Arts & Society

Robert Devaney • September 25, 2014

DBGB Kitchen and Bar kicked off its opening with a Sept. 12 food party that will be tough to top. The great food and good, Gallic cheer did not subside. Chef Daniel Boulud, who got his start in Washington, said he was happy to welcome to D.C. The casual French-American restaurant DBGB marks the New York-based chef’s first restaurant in D.C. and is at CityCenter on H Street, NW. On hand were hundreds of Boulud’s friends and admirers — and, of course, his family and his famous chef pals. Boulud said of his D.C. mentor and pioneering chef Jean-Louis Palladin: “He was the finest chef Washington ever had.”
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Robert Devaney •

The entire Behar family was on hand Sept. 18 for a grand opening party for the new Ike Behar store at 2900 M St., NW. The shop has been open for a few months. Founder Ike Behar along with Regina, Steven, Alan and Lawrence Behar greeted friends and clients. [gallery ids="101865,137642" nav="thumbs"]

Gary Tischler • September 18, 2014

It’s already evident that the recent crop of new cultural and art institution leaders who have taken over the reigns at the region’s biggest and most revered institutions are striking some common themes.

You could hear them from Arvind Manocha, who took over as President and CEO at the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts, as he spoke at the Georgetown Media Group’s second Cultural Leadership Breakfast at the venerable George Town Club Sept. 11.

Manocha came to Wolf Trap from a long career in California at the Hollywood Bowl, the “Best Major Outdoor Venue in America,” according to the industry. Additionally, he served previously as the CEO of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Asssociation. Over breakfast, Manocha stated his aim and desire to cooperate with other cultural institutions with regard to both the performing arts and museums.

Wolf Trap and its Filene Center—an outdoor and indoor performance center which began operations in 1971– is the brain child and amazing creation of philanthropist Catherine Filene Shouse. As a performing arts center, it has become an institution in the traditional sense of the word, providing a huge array of performing arts events and concerts, ranging from opera to symphony concerts to recitals to jazz, classic rock and pop concerts. The venue has expanded its interests and that of its audience over the years. It now features the Barns, a more intimate venue that allows Wolf Trap to be a year-round performance arts center.

“Let me tell you, living and working in Los Angeles as I did, you can feel like you’re a little spoiled,” said Manocha, who displayed both enthusiasm for the arts and a sense of humor. “Los Angeles is this huge sprawling place, and I worked at very visible institutions. But I have to say, I was amazed at what a great urban arts community this city and this area has, and we’re so glad to be a part of it.”

To Manocha, the summer programming at Wolf Trap is like a summer festival, and a unique one at that. “It functions like a festival, because it’s a festive atmosphere, and it has this ongoing celebratory nature, but no festival – not Tanglewood, Lalapalooza, the opera festival in Santa Fe – offers such a variety and scale of concerts and events. There is literally something for everybody, for every taste, and it changes every day. Nobody does this in this country on this scale, which, of course, is what we all love about Wolf Trap. It’s a challenge to put this together, to do the kind of programming we do. It never ceases to amaze me. I come from the world of music. So, some of my interests and expertise obviously lie there.”

Manocha was proud of Wolf Trap’s long-standing opera company and opera series, and the fact that it is basically comprised of young artists, who vie to perform, learn and master their craft at Wolf Trap. “The thing that we do that nobody else does is that we guarantee that people in our program will be singing lead roles, not just being a part of the chorus or smaller parts. And it has worked. You should have seen ‘Carmen.’ It was astonishing, and we used a lot of new technology there.”

“We’re also proud of our early education program, the Early Childhood Institute for the Arts, which brings children to Wolf Trap, and lets them be exposed to the arts at an early age.”

Manocha noted that the Filene Center and the Barns hold more than 200 events every year, and that each not only bring regulars back time and time again, but events also attract new audiences.

“That’s the challenge for every institution,” he said. “To bring in new audiences, to continue our regular audiences. I’ve seen and talked with a lot of people who tell me they and their friends and families have been coming here for years, and that’s what we want to continue. We’ve changed some things – there have been pop musicians that seem to come every year, they’re traditions, so sometimes we’ve tried to shift the focus just a little to newer kinds of music, more of this, less of that. We have some advantages – while you have to commit to come out there, it’s a beautiful place, there’s no other arts and cultural experience like it. Our prices are lower for one thing, what with lawn seats and all, it’s accessible. We’re proud of our educational components and you can’t find a more family friendly place anywhere.”

