Kennedy Center tinkers with Millennium Stage

Toubab Krewe plays at the Kennedy Center's new Millennium Stage/Patricia Leslie

It wasn't the first time the Kennedy Center has moved its Millennium Stage upstairs to the Atrium, according to an usher.

"They are just trying something new," she said.  "Do you like it?"

It was new all right, and refreshing and hip and more like a club and in retrospect, the new venue made the Millennium Stage on the ground floor seem like a school classroom and old-fashioned with its folding chairs all neatly lined up and ushers saying "hush, hush."  Goodnight, mush.

 My gawd, the new digs were almost electric, in contrast, "fluid" and flexible.  "Mood" lighting and draperies added to special effects.

"There aren't enough seats," said another usher, "but this is the way they want it.  Kind of like a jazz club.  But you can sit on the floor," and many of the young and the old and the in-between did just that.

More college students than normal milled about, checking out the crowd, and chatting while enjoying liquid refreshment.  (Thank goodness, Happy Hour transferred upstairs, too.  I was crushed, absolutely crushed at the prospect of no beer and trinkets with free music at KenCen which, after a nanosecond's thought, gave way to reality and revenue, and there was the bar after all! Reason lives.)

What will they call it? The Atrium Stage?

Toubab Krewe at the Kennedy Center/Patricia Leslie

Up on stage was Toubab Krewe, a quartet of instrumentalists from Asheville, N.C., who combine their sounds from guitar, piano, fiddle, bass, percussion, kora (Wikipedia: "a 21-string bridge-harp used extensively in West Africa"), kamelengoni (12-string harp lute), and djembe (a drum played with bare hands) to make unique music with influences from Africa, the Middle East, the East, and Hawai'i.

According to program notes, the difference between Toubab Krewe and other groups adapting African music is the way Toubab innovates on what's been learned "instead of simply recreating tradition." 

The group's members are Justin Perkins, Drew Heller, David Pransky, and Luke Quaranta who have studied and lived in Guinea, the Ivory Coast, and Mali, and have performed in festivals around the world including Bonnaroo and in Mali, the Festival In The Desert.

At KenCen, Toubab's lively, not too harsh nor too loud, somewhat mellow music uplifted the crowd and sent everyone out on a happy note to go watch the Nats. It was lots of fun, and that's what music is about, isn't it? 

Goodnight to the old lady whispering "hush."

(Wikipedia says "toubab" means foreigner in several West African languages, and "krewe" is the New Orleans way to spell "crew.")

Toubab Krewe plays at the Kennedy Center's new Millennium Stage/Patricia Leslie

What: Oct. 15 Nathan Williams and the Zydeco Cha Chas (with free dance lessons at 5 p.m. with Dancing by the Bayou)

Oct. 16 Hilton Worldwide:  Compagnie de Danse Jean-Rene Delsoin

Oct. 17 Fire and the Wheel

Oct. 18 Theater Patrasket: Friendship (Denmark)

For future performances, click here.

When:  Seven days a week at 6 p.m.

Where: The Kennedy Center, 2700 F Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20566

How much: Admission is always free at the Millennium Stage

Metro station: Foggy Bottom and ride the free shuttle (every 10 minutes) from there to KenCen or walk it (10 minutes)

For more information:  800-444-1324 or 202-467-4600

patricialesli@gmail.com

Salman Rushdie on book tour in D.C.

Salman Rushdie, left, with Robert Siegel at Lisner Auditorium, George Washington University/Patricia Leslie

Despite last month’s warning from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that a fatwa or decree issued in 1989 calling for the assassination of Salman Rushdie may still be in effect, Rushdie addressed a sold-out Lisner Auditorium at George Washington University Monday night where there were no security checks.

No magnetometers, no wands, no bag inspections.

The British-Indian writer who spent ten years in hiding because of a book (Satanic Verses which angered and still does, some Islamic leaders in Iran) came to talk and answer questions posed by NPR’s Robert Siegel about Rushdie’s latest book, Joseph Anton: A Memoir, which describes his undercover life. (The book is named after two writers Rushdie admires, Joseph Conrad and Anton Chekhov, and was a pseudonym Rushdie used.)

