7-7-7 for the Cure
• September 12, 2013

The 7-7-7 Fashion Series came to the Italian Embassy in Washington, D.C. on June 29th as a part of the annual Fashion For the Cure event, which raises awareness and funds for DC-area breast cancer initiatives through fashion and art. It featured a fashion show that included lines from nine different designers as well as a rainbow of Lamborghini’s on display in recognition of Lamborghini’s 50th Anniversary. The star of the show was a $400,000 Lamborghini Aventador owned by New York divorce attorney Bryan Salamone, complete with license plate “WINNING”. [gallery ids="101393,154062,154058,154053,154048,154071,154075,154042,154079,154067" nav="thumbs"]

National Geographic’s 125 Anniversary Gala Is a Stunner
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On June 13, the IQ of Washington, D.C., increased as explorers, scientists and other members and supporters of the National Geographic Society met to celebrate its 125th birthday at the National Building Museum. The great hall was rendered visually stunning with images of animals and nature projected along the second floor and on a stage screen; unique dinner tables added to the wow factor. The list of awardees was likewise stunning: explorer-filmmaker James Cameron, oceanographer Sylvia Earle, scientist Edward O. Wilson, philanthropist Howard Buffett, skydiver Felix Baumgartner and game host Alex Trebek. Cameron got the Explorer of the Year award for his Deep Sea Challenge dive and advised attendees to go vegan as the entree of bison was on its way. Trebek of “Jeopardy!” fame donated $1 million in support of the National Geographic Bee, adding to the society’s big year of fundraising: $35 million thus far.

National Geographic – 125th Anniversary Gala

Interview with Dereck and Beverly Joubert

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It’s Picnic Time for Seniors
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At St. John’s Church, June 12, members of the Georgetown Senior Center got a extra treat for their lunchtime meeting: a festive array of picnic items for lunch — and even some yoga action before the lunch. The special event was by the Georgetown office of Long & Foster as part of its community service day. [gallery ids="119089,119102,119096" nav="thumbs"]

Spanish Steps Celebrated at the Residence of the Ambassador of Turkey
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On June 6, Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey Namik Tan and Mrs. Fugen Tan entertained their neighbors who support the preservation of the Spanish Steps. The steep incline in Kalorama between Decatur Place and 22nd Street is an urban oasis likened to the steps in the Piazza di Spagna in Rome. Ambassador Tan detailed the history of the landmark embassy property, which was home to Cleveland industrialist Edward Everett and was purchased by Turkey’s first president, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, in 1936. Board President David Bender expressed his appreciation for the support, which will enable continuing enhancements to the Spanish Steps. [gallery ids="101338,152068,152045,152064,152050,152061,152055" nav="thumbs"]

‘Anything Goes’: Broadway Babe Rachel York Runs the Show
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There are probably some very hip, very cool theater customers with their thumbs on text and their minds on Twitter and the next thing going viral who might find the national tour of the Roundabout Theatre Company’s production of Cole Porter’s “Anything Goes” bewilderingly old fashioned, as in an old fashioned with all the right ingredients.

In the annals of musical theater history, “Anything Goes,” now getting a jazzy, spiffy run at the Kennedy Center’s Opera House, is practically ancient history, a show so old that, for god’s sake, it made a star out of Ethel Merman and featured such old plot devices—as least as old as “Twelfth Night” –as people pretending to be other people, jokes that shake with burlesque dust, chorus girls and tap dance numbers and a faux dog, stuff that you could find on a vaudeville production roster.

Man, it’s so old that the usual admonition to turn off your phone was accompanied by the information that in the time of “Anything Goes,” iPhones and iPads had not been invented yet. That’s how old this show is.

Tell it to that great genial genius composer and song writer Cole Porter, who, in 1934, managed to sneak in a reference to cocaine (in “I Get a Kick Out of You”). Porter could rhyme on a dime. When it was decided to title the show “Anything Goes,” he went home and wrote the song overnight, or so the story goes, which is to say anything goes.

Tell that to the chorus boys and girls and who ever invented tap dancing, a thing so simple and complicated that it can induce a warm glow for the duration—you get a kick from all the kicking and tapping.

Tell that especially to Merman and Mitzi Gaynor and, more recently, Sutton Foster, who wowed in the Broadway version of this production. Now and forever, tell it to Rachel York who’s taking on the role of the wise-cracking, dazzling, leggy, high-stepping Reno Sweeney and making it her own. Not only is York the best reason to see the show, she’s practically a swaggering, swanky, swell, walking, dancing, tapping check list of what I call Broadway babies, the indispensable stars who can do anything, anytime, on stage. Can she act? Check. Dance? Check. Wise-crack Check. Tap? Check. Deliver punch lines? Check. Be sexy and mesmerizing? Check.

York is a seasoned trouper and star of the stage—and television where she played Lucille Ball in “Lucy” and several movies as well. She knows her way around Cole Porter, that’s for sure, having played Reno twice before and the lead in the Cole Porter backstage musical about feuding Shakespearean stars, “Kiss Me Kate.”

