See Smithsonian's '1898' before it closes Sunday!

Queen Lili‘uokalani of Hawai'i (1838-1917) by William F. Cogswell, 1892. Loaned by Hawai'i State Archives.

It’s the 125th anniversary of the Spanish-American-Cuban-Philippine War and to celebrate the anniversary, the National Portrait Gallery has up a fantastic show, U.S. Imperial Visions and Revisions, of maps, periodicals, photographs, portraits (!), and more. 

The conflict is commonly referred to as the War of 1898 or the Spanish-American War.

Taina Caragol, one of the exhibition's curators, stands at the entrance to the "1898" exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, in front of the 1898 oil by Francisco Oller y Cestero (1833–1917) of President William McKinley (1843-1901). The map the president grasps is one of Puerto Rico (see below), one of the nations the U.S. seized from Spain. (From the collection of Dr. Eduardo Pérez and family.)By Patricia Leslie

In a detail of the portrait of President McKinley, the president holds a map of Puerto Rico, dated July 25, 1898, the day the U.S invaded the Spanish colony and became an “overseas empire,” according to the National Portrait Gallery/By Patricia Leslie

Curator Kate Clarke Lemay stands at the 1892 oil portrait by William F. Cogswell  of Queen Lili‘uokalani of Hawai'i (1838-1917), loaned by Hawai'i State Archives.The queen bought this portrait in 1892 and hung it at the ‘Iolani Palace.By Patricia Leslie

Queen Lili‘uokalani is pictured in 1908 in Washington, D.C. where she appeared before a U.S. House Committee requesting that her annual reparations from the U.S. for the taking of Hawai'i lands be increased to $200,000 (from $50,000). Request, denied.  This was taken at Harris & Ewing Studio. National Portrait Gallery, gift of Aileen Conkey.

Unidentified artist, 1901, from the collection of U.S. House of Representatives. Harper's Weekly honored the second inauguration of President William McKinley on March 4, 1901 with this special publication which featured on its four corners the lands involved in the conflicts of 1898: the Philippines, Cuba, “Porto Rico,” and “Hawaii,” (with the omission of Guam). 

Six months later, President McKinley became the third U.S. president to be assassinated.  (Can you name the other presidents who were assassinated?) 

 

Harriet Bradford Tiffany Stewart (1798-1830) with her husband Charles were missionaries who led the conversion in Hawai'i to Christianity. Their long influences in Hawai'i eventually led to the overthrow of the Hawai'i monarchy in 1893. This 1830 portrait is by an unidentified artist, owned by the National Portrait Gallery, given in honor of Stewart W. Bowers.

What looks like a frieze is actually a wooden metal fan with U.S. and Cuban flags and lithographs of U.S. military leaders like Theodore Roosevelt and William McKinley who were engaged in the Cuban campaign.  The fan is made of paper leaves in the shape of pansies which are lined with fabric and attached to wooden sticks. (The description says the word "pansy" in 1899 meant "a remarkable or outstanding person," an opposite meaning from its use today.)

Detail from the Conquerors of the Panama Canal (1913) by Jonas Lie (1880–1940) which depicts crews from the West Indies and other nations carving out rock and soil to build the Panama Canal. More than 5,600 died during construction (1904-1914). Until 1979 the United States treated the Panama Canal Zone as an unincorporated territory. On loan from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The ending of the Civil War (1861-1865) found the U.S. Navy with an inventory of only 72 ships. Between 1897 and 1898, the Navy quickly added 88 and then was ready to seize opportunities to conquer sea and land. Away the nation flew to Guam, Hawaiʻi, Puerto Rico and the Philippines plus ...

One of its new ships was the USS Maine which exploded and sank in the Havana Harbor on Feb. 15, 1898, killing about 260 U.S. sailors, and providing enough reason for the U.S. to go to war against Spanish-held Cuba and seize other Spanish colonies of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Phillipines.

That the explosion was likely caused by furnaces did not fit with the U.S.'s expansion plans which needed cause to attack.

