Alexandria's 'Prelude to a Kiss' ain't your sweet nothin's

Smithchai Chutchainon is Peter and Brianna Goode is Rita in Little Theatre of Alexandria's Prelude to a Kiss/Photo by Matthew Randall

The title of the newest show at the Little Theatre of Alexandria, Prelude to a Kiss, made me think I was in for a "rom-com" of a night.

Or, I was hoping for one.

It was likely that my mood and delight in the romantic picture used for the promotion (a bride and groom embracing) led me to believe the play was going to be a lighthearted evening of laughs and fun, a prescription to help relieve, however momentarily, days of trials and tribulations. 

Not.

The plot involves a speedy relationship that develops between Peter (Smithchai Chutchainon) and Rita (Brianna Goode).

With adult humor, adult language, and adult content, it proves to be serious, contemporary stuff, not for the carefree, the blithesome or anyone needing respite.

Fun? 

It's a "thinking person's play" necessitating brain work (but I didn't want to think!).

What's going on?

From left, Jon Radulovic is Dr. Boyle, Liz Leboo is his wife, and Smithchai Chutchainon is Peter in Little Theatre of Alexandria's Prelude to a Kiss/Photo by Matthew Randall

The couple "falls in love" (or infatuation) and the bride suddenly takes on a new identity, given to her by a sci-fi creature (Cliff Rieger) who shows up at the wedding, uninvited, and just happens to kiss the bride on the lips with permission, mind you, and presto! New person.

You know the kind: Wedding crashers everywhere.

Chutchainon's strong acting and voice are critical elements which carry the play, especially since Goode is at times hard to hear, when she turns from the audience and speaks fast, sometimes in a whisper.

Thank goodness for her "dad" (Jon Radulovic is Dr. Boyle) who provides humor which director Maggie Mumford flushes out with exaggerated expressions and animation to sharply contrast with the dark script.

I never wanted Dr. Boyle to leave! Could he go with them on their "honeymoon"? 

Mrs. Boyle, his wife, is acted by Liz Leboo, an understudy who held her own quite well with all the forces at work, thank you very much.

The stark set (by Peter Mumford, the director's husband and her "favorite set designer") has different levels of long flat boards which quickly transition to seats, a bed, a home, apartment, the beach, and a bar with simple props (by Shelby Baker) which complement the sad and flat tempo.

On their honeymoon, a backdrop of Jamaican palm trees and sky enhance the mood with desired visual changes.

JK Lighting Design skillfully targets the groom's soliloquies while Peter searches for the truth and questions the meaning of events. The few seconds of "the kiss" exude a remarkable halo effect with a golden bouquet.

For de rigueur elements in contemporary drama, the two men kiss as well.

There's something here for everyone, but don't expect to go skipping out LTA's doors with a song in your heart. It's not a happy-go-lucky night, but one you'll want to "live now" or forever hold your peace.

Whatever happens, don't kiss any strangers on your wedding night!

The play by Craig Lucas was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play in 1990 and the Pulitzer Prize in Drama in 1991.

Alternative title: Postlude to Confusion

Other cast members are:

Brendan Chaney, Deja Elliott, Amber Kelly-Herard, Casey Kniseley, Joey Pierce, and Kelly Trott.

Other creative team members:

Carol Strachan and Alan Wray, producers; Donna Kenley, production assistant; Melissa Dunlap and Cleo Potter, stage managers; Tom O’Reilly, master carpenter; David Correia, sound.

Also,  Russell M. Wyland, rigging; Mary Ferrara and Ramah Johnson, assistant stage managers; Mary Wallace, costumes; Robin Maline, hair/makeup; Deborah Remmers, set decoration; Diedre (De) Nicholson-Lamb, set painting and Ruben Vellekoop, intimacy choreographer.

What: Prelude to a Kiss

When: Now through June 25, 2022, Wednesdays through Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 3 p.m.

Where: The Little Theatre of Alexandria, 600 Wolfe Street, Alexandria, VA 22314.

Tickets: $21, weekdays; $24, weekends.

Duration: About 1.5 hours with one 15-minute intermission.

Adult language: Lots

Adult theme: Yes

Masks and vaccine cards or proof of a negative covid test within 72 hours of show time are required. No exceptions.

Public transportation: Check the Metro and Dash bus websites. Dash is free to ride and has routes which are close to LTA.

Parking: On the streets and in many garages nearby with free parking during performances at Capital One Bank at Wilkes and Washington streets.

