Latest News

Gary Tischler • September 6, 2011

The Kid’s Farm, a recreation of a touch-and-see interactive farm that remains one of the most popular family attractions at the National Zoo, is off the endangered list.

The Zoo had announced earlier that there were plans to close the Kids’ Farm due to budget cuts but
after an outburst of support for Kid’s Farm by local FONZ members and families all over the city, the Zoo found a sponsor that saved the date.

A major $1.4 million gift from State Farm Insurance will keep the family friendly attraction with its barn, grazing area, sheep, goats, chickens, cows and a mule open for visitors.

Georgetowner • August 25, 2011

Live Jazz With Vocalist Nancy Scimone

August 20th, 2011 at 07:30 PM

No Cover

livejazzconcerts@verizon.net

Tel: 571-232-1873

Vocalist Nancy Scimone delivers spirited performances of lively and lush American jazz standards, French and Latin-influenced tunes. The Henley’s extensive wine list, classic cocktails savory treats (crispy shrimp) and desserts (pear bread pudding!) are perfect accompaniments to these sublime songs. Cozy tapestry seats, intimate lighting. No Cover. Saturdays 7:30 – 11:30 Perfect for conversation or just listening.
Near Metros, on-street parking

Address

The Henley Park Hotel

926 Massachusetts Ave. NW

Washington DC 20001

Martin Luther king Jr. Memorial Celebration Cruises

August 24th, 2011 at 12:00 PM

Tel: 866.404.8439

On August 24 and August 25, the Odyssey and the Spirit of Washington are celebrating the historic dedication of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial with memorable civil rights-inspired cruises. Guest will enjoy music and live entertainment from the Civil Rights Era, special narration highlighting Martin Luther King Jr.’s achievements, creative plated cuisine and monumental views. For cruise details, directions or to make reservations, visit www.entertainmentcruises.com or call 866.404.8439

Address

Entertainment Cruises

6th and Water Streets,

SW Washington, D.C.

(three blocks from Metro via the Waterfront Station on the Green line)

UNLEASH AT ROOF TERRACE RESTAURANT’S DOG DAYS OF SUMMER CELEBRATION: BBQ & BREW BASH

August 25th, 2011 at 07:00 AM

$40 per person

Tel: 202- 416-8555

Roof Terrace Restaurant & Bar invites you to wash away the work week with a few beers and BBQ favorites. The sun is sizzling, the days are long – here’s an excuse to let loose. Reservations are required; business attire is not. Dog Days of Summer is part of Roof Terrace Restaurant’s monthly Wine & Cultural Celebration Series, in which patrons are invited to experience wines, beers or spirits of a particular type or region, paired with food and entertainment.

Address

Roof Terrace Restaurant

John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

2700 F Street

Washington, DC

www.roofterracerestaurant.com

Lara Mitra • August 24, 2011

Washington D.C.’s Restaurant Week provides a rare opportunity for residents and visitors to taste food from a diverse group of DC’s finest restaurants at affordable prices. Between August 15 and 21, over 200 local restaurants will serve 3-course lunches for $20.11 and 3-course dinners for $35.11. The cuisines offered this year include French, Italian, Mexican, Pan-Asia, Mediterranean and many more.

Participating Restaurants located in Georgetown

American:

1789 Restaurant features classic American dishes and was voted one of “America’s Top Tables” by readers of Gourmet magazine. Diners sit in one of six elegant dining rooms filled with historical prints and American antiques. Offers dinner only.

Chef Geoff’s, described by the lead chef as a “neighborhood restaurant,” is known for its Contemporary American dining, which includes dishes such as “Slow Roasted Beef Brisket” and “Big Shrimp and Very Gouda Grits.” Choose from indoor, outdoor or bar seating.

Juniper at the Fairmont Washington DC is a Contemporary American restaurant that uses sustainable ingredients to create traditional American dishes with a modern twist. Enjoy a range of classic comfort foods presented in creative and artistic ways.

