NextStop Theatre presents MLK Jr.'s last night

Shayla Simmons and Curtis McNeil in NextStop Theatre Company's The Mountaintop/Photo by Lock and Company

What would it have been like for him at the Lorraine Motel with a housekeeper he had never met?

It's unlikely you would come up with a script bearing any resemblance to the show now playing at NextStop Theatre in Herndon. And maybe, like me, you had not envisioned his last night, or wondered about the script for The Mountaintop which is far better than expected.

Only two actors appear (Curtis McNeil and Shayla Simmons)  and their outstanding performances surely will net them and the director, Kevin McAllister, Helen Hayes nominations.


It always helps when an actor looks like the real-life character he (or she) portrays, and NextStop managers got it just right with Mr. McNeil's selection. He delivers a powerful, unforgettable performance, strengthened by costume designer Paris Francesca's attire of the white shirt and tie Dr. King wore in every picture or video in memory. 


Ms. Simmons is a sassy flirt, "Camae," a hotel maid here,who prompts lots of laughs on this surprising night with its sad ending. The two spend time in the motel room together, having some fun before life's tragedies convene to end it all.

Mr. King's weaknesses do not go unnoticed.

The mention of a cellphone is puzzling, but the pieces shortly fit together and hint at future dialogue.

It was shocking to hear Dr. King's age (1929-1968). He was only 39?  Every year his achievements grow in stature, recognized on MLK Jr. Day.

At the end, Mr. McNeil's wrenching portrait left him almost gasping for breath as he seemed to struggle to regain composure and receive the ovation from the standing audience.

Evan Hoffmann, scenic designer, and Alex Wade, properties designer, match their set to the actual room at the Lorraine (with the exception of the color; for some strange reason, they chose a peach, perhaps because the actual was a dull tan). 

Yaritza Pacheco's sounds not only frighten Dr. King, but their perfectly timed mad claps of thunder (it must have rained that night) jolt the audience, too.

Kudos to Mr. Hoffmann, also the theatre's artistic director, and Abigail Fine, managing director, who chose the production to educate guests and honor Martin Luther King Jr., in a prelude to Black History Month celebrated every February.

The award-winning playwright, Katori Hall, is from Memphis.

Other members of the creative team are Lynn Joslin, lighting; Samba Pathak, projections; Sarah Usary, production stage manager; Jordan Ross, rehearsal stage manager; Lynda Bruce, assistant stage manager; and Suzy Alden, scenic painter.

The Lorraine Motel, Memphis, now the home of the National Civil Rights Museum/Wikipedia

What: The Mountaintop by Katori Hall

Duration:  About 90 minutes without intermission

When:  Through Feb. 2, 2020 with the last show at 2 p.m., Sunday, Feb. 2. Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday, Jan. 26, at 7 p.m., Sunday matinees at 2 p.m., and a Saturday matinee, Feb. 1 at 2 p.m.  

Where: NextStop Theatre Company, 269 Sunset Park Drive, Herndon, VA 20170 in the back right corner of Sunset Business Park, near the intersection of Spring Street/Sunset Hills Road. Right off the Fairfax County Parkway. Lots of great restaurants nearby.

Tickets:  Start at $35. Front row tickets are free for local high school students and their teachers.
 
Language: Rated X 

Lighted, free parking: Available near the door. 

Refreshments: Available and may be taken to seats

For more information: 703-481-5930 or info@nextstoptheatre.org

patricialesli@gmail.com

 

Movie review: Knives in for 'Knives Out'

 The cast of Rian Johnson's Knives Out. Who dunnit?

I thought it would make this year's Ten Best Oscar list since it seems like voters usually stretch that a bit to come up with "Ten Best" movies, but it didn't make.  In more ways than one.

It's a lot like the game Clue which, in many respects, is more entertaining. 

One of the worst things about Knives Out is the silly, affected, fake Southern accent put on by Daniel Craig, a Brit, who stars as the chief detective.  How boring, darling. I suppose casting director Mary Vernieu has that anti-Southern attitude and could not venture South and find a real Southern accent.

The show is billed as a comedy/crime/drama, but the funny parts are mostly missing.

The story line is pretty good, and director/writer Rian Johnson was rewarded with an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay. 

About mid-way through, though, when I began thinking the movie was nothing special, it veered off the beaten track and better action finally got going. Up until then, effective flashbacks carried us to the scene of the crime, most of it committed in an old mansion. (If you can figure it out, I hope you, too, are writing screenplays.)

