JFK photographs leave the Smithsonian today

 John F. Kennedy, 1961, by Shirley Seltzer Cooper (1919-1999)

In celebration of what would have been President John F. Kennedy's 100th birthday on May 29, 2017, the Smithsonian American Art Museum opened a collection of 77 photographs and other remembrances of the man whose spirit, intelligence, appreciation for the arts, and energy captivated America which has never been able to regain its sense of confidence and bravery since his death. 

Today is the last day for the display which is based on the book, JFK:  A Vision for America edited by Stephen Kennedy Smith, President Kennedy's nephew, and Douglas Brinkley, history professor at Rice University.

Most of the images in the exhibition are familiar to those who grew up with the ghost of JFK.  Below are a few of the less well-known pictures.

Kennedy for Congress headquarters, Boston, September, 1946, by Yale Joel/Life Picture Collection, Getty Images

In the galleries of the JFK exhibition at the Smithsonian American Art Museum/Photo by Patricia Leslie

John Kennedy, center, with his father, Joseph, and brother, Joseph Patrick, Jr., Brookline, MA, 1919/John f. Kennedy Library Foundation

In the galleries at the Smithsonian American Art Museum where JFK's familiar quotations are painted on the walls. This caption from June 14, 1956 reads:  Our Nation's first great politicians were also among the Nation's first great writers and scholars...Books were their tools, not their enemies.
/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Campaigning in Amherstdale, WVA, April, 1960, one of 53 campaign stops candidate Kennedy made in the state in one month.  There he learned something about the lives of coal miners which helped form his anti-poverty legislation when he became president/Life Picture Collection, Getty Images

During an airport campaign stop in Amarillo, TX on Nov. 3, 1960, JFK tried to restrain his running mate, Lyndon Johnson, incensed by Republican pilots revving up their engines to silence Democratic Party speakers/without credit line

Waiting for results the day after the election at Bobby and Ethel Kennedy's home in Hyannis Port, MA on Nov. 9, 1960 are (behind JFK, seated) Bobby and Ethel (in a sweater dress.  Ethel, age 89, is still living.) /Jacques Lowe (the Jacques Lowe Estate)

First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy and Andre Malraux, the minister of cultural affairs for France, arranged the first tour of the Mona Lisa to the U.S. from the Louvre for a three-week run at the National Gallery of Art. This was taken on Jan. 8, 1963/Abbie Rowe,John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum

At the entrance to the JFK exhibition at the Smithsonian American Art Museum/Photo by Patricia Leslie
 
The U.S. State Department has sent the images to Australia, Brazil, China, Ethiopia, Germany, Honduras, Kosovo, Poland, Romania, South Korea, Thailand, and Venezuela where they will travel throughout each country through 2018.

What: American Visionary:  John F. Kennedy's Life and Times

When: Closes Sunday, September 17, 2017. The museum is open from 11:30 a.m.- 7 p.m. every day.

Where: Smithsonian American Art Museum, 8th and F streets, N. W., Washington, D.C. 20004

How much: No charge

For more information: 202-633-1000 or visit the website.

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

patricialesli@gmail.com

'Devil' sings Bessie Smith's blues at Mosaic (extended)

Miche Braden as Bessie Smith with Anthony E. Nelson, Jr., in The Devil's Music: The Life & Blues of Bessie Smith/Photo by Stan Barouh

Bessie Smith fans, this one's for you!  The Devil's Music:  The Life & Blues of Bessie Smith now on stage at Mosaic Theater on H Street, in one of the most dynamic theaters in Washington, D.C.

The music of Bessie Smith (1894-1937) and parts of her life are the story here, told in song and sketches by Miche Braden  who belts out the blues in her strong and passionate voice,  supported by a trio of consummate musicians: Jim Hankins on bass, Anthony E. Nelson, Jr., playing sax, and Gerard Gibbs, pianist who provide verbal, visual, and sexual backdrops.