Thunder Burger & Bar, recognized for its juicy signature burgers, is an edgy and energetic restaurant, perfect for intimate dates or large family gatherings.

Bourbon Steak, a Contemporary American restaurant located in the Four Seasons Hotel, serves award-winning butter-poached meat and elegant seafood dishes. Offers lunch only.

French:

Bistro Francais is a cozy spot that features authentic French dishes in a warm and relaxed atmosphere. Open until three am or later, Bistro Francais is the perfect place to go for a late-night snack. The restaurant offers an extensive French and American wine collection.

Bistrot Lepic & Wine Bar, a charming restaurant located in Upper Georgetown, offers French seafood and poultry dishes. The dim-lit wine bar is a favorite for intimate dates.

Cafe Bonaparte, praised as the “quintessential European café,” is an intimate French café with indoor and outdoor seating that serves award-winning fruit and Nutella crepes and French coffees.

La Chaumiere resembles a French inn, with tables surrounding a central fireplace and bottles of French wine resting on wooden beams around the restaurant. Diners enjoy award-winning French food in a comfortable, relaxed environment where all feel welcomed.

International:

Mie N Yu is a lively and exotic restaurant where dining areas are decorated to complement the diverse range of international foods. Diners can enjoy their meal in a vibrant Moroccan Bazaar or a traditional Turkish Tent. At Mie N Yu one not only eats unique and delicious foods, but also experiences the culture of another part of the world. Offers dinner only.

Italian:

Café Milano, known to attract a number of diplomats, lawmakers, and entertainers alike, offers first-class Italian food in a sophisticated and elegant dining room. Offers lunch only.

Il Canale features authentic food from Southern Italy, including gourmet thin-crust pizza, baked in ovens imported from Naples. Il Canale is rumored to be one of the top spots in D.C. where Italians prefer to get Italian food.

Paolo’s Ristorante combines classical Italian cuisine with modern Californian flavors to create their well-known pizzas and pastas. Diners can watch as the chefs prepare their meal in the open kitchen. Offers dinner only.

Ristorante Piccolo is a romantic Italian restaurant, which is often the site of intimate dates and marriage proposals. The numerous fireplaces, handcrafted art and textiles contribute to its warm and cozy atmosphere.

Mediterranean:

Neyla features a diverse variety of food from countries across the Mediterranean, including Egypt, Greece, Lebanon and Turkey. Neyla serves exotic and flavorful mezza, which is ideal for sharing, and charcoal-grilled kebabs.

Seafood:

Sea Catch, located right along the C&O Canal, is known for its fresh seafood and friendly ambiance. The Deck overlooking the canal is a great place to catch the summer breeze while cooling down with some fresh clams or mussels from the raw bar.

Sequoia, with its sprawling, three-tier outdoor terrace overlooking the Potomac River, is a first-class American restaurant, specializing in seafood. Enjoy views of the Kennedy Center and Watergate Hotel while dining here.

Spanish:

Bodega Spanish Tapas & Lounge offers an extensive variety of Spanish tapas, paellas and Sangria. Diners can taste the well-known garlic shrimp tapas, while drinking Cava, a Spanish sparkling wine. Alcoves provide the perfect place to create an intimate setting, while the long dining room tables are ideal for larger groups.

To Learn of other restuarants visit restaurantweekmetrodc.org

Robert Devaney •

The second annual “Pig Out” at Bourbon Steak, located at the Four Seasons Hotel, was sold out before the details were read in the newspaper.