“ ‘Carmen’ is an opera for people who might not go to opera,” he said. “I know lots of people who brought their kids to Wolf Trap this summer, and then the kids had their first experiences with classical music or opera.”

“With ‘Carmen,’ we saw a lot of young people on the lawn, lots more than we’ve ever seen before,” he said. “That’s an encouraging sign. They’d never been there before.

“Of course, you can always spot newcomers. They’re the ones that didn’t bring blankets, wine or food. What a concept—you can picnic on the lawn.”

Manocha said that, in the end, professionals in his business, “try to make things better—our own product, but also the experience that people carry with them after a concert or an event. We want to engender love and trust. We want to have the kinds of programs where everybody—myself included—has at least one to five events at Wolf Trap per year that feel like they’ve been planned especially for them.”
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Peter Murray •

The Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts hosted its annual ball Saturday, Sept. 13. The soiree was held on the stage of the Filene Center and was presented in partnership with the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates. The night’s entertainment, décor and cuisine paid tribute to Emirati culture, with guests smoking hookahs in a makeshift lounge and sporting henna art painted on-site. The event raised more than $1 million for the foundation’s arts and education programs and was well attended by members of the area’s political class, including Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) and Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe. [gallery ids="101854,138212,138208" nav="thumbs"]

Georgetowner • September 15, 2014

The 66th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards was held Aug. 25 at the Nokia Theatre in downtown Los Angeles to salute the best in prime television programming. Comedian Seth Myers was the host. Elizabeth Webster of the District Council attended the show and the L.A. parties. On her own dime, she mixed business with pleasure, seeing her California friends and talking up film production in Washington, D.C. Webster works for At-Large Councilmember Vincent Orange, who is an advocate for small business as well as bringing more film production jobs to the District.

For Webster, one of her favorite moments at the Emmys was Billy Crystal’s tribute to Robin Williams for his many decades in TV. “It was so touching,” she said. At the same time, she said, “I was sorry not to see “House of Cards” and Kevin Spacey win more awards, as they had been nominated in 13 categories.”

Webster and her friends — one of them, Joyce Chow said she just “loved the humor of Sofia Vergara” — checked out most of the parties before and after the awards show, including Entertainment Weekly at Fig & Olive, BAFTA Tea, the post-Emmys Governor’s Ball, the very exclusive Netflix party at Chateau Marmount and the after after VIP Netflix party with the Emmy winners.

Gary Tischler •

That little big show at the National Theatre with the cumbersome title of “Dirty Dancing, the Classic Story on Stage” might just surprise you.

It’s been hanging around a number of years now, touring all over the world, tapping some wellspring of fandom that maybe the world didn’t know existed. That would be the huge following for the original movie in the 1980s, which to date has cleared close to $250 million.

Now, a freshly minted, new-cast version has started its North American tour at the National Theatre, and you know what: it’s a lot of fun.

You remember the old tale. It’s camp time in the summer of 1963—and the irrepressible “Baby,” the youngest of her clan, is at a family camp with her folks and her snooty older sister. Hormones are running wild up here, and the news is very much in the news. Baby is set to join the Peace Corps, and the son of the camp owner is going to Mississippi to join the Freedom Riders.

They’re learning dancing and acting and singing from a crew of pros, chief among them the hot stuff, very buff and cool-named Johnny Castle, a not overly educated working-class guy who’s got the moves of a catnip-for-the-ladies-of-all-ages guy but the wistful heart of dreamer who wants to move up and out. Naturally, Baby is smitten, big time, and a summer romance ensues. Baby’s dad is suspicious of the lower-class Johnny, and then there’s Penny, Johnny’s dance partner and friend, and pregnant by a summer waiter.

This is the stuff of melodrama and soap opera, but just the kind of peppery ingredients, complete with schmaltz, that made a star out of Patrick Swayze as Johnny.

This is a show all about the dancing. The music is provided like a soundtrack with two terrific singers warbling. Jenlee Shallow and Doug Carpenter belt out with big emotion, voice and heart hits, such as “I Had the Time of My Life,” “In The Still of The Night,” “Love Is Strange,” “This Magic Moment” and “Do You Love Me,” backed up by a hard-driving band.

