The Mythopoetic Show Business of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’
• December 3, 2012

When actor Ted Van Griethuysen, as Quince, the leader of the rude mechanicals gathered in the forest for a rehearsal of “Pyramus and Thisbe,” makes his entrance, he appears quietly, almost furtively, and he starts to sing, slyly, but happily, not loudly:

“There’s no business like show business. There’s no business I know …”

It’s a little thing, a kind of reminder that this play is—among the many things it is—a paean to theater and, yes, to show business, a theme that Shakespeare being a man of the theater in his times and the man of theater in ours, addresses many times in his plays. It doesn’t stop there either: as the mechanicals torture their way through their rehearsals and encounter many a problem, Quince reassures himself with selections from “The King and I” and “The Sound of Music.”

The show tunes are one of many conceits with which director Ethan McSweeny flavors this production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”—that the theater, with its traditions and magic, is one of the characters in the production. It’s a place where imagination comes to believable life in the form of fanciful fairies—albeit some dressed in the school of fashion accompanied by bustiers and garter belts—grand entrances, tragic-comedies told by heartfelt fools, rulers just a step removed from fable and legend, and a quartet of lovers pixilated to the point of total humiliation by an otherworldly being named Puck.

This production, which appears to be set in either somewhere north of the 1930s and south of the 1950s, in England or America or both, but always in Athens and a magical forest, is full of entrances meant to signify. Oberon, the king of the Fairies, makes his first appearance like a rock star in a cape, like Roger Daltrey in front of a white screen. Theseus and his bride-to-be Hyppolyta, the Queen of the Amazons, he in military head of state form, she as formal-dressed stunner, appear before gathered paparazzi, the fairies make their first appearances slowly, preceded by points of light from openings on the stage as if by: magic. Those same openings later become traps to fall in, trampolines to appear flying as if part of an abbreviated tumbling act.

In this production, the stage, like everyone else—or as Quince tells Bottom after he appears with the head of an ass—is “translated,” as well as always transformed.

What the production really seems to remind you of is a circus, a carnival, a sideshow, and bits of the most excessive parts of operas that don’t involve music. It’s theater and show business in all of its guises. It is, too, a dream we can swim in.

“Midsummer,” of course, has several balls up in the air. There’s the wedding of the rulers, and their sometimes not settled love. There’s the two couples Lysander-Hermia and Demetrios-Helen. Hermia loves Lysander, but is all but betrothed to Demetrios and Helena is smitten beyond reason with Demetrios who loves her not. There is Oberon, his queen Titania (ill met by moonlight), battling like a divorced couple over custody of a changeling boy. There is Puck, the frisky spirit of the night and Oberon’s hench boy, who, with some sprinkling of exotic fairie dust wreaks havoc with the lovers, makes Titania fall in love with the head-of-an-ass Bottom.

Finally, there are the rude mechanicals who have fallen in love with theater and the play they are to perform. They are worth mentioning because they are the salt of the earth and members in good standing of the 47 percent, a carpenter, a weaver, a bellows-mender, a tinker, a joiner, a tailor. They are, each and every one of them, transformed into thespians doing “Pyramus and Thisbes,” a tragedy faintly echoing “Romeo and Juliet,” but pure sweet, ineffectual nonsense in the hands of these our players. None is more the thespian than Nick Bottom, played with such honest hyperbole—Bottom’s middle name—that the word ham only begins to tell the tale. He wants to and thinks he should play all the parts. He survives the shock of his vivid dream as the lover of a queen with refreshing malapropism that sound like the truth. Bruce Dow does what Nathan Lane might try to do with the part, if only he could. His squeals, sighs and wild dog eagerness are a comic delight in a show which has many.

