Photo courtesy Alex Buckley

A disclosure so the FTC doesn’t go after me: this post is going to be 60% shameless plug.

I’ve spent the last few months stage managing for Kensington Arts Theatre’s production of The Rocky Horror Show. We opened last weekend to some wonderful audiences and this weekend we are pulling all the stops out for Halloween. Tonight we’ll have a performance at 8:00 PM but tomorrow night we’ll be having a special midnight performance for Halloween! What better way to celebrate the holiday than watching the show that’s been a horror cult classic for years.

The Rocky Horror Show tells the tale of Brad and Janet, a newly engaged couple that are left stranded when their car breaks down in a rain storm, and seek the sheltered at the nearby castle of Frank-N-Furter, a mad scientist who has a devilish plan in store for his new visitors.

For those that are Frankie fans, audience participation will be allowed and encouraged. If you are Rocky Horror virgin, you can find out what all the fuss is about here. Audience members will be free to shout out their favorite callbacks during the show, however keep your rice and pieces of toast at home. Props brought from home won’t be allowed due to safety reasons, however you can purchase all the props you need to shower the theatre with cards for sorrow and cards for pain.

To get complete details on the show check out KAT’s website- and if can’t catch it this weekend it’ll be running til November 14th.

If my shameless plug didn’t convince you to check out Rocky Horror then here’s a couple of other things you can do:

• The International Spy Museum will be holding a Spy Fright today and tomorrow. Besides a haunted Spy at Night event with cocktails, wearing a costume to the museum gets you discounts including 50% admission.  On Saturday the museum is also launching the latest Clue game: CLUE Secrets & Spies.
• The folks at Lindy Promotions are putting on the 10th Annual Nightmare on M Street, and if M Street two years ago means anything, it’ll be quite the show.
• From 6 PM – Midnight on Halloween stop by any Taco Bell for a free Black Jack Taco. No base stealing required.
• Instead of listing every single Saturday night Halloween party in town, just check out what The Washington Post, The Washingtonian, and BarDC have to say.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Spring Returning

I’m not really into musicals.

Even though I try and stay active in the DC theatre scene, I just prefer straight plays. My mind was soon changed when I saw Spring Awakening with PQ for my first show at the Kennedy Center.

I walked into the lavish performing center with minimal knowledge on the show’s background. What I found was a show that challenged everything I’d usually expect from a traditional musical. No large casts, no fancy backdrops, no grand orchestra to fill the pit. Instead what I saw was a small but dynamic ensemble; a stage bare except for an interpretive brick backdrop and bleachers on both sides (more on that later); and instead of a large orchestra, a house band of musicians.

The story revolves around a group of teenagers in 19th century Germany and explores their sexual coming of age as they make the change from youth to adulthood. Jake Epstein (fresh from DeGrassi and in his first musical tour) stars as Melchior, a student who’s more enlightened than his peers about the birds and the bees. Christy Altomare palys Wendla, a girl who starts the show asking her mother where do babies come from. The two meet and well, you can guess where it goes.

In other words it’s like American Pie but classier and with music and dance. I mean with song titles like “Touch Me”, “My Junk”, and “The Word of Your Body”; you know there’s going to be a lot of awkward teenage moments. What’s really amazing is that the story is based on Frank Wedekind’s 1891 play. Wedekind was really beyond his time.

The production has already won 8 Tony Awards, 3 Drama Desk Awards, a Grammy and other countless accolades. I can assure you that the show is worth every one too.

The story has been well adapted and contains plenty moments that will make you and the audience roar with laughter. The music by Duncan Sheik breaks the mold of traditional musical fare and makes the show resemble a rock opera more than a musical. The dance isn’t overly flowery but instead a form of restrained emotion and energy. Lots of stomping and jumping could play into a metaphor of the student’s newly found emotions and feelings, not to mention raging horomones.

With a strong entertaining story and bombastic musical performances, Spring Awakening is one of the most energizing pieces to come to DC this summer.

