'Hallelujah! Hallelujah!' at the Metropolitan AME Church, Washington, DC

The Metropolitan A.M.E. Church, 1518 M Street, Washington, D.C./Photo from its website

The experience listening to Handel's Messiah sung by the United Voices of the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church with four guest artists and the Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra was an unforgettable event, ethereal and captivating in every sense, leaving audience members (this was the 40th anniversary of the performance) enthralled by the magnificence of the quality and sound, the combination of voices and orchestra, and deeply moved, appreciative of the wealth of musical offerings in our nation's capital, and this one open to the public for free.

The United Voices of the Metropolitan A.M.E. Church sing Handel's Messiah/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Under the direction of Roland Carter, the 47 members of the choir beautifully conveyed the Messiah message in the most spectacular way, spellbinding those in the pews who listened intently, some joining the choir in "Hallelujahs!"  

During the movements, For Unto Us a Child is Born and Rejoice Greatly, O Daughter of Zion,  a member of the audience  on the orchestra level stood and, waving her hands and arms back and forth, sang out loudly several times "Thank you, Lord!" which the audience applauded, joined by some in the choir.

Tenor Devin Scott Mercer sings the movement, Comfort Ye My People, at the Metropolitan A.M.E. Church's performance of   Handel's Messiah/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The United Voices of the Metropolitan A.M.E. Church sing Handel's Messiah/ Photo by Patricia Leslie

Bass-baritone Andrew Smith sings the movement, Thus Saith the Lord from Handel's Messiah at the Metropolitan A.M.E. Church/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Mezzo-soprano Brittany Johnson on left and soprano Brandie Sutton wait to sing their solos at the presentation of Handel's Messiah at the Metropolitan A.M.E. Church. The program listed the Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra's horn players, Joshua Miller, Christian Atkins, Johnathan Neal, and Christopher Steele/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Edmond Charles, organist, was accompanied by 20+ members of the Chamber Orchestra, including the eloquent 

Sais Kamalidiin on the flute, and trumpeters Christian Atkins and Johnathan Neal whose performance in the Trumpet Shall Sound movement, I can still hear.

The soloists were stellar in their interpretations, proof of the wonderful cadre of Washington's music assemblage: tenor Devin Scott Mercer of Baltimore, bass-baritone Andrew Smith of the Duke Ellington School of the Arts, soprano Brandie Sutton who sings around the world, and mezzo-soprano Brittany Johnson, an elementary school music teacher, who, it seemed to me, is worthy of a continuous presence on opera's stages.

At the presentation of Handel's Messiah at the Metropolitan A.M.E. Church, the program listed Christopher Steele, trombonist, Christian Atkins and Johnathan Neal, trumpeters, and Joshua Miller, horn player/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The Metropolitan AME Church has its own special history told in the program and on its website: The denomination was founded in 1787 as a protest against segregated worship in Philadelphia which lay the groundwork for Metropolitan's beginnings in Washington in 1838. 

Known as the "National Cathedral of African Methodism," the church was constructed between 1880 and 1886 on what has become the oldest continuously black-owned property of the original ten-mile parcel of the District of Columbia.

From anti-slavery efforts and harboring runaway slaves during the Civil War, the church's outreach includes voter registration and literacy improvements, including the recognition of literary talent. 

Some notable preachers and visitors have included Frederick Douglas, Paul Laurence Dunbar,  Mary McLeod Bethune, Eleanor Roosevelt, James Clyburn, Jesse Jackson, Bishop Desmond Tutu, Vice Presidents Hubert Humphrey and Al Gore, and Presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama and his family.

The national funeral service for Rosa Parks was held at Metropolitan on October 31, 2005, after her body lay in state at the U.S. Capitol, the first woman and the first American non-governmental official to be so honored.

A church receptionist said the annual Messiah performance is almost always hosted on the first Sunday in December which would be next December 3 under a full moon! Do you have your 2017 calendar marked?  I have marked mine.

Dr. Marty Austin Lamar is director of music at the church, and the pastor is William Lamar IV.

