Arts & Society

Gary Tischler • November 25, 2013

Friday, November 22, will be day of remembering all over Washington, D.C., and the country and the world, but especially here in a city full of venues and cultural institution which will dedicate themselves to commemorating and remembering the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas.

Among the numerous screenings, talks, exhibitions and the like, the screening of a 50-year-old movie about Kennedy, his legacy and his death and funeral with a talk by its producer might not seem like such a big deal.

But the 3 p.m. screening of “John F. Kennedy: Years of Lightning, Day of Drums,” and an introduction and discussion by its producer George Stevens, Jr., is a big deal. The film—a documentary written and directed by Bruce Herschensohn, produced by Stevens and created in the immediate aftermath of the assassination for the U.S. Information Agency—has not been seen in years. An expertly restored version of the film, narrated by Gregory Peck, is now available as a DVD.

“I hadn’t seen it myself for a number of years,” said Stevens, a noted film and television director, producer of the Kennedy Center Honors and founder of the American Film Institute, “The negative was lost, God only knows how. The prints from an inter-positive negative, I think—which I did see—were smudged, cracked, awful. I didn’t think it could ever be restored properly, but the people at Warner Brothers who restored “Giant,” which was directed by my father George Stevens, did a remarkable job of restoration. When I saw it, it was an amazing experience for me.”

Stevens, who was then head of the film department of the USIA, proposed the project to its director Edward R. Murrow. “At the time, we had never made a feature length film before,” Stevens said. “We used 35-millimeter color film in filming the funeral and the internment and the lighting of the eternal flame, and I still recall how vivid the colors were, how real everything seemed, even today. We did not have color television yet at time. Looking at it for the first time in a long time, I was amazed how energizing the color was.”

The structure of the film began with the inauguration speech, went to the somber days of the funeral, and went back and forth among the administration’s major achievements, including the creation of the Peace Corps, the Alliance for Progress, the Civil Rights Movement, the U.S. space initiative, the Cuban missile crisis, and efforts at world peace with the signing of the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and back to the funeral. All through the film, you see the president and his family, mostly, the president in crowds, the president on his trip to his ancestral homeland in Ireland and the president in Costa Rica among cheering crowds.

The narration by the familiar (to an older generation) voice of Peck seems in spots old-fashioned, with the imagery rooted firmly in its time and places. It has a grieving, but also idealistic tone and feel to it, a documentary made by a wounded heart clasping hope for a permanent legacy to its bosom. It is a documentary in the sense that everything in it is real—and therefore powerful and moving—but it is a documentary which embraced the president’s pragmatic idealism, fueled by grief and dashed dreams.

“We sent camera crews to 14 countries to capture the world’s reaction,” Stevens said. “By law, we were not supposed to be allowed to screen for American public consumption, since the agency created material for overseas consumption. But the congress passed a special law allowing this film to be distributed in the United States in 1964. There was a screening at the State Department, which the New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther attended, and he praised the film in the highest terms.”

“I don’t what the box office results were, but I think it did very well and it was popular,” Stevens said.

“You know that it is a film very much of its times,” he said. “But Kennedy, he seems so real in it, he speaks very much to us still. I have my own feelings about what might have happened and I think the country as a whole would have been better for that. He had a quality. He inspired men and women to do, not just to dream, to change the world through action.”

That ability to inspire on the part of Kennedy—and his much-lauded humor– comes through in the film, he might as well be alive so vivid are the scenes of his speech at the inauguration, after entering in the wake of top-hatted Ike and Nixon, his reception in Costa Rica, the gladness of it all, and the sheer happiness on display among the crowds all over Ireland.

What makes the film truly powerful—you can scrutinize it all you want for flaws or cinematic style, but no matter—is its artlessness. It is not seamless, the language is often culturally and socially anachronistic, things move too swiftly in the funeral procession of the mighty led by Charles De Gaulle. But it’s not presenting art. Viewed from this distance by people who were alive then and have echoes in their heads about the day of drums, it’s almost shattering to see Caroline—now the U.S. Ambassador to Japan—along with Jackie, Ted and Robert, and, John, Jr., saluting. Viewing this is knowing the rest of the story, which is the story of our lives.

On Friday, Nov. 22, there will be noon and 3 p.m screenings of the film at the American History Museum; George Stevens will speak at the 3 p.m. showing.

Gary Tischler •

Singing in America is once again a really big deal. From voice competitions on network television ranging across vocal genres, to the critical importance of singers in opera, to “Glee” on television and Broadway musicals where big, rangy voices, which are the hallmarks of shows like “Wicked,” are in demand.

It’s entirely fitting then that the Kennedy Center is presenting an unprecedented three-day (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) festival of voices and singing, called “American Voices.” It’s equally appropriate that soprano Renee Fleming, one of the premiere American and world-class singers will be moderating, curating and leading the festival.