In dealing with the lovers, McSweeny resorts to the kind of physical comedy in which the characters suffer gross indignity—from losing much of their clothes to slipping, falling and sliding on a slippery stage. The players all bring it off with superb timing: Robert Beitzel as a kind of garage rock Lysander, Amelia Pedlow as the self-assured Hermia, Chris Myers as the smug Demetrius, and best of all, Christiana Clark, who, after enduring yet another humiliation, brings the house down with a grandiosely exasperated “Oh, excellence!”

If Tim Campbell and Sara Topham are the dream catchers and creators as the rulers—both earthly and fairyland—it is Puck who is modern mischief incarnated. He is the joker in the deck, the prospect of chaos, the knowing fool moving faster than the speed of hummingbirds, but he’s also the caretaker of his dream world and our dreams.

Puck suggests to us that “we have but slumbered here, while these visions did appear.” Fat chance of that. This “Midsummer” may feel like a dream, but it’s a vivid dream we won’t soon forget.

Shakespeare Theatre Company’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” runs through Dec. 30 at Sidney Harman Hall, 610 F St., NW; 202-547-1122 — ShakespeareTheatre.org.

Kennedy Center Honors: Guy, Hoffman, Letterman, Makarova — and Zeppelin
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Bob Dylan was right. The times, they are a-changin’. That goes for the Kennedy Center Honors, presented on Sunday, Dec. 2, that started out honoring giants in the performing arts in 1978.

Back then, the first artists to be so honored were Marian Andersen, the great singer and civil rights champion, Fred Astaire, who made dancing seem as light as air and as substantive as a heart beat, George Balanchine, the giant among American choreographers, composer Richard Rodgers and pianist Arthur Rubinstein.

In the early days of the Honors, most of the honorees were born in the previous century and tended toward being late-in-life giants in classical music, dance, film, theater and opera. What a difference 34 years makes.

Meet the 2012 honorees: Oscar-winning actor with a long and distinguished career Dustin Hoffman, blues legend Buddy Guy, late night TV show host David Letterman, the luminous Russian-born ballet legend Natalia Makarova and the surviving members of one of the greatest rock bands ever, Led Zeppelin, with keyboardist/bassist John Paul Jones, guitarist Jimmy Page and singer Robert Plant.

That’s right: blues, rock n’ roll and late night shows. Dylan was right, and even Dylan made the list in 1997, followed by Stevie Wonder the following year. Johnny Carson was the only other late night TV host to make the list.

As usual, no one knows for sure who will be at the star-studded gala, produced by George Stevens, Jr., and Michael Stevens, but President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama will be there. The president and Mrs. Obama will receive the honorees, along with the Artists Committee which nominated them, at the White House before the gala. On Dec. 1, the Kennedy Center medallions will be presented during a State Department dinner, hosted by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Here are statements from the recipients upon receiving the honors:

“I am a simple man blessed to be able to make a living at what I love, and I am a fortunate man to have learned from the best—men like Muddy Waters—who made me promise to keep the blues alive. I cannot begin to describe my feelings of deep gratitude to be receiving the Kennedy Center Honor. I am even more humbled because this award was beyond my wildest dreams in 1957 when I left home and my mother and father to pluck my guitar promising to return to them one day with a polka dot Cadillac. This Louisiana and now Chicago man respectfully thanks the Kennedy Center for such high praise and especially for recognizing and helping to keep the blues alive today.”
— Buddy Guy

“For the last 45 years, I’ve had the profound privilege of making a living in the arts. I am proud to be part of the Kennedy Center Honors tradition. Thank you.”
— Dustin Hoffman

“This is something wonderful for my family, my co-workers and myself. I believe recognition at this prestigious level confirms my belief that there has been a mix-up. I am still grateful to be included.”
— David Letterman

“Surprised, astonished, grateful! What a remarkable twist of fate that I chose to leave my homeland and came to America to start a new life, joined American Ballet Theatre and performed during the unforgettable opening week of the Kennedy Center in 1971. I feel very privileged that through me Kennedy Center honors classical ballet.”
— Natalia Makarova

“We are thrilled and honored to receive this award and to be in such illustrious company. America was the first place to embrace Led Zeppelin’s music, and we owe a large debt to the vitality and variety of the music of the American people.”
— Led Zeppelin, John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant

Georgetowner’s Holiday Benefit & Bazaar 2012November 30, 2012
• November 30, 2012

The Georgetowner’s Holiday Benefit & Bazaar brought together friends, shoppers and businesses at the George Town Club Nov. 29 to give an assist to the Georgetown Senior Center. Check out the photo gallery and we hope to see you next year!