While he was in hiding, Rushdie said writing “saved my life….Writers are used to sitting in rooms, staring out the window, wondering what the hell to do.” It’s a good thing he wasn’t a movie producer, he said, for he would not have been able to work. 

“One of the great things about the history of literature,” is that writers are “always taking on tyrants.” Writers speak the truth and tell it "to their faces….If you give in to a bully, you ensure there will be more bullies, not less. We know this as kids. We should remember it as adults….

“The nature of democracy is disagreement….You don’t have to resolve the argument. You just have the freedom to discuss it.”

Many of the evening's questions came from members of the audience which Siegel read to Rushdie.

One person wanted to know if Rushdie had any regrets about Satanic Verses.

No, none. “I’m very proud of it," Rushdie said. "It’s one of the better books I have written. Now that the fuss has died down,” he hopes people will read it like it was intended, as a novel. That’s “beginning to happen.”

He talked about books which pass the test of time because readers like them. “Now, finally, this book [Satanic Verses] has a chance to pass this test.”

Answering another question, he said he tried writing Anton in the first person but didn’t like it and switched to third.

He named James Joyce, Marcel Proust, and Franz Kafka as great contemporary writers.

Kafka wrote “dark and scary” things which, at the same time, were “quite funny.”  Rushdie, 65, born in India who speaks with a British accent, was quite funny, too, and at ease, comfortable in the surroundings, and made the audience of about 1,500 laugh several times.  He has been married four times.

He was friends with the late Christopher Hitchens (there’s a “big hole in the world” without him), and they frequently played games including substituting “hysterical sex” for “love” as in Hysterical Sex in the Time of Cholera, and Hysterical Sex is a Many Splendored Thing.

Rushdie said he thought his death sentence would end in a year, but it lasted for ten. It was a situation for him that “endlessly went on.” It wasn't isolation which bothered him as much as claustrophia. He was surrounded by four “enormous men” who were not his closest friends, yet while he was in hiding, everyone kept quiet: housekeepers, the police, neighbors. It was “a battle between love and hate. The reason I am here," he said to applause, "is the power of love which proved itself to be stronger.”

Rushdie has lived in New York City for the past 13 years. The U.S. "is where I began to get my freedom back.” 

His decade-long confinement enabled him to write: “I got a f-ing good book out of it,” he said to cheers, and when he exited the stage, a standing ovation.

The event was sponsored by Politics & Prose Bookstore and The Center for Inquiry-DC.

patricialesli@gmail.com

'Cole Porter' is a hit in Falls Church

Cole Porter fans will not want to miss the story of his life and loves told in songs and narrative in Cole Porter: You're the Top! now on stage at Creative Cauldron in Falls Church.

The passion between Porter (Sean Thompson) and his wife, Linda Lee Thomas (Carolyn Cole) glows throughout the non-stop original musical as their eyes lock, and they sing and dance to 26 of Porter's compositions, magnificently assembled by co-directors Laura Connors Huff and Stephen Gregory Smith from Porter's repertoire of more than 800 creations.

Of course, the crowd's favorites are the expected:"Let's Misbehave," "Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Love," and "From This Moment On," to name a few. 

Did you know Porter wrote a song about a gigolo?  The directors include some lesser-knowns, too.

Carolyn Cole and Sean Thompson star in Creative Cauldron's Cole Porter:  You're the Top!/Photos by Gary Mester, Written in Light Photography 

With the audience right there on three sides, "It Ain't Etiquette" to get up on the stage and dance with the stars although it was mighty tempting to join them "Ridin' High," singing and whirling around the fabulous black and white set (Margie Jervis) from table to piano to chaise lounge and back again, telling Porter's and Thomas's stories about "I Love Paris," "I Happen to Like New York," and Porter's break-through.  That he was attracted to men and she was eight years older did not diminish (much) their immense yearning for one another since Linda gets a kick out of Porter who has her under his skin.

If you thought it might be tough to sing and dance at the same time, never fear!  Thompson and Cole make it look, oh, so easy. "In the Still of the Night" it was "Alright with Me" to "Experiment" and take "All of You" "Night and Day." (Fortunately, there is no sing-a-long.)

Adding oh-la-la to the evening's enjoyment are the sounds produced by Alvin Smithson, musical director and pianist, Kim Martin, drums, and Vince Calcaterra, bass and violin, accompanied by excellent lighting design (Paul Spiegelblatt) and choreography (Kara-Tameika Watkins).