Overall acting is pretty atrocious.  All of them (save Chris Evans, who's one of the victim's sons, and K Callan, who plays the mother of the 90-something victim; yeah, right) are stilted and artificial, like what you might see on stage when the actors are tired and need a break, like more rehearsals.  

Including, yes, the performance by Jamie Lee Curtis, whose spouse (the dull Don Johnson) goes a'wandering which is no wonder faced with the same boring clothes she wears day in and day out (costumer Jenny Eagan didn't do the show any favors), quite the great-grandmother with that weed hanging out of her mouth to add to her allure.  

Was that baseball star heartthrob Jayson Werth up on the screen or Michael Shannon? (Compare and see what you think.)

It's amazing but Christopher Plummer (The Sound of Music) is still alive and well after all these years, now aged 156 or so (just kidding, Mr. Plummer!) based on the number of movies he's been in. (I tried counting them all up but the Wikipedia pages ran too long.)

While it's true that he was supine most of the time on a sofa, and almost unreal and preserved like a mummy or dummy (and those were the alive parts), ain't it grand that a nonagenarian is still in demand? 

Well, honey, Ms. Callan's performance (did she say anything?) stands out, and she's no spring chick (84 last week).  Ain't it great that an octogenarian (and a female at that) is still in demand?  Rock on!

Speaking of, the overall show did not match the excellent score by native-born Washingtonian Nathan Johnson whose cello and extreme range heightened the experience.

Knives has little visual sex, but bad words, yes, of course. Rather de rigueur, aren't they?

patricialesli@gmail.com


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Sunday is Verrocchio's last day in Washington

The star attraction at the Andrea del Verrocchio exhibition at the National Gallery of Art in Washington produces wonder and admiration.  He is David with the Head of Goliath, c. 1465, bronze with partial gilding, Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence/Photo by Patricia Leslie

He slew the enemy. A front view of Andrea del Verrocchio's David with the Head of Goliath, c. 1465, bronze with partial gilding, Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence. Missing is the stone which David used to kill Goliath. It was made separately and was attached to the giant’s head. One of Verrocchio's pupils, Leonardo da Vinci, may have been the model for David/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Andrea del Verrocchio, Head of a Gorgon, c. 1480, terracotta, private collection. This scary fellow was used to ward off evil, part of a frieze in a Roman courtyard of a palace which was destroyed in 1936, according to the label copy. (I guess his power didn't work in 1936.) Gorgons appear on body armor of the young warrior and Alexander the Great below.  Note the similarity between the words "gorgon" and "gargoyle," the latter which is found on cathedrals around the world, including Washington's National Cathedral, both forms designed to repel evil (in the Cathedral's case, water).    

"What sayeth you, sinner? Your secrets are no more!" this gorgon seems to say to me. Not such a bad thing! I need one of these to wear around my neck.  What say you a merchandiser has them ready for me? Methinks I am carried away by this gorgon!  You see what art can do!  I wonder if his locks give him extra power? Get thee away, Delilah!  This is my gorgon, not yours! This gorgon has sent my mind a'flyin'.  Time to buzz off, but the young maiden below, despite her loveliness, does not so inspire me/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Andrea del Verrocchio, Bust of a Young Woman, c. 1470, marble, The Frick Collection.  White lines in the background are reflections in the protective glass/Photo by Patricia Leslie


"After Andrea del Verrocchio," The Entombment of Christ, pre-1945 plaster cast after the original terra cotta of c. 1475/1480, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Skulpturensammlung und Museum für Byzantinische Kunst and damaged in World War II/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Andrea del Verrocchio, Sketch Model for the Monument of Cardinal Niccolò Forteguerri, 1476, terracotta, Victoria and Albert Museum, London.  According to the label copy:
"This small clay sculpture is one of the few sketch models to survive from the early Renaissance. Verrocchio in 1476 won the commission for a multifigure marble project for the Cathedral of Pistoia (near Florence) by submitting a design, possibly this relief. It shows Christ enthroned amid angels, blessing the Cardinal who kneels among the virtues Faith, Hope, and Charity."/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Andrea del Verrocchio, Madonna and Child, c. 1465/1470, plaster with traces of polychromy, Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, R.T. Miller Jr. Fund. Called one of Verrocchio's "most influential designs," the mother and child stand at a window or balcony. The label draws attention to Mary's left hand, an "elegant gesture" found in several works by Verrocchio and his followers/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The woman examines the drawing, Project for a Funerary Monument (Tartagni Tomb) c. 1477/1480, attributed to Verrocchio and an assistant. Its partner in this gallery is a bronze candlestick (1.57 metres high) which Verrocchio made in 1468 for the palace of the Florentine city government and the commemoration of a 1468 peace treaty which ended war between Florence and Venice.  On loan from the Rijksmuseum/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Andrea del Verrocchio, Head of a Woman with Braided Hair, 1475/1478, black chalk on charcoal and more, on loan from the Trustees of the British Museum, London. Verrocchio was one of the first to use black chalk. He made shadows by smudging with his finger or a piece of leather.  