The Beltway of Giving: Cooking for a Cause
• November 28, 2012

Benevolent Washingtonian’s are beam- ing over the grand opening of Cause Philanthropub (www.causedc.org/) in the U Street corridor. The restaurant has committed to donate 100 percent of its profits back to chari- ties, a first for an East Coast eatery and bar.

Founders Nick Villele and Raj Ratwani met in their respective PhD programs at George Mason. While they are new to the restaurant world, they have hired a cadre of industry experts to manage and run the bar. After a stint in the Peace Corps in Togo, West Africa, Nicholas returned stateside, where the philanthropub con- cept blossomed.

“Living in a country where the average annual income is around $300, I had seen the huge impact that a small amount of money could have when in the hands of the right people and organizations,” said Villele. “Right after I had returned, Raj told me about his idea of raising funds for charity through bar and restaurant operations, and our partnership was born.”

Noted restaurants, chefs and restaurateurs across the District have committed to support- ing charities through their kitchen, yet few have sacrificed their entire profit to benefit others. DC-based chef Jose Andres’ of Think Food Group (www.thinkfoodgroup.com/) launched World Central Kitchen to build kitchens for disadvantaged populations in Haiti. One of their current projects in Palmiste Tempe, Haiti, provides a school kitchen that will feed over 200 children. Mellow Mushroom Pizza Bakers (mellowmushroom.com) in Adams Morgan has partnered with several local charities including For Love of Children, Critical Exposure, D.C. Lawyers for Youth, Mentoring Today and Kids Against Hunger D.C.

“By sharing our success with D.C. non- profits, I’m able to connect my past work in the non-profit community to my current endeavors,” says Mellow co-owner Pooja Mehta. “Our focus is to spend an entire month with each organiza- tion to get a little more money their way and a little more exposure to their work.”

Philanthropic duo, Todd and Ellen Gray of Equinox restaurant (equinoxrestaurant.com) also lead by example. Their annual Sugar and Champagne charity event unites D.C.’s pas- try chefs and wine purveyors to benefit the Washington Humane Society. To date, the event has raised more than $300,000 for the organiza- tion. The Blue Banana Sports and Rock Bar (www.bluebananadc.com) located in Petworth, also supports the Washington Humane Society with a monthly “Yappy Hour” doggy friendly affair.

“Our patio is and always has been dog friendly. Many local dog owners were looking for a great excuse to drink for a cause and bring their pets with them,” says co-owner Jamie Hess. “We started the monthly charity Yappy Hour in April of this year and have raised thousands for the Humane Society. We donate 20 percent off the evening sales to the organization so our guests are not out of pocket anything other than what they drink and eat.”

While these restaurants are all making strides for local and international charities, Cause Philanthropub is the first in the District to donate 100 percent of its profits. Several other restaurants and food-centric businesses across the U.S. have tried, and many succeeded, including Newman’s Own (www.newmansown. com) food products and the Oregon Public House (www.oregonpublichouse.com). This quarter Cause is currently supporting Agora Partnerships, Common Good City Farm, Higher Achievement and Martha’s Table as their first group of featured organizations. Three are locale and focused on supporting the D.C. community, while Agora is based in the District and focused on impact entrepreneurship in Latin America. All four organizations were vetted and selected by Causes Advisory Board.

