Wines from Provence Tasting

April 5, 2012

On March 27, representatives of the Provence Wine Council stopped in Washington on their promotional tour of several U.S. cities. They held a lunchtime tasting at Againn restaurant. Guests could sample wines from the recognized rosé center of the world. Provence rosé is by definition not sweet. Rosé outsells white wine in France today, and dry rosé sales in this country are skyrocketing. [gallery ids="100724,120780,120773" nav="thumbs"]

Washington Concert Opera Celebrates 25 Years


The Washington Concert Opera celebrated its 25th anniversary at a black-tie gala under the auspices of Ambassador of the Russian Federation and Mrs. Sergey Kislyak at the embassy on March 28. Guests enjoyed a musicale and seated dinner with WCO alums, mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves and Aleksey Bogdanov. The evening honored WCO benefactors Dorothy and Kenneth Woodcock, WCO Founder Stephen Crout and Former Artistic Advisor Peter Russell. “Weather Conductor” Bob Ryan emceed the evening noting that “music and art enrich our lives and I think that’s why we’re here. [gallery ids="100723,120784,120738,120777,120747,120771,120756,120765" nav="thumbs"]

RAMMYS Nominations Party


The Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington (RAMW) announced the 2012 RAMMY award nominees at a reception at the downtown Ritz-Carlton on March 26. This year’s theme for the June 14 RAMMY Gala is Hats Off to Restaurants. The nominations party featured hors d’oeuvres by the nominees for Best New restaurant and cocktails by the nominees for the Beverage/Mixology Program as well as a video tribute to Rich Massabny as he marks his 25th anniversary as theatre and restaurant critic and cable TV host. [gallery ids="100722,120716,120731,120708,120736,120701,120743,120693,120750,120724" nav="thumbs"]

Mayor Vincent Gray Addresses the Institute for Education


Mayor Vincent Gray recently spoke at a breakfast program of the INFO Public Policy Roundtable series hosted by IFE Diplomatic Steward Jan Matthysen, Ambassador of Belgium. The mayor outlined his plan to bring vitality back to the city and its budget.  Along with full democracy, including voting rights in Congress, housing and education remain central to the mayor’s agenda. Many ambassadors, Judge William Webster and a diverse group of IFE interns and fellows attended. [gallery ids="100725,120786,120781" nav="thumbs"]

‘Lady and the Tramp’ and Meatballs, Too, at Carmine’s


Katy Nelson, Jill Collins and 94.7 Fresh FM’s Tommy McFly hosted a screening of Lady and the Tramp on the afternoon of Mar. 24 at Carmine’s in the Penn Quarter to benefit Washington Humane Society’s Fashion for Paws. Guests enjoyed a spaghetti and meatball buffet as they watched the film on several big screens. Katy and Tommy recreated the iconic romantic moment when the pair share their pasta. Tommy said “take lots of picture, eat lots of food” as he spoke of WHS’s rehabilitating work at Walter Reed in the realization that “animals are a conduit to change.” [gallery ids="102440,121378,121389,121372,121383" nav="thumbs"]

An Evening in Wonderland at the Washington Club


The Washington Club was transformed into Wonderland on March 23 as guests enjoyed a preview performance from the Washington Ballet’s upcoming Alice in Wonderland. Company dancers Emily Ellis and Corey Landolt enchanted as Alice and the Mad Hatter as did members of the Studio Company and School of Ballet. In his remarks at the four-course dinner with cards urging “eat me” and “drink me,” Artistic Director Septime Webre spoke of Alice’s “outsize sense of imagination,” as he created a ballet about “girl power.” Guests departed with White Rabbit cookies, auguring a happy adventure down the rabbit hole. [gallery ids="100720,120670,120649,120663,120658" nav="thumbs"]

Kahn Tackles O’Neill’s Daunting ‘Strange Interlude’


In theater, as in other endeavors, there are plays and roles that sit like slumbering challenges, just daring for artist to tackle them.

For actors, it’s Lear—but not yet—and the layer-upon-layer Hamlet, or Willie Lohman, or Maggie the cat or Blanche. And what opera director doesn’t some nights of the Ring Cycle, tossing and turning in a sweat.

For directors, especially American directors worth their salt, all they have to do is go to the collected works of Eugene O’Neill. O’Neill wrote all sorts of plays, one-acts, surrealist fare, auto-biographical epics and four-hour sojourns waiting for the iceman to cometh. The O’Neill canon is an ocean full of white whales.

And none may be more elusive than “Strange Interlude,” a major hit in its day when it finally opened in 1928 after years of labor by O’Neill, controversial for its content and its style. It was hugely ambitious in trying to tell a story spanning decades of American life — forward and backward, past, present and future.