Spring Awakening will be performing at the Kennedy Center until August 2nd. Besides tickets in the house, you can also get tickets ON STAGE. A limited number of onstage seats are available at $35 from the Box Office or through Instant-Charge. They are not available online.  Onstage seating offers a side/rear-view of the performance, with the action of the show taking place all around you. When I saw the audience members on stage watching the show from feet away, I was thinking how cool it would be to get those tickets. For complete details on that, check out the Kennedy Center website.

Spring Awakening
Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theatre
July 7, 2009 – August 2, 2009
Tickets: 202-467-4600
http://www.kennedy-center.org

Jaclyn Young, Katie McManus, Kat Brais, and John P. Loughney

It’s only fitting I sit here with my wife-beater on as I write this.

Coincidentally it was the same outfit I had on when I trekked up to Kensington to check out Kensington Arts Theatre’s production of The Great American Trailer Park Musical. I thought it would be fun to dress up and enjoy a show that sounded like it was going to be… quite trashy. I mean with a title like that, you aren’t expecting suspenseful drama.

I was happy to see I wasn’t the only one in costume as I walked in.

KAT truly transformed their space to fit the atmosphere of the show, from the beer cans and beach chairs scattered about to the hour dourves (Pringles and spray can cheese) that was served by the Choreographer (Catherine Oh) who was in bathrobe and curlers.

It was trailer park class I could belive in.

I noticed other audience members were in costume as the show got underway, creating a fun environment to enjoy the show. A show which I was already enjoying well into their first number, “This Side of the Tracks.”

Director Evan Hoffmann brought out all the cliches, stereotypes, and redneck jokes that makes Trailer Park such an entertaining show. The whole performance is a well executed, fast paced romp that is sure to keep you laughing all night. Be sure to keep your ears open, the show is full of clever lines and entendres that makes Trailer Park such a well written piece.

Malinda Ellerman as Jeannie Garstecki

Malinda Ellerman as Jeannie Garstecki is absolutely adorable and performs with energy and passion as the agoraphobic wife of Norbert Garstecki (Patrick McMahan.) In usual white trash fashion, Norbert is caught between his panic stricken wife and his new neighbor, Pippi (Jennifer Lambert), a sultry stripper who is on the run from her crazy ex-boyfriend Duke (John P. Loughney.) The show goes through so many twists and turns you’ll feel like you are on an episode of Jerry Springer… which the show quickly points out in the number “The Great American TV Show.”

The entire tale is told through a trio of storytellers (Kat Brais, Katie McManus,  and Jaclyn Young) who also get their moment to shine through impressions, side jokes, and solos. The three almost steal the show with their antics and reminded me of a redneck version of The Supremes.

Rounding out the ensemble are Darnell Morris and Mark Hidalgo who play rather silent, but by no means unforgettable roles. Pay special attention to them towards the end of the show.

Besides serving the hour dourves,  Catherine Oh has also done a fine job with the Choreography- making creative usage of toilet brushes in the Flushed Down the Pipes number. (A choreography side note, I was personally delighted to see a brief homage to Beyonce during one of the numbers. You’ll have to go watch to see what I’m talking about.)

If you need something to do this weekend I highly endorse escaping the city life of DC and checking out The Great American Trailer Park Musical, it will be a performance you are going to walk out loving.

The Great American Trailer Park Musical
Kensington Arts Theatre
3710 Mitchell Street
Kensington, MD 20895
May 21, 22, 23 (8 PM show)
Adult $20/Students & Seniors $17/Children & Residents $13
http://www.katonline.org/

The Ladies of Weismann's Follies (photo courtesy of The Arlington Players)

My friends at The Arlington Players invited me to check out Follies, their Spring production which opened last weekend. I was able to make it out for their opening weekend matinee and talk back.