Priced at $35 or $50 (drinks included) the more than ample pork-centric feast on Aug. 14 proved a bargain. Where else in Georgetown could you enjoy foodie delights from Bourbon Steak executive chef Adam Sobel and executive sous chef William Morris — and the main event: a 300-lb spit-roasted pig from Eco-Friendly Foods? Along with the pulled pork, there was cornbread, coleslaw and baked beans. Then, there was the hot dog cart of bratwurst, sausages and half-smokes out on the patio. And the taco stand which included chicarrones, carnitas, cabeza and barbacoa. Also, BBQ ribs, to chew on. And oysters to slurp, too. DC Brau, the D.C.-based brewing company, delivered beers and pale ales. There were punches, such as lime and squash, to drink. Desserts by Bourbon Steak’s pastry chef Brenton Balika included banana cream pie, cherry pie and freshly made ice cream. Enough for you?
Sunday afternoon offered a three-hour pork paradise at the Four Seasons. After all, Bourbon Steak is the restaurant where you can buy a pulled-pork cheedar cupcake for $7. It is not on the menu; you have to ask for it. And, yes, it is the chef’s send-up of those cupcake shops down on M Street.

Gary Tischler •

You’re not likely to hear The Three Stooges and Anton Chekhov mentioned in the same conversation. Yet I found myself thinking of Curly and Moe, and Laurel and Hardy, for that matter, and maybe even Lucille Ball at odd moments during the Sidney Theatre Company’s electric, very energetic, and yes, very funny, production of “Uncle Vanya” at the Kennedy Center.

Chekhov, the Russian master of the short story and theater, reportedly insisted that his plays were comedies of a kind. Director Tamas Ascher and his Sidney Theater ensemble cast certainly found a lot of rough and tumble, physical and sly comedy in “Uncle Vanya”, without diluting what is basically a comic tragedy. You laugh, you cry, you watch the twilight preceding the night.

This production—with a stellar cast headed by but not dominated by Oscar-winning movie actress Cate Blanchett, who runs the company with husband Andrew Upton, noted for his adaptation of “The Cherry Orchard”—is an electric, combustible staging, always entertaining to watch for its physicality, for its portrait of a group of people in frustrated mourning for the missed opportunities of their lives.

If there is a slight tic in this production, it’s probably the setting. Ascher has decided to put Chekhov’s 19th-century Russians-on-the-country-estate into Soviet times, a move that’s not particularly comfortable if you pay too much attention to it. These people—so enmeshed in their beat of their personal but also universal soul—wouldn’t have lasted a weekend under Stalin, the wrecker of the individual soul on a grand scale. You hear a car horn hiccupping, the sound of a motor, and some of the clothing could be modern, if threadbare, especially Yelenda’s two little clingy somethings, basic hunger-inducing outfits in white and red, ruled over by teased white-blond curls.

Basically, you know where you are: Chekhov country, which is to say the denizens and residents of a floundering estate losing their grip on the property and land, barely getting by, yearning for the past and love and success never found. In short, there’s a quasi-intellectual (a pompous professor in theis case), a hopeful young person, a frustrated middle-aged romantic, a cynic of sorts, and a glamorous, diva-like woman around whom the twilight sun of the setting and every one in it moves, plus the odd relative, hanger-on, old man who remembers back in the day.

In Chekhov’s plays—which are really about people’s inability to adjust to social and economic changes like the end of serfdom, the rise of the middle class and the struggle to keep up old habits and appearances—the emphasis shifts and moves around like a game of sad tag. The craziest, most tortured, and erratic spokesman of the frustrations of change and a sudden clarity of vision is Vanya, who for years has kept up the estate for the absentee landlord—the puffed up clueless Serebyakov, a man whom he admired only to find him an empty suit.

The professor has arrived at the shabby estate with his stunning, much younger wife Yelena (Blanchett), who manages to disturb the numbing routine of the estate. Like a witch high on speed, she wreaks havoc among the residents: Vanya realizes he’ll never have her, the good Doctor develops an almost uncontrollable lust/love for her, and even the practical Sonya finds a new BFF in the jittery diva that’s been placed in their midst. On top of that the professor has plans for the estate, which he can’t afford to hang on to.

Money, feverish promise of sex, romance and love, the impending loss of status and property, shifting relationships and a terrible longing for the past—these are all familiar Chekhov tropes. Usually, they’re played out an atmosphere of waiting, a kind of poetic languor interrupted by bursts of high drama, the revelation of secrets and even a gunshot (“The Seagull).