“Everywhere in our country’s popular culture—from ‘Glee’ and ‘106 &Park’ to ‘American Idol,’ ‘The Voice’ and ‘Nashville,’ at sporting events and national ceremonies—the art of singing is suddenly center stage. This festival will explore, across a range of genres, the artistry, business, technology, pedagogy and community of American singing,” Fleming said.

The festival will also feature some of the top vocalists and singers in the country, holding master sessions and performing in the centerpiece “American Voices” concert, 8 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 23, at the Kennedy Center. In addition, there will be several symposiums on a variety of subjects, concerning music and singing in America today.

Fleming will also be a part of the “American Voices” concert, featuring Sara Bareilles, Kim Burrell, Kurt Elling, Ben Folds, Sutton Foster, Josh Groban, Alison Krauss, Norm Lewis, Eric Owens and Dianne Reeves with the National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Steven Reineke.

Heading master sessions will be Eric Owens on classical music at 2 p.m., Friday, Nov. 22; Dianne Reeves on jazz at 8 p.m., Friday, Nov. 22; Alison Krauss on country music at 10 a.m., Saturday, Nov. 23; Ben Folds on pop music at 3:30 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 23; Sutton Foster on musical theater at 11 a.m., Sunday, Nov. 24; Kim Burrell on Gospel at 3 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 24. Fleming will head a Sunday wrap-up session. All master sessions will be held in the Terrace Theater and will be moderated by Fleming.

There will also be symposiums in the Atrium: “Vocal Health and Illness: Insights into the Past, Present and Future,” 4:30 p.m, Friday, Nov. 22; “The Business of Technology of Popular Singing Today”, 1:30 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 23; “Voice Training Today” 1:30 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 24.

There will also be free performances at the center’s Millennium Stage by the jazz vocal group Afro Blue and Washington National Opera’s Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist’s Program Friday, 6 p.m., Friday, Nov. 22; Gospel singer Vanessa WIlliams and the country band Mama Tried, 6 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 23, and musical theater performer Erin Driscoll and multi-instrumentalist Jon Carroll, 6 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 24.

Georgetowner • November 21, 2013

On Nov. 13 at the historic Howard Theatre, Comcast held an exclusive screening of Universal Pictures’ “The Best Man Holiday.” The evening began with a discussion with writer, director, and producer Malcolm D. Lee and was hosted hosted by MSNBC’s Tamron Hall.

Event designer Andre Wells created a lovely atmosphere with fresh popped popcorn, childhood candy favorites and cocktails that made the viewing into one to be remember.

Robert Devaney • November 18, 2013

The 10th Annual Living in Pink Luncheon & Boutique was held Nov. 1 at the Fairmont Hotel and honored Rachel Brem, M.D., of the George Washington University School of Medicine and presented the Noel Soderberg-Evans Award to Carolyn R. “Bo” Aldigé, who founded the Prevent Cancer Foundation in 1985 in memory of her father, Edward P. Richardson, who died of cancer one year earlier.

Councilman Jack Evans presented the Soderberg-Evans Award, named in honor of his first wife Noel who died of cancer in 2003, to Aldigé. Evans noted that the award is crafted in the image of a Monarch butterfly, by which Noel asked her three children to remember her. In her acceptance speech, Aldigé echoed the butterfly theme, saying a butterfly landed on her father’s casket during his burial. There were few dry eyes in the room with that remark.

Guest speaker Pamela Peeke, M.D., chief medical correspondent for Discovery Health Television, spoke of the “Hero’s Journey,” as explained by mythologist Joseph Campbell, an archetype aptly tied to those afflicted by the scourge of cancer.

Emcee Greta Kreuz, news anchor for ABC 7/ WJLA-TV kept things moving with her witty asides.

Watching over it all was hostess Michele Conley, a two-time breast cancer survivor herself, and founder of Living in Pink, which is dedicated to aiding breast cancer research. Since its inception in 2004, Living in Pink contributions have helped fund a variety of local and national research endeavors to further the prevention and treatment of breast cancer.

Gary Tischler •

With “Love in Afghanistan,” playwright Charles Randolph Wright has written a play that covers a lot of bases and touchstone. It’s contemporary, while dealing with centuries-old customs. It’s got the familiar “Romeo and Juliet” and “Madame Butterfly” elements in it. It’s a play about the differences between men and women, Americans and Afghans, love and commitment or love versus commitment.

On the surface or at first glance, “Love in Afghanistan”—at the Cradle at Arena Stage—also appears to have powerful, original characters: Roya, a young Afghan woman, committed to working for her countrywomen, and Sayeed, her sophisticated, urbane and cosmopolitan father, both of them living among the Americans, working as interpreters. Then, there’s Duke, a swaggering, super-charming pop, rap and hip-hop star, here to entertain the troops, and his mother Desiree, a high-power business woman, living in Dubai.

