Arts & Society

Ari Post • January 29, 2015

In The Georgetowner’s last issue of 2014, I wrote about the National Gallery of Art exhibition “A Subtle Beauty: Platinum Photographs from the Collection,” which closed Jan. 4. One could see how advances in photography in the late 19th and early 20th century opened the door to an entirely new understanding of composition, value and spatial relationships.

The new photographic technology re-energized artists’ methods and creative visions. However, with the ability of the photograph to capture the existing world, painting and drawing were left to find a new direction of visual communication.

That new direction is traced in another exhibition at the National Gallery. “Modern American Prints and Drawings from the Kainen Collection,” on view through Feb. 1, looks at 20th-century developments in drawing and printmaking. This is a notable perspective to take, since many of art’s great evolutions begin at the molecular level of smaller-scale drawings and prints, where the artist has greater freedom to rapidly experiment.

The first room of this two-gallery exhibition covers the period leading up to World War II, in which artists such as Childe Hassam and Stuart Davis departed from strict representation. The second room moves toward pure abstraction in the postwar period, with works by Jackson Pollock, David Smith and Willem de Kooning.

A surprising piece is Max Weber’s “Repose (Peace)” (1928), a lithograph of three women which reads like a rich mash-up of Rubenesque beauty, impressionist line work and Picasso-Romanesque physiques. It is completely fun and lovely.

Stuart Davis’s lithograph “Place Pasdeloup, No. 2” (1929) is a whimsically minimalist scene that could have inspired every quaint caricature of France, from Looney Tunes to Steve Martin’s stage play “Picasso at the Lapin Agile.” Much less fractured than the other two works of his in the show, this is a lighthearted geometry of pleasant, simple luxury.

Louis Lozowick’s lithograph “Crane” (1929) is of a different ilk, with the stark depiction of the looming industrial machine like an oil rig out of George Stevens’s film “Giant,” echoing the menacing grandeur and architectural fetishism of the Futurists.

In the postwar gallery, there are many works, but none as powerful or enjoyable (to this writer) as those by Arshile Gorky and David Smith. The two drawings by Gorky, simple pen-on-paper from the early ’30s, show the height of the artist’s acumen as an innovator in visual abstraction. As he strived for surrealism and broke boundaries of traditional composition and form, his work would go on to profoundly shape Abstract Expressionism.

David Smith’s “A Letter” (1952) is cryptic and playful, like a Krazy Kat comic strip on hallucinogens. It is strangely intoxicating, occupying a rare arena of something that is both warmly familiar and refreshingly new.

Mary Bird •

Under heightened security, guests entered the Embassy of France Jan. 14 to attend the first Capricorn party, named after the late legendary Lolo Sarnoff’s annual birthday fete. Sarnoff was truly a renaissance figure who excelled as a Swiss-German artist, scientist and philanthropist. In 1988, at age 72, she founded greater Washington’s Arts for the Aging (AFTA) to engage older adults in health improvement and life enhancement through the arts. AFTA Director & CEO Janine Tursini remembered Sarnoff as “my friend and mentor.” Matt Hastings recalled Lolo’s wit when she remarked, “They tell me the music is country. Which country?”

Mary Bird •

Firmly entrenched in the diplomatic community, Hungarian-born Aniko Gaal Schott and her husband Nash welcomed guests to their embassy-elegant home Jan. 16 to bid farewell to Hungarian Ambassador Gyorgy Szapary, who will return to Budapest. They also chose the occasion to welcome visiting friend Csaba Kael, the CEO and artistic director of “MUPA,” Hungary’s Palace of the Arts, which is the largest performing arts center in Central Europe. Guests enjoyed elegant hors d’oeuvres and a caviar-laden buffet of temptations.

Peter Murray • January 28, 2015

With Ellis Ludwig-Leone at the helm, San Fermin melds classical music with rock ’n’ roll to create lush, manic and irresistible chamber pop soundscapes. The Brooklyn-based band came together around Ludwig-Leone’s vision, constructed during a nine-week retreat in Banff, Canada, where the Yale graduate developed the concept and aesthetic of the band’s music.

“I hadn’t really written songs before. I had done composition stuff, but I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do and who I wanted to be,” Ludwig-Leone reflects. “I had this idea that you needed to be totally secluded and in your own mindspace to do what you wanted to do.”

When he came back to New York with a composition for a debut album in hand, Ludwig-Leone got to work pulling together a band to record the effort. Childhood friend Allen Tate was the obvious choice for the album’s male voice, but the female voice, just as essential in Ludwig-Leone’s composition, was more difficult to nail down.

Ludwig-Leone’s recruited guitarist Tyler McDiarmid knew Holly Laessig and Jess Wolfe of budding indie pop band Lucius, so Ludwig-Leone approached them. “I actually cold-called them,” Ludwig-Leone says, and the duo agreed to be a part of the project. (Their contribution shines brightest on the soaring, ecstatic “Sonsick.”)