I am grateful to my friends, Niki and Eugenia, who told me about the concert at the church.  

patricialesli@gmail.com

 

Free Christmas choral concert, Dec. 7, St. John's, Lafayette Square

The Madrigal Singers from St. Albans and National Cathedral schools will sing music of the season in a free noon concert on Wednesday, Dec. 7, at St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square.

The program is to include sacred and secular music of the season.

The Madrigal Singers have been featured on NPR and have toured the world presenting concerts on four continents.
Brandon Straub, organist and choir director for St. John's and the director of choral music at both schools which are affiliated with the Washington National Cathedral, will direct the 40 singers who are enrolled in grades 10 through 12.
St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square, Washington, D.C./Photo by Patricia Leslie

The presentation is one of St. John's First Wednesday Concerts, always performed without charge and lasting about 35 minutes.

St. John's was founded in 1815 and is known to Washington residents as the yellow church at Lafayette Square. It's often called the “Church of the Presidents” since beginning with James Madison who was president from 1809 to 1817, every president has attended services there. A plaque at the rear of St. John's designates the pew where President Abraham Lincoln often sat when he stopped by the church during the Civil War.

First Wednesday concerts begin at 12:10 p.m. and last about 35 
minutes. Food trucks are located at Farragut Square, two blocks away.
 
Who: The Madrigal Singers from National Cathedral and St. Albans singing seasonal music

What: First Wednesday Concerts

When: 12:10 p.m., December 7, 2016

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

How much: No charge

Duration: About 35 minutes

Wheelchair accessible

Metro stations: McPherson Square (White House exit), Farragut North, or Farragut West

For more information: 202-347-8766

Upcoming dates and artists of the First Wednesday Concerts are:

January 4, 2017: Concert organist Janet Yieh will play works by Mendelssohn, Messiaen, and the "Beatles" Toccata

February 1: Jazz vocalist Sara Jones will sing a Winter Escape, accompanied by the Dan Dufford Ensemble

April 5: Soloists from St. John's Choir will sing

May 3: Thomas Smith, the director of music at Christ Church, Georgetown, will play A Journey to Merrie Olde England - A Recital of English Organ Music

June 7: Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 will be played by the U.S. Air Force Strings with trumpeter Mary Bowden


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'Killed by a book'! Jane Fonda's autobiography

Because I almost was, and that's what a headline could have been about my wreck while I listened to Jane Fonda's My Life So Far (2006), cruisin' along a rural North Carolina two-lane, goin' about 60 or 65 mph and never saw that stop sign 'til I was about 10 feet away.

Jane reads her autobiography on the CD, filled with her life's ups and downs, sex on a plane with Ted Turner (!), the marriages, Ted's cheating, the suicide of her mother when Jane was 14.  It is painful to hear daughter tell about her last meeting with her mother whom she rejected until it was too late.

Her painful relationship with her father, the actor, Henry Fonda, is detailed, and there are frequent loving references to her brother, the actor, Peter Fonda. 

I skipped a lot of the parts about Vietnam, being that it is so painful and all, but the rest of it, I listened pretty well.  I have always been a Jane fan, despite her Vietnam saga which my military son (age 32) reminds me when her name comes up.  

But, we all make mistakes, don't we?  And she recognizes hers.
 
This book has got the good, the bad, and the ugly. It's not what I call a "yes" book ("Yes, my parents and children are super-fab"; "yes, I have no problems"; "yes, I have made no mistakes." You know the kind: "yes, they are boring and unreal").

What a cad that Ted Turner is:  "Women are like buses," he told her more than once, quoting his dad:  "There's always another one coming by."  Well you know what, Ted?  Men are like buses, too.  Wave while I pass.

Now Jane is happy, with a longtime significant, significant other (Richard Perry, record producer) after dumping Ted who cheated on her right from the get-go.  You can't strip the stripes from a tiger, and he's got his harem, but he doesn't got Jane.