Oh, to ever be this peaceful! But, on closer examination, the pretty lass does not appear to be peaceful, for her downcast eyes show sadness, and her hair braids suggest a head full of snakes, like mythological gorgons (see above) from Greek literature and the three sisters whose hair was the home of living, poisonous snakes. Perhaps she is Eve, downfallen over the future, or Mary, the mother of Jesus, also saddened by what lies ahead/

Photo by Patricia Leslie

Andrea del Verrocchio, Giuliano de' Medici, c. 1475/1478, terracotta, Andrew W. Mellon Collection.  I love this man, this bust.  He is supremely confident, an enormous allure. And look at the protective gorgon (please see above) on his breastplate contrasting here and below (Alexander the Great) with the subjects' "calm demeanor."

 

Andrea del Verrocchio and assistant, Alexander the Great, c. 1480/1485, marble, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Therese K. Straus. Another of my favorites. He exudes confidence, fortified by a gorgon.  But after all, he is Alexander the Great (looking to be about 14 years old in this likeness), and perhaps a gift from the Medicis to the King of Hungary.

Kaywin Feldman, the director of the National Gallery of Art, welcomes visitors and dignitaries to the Verrocchio exhibition. David with the Head of Goliath watches proceedings from his center perch behind, from left, Larry Di Rica, Bank of America; Ms. Feldman, His Excellency Armando Varricchio, ambassador of Italy; and Andrew Butterfield, guest curator/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Leonardo da Vinci, Lorenzo di Credi, and Pietro Perugino were his pupils.

Sandro Botticelli and Domenico Ghirlandaio were collaborators.

He was the teacher of teachers of Raphael and Michelangelo. 

He was Renaissance master, Andrea del Verrocchio, (c. 1435-1488) whose works are set to leave the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Sunday after a four-month stay. 

Washington has been the site of the first U.S. comprehensive 
Verrocchio exhibition represented by 50 of his wide-ranging works which include altars, sculpture, portraiture, sketches, and more in a presentation subtitled: Sculptor and Painter of Renaissance Florence.


Verrocchio was supported by commissions by the powerful and wealthy Medici family of three generations (1389-1492) which ruled Florence and commissioned many of his works, possibly, David.  He sculpted tomb monuments for their church in San Lorenzo, including the heralded brothers' double tomb in 1473, called "a wonder of the world."

The problem of correctly separating Verrocchio's works from that of his workshop assistants is constantly referenced, whenever any kind of study about him is performed.  In the show here, the National Gallery has exercised extreme care to correctly identify the artist and where there is doubt, to show by the words  "and assistant" or "assistants." 

If you can't get to all the venues around the globe which have loaned the pieces, seize what is likely this last opportunity to see them together. 

A hardbound catalogue with 279 color illustrations and almost 400 pages is available in the shops ($60). Links to two films (one, three minutes, and another, 19 minutes) may be found at the website.

Bank of America is the lead sponsor of the exhibition with support from the Buffy and William Cafritz Family Fund.
  
What: Verrocchio:  Sculptor and Painter of Renaissance Florence

When: Now through January 12, 2020. The National Gallery is open Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., and on Sunday, 11 a.m.- 6 p.m.

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

How much: Admission to the National Gallery of Art is always free.

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

'Light of the Silvery Moon' dims at the National Gallery of Art

Warren De La Rue, Full Moon, 1858-1859, stereoscopic glass transparency, printed 1862, Gift of Mary and Dan Solomon, National Gallery of Art

If you missed the moon show at the National Gallery of Art, you may see some of the photographs here and more of them at the National Gallery's website.

Last year marked the Golden Anniversary of the first moon landing by humans which the National Gallery commemorated with a display titled By the Light of the Silvery Moon: A Century of Lunar Phonographs showcasing 50 historic moon shots spanning 100 years.

