Arts & Society

Gary Tischler • July 19, 2012

As a Broadway musical, “The Addams Family” has had its share of tumult, upheaval and critical sneers before it ever went on the road, including the replacement of stars Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth in mid-run.

The road company—now at the Kennedy Center’s Opera House through July 29—is not quite the same show that first opened on Broadway: it’s got a fresher feel, new songs added and old ones gone. The show has already hit numerous stops before coming to Washington, but it too has suffered some critical adversity. But there’s another thing that the two productions share: a consistent audience approval in spite of the critics.

The road show also has something else that makes it rise above critical outcries and into the audience’s lap. Sure, it has instantly recognizable appeal of a branded production—in this case the Charles Addams cartoons of a dizzy, death besotten—in a good way—family, a highly successful television series, starring Carolyn Jones as the sexy-pale Morticia and her unto-death, fully in love and faintly toreador husband Gomez. This was followed by two box-office hit versions starring the wonderful Raoul Julia and Anjelica Huston in the leads presiding over the usual suspects, the plodding Lurch, Uncle Fester, offspring Wednesday, Pugsley and Grandma.

It also has—as a big plus—Douglas Sills as the undeniably gallant, springy, elegant—in a weird way—and totally still in desparate love Gomez. And Sills is the kind of guy who can make all the difference in the world. He’s the glue to this show, which can often seem unhinged, and not always in a good way.

Sills—a Broadway veteran, and old-school born-to-the-stage performer—overcomes the show’s situational schtick—daughter Wednesday is in love with a so-called normal guy and his folks are coming for dinner—and some of its lagging numbers in the second act by his sheer joyful, bust-the-seams, gleeful presence.

“Sometimes it feels as if we’ve been across the entire country,” Sills says. “It’s not an easy life—this is a relatively long run, actually, sometimes we’ve been in a city for a week and off we go.”

Sills is what I like to call a member in good standing of the Broadway baby family, actors and performers who are most at homes under the footlights, in front of live and lively audiences, who can do a show a hundred (or more times) and still find a spot of freshness in it, performers who can kill a song, do a soft shoe and make you believe that it’s the first time they’ve ever done it.

“Well, we also have (Director) Jerry Zaks restaging things” Sills said. “He’s a real pro, and I think he’s really helped make this thing go.”

Maybe so. But Sills, whose Gomez has made a promise to never keep anything from his beloved Morticia, keeps something from her to his utter shame, chagrin and pain. His mortification, seemingly endless, while singing “Trapped” twists him up into a man who sounds a little like Ricardo Montalban and feels like Stan Laurel.

Sills is a jack-of-all-trades—he’s coming off of tours of “Secret Garden” and “Into the Woods”, but made his real mark in “The Scarlet Pimpernel”, where he buckled and swashed like an energized, fire-breathing hero in a musical that also had some initial critical backlash but was hugely popular with audiences.

“It got so there would be people that came back time and time again,” he said. “I think it was pretty gratifying.”

Sills was raised in Detroit, in a good Jewish family household, and was trained at famed director Bill Ball’s American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco. “That was a great place to work, some wonderful actors went through there—Michael Learned, Ray Reinhardt, Peter Donat, Annette Benning, Paul Shenar. You learned to do every kind of part, which I think has served me well.”

It’s fair to guess that there are few, if any nights, when Sills doesn’t do his best, go all out. He’s earned his respect and deserves it. He has a certain authentic politeness about him especially when talking about actors of yore like Olivier, or the Shakespearean greats or a Pacino. “I think it’s our responsibility to honor the ladies and gentlemen who came come before us, and the best way to honor your heritage is to do the very best you can do.”

He acknowledged that the plot devise of the normal family meeting the not so normal family has been done before: “La Cauge Aux Follies”, “You Can’t Take it With You,” he says. “But in this way, the show becomes a story about family.”