(Edgar Allan Poe fans will remember Thompson from Creative Cauldron's production last year of Nevermore, and Cole who starred in Women of the Blues.)

What: Cole Porter: You're the Top! 

When: Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m., through October 28, 2012

Where: Creative Cauldron "where imagination bubbles over" at Artspace, 410 South Maple Avenue, Falls Church, Virginia 22046

How much:  Prices start at $20

For more information:  571-239-5288

patricialesli@gmail.com

 

Kathleen Turner sizzles in 'Molly Ivins'

Kathleen Turner in Philadelphia Theatre Company's production of Red Hot Patriot:  The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins. Photo by Mark Garvin

What better place for a hardy liberal like Molly Ivins to be featured in a one-woman production than in Washington, D.C. where bars host special drinks and nights devoted to events like the Super Bowl of Politics AKA the Great Debates and every third house throws a debate party?

Kathleen Turner, 58, star of Body Heat, The War of the Roses, Prizzi’s Honor, The Accidental Tourist, and Romancing the Stone, is s-m-o-k-i-n-g in Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins at Arena Stage, and if you don't have your ticket, well, you don't have your ticket, and please be prepared to stand ($50).  (Okay, there are a few pricey seats left.)
 

She’s got the twang, the mannerisms, the delivery to bring back to life the lively and hot-tongued Ms. Molly by way of playwrights and twin sisters Margaret Engel and Allison Engel who based their script on Ivins's writings, interviews, speeches, and the Engels' talks with Ivins's friends and colleagues.  (Ivins died in 2007 of breast cancer.)

The show's props, staging, and direction flow ever so smoothly under the tutelage of David Esbjornson.  Turner's "prop star" (Nicholas Yenson) is absolutely “spot-on.”  Such a nerd.  Those glasses.  He reminds you of every high school brain you ever sat beside in chemistry class.  He walks so fast across that stage, he is like a candidate trying to exit the platform after another gaffe.  Shrub.

The show's been playing for more than a month (August 23), and it's still filling up every night.  I probably was the last person to visit the "new" Arena Stage, and what a treat.  Not just the production but Arena, too!  Spot on.  Hey!  Anybody ever thought of an Arena Madness?

Who:  Kathleen Turner as Molly Ivins

What:  Red Hot Patriot:  The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins

When: Now through October 28, 2012 (except Mondays) 

Where: Arena Stage, 1101 Sixth Street, SW, Washington, D.C. 20024

How much: Standing room tickets start at $50 and there are seats left

Duration: 75 minutes (no intermission)

Metro station: Waterfront

Parking:  On the street or in a nearby lot

For more information:  202-484-0247

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater at Night from 6th Street, photo by Nic Lehoux, Bing Thom Architects

 

patricialesli@gmail.com

'George Bellows' tape is a treat at the National Gallery of Art

George Bellows, Beach at Coney Island, 1908, private collection

Only precious few days remain to see the fabulous George Bellows show at the National Gallery of Art in Washington before it departs for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and later, the Royal Academy of Arts in London.

The exhibition ends in Washington October 8.

An audiotape available at the entrance to the exhibition will make your visit more enjoyable and is certainly worth the $5 charge.  (Most art enthusiasts don't mind having to fork over a few bucks to hear professionals discuss great works and provide guidance, especially when institutions charge nothing for admission.)

One of the featured works on the tape is Forty-two Kids (1907) which shows boys having a lark of a time, swimming sans bathing suits, jumping off a broken wooden dock into a dark abyss, their future? 

George Bellows, Forty-two Kids, 1907, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, Museum Purchase, William A. Clark Fund

Rather than a daytime scene, the light illuminates the naked boys on the dock which is surrounded by the black water and night, which consumes half the painting. Inspection reveals some of the children have already jumped in, and floating in the distance is a solitary boat, perhaps a life boat to rescue the children from their probable trajectory.    

The catalog says this painting came close to winning the annual Lippincott prize at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1908 but after voting 8-2 in its favor, the jury reversed its decision, probably because of a perception Mr. Lippincott might object to the work's nudity.

Said the artist, it was not the naked children which intimidated the jury, but "the naked painting."

