into Northern churches. (Emphasis added.)

The Washington National Cathedral is a "Northern" church?  It says "national" in the title.  Hmmm. 

Do you think Kelly would endorse "some sort of sign" at the Jefferson Memorial since Thomas Jefferson owned slaves, too? How about a sign at the Custis-Lee Mansion at Arlington National Cemetery where General Lee lived with his wife, Mary Custis Lee?

President George Washington owned slaves for most of his life.  Should signs be posted at the Washington Monument and at Mt. Vernon?  At Washington Circle?  Post notices of apology at entrances to Washington, D.C.? 

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Old Paris for Christmas at the National Gallery of Art

 

Charles Marville, Salle des Cariatides, au Musée du Louvre (Gallery of the Caryatids, Musée du Louvre), 1851, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Patrons' Permanent Fund

Is anyone not in love with Paris?  Yesterday?  Today or tomorrow?

You don't want to miss the city of love and light when it was turning over in the middle of the 19th century in a period of urban revolution, a city in transformation, captured in 99 photographs and three albums now on view at the National Gallery of Art.

It's all the work of Charles Marville (1813-1879) in the first Marville show in the U.S., accompanied by "the first scholarly catalogue" about the official photographer of Paris who also acted as photographer to the Louvre.  A man who died in relative obscurity, "one of the most accomplished and prolific photographers in the history of the medium," with nary an obituary but whose work is suddenly coming to light, thanks to the work of Sarah Kennel, the National Gallery's associate curator of photographs who curated the show, independent researcher Daniel Catan, and others.

Charles Marville, Percement de l'avenue de l'Opera (Construction of the avenue de l'Opera), Dec. 1876, Musee Carnavalet, Paris, copyright, Musee Carnavale/Roger-Viollet

 

Marville photographed not only cityscapes but scenes in France, Italy, and Germany, the lakes surrounding Paris, countrysides, buildings, bridges, and sculptures which convey in their golden sepia tones, an aura of peace.

Charles Marville, Man Reclining Beneath a Chestnut Tree, c. 1853, lent by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1946. Image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art.  The man in this photo is believed to be Marville.

Before they were razed to make way for the "new" Paris under the direction of Baron Haussmann, Napoleon III's chief urban planner, crumbling structures and narrow, long streets filled the city.* On commission by the government, Marville took 425 pictures "before" and "after."  

For the most part, people are noticeably absent from the photographs whose long exposures demanded the subjects stand still three to fifteen seconds. The scenes are often bleak and lifeless, eerily quiescent, with no evidence of animal, person, or litter. It's as if a movie studio contracted with the city to use the streets for filming to ensure no movements of any living thing occurred.

The catalogue suggests a comparison to a catastrophe hitting the city, and in some ways it did with the demolition of so many structures now deemed more valuable in their absence than their presence, much like some structures and other entities we see today. (Permits for the teardown of the Third Church of Christ, Scientist, at the corner of 16th and I, N.W., Washington, D.C. were issued Oct. 13, 2013.)

Marville's pictures stand as monuments to the cemetery of buildings, and it is agonizing to see the remains of Hotel de Ville, the city hall, a building started in 1532 and destroyed by the 1871 fire of the Paris Commune (which followed the Second Empire and preceded the Third Republic).

Stored in the building were Marville's historic photographs, documents, paintings, sculpture, and all the city's archives which perished.

Fascinating comparisons of the Fontaine des Innocents from the year after the memorial was completed in 1850, to 1858, 1868, and 1871 show the changes to the square made into a park with splendor replaced by a confined, "tamed fountain."

Charles Marville, Fontaine des Innocents, 1858, the AIA/AAF Collection, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

 
Marville was not his real surname. That was Bossu which, in French, means hunchback. Bullying is not a contemporary worldwide phenomenon, sadly, but Marville, a diminutive man, 5 feet, 2 inches, was bullied, too, and desired to change his image. When he was 18, he informally adopted "Marville," which the catalogue notes, is close to the French "ma ville" (my city).Was it coincidence that his name change occurred around the same time as the publication of Victor Hugo's Le Bossu de Notre-Dame, the catalogue asks.

Marville was born in Paris where he grew up in modest, but not impoverished, surroundings.His father was a tailor, and his mother, a laundress.

Charles Marville, Haut de la rue Champlain (vue prise a droit) (Top of the rue Champlain) (View to the Right) (20th arrondissement), 1877-1878, Musee Carnavalet, Paris, copyright, Charles Marville/Musee Carnavale/Roger-Viollet

 

The Musee Carnavalet, Paris, loaned the National Gallery almost half the works in the show which cover Marville's career.

Charles Marville, South Portal, Chartres Cathedral, 1854, lent by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, Jennifer and Joseph Duke Gift and the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Fund, through Joyce and Robert Menschell, 2000. Image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

 

For romantics and those Parisian lovers on your gift list, a handsome 266-paged color catalogue is available in the National Gallery shops.

The show's next stops are the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, which helped the National Gallery of Art organize the show, from January 27 -May 4, 2014, and the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, June 13-September 14, 2014.

The people of the United States are grateful to Leonard and Elaine Silverstein for helping make the exhibition possible.