Anyway, I flew through that intersection; lucky for me, no one was coming from the perpendicular direction. What was a girl to do?  It caught me unawares, kind of like this book, much better than expected, and not to be missed! Your library will have a copy. 

patricialesli@gmail.com

Robin Hill: artist and birdman

Robin Hill, Great Horned Owls

With a name like Robin Hill, you were expecting someone other than a natural history writer and artist? Perhaps, a composer? An illustrator? An outdoorsman? A conservationist?

Check all of the above.

Robin Hill at the Fairfax at Embassy Row, Washington, D.C.

The Robin Hill who was in town recently at the Fairfax at Embassy Row is about as colorful a personality as the birds he draws: lively, quick, intricate, and down to earth. 

His name and birth place were an early prescription for his life, steering him to wildlife and natural history paintings, chiefly birds which the Morris Museum of Art in Augusta, Georgia claims ownership of 200 (and has devoted four exhibitions to them over a period of seven years).

Robin Hill

Robin Hill, Loon Family

At the "artful evening" hosted by Studio E Partners of Bethesda which represents Mr. Hill, he talked about his life's work, standing alongside a few of his canvases.

An artist in the style of John James Audubon, Mr. Hill said he never sits outdoors to draw animals and plants, nor does he take photographs, but he relies upon years of experience knowing where to find the best pictures to use for modeling, including Ranger Rick magazine for children.

He amplifies scenery and branches, often including a beetle or two, and when they are omitted from a work, purchasers frequently ask that he add them.

He likes to draw birds of prey.

Born in Brisbane, Australia in 1932, Mr. Hill's family moved to England when he was a year old, and there at age 11, he enrolled at the Wimbledon School of Art. When he was 16, he returned to Australia and studied at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.

“I got tired of school partway through, and I ‘went bush,’" Mr. Hill writes on Studio E's website:  "I worked as a cowboy on a sheep and cattle station, and then I travelled the country working in shearing sheds. During this time, I was drawing, painting and closely observing nature, which laid a foundation for what was to become my career."

He eventually returned to school and finished his studies, continuing on his natural history path, drawing and illustrating books on wildlife, crafting magazine illustrations. 

Like his subjects, he thrives on the natural world. Pox on tech stuff and gadgetry: “Electronic communication is not my world; I’m not technically inclined. I know Studio E can facilitate this for me, and I can get on with my painting.”

And so he does. 

patricialesli@gmail.com

Olney's holiday hit, Merry 'Mary Poppins' extended thru Jan. 8

From left, Henry Mason is Michael, Patricia Hurley is Mary Poppins, Eileen Ward is the mother, Mrs. Banks, and Audrey Kilgore is Jane in Mary Poppins now at Olney Theatre Center/Photo by Stan Barouh

The Olney does it again:  Brings to the stage the audience so much fun and glee, you'll want to fly away with the star on a lighted kite, too.

Right here at the holidays, and if it were my family nearby, I know what I would say about making this a Christmas tradition: "Let's go to the Olney!"

Forget that Christmas shopping and wrapping, the paper, the labeling, the mailing:  "Where's the Scotch tape?"  "I can't find the scissors!" Do it all right here: Give theatre tickets. Help save the Earth. After all, experiences and memories are what counts. Not things, or as my aunt used to say "that collect dust."

Patricia Hurley in lavender on the front is Mary Poppins, and Rhett Guter is Bert and her dancing mate, whirling away in Mary Poppins with the cast at Olney Theatre Center/Photo by Stan Barouh

Dancers par extraordinaire (under the direction of Tara Jeanne Vallee), fabulous costumes which draw "oohs and ahhs," a production unto themselves (by Erik Teague), mostly non-stop action, and things that fly around all over the place, amidst a lot of cheer and color and song,  Mary Poppins is great entertainment for all ages.

Like Santa, Mary (Patricia Hurley) swoops in from the sky, dressed in her head-to-toe finery that you can visualize right here, wearing a radiant smile, and brimming with joy which she sprinkles on those around her, and to you, too!

Chim-chim-cher-ee.