I’ve never seen the musical by Stephen Sondheim and 1971 Tony award winner for Best Music & Lyrics; so I didn’t know what to expect.  As the Orchestra (conducted by Leah Kocsis) started up with the overture, ghostly figures began to march in as if they were haunting memories of the half demolished theatre where the show takes place in. Was I about to watch a ghost story about a haunted theatre? That’d be a cool musical to do, something like Scooby Doo the Musical: Case of the Haunted Theatre- oh wait that’s already been done.

I quickly realized that the show is actually about a reunion of the, “Weismann’s Follies” a group of girls that performed musical revues back in the day (think Ziegfeld Follies.) The theatre they used to perform in is now abandoned and will soon become a parking lot. The girls and boys come back to say one last goodbye to the stage.

Much like your high school reunion, everybody is eager to come back and reminisce and relive the pleasant (and not so pleasant) memories of yonder. The show focuses on two couples: Sally (Jean Cantrell) and Buddy (Jack B. Stein); and Phyllis (Lynn Audrey Neal) and Ben (Jimmy Payne.)

Jack B. Stein as Buddy Plummer (photo courtesy of The Arlington Players)

The two couples are anything but happy, with Sally still harboring feelings towards Ben, who is still a player in his married life but is still seeking something more. Buddy, a traveling salesman, struggles to rekindle the love that was once there and Phyllis has grown to be a tough shell of a woman, seemingly devoid of any sense of human compassion.

It’s the kind of drama I’d love to see at my own high school reunion.

Follies explores how a group reunites and recollects, but it also take a glimpse at how human relationships mature, change, and evolve in such a setting.

The actors that really caught my eye was Jack B. Stein as Buddy Plummer and Jean Cantrell as Sally Durant Plummer. I particularly enjoyed seeing the Buddy’s vaudevillian number in the second act. Nothing says Vaudeville like wearing a cardboard car for a costume!

Often the supporting cast of actors don’t get enough credit, in Follies each of them had an opportunity to shine and shine they did. I particularly loved Solange La Fitte (Judy Lewis) in her “Ah, Paris!” number. I’m a sucker for accents.

The Number That Makes This Show (photo courtesy of The Arlington Players)

Director & Choreographer Christopher Dykton put together some really lovely dance numbers, “Who’s That Woman?” is worth the price of admission alone. The coordination of one set of dancers is hard enough- but to coordinate a mirror image of their younger counterparts dancing exactly in step is cause for recognition. That number alone is worth the price of admission.

Dykton also played around with the idea of younger counterparts or ghosts in the show- as the main characters would remember or perform, those clone companion were often there reliving their tales, or in some cases haunting their past.  It created lovely images that really added to production. While some would criticize the hit and miss pairings in casting, I applaud Dykton’s decision to create a diverse cadre of actors and concentrated more on the talent of the person.

The second act of the show is where the strongest elements of the production come together. The set magically transforms from a run-down stage to what it was in it’s heyday. The “Loveland” number is the classic folly number with dancers revealed behind a 400lb fan setpiece (kudos to Jared Davis & Bill Wisniewski for designing and building that contraption). What follows after that number is a series of folly numbers that explores each of the main characters’ inner emotions and struggles. Phyllis really shined in her folly, “The Story of Lucy And Jessie”, a number that had a very Chicago like feel to it.

The Arlington Players put together a solid show that features great dancing and singing- their elaborate sets, and large numbers are sure to entertain and take you back to a much simpler time, well at least what we remember was a simpler time.

The Loveland Folly in the 2nd Act Is Sure to Impress (photo courtesy of The Arlington Players)

Follies
Weekends April 17 — May 2, 2009
Thomas Jefferson Community Center
http://www.thearlingtonplayers.org/

Renovated Ford's Theatre

On Monday, February 16, the folks at Ford’s Theatre celebrated their Grand Reopening with a birthday bash for Abraham Lincoln’s bicentennial, and DC Metblogs was invited to get a behind-the-scenes tour of the sparkling new theatre.

Warren Brown prepares some CakeLove for Lincoln's Birthday Bash

The renovation took 18 months to complete.  The theatre itself was renovated and generally spruced-up with new painting, lighting, carpets, and seating; and a new lobby/museum/gift shop was added, with new restrooms and elevator access.