In honor of the exhibition which celebrates the bicentennial of the artist's birth, Chef Michel Richard of Washington, D.C. and the National Gallery's Executive Chef Pierre Cummings have designed a special menu with French dishes, wines, and beer for the Gallery's Garden Café Francais in the West Building.

 

George Marville, Urinoir (systeme Jennings) plateau de l'Ambigu (Urinal, Jennings System, plateau de l'Ambigu, 1876. Musee Carnavalet, Paris, copyright, Musee Carnavale/Roger-Viollet

 

 Marville talks:

December 14, 15, 17, 18,and 20 beginning at 12 p.m., the West Building Rotunda with Eric Denker. Duration: 50 minutes.

What: Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris

When: Now through January 5, 2014, 10 a.m.- 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and 11 a.m.- 6 p.m., Sunday.

Where: Ground Floor, the West Building, National Gallery of Art, between Third and Ninth streets at Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. On the Mall. The closest Gallery entrance to the Marville show is on Seventh Street, N.W.

Admission: No charge

Metro stations: Smithsonian, Federal Triangle, Navy Memorial-Archives, or L'Enfant Plaza

For more information: 202-737-4215

Palace Resorts Package Deals: Save $200 on select flight + hotel vacation packages with promo code MEXICO200.

*In the December 8, 2013 issue of the Washington Post, book editor Jonathan Yardley named Paris Reborn:Napoleon III, Baron Haussmann, and the Quest to Build a Modern City by Stephane Kirkland, one of the best books of 2013.

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Free holiday concert by National Cathedral and St. Albans singers at St. John's, Lafayette Square, Dec. 4

The Madrigal Singers from National Cathedral and St. Albans schools under the direction of Benjamin Hutto (far left)

To celebrate the holiday spirit in a peaceful, stained-glass setting before your calendar fills with parties, why not a free concert by Madrigal Singers?
 

The public is invited to attend a noontime performance on December 4 at St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square, the host of First Wednesday concerts every month from October through June.

At the December presentation 36 students from the National Cathedral and St. Albans schools will sing traditional hymns and secular songs, medieval and contemporary selections for Christmas and Advent, under the direction of Benjamin Hutto.

St. John's, known to many Washington residents as the yellow church at Lafayette Square, is the “Church of the Presidents.” Beginning with President James Madison, who served the office from 1809 to 1817, every president has either been a member of or has attended services at St. John's.  A plaque at the rear of the church designates the Lincoln Pew where President Abraham Lincoln often sat when he stopped by St. John's during the Civil War.

Other St. John's First Wednesday programs, all starting at 12:10 p.m., are:

January 8, 2014 (2nd Wednesday): Organist Richard Fitzgerald improvises on themes from the stained glass windows of St. John's

February 5: Soloists from St. John's Choir perform baroque music for Valentine's Day

March 12 (2nd Wednesday): Virtuoso Organist Dongho Lee performs Charles Ives's Variations on "America" and other works

April 2: The U.S. Air Force Strings conducted by 2nd Lt. Shanti Nolan, with Michael Lodico, organist, perform Francis Poulenc's Organ Concerto

May 7: Easter music for trumpet and organ with A. Scott Wood and Benjamin Hutto

June 4: Organist Alan Morrison

Who on December 4:  Madrigal Singers from National Cathedral and St. Albans sing seasonal selections, directed by Benjamin Hutto

What:  First Wednesday Concerts

When: 12:10 p.m., December 4, 2013

Where: St. John’s, Lafayette Square, 1525 H Street, NW, at the corner of 16^th and H, Washington, D.C. 20005

How much: No charge

Duration: About 35 minutes

Wheelchair accessible

Metro stations: McPherson Square, Farragut North, or Farragut West

Food trucks: Located two blocks away at Farragut Square

For more information: Contact Michael Lodico at 202-270-6265, Michael.Lodico@stjohns-dc.org.

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Olney's 'King and I' dazzles sold-out audience

 

 

Anna (Eileen Ward) and the Royal Children get to know each other in Olney Theatre Center's The King and I/Stan Barouh

 

Christmas arrived early in Olney this season, sprinkling magic and royal entertainment by way of Olney Theatre Center's, The King and I.

How can you beat a gorgeous palace setting filled with smiling children, a king, a governess dressed in mid-1800s finery, and music to charm even the biggest Scrooge in the bunch?

Whenever I feel afraid
I hold my head erect
And whistle a happy tune
So no one will suspect
I'm afraid.

Add what seems like hundreds of stunning costumes with shimmering gold pieces and tall, fancy headdresses which never slip. So many to see and be carried away to a faraway land. 

Why do I adore large casts?  Not only are different faces and voices welcome, but they often mean stunning sets, glamorous costumes, beloved musical selections, and gaiety to make it a night to remember, and this performance meets every expectation and more.

Songs match the costumes in breadth and scale.  No mediocrity was detected in any of the many voices on stage, and deserving special applause is Janine Sunday, Lady Thiang, the main wife in the production. (The King of Mongkut had many wives and concubines.)