For more information: Box Office: 703-683-0496; Business: 703-683-5778.
boxoffice@thelittletheatre.com or Asklta@thelittletheatre.com

patricialesli@gmail.com

 

 

'Michael Jackson' is alive and onstage in New York City!

From the  MJ  playbill, 2022

Dynamite!  

Myles Frost must win the Tony!

Electric! 

On fire! 

I swear Michael Jackson had "returned" from the dead for a concert with all his hits!

The audience's screaming and yelling were louder than any theatre performance I've ever attended, but there was no problem hearing the show.

MJ The Musical at the Neil Simon Theatre, New York City, April 1, 2022/Photo by Patricia Leslie

It was the best theatre performance I've seen and with a few decades of experience, I've seen one or two.

Attention, Michael Jackson fans: Yes, it's worth a trip to New York City from Washington, D.C., and I may go again. You will not be disappointed.

From MJ The Musical at the Neil Simon Theatre, New York City, April 1, 2022/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Times Square, New York City, April 1, 2022/Photo by Patricia Leslie 

The music is fantastic!

The dancing is fantastic!

The lighting is fantastic!

Did I leave anything out?

The costumes! They're fantastic, too!

Some have pooh-poohed: "But he was a pervert." 

I was not going to the show to condone what he did. I was going to the show for the music!  Music!  Music! And it may take me there again. 

Had I not had a ticket for Tina the next night (which was almost as good, but hurry!  Closing August 14), I would have paid $175 to see MJ  The Musical again. (Besides, Tina is coming to the National in October for almost three weeks. Must see!)

Kayla Davion was Tina at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, New York City, April 2, 2022/Photo by Patricia Leslie

MJ will last for years (if Mr. Frost can hold out), and the actress from The Prom  road show, who sat beside me, said he came out of nowhere to get the role.

He taught himself how to sing;

he taught himself how to dance;

and he taught himself how to be Michael.

You may think Michael Jackson is dead. I tell you he's back and on stage every night at Neil Simon.

Write if I am wrong.

patricialesli@gmail.com

John Dean, Watergate, and Jim Acosta

John Dean, left, and Jim Acosta at National Archives, June 1, 2022/Photo by Patricia Leslie

It was a Washington crowd, after all, where most of us think alike (no friends of Trump) and groaned and laughed at the best of lines.

John Dean was in town at National Archives to talk about the upcoming CNN series Watergate: Blueprint for a Scandal beginning Sunday night, June 5, at 9 p.m. and CNN's Jim Acosta was there with him to ask a few questions.

John Dean, left, and Jim Acosta at National Archives, June 1, 2022/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Dean looks healthy and about ten years younger than his 83 years.

He said he had saved lots of his papers and goods which he pitched to CNN a while back as the 50th anniversary of the Watergate break-in on June 17, 1972 nears, and CNN took the idea and ran with it.

If the first show is an indication of the quality, it'll be an excellent series!

National Archives, June 1, 2022/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Dean was the personal lawyer for President Richard Nixon hired when he was only 31 and advised not to take the job by then U.S. Deputy Attorney General, Richard Kleindienst (1923-2000), but who's going to reject a White House job offer?

Not Dean.

Not anybody!

Nixon knew he was breaking the law, but that didn't stop him from breaking the law, Dean said, and Nixon sicced the IRS on various "enemies" which his team thought was “great stuff [to use], but I thought it was awful,” Dean says.

Nixon’s team sabotaged the 1972 presidential campaign of Edmund Muskie (1914-1966) with a fake letter which led to Muskie's withdrawal from the race. 

Dean described G. Gordon Liddy (1930-2021), a Nixon deputy who directed the Watergate break-in, as “radioactive.”

Walking near the White House with Liddy one day after Watergate was discovered, Dean said he'd never forget a conversation they had. Liddy pleaded with Dean that if it became necessary "to take him [Liddy] out," to please do it anywhere but his house where his children were.

Before Watergate, the Nixon gang came up with other grand schemes to obtain sources of leaks and find damaging information about their opponents, Dean said, like "firebombing" the Brookings Institution and hiring prostitutes to lure secrets from attendees at the 1972 Democratic National Convention in Miami Beach. 

The absurdities of the ideas produced loud guffaws from the Archives' audience. 

Dean took credit for single-handedly killing the Brookings plot when he told H.R "Bob" Haldeman (1926-1993), a chief Nixon lieutenant, that it was "insane."

At times in the show, Dean's heroics make him seem grander than he was. He did spend four months in prison and was disbarred in Virginia and the District of Columbia (which go unmentioned, at least in the first show).

Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the Washington Post reporters who broke the Watergate story, lead the show, aided by memories from CBS's Lesley Stahl who describes Nixon's henchmen John Ehrlichman (1925-1999) as personable and likeable, but, Haldeman, his partner in crime, was "dark" and "humorless." (No surprise to anyone who lived during the era.)

Nixon later denied pardon requests to both because he was annoyed by their tactics and unfaithfulness to him.

After only a year of working in the White House, “I was losing my respect for these people,” Dean said to audience laughter. When he broached the idea of leaving, Haldeman threatened him with inclusion on Nixon's enemies list.*

During the evening, laughter, moans, and/or groans often greeted the name of Donald Trump whenever it came up, which was probably more often than any other contemporary's.  

At the conclusion of the film, Acosta asked Dean, “why is this story so relevant now?” and the audience sighed loudly.

Dean: “It's impossible to look at Watergate now" and ignore comparisons to the Trump administration. In “an understatement,” Trump does or did not want to follow the law, and the audience laughed again.

“Nobody made ignoring standard operating procedures illegal until we get to the Trump years,” Dean said.

He spent 4.5 years with graduate students transcribing the Watergate tapes, and Archives has much of the material.

Acosta: “Did this country learn its lesson from Watergate?” and the audience, with mixed ages, groaned again.

Dean thinks Washington was sensitized to Watergate’s lessons for the first ten years after the scandal, "but since then….My hope is that they [the January 6 Committee] have witnesses who quietly come forward.”

Acosta: What will happen to our democracy?

Dean: “I worry much more about it now. During Watergate, I never worried about a constitutional crisis,” but things are different now with the Republicans carrying Trump’s water.

The show's music is fitting, if sometimes harsh and overpowering which may have been due to acoustics in the Archives' McGowan Theatre where almost every seat was filled.

The interview lasted about 15 minutes and no questions from the audience were taken.

*Some of the names from Nixon's "enemies list" floated on the screen including that of U.S. Rep. Shirley Chisholm (D-NY) (1994-2005), whose 50th anniversary of her presidential launch is celebrated this year, too. Last week she was featured in an excellent talk by Ashleigh Coren at the National Portrait Gallery which, alas, has no planned exhibitions on Ms. Chisholm.

This is also the 50th anniversary of the founding of CNN.

patricialesli@gmail.com

Falls Church Memorial Day Parade and 'Safe Guns'

The group probably receiving the loudest applause block after block along the route of the Memorial Day Parade in Falls Church, Virginia, was the Concerned Citizens Against Gun Violence/Photo by Patricia Leslie

He marched in the Memorial Day Parade in Falls Church, VA/Photo by Patricia Leslie

At the Memorial Day Parade in Falls Church, VA/Photo by Patricia Leslie

At the Memorial Day Parade in Falls Church, VA, the crowds cheered when the Concerned Citizens Against Gun Violence marched by. Some left their seats and joined the walk/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Concerned Citizens Against Gun Violence assembled for the Memorial Day Parade in Falls Church, VA.

One nearby resident saw the group forming and immediately jumped up to join the march and offer her home's bathrooms to group members.  She said she was from Texas and "ashamed" of what's happening there.

Another marcher was a woman who drove to Falls Church from Harrisonburg, VA, who said she attends the monthly protest at NRA Headquarters in Fairfax on the 14th, the anniversary day of the Sandy Hook and Parkland killings. 

At the Memorial Day Parade in Falls Church, VA/Photo by Patricia Leslie

At the Memorial Day Parade in Falls Church, VA/Photo by Patricia Leslie

At the Memorial Day Parade in Falls Church, VA/Photo by Patricia Leslie

At the Memorial Day Parade in Falls Church, VA/Photo by Patricia Leslie

At the Memorial Day Parade in Falls Church, VA/Photo by Patricia Leslie

At the Memorial Day Parade in Falls Church, VA/Photo by Patricia Leslie

This woman on oxygen marched with the Concerned Citizens Against Gun Violence in the Memorial Day Parade in Falls Church, VA/Photo by Patricia Leslie

At the Memorial Day Parade in Falls Church, VA/Photo by Patricia Leslie

At the Concerned Citizens' booth, voters could sign postcards addressed to U.S. Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner urging new legislation to help stop gun violence.

Concerned Citizens Against Gun Violence in the booth at the Memorial Day Parade in Falls Church.

