Arts & Society

Mary Bird • October 10, 2013

At one p.m. on Oct. 6, Georgetown’s finest pooches and their proud people gathered on the sunny lawn of St. John’s Church on O Street for the annual blessing that honors St. Francis of Assisi. This year they were joined by the Hood family’s two African pigmy hedgehogs, Daisy and Aphrodite. Being on hallowed ground, the manners of two and four-footers alike were impeccable as Associate Rector Sarah Duggin led the hymn All Things Bright and Beautiful. She and Interim Rector W. Bruce McPherson conducted the brief service which ended in individual blessings. [gallery ids="118781,118765,118803,118774,118789,118809,118814,118797" nav="thumbs"]

Robert Devaney •

Amid scenes of the Paris opera house and Eiffel Tower, the Wolf Trap Ball Sept. 21 — under the patronage of Ambassador of France Francois Delattre and his wife Sophie L’Helias-Delattre — moved elegantly into songs, dining and dancing despite the evening’s downpours. On stage in front of the opera house backdrop, built by the Wolf Trap Opera Company production team, soprano Mireille Asselin sang “Juliette’s Waltz.” Ball co-chairs Karen Schaufeld spoke of the power of music and memory and Sean O’Keefe thanked major sponsor Airbus and saluted the U.S.-France partnership, which Delattre said has “never been stronger than … today.” It was the first ball for the new boss, Wolf Trap’s President and CEO Arvind Manocha. The gala-goers stayed to dance to the likes of “I Got a Feeling” and “Blurred Lines.” The ball raised more than $1 million — a record — for Wolf Trap. [gallery ids="101464,152966,152976,152972,152960,152980" nav="thumbs"]

Gary Tischler • October 7, 2013

Tom Clancy, author of dozens of mega-million best-sellers sharpened by his knowledge of high-tech military gadgetry that often made him seem like a prescient consultant of the future, died at 66 this week, just as his next best-seller (no question about it) that features his hero Jack Ryan was set to be published in December.

By profession, Clancy was an insurance man, although, after his success, he often liked to dress in a style that screamed ex-military, even though illness kept him from serving. What he ended up being was neither insurance man nor intelligence officer nor GI Joe, but the kind of writer of block-buster novels that endeared him to millions of readers, probably most of whom are men.

With his money, he managed at one point to buy a tank all his own, and I supposed he was entitled. He probably would be the first to say he wasn’t writing literature, but he does belong right up there, in contemporary terms, with Stephen King, John Grisham, and later David Baldacci and others, even Joe Patterson, who is not so much an author but a machine and a factory all rolled into one.

Clancy’s first book, about a rogue Soviet submarine on the loose in the dark days of the Cold War during the Reagan Administration was published by the Naval Institute Press, a small publishing house located fittingly in Annapolis, specializing in naval history of all sorts, but never in fiction. Clancy’s price for “The Hunt For the Red October” was $5,000, which wouldn’t cover train fare to a submarine base in California these days.

Lots of folks discovered Clancy, including President Ronald Reagan, who put it on his reading list. Clancy never had to sell another insurance policy after that. “Red October” was made into a major Hollywood movie that starred Alec Baldwin, and Sean Connery as the Russian sub commander. It was the kind of movie Hollywood did really well—not so far removed from humanity like the Stallone, Schwarzenegger and Willis movies of the time, let alone Chuck Norris. It was filled with action, populated with interesting characters, starring top stars and made with no expenses paid. You didn’t have to be embarrassed watching them.

This is something Clancy’s work had in common with that of King and Grisham—their books made great thoroughly professional and entertainingly first-class movies. Baldwin played Jack Ryan, and then gave up the part to Harrison Ford in two other excellent Clancy books that become films: “Patriot Games” and “Clear and Present Danger.” Later, Ben Affleck played a younger version of ryan with Morgan Freeman as his mentor, and Baltimore hit by a nuclear bomb in “The Sum of All Fears.” Chris Pine stars in “Jack Ryan: Shadow One,” opening December. Ryan, in subsequent novels, rose to become President of the United States.

Those books became great movies—as good as Stephen King’s many movie version of his novels (except for Nicholson in “The Shining”) as good as Grisham films of his books like “The Firm” or “The Pelican Brief.”

Clancy—like the best of story tellers if not the best writer like a Faulkner or even a King—invented a kind of history, a whole world that looked and sounded familiar, what with the weaponry, the conspiratorial battle of armies and intelligence services, and he created heroes who behaved like heroes.

That’s not a bad legacy.