The mast of the USS Maine, transported by the U.S. Navy to Arlington National Cemetery in March, 1912.  It lies on a granite base with the inscribed names of the sailors who died in the sinking. President Woodrow Wilson dedicated the memorial in a public ceremony on May 30, 1915/Arlington National Cemetery 

“Remember the Maine!” became a battle cry, hurled at the war's dissenters.

The Portrait Gallery's exhibition is large, filling several galleries with history about several nations and for certain, to tell you something you don't know. It's displayed in simple format and is available online in different languages.

 A hardcover catalogue is available. 272 pages, $49.95.  Free domestic shipping from the Smithsonian.

Major exhibition sponsors are the Mellon Foundation, Terra Foundation for American Art and the Miranda Family Fund.

What: 1898: U.S. Imperial Visions and Revisions

When: Now through February 25, 2024.  The National Portrait Gallery is open from daily from 11:30 a.m. - 7 p.m.

Where: Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, 8th and F streets, N. W., Washington, D.C. 20004

How much: No charge

For more information: 202-633-1000 or visit the web site

Metro station: Gallery Place-Chinatown or walk 10 minutes from Metro Center

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A sellout crowd rhapsodizes over Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's Gershwin

Wayne Marshall leads the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra at Strathmore, Feb. 3, 2024/By Patricia Leslie

It was the first time I had seen a conductor play an instrument during a performance, but that’s what he did.

When the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra paused during Rhapsody in Blue, conductor/pianist Wayne Marshall played two solo arrangements which were not altogether pleasing to the entire sold out crowd who came to hear the uninterrupted perennial favorite by George Gershwin (1898-1937).

This is the centennial of the composition which debuted on February 12, 1924 in New York City.

It was a New York kind of a night at Strathmore, beginning with Music for the Theatre by Aaron Copland (1900-1990), then Rhapsody and after intermission, Three Dance Episodes from On the Town by Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990) and Harlem by Duke Ellington (1899-1974).

Wayne Marshall talks to the audience at the performance of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Strathmore, Feb. 3, 2024/By Patricia Leslie

Before the show at coat check, the fellow gleamed when he repeated what had come in an earlier email from the BSO to ticket holders, that it was a sellout night with all 50 "emergency" seats (which are usually held for special circumstances), sold, and all the choral seats which are above the orchestra, sold, too.

It was a grand night, and the orchestra did not disappoint in the least. 

The stage could barely hold all the musicians, and Conductor Marshall played the piano "face out," meaning the grand piano backed up to the orchestra so that all in the audience could see his hands moving up and down the keyboard, which was not hidden from view by the instrument which is the usual case for those seated orchestra left .

The familiar Copland strains rang out, and it's understandable why Music for the Theatre is not as popular as his Appalachian Spring or Fanfare for the Common Man, Billy the Kid or Rodeo, but orchestra lovers cannot hear the familiar all the time or that's all we'd hear! (Which may not be a bad thing.)

It's unfortunate that the writer from the Smithsonian could not include BSO's Gershwin production in the listing of other Rhapsody orchestral performances celebrated throughout the U.S., which he described in today's half page spread in the Wall Street Journal. I guess Baltimore was too close to home.  

Wikipedia quotes a 2005 article in the Guardian which found that by using "'estimates of earnings accrued in a composer's lifetime,' George Gershwin was the wealthiest composer of all time."  

Et tu, Tay Tay? 

George Gershwin by Carl Van Vechten, Mar. 28, 1937, Library of Congress

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Love fest at the National Symphony

Seong-Jin Cho takes his seat to begin Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58/By Patricia Leslie, Jan. 26, 2024

The Kennedy Center was hopping Friday night with Chinese dance and music in the Opera House, tick, tick ...BOOM! at the Eisenhower Theater, the National Symphony Orchestra at the Concert Hall and plenty of ushers to smile, greet us, and answer questions like, "which way to the opera?" "The Symphony?"