A key part of their model is that each custom- er has the chance to choose which organization they would like their profits to go to by checking the non-profit on their bill.

Cause accepts applications on a rolling basis at www.causedc.org causes and welcomes sug- gestions on deserving non-profits they should consider supporting.

Nichols and Campbell: A Shared Triumph as Eliza and Henry in ‘My Fair Lady’
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Watching Manna Nichols, her black hair in a pony tail, feet tucked under, purple top and blue jeans, and Bene- dict Campbell, wearing a dark jacket, in a meet- ing room downstairs at Arena Stage, you get the sense they’ve developed a bond, an easy way about them. You are also reminded of the roles they’re playing in “My Fair Lady.”

She is Eliza Doolittle. He is Henry Higgins, just you wait. They’re the grand protagonists, the adversaries, the student-teacher, and, wonders of wonders, the astounding-in-the-end couple who end up together in Molly Smith’s production of the classic Lerner and Loewe musical by way of George Bernard Shaw’s “Pygmalion.”

Like Eliza and Henry, the two are certainly sur- face opposites. Campbell, although he seems to have few pretensions, given his background, is considered one of the finest actors in Canada. He comes from theater royalty. His father, the late Douglas Campbell, was a revered classical actor in England, before he came across the pond and became a founding member of both the Stratford Festival and the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. His mother was the actress Ann Casson, whose mother was the legendary actress Dame Sybil Thorndike.

You know, Shaw wrote ‘Saint Joan’ specifi- cally for my grandmother,” Campbell said. This doesn’t appear to be a case of high-brow name dropping, but rather as a link in his chain to Shaw. “I’ve done a lot of his plays, certainly,” he said. This began a discussion of “Major Barbara,” which “I just did it not so long ago. I rather like Undershaft (the munition tycoon anti-hero of the play).

This sort of background—stated modestly but firmly—ought to be the kind of resume that might intimidate someone like Nichols, who is in her twenties and is a young, rising performer, whose main experience is in musicals. “That didn’t happen,” she said. “It came about as more of mutual respect and collaboration. Not that I haven’t learned a lot from him. He is such a fine actor and a generous one, too.”

Nichols was a new addition to the production which Molly Smith had staged at the Shaw Fes- tival in Canada, where Campbell is a company member. “Certainly, you have to adjust with someone new, but it was not that difficult,” Nich- ols said. “It’s just something you have to do.”

Both of them are cognizant that some theater- goers will inevitably—memory being what it is—make comparisons to the film version of “My Fair Lady,” in which Rex Harrison, sing- talking or talking-singing his way through the music made an indelible impression as did Hep- burn. “Sure, people are going to think about it,” Nichols said. “I’ve seen it a lot. But they dubbed Hepburn so that wasn’t that much of a problem.” Campbell’s allows that “I don’t even like Har- rison in the part. So, I wasn’t worried about that.”

Both Campbell and Nichols have made their own distinct impressions in their parts, separately and in tandem.

“The first time I heard ‘Wouldn’t It Be Loverly’ or ‘I Could Have Danced All Night,’ I imagined myself singing them,” Nichols said. “They’re such beautiful, beautiful songs.” Music and singing are her performing fortes. Oklahoma- born, she’s part Chinese, part Native American and part white, and 100-percent beautiful. She has made her mark in musicals. “Usually, I’m cast in Asian parts,” she said. “But not always. And it’s funny, this relationship between Eliza and Henry. It’s something more than just roman- tic. It’s about growth and learning. She wants to be his equal, while he’s learned to be more of a human being.”

Nichols made a big mark in an Imagination Stage musical production of Disney’s “Mulan.” She also made an impression in “The King and I” and “Miss Saigon” in a career that has been musicals that began with her playing Me in “The Owl and the Tree and Me” at the Cimarron Cir- cuit Opera Company.