There’s a gunshot in “Uncle Vanya” too, but it’s one of the more splasticky moments in the play when Vanya attempts to shoot the professor because he has Yelena, because “he’s added nothing to nothing,” intellectually. Like Oliver Hardy, he misses in three tries. Richard Roxburgh as Vanya is a study in epic frustration, exasperation, he flounders like a fish, his arms and hands are prayers, they’re moving around in electric supplication.

In the midst of all this Yelena is like a moth, who recognizes that every one wants to touch her, it’s essentially all she’s got to offer. She even touches herself as if to guard against some imagined winter storm. She fends off the doctor, she puts off Vanya and doles out her affections in small bursts, so as not to excite a fever. When her husband demands a kiss, she swoops in like a mother bird feeding her chick a worm.

It’s a feverish performance, all tangled up in her thin, elongated body which is never still, its as if she were constantly eying the rooms of the estate for escape hatches.

Haley McElhinney as Sonya sports a broad Aussie accent, but somehow it doesn’t matter—her performance is so natural, so true and strong, that she could speak in another language altogether and still be understood.

In the end, people leave, people stay, as if the soul of the once-great estate had evaporated.

This “Uncle Vanya”completes the set for this writer, in the sense that I can now say I’ve seen the Chekhov plays in versions that are immensely satisfying. If Upton’s and Ascher’s version is a stylistic departure in terms of physicality, energy and the spice of comedy, it brings a freshness to Chekhov, a new, or rather additional way of experiencing the plays. The production can stand beside my particular favorites: The Studio Theater’s and Joy Zinoman’s elegiac version of “The Three Sisters”, along with Zelda Fichandler’s classic production of the same play; Zinoman again with the rarely seen “Ivanov”, which opened the Studio’s new space; the David Mamet translation of “The Cherry Orchard” at Round House Theater and last, but not least, the iconoclastic director Peter Sellars’ just-about-perfect version of “A Seagull”, which was the late Colleen Dewhurst’s shining moment as the fading actress Irina Arkadina, and featured Kevin Spacey, Kelly McGillis and Paul Winfield in an outstanding cast at the time when the Kennedy Center was attempting to create a national theater.

Gary Tischler • August 17, 2011

Some time ago, when Woolly Mammoth Theatre first staged a production of “Clybourne Park” by Bruce Norris, it was doing something very much in the Woolly tradition. That is, a Washington premiere, a topical, ice-pick witty and emotionally pulling play by a gifted young writer which seemed to echo especially in D.C., as real as a stopped Metro escalator, even though it was set in Chicago.

Now “Clybourne Park” is back, complete with its original D.C. cast under the direction of Woolly artistic honcho Howard Shalwitz, after a successful stint in New York, and more than that, after winning a Pulitzer Prize for Norris

If you didn’t see “Clybourne” the first time around, please, please go see it—you’re in for a terrific play that encompasses ideas about how we lived yesterday, and today, in race-haunted America. Here in Washington, once known as “Chocolate City” for its long-standing African American majority population now drifting ever more towards vanilla, the themes of “Clybourne Park” resonate loudly.

Norris took his jumping point from Lorraine Hansberry’s classic 1959 play “A Raisin in the Sun” and it’s set in the same house occupied by the African American family of that play.

In “Clybourne Park” we see a white couple packing up—knick knacks, boxes, dishes and the like while the black cleaning lady looks on in the early 1950s. Soon, there’s another couple in the house, headed by a weasely, high-energy and bursting with rationalizations Rotarian named Carl and his deaf and pregnant wife. Turns out that Russ and Bev, the soon-to-be-moving couple, have sold their house to a black family and that’s got the Rotarian and the local minister fit to be tied.

This is the 1950s and Russ and Bev aren’t trying to be enlightened liberals—their real estate agent is more to blame here, and besides, the couple are more focused on their own sorrows than what might happen if black people move in, and move in, it appears, they will. Carl, the minister and Russ start to bicker, to argue, and all of the latent fears of the white neighborhood start to come to the surface like muck after a rainstorm. Carl—played with sharp and sly energy by Cody Nickell—is like a sharp-edged mouser on the hunt. He keeps coming back, talking about cultural differences, real estate values, all the racial clichés of the 1950s couched in euphemisms—“Do you ski?” he asks the housekeeper’s husband, as if that made all the difference in the world.