At the Concert Hall, I was fortunate in my wretched seat (first tier, against the wall's perimeter) to be caddy-corner from a fellow on the row in front of me whose head bobbed up and down, like maestro Gianandrea Noseda's baton, affording me a milli-second glimpse every so often of the guest pianist Seong-Jin Cho playing Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58.

Seong-Jin Cho returns to the stage again and a standing ovation, followed by conductor Noseda/By Patricia Leslie, Jan. 26, 2024

Before Cho finished Beethoven, the head of the man in front of me at last settled at a right angle and did not move until roused by the applause at the end which afforded me a long-awaited few moments of actual sighting of Mr. Cho whose fingers naturally were obscured from my view and hidden by the piano.

The piece thrilled the sold-out crowd, calling Mr. Cho back for five (or six? I lost count) returns to the stage where, at last, he sat down for one more time to play a bit of, was it Mozart?

It was a dreadful seat I had.

Once at Strathmore for the Baltimore Symphony, when I had one of those seats high up against the wall on the perimeter of the hall, I asked for another seat at intermission and got one! (This has worked for me every time on Broadway when two-ton Harry sits in front of you and your view is hidden. I tell you stage managers do a very good job!)

I had waited until the last minute to buy a ticket for the National Symphony and there were few tickets left. My fault.

My dreadful seat ($45.71) allowed me to see half the stage, smashed up against the wall, but, after all, we go for the sound, right? and not the visuals, but seeing is believing and sights do help!

You know the seats: The ones you spot when you look up from the orchestra level and are always thankful it's them and not you sitting up there, only able to see half the stage.

All three of the pieces on the program were huge hits and it was hard to judge which was the crowd favorite, but let me just say, they all were.

I went for the Shostakovich.

Conductor Noseda and composer-in-residence Carlos Simon at the conclusion of Simon's Wake Up!/By Patricia Leslie, Jan. 26, 2024

Conductor Noseda and composer-in-residence Carlos Simon bow their heads to receive the audience's applause at the conclusion of Simon's Wake Up!/By Patricia Leslie, Jan. 26, 2024

The evening began with the stirring Wake Up!, a NSO co-commission and the NSO premiere with the composer-in-residence, Carlos Simon, on hand to receive ongoing applause from the wildly enthusiastic audience. Mr. Cho followed before intermission.

Conductor Gianandrea Noseda recognizes members of the National Symphony at  the conclusion of Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony/By Patricia Leslie, Jan. 26, 2024

But, truly, truly, I say unto you that the Washington, D.C. Symphony audience is madly in love with conductor Gianandrea Noseda who seems to sincerely enjoy the accolades thrust upon him and who wouldn't?

He was awarded with nonstop standing ovations and applause which drew him back three times to the stage after he finished Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony which the orchestra pounded out in militaristic style. (Take that, Stalin and Putin!)

Although the QR code was available for a digital-ugh-program, the ushers upstairs distributed printed programs to the welcoming crowd. (Thank you very much, ushers! Maybe I should not complain so much about upper-level seating where we can get printed - mon Dieu! - programs!)

What a night it was!

More! More! Please play and program more like last weekend!

Rock on, National Symphony!

Next up: The National Symphony Orchestra with Audra McDonald, Jan. 30 and Jan. 31, 8 p.m., Kennedy Center

The view from Tier I while standing/By Patricia Leslie, Jan. 26, 2024

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Eating at a 5-diamond restaurant in Canada

This was served first and I am not sure what to call it since it was not listed on the menu, but it was delicious/By Patricia Leslie, Dec. 23, 2023

Eden at the Rimrock Resort Hotel in Banff National Park  in the Canadian Rockies is one of only three AMA Five-Diamond restaurants (and the Eden, more than once) in all of Canada, and the only one in western Canada to achieve this status.

It has recently been named one of the top 1000 restaurants in the world for 2024 by the French-based guide, La Liste, making it one of only 19 restaurants in Canada to be included on that list.  