Sills and Sara Gettelfinger make a convincing and sexy Gomez and Morticia, they always seem about to break into a tango when they come with a foot of each other.
The audience members, if not always the critics, perhaps full with more Addams fire than is healthy, get it. They snap their fingers, they laugh at the jokes, get into the dark shadows spirits of the show. Sills helps make that easier by not just acting Gomez but being him.

Georgetowner • July 17, 2012

On Friday, July 20, Washington D.C.’s own Warehouse Loft will headline Cassy for an evening of deep and soulful house music, organized by local event gurus Deep Secrets, Nomad and Bejanquest. The line-up of extraordinary talent in the realm of house music includes opening sets by local deejays Chris Burns, Mazi, Solomon Sanchez and Marko Peli.

Deep Secrets co-founder Benoit Benoit said that he and his fellow organizers were proud of the bill they were able to put together.

“This deejay line-up is one of the finest that Deep Secrets has ever been a part of,” Benoit said. “Nomad and Bejan Quest have been terrific partners, and there is no better venue for house music in Washington than the Warehouse Loft. Cassy is legendary in dance music circles, and we are very excited to bring her to the scene.”

Cassy returns to Washington by way of Berlin, Germany, where she has been at the center of the vibrant underground house music scene since 2003. Her recordings have released by internationally recognized labels Playhouse, Perlon, Ostgut Ton and Cocoon. Part of what makes her popular is her ability to make anyone get on the dance floor. She does not subscribe to any one genre, instead she moves deftly between techno, pop and house music. Her party with Deep Secrets last summer drew a capacity crowd, and the organizers this year expect a similar turnout.

“We anticipate a record attendance the night of Cassy’s second party,” according to Sammy X, the manager of the Warehouse Loft. “The other deejays are top-notch too, and we encourage Cassy fans to come out early to enjoy them, as well as beat the line. Deep Secrets, Nomad and BejanQuest have put together one special evening.”

July 20, 9 to 11 p.m., open bar
Warehouse Loft, 411 New York Ave., N.E.
To purchase pre-sale tickets for $15: Tickets
Tickets at the door are $20. [gallery ids="100905,128333" nav="thumbs"]

Alexis Williams • July 12, 2012

Whether you’re firing up the grill for a good, ol’ fashioned barbeque or filling up the gas tank to head down to the National Mall, there is no excuse not to have plans this Independence Day. But, just in case you’re drawing a blank this year, check out our list of patriotic parties, entertaining events and joyous jubilees around the D.C. area for some ideas.

Fun For the Family:

On Independence Day, there is nothing more American than spending time with loved ones. For a fun-filled, family affair, head down to Constitution Avenue and 7th Street at 11:45 A.M. for the National Independence Day parade. Let your banners wave by cheering on invited bands, celebrities, military and specialty units and more, as they show their American pride. Go to july4thparade.com to find out more.

Amidst the melodic melee, grab a blanket and a seat on the National Mall for the can’t-miss centerpiece of D.C.’s Independence Day celebration: the fireworks. At approximately 9:10 P.M., the annual Fourth of July fireworks will be launched from the Reflecting Pool area to light up the night sky. For more information on various viewing areas and tips on preparation plans, visit www.nps.gov.

Late Night, Date Night:

More excitement is sure to follow at PBS’s A Capitol Fourth concert at the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol. From 8 to 9:30 P.M., watch T.V. personality Tom Bergeron host the musical celebration and enjoy tunes from “American Idol” winner Phillip Phillips, “The Voice” winner Javier Colon, Tony Award-winning actor Matthew Broderick, R&B legends Kool & The Gang, among others. Check out pbs.org for more details.

Looking for something more low-key? All aboard the Boomerang Boat! For an enjoyable evening sailing down Potomac River, grab a date and join the crew for a Fourth of July Fireworks cruise. Dance the night away on the main cabin, marvel at the DC panoramic cityscape, or sip on a signature cocktail at the cash bar. Before meeting at the Georgetown Waterfront to set sail, Click here for more information.