There’s a picture in the Washington Post tribute which shows Clancy in a room thick with wall-to-wall books, reading one of them (we know not which). Chances are that the book was written by someone else, and so were the ones in the room. Patterson, on the other hand, could fill the room full of his own books, something that would probably never have occurred to Clancy.

Neshan Naltchayan • October 3, 2013

The opening of Opera Ultra Lounge. [gallery ids="99229,103579,103595,103591,103584,103587" nav="thumbs"]

Robert Devaney • October 2, 2013

The 2013 Georgetown Gala — the annual black tie Citizens Association of Georgetown event that brings together more than 350 guests, neighbors, sponsors and politicos to celebrate Georgetown and CAG’s mission of historic preservation and improving the life of the community — will be held Oct. 18 and will honor Herbert and Patrice Miller. 

As this is the Year of Italian Culture in the U.S., the event will be held for the first time at the stunning Italian Embassy on Whitehaven Street. Ambassador and Mrs. Claudio Bisogniero will be honorary chairs. The Venetian Carnivale masked ball features a refined Italian dinner buffet, fabulous entertainment, unique live auction items, a hip after party and more. 

The honorees, Herbert and Patrice Miller are long-time Georgetown residents and patrons. In 1967, Herb Miller founded Western Development Corporation, a Washington D.C.-based real estate development and management organization with a 44-year history of innovative mixed-use development. Of particular interest to Georgetown, WDC has been involved in the Georgetown Park retail development, as well as the beautification of Washington Harbor. The Millers were Georgetown residents for decades until this past April when they sold their Federal-style row house on N Street.  The gala committee agreed: “We couldn’t let them leave without a proper goodbye.” 

Gala co-chairs Colleen Girouard and Robin Jones are making exciting changes to the evening’s program. For the first time in the history of the gala, the formal event will be followed by an after party with dancing until 1 a.m., to be hosted and attended by the younger set of Georgetown. The evening’s entertainment will include guests serenaded by opera performers upon arrival, the D.C. Love Band playing dance music during cocktails and dinner, followed by DJ Adrian Loving, upping the tempo and getting everyone  dancing . Floral décor will once again be coordinated by Fabio Ripoli of Georgetown’s own Ultra Violet. His take on the Venetian Carnivale theme will be cutting edge.

Live auction items include a week in a luxury apartment in Florence, three nights in Siena and an exceptional view of the world renowned Palio Di Siena horse race, donated by Simone Bemporad at Bemporad and Associates, the popular Scavenger Hunt Dinner Adventure, an opulent Four Seasons package, an Ermenegildo Zegna Made-to-Measure suit, donated by Ermenegildo Zegna, and “Skin Is In” Men’s and Women’s revolutionary treatment packages, donated by Tina Alster, M.D., Washington Institute for Dermatological Laser Surgery. 

The gala’s honorary chairs are Ambassador and Mrs. Claudio Bisogniero, D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, Selwa “Lucky” Roosevelt, Senator and Mrs. Joseph Lieberman, John J. DeGioia, president of Georgetown University, author Kitty Kelley and entrepreneur and philanthropist Mark Ein.

Sponsors, as of Sept. 17, include Capital Asset Management Group, Manhattan Construction Company, Beasley Real Estate, Long & Foster-Exclusive Affiliate of Christie’s International, Nancy Taylor Bubes of Washington Fine Properties,  Clyde’s Restaurant Group, Georgetown University, the Levy Group, Jamestown Properties, Western Development Corporation, Vornado Realty Trust, Coldwell Banker Georgetown, Georgetown University Hospital, M.C. Dean, Inc., Securitas Security Services USA, Creel Printing – Digital Lizard, EagleBank, the Georgetowner, Bruce & Shelley Ross-Larson, CDI, PNC Mortgage and the Georgetown Current. 

One of the “Community Pillars” to be noted for the gala is Manhattan Construction, a privately held company in its fourth generation of Rooney family ownership. It is ranked in the top 50 largest construction companies in America. Founded in 1896, Manhattan has been building major projects in Washington for over 30 years. The company history includes legacy works like the Capitol Visitors Center and Dallas Cowboys Stadium. The company has a deep commitment to Georgetown and the owner, Ambassador Francis Rooney, is not only a graduate of Georgetown Prep, Georgetown University and Georgetown University Law Center, but he and his wife Kathleen are also new neighbors in the Georgetown community. Another Georgetown neighbor, James Lee, runs the company’s regional construction operation and is president of Rooney Properties, a real estate investment and development division. 

For more information, visit the CAG website — www.CAGtown.org — or contact the CAG office.