The experience starts with entry into the spacious new lobby, next door to the old box-office lobby which opened right from the seats to the street.  The new lobby has artifacts on display, including the coat that Lincoln wore to the theatre on the night he was assassinated (April 14, 1865).  It was made by Brooks Brothers, just for the President to wear, and has fancy shields-and-eagle stitching in the lining.  Neat!  Just beyond the display is the gift shop, which offers far more books than kitsch, I’m pleased to report.   (Kitsch can be found just across the street at the Old Town Trolley depot.  Trust me.)   And why not?  Lincoln is apparently the most popular subject of biography in the universe.  OK, maybe that’s a little strong, but he’s pretty popular.

For this special occasion, Warren Brown and the folks from CakeLove were on hand to offer Presidents’ Day patrons some of their delicious cupcakes as a complimentary grand-reopening  treat.  Since I was already getting pretty special treatment, I left my cupcake for another kid to enjoy.   (More on my visit after the jump.) (more…)

David Vargas and Dan Yount

*Updated

This month, The Arlington Players are producing Tennessee Williams’ melodramatic classic Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.   The theatre doesn’t hide the production’s set and lighting design behind a curtain, and they expertly convey contrasts of glamour, wealth, and decay.  We expect Maggie the Cat to just stroll in from the gallery at any moment, and once she arrives, she delivers.  Cassandra Hodziewich takes control of the house upon her entrance, delivering her soliloquy of frustration with her family of Pollitt in-laws, layered with a desperate longing for her distant and alcoholic husband, Brick.  Maggie explains the situation in the house on this, the last of Big Daddy Pollitt’s birthdays in her soft delta drawl while casually deciding on a dress.  Of course, there’s nothing casual about it.

David Vargas as Brick is as sullen and removed as one could hope, and he draws Hodziewich across the stage to him without seeming to care at all.  He progresses from near-silence, to shouts of rancor, to soft singing, all the while taking long draughts from his bottles of whisky (yes, bottles – midway through the show I had lost count).  In his single-minded search for the elusive “click in [his] head that brings peace”, the injured Brick manages to expose his internal struggle to each member of the Pollitt clan, as they come in groups and by ones and twos to his room.

The production’s most powerful performance comes from Dan Yount as Big Daddy.  His loud, bawdy, and emotional portrayal of the Pollitt patriarch holds the whole of the play in its grip.  The long scene between Brick and Big Daddy is one of my favorite in literature, and I was very pleased with what I got from the two actors.  By turns they discuss Brick’s faded glory, his alcoholism, his dead best friend Skipper and the latent homosexuality of their friendship, Big Daddy’s marriage to a woman he never loved, both men’s contempt for the elder son, Gooper and his family (especially his passel of “no-neck monster” children and scheming, bitter wife Mae – played wonderfully by Karen Batra).  Vargas and Yount expose the anxiety and despair in both men’s lives, gradually and painfully working their way to the truth and a new bond between them.  Their agreement to no longer tolerate “lies and liars” all around who exude “the powerful and obnoxious odor of mendacity” is wonderfully undermined when Maggie spontaneously lies to Big Daddy, saying she is pregnant in order to secure her husband’s future and her own marriage, and Brick confidently backs her in the face of Mae and Gooper’s utterly scornful disbelief.

Director Blakeman Brophy’s choices play up the fifties melodrama at work in the show, to great effect.  With a wonderful leading cast and a beautiful set design, the show is a pleasure to watch.  Catch the final weekend performances through February 14 at the Thomas Jefferson Theatre.

*Update: Fellow Metblogger Patrick Pho is on the crew of this production and graciously provided tickets for this review. Thanks for reminding me, Patrick!

West Side Story album cover by flickr user exquisitur

As theater buffs already know, there’s a production of West Side Story in town.  It’s been at the National Theatre since last month on its way to Broadway, in a reprisal of its path 50 years ago.