Lewis M. Rutherfurd, Photographie de la lune a son 1er Quartier, March 6, 1865, albumen print, Gift of Mary and Dan Solomon and Patrons' Permanent Fund, National Gallery of Art

In a mostly chronological arrangement, the exhibition began with a stenographic print made of the moon in 1858 and continued on with pictures from the 1960s Space Age. Pictures made by the first lunar astronauts and notable visuals from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration hung on the walls and lay in display cases.  They are part of the National Gallery's vast photography collection of more than 16,000 works. 

Charles Le Morvan, Carte photographique de la lune, planche XVII.A (Photographic Chart of the Moon, plate XVII.A), August 27, 1902, photogravure, printed 1914, Pepita Milmore Memorial Fund. 

National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Earthrise across Mare Smythii, July 16-24, 1969, chromogenic print, gift of Mary and Dan Solomon, National Gallery of Art

A photograph in the exhibition by Warren De La Rue (1815-1889) of Great Britain opened the show.  He began his moon picture-taking in 1852 and is credited with making the first stereoscopic moon prints (1858).

American lawyer Lewis M. Rutherfurd took a moon shot in its first quarter in 1865. His moon passion led to him to technological advancements and clear lunar pictures.  (Mr. Rutherfurd built an observatory at his Manhattan residence.) 

The French entered the picture with the 1862 publication of Our Satellite by Dr. A. Le Vengeur d'Onrsan (1800-1899), the first of a planned series to define the Moon's mapping ("selenography"; try that on a logophile), but, alas, the good doctor was accused of stealing Mr. De La Rue's pictures and Our Satellite never saw completion.

Gallery curators Sarah Greenough and Diane Waggoner spent hours studying and researching photos from the collection before making final choices for this presentation of American achievement.

Mugs, puzzles, jewelry, stationery, photographs, and more moon merchandise are still available in the Gallery shops.

patrticialesli@gmail.com

Renwick's Michael Sherrill Retrospective ends Sunday

At the entrance to the Michael Sherrill Retrospective at the Renwick Gallery/Photo by Patricia Leslie

In his North Carolina studio close to Asheville at a place called "Bat Cave" (that is the real name), naturalist/artist Michael Sherrill brings it all home, his love for the outdoors, his creativity, and his desire to make the world understand the loss of Earth's gifts and those we take for granted.

Using glass, clay, and metal, Mr. Sherrill designs and sculpts nature's bounty and more for wall hangings and display. The Renwick Gallery has 73 of them up for this last weekend.

Michael Sherrill, Aqua Bottles, 1995/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Michael Sherrill, Queen of Hearts, c. 1990, Racine Art Museum, left, and Head and Shoulders, c. 1990, collection of the artist/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Michael Sherrill Retrospective spans his artistic evolution over more than 40 years, beginning with his teapots and ending with colorful metal animals mixed inside and around real and fictional plants.

Michael Sherrill Retrospective, Smithsonian Renwick Gallery/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Michael Sherrill, Bumbleberry, 1999, Mint Museum. The wall label says this work was inspired by the non-native kiwi plant which grew outside the artist's studio and seemed to always  grasp for light and support.  I don't know about you, but this sure suggests a snake to me.  Perhaps I mixed up the proper plant credit? Update:  I did not mix them up!/Photo by Patricia Leslie


Mr. Sherrill's beginnings were not unlike those of many artists, but few have six children as this artist does. At his Washington opening, he said: “I had to balance doing my best work and surviving economically.”

The 2008 recession took its toll on some of his potter friends who were unable to continue their art, "growing bored" with struggles. To the persistent go the laurels, and Mr. Sherrill, who started as an abstract potter, kept up his craft which became harmonious sculptures of nature.

Michael Sherrill at the opening of his retrospective at the Renwick Gallery, June 27, 2019
/Photo by Patricia Leslie


He grew up listening to the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan who, he thinks, invited listeners to join in their music, and he wants viewers to do the same with his art:  participate.

Michael Sherrill at the opening of his retrospective at the Renwick Gallery, June 27, 2019/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Michael Sherrill, How Plants Travel, 2003, collection of Marsha Madorsky.  Mr. Sherrill created this about the time his works shifted from table tops to wall hangings.  Here, the flowers gradually diminish in size as the eye moves up the curvature/Photo by Patricia Leslie

For models (including snakes which are easily found around his mountain studio; he kept one in his high school locker, he said) he uses wires and sometimes sketches designs in advance but not always. His sculptures are colored metal, many with beautiful, small flowers, their shapes and sizes reminiscent of plants and nature's limbs which float on seabeds.