Robert Devaney •

The Georgetown Business Association said goodbye to summer and hello to fall Sept. 18 near the banks of the Potomac at the newly opened Malmaison Restaurant at 34th & K Streets. The group looks to enlarge its membership and extend its advocacy of all things Georgetown this coming season. [gallery ids="101470,152901,152893,152896,152907,152905" nav="thumbs"]

Gary Tischler •

The folks with “Million Dollar Quartet” announced on Twitter that it was one city down for the start of its national tour after taking down the house at the Pullo Center in York, Pa. Next stop: the Kennedy Center for an encore performance.

That explained why we were talking by phone last week to John Countryman, the 24-year-old newbie in the cast of the show, in York. “Million Dollar Quartet,” the Tony Award-winning Broadway show about a one-of-a-kind get-together of legends on Dec. 4, 1956, at the Sun Records Studio of producer Sam Phillips in Memphis, stars Tyler Hunter as Elvis Presley, Scott Moreau as Johnny Cash, James Barry as Carl Perkins and Countryman as Jerry Lee Lewis. The latest actor to play Lewis, Countryman’s had changed dramatically this year in a very short time.

Countryman, who played piano and sung with a still active rock group, “The Dirty Names,” had auditioned for the role of Lewis, the piano-riffing, rock-and-rolling notorious rocker of “Great Balls of Fire” and “Whole Lot of Shakin’ Going On” fame and understudied a short stint in Chicago. “I auditioned again but I hadn’t heard anything so I kinda thought nothing was happening,” he said. By then, “I had to get a job, I was working in a bank.”

And Countryman got married. He and his wife Jennice were on their honeymoon when he got the call making him the next Jerry Lewis.

“It was crazy,” he said. “It was a dream come true. It was—you can’t imagine. I mean talk about changing your life around. But once, we all got together, this thing became like a family—like everybody looks out for everybody else.”

Countryman had been a fan of Lewis every since he started listening to the music when his mom played golden oldies. “That’s sort of how I got into all that kind of music,” he said. “You get a real sense of how rich it all is. It still rocks, and I love playing the music, being Jerry Lee. The killer. It’s just a great experience, an amazing show.”

What is original about the show—which, by the by, was directed by Signature Theater Artistic Director Eric Schaeffer –is that the lead performers—Countryman, Hunter, Moreau and Barry, play live on stage. The audience experience is one of being—if you use imagine or your memory, whatever the case may be—in the presence of legends. It’s like a live concert within the framework of a snapshot day in the lives of legends. With a book by Floyd Mutrux and Colin Escott—a rock-and-roll historian and something of an expert on Sun Records—and a salty, authentic-looking set by Derek McLane, “Million Dollar Quartet” catches the protagonists at a critical time. Elvis, who drops in with a girl who also sings, is already well on the way to becoming king of rock and roll. Lewis is a sassy, brassy newcomer who wants to impress Phillips, and Cash is also established. Phillips has already lost one star and is thinking about joining a major recording firm.

All of the stars shine, and the music is as familiar as a really loud lullaby or two—and Countryman gets to blast out “Great Balls of Fire” and “Whole Lot of Shaking Going On” around turns by Perkins, Cash and Elvis—that is, Barry, Moreau and Hunter. “It’s the style and everything,” Countryman said. “It’s how he plays, he had a real talent, because moving around a piano the way he did, like nobody else. That was special and those rolls and everything, man. I love doing this. I love Jerry Lee Lewis, always have, first time I heard him.”

Countryman saw the man who was dubbed “The Killer” a while back. He was much older, and a little battered, moving slowly across the stage. “But, yeah, the minute he got there, the minute he sat at that piano, he killed,” he said. “He was the killer, same guy. He could really play. That’s a good memory.”

“Million Dollar Quartet” is at the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater Sept. 24 through Oct. 6.

Gary Tischler • October 1, 2013

It’s tough to get a vibe going on a conference call. You can’t see anybody. It’s usually strictly business, and people are always interrupting or waiting to say something.

Talking with Sandy Hackett and his wife Lisa Dawn Miller, however, you definitely get a vibe of show-business allure and legend, not to mention talk and memories of Las Vegas and L.A. days and nights, the time of the Rat Pack in Vegas—maybe true stories and the sound of the easy slick slide of cards on green tables.

Hackett and Miller are all about songs and dancing. They come with a glittering show-biz pedigree. Hackett’s father was the late Buddy Hackett, one of the country’s premier comics and comedic actors who was connected by long-standing friendship and work with the Frank Sinatra-led legendary Rat Pack. Miller is the daughter of another legend, world-class Motown songwriter Ron Miller, master of hit and classic songs, who wrote hits for Stevie Wonder, among others.