Children always like to see children in a show, and Olney's Mary has two adorable ones, Jane (either Katharine Ford or Audrey Kilgore) and Michael (Henry Mason or Tyler Quentin Smallwood) confident, experienced, and able to make the audience laugh, despite it being hard to hear their lines up on the mezzanine level.  (We knew they were funny because we could hear those on the orchestra level hee-hawing a lot, but not to fear, mezzanine-level patrons, you've got a special treat coming when I held my breath and up, up, and away (?).)

Mary Poppins, straight from a fairy tale, drops in the Banks' household (what an appropriate surname!) to become the children's nanny whom Michael and Jane soon grow to adore (especially with her bag of tricks--how do they do that?) but circumstances cause her to leave, and (shudder) here comes the Wicked Witch of the West (Ms. Andrew, magnificently played by Valerie Leonard AKA Ms. Terrible ) to the Banks to perch as the next nanny, and perch she does, right down to her dark, drab  apparel, shrill, and magical disappearance.  (Ms. Hurley is practically perfect in her role, almost undone by the few moments onstage of Ms. Terrible, cast as the evil persona who must inhabit every show.  Or, what's a show without an antagonist or two?  We have to have somebody to detest.)

Karl Kippola is Mr. Banks, handsomely and realistically portrayed as the gruff but soft dad, quite concerned about his livelihood (the banking business, of course; you think with a name like Banks, he wouldn't be in the banking business?) his anticipated job loss, and how will he ever provide for his children's schooling, his family's household staff and expenses?  (An eternal dilemma faced by many heads of households.)

 
He is very busy with his business, thank you very much, to the neglect of his children who shall soon grow up and disappear, like Mary!  His wife (Eileen Ward) has a purposefully weak and submissive role (to omit her solo tune would strengthen the play), coddling her husband so unbelievably, I knew either she or I would soon become outraged and dash him in the head.  To be or not to be. 

Mary is accompanied by her good friend, Bert (Rhett Guter) who dances and chimney-sweeps his way through the show, from spot-on scenes (by Daniel Ettinger) which evolve from park to roof top to parlor, bedroom, bank, and more.

The songs will make you happy:  A Spoonful of Sugar and Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious are two of the most familiar.  So much for baa-humbug.

The hidden nine-piece orchestra, under the direction of Timothy Splain, brings alive all the sights, sounds, and mischief of eternally smiling Mary and her troupe. 

What's not to like about Mary? Every home needs one. 

 
Mary Poppins is a musical based on the stories of P.L. Travers and the Walt Disney Film with original music and lyrics by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman.  Book by Julian Fellowes with new songs and music and lyrics by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe.  OK before here. Co-created by Cameron Mackintosh.  Director Jason King Jones. Designers are Colin K. Bills, lighting, Jeffrey Dorfman, sound; Jim Steinmeyer, illusions consultant; Robert Ramirez, illustrations instructor, D2 Flying Effects, Matthew Pauli, puppets, Melissa Sibert, wigs; Nancy Krebs, dialect coach, John Keith Hall, production stage manager; Dennis A. Blackledge, production; Christopher Youstra, music theatre. 

The cast includes Kenneth Derby, James Frisby, Matt Greenfield, Lance E. Hayes, Amanda Kaplan, Ashleigh King, Julia Lancione, Benjamin Lurye, Emily Madden, Robert Mintz, Nurney, Dorea Schmidt, and Shawna Walker. 

What:  Mary Poppins by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman

When:   Wednesday through Sunday evenings at 8 p.m. with weekend and Wednesday matinees at 2 p.m. through Jan. 8 (extended!), 2017 with additional performances on Tuesday, Dec. 20 at 8 p.m., Friday, Dec. 23 at 2 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 27 at 2 p.m., and Friday, Dec. 30 at 2 p.m.

t

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

How much: Tickets begin at $43 with discounts for seniors, groups, military, and students


Duration:  2.5 hours (it will fly by) with one intermission 

Refreshments:  Available and may be taken to seats

Parking:  Free and plentiful on-site

For more information: 301-924-4485

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