The first course was canapes of "artisanal breads" and three kinds of "cultured butters" and every bit as delicious as one might expect/By Patricia Leslie, Dec. 23, 2023

In 2022 it was named the Best Fine Dining Hotel Restaurant in North America by the World Culinary Awards.  

So, naturally while staying at the Rimrock as a member of Road Scholar's Christmas tour in Banff, my new friend Sara and I took advantage of the proximity to Eden to partake of its fare.  

We could have ordered the seven course meal ($185, Canadian) or the vegetarian seven courses ($175), but being cost-conscious consumers, we opted for the four course meal ($135 Canadian dollars = about $100 American dollars).

What looks like a boat growing trees (the latest in yacht designs) was actually beetroot with pomegranate, quinoa and pecan which I ordered for my second course and although this presentation may look unappetizing, let me assure you it was anything but.  (You don't  have a landscape gardener for your yacht?  Let me assure you, they are coming.)

For her second course, Sara chose Brussel sprouts in maple glaze with chestnut and gruyere. (Please read below.)/By Patricia Leslie, Dec. 23, 2023

As I recall, Sara ordered Brussel sprouts, a vegetable I escape whenever possible and I cannot recall how she described it which was probably as dull as the taste. (If you grow up in the South as I did, Brussel sprouts is a Yankee dish that does not grace Southern tables.)

 

For our next course, we both chose the lamb tartare in carrot curd with mint gel and herb crostini/By Patricia Leslie, Dec. 23, 2023

I erred and joined Sara in choosing "lamb tartare" (raw lamb) for our next course.  If you do not know (I did not), it is raw lamb which I was unable to eat. (What was I thinking? I was not thinking!) Indeed, it was so rare that, to quote my dad when describing rabbit my mother cooked for him one time and one time only, the baby animal jumped off the plate, crying baa...baa all the way home. I did not know that rabbits cried outloud.

Sara raved about the lamb tartare.

For my entree, I selected sablefish in chorizo with clams in lobster bisque/By Patricia Leslie, Dec. 23, 2023

The sablefish for my next course had been heartily recommended by our tour guide, Jake, and it lived up to its reputation, floating in a clam and lobster bisque which was as scrumptious as this description implies and not too heavy.

Sara had the celeriac pithivier with mustard, sauerkraut and umami jus for her entree/By Patricia Leslie, Dec. 23, 2023

My dessert was, of course! Chocolate, manjari with citrus and red currant and cashew/By Patricia Leslie, Dec. 23, 2023

My dessert, the Manjari chocolate kind did not disappoint! 

A dessert of sea buckthorn in creme fraiche with hazelnut and brown butter was Sara's choice. Since I cannot recall accurately about her receipt of some of her choices, I shall not include Sara's opinions/By Patricia Leslie, Dec. 23, 2023

For a parting gift, Eden gave us this loaf of bread packaged in a handsome cardboard box/By Patricia Leslie, Dec. 23, 2023

For "take home," Eden gave us each a loaf of bread beautifully wrapped for the season.  Although a bit dry, we agreed the next day, which was Christmas Eve, that it was an ample substitute for breakfast on Christmas Day when we skipped breakfast for champagne and the delicate but mountainous tea spread (no one could eat everything) at the historic (1888) Fairmont Hotel. (Check out the pictures.  Our tea [pictured below] was on that first floor above the tree tops with all the glass windows overlooking the mountains. Sigh) 

Tea at the Fairmont Hotel where we could not finish all the delicacies, but I do recall that was some sort of Egyptian tea and quite delicious, almost exceeded in taste by the champagne. If there's anything which beats champagne, prithee, sayeth thee!/By Patricia Leslie, Dec. 25, 2023

A bar at the Fairmont/By Patricia Leslie, Dec. 25, 2023

After our meal at Eden, we independently agreed later that the experience, ambiance, and restaurant service exceeded the food quality, and perhaps it was because we only ordered wine by the glass and perceived that the sommelier was a bit haughty and unhappy with us whenever he wheeled the wine bar up to our table. 