All of this funnels in like cocktail ingredients as to why we’re having this three-corner, pool-shot conversation. “Sandy Hackett’s Rat Pack Show,” which is at the Music Center at Strathmore tomorrow night, Friday, Sept. 27, at 8 pm.

Both Hackett and Miller hasten to say that the Rat Pack Show is not a tribute show. It is a kind of theater piece, a flamboyant recreation of a time in the 1960s, when the so-called Rat Pack centered around Frank Sinatra, featuring Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Joey Bishop and others—and depending on the night and time—graced Las Vegas with its presence and put on memorable entertainments at the Sands Casino.

“There are a lot of tribute shows around, truth be told,” Hackett said. “But we’re doing something different.” Hackett said of the show which ” . . . we’ve been doing about four years or so now. This is a theatrical production which lets folks get a sense of what it might have been like to see the Rat Pack live on stage in 1960.”

Miller and Hackett put together and wrote a show based on their own knowledge and experience. Hackett grew up around members of the pack, including Joey Bishop, who was the last surviving member. “To me, Bishop was Uncle Joey,” Hackett said. “He was the one that wrote most of the material, the comedy material, that gave things some sense.”

Back in 1960, the Rat Pack—there was no official membership—was a kind of Hollywood designation of what was then a group of very cool persons, headed by the very cool Sinatra, whose song stylings sold millions of albums and who was a major and often talked-and-gossipped-about movie star as well as a friend of JFK by way of Peter Lawford. The Pack included the gifted Sammy Davis, Jr., the seemingly always-in-the sauce Dean Martin, Bishop, Lawford and, sometimes, Shirley MacLaine.

“People thought this was a long-standing, yearly thing as far as the Vegas thing goes,” Hackett said. “It wasn’t. It lasted a month in 1960 when they were in town filming ‘Ocean’s 11’ [a hit precursor of the current George Clooney-led series of films with Brad Pitt and Matt Damon]. They stayed a month. And at night, they would do this show in the Sands. That was it. But it was memorable, and they were memorable.”

“The show is not a recreation,” said Hackett, who plays Bishop, who was never in the show, but was in the movie. “We’ve added some Miller songs, and the presence of a woman, the one woman Sinatra never forgot.”

By anybody’s guess, that would be the sultry movie star Ava Gardner, with whom Sinatra had a tempestuous, tumultuous, passionate affair in the 1950s which almost ruined him. “I play the woman that Sinatra never forgot,” Miller said. “I get to sing one of my dad’s songs ‘Wasn’t I a Good Time?’ Mind you, we don’t call her Ava. Some people might think it was his wife Nancy or the children whom he loved so much. We let the audience decide.”

Not that the old Sinatra Rat Pack music is neglected. “I Did It My Way,” “Mack the Knife,” “For Once in My Life” and a host of others are heard, sung and remembered in uncanny renderings by the cast, headed by David DeCosta as Sinatra, Doug Starks as Sammy Davis, Jr., Tony Basile as Dean Martin, Sandy Hackett as Joey Bishop and Miller as Frank’s one love. DeCosta, while he can’t be Sinatra, gives him his due and manages to resurrect more than hints of that great voice of experience and confidence, rue mixed with wry and rye.

“We’re all about respect for the music,” Miller said. “I couldn’t help but learn that from my dad. He knew his way around a song. Some of them are part of the show like ‘For Once in My Life.’ So, this is not a tribute show, but part of it is a tribute to the great songs.”

Hackett is working on a book and a show about his father, whose pre-recorded voice (as God, no less) is heard in the show. He would have been right at home in the banter and humor, Rat-Pack style that is audience-involving, brash and irreverent in that cocked-hat, boozy, don’t-give-a-damn but also personal style that characterized any gathering of that legendary group, be it movie, party or showtime, or after-hours bar-time.
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Georgetowner • September 26, 2013

The Kennedy Center Concert Hall burst at the seams Feb. 29, as music lovers delighted in a rare Washington appearance of the Vienna Philharmonic under the baton of Maestro Lorin Mazel. The dazzling program included works by Mozart, Sibelius and Richard Strauss with a wonderful encore of The Blue Danube Waltz. Wells Fargo underwrote the evening which for the fortunate included a post-performance dinner upstairs in the atrium, where WPAS president and CEO Neale Perl welcomed guests. Austrian Ambassador Hans Peter Manz remarked, “I am just the luckiest ambassador you could imagine. I have only been here three months and claim full responsibility for the success of this evening.” [gallery ids="100522,119258,119214,119251,119223,119244,119232,119239" nav="thumbs"]