For Michael Kahn, in the midst of a 25th anniversary season as the artistic director of the Washington Shakespeare Theatre, “Strange Interlude” is a play, he said, “I’ve always wanted to do, and for a time I thought I would never get the opportunity.”

He had come close once, but the project collapsed for various reasons. “But when this anniversary came up, I thought it was a perfect opportunity to tackle the play,” he said.

When you start thinking about this, you have to admire Kahn for thinking about it at all. His legacy in Washington and his whole career is secure; he would be forgiven for resting on his laurels.

“Strange Interlude” is something of a risk today, maybe even more than when it opened. It’s a legend of size and scope—various stories have the original production running as long as between six and four hours with an intermission break for dinner. Plus, O’Neill told wrote some of the dialogue in stream of consciousness style, in which the characters express their inner thoughts.

“Well, this production is more like three and a half or so.” Kahn said. “I don’t think today’s audiences will have trouble relating to it or the characters. It’s about something everybody has a stake in: the pursuit of happiness and the great difficulty and tragedy that surrounds that pursuit.”

While Kahn is also considered one of the consummate interpreters of the plays of Tennessee Williams, he’s no stranger to O’Neill. “He is the major figure in American theater,” Kahn said, “the father of American theater, with a huge and diverse body of work, a pioneer, a great writer whose work contained some of the finest work not only in theater but in American literature. I learned about him by reading. We had a lot of books in our house when I was young, and I ran across his first play, “Dynamo.”

“Ah, Wilderness!” and “Long Day’s Journey Into Night,” both at Arena, and “Strange Interlude are part of a unique and ongoing O’Neill festival in Washington right now.

Kahn remembers seeing Frederic March playing the father in “Long Day’s Journey Into Night,” a production he calls remarkable. “Jason Robards (considered the O’Neill actor by many) was playing one of the sons, and he would later play the father.”

Kahn—in a stellar career that included a vivid production of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” on Broadway—directed O’Neill’s “Mourning Becomes Electra” twice. He got permission to edit “Electra” (as well as “Interlude”).

Still, the idea of “Interlude” is daunting. In the 1920s, the play was shocking for its Freudian content, for a plot that included abortion, sex and an intelligent, strong woman dealing with the lasting wounds suffered after her fiancée is killed in World War I without the opportunity for consummation of their love.

“The pursuit of happiness,” Kahn said, “that’s the American dream, that’s what we’re about as a country. There’s no society that places such a stress on the theme of happiness.”

Francesca Faridany will perform the role of Nina in this production. “Strange Interlude” is rarely performed, but that may be part of its appeal to audiences and certainly for Kahn, who presented the rarely performed “Camino Royal,” by Tennessee Williams and the equally rarely staged “Timor of Athens.”

Kahn is excited about “Strange Interlude” and thinks audiences will be, too. “It is one of the great works by our greatest playwright. It has a compelling story that resonates for today’s audiences. It’s about America and us, and we can see ourselves in those creations. It’s a great achievement on the part of O’Neill—the play spans 30 years and was written in the 1920s. So, he had to imagine what this country would be like in the ’30s and ’40s, and I think he did a good job of it.”

Listening to Kahn talk about the play, you feel he relished the work, like opening up a lost, true book and bringing it to life.

(“Strange Interlude” will be at the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Sidney Harman Hall through April 29). [gallery ids="100718,120641" nav="thumbs"]

Gallery Walk

April 4, 2012

Canal Square and Beyond

Nestled in a brick courtyard at M and 31st Streets, walking into Canal Square on the evening of a “First Friday” feels like stumbling into the best social club you never knew existed. The four galleries clustered in the space are teeming with admirers, friends, patrons and chance roamers, peering about the galleries or lounging in the benches just outside, smiling and chatting. And what’s more—they’re chatting about art! The galleries are also local institutions—Parish Gallery, Moca DC and Alla Rogers Gallery have all recently celebrated their twenty-year anniversaries. Just north of Canal Square, The Old Print Gallery and the Ralls Collection have also made their mark on the city’s artistic community (the Ralls Collection even used to reside in Canal Square). Among the most longstanding and respected galleries in the city, this cluster of art venues embodies what’s best about Georgetown: history, community, style and beauty, with an eye for the contemporary.

Parish Gallery

Internationally recognized African painter, Bethel Aniaku, will be at Parish Gallery through April 17, in an exhibit titled “Instinct of Desire.” The cultural explored in these paintings include a blend of historical, literal, and artistic elements, which aim to reunite the viewer with their own culture and origins. Aniaku, by comparison, honors the trade of his own carpenter ancestors by using wood as the base for his paintings. His compositions play with color, light, space and mixed media, relying on instinct more than any direct intention, as if the painting was not being made but found as an artifact that has always existed.