Ultimately, 22 musicians – from trombonists to drummers to upright bassists – lent their talents to San Fermin’s debut, which arrived in September 2013 on Downtown Records.

Touring required that the band be whittled down to eight members, and the Lucius girls were out of the equation due to their band’s schedule. Rae Cassidy stepped in on female vocals, but ended up quitting the band to pursue a solo career in April 2014. Ludwig-Leone says there is bound to be “changeover” in a band with so many members. But he also notes, “We think of it now as a real band in the sense that everyone is invested and involved.”

The band’s onstage chemistry, honed over two years of nonstop touring, is proof. Ludwig-Leone talks of the band’s eight members finding “their moment” during their rowdy live shows, which direct the audience toward what’s happening onstage.

As for behind-the-scenes, Ludwig-Leone says he’s “really happy” with how the group interacts. He paints a clearer picture, saying, “I run the rehearsal and talk with people about the parts if I have comments. John [Brandon] and Tyler tour-manage, so they’re in charge of that stuff. Everyone finds a place where they’re in charge. On the music part, it’s super cool because now that all the musicians know the aesthetic of the band, they can add things that are almost always great.”

Ludwig-Leone returned to seclusion to write San Fermin’s sophomore record, “Jackrabbit.” This time, he stayed in New Hampshire, and only for three weeks. But when he got back to New York, he realized – with the help of the band, his manager and his mentor, composer Nico Muhly – his new work was missing something, “an upbeat heart of the record.”

Around the time of his return, Charlene Kaye joined San Fermin’s roster on female vocals. Ludwig-Leone went to work on the last three or four songs on the record (which he says are his favorites) with her in mind, saying that it’s important for a song to “fit” the person singing it.

The album’s title track “is totally high energy,” Ludwig-Leone says, which is no surprise given that the song was recorded with the eight-member live band. With Kaye’s ethereal vocals at the forefront, the song is a proper sequel to the band’s biggest hit to date, “Sonsick.” The rest of the second album, though, continues the dialogue and questioning that Ludwig-Leone started in the first, but with “three-dimensional characters.” He explains, “There aren’t any answers, it just keeps spinning out of control.”

San Fermin plays the Barns at Wolf Trap on Jan. 30. “Jackrabbit” arrives in stores April 21.

Gary Tischler • January 26, 2015

The Washington National Opera’s American Opera Initiative continues to bear fruit and create a climate for new operas.

The 2014-2015 WNO season continues with another offering with the world premiere of the one-hour opera, “Penny,” by composer Douglas Pew and librettist Dara Weinberg Friday and Saturday, Jan. 23 to 24 in the Terrace Theater at the Kennedy Center.

Developed from an original story by Weinberg, “Penny” tells the story of a woman with autism who discovers that she has a gift for music. Conflict ensues within her family, as the woman tries to become more and more independent.

“Penny” coincides with the presence of the world-premiere production of “Mockingbird,” a play that also deals with autism, in the Kennedy Center Family Theatre through February 1. The play, commissioned by the Kennedy Center and the Very Special Arts program, is about an 11-year-old girl on the autism spectrum, who loses her closest friend, her brother, and learns to adjust to new help and a new world, with the discovery of her talent as an artist.

“Mockingbird” is based on the National Book Award-winning novel by Kathryn Erskine and is directed by Tracy Callahn.

Pew and Weinberg, the composer and librettist of “Penny,” are alumni of the WNO’s American Opera Initiative. Their first collaboration, “A Game of Hearts,” was part of the first season of the initiative.

Michael Heaton, director of the American Opera Initiative, said, “I am proud that our program is achieving its mission—to continue to foster new American talent and to provide a forum for contemporary American stories and music.”

The cast of “Penny” features a number of current members of the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program, including mezzo-soprano Deborah Nansteel, soprano Kerriann Otano, bass Wei Wu and tenor Patrick O’Halloran.
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Peter Murray • January 20, 2015

Oscar-nominated actor Bradley Cooper was in town Jan. 13 for a screening of his new film, “American Sniper,” which was directed by Clint Eastwood. The movie is based on the autobiography of Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, one of the most lethal snipers in U.S. history, and details his tours in Iraq and his battle with posttraumatic stress disorder upon arriving home. A Marine Corps veteran whom Kyle had brought to a shooting range to help calm his PTSD killed Kyle in 2013.

Kyle’s widow, Taya Kyle, attended the screening held in the Burke Theater at the U.S. Navy Memorial. Vice President Joe Biden, Jill Biden, Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) and former Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) were also in attendance. Biden was “moved to tears during the final sequence,” at the screening according to the Daily Beast.

The movie has received largely positive reviews and was nominated Jan. 15 for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay and a number of more minor Academy Awards. Cooper was nominated as Best Actor in a Leading Role for his portrayal of Kyle. “American Sniper” was snubbed at the Golden Globes, with no nominations in any category.