Other reviews have made note of the decision by director Arthur Laurents to allow the Sharks and their girls to sing and talk amongst themselves in Spanish.   A love-it-or-hate-it decision, it endows the dialogue between characters with an authenticity and intimacy that hasn’t been seen before, and provides an instant update and relevance.  I know I hear conversations that I don’t understand (not just in Spanish) around DC every day!  Strategic sprinkling of key English phrases allow the non-Spanish-speaking audience members (like me!) to know where we are. (more…)

On any given day, if you’re craving a little art and culture, there is always an exhibit or performance or demonstration to quench your appetite.

Well this Saturday, plan to venture to Penn Quarter for an extravaganza of art and crafts and performances.  Bombard your senses with 2008 Arts on Foot, a one-day visual and performing arts festival that kicks off the DC fall season.

In addition to the outdoor festival on F street between 6th and 9th Streets, the following venues will also feature activities, exhibits and performances:

Smithsonian American Art Museum and Portrait Gallery: The museums will host booths at the street festival that offer hands-on activities for children.

National Theatre: Come to the inaugural performance of Saturday Morning at the National. Carrie’s Dream is a true story of an African-American girl growing up in the rural south. This interactive show features sing-alongs and reflects the humor and struggles of a family coping with life in a segregated society. Performances are at 9:30 and 11:00 am. Though free, tickets are required and will be distributed 30 minutes before the show on a first come, first served basis. The Helen Hayes Gallery at the National Theatre is located at 1321 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.

Warner Theatre and Woolley Mammoth Theatre: Take a back stage tour of the theaters. See the Arts on Foot events schedule.

Old Post Office Pavilion: Enjoy live performances by the Levi Stephens Band (alternative soul), Phaze II (smooth jazz), Uncharted Waters (smooth jazz funk), and Kirk Lamkin & Pulse Level (smooth jazz). Performances take place on the Pavilion Stage and are free to the public.

Canadian Embassy: Picture enthusiasts will enjoy a collection of 330 images entitled – 50 Years of American Photojournalism. The photos capture moments from the civil-rights movement, the various wars from 1939 – 1989, and famous people.

Landmark E Street: The DC Shorts Film Festival presents free family films with genres ranging from animation to sci-fi to comedy to experimental. Free tickets will be distributed at the DC Shorts booth at 10:00 am on a first come, first served basis.

National Gallery of Art: At 12:30 pm, catch “O Dia do Desespero (Day of Despair),” a documentary style film about the final hours of Camilio Castelo Branco’s life. The movie speculates on the creative process of the 19th-century Portuguese writer.  Then at 3:00 pm watch “The Last Conquistador ” which follows the  controversy over sculptor John Sherrill Houser’s most important commission, the world’s largest equestrian bronze of Spanish conquistador Juan de Oñate. Filmmaker John Valadez will be present to lead a discussion after his film.

National Museum of Women in the Arts: Visit the NMWA booth on 8th and F Streets to create your own unique artist’s accordion book.  All materials provided for you to create a masterpiece.

In addition to all the arts activities, don’t miss the wine tastings and culinary demonstrations. A fun-filled day for all ages!

It may seem a cliche to use adjectives like “witty” and “frolicking” to describe a performance of a Moliere play, but those are precisely the proper words for Shakespeare Theater Company’s “The Imaginary Invalid,” now at the Lansburgh Theater through July 27.

Helmed by a wonderfully expressive Rene Auberjonois and a sparkling Nancy Robinette, this is one of the strongest ensembles I’ve seen at STC in a long time, with so many hysterical key moments for the cast it’s unfair to detail any in particular. But Auberjonois’ rendering of the hypochondriac Argan and Robinette’s saucy maid Toinette set the comic pace, playing off each other perfectly. A showpiece for the intimacy of the Lansburgh, it’s also exquisitely designed, with sets and costumes evoking the period without being slavish (Simon Higlett and Robert Perdziola respectively). Director Keith Baxter chose to reinstate the masques and commedia interludes that often get cut, with the result that audience members truly feel transported to Carnival 1673, right down to an appearance by Le Roi himself.