A number of things make this show work: some inventive back projections, an energy and enthusiasm on the part of the whole cast that’s infectious and the three principals.

On that note, let’s hear it for Samuel Pergande, who has the unenviable task of dancing with the ghost of Swayze. He’s no Swayze, but he’s definitely his own Johnny Castle. Ballet-trained (the Joffrey), Pergande can act well enough, but its his own move and stage presence, something on the order of a caged cat, that counts for a lot. The guy has his very own charisma, plus he brings subtle litheness and athleticism to the part, the kind that add grace to grit.

This is a show about dancing, after all, and Jenny Winton, also ballet-trained, in her first road and Broadway-type show, knocks herself and us out with elan, high kicks and struts and blonde elegance.

As “Baby,” Jillian Mueller is by now a natural Broadway baby. She comes from the world of hundreds of auditions, starring in a similar (but not so effective) film-into-show effort, “Flashdance,” of which she was easily the standout. She has a kind of sweaty energy. She’s never going less than all out and full-tilt boogy. Small in build, she’s a giant out there.

You have to remember, too, that Mueller and Pergande—whose Johnny wants to become a legit ballet dancer—have to pretend that they can’t dance certain dances, not an easy thing to bring off.

There’s another factor, and that’s the audience, which seems to be made up of movie fans, the majority of which are women, girls, millennials mixed in with baby boomers and all points in between. Somewhere along the way, they’ve got it all covered with memory, every song, every move, every line, and most of all, they kind of go crazy with the big lift, when Johnny lifts Baby way up high, and the audience erupts. They had the time of their lives, that’s for sure.

“Dirty Dancing” runs through Sept. 14 at the National Theatre.

Robert Devaney •

For those who love rum and love those who love rum, National Rum Day brought a nice mix of people and mixed drinks. First up was media day Aug. 11, catered by the Mason Dixie Biscuit Company, at Project 4 Gallery on U Street. The 4th Annual Rum Day D.C. hosted a three-day celebration for rum lovers with a Rooftop Rum & Smoke Soiree Aug. 14 atop the Graham Hotel, with the multi-destination Rum Runner Party Bus on Aug. 15 and concluded Aug. 16 with the Rum-B-Que at Jack Rose. [gallery ids="101852,138269,138250,138267,138261,138256" nav="thumbs"]

Ari Post • September 11, 2014

Increasingly each September, as the summer folds into a weave of warm rainstorms and cool, damp evenings, the anticipation of a fall art season takes on a palpable tangibility. The arts are inspiring and beautiful, often times joyous, sometimes heartbreaking, They stir something deep within us. In keeping with autumnal sentiments, there is a bracing immediacy, a feeling of here and now, exemplified in the visual arts—something transient but everlasting, the way golden, sun-spattered leaves remain with us long after they fall from their branches. Maybe this is why fall art openings are so popular. Nothing satisfies our craving for life like the sensory immersion of both art and nature.

The Georgetown neighborhood has reemerged in recent years as the most promising gallery scene in the city—Mark Jenkin’s recent Washington Post article, “Galleries Gathering Again in Once Arty Georgetown,” is perhaps the most resounding testament.

This year’s annual “Galleries on Book Hill Fall Art Walk,” on Friday, September 12, along Wisconsin Avenue, could very well be the public art event of the season. This is one not to miss.

Addison/Ripley Fine Art

Joan Belmar: Chords

1670 Wisconsin Ave NW

This exhibition features richly layered works on canvas and paper, in artist Joan Belmar’s first solo exhibition at Addison/Ripley. Belmar pulls inspiration from his Uruguayan heritage to create works that are lyrical and heartfelt. www.AddisonRipleyFineArt.com

Cross Mackenzie Gallery

1675 Wisconsin Ave NW

Drawings by Lyn Horton and ceramics by Maren Kloppmann

Cross Mackenzie Gallery has paired the graphite wall drawings and pen and ink works on paper by Lyn Horton together with elegant black and white porcelain work by Maren Kloppmann. Both artists work chiefly in black and white, and the juxtaposition of the seemingly chaotic and energetic lines of Horton’s drawings with Kloppmann’s quiet, grounded forms creates a harmonious dialogue of form. www.CrossMackenzie.com