Close to Home:

On July 4, the Citizens Association of Georgetown Concert in the Park features the By & By Band and the Fourth of July Parade. Parade begins at 4:30 p.m. at the basketball courts; concerts begin at 5 p.m. Rose Park, 26th and P Streets, NW.

Take part in the Palisades 4th of July Parade, 11 a.m. Don’t miss the best, little parade in D.C. or America, for that matter, along MacArthur Boulevard. Anyone can be a spectator or participant. Just show up on time at Whitehaven Parkway near Our Lady of Victory School. Marchers preferred; one vehicle per group. (Horses excluded from the rules.) Parade moves north to a picnic at the recreation center. Visit PalisadesDC.org](http://palisadesdc.org/).

Home for the Holiday:

For the holiday homebody, try this festive recipe to add some pizazz to your Fourth of July celebration. Here’s a sweet treat that is perfect for a quiet evening at home or an afternoon barbeque. Although it may appear to be just another vanilla cake from the outside, cut one slice of the patriotic pastry and you’re sure to see fireworks. Check out [glorioustreats.com](http://www.glorioustreats.com/2011/06/4th-of-july-flag-cake.html) for more pictures.

Fourth of July Flag Cake

Recipe:

Vanilla cake mix

Red and blue food coloring

Vanilla frosting

Instructions:

Prepare two Vanilla cake mixes (using any Vanilla cake recipe you love.)

Prepare two 8” cake pans by coating them with a small amount of butter and flour and placing parchment paper in the bottom.

Prepare one batch of batter and color it red.

Divide the batter equally and pour into the two prepared pans.

Bake as instructed by your recipe.

While the red cakes are baking, prepare another batch of batter.

Divide the batter into two bowls and color one of the bowls of batter blue.

Leave the remaining bowl of batter uncolored.

When your red cakes have baked and cooled, remove from pans. Wash and then prepare pans for the white and blue batter.

Bake (You want to end up with one 8” round blue cake, one 8” round white cake, and two 8” round red cakes.)

Slice the two red cakes in half (horizontally), so you’ll have a total of four red layers. Set one aside for one layer, this will not be used for the cake. Cut a 4” circle out of one of the layers. So you want to have two 8” round layers and one 4” round layer.

Cut the white cake in half as well. Then use a 4” cookie cutter to cut a circle out of one of the halves.

Use a 4” cookie cutter again to cut out the center of your blue cake.

You’re ready to assemble your cake when you have: one thick layer of blue with the center cut out, two 8” layers of red, one 4” layer of red, one 8” layer of white, one 4” layer of white.

Assemble cake with a thin layer of frosting between each layer of cake, starting on the bottom with red cake, then white, then red, then blue.

Add some frosting along the inside “ring” of the blue cake to hold in the next two layers which will fit inside the opening.

Fill the hole in the blue cake with a 4” round layer of cake, some frosting, and then the 4” round of red.

Once assembled, frost the cake as desired. Chill the frosted cake in the refrigerator until you’re ready to serve it. [gallery ids="100887,127648" nav="thumbs"]

Mary Bird • June 29, 2012

Washington has many special events but none more heartfelt that the June 13 tribute at the Washington National Cathedral to Norman Scribner, as he ended his 47th season as artistic director of The Choral Arts Society of Washington. Concertgoers were enchanted by organ master J. Reilly Lewis, Robert Shafer conducting works by Richard Wayne Dirksen, Janice Chandler Eteme’s O Patria Mia and the chorus’s “Ave Maria” from Rachmaninoff’s “Vespers.” At a post-performance reception in Hearst Hall, the maestro called his successor Scott Tucker a “kindred spirit.” Scribner said, “Names don’t matter that much. It’s the spirit moving around the room. I hope to see you often on the audience floor.” [gallery ids="100885,127641,127631,127586,127624,127594,127619,127603,127611" nav="thumbs"]

Mary Bird •

Under the patronage of Permanent Representatives to the Organization of American States