Overall:  All I want for Christmas is more Rimrock! Where service exceeds any that I have found in Europe, Africa, North and South America, and if you're lucky, Pierre, the 7-foot-tall bellman, will be "on duty."

But, please leave the Brussel sprouts and baa baa baby lamb at home.  Thank you.

A view from my hotel room at the Rimrock Resort Hotel, Banff, Canada/By Patricia Leslie, Dec., 2023

Another view from my hotel room at the Rimrock Resort Hotel, Banff, Canada/By Patricia Leslie, Dec., 2023

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Holiday lights still gleam in Centreville at NOVA Park

There's more than just lights at the 2023 Bull Run Festival of Lights/By Patricia Leslie

 At the 2023 Bull Run Festival of Lights/By Patricia Leslie

 At the 2023 Bull Run Festival of Lights/By Patricia Leslie

You've still got time to pile up a carful and drive through NovaPark's Festival of Lights in Centreville with a discount of $10 to get you in cheap ($20) this last weekend, if you order online.

The show starts at 5:30 p.m. with the last admittance at 10 p.m.

At the 2023 Bull Run Festival of Lights/By Patricia Leslie

At the 2023 Bull Run Festival of Lights/By Patricia Leslie

Toy soldiers welcome visitors to Toyland at the 2023 Bull Run Festival of Lights/By Patricia Leslie

Take a look at these beautiful colors and designs to make a festive tradition for you and yours along this 2.5 mile stretch.

If you've ever been to the East Building at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, this will remind you of the gateway to the cafeteria. At the 2023 Bull Run Festival of Lights/By Patricia Leslie

At the 2023 Bull Run Festival of Lights/By Patricia Leslie

At the Holiday Market when the lights display ends, a mother and son pack food treats for holiday-goers to buy and feed the animals, one of whom is "Mac," a baby kangaroo which lies comfortably in the pouch held by the man who sleeps with it!!! My, what big ears you have! (For the person who has everything, a kangaroo pouch.) At the Holiday Market at the 2023 Bull Run Festival of Lights/By Patricia Leslie

"Hey, what in the world is this?" seems to be on the mind of the toddler at the Holiday Market at the 2023 Bull Run Festival of Lights/By Patricia Leslie

"Baaaaa...baaaa," says the wee one.  "I'll take some of that!"  At the Holiday Market at the 2023 Bull Run Festival of Lights/By Patricia Leslie

"Wait just a minute!" says the black and white horned goat: "I don't mind stepping over my pal here to get some of the grub which must be for me!!" At the Holiday Market, the 2023 Bull Run Festival of Lights/By Patricia Leslie

"Gulp, gulp," says the camel:  "I'll have some of that, please." At the Holiday Market, the 2023 Bull Run Festival of Lights/By Patricia Leslie

The Holiday Market is found at the end of the drive, complete with animals to feed, like a camel, sheep, llamas, and more.

If you've missed the dates, there's always next year to insert this tradition in your new 2024 calendar beginning in November.

Enjoy, whether this weekend or next Christmas! 

What: Bull Run Festival of Lights

When:  Ending Jan. 7, 2024 at 10 p.m.

Where: 7700 Bull Run Dr., Centreville, VA 20121

How much:  Online, $30/carload (use promo code extra 23 to get $10 off online), $40/carload at the gate; $75/bus or those with 15 or more. (Transaction fee and tax, not included.)

For more information:  703-631-0550 or email  bull_run@nvrpa.org

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A play for all seasons: Folger's 'Winter's Tale'

Hermione (Antoinette Crowe-Legacy) and Polixenes (Drew Kopas) talk stayovers in Folger Theatre's The Winter Tale; Brittany Diliberto, photo

Shakespeare is alive and well at the newly renovated Folger Theatre, inaugurated by one of the master's so-called "problem plays," simply defined as a mixture of drama and comedy, a "tragicomedy," the latter scattered throughout The Winter's Tale.

