Arts & Society

Georgetowner • April 25, 2014

Yet again the denim-focused food fest and party filled the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel April 13 — all to benefit the Capital Area Food Bank. [gallery ids="101716,143025,143027,143020" nav="thumbs"]

Georgetowner • April 24, 2014

It was a fashionable evening for canines and their special people as they gathered at the Omni Shoreham on Apr. 12 to benefit the Washington Humane Society. WHS President and CEO Lisa LaFontaine noted that “we have touched the lives of 43,000 animals a year.” The event chaired by Dr. Ashley Gallagher with Co-Masters of Ceremonies Scott Thuman and Dr. Katy Nelson featured models who had raised a minimum of $5,000 each as they and their pooches paraded before a sell-out crowd. [gallery ids="101715,143028,143038,143034" nav="thumbs"]

Robert Devaney •

N Street Village, the social services agency that provides shelter and support to homeless and low-income women, held its annual gala at the West End’s Ritz Carlton March 21. The upbeat, always joyous event brought together women who benefitted from the non-profit, volunteers and benefactors, especially those in government and media. Comcast’s Melissa Maxfield and A.B. and Jill Cruz were gala co-chairs; Byron and Kim Dorgan were honorary co-chairs. Founders’ Awards were given to Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) and his wife Diana, and also to Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.). [gallery ids="100727,120805,120801" nav="thumbs"]

Georgetowner •

One of D.C. most effective and loved non-profits helping women get back on their feet and into life, N Street Village benefits with help from influential local and national leaders and everyday people. It was a joyful event April 9 with Sweet Honey in the Rock on stage.

Gary Tischler • April 17, 2014

When the touring company of “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” a good-natured musical about the dreams and perils of young spelling bee contestants, first came to town a number of years ago at the National Theater, I remembered thinking that we might be in for a sugary evening.

I also remembered being surprised at how much I actually enjoyed myself. The darned kids had a way of making you care about them, charming you with little guile and a lot of enthusiasm. Amid the snappy and high-energy musical numbers, there were more than a few gentle jabs at completion and the meaning of success American-style.

Now that “Spelling Bee” is a ground-up spring production at Ford’s Theatre, I got surprised again, along similar lines. This show—with music and lyrics by William Finn and a book by Rachel Sheinkin, once again takes us to small-town America, where Putnam County is putting on a highly competitive spelling bee, the winner of which will go to the national contest. The usual mixed bag of characters—a kid with two dads, an over-hyper, over-achieving girl who can also do gymnastics and doesn’t get much sleep, a girl who has nobody in the audience (except this audience) rooting for her, a boy scout just beginning to feel the physical pangs of noticing girls, an endearing and gentle kid with the unlikely name of Leaf Coneybear and a fellow by the name of William Barfee, a high-achieving speller with a magical foot, whose name is always mispronounced.

Nightly, there are also an additional four members chosen from the audience to participate, which I suspect, works with various levels of success and in any case, all of them will be eliminated because that’s the way the show is written.

The cast is ethnically and racially mixed, although there appears to be no significance to that—like spelling, the philosophy here is that acting is about talent, not skin color. The production is directed with verve by Peter Flynn, working in the big shoes of original director James Lapine. A welcome addition is choreography by Adventure Theater Artistic Director Michael Bobbitt.

The show is, at turns, very funny and on the money, with some updated references, as slowly but surely the words come that cause eliminations. Guiding the proceedings are Carolyn Agan as Olive Ostrovsky, a former queen bee, or spelling bee champ, and the taciturn and slightly disturbed vice principal Douglas Panch, played with clipped humor by Matthew Anderson.

But it’s the kids—they’re supposed to be younger than they are—who are the stars of this show, at turns anxious, wise and silly, lonely, smart, goofy, dressed in kid styles that come out of the fashion world of America without a red carpet.

With audience members in the cast, it’s “Putnam County” is conducive to rooting and reaction. Everybody’s got a fan in the audience. When competitors misspell a word, it’s often a sad, and sometimes oddly triumphant occasion.

Part of the reason the show works so well—almost in spite of its subject—is its beguiling small-town attitudes and the cast, of course. Every time, for instance, Panch mispronounces Barfee’s name (it’s pronounced Barfay), played with barely contained patience by Vishal Vaidya, you tend to flinch a little, too. Then, there’s Kristin Garaffo, playing the anxious Logainne Schwartzandgrubenniere (Shouldn’t that be a word to spell in the bee?), who plays the worried girl with halting efficiency and determination. Felicia Curry is explosive, confident without a life outside the bee, and Nickolas Vaughan plays Leaf Coneybear with affecting wistfulness, even though his family thinks him stupid. Rachel Zampelli is a true Broadway-type trouper as Rona Lisa Peretti, who waits in vain to hear from her parents, including a mother gone away to an ashram.

“The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” runs until May 17—still with the power to surprise and seduce.

Mary Bird •

The Washington Home and Community Hospices will celebrate the 125th anniversary of providing healthcare services for aging, chronically and terminally ill area residents at the Embassy of Italy on April 26. In anticipation, a kick-off luncheon was held at the George Town Club. CEO Tim Cox welcomed guests and acknowledged club board president Sharon Casey. The only in-patient hospice facility in D.C. gives “people the opportunity to make memories until the very end.” Guests shared their personal experiences and raised a glass to Tandy and Wyatt Dickerson, who were celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary, and to the birthday of photographer Neshan Naltchayan.

Brenda de Suze, Kathie Truitt, Linda White (Kickoff 002.jpg)

Jan Du Plain Sheila Switzer, Sharon Casey

(Kickoff 003.jpg)

Nicole d’Amecourt, Judith Terra, Shahin Mafi, Harriet Fulbright (Kickoff 004.jpg)

Wyatt and Tandy Dickerson flank Robert Heggestad.
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Georgetowner •

Beth Kohlhoss and Kay Kendall spearheaded a new initiative of the Women’s Committee of the Washington Ballet to help underwrite the March performance of “British Invasion: the Beatles & the Rolling Stones” at the Kennedy Center. In appreciation, Tony Podesta hosted an April reception at his Kalorama home, where Marsha Muawwad arranged for Patrick Jepson, former private secretary to Princess Diana, to speak of the “joy of dance” as it ran through the princess’s life. From his perspective, Jepson spoke of Diana’s “ability to communicate at an emotional level instinctively” and charmingly noted that Diana “talked to the hearts and tummies of people in the streets.”
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Mary Bird •

The sixth Celebration of Hope Gala at the Park Hyatt Washington, D.C., on March 21 honored Nancy and Scott Ogden with the Celebration of Hope Award and the Commercial Restoration Group of Cheverly, Md., with the Partnership Award. Scott chairs and Commercial Restoration Group sponsors the Hope Connections Annual Golf Tournament which has raised more than $300,000. Scott said with conviction, We have the finest cancer support organization anywhere.” Since it opened in Bethesda, Md., in 2007, Hope Connections for Cancer Support has assisted people affected by cancer through support groups, educational workshops, mind/body classes and community programs. The organization has a 19-member working board of directors and a 17-member medical advisory board. [gallery ids="101698,143910,143917,143914" nav="thumbs"]

Robert Devaney •

As the American Medical Women’s Association met for its national conference, it also celebrated its 99th annual gala at the National Museum of Women in the Arts March 15 to salute awardees Patricia Allen, M.D., Gayatri Devi, M.D., and Arianna Huffington. The evening was quite the scene with female brainpower and all those doctors. The ANWA functions at the local, national and international level to advance women in medicine and improve women’s health. [gallery ids="116827,116820,116834,116838,116843" nav="thumbs"]