Miss Smith's big hits are all here:  I Ain't Got Nobody, St. Louis Blues, Taint Nobody's Bizness If I Do and ten more.

She enters from a center door atop steps to descend to  a crowded, though handsome set (by Brian Prather) of heavy Victorian design with lamps, plants, and liquor bottles, several which sit on a table and suggest the arrival of another much needed actor to join the dialogue, but it doesn't happen.

Before the show, theatergoers are warned by a sign at the entrance to the auditorium that the script contains adult language which is, indeed, coarse, and more hard-core than expected.

The simulated sex sax scene is off putting and denigrates the singer's reputation, even if she was as boorish as portrayed.

The music clearly is what this is all about and the show delivers on this most important element.

Bessie Smith by Carl Van Vechten on February 3, 1936/Wikipedia, Library of Congress

Designer Patricia E. Doherty dresses Ms. Braden in an elegant purple gown which flows with her swings and sashays throughout the evening, seeming to fill the stage at times.  The musicians' apparel (three piece suits and ties) is right in keeping with the vestments of the age.

Known as the "Empress of the Blues," Ms. Smith was "the most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s....often regarded as one of the greatest singers of her era" and "a major influence on other jazz singers," says Wikipedia.

Born in Chattanooga (which has a Bessie Smith Cultural Center), Bessie got her start around age 18 dancing for her brother's troupe before she climbed the ranks to become the highest paid black entertainer of the time. Her shows included 40 performers. Ms. Smith traveled in her own railway car.

Miche Braden is Bessie Smith in The Devil's Music: The Life & Blues of Bessie Smith/Photo by Stan Barouh

Too soon, the Depression (1929-1939) suspended her stardom, decimating the recording industry, about the time talking movies effectively ended vaudeville show like Ms. Smith's. Her last hit, Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out, was recorded in 1929, but she continued entertaining during the market downturn until her death from an automobile accident on a Mississippi highway in 1937.

Bessie Smith's death certificate/Wikipedia, State of Mississippi

Her grave in Sharon Hill, Pennsylvania went unmarked until 1970 when Janis Joplin and a former Smith housekeeper, Juanita Green, bought a headstone for it. Ms. Smith's estranged husband was unsupportive of a gravestone for his wife, keeping the money contributors gave for one.

Bessie Smith was awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1989. 

What: The Devil's Music:  The Life and Blues of Bessie Smith by Angelo Parra. Conceived and directed by Joe Brancato with musical arrangements by Miche Braden.  Todd O. Wren, lighting designer; C. Renee Alexander, stage manager

When: Extended through October 1, 2017.  Shows at 8 p.m., Thursdays - Saturdays, 7:30 p.m. on Sundays, 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday matinees, and a student matinee at 11 a.m. this Thursday, September 14.

Where: Lang Theatre, Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H Street NE, Washington, D.C. 20002
 
Getting there: Riding public transportation from Union Station on the streetcar is easy and free, if you can master the first hurdle, that of finding the streetcar behind Union Station. Signage in the station is inadequate. For those who wish to travel by private automobile, there are parking options: Advance valet parking is $15 for subscribers with vouchers; $20, without; or park in a nearby lot or for free on city streets Sundays.

Tickets to the show start at $20. Buy online, phone (202-399-7993, ext. 2), or at the box office.

Language:  Adult

Duration: About 85 minutes without intermission.

patricialesli@gmail.com

Last weekend for Theaster Gates at the National Gallery of Art

On display at Theaster Gates: The Minor Arts at the National Gallery of Art,  is part of an old roof from a Chicago church/Photo by Patricia Leslie

In the Tower at the National Gallery of Art's East Building, you can catch some of Theaster Gates' art if you hurry, for this weekend is the last for the show.