Susan Calloway Fine Art

1643 Wisconsin Ave NW

The Light that She Loves: Literary Paintings and Drawings by Maud Taber-Thomaz

Artist Maud Taber-Thomas creates luminous drawings and paintings that embody a loving conversation between different art forms, exploring Victorian and Medieval literature and capturing the vibrant light and color of distant times and places, particularly through the use of portraiture. Trained in classic painting techniques, the artist’s process is tied to past generations, from the Renaissance Tenebrists, to the French Rococo painters, to the Pre-Raphaelites and Impressionist portraitists. www.CallowayArt.com

All We Art

1666 33rd St. NW

All We Art is a new, multidisciplinary space dedicated to promote international cultural exchange through exhibitions, cultural programs and related services, specializing in contemporary art and collaborating with an extensive network of Latin American and international artists. Founded by Luisa Elena Vidaurre and Pablo Brito Altamira, this partnership is a welcome member to the rebirth of Georgetown’s gallery scene. www.AllWeArtStudio.com

Artist’s Proof Gallery

1533 Wisconsin Ave NW

Featured Artist: David Kracov

David Kracov is a sculptor, painter and animator, who has worked on landmark movies such as “The Lion King” and “The Swan Princess.” He has long captured the hearts of young and old alike, with work guided by the ever-evolving nature of pop culture, literature and history. www.AProof.net

Maureen Littleton Gallery

1667 Wisconsin Ave NW

Body/Building

The Maurine Littleton Gallery presents Body/Building, a group exhibit of architecture and art. Featuring the work of Erwin Eisch, Warrington Colescott, Nancy Genn, Sergei Isupov, Iliya Isupov, among many others, the show explores human and architectural forms through Vitreographs (prints made from glass plates), ceramics and glass sculpture, each artist conveying structure and relationships in literal, figurative and poetic terms. www.LittletonGallery.com

Neptune Fine Art

1662 33rd Street NW

Raya Bodnarchuk: Bronze Sculpture

Sculptor Raya Bodnarchuk is known for her clean lines and modernist compositions with a contemporary yet sensitive twist. Her works are included in collections such as the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, and the National Institute of Health, with noted commissions throughout the United States. www.NeptuneFuneArt.com

Robert Brown Gallery

1662 33rd Street NW

A South African Sketchbook: Drawings, Photographs, and Etchings

Five of South Africa’s most acclaimed artists respond to their homeland with honesty, passion, directness, even whimsy. Works by Roger Ballen, Deborah Bell, Willem Boshoff, William Kentridge and Diane Victor. Extremely powerful and evocative, images on display in A South African Sketchbook join the struggle for a better nation. Their impact reaches far beyond South Africa. www.RobertBrownGallery.com

Washington Printmakers Gallery

1641 Wisconsin Ave NW

The Painterly Print Exhibition: Linda Rose Larochelle

This exhibit features a series of monotypes by block print artist Linda Rose Larochelle. Monotypes allow the printmaker to achieve a range of tones, subtle gradations of color, and to take advantage of the spontaneous effects of free flowing inks. In this show, the figurative monotypes are large and expressive with bold colors and patterns reminiscent of Matisse. Many have a touch of whimsy that is sure to be appreciated. www.WashingtonPrintmakers.com [gallery ids="101848,138493,138495,138476,138480,138485,138488" nav="thumbs"]

Mary Bird •

Avid supporters of dance flocked to the Sofitel Hotel for the Diplomats of Dance Society’s “inaugural soiree” in support of D.C.’s Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company and its upcoming tour to Suriname with the U.S. State Department. Ambassador Subhas Mungra of Suriname was an honored guest. The Diplomats of Dance Society foresees an annual event around the dance company’s touring because “Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company brings a much needed cross-cultural perspective to the arts scene.” Burgess was recently named the first Smithsonian choreographer-in-residence at the National Portrait Gallery and will begin a residency at the Kreeger Museum, as well as a partnership with NASA, in 2015.

Gary Tischler • September 10, 2014

Deborah F. Rutter, the new president of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, its first female president, and only the third to hold the post, was in the middle of her first official day at work September 2 when she took time to talk on the phone.
“My office looks terrible. There’s boxes and stuff all over the place,” she said. “We had a staff meeting to meet everyone which was absolutely great. It was a very warm occasion. I was so impressed with the people here, and I’m really looking forward to the daily process of working together.