At first, it’s a tale of boy-meets-girl, boy-wants-girl, girl is charmed but resists the American pop star with a keen sense of entitlement. He pushes, she yields, a little, until she finally agrees, pretending to lead him to a man that would act as his guide in a trip to Kabul, which is out of bounds for the visiting super star. The guide is actually Roya, resorting to her habit as a child of dressing up as a boy to get work and help her family, a centuries-old practice called bacha posh.

Stopping for coffee, they almost become the victims of a terrorist bombing, which, since it involved Duke, makes unwanted headlines.

The halting, push-and-pull courtship of Roya, who is dedicated to the cause of Afghan women’s rights has its charms, as does Duke. However, Duke is more about what he wants, than who he wants, going to great lengths to help Roya and her father, including a trip to Dubai where some things that you might expect to happen don’t, and some that you don’t expect do.

In a play that features a pop star and a cultured father in the leads, it’s ironic that the women are the most memorable, appealing characters. They understand each other and protect each other. The men, when push comes to shove, revert to being men. The results of the play’s dramatics tend to diminish the male characters, and there’s a failure to communicate here that doesn’t quite seem believable.

Khris Davis as Duke is all way cool swagger, high energy, a kind of irresistible force that is very resistible when it comes to Roya. She’s obviously a little smitten, and she, in a nod to the irresistible force that is American hip hop and video, is familiar with the young man’s work. Duke, having been raised in the Gold Coast neighborhood of Washington, D.C., is having a hard time with his second album generating street cred. He sees Roya as a kind of object of his determined affection—at best, someone in need of his generosity and help. Oddly, the father concurs in the end.

Old prejudices and habits die hard here and makes the play a kind of halting affair. But not altogether—and that’s thanks to the remarkable actress Melis Aker, who makes Roya an unforgettable character, a strong young woman, aware of the risks, even fearful of them, busy committed to who she is. That kind of commitment may not be apparent to Duke, but Aker makes it real for the audience.

Robert Devaney •

It isn’t easy being Ta’Rea Campbell these days, but it sure sounds like a lot of fun.

Campbell—who has had so far an impressive career in Broadway-style musical theater that might take some folks the better part of a lifetime to achieve—is starring in the national tour of “Sister Act,” the hit Broadway musical take on the popular 1992 Whoopi Goldberg comedy. Campbell plays, and Whoopi played a diva on the lam from the mob who enters a San Francisco convent and makes it a hideout. Laughter then—and laughter and music now—ensued.

The show is now at the Kennedy Center’s Opera House through Nov. 10 as part of an extended tour that’s a hectic pace for Campbell, who’s starred in “The Lion King,” “The Book of Mormon” and “Aida” among other hit shows.

“I have to admit this so far in my career has been the most challenging thing I’ve ever done,” the Philadelphia native said. “It’s hard work, but it’s fun because the role is so much fun. And when we were doing rehearsals, I met Whoopi who was looking in. She was the most fun, the nicest, most helpful person, just couldn’t be better. I admire her a whole lot, but you can’t just imitate her. You have to find your own way in it, how it relates to you. Seeing her in ‘The Color Purple’ and the movie itself inspired me to want to become an actress.”

“You know what it is,” she said. “This is it. This is me. There’s a lot of responsibility there, you expend a lot of energy. In “The Lion King,” I was only on stage for less than an hour. Here, I’m on stage pretty much all of the time. That’s work.”

But Campbell sounds like the optimist, glass-half-full or probably mostly full type, and she’s been wowing them all across the country. The biggest wow probably occurred in April in Philadelphia, where the show played there for a short run. “That’s my hometown,” Campbell said. “That’s where I grew up. Everybody I knew came, my family, everybody. Here’s the thing: because the show’s setting has been changed from Las Vegas to Philadelphia, the first line of the show is naturally ‘Hello, Philadelphia.’ That was kind of a big line for me.”

Campbell started out wanting to be a dramatic actress. “I still want to do that, but you know, in this business, things happen,” she said. “You can’t envision the future. Everybody’s got dreams. Mine were a little different. I studied acting, but ended up in musical theater, which has been an amazing experience.”

“What’s great about this show for me is that I can do everything in it—sing (disco, gospel). I can clown it. I can act. So, it’s kind of perfect.”

“I’ve been blessed,” Campbell said. “My boyfriend, who’s a musician, he’s a violinist, and I got engaged. He’s working in New York where I live. I get to take Stevie, my beautiful Chihuahua-Beagle mix with me. Stevie is great company.”

“Sister Act” features a score by Alan Menke and is directed by Broadway veteran Jerry Zaks.

Robert Devaney •

You may have already viewed President George Washington’s proclamation that created the first federal Thanksgiving Day in 1789. This piece of American history was on a national tour by Christie’s and stopped at the Jefferson Hotel Nov. 4. It is now on the auction block at Christie’s New York at Rockefeller Plaza. If you are in midtown Manhattan, you still have time to see it and make a bid.