Eileen Ward is a summer song in a foreign place as she plays the British teacher, Anna, transported to Siam (now Thailand) in 1862 to teach the King's children (who, at last count, numbered around 67), adoringly acting their roles in tandem.  

Getting to know you,
Getting to know all about you.
Getting to like you,
Getting to hope you like me.

Getting to know you,
Putting it my way,
But nicely,
You are precisely,
My cup of tea.

When Director Mark Waldrop was offered Fiddler on the Roof or The King and I, he opted immediately, according to the Olney study guide, for The King because Fiddler is performed so often and "I like a show where the leading lady gets to wear a big dress. That’s pretty much the truth."

There are plenty of "big dresses" in the show, with many fine hoop skirt designs Anna wears, dancing with the King to Shall We Dance and flowing over and around the stage, twirling up and down stairs, and you wonder why she doesn't trip in heels, except kingly biceps are there to guide her. (Tara Jeanne Vallee, choreographer.)

Anna (Eileen Ward) and the King of Siam (Paolo Montalban) in Olney Theatre Center's The King and I/Stan Barouh

Shall we dance?
On a bright cloud of music shall we fly?
Shall we dance?
Shall we then say, goodnight and mean goodbye

Oh perchance
When the last little star has left the sky
Shall we still be together?
With our arms around each other
And shall you be my new romance?

On the clear understanding
That this kind of thing can happen
Shall we dance?
Shall we dance?
Shall we dance?

Mr. Waldrop said he wanted a male lead with sex appeal, and Paolo Montalban, the King (sponsored by Mr. and Mrs. Clifford L. Johnson) exceeds the requirement.  A feast for the ladies' eyes whose persona exudes just the right amount of kingly haughtiness and stage command:  "Silence!" 

A nine-piece orchestra, led by Jenny Cartney, with supervision and orchestrations by Christopher Youstra, adds warmth and vitality.

The grand palace with "marble" steps, long curtains cascading from sides to the center, tall columns, arches,  and views of the changing Bangkok skyline with silhouetted temples as backdrop add to the romance of the piece and place. (James Fouchard, scenic designer)

The play opened in 1951 on Broadway and ran for almost three years, then the fourth-longest Broadway play, according to Olney's associate dramaturge, Maegan Clearwood, who compiled the study guide. 

Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein II based their production on true experiences of British teacher, Anna Leonowens (1831-1915) who lived in Siam for five years beginning in 1862 with her six-year-old son, Louis (alternately played by Ian Berlin and Henry Niepoetter).  She was invited to Siam to be governess for the King's children. (Omitted from the script was her daughter, Avis, 7, sent to boarding school in England.)

The play generally ignores stereotypes and utilizes history, such as the King's offer of elephants to the United States government which President Abraham Lincoln politely declined.

Then, as now everywhere, change is reality as the King struggles to meet and accommodate Western ways and advance his nation. 

If you are old enough to recall Yul Brynner, his image as the King is likely the one you instantly recall when you click your memory's search tab.

His Anna on Broadway was Gertrude Lawrence who died of liver cancer 18 months after the show opened.  She was buried in the pink ball gown she wore in the production to dance with the King.  You will "ooh and aww" when you see its replacement on Ms. Ward before the big diplomatic dinner.

Yul Brynner and Gertrude Lawrence in The King and I/www.whosdatedwho.com

 

What a cultural contrast:  Anna's hoop skirts and fashions juxtaposed with Asian dress and surroundings. 

Of interest, Louis, Anna's son, eventually returned to Siam, and developed Louis T. Leonowens, Ltd. which became a leading international  trading company and bears his name today.

The musical certainly calls for Helen Hayes nominations:

Outstanding Lead Actress, Resident Musical, Eileen Ward

Outstanding Lead Actor, Resident Musical, Paolo Montalban

Outstanding Costume Design, Resident Production, Kendra Rai

Outstanding Director, Resident Musical, Mark Waldrop

Other performers are Alan Ariano, Eunice Bae, Eymard Cabling, Ron Curameng, David Gregory,  Ron Heneghan, Kimi Hugli^,  Brittany Jeffery,  Yoonseong Jeong,  Aaron Komo, Kevin Kulp, Justine Moral, Yumiko Niimi, Rumi Oyama, Josiah Segui,  Momoko Sugai,  Jeffrey Wei, and the Royal Children: Kathryn Benson, Daniel Chin, Kylie Cooley, Haley Davis, Kyle Davis,  Lucy Gibbs, Justin Hong, Lia Ilagan, Aidan Levin, Nathaniel Levin, Dulci Pham, Emma Pham, Oliver Wang, and  Nikki Wildy.

What:  The King and I

When:  Extended through Sunday, January 5, 2014 with many matinees

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

How much: Tickets start at $31.

For more information:  301-924-3400

Hello young lovers, whoever you are,
I hope your troubles are few.
All my good wishes go with you tonight,
I've been in love like you.

Be brave, young lovers, and follow your star,
Be brave and faithful and true,
Cling very close to each other tonight.
I've been in love like you.

I know how it feels to have wings on your heels,
And to fly down the street in a trance.
You fly down a street on the chance that you meet,
And you meet -- not really by chance.




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