A Georgetown University alum, Cooper was spotted dining at Café Milano on Prospect Street after the screening. The restaurant is somewhat of a haunt for Cooper, who was last seen there in 2010 with then-girlfriend Renée Zellweger. [gallery ids="101970,135654,135643,135656,135648" nav="thumbs"]

Georgetowner • January 16, 2015

Friends of DryBar met model Molly Sims, whose new book, “The Everyday Supermodel, Molly Sims,” offers “beauty, fashion, wellness secrets made simple.” DryBar Bethesda was the place to be for advice and bubbly on Jan. 8.

Gary Tischler •

As I settled into my top of the back seat at the Keegan Theatre, looking at the gathered members of the tribe as they lolled on a couch, did practice runs on a rope, hugged or high-fived in vests and bluejeans and with various tropes of hair—Afros big and small, long-to-the midriff female, long to the midriff male—I got a sinking feeling.

Maybe this was truly and finally the beginning of the end of the Age of Aquarius. After all, it’s a long way—way more than 40 years from the Age of the Hippies to the Age of the Millennials and all the generations in between. Watching the opening moments of the Keegan Theatre’s high-energy production of “Hair” seemed at the beginning to be a little oppressive, as if my peace-and-love generation genes had curdled like month-old milk.

I suspect that how an audience member reacts to this production—or any production—of “Hair” depends more and more as time goes by to the time gone by. I saw my first production of “Hair” in 1972 in San Francisco, which is ground zero for the play’s setting at the height of the anti-war, free love and peace explosion. I saw it again years later at the Studio’s intimate 2nd Stage setting where I remember a middle-aged man explaining things to his daughter at intermission. I saw it again more recently, when a revival’s national tour, zippy as all get-out with kilo-watt charisma stars hit the Kennedy Center.

I suspect this production looks different to today’s young people who may think they’ve seen and done everything, at least on their phones. This generation, which seems less addled by issues of racial differences and totally not shocked by anything to do with drugs, sex or rock-and-roll, might wonder what all the fuss was about.

I wondered a little as well, until the show and its performers hit their stride. This was and remains a rowdy, one-of-a-kinder and with the rank of first semi-rock-and-roll musical that calmly, sweetly proposes ideas that there are no boundaries in matters of sex in such songs as “Hashish,” “Sodomy” and the spunky “Black Boys (White Boys) Are Delicious,” the celebratory “Hair” and “Ain’t Go No (Grass).” True, there’s nudity, and it looks like a modest lineup of good-looking young men and women briefly spied or seen with no harm and some good done.

This play—it’s a long haul at two-and-a-half hours—is meant to work like a be-in, a celebration, but its heart is in the bitter cloud of the Viet Nam War and the adrenalin-rush discovery of drug, sex and rock-and-roll. Thus: Berger, a charismatic, defiant rogue who still operates at an ironic distance, the hapless, hopeful and hopeless Claude, the passionate Sheila in a triangle, where no one quite connects.

Keegan has taken some risks with this and enlarged its ambition, too, with 30 or more performers on stage in an example of “Occupy Keegan,” and it doesn’t stint in energy and ability. What’s evident in this production is that this tribe lives its beliefs as best as it can. It’s a gutsy explosion into an all-out embrace of not just tolerating the other, but of moving in with him or her at an intimate level.

This “Hair” is also often choreographed with great precision to within an inch of its life—the kind of movement theater that barely resembles the sloppiness and disorganization of a hippie gathering.

Hats off here to: Christian Montgomery as the sweet-natured Woof; Paul Kanlan as the struggling Claude, stuck between the world he knows and the world he loves and unable to avoid making a tough decision; the high-end charisma of Josh Sticklin as Berger and Caroline Wolfson as a sexy, appealing real-life woman as opposed to type.

There’s some 40 songs: numbers or even short-lived snippets that burst out or erupt in this show. Most of them aim directly for the heart, others a lot lower, and some of them at the area of persona that’s ticked off about the way things are, where they’re heading or for that matter where they’ve been. Like a lot of idealistic, half-formed and not fully realized dreams, the tribe bleeds and grieves—but always jumps and fondles and sings and cries out.

The show itself could do with a little trimming, most especially the long historical-political little play-acting on American history themes. It is and comes off as too obvious, too polemic and a potential show stopper.

But, yeah, let the sun shine in—by all means necessary.

The remaining performances of HAIR are SOLD OUT.

If you would like to waitlist for tickets, please email boxoffice@keegantheatre.com

Robert Devaney •

The 2014 Leukemia Ball presented by PhRMA—one of Washington, D.C.’s largest non-political, black-ties—raised nearly $3 million for the fight against leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma. At least 2,000 attendees danced the night away to the music of Huey Lewis and the News and enjoyed a comedic performance by Ryan Hamilton at the Washington Convention Center March 22. [gallery ids="116953,116946,116958" nav="thumbs"]

Georgetowner •

Clicked — “Connect, inspire, achieve” — which sets dinners for leading professionals, met March 12 at Rialto Restaurant on M Street. The group likens itself to a “traveling country club.” [gallery ids="101684,144122,144126" nav="thumbs"]