Here are some details from Christie’s: “On Nov. 14, in a special single-lot evening sale, Christie’s New York is honored to offer a proclamation signed by George Washington on October 3, 1789, establishing the first federal Thanksgiving Day, called for the last Thursday of November (estimate: $8 to12 million). This sale, which follows a national tour, offers a unique opportunity to acquire a foundational document in the history of our great national tradition of Thanksgiving.”

Here are excerpts from President Washington’s proclamation:

“• By the President of the United States of America, a Proclamation…

• …both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer…

• Now therefore do I recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being…That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks–for… the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed–for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted–for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge…”

Marie Loiseau • November 15, 2013

Artist’s Proof, a gallery with a unique compilation of artists and styles, opened Oct. 19 in Cady’s Alley.

The gallery is dedicated mostly to contemporary art, but it really does not cater to a particular style. Instead, its main focus is the stories shared by the artists.

Gallery owner Peggy Sparks, who knows each artist personally, places the utmost emphasis on the stories behind the works. She will lead gallery guests through the space, passionately explaining the personal journey of each artist. ”It’s not just art on white walls,” says Sparks. ”It’s a conversation.”

The pieces within Artist’s Proof range from geometric to chaotic and black and white to explosively colorful. There are two-dimensional works on canvas and three-dimensional wooden and bronze pieces. The place currently carries works by a variety of international artists, including Jean-Francois Debongnie, Hunter Hogan, and Fred BergerCardi.

Before settling in Washington, D.C., a year ago, Sparks took time to visit the major art cities of the United States, spending extra time in Boulder, Colo. She’s worked internationally in cities such as Shanghai, Dubai, and her homeland of Singapore.

Sparks has worked in the art world for the past ten years. She didn’t expect to end in this industry, having originally studied linguistics. But when she took a job in an art gallery upon graduating college, she ”starting falling in love with the works.”

Since her move to Washington, D.C., Sparks has worked on the gallery opening.

”This is the fastest I could get it open,” she says, adding that she is concerned more about the guest’s in-gallery experience, rather than the amount of pieces a guest ends up purchasing. Her first and most important goal, she says, is for ”people to leave the gallery with their hearts filled.”

Sparks plans to hold an event on Dec. 8, she says, tentatively called ”Lazy Sunday.” Mosey on over to Artist’s Proof, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., that day, for art appreciation and adult beverages.

Gary Tischler • November 11, 2013

Everyone knows about three of the most famous ballets in the world—“The Nutcracker,” “Swan Lake” and “Sleeping Beauty,” all of which are set to the gorgeous, astonishing music of Pyotr Tchaikovsky and are 19th-century dance and music creations of surpassing magic.

Now, “Sleeping Beauty” is at the Kennedy Center’s Opera House Nov. 12 through 17, but it is not just Tchaikovsky’s “Sleeping Beauty.”

It is now squarely “Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty,” which is to say that it is the work of the renowned, very cool and very different British choreographer and his New Adventures company, which returns with memories of his 2007 visit with his dance version of “Edward Scissorhands” still fresh in the minds and imaginations of those who saw it.

Bourne, a former dancer, set out on his own to create and re-create different, stranger and all the while more accessible versions of classics—his “Swan Lake” featured all-male swans and his “Nutcracker!” with the exclamation point promised renewed energy. Bourne’s “Sleeping Beauty” is right on time in the age where our interest in all matters romantic and gothic, including the undead and vampires, seems never quite to peak, what with a new “Dracula” a hit on network television.

“Sleeping Beauty”, with its fairy tale of the princess who, along with her kingdom, is put under a spell that puts everything to sleep for years and years, only to be awakened by the kiss of a prince, seems in the telling, an old children’s tale, romantic but also, well, a little sleepy. But Bourne, never shy about changing things, has set his version—still with the great music—in the fin-de-siecle turn of the 19th into the 20th century, when interests in fairies and vampires, and gothic horror tales were the passion of high-style Europeans, to begin with. Bourne’s version moves through time, from fin-de-siecle, through the Edwardian age until Princess Aurora wakes up more or less in our present day.

Mary Bird • November 7, 2013

On Sept. 1, artistic director Jameson Freeman hosted an intimate fall preview for the non-profit organization For a Better Understanding of Mankind, also known as FABUM, at his and Dana Tai Soon Burgess’s home in the Palisades. The evening gave a sneak peek into future plans as the organization launches its third year of “original performance projects and artistic programming that explore the human condition.” FABUM’s most recent project, a walk-through theatrical experience, entitled “Dream Wedding,” was produced in June and its youth program “has expanded dramatically with new curriculum and mentors” since launching last year.
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