Wikipedia identifies Gates (b. 1973) as a Chicagoan who makes installation art and is committed to revitalizing poverty-stricken areas. Formerly, a curator for the Chicago Transit Authority, he identified and obtained art  for CTA's public space. (Hmmm....does Metro have such a position?  The evidence is lacking.)  He is an art director for the University of Chicago.

 Theaster Gates at the National Gallery of Art, Feb. 28, 2017/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Theaster Gates, b. 1973, New Egypt Sanctuary of the Holy Word and Image, which includes a towering library of hundreds of bound copies of Ebony magazine/Photo by Patricia Leslie

 Theaster Gates, b. 1973, Inside New Egypt Sanctuary of the Holy Word and Image is Elegua in Winter/Photo by Patricia Leslie
Aided by his urban planning and arts education background, Mr. Gates sculpts and makes his art work by using discarded materials which often link to his past. That his father was a roofer influenced the artist when he took an old roof from a Chicago church and made it into a wall, on display at the Gallery.

Mr. Gates' eight older sisters (he was the only male in a family of nine children) made sure their little brother knew all about the importance of civil rights.

 Theaster Gates at the National Gallery of Art, Feb. 28, 2017, in front of his Game of My Own/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Theaster Gates, b. 1973, A Game of My Own (left) made from flooring from a school gymnasium/Photo by Patricia Leslie

  Theaster Gates, b. 1973, A Game of My Own (left)/Photo by Patricia Leslie
His renderings are provoking and demonstrate his sophistication and sensitivities to disparate elements of society. At a Los Angeles gallery this year, the asking price for one Gates' work was $750,000.

Theaster Gates, National Gallery of Art, Feb. 28, 2017 standing in front of his Something About Modernism and Death and the church roof/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Theaster Gates, b. 1973, Something About Modernism and Death/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Mr. Gates said Washington's exhibition enabled him to show the relationship between art, history, and "the stories of where I'm from." He is one of few living artists to enjoy an exhibition at the National Gallery of Art. 
 
A catalogue is available.

What: Theaster Gates: The Minor Arts

When: The National Gallery of Art is open 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. - 6 p.m., Sunday. The exhibition closes on Labor Day, September 4, 2017.

Where: East Building Tower, Gallery 501, the National Gallery of Art, between Third and Ninth streets at Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. On the Mall.

Admission charge: It's always free admission at the National Gallery of Art.

Metro stations for the National Gallery of Art:
Smithsonian, Federal Triangle, Navy Memorial-Archives, or L'Enfant Plaza

For more information: 202-737-4215

patricialesli@gmail.com

Get on the bus for 'Hello, Dolly!'

                                        Bette Midler in Hello, Dolly!/New York Lifestyles Magazine

Dear Theatre Fans,

Get on the bus*, even for a day, to New York City to see Bette Midler in Hello, Dolly! before she leaves the show in January.

The Divine Miss M is 71 which just goes to show you how young 70 is. (Speak for yourself.)

Hello, Dolly! is Ms. Midler's first leading role in a Broadway musical which earned her this year's Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical. The show won three more Tonys (Best Revival of a Musical, Costume Design, and Gavin Creel won for Best Featured Actor in a Musical). It was nominated for six more.

Fans, it happened one night in New York (and maybe, more), that some audience members stood up in their seats, cheered, and applauded the performance in the middle of the show.  More than once.  Several times.  That was a first for me. 

I've read Bette Midler's replacement, Donna Murphy, is fabulous, and congrats to Ms. Murphy, but, right now (save Tuesdays and some other dates) it's the Divine Miss M whose spell over the audience is unmistakable. She transmits her magic across the stage and envelopes the spellbound in her rapture. 
  
She loves the role. And so do her fellow actors. The electrical connection between performers and guests is undeniable. Everyone has a good time and joins the celebration, but I don't want to go overboard.

When the orchestra started up, I knew the music must be a recording since the sounds were too perfect for live.  Wrong.  Conductor Andy Einhorn elicits magnificent production by all. But, lest I exaggerate.