Michael Sherrill, What the Eye Sees, 2003, collection of Ann and Tom Cousins. The open areas, according to the label copy, are intended to invite viewer interpretation/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Michael Sherrill, Brightly Hidden, 2010, Museum of Glass, Tacoma, WA.  This was made by Mr. Sherrill when he served as an artist-in-residence at the Tacoma Museum of Glass.  It is designed to show the snake in the Garden of Eden, good v. bad, beauty v. danger/Photo by Patricia Leslie

At the Michael Sherrill Retrospective, Smithsonian Renwick Gallery, June 27, 2019/Photo by Patricia Leslie

A photo of some of Michael Sherrill's "mudtools" on display and available for sale at his website/Photo by Patricia Leslie

To fashion his works, Mr. Sherrill, mostly self-taught, needs specialized tools which he makes himself and sells on his website. (They are pictured on a wall at the Renwick.)  

On a recent trip to Japan, he found reproductions of them for sale in two shops.

Organizer of the show was the Mint Museum in Charlotte, N.C., which has named Mr. Sherrill , "Artist of the Year."



What: Michael Sherrill Retrospective and see Reforestation of the Imagination by Ginny Ruffner in an adjacent gallery. 

When: Now through January 5, 2020. The Renwick is open from 10 a.m.– 5:30 p.m. every day.

Where: The Smithsonian's Renwick Gallery, 1661 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C. 20006, at the White House 17th Street block, adjacent to Blair House.

Admission: No charge

Metro stations: Farragut North or Farragut West

For more information: (202) 633-7970 (recorded) or (202) 633-2850

patricialesli@gmail.com 

Last days for Ginny Ruffner's art at Renwick Gallery

Ginny Ruffner talks to a reporter at the Renwick Gallery, June 27, 2019. On the wall are devices guests may use to see Ms. Ruffner's flowers, plants, and nature's elements change and blossom/Photo by Patricia Leslie

A few days remain to see the show of Ginny Ruffner's works which will end Sunday at the Renwick Gallery.

Titled Reforestation of the Imagination made in collaboration with media artist Grant Kirkpatrick, the art is
as intricate and delightful as Ms. Ruffner, incorporating nature and all its beauty with sinewy limbs and colors to refresh and inspire.

Ginny Ruffner's art at the Renwick Gallery. The artist said these works have fiber glass bases with resin and sand, built over plywood skeletons. Two apprentices help her/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Sometimes known as a glass artist, Ms. Ruffner utilizes technology ("augmented reality") to make viewing experiences more rewarding. With a handheld device (available at the Renwick) or a smartphone held atop her sculptures, a viewer may see them blossom and grow, becoming elements of beauty and marvel. 

At the Renwick Gallery with Ginny Ruffner's display which reminds me of a spinning ballerina and her dancing shoes/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Ginny Ruffner, Grape Flower/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Ginny Ruffner, Blue Flower with Snakes. The white streaks at the bottom are reflections in the glass cover/Photo by Patricia Leslie

 

Ginny Ruffner at the Renwick Gallery, June 27, 2019. Her pink cane is an assist after she almost died from effects of a 1991 automobile crash/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Ginny Ruffner at the Renwick Gallery, June 27, 2019/Photo by Patricia Leslie

 At the opening of the  exhibition at the Renwick, Ms. Ruffner was present to tell a little of her background: She was born in Atlanta (1952) but grew up near Rock Hill, S.C. and attended the University of Georgia, earning a B.F.A. and a M.F.A. in drawing and painting (cum laude and summa cum laude).

She's now based in Seattle, the home of a 30-foot tall kinetic water she sculptured.  Another of her works is found at Seattle's Olympic Sculpture Park, one of 55 worldwide museums and galleries which boast Ms. Ruffner's works in their collections. 

The interactive Renwick show is another one to interest the whole family and watch colors and pieces change before you. (The Renwick cautions that children under age 12 must be accompanied by an adult.)

What: Reforestation of the Imagination by Ginny Ruffer with Grant Kirkpatrick. Michael Sherrill's Retrospective is in the adjacent galleries.
 
When: Now through January 5, 2020. The Renwick is open from 10 a.m.– 5:30 p.m. every day.

Where: The Smithsonian's Renwick Gallery, 1661 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C. 20006, at the White House 17th Street block, adjacent to Blair House.

Admission: No charge

Metro stations: Farragut North or Farragut West

For more information: (202) 633-7970 (recorded) or (202) 633-2850

patricialesli@gmail.com