“The Imaginary Invalid” has the distinction of being the last play Moliere performed in, as he expired after the fourth showing. Written at the end of his struggle with tuberculosis, it contains a scathing indictment of the ignorance and arrogance of the medical profession of his time (with pertinent echoes to our own era’s uneasy dalliance between pharmaceutical companies, doctors, and their nervous boomer patients). And yet it is a supremely enjoyable piece – as all great comedy comes with a sting in its tail. Definitely worth it.

What can I tell you about The Shakespeare Theater Company’s productions of Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra? You don’t come here for Shakespeare criticism and I’m not up to the challenge. There’s some things to say about the players on stage – Suzanne Bertish is spot-on, Andrew Long, Aubrey K. Deeker, Dan Kremer and all the other locals are good as well – but so what? We know STC isn’t going to put any stinkers up on stage and truth be told, if you’re inclined to go see either of these plays you’re probably not going to see any one person. These are not the avenues to catch a tour de force blow-the-doors-off piece of acting – the roles don’t lend themselves to it and they’re both huge ensembles – I stopped counting during the Julius Caesar curtain call when I got to the thirtieth performer.

So then, what can I tell you? Odds are good you read one or both of these in your high school careers, and they haven’t changed. Nor has STC altered their placement in time or location: these are the Roman plays as they were written; no movement to World War I or modern day New York City. Both have the same problem for us as modern audiences as they did for us then – it’s hard to find someone to root for in Julius Caesar, as full of connivers and killers as it is, or Antony and Cleopatra, with person after person making foolish and impulsive decisions.

You either are or are not the kind of person interested in seeing one of these plays, so what I say won’t sway you on the merits of the text. What I can tell you is that if you’re inclined to go, you’re going to be satisfied. If you’re not inclined, there’s not going to be something new or unusual there to overcome your reluctance. Somewhere in the world someone is going to stage Julius Caesar in a way to draw the parallel to American preemptive Middle-Eastern intervention, with Brutus and most of his cohorts being prodded into making a well-meaning decision by an arrogant and petty Cassius who’s been spending too much time on the New American Century website. Once they go down that bloody road they’ll discover that the aftermath isn’t as easy and painless as they expected and not everyone is convinced that their reasons were sound or sufficient.

This is not that production of Julius Caesar.

Neither is this Antony and Cleopatra evocative of a modern married government leader who thinks with parts south of the border and makes decisions that endanger his position to the point where he finds himself at odds with his peers and fighting to hold on to his power.

What these are, instead, are faithful classic productions set in the Harman’s lovely spaces with fairly minimal but highly effective staging. Caesar goes little beyond tapestries and hangings, where Antony and Cleopatra add some tables and pieces that more evoke a ship than represent it. The costuming is stunning and the music near perfect. There’s only two quibbles I’d make, both with the production of Julius Caesar, but they’re minor.

The boxes at the back of the Harman’s stage are a nice location for semi-hidden participants like percussionist Martin Desjardins normally, but during parts where performers are on the upper level he’s a little too prominent. If you’re not an actor I don’t feel like I should be able to discern your facial expressions during the production – it’s distracting. More bothersome but come and gone more rapidly is the bit of foolishness that someone felt they needed to pop into the scene where Brutus and Cassius face off across the battlefield from Octavius and Antony. While Antony is supposed to be a bit cavalier and light-hearted, it’s jarring to see him good around while eating and apple while Brutus and Cassius determine if they’re going to enter into a bloody battle. Having him wordlessly and goofilly offer the man who they’ve just determined to fight a bite before walking back to his own camp is just grating, particularly so short a time after we’ve seen him deliver an impassioned speech about his friend who was murdered by the very person he’s trying to share his snack with.

These are little things, however, and won’t ruin your experience if it’s one you want to have.

Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra
Sidney Harman Hall 610 F Street NW, Washington, DC 20004
through July 6th, 2008.