In this production, it seems that it’s a shared triumph—a trick that Henry Higgins has to learn but that both Nichols and Campbell know al- ready. They start to talk with each other about a bit of business, a way of emphasis, or mov- ing in a scene, making it different, making it better, together.

OSS Society Commemorates Liberation of the Hotel Ritz
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The Office of Strategic Services Society, which celebrates the World War II predecessor to the C.I.A. and the U.S. Special Operations Command, presented its William J. Donovan Award (named in honor of the OSS founder) to former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates at the West End’s Ritz- Carlton Hotel Oct. 27. The occasion commemorated the liberation of the Hotel Ritz in Paris, France, by Ernest Hemingway, Col. David Bruce and a group of French Resistance fighters on Aug. 25, 1944. Upon their arrival at the Hotel Ritz, its manager asked Hemingway what the Ritz could do for them. Hemingway’s response: “How about 73 dry martinis?” At The OSS Society diner, each guest received a martini with an OSS logo etched on it. Sean Hemingway, Ernest Hemingway’s grandson, offered a toast to his father and his uncle, John Hemingway, who served in the OSS. [gallery ids="101074,137206,137190,137201,137197" nav="thumbs"]

National Sporting Library Museum
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The Honorable and Mrs. William A. Nitze hosted a cocktail reception for the NSLM on Nov. 16th at their home in Georgetown. [gallery ids="101073,137199,137170,137194,137177,137189,137184" nav="thumbs"]

Non- Holiday Winter Arts Preview
• November 27, 2012

Non- Holiday Winter Arts Preview

“Jekyll and Hyde”, a Dull Kind of Madness
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Jekyll & Hyde”, the pop-rock-musical version of Robert Louis Stevenson’s famous novel about a doctor who tries to separate good from evil and instead runs afoul of evil inside himself in the horrific person of Edward Hyde, may have been a grand guignol. It’s an entertaining novel, but it’s a strange sort of musical.

The show—now on a road trip before returning to Broadway from whence it came—has its own problem with schizophrenia or even multiple personalities in terms of being a musical. First of all, it’s been redone in terms of some new songs added, another repositioned and restaged, all of which may be fine, but we’re going to go with what we saw at the Kennedy Center’s Opera House having seen nothing else except an old Spencer Tracy movie version of the novel.

As contemporary musical entertainment, this production delivers to what appears to be a loyal fan base, conjuring up a good deal of spectacle and imaginative staging, plus the added attraction of a high-powered and top-drawer cast. The problem is not in the stars—which includes Constantine Meroulis (a runner-up on the fourth American Idol series) pop and r&b star Deborah Cox and the terrifically gifted Teal Wicks (Elphaba in “Wicked”). The problem is that the production, originally conceived as a concept album starring Colm Wilkes and Linda Eder, before going to Broadway where it ran for several years, even with the tinkering still seems derivative of other shows—there’s a whiff of “Les Miz”here and there, and stronger in terms of look and feel, “Phantom of the Opera”, and who knows, arena rock shows in some of its music and singing.

“Jekyll & Hyde”—conceived by Frank Wildhorn, with book and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse, music by Frank Wildhorn and direction by Jeff Calhoun—certainly knocks your eyes out in horror-movie fashion and with up-to-the-minute staging stuff—a scene in which Hyde and Jekyll occupy the stage at the same time makes use of video technology, as opposed to what used to involve the shaking of long hair.

It seems to me that the music is what passes for much too much Broadway composing these days—it’s made for voices who have learned to hold a note, complete with vibrato for a durable length of time that comes close to asphyxiation. This sort of music—the best of it can be heard in “Bring Him Home” from Les Mis and “The Phantom of the Opera”—is impressive when it contains operatic, pitch-felt emotions and brings audiences out of their chairs, but there are times here when its just an impressive feat not a moment of heartbreak. And the lyrics include feats of rhyming that are not in the least startling, but predictable.