Bellows (1882-1925) was associated with the "ashcan school" which concentrated on social conditions and life of poor people in New York tenements in the early 20th century.  He often portrayed the friction between modernity and the past.  

One example is Men of the Docks (1912) (an "ambitious, very successful picture," according to the curator on the tape). In the center of the work across the river are the city's tall buildings while in the foreground, emotionless longshoremen stand between a huge modern cruise ship in the sunlight and on the left, a small industrial boat in the shadows.  Those who do not have their heads hung low look to the left of the scene as if awaiting notice they have been replaced by modernity.  (Bellows painted Men of the Docks in the same year as the Titanic sinking.)

George Bellows, Men of the Docks, 1912, Randolph College, founded as Randolph-Macon Women's College, 1891, Lynchburg

Both Members of This Club (1909) is one of Bellows's most famous renderings of an illegal sport and all its blood, sweat, and gore. The narrator says the fighters are literally trying to kill each other, and they look it.  Be sure and study the faces of the onlookers surrounding the ring and see if you spot evil. 

George Bellows, Both Members of This Club, 1909, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Chester Dale Collection

Frankie, the Organ Boy (1907) makes a viewer wonder about his background and what became of him.  He seems bewildered and out of place in his formal suit in the dark as he clasps his hands: "What am I doing here?"

George Bellows, Frankie, The Organ Boy, 1907, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Purchase, acquired through the bequest of Ben and Clara Shlyen

The forlorn expression of the Little Girl in White (Queenie Burnett) (1907), Bellows's laundry girl, offers a glimpse of what her childhood was like.   

The Saw Dust Trail (1916) shows the power of the evangelist Billy Sunday.  The catalog quotes Bellows:  "I paint Billy Sunday... to show the world what I do think of him.  Do you know, I think Billy Sunday is the worst thing that ever happened to America?  He is death to imagination, to spirituality, to art."

George Bellows, The Saw Dust Trail, 1916, Milwaukee Art Museum, Layton Art Collection

And then there is Bellows's portrayal of horrible scenes, all based on reality.  Who will ever forget the powerful and wrenching The Barricade (1918) which shows Germans in World War I using naked Belgians as human shields, or The Law is Too Slow (1922-1923) based upon a 1903 newspaper story, dateline Wilmington, Delaware, about a black man who burns at the stake while a mob of perpetrators stand and watch. In an ironic twist, the captive seems to ascend in a geyser of flames in Bellows's rendering of crayon on paper which suggests a crucifixion. 

George Bellows, The Law is Too Slow, 1922-1923, Boston Public Library, Print Department, Albert H. Wiggin Collection

Last weekend the National Gallery and Bellows were packed.   I asked myself: What are all these folks doing in here on this gorgeous day? 

Allow about an hour to hear the tape, and more time, to see the entire show. 

What: George Bellows

When: Now through October 8, 2012, Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Sunday, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Where: National Gallery of Art, West Building, Washington, D.C., between 3rd and 9th streets at Constitution Avenue, NW

How much: No charge

For more information: 202-737-4215 or www.nga.gov.

Metro stations: Judiciary Square, Navy Memorial-Archives, or the Smithsonian

 

patricialesliexam@gmail.com

Save the date: Oct. 3, free noon concert at St. John’s

The U.S. Army Chorus

The U.S. Army Chorus will perform at 12:10 p.m. October 3 at St. John's, Lafayette Square, and introduce the church's First Wednesday Concert Series for 2012-13.

The chorus is one of the few men’s professional choruses in the U.S., and has performed at the White House, the Vice-President’s home, the U.S. Capitol, the U.S. Supreme Court and the State Department.  The group was founded in 1956 as a vocal counterpart to the U.S. Army Band, “Pershing’s Own,” and has a repertoire which includes patriotic, Broadway, folk, and classical music.