Speaking of costumes: Hold your breath for colors and design au spectaculaire.  (Costume designer Santo Loquasto won the Tony.) Folks, it's the 1890s with colors and luxurious costumes to admire. Hats, yellow suits, orange suits, green, you name it.  So many to see!  So many dancers, perfectly in sync (by Warren Carlyle). 

Here's how the Guide to Musical Theatre describes the outfits (which includes orange and yellow suits worn by men!)  

Turn of the century: New York City and Yonkers. Bright, cartoon costumes of the dress and styles of the period. (Ruffled dresses, large hats, parasols, striped pants, vests, spats, waistcoats), shopkeeper smocks, horse costume, green waiter suits with white aprons, floor-length evening dresses, lodge uniform, tights, high-button shoes, parade costumes (police, sports club, dance-hall girls, opera Association etc.), male formal suit and evening cape, "Hello, Dolly" evening dress, sailor dress, traveling clothes

On her website Bette Midler says: “I just want to say that revival is an interesting word. It means that something is near death and it’s been brought back to life. Hello, Dolly! never really went away. It has been here all along. It’s in our DNA. It’s optimism, it’s democracy, it’s color, it’s love of life. It’s hilarity. This is a classic. Come and see it. It’s not just me! This has the ability to life your spirits in these terrible, terrible times.”

More applause is due Ms. Midler for her sponsorship of charities and adoption of highways on the east and west coasts for the Adopt-A-Highway project.


Thank you, Bette Midler and Director Jerry Zaks!

(*My fav bus line is the Vamoose Gold.)

Tickets are here and other places. (Check the Web.)  Better hurry.  Several dates are sold out.

When:  Matinees at 2 p.m. on Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Tuesday and Thursday night shows begin at 7 p.m.  Other nights, 8 p.m.  No shows on Mondays and most Sunday eves.  Remember, Ms. Midler does not perform on Tuesday and some other nights. 

Where:  Sam S. Shubert Theatre, 225 W. 44th St., New York City, 10036


Duration:  2 hours and 35 minutes, one intermission 

patricialesli@gmail.com

Second City was second rate in D.C.

The cast of Second City in Almost Accurate Guide to America: Divided We Stand included Tyler Davis, Ross Taylor, Angela Alise, Chucho Perez, Katie Kershaw, and Ryan Asher/Kennedy Center and Second City

This was a comedy?  

That's the way it was billed in the Kennedy Center promotion, but "hilarious" it was not.

With a song about abortions?  

A skit on "Black Heaven"?  

Please. 

We expected comedy, since we were in "the need for a good laugh!" like the promo promised, and/or certainly politics since the Kennedy Center described Second City's Almost Accurate Guide to America: Divided We Stand, "a show that focuses as much on the people as the politics."

Huh?  

Little to nada, except for the standard, tiresome Trump and Steve Bannon jokes.  (Capitol Steps was sold out.)  

The second act was all improv which didn't fare nearly as well as the first act when the cast used a crutch from the audience in the person of Colin from Arlington, 14 going on 16.

If there was a costume designer, that would have been a surprise since apparel was everyday and mundane. Not much in the way of props, other than chairs, and for lighting: lavendar and pink backdrops on patterned windows.

  
This is not to criticize the ability of the actors. Far from it.  I have been lucky enough to attend two of their performances in Chicago which leaves one marveling at the talent and how they pull it off.

   

But at this show, the improv needed improv.

As my friend, Maureen, said:  "When they have to rely on the F-bomb for every other word, you know they've reached their limit." And as for my smart friend, Catherine, whom we ran into before the show started, she left at intermission!

Not worth $67!

Fifteen minutes until Kim Jong-un's missiles reach the U.S. 
Do what you want to do now! And do it fast.  
Like, head for the exit!

Ross Taylor, center, and other cast members from Second City's Almost Accurate Guide to America: Divided We Stand/Kennedy Center and Second City

patricialesli@gmail.com