All of that being said, as the emperor in “Gladiator” might put it, I was entertained, if not thrilled. Some of that had to do with the comfort zone of a familiar plot—a doctor playing god by eliminating evil from man’s makeup, gets too strong a dose of it, and ruins himself by bringing to life his inner psychotic,with murderous results.

Hyde, sung in growly, loud, raspy style by Meroulis, storms across the stage laying everything to waste, most notably the members of the board who run the hospital where Dr. Jekyll works. They’re a loud, vivid bunch of Victorian Age one percenters, a regular rich rogue’s gallery from a haughty grand dame, a lecherous, predatory bishop, a useless barrister, to a pompous model of a British major general, of the kind that Gilbert and Sullivan skewered regularly. Hyde does some skewering also.

Jekyll, going deeper into the muck, has to solve the problem of his women—one of them Lucy, a true lady of the night with a heart of gold and Ella, his delectable fiancé. The two are mightily dissimilar both in performance and voice—Cox plays Lucy with warm realism, her rangy pop voice hitting every song out of the park, including the appealing “Bring on the Men” and Teal has a chandelier-breaking voice and performing skill that brings a thankless part to life.

Meroulis throws himself into the task with such fervor—over the top in acting, on the money with his hold-on-to-your-seat rock arena voice—that you might want to ask for a recount on the American Idol vote.

This “Jekyll & Hyde”, which is taking another shot at Broadway, is as good as it can be,never more and never less than that, given the material. In the theater, that’s enough for a worthy night out.
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Benjamin Abramowitz at Whittemore House Museum
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Before the color school, before there was such a thing as a Washington art scene to speak of, there was Benjamin Abramowitz.

The prolific Abramowitz began his life as an artist with a commission of work from the Works Progress Administration during the Depression when he was only 19 and never stopped until he passed away at the age of 94 in 2011.

For a few days more (until November 28), you can sample a small part of the amazingly large output and legacy of this unique artistic figure in Washington and the nation at the Woman’s National Democratic Club’s Whittemore House Museum at Dupont Circle called “Out of the Vault: Early Prints and Drawings, Benjamin Abramowitz, 1917-2011”.

The exhibition, co-curated by Nuzhat Sultan and Susan Abramowitz Rosenbaum—the only living daughter of the artist—contains 15 original lithographs and drawings. Among them are three works that are part of the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as a series of intimate, familial portraits, some of them of Rosenbaum in her adolescence, childhood and youth.

“These works by Benjamin Abramowitz, a W.P.A. artists who established himself in Washington for six decades, exhibit his social and political observations,” Nuzhat Sultan, the co-curator said. The works are reminiscent of Honore Daumier.” Daumier was great and caustic recorder of early 19th-century French society)

Even among the way-too-few works present, you can sense Abramowitz’s restless interests and generous compassion, his feel for the energy in the furious winds of the times he lived in—there are thickly and energetically drawn portraits of electioneering, union rallies, children gathered together, workers in the field and the like, accurate captures of the rural and urban scenes.

His name resounds in Washington, where he rose to prominence with solo exhibitions at the Corcoran Gallery, Howard University and other institutions and galleries over the years. Through the course of his life he had over 100 exhibitions, on the East Cost, through ART in Embassies.

Powerfully accessible and modern in a characteristically American way by style and content, Abramowitz raised his family in what was then rural Greenbelt in Maryland, where he lived and worked for almost half a century. His genius was his singular work but also a gift for multi-tasking and constant curiosity. He would draw, paint, created sculptures, but also found time to study history and philosophy and learn seven languages, Greek and Latin among them.

His output was prodigious as his daughter Susan Rosenbaum, who cared for her father until his death at 94. Working on a registry of her father’s work. By this year, she had accounted for nearly 8,000 works, including 433 paintings, and 162 sculptures.

Rosenbaum is an arts consultant, worked as an external affairs officer at the Corcoran Gallery of Art and is currently Chair of the Board of Trustees of Arts for the Aging.
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