At the Memorial Day Parade in Falls Church, VA/Photo by Patricia Leslie

At the Memorial Day Parade in Falls Church, VA/Photo by Patricia Leslie

At the Memorial Day Parade in Falls Church, VA

At the Memorial Day Parade in Falls Church, VA/Photo by Patricia Leslie

This woman came from Tennessee Sunday night to join Concerned Citizens Against Gun Violence and march in the Memorial Day Parade in Falls Church, VA/Photo by Patricia Leslie

At the Memorial Day Parade in Falls Church, VA/Photo by Patricia Leslie

At the Memorial Day Parade in Falls Church, VA/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Boy Scout Troop 1996 tried to row their boat ashore in the Memorial Day Parade in Falls Church, VA/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Boy Scout Troop 1996 in the Memorial Day Parade in Falls Church, VA/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Cub Scout Pack 1127 from McLean in the Memorial Day Parade in Falls Church, VA/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Would you walk a mile in these shoes?  At the Memorial Day Parade in Falls Church, VA/Photo by Patricia Leslie

At the Memorial Day Parade in Falls Church, VA/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Congressman Don Beyer shook hands with voters at the Memorial Day Parade in Falls Church, VA/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Falun Dafa of DC in the Memorial Day Parade in Falls Church, VA/Photo by Patricia Leslie

patricialesli@gmail.com

Harlem photographs close Monday at the National Gallery of Art

James Van Der Zee, Portrait of a Young Woman, 1930, gelatin silver print with applied color, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Pepita Milmore Memorial Fund © 1969 Van Der Zee

Portraits of Harlem residents in the refined elegance of the 1920s and 1930s and beyond are on view at the National Gallery of Art through Monday, May 30, 2022.

In a small gallery from the Gallery's collection of works by Black photographer, James Van Der Zee (1886-1983) hang about 40 of his pictures of landmark places and people dressed up for special occasions, many shot during the heyday of the Harlem Renaissance.

James Van Der Zee, Blumstein’s Sales Girls, 1930, gelatin silver print, Alfred H. Moses and Fern M. Schad Fund, 2021.33.3.  Above, the real ring the lady wears differs from the sparkly ring another lady wears which Mr. Van Der Zees added, according to a blog post by NGA's Laura Panadero.  Can you spot the differences?

Mr. Van Der Zee was born in Lenox, Massachusetts and received his first camera when he was 14, one of the first persons in Lenox to have the device which he used to take hundreds of photos of his family and others.

At age 20, he moved to New York City to join his father and brother in their work as elevator operators and waiters.

Mr. Van Der Zee's musical talents on the violin and piano led to his participation as one of five members of the Harlem Orchestra.  

James Van Der Zee, Portrait of a Couple, 1924, gelatin silver print, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Robert B. Menschel Fund © 1969 Van Der Zee

He became a darkroom assistant which led to his stature at the most renowned photographer in Harlem, who "produced the most comprehensive documentation of the period" (Wikipedia) but his business declined in the 1930s due to economic conditions and increasing camera sales to the public.

It was not unusual for photographers to retouch their photos which Mr. Van Der Zee has done in several examples here, like adding a bracelet and ring to the woman pictured above in Portrait of a Young Woman. Writes the National Gallery's Laura Panadero in a blog post, Mr. Van Der Zee likely used graphite to enhance his pictures. 

James Van Der Zee, Marcus Garvey (right) with George O. Marke (left) and Prince Kojo Tovalou-Houénou, 1924, gelatin silver print, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Avalon Fund © 1969 Van Der Zee

James Van Der Zee, “Beautiful Bride,” c. 1930, gelatin silver print, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Alfred H. Moses and Fern M. Schad Fund © 1969 Van Der Zee

James Van Der Zee, Portrait of Sisters, 1926, gelatin silver print, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Robert B. Menschel Fund © 1969 Van Der Zee

James Van Der Zee, Couple, Harlem, 1932, printed 1974, gelatin silver print, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Alfred H. Moses and Fern M. Schad Fund © 1969 Van Der Zee

In 1967 Mr. Van Der Zee was "rediscovered" and featured in a controversial exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He often photographed funerals (including his daughter's), resulting in the book, The Harlem Book of the Dead.

He died in Washington, D.C. in 1983.

What: James Van Der Zee's Photographs: A Portrait of Harlem

When: Now through May 30, 2022, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Where: Ground floor of the West Building, National Gallery of Art, Washington

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

Covid policy: Masks are not required but encouraged. Proof of vaccination is not required.

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

For more information: (202) 737-4215

Accessibility information: (202) 842-6905

patricialesli@gmail.com

Another must for journalists: Carl Bernstein's book

 

You know it's a "must." He's a "must" for anyone who's a news-aholic, and/or in the writing business (which in Washington, D.C. is everyone!). 