“Actually, the most important part of the day was of course deciding what my daughter would wear to school,” she said and laughed.

Even in a half hour phone conversation, you get the impression that Rutter doesn’t stand on ceremony much. She’s down to earth, accessible, moving from conversation about day-to-day living, moving to Washington from Chicago, talking about how to engage new audiences, about music and its “power to transform.” She’s at turns eloquent and vibrant, funny, professional and warm. President of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association for over a decade, Rutter was named to succeed Michael Kaiser who ended his 13-year tenure on September 1. When the Kennedy Center presented her to the press last December, Rutter exuded both confidence and affability, embracing with gusto the challenge of leading what is often considered the nation’s premiere cultural and performing arts center.

There was, of course, a reason for the confidence. She was something of a transforming agent in Chicago, spreading the reputation of the CSOA out into the city and community, persuading legendary Maestro Riccardo Muti to head the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as its 10th music director and displaying a bent for collaborative efforts, city-wide festivals, large-scale educational efforts, a gift for fund-raising and a passion for the works of contemporary classical composers . During her tenure in Chicago, famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma became the first Judson and Joyce Green Creative Consultant.

Still, it’s plain that while under Rutter the CSOA became a force not only throughout the city of Chicago, but nationally and internationally as well, heading up the Kennedy Center is a different matter. That’s because of its various pieces—theater programming, jazz, the National Symphony Orchestra, the Washington National Opera, which came under the center’s wing only recently, Very Special Arts, Young People’s Program, the annual Kennedy Center Honors and the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, the last two of which result in very public red-carpet festivities and events.

“I realize the challenge,” she said, “and I look forward to it.” At the time of the announcement, she said “It’s an honor and a challenge to continue to build on the tremendous work that Michael Kaiser has done here for the past 13 years.”
While September 2 was her official first work day, she’s been busy meeting with people all along and scouting the city and the center. “We moved here and now live in American University Park, which we found to be a great place. It’s residential, it’s close to things, there are all kinds of things within walking distance. Our daughter Gillian goes to Sidwell, and she sings in a choir, which I think is terrific because that’s where you learn about working with others, about collaboration to produce beautiful music and sounds.” Her husband Peter Ellefson teaches at Northwestern and Indiana University and plays the trombone. Rutter herself grew up playing the violin and piano.

During the course of speaking with Rutter, I allowed that I hadn’t been interested in classical music when I was in high school, that I was a rock and roller. “Don’t kid yourself,” she said. “At one time or another, we’re all rock and rollers. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a fan of the Kinks, Sting or Dave Matthews, you listened to rock and roll at some point and it’s not forgotten.”
She said that she was “was amazed at the depth and breadth of the every-day programming at the Kennedy Center, and at the audiences’ interest in what the center offers.” “I was happy to be able to attend the NSO’s Labor Day concert which had to be moved inside to the Concert Hall because of the weather and it was absolutely thrilling to see how people were happy to be there.”

“There are so many tent poles, and silos, to the Center, the different departments, and one of the things I thought was that whatever event was going on—a concert, an opera, a ground-up musical, a dance or ballet performance, that the center’s various parts would interact and reflect individual productions—that a single project would resonate among and inspire the rest of the building.”

“Sure, I will miss Chicago. It’s a unique American city. It’s a tough place in many ways, strong and receptive, and all the myths and personas of the city are true,” she said. “But you don’t lose friends in this business. You will always see and connect with people who work in this field. And this city, as I’m beginning to see, has its own personality. It’s totally different.
“We have this historic place here. It’s connected to history, and it’s a monument as well as a performing arts center,” she said. “But there are always different ways to bring the arts to the community and the community to the arts.

She shared the experience of being at a concert for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s “Truth to Power” festival at which Jason Moran, the Kennedy Center’s jazz director, performed original blues compositions with conceptual artist Theaster Gates. “Jason is such a gifted, innovative player and person,” she said of Moran.

That kind of collaboration attracts here as well. “I’m very excited about the “Little Dancer,” she said, referring to the Kennedy Center’s musical production about the relationship between the Impressionist painter Degas and the model for his famous ballerina sculpture which begins in October and coincides with a special exhibition at the National Gallery of Art.