Sex, murder, and (surprise!) a love triangle  take center stage as the jealous King Leontes (Hadi Tabbal) falsely accuses his wife, the pregnant Hermione (Antoinette Crowe-Legacy) of infidelity with his best friend, Polixenes (Drew Kopas), king of Bohemia.

King Leontes sends his wife to prison for her supposed infidelity where she dies after giving birth to Perdita. 

Grief stricken over the death of his mother causes Leontes and Hermione's beloved son, Mamillius (Richard Bradford and/or Clarence Michael Payne) to fall ill and die, one of the play's tragedies.

But back to the baby whom King Leontes proceeds to exile in what turns out to be, yep, Bohemia, where she is raised by shepherds for sixteen years and falls in love with the son of Leontes's friend, who is - surprise!- Polixenes.  

When Perdita (Kayleandra White) returns home, a statue of Hermione miraculously "comes to life," and everyone is reconciled for another of the master's happy endings. (Shakespeare has a way of tying all the loose ends together for what is a story with a happy ending in the middle? Not a good one!)

When Hermione's friend, Paulina (Kate Eastwood Norris) tries to persuade the king of his irrationality, one wishes that Pauline's words prevailed in today's political discourse: 

The silence often of pure innocence

Persuades when speaking fails.

his stay in Sicilia.
King Leontes (Hadi Tabbel) talks evil with Camillo (Cody Nickell) in Folger Theatre's The Winter Tale; Brittany Diliberto, photohis st

The powerful performance of Hadi Tabbal as King Leontes is dramatic with delivery and actions which easily command every scene he's in, as it should be. 

At the end when all the living players are united, and Hermione comes alive from her statuesque position to enchant her husband all over again, there is much rejoicing and good cheer. 

Shakespeare even tries to assuage Paulina's sorrow over the death of her husband, Antigonus (Stephen Patrick Martin), who has been killed by a bear while sleeping on the Bohemian beach to protect the infant, by marrying Camillo (Cody Nickell). (You have to be there.)

(One of the marvels of the show was Crowe-Legacy's ability to stand silently without movement for several minutes like the statue she was, and my proximity to the stage allowed me to view her closely.) 

The Winter's Tale is one for all seasons for it kept me going all night without my breaking into slumber which usually is my condition around the second act.

Raul Abrego, Jr.'s minimalist scenic design detracts none from the action and dialogue, often seized by the whimsy of Autolycus (Reza Salazar) who periodically shows off his shiny new bicycle with a radio to streak across the stage and into the background (with sound).

Costume designer Sarah Cubbage mixes up the old with the new which fits Autolycus's antics just fine.

All's well that ends well which it does here for we like happy endings, especially at this time of year! Thank you, Folger and Shakespeare.

Other cast members are Nicholas Gerwitz, Jonathan Del Palmer, and Sabrina Lynne Sawyer.

 

The creative team included Tamilla Woodard, director;  Chelsea Dean, properties; Max Doolittle, lighting; Matthew M. Nielson, sound and composer.

Also, Kaja Dunn, intimacy; Joya Powell, choreographer; LaShawn Melton, hair and wigs; Michele Osherow, dramaturg; Lisa Nathans, vocal coach; Leigh Robinette and Taylor Kiechlin, production stage managers; Kacie Pimentel, assistant stage manager; Shana Laski, assistant director; and Tara-Whitney Rison, assistant to the director.

Folger's Winter's Tale is one of 12 different Shakespeare productions in the District's  Shakespeare Everywhere Festival, some performed through the end of the year.

(It always benefits me to read a summary of the play before I see it, rather like reading up on a country's history and culture before I visit it.)  

What: The Winter's Tale by William Shakespeare

When: Now through Dec.17, 2023

Where: Folger Theatre, 201 East Capitol Street, SE, Washington, D.C. 20003

Tickets: Buy online, by phone (202-544-7077), or at the box office.

Metro station: Capitol South or Union Station

For more information: 202-544-4600 or info@folger.edu

Duration:  2.5 hours with one 15-minute intermission

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