St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square/Patricia Leslie

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

Other concert dates in the St. John's series are: 

Nov. 7:  Michael Lodico, associate choirmaster and organist, St. John's Church, performing Works for Musical Clock by Haydn and Mozart

Dec. 5:  Madrigal Singers from St. Albans and National Cathedral School, directed by Benjamin Hutto, performing "Music of the Season"

Jan. 9 (second Wednesday):  Marvin Mills, concert organist, performing Avec une touche Francaise, with works by Saint-Saens, Widor, Durufle, Litaize, and Dupre

Feb. 6:  Soloists from St. John's Choir

Mar. 6: Bianca Garcia, flute, assisted by Michael Lodico, organist, featuring the world premiere of a work by Stephen Cabell

Apr. 3:  Benjamin Hutto, director of music ministry and organist, St. John's, performing "Organ Treasure Old and New"  

May 1:  Alvy Powell, bass-baritone and Gershwin interpreter

June 5: Jeremy Filsell, Washington National Cathedral Artist-in-Residence, performing organ works by Bach, Dupre, and Rachmaninov


What: U.S. Army Chorus                           

When: 12:10 p.m., October 3, 2012

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

How much:  No charge

Duration:  About 35 minutes each

Wheelchair accessible

Metro stations:  McPherson Square or Farragut West

For more information:  202-347-8766

patricialesli@gmail.com

Washington architects can cans at the Building Museum

EYP designed this entry, All You Need Is LOVE, using 4,700 cans of tomato sauce, roasted chilies, and salsa to win the Jurors' Special Recognition Award/Patricia Leslie

Although this year's can competition staged by the Washington Architectural Foundation to raise money for the Capital Area Food Bank has ended at the National Building Museum, photos of the different can sculptures can leave viewers with deep appreciation for team members' smarts and know-how. 

This may look like a summer igloo made of stacks of quarters but it is actually cans of Le Seuer peas and tomato sauce canstructed by WDG and labeled To Bean or Not To Bean/Patricia Leslie

Architects from the 22 participating firms used about 75,000 cans to make "edible architecture," all contents in different sizes and colors and all donated to the food bank.

That three teams chose the Discovery space shuttle to feature for this year's theme of "Monumental" was monumental itself, but considering  Discovery did journey 149,000,000 miles over its 27- year working life and made its last trip when it came to Washington in April, circled the National Mall four times, and landed at the Smithsonian's Udvar-Hazy Center of the National Air and Space Museum, its final destination, maybe it's not so coincidental, after all.  Whew!

Hartman-Cox designed Monumental Flight:  Discovering An End to Hunger.  On the floor are bags of rice/Patricia Leslie

 

This (and below) are Hunger:  We Have a Problem by URS.  Wrote the design/build team:  "It's one small step with cans but it's one giant meal for mankind."/Patricia Leslie

 

URS's entry/Patricia Leslie

 

 

 

To CAN-finity and Beyond! by Leo A. Daly won the People's Choice Award.  The team used 3,500 cans of white beans, soups, chilies, tuna, and black coffee to depict Discovery, downtown buildings, and the U.S. Capitol with a honey bear bottle on top, representing the Statue of Freedom/Patricia Leslie

 The 2012 canstruction awards announced by the District Architecture Center:
 

• Jurors' Favorite: One Small Step for a Can, One Giant Leap to End Hunger by Wiencek + Associates, Architects + Planners
• Best Use of Labels: Grand CANyon by Barnes Vanze Architects, Inc.
• Structural Ingenuity: A Colorful Meal of Golden Proportions by Perkins + Will
• Best Meal: A Colorful Meal of Golden Proportions by Perkins + Will
• Honorable Mention: CAN You Hear Me Now? by Cannon Design
• Honorable Mention: Grand CANyon by Grimm & Parker Architects
• Jurors' Special Recognition: All You Need is LOVE by EYP
• People's Choice Award: To CAN-finity and Beyond! by Leo A Daly

Since 1992 when the competition was founded by the Society for Design Administrators, more than 20 million pounds of food have been collected for communities around the world, according to the District Architecture Center.

The 2012 canstruction competition and fundraiser for the Capitol Area Food Bank at the National Building Museum/Patricia Leslie

Nobody can can cans like Washington architects can can cans at the National Building Museum where they can can cans and can can-can (maybe).

The National Building Museum/Patricia Leslie

What: National Building Museum

When:  Open every day, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., Sunday

Where:  401 F Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20001

Admission:  $8, adults; $5, students, youth, seniors; $3 for Building Zone only, and reduced prices for the last hour of the day

For more information:  202-272-2448

Metro stations:  Judiciary Square and Gallery Place-Chinatown

 

patricialesli@gmail.com