Chasing History: A Kid in the Newsroom details Carl Bernstein's five years working for The Washington Evening Star, beginning when he was in high school and ending with his start at the Washington Post, mostly covering the years, 1960-1965.

He describes the ins and outs of what it’s like to be on staff of a major newspaper, how to get there (call and call and call the editors again!), the background and coverage of the major events of the times (JFK's inauguration, JFK's assassination, Sputnik, the 1963 March on Washington) and even, a fake obituary which he and others planted in the Post. (He admits he was chiefly responsible.)

He recounts working with editors (with few negative stories about anyone, save Bill Hill), flying to scenes, and abandoning school for his passion.  All information helpful for any fledgling or would-be writer, to learn what it takes or took back then to get hired by a paper, although challenges now do not mirror challenges then.

At the end, Bernstein includes welcome updates in brief biographical sketches of his tale's main characters, most whose names I couldn’t keep straight anyway, except for Joanne's. 

When I became aware of the section, the first name I hunted was Bill Hill's, a main character Bernstein omits since he did not like Hill for various reasons and whose absence at the end is rather childish. But, maybe Hill would not cooperate and update Bernstein because, like many of the characters, he is dead. 

In addition to the rear listings, adding a one- or two-sentence description of the majority of the cast would have been helpful  to keep names straight.

Other book weaknesses (which, no doubt, his many friends have failed to mention in their glorification) are the title and the cover, great examples of mediocrity.

Blue on blue is dull on dull and Chasing History?  

Huh?  

What does this mean?  How about Carl Bernstein's Start-Up for starters?  

I know Carl Bernstein did not choose the jacket design or the title and he probably argued with the publisher who, of course, knows more about publishing than the author.  Hahahahaha.  

And Carl, I was stunned, stunned (!) that you accepted the assignment of the weather page redesign when Bill Hill pulled out all the plugs to try and resuscitate the Star, which, of course, now lies buried in the cemetery of newspapers with so many others.

At age 78, Carl, it's time to hurry up and finish your second and final volume, thank you very much.

Whoops!  I mentioned Hill's name only four times!

patricialesli@gmail.com

Take a walk thru a Salvador Dali park at Jekyll Island, GA

Driftwood Beach, Jekyll Island, GA, April 12, 2022/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Driftwood Beach, Jekyll Island, GA, April 12, 2022/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Driftwood Beach, Jekyll Island, GA, April 12, 2022/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Driftwood Beach, Jekyll Island, GA, April 12, 2022/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Driftwood Beach, Jekyll Island, GA, April 12, 2022/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Driftwood Beach, Jekyll Island, GA, April 12, 2022/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Driftwood Beach, Jekyll Island, GA, April 12, 2022/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Driftwood Beach, Jekyll Island, GA, April 12, 2022/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Driftwood Beach, Jekyll Island, GA, April 12, 2022/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Salvador Dalí (1904-1989), The Persistence of Memory, 1931, Museum of Modern Art

"Driftwood Beach" at Jekyll Island, Georgia is “consistently voted one of America’s ‘Ten Most Romantic Beaches.'”

Huh?  

Were the voters wearing blinders?  This is a "romantic beach"?  

I guess if you'd like a walk in a park by Salvador Dali like, maybe, in his The Persistence of Memory, it's fun!

Rather than “Driftwood Beach,” this is “Deadwood Beach,” since it’s piled up with…you guessed it, DEAD WOOD.

For fans of surrealism, this is a beach walk on a beautiful island through big dead hunks of gnarled wood which lay on the shore with their limbs splayed and tall dead  branches which extend towards the sky and cry "help me!" 

Ladies and Gentlemen, it's another example of what climate change has done.

The way it was explained to me (twice):  The encroaching ocean spray kills the trees which eventually topple over and lay in the sand, more wreckage from human practice and ignorance. 

That it's a lesson in the mistakes humans make is a good reason to recognize these tree skeletons, a sad example of human mistreatment of our home, our vessel, our Earth, leaving behind a venue of ghosts, nature's cemetery of tombstones which originated in the ground below.

This is romantic?  And celebrated? 

Why Mother Nature enabled these trees to grow nearer to the shore, susceptible to ocean waters, is a mystery, but the creation happened long before humans took hold and drove waters closer inland.

Today's reality does not conform with the colorful image marketed to visitors who come in droves to see nature’s "art" on the beach.  

Tiptoe through a Salvador Dali painting if you like, and have a Halloween wedding while you're at it.  Plenty of props abound in this land where monsters roam.

patricialesli@gmail.com