Opening April 20, Parish Gallery will open its next exhibit, showcasing the artworks of husband and wife Christine and Richmond Jones, in a show titled “Two Views/One Vision.” Starting out as an illustrator and designer, Christine’s oil paint and pastel works represent the textures and colors, people and places in which she finds inspiration. Richmond, who also began his career as a graphic designer, found a new creative direction as a “transparent watercolor painter.” Since then, both artists have been exhibited in numerous juried exhibitions around the country and received many awards for their individual and collective work.

www.ParishGallery.com

The Ralls Collection

The Ralls Collection is in the midst of a powerful group exhibition of gallery artists, which runs through June 15. It is difficult to encapsulate the significance of The Ralls Collection to Washington’s artistic community, much in the same way it is hard to grasp the broad archive of substantial artwork that has passed through the gallery since its opening over 20 years ago. The work present in the gallery’s current exhibit showcases a remarkable collection of beautiful contemporary artwork with a clear vision and impeccable taste. Many of the artists Ralls chose for the exhibition have been with the gallery since it’s beginning, and some are welcome additions. David Richardson, a personal favorite of this author whose show at Ralls last year garnered tremendous national attention (including a feature in the New York Times), uses planes of bold colors and textures, recalling landscape both foreign and familiar, contained yet effusive.

www.RallsCollection.com

Moca DC

Moca DC stands up for the little guy, in more ways than one. A nonprofit, part of the gallery’s mission is to be “Open to all artists all the time,” offering opportunities to artists at every stage of their careers. Moca gives more exhibits to emerging, first-time and beginning artists than almost any in the city. The gallery is also devoted to the tradition of figurative art, including three annual exhibits dedicated to the nude human form (this July, keep an eye out for the exhibit, “A Celebration of the Figure”). This April, the gallery will mark its twenty-year anniversary by expanding its scope to include three juried exhibits of figurative works a year, the first of which will focus on the interpretation of the figure within contemporary art practice. Moca’s 20th Anniversary Show, which will hold an opening reception on April 6, is also on display.

www.MocaDC.org

The Old Print Gallery

“Blossom DC,” the latest exhibit at The Old Print Gallery, is inspired by the 100 year anniversary of the gift of the cherry blossoms from Japan to Washington. The exhibit celebrates the beauty and youthful energy of spring’s blossoms, featuring a large number of prints by local D.C. artists coupled with a selection of works by contemporary New York City artists and several early 20th century printmakers. Established in 1971, The Old Print Gallery has long been known for its wide selection of antique prints and maps, and has expanded recently into the world of contemporary printmaking. The gallery also hosts printmaking workshops and demonstrations, establishing itself as a source of inspiration and information for print artists, enthusiasts and new admirers alike.

www.OldPrintGallery.com

Alla Rogers Gallery

The Alla Rogers Gallery, founded in 1990, focuses on the accessible contemporary art from Eastern Europe and the countries of the former Soviet Union. The Gallery has curated hundreds of exhibitions and led artist exchanges between American and Eastern European artists. Currently on display is the artwork of Alla Rogers herself, who recently exhibited 42 of her own paintings in Kiev at the National Fine Art Museum of Ukraine. Her works on canvas plays out like the geography of memories, folding and falling into one another. These are not works you want to miss. [gallery ids="100714,120510,120468,120502,120496,120477,120490,120484" nav="thumbs"]

The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus presents “Fully Charged” (photos)

March 22, 2012

The circus was in town. The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus presents “Fully Charged” at the Verizon Center in Washington DC with shows on March 15-18. After the DC run, the show moves on to Baltimore, Md., and then Fairfax, Va., in April. View our photos of “The Greatest Show on Earth” by clicking on the icons below. (Photography by Jeff Malet)

View additional photos of this performance plus additional dances by the company by clicking here. [gallery ids="100538,100551,100552,100553,100554,100555,100556,100557,100558,100559,100560,100550,100549,100539,100540,100541,100542,100543,100544,100545,100546,100547,100548,100561" nav="thumbs"]

Flemenco Festival 2012 at Lisner Auditorium featuring Rafaela Carrasco (photos)


Flamenco is a unique art form that combines dancing, guitar playing, singing, and a stocatto handclapping. It is native to the Andalusian region of southern Spain and may have been influenced by the Gypsies, and in part from Spain’s early Morrish culture. Seville’s Rafaela Carrasco is a breathtaking dancer and one of the most important flamenco choreographers of the younger generation. She and her troupe performed at GWU’s Lisner Auditorium in Washinton DC on March 7 during Flemenco Festival 2012. View our photos of her classic performance by clicking on the photo icons below. (Photography by Jeff Malet) [gallery ids="100534,120037,120029,120021,120013,120006,119997,119989,120053,119980,120060,120067,119970,120073,120045" nav="thumbs"]