In fact, “Anything Goes” resembles “Kate” in its show bizzy busy tropes, its vaudeville ticks and its absolutely fabulous songs, music and dancing. Bobby Van, Bob Fosse and Ann Miller were in the MGM movie version of “Kate” as were old pros James Whitmore and Keenan Wynn, urging the audience to “Brush Up Your Shakespeare.” Bing Crosby, Mitzi Gaynor and Donald O’Connor starred in the movie version of “Anything Goes.”

It’s York who’s the real show in the production at the Kennedy Center. She puts every tough, gold-hearted, sassy dame you ever saw and won’t see again into her performance: a shoulder-whisper of Bacall, a breathy Monroe, a brassy dare-you-to-take-me-on Mae West. The big voice, the dynamo energy, the sexy head-of-the-parade walk, the knowing way with words, that’s probably all York.

You think this is easy: watch how she sort of glides almost casually into the “Anything Goes” number at the end of the second act, a number that’s like winning the lotto for those of us who get dizzy in the presence of tap. It builds and builds and multiplies and brings the curtain down like an unexpected kiss. Act two starts about ten minutes later and it’s “Blow Gabriel, Blow,” another powerhouse number featuring York/Sweeney, who’s a sort of slightly shady, glitzy gospel-preaching gold entrepreneur, in which Sweeney comes clean parading from church-wear to dazzling, slit shirt gown.

The two numbers stacked like that are the broadway version of a marathon, and York breaks through in style.

The rest is fizz, pure entertainment that Porter with his magic way with words and music turns into art. The stage at some time or another is filled with sailors, a crook on the lam named Moonfaced Martin, a Chinese convert with a yen for poker, the Angels, Sweeney dancers, Purity, Charity, Chastity and Virtue, who managed to embody the opposite qualities, a near-sighted rich tycoon, a young ingénue engaged to a twitty, slightly off British lord, named Evelyn Oakleigh, and Billy Crockett, a handsome but slightly pennyless Wall Streeter in love with the sweet ingénue Hope who’s more of an angel than the angels.

Chaos, disorganized, silly, naughty and nice ensues, if you’re interested in plot matters. Astaire-Rogers type dancing ensues. Pratfalls ensues. Song satisfaction ensues. Entertainment ensues.

If this is old fashioned, it has the peculiar of something just gone viral on YouTube. Thank York for that and Cole Porter, but also Josh Franklin for his insistent wooing as Billy Crocker, the graceful Alex Finke as the ingénue, Fred Applegate for having so much fun with Moonfaced Martin and Edward Staudenmeyer for having even more fun with Evelyn, oh lord, Oakleigh.

That’s entertainment.

“Anything Goes” runs through July 7 at at the Kennedy Center’s Opera House.
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‘Skin Is In’ for Guys, Too, Who Get Their Own Place
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Georgetowner Tina Alster, M.D., welcomed colleagues, friends and the skin savvy May 29 to the W for Men launch party, “The world’s first clinical dermatology practice dedicated to advanced laser and other skin treatments for men.” This comes from Alster’s Washington Institute of Dermatologic Laser Surgery on K Street, where the men’s skincare practice is headed by Terrence Keaney, M.D. “By recognizing the differences in male and female anatomy and physiology, W for Men was conceived to provide an appropriately male-centric approach in the treatment and care of men’s skin,” Alster said.

St. John of Jerusalem Order Benefits Eye Hospital in Israel
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Washington area members of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem gathered on a sunlit afternoon at the stunning home of fellow member Lorna Gladstone and her husband David overlooking the Potomac River. More than 80 members raised funds for the St. John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital Group, headquartered in East Jerusalem, Israel, which treats over 110,000 patients. Washington regional chair Patricia Dresser welcomed the group and Victoria Sheffield, president of the International Eye Foundation, outlined the history of the order, which dates from 1099 and the Knights of the First Crusade. [gallery ids="101323,151353,151350" nav="thumbs"]

Marfield Prize Presented to Anne-Marie O’Connor
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Ambassador of Austria Hans Peter Manz was at the Arts Club of Washington May 23 as Anne Marie O’Connor received the seventh annual Marfield Prize, National Award for Arts Writing for “The Lady in Gold: The Extraordinary Tale of Gustav’s Klimt’s Masterpiece, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer.” The book chronicles the twisted tale of an emblematic portrait of a Jewish salon hostess stolen by the Nazis and the subject of eventual Supreme Court litigation. On a lighter note, dinner following the presentation was thanks to Arts Club Chef Ken Kievit. [gallery ids="119141,119129,119107,119099,119115,119122,119136,119147" nav="thumbs"]

Dana Tai Soon Burgess at the White House
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Choreographer and artistic Director Dana Tai Soon Burgess was invited by the White House to participate in its Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month celebration May 28. Burgess spoke about his background as a Korean American, his creative process as a choreographer and his work as a cultural ambassador for the U.S. Katia Norri, a member of Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company, performed Burgess’s solo, “Dariush.” Journalist Lisa Ling was emcee of the event, which featured 2012 “American Idol” runner-up Jessica Sanchez and author Amy Tan.

First-ever Evermay Easter Egg Hunt
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Evermay Estate held its first Easter Egg Hunt March 30 on its beautiful grounds for children who delighted in finding the eggs and decorating them — along with a piano concert. [gallery ids="101233,145464,145425,145460,145455,145433,145451,145439,145445" nav="thumbs"]