The second part of the play skips to the present time, same place, same house, and a reverse situation which sees a prosperous, adamantly liberal white couple about to buy the house which is part of a predominantly black neighborhood now. If that’s not a Washington story, it sure could be. The white couple are played with a kind of eager hipness, full of PC values held dearly but with a back-breaking fuzziness, by Nickell and Kimberly Gilbert, who were the couple opposing the sale in the first half.

Kevin and Lena, a black couple played Jefferson A. Russell and Dawn Ursula with great depth and edge are flying the flag of neighborhood history and tradition, which is to say black history and tradition. The issues—actually one issue—are the same: race in America and why can’t we just get along and live together or at least side by side. Because, Norris suggests, we don’t know how to talk about race, not only in our own homes, but in our day to day dealings with each other

Everyone, no matter how they dress or how cool and tolerant they are in the 21st century, walks with open wounds. If euphemism and personal tragedy carry the day in the first act, not-so-well-hidden cultural historic values and resentment emerges like grenades, in the form of jokes that are more than jokes, they’re weapons of choice.

Norris – who also wrote the Woolly Mammoth staged “The Unmentionables,” a play about how Westerners are still the elephant in the china shop in modern Africa – uses comedy to open up in slashing style old wounds and lets them bleed out.

Everyone in the play doubles up on parts, but in the first act, Jennifer Mendenhall and Mitch Hebert own not only the house but the audience, both dealing with loss and change. Mendenhall especially reminds us that she is one of Washington’s finest actresses as Bev, exasperated, bleeding inside, barely holding together with habits masquerading as normal. Hebert is like a lean, tense, electric cord of a man unable to shake off the past, thoughtless about the future.

Best to watch yourself and your fellow audience members during the course of the play, you might be thinking though and looking around—which joke should you laugh out and how loudly?

What’s so good about the actors, about Norris, about the production, is that you’re never seeing anybody as less than an authentic human being. And that’s why you look around, and that’s why “Clybourne Park” stays with you. (“Clybourne Park” will run through August 14)

Georgetowner •

Park after Dark, a benefit promoting the C&O Canal National Historical Park, will be held Sept. 24 on the grounds of the Great Falls Tavern. Tickets will be $150, although $115 of that price is tax deductable, and can be purchased online at ParkAfterDark.org.

Guests who come out in “Towpath Chic” attire will be treated to an awards ceremony, when the William O. Douglas Award will be given honoring the Friends of the Historic Great Falls Tavern, music performed by the 19th Street Band, chili, cornbread and Firehook Bakery, and an auction of “unique park experience packages.”

Honorary co-chairs of the event include Governor Martin O’Malley, Senator Ben Cardin and Congressman Chris Van Hollen. Hosts include: Frieda and Pierre Abushacra, Lee and David Altobello, Liz Barratt-Brown and Bos Dewy, Jody Bolz and Brad Northrup, Peter Bross, Heidi and Bill Bumpers, Denise and Michael Cetta, Andrew Chod, Laura and Bobby Foose, Hailey and Chris Hanessian, Liz and Don Harrison, Sydney and Peter McKelvy, Susan and Dan Pereles, Kirsten and Brett Quigley, Margo Reid and Greg Simon, Roy Sewell, Jeanne and Bobby Srour, Cindy and Guy Steuart, Mac Thornton and Mary Jo Veverka.
[gallery ids="100254,106754" nav="thumbs"]

Georgetowner • August 15, 2011

Art & Live Jazz Saturday

August 13th, 2011 at 01:00 PM | Free | liveanartfullife@verizon.net | Tel: 540-253-9797

“The Painted Pot” by Phyllis Handal. Phyllis is known for her painted pottery in butterfly, dragonfly and vegetable motifs. She will be featured with a demonstration of how she paints her pottery at our Art & Live Jazz Saturday from 1 – 5 PM. Her work is very likable, functional and sure to bring a smile. Live Jazz will start at 5PM that evening with the Samba do Jazz Quartet and wine tasting by Vintage Ridge Winery. Make a day of it in The Plains!

Address

Live An Artful Life

6474 Main Street

The Plains, VA 20198

Aidah Collection Trunk Sale at Flash Market
August 13th, 2011 at 12:00 PM | info@aidah.com | Tel: (202) 338-0680

Flash Market: A Pop-up Extravaganza

hosted by Hillyer Art Space

Join Aidah Collection and other local fashion and jewelry designers for a fabulous Summer Trunk Sale with mimosas, cupcakes and a mini-runway show!

View and shop the new Accessories Collection of handmade eco-chic flower brooches, rings and tote bags.

RSVP ON FACEBOOK:

Address

Hillyer Art Space

9 Hillyer Court NW DC

(Dupont Circle Metro)

Live Jazz With Vocalist Nancy Scimone

August 13th, 2011 at 07:30 PM | No Cover Charge | livejazzconcerts@verizon.net

Vocalist Nancy Scimone delivers spirited performances of lively and lush American jazz standards, French and Latin-influenced tunes. The Henley’s extensive wine list, classic cocktails savory treats (crispy shrimp) and desserts (pear bread pudding!) are perfect accompaniments to these sublime songs. Cozy tapestry seats, intimate lighting. No Cover. Saturdays 7:30 – 11:15 Perfect for conversation or just listening.

Near Metros, on-street parking

Address

The Henley Park Hotel

926 Massachusetts Ave. NW

Washington DC 20001

Bourbon Steak: Annual “Pig Out” Patio Party

August 14th, 2011 at 03:00 PM | $35 per person | Tel: 202.944.2026

It’s time once again to “Pig Out” at Bourbon Steak (2800 Pennsylvania, NW). The modern American restaurant will host its second annual pig roast event on their spacious patio Sunday, August 14 from 12 to 3 p.m. Priced at $35 per person for food, and $50 inclusive of food and drink, guests at this year’s pork-centric party will once again enjoy a 300-lb spit-roasted pig from Eco-Friendly Foods, among other show-stopping offerings from Executive Chef Adam Sobel and his team. Bourbon Steak is partnering with DC Brau, the DC-based brewing company, to provide the perfect pork-pairing beers for the event. The restaurant will also make available special non-alcoholic punches available throughout the day for all guests. In case of rain, “Pig Out” will be held on Sunday, August 28. To purchase tickets to “Pig Out”, call 202.944.2026 or visit www.bourbonsteakdc.com for reservations.

Address

Bourbon Steak

2800 Pennsylvania, NW

Parish Gallery: Leslee Stradford “The Night Tulsa Died”

August 16th, 2011 at 12:41 PM | Tel: 202.944.2310

Showing through Tuesday, August 16, Parish Gallery (1054 31st Street, NW) proudly presents Leslee Stradford’s “The Night Tulsa Died: Black Wall Street Massacre 1921”. A descendant of the victims in “The Tulsa Race Riot 1921,” Leslee Stradford vividly conveys the social, cultural and historical story of the massacre confined to the racially segregated Greenwood neighborhood in Tulsa, Oklahoma on May 31, 1921. Stradford’s style, sometimes figurative, sometimes abstract and sometimes both, uses new technology and research to create digital images, painted canvases and silks. Primarily representing, but not exclusively, contemporary visual artists of significance from Africa and the African Diaspora, you can view this artistic display of history and the spirit of social preservation and regeneration in the Parrish Gallery showroom. 202.944.2310

Address

Parish Gallery

1054 31st Street, NW

Join Us for Networking with a View… And a Salute to Furin’s

Wednesday, August 17, 2011 | 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.

House of Sweden| On the Waterfront | 2900 K Street NW | Georgetown

Hors d’oeuvres by Ridgewells Caterers

Desserts by Chris Furin

Beverages compliments of the Georgetown Business Improvement District

Event Free for GBA Members | $20 for Non-Members

RSVP by Monday, August 15, 2011 to Sue Hamilton 202-333-8076 or sueinnovent@aol.com

Georgetowner • August 11, 2011

Anyone hoping to cross the Key Bridge into Rosslyn today should be ready to add a considerable amount of time to their commute today.

According to the Georgetown Patch, last night, a retaining wall at a construction site on 1530 Claredon Boulevard collapsed, closing both lanes on Claredon between Pierce and Oak streets. The Rosslyn exit on route 110 has also been closed, and Lee Highway and Arlington Boulevard are suggested as the best alternate routes. Metro bus 38B and ART bus 45 are still in operation, but have been detoured.

The cause of the collapse is currently unknown.

Gary Tischler • August 10, 2011

“Pop”, a bold and very new musical about Andy Warhol and his factory boys and girls now at the Studio Theatre has a lot going for it: it’s smart and sharp, its witty and biting, it has something to say and sing about art, it’s designed with a pop,, if you will, creating and re-creating an atmosphere of what it might have been like to move around the pale and distant sun of Warhol’s world.

And yet, something doesn’t push it over the top, and after a while, you realize that what this show, for all of its intelligence and seriousness needs is the kind of pop that made Andy Warhol pop, a fizz of vulgar fun.

Somewhere in there, after climbing three or four flights of stairs, after watching Warhol pop images fly on the walls or stick like a fly, after seeing Warhol define the essence of a paper bag, of seeing a crew of attractive (none more than Matthew DeLorenzo as superstar Candy Darling) needy famous wannabes, artists, actors and models cavorting on a striking factory set, you feel like you should be invited to up there and frug, or that you have to restrain yourself from jumping on the stage.

In the intimate upstairs space of the Studio’s 2nd Stage, which has seen Jack Kerouac in his natural surroundings, the cast of “Hair” splayed against windows, and “Reefer Madness” goes crazy mad, you’d think this over-the-top urge would be on tap. It’s not quite there. Maybe because Maggie-Kate Coleman and Anna K Jacobs’ show is just a tad too smart, too serious about art. That’s not a necessarily a bad thing, and if you’re Stephen Sondheim it’s a very good thing.

The smart stuff—the song about the paper bag for instance, which contains nothing, which contains the world and the essence if Warhol-speak, and the dance and song by the trio of expressionist super-stars, for instance—are very smart indeed.

And Tom Story—pale of face, dark of leather jacket—gets Warhol’s utter weirdness, his stand-offish presence, the guy so very prescient (about fame, vulgarity, stardom, the commerce of art) but not quite present. He’s surrounded by people who want his light to shine on them, to make them right here and now famous and not just for fifteen minutes.

That includes the likes of the already noted Candy Darling, Viva the Superstar who went to the Sorbonne before doing porn, the little rich girl Edie Sedgewick, an odd and sad turn of little girl blonde flightiness that’s also wingless.

The sets are just real and riff and raff enough to make you bathe in the ambiance of a kind of art that’s art because somebody, usually Andy, says it is.

The focus of the show is the near-assassination of Warhol in 1968, a shooting that certainly shocked Warhol, if not the world. But that’s the 2nd problem: we already know who did it, historically speaking, but that doesn’t stop you from really appreciating the performance of Rachel Zampelli as Valerie Solanas, the head of the super aggressive SCUM (Society for Cutting up Men), who thinks Warhol will stage her play. (He dumps it probably where it belongs, a toilet which doubles as an art work).

Warhol showed us that anything can be art, anyone can write, and anyone can be a star or be famous for the usual amount of time, thus anticipating reality shows, the breach and reach of the internet, the eventual meaninglessness of too many words, and the worship of celebrity.
Lacking the fun factor that ought to be all over the stage, what’s left is still entertaining, fascinating and junk food for thought. But don’t dance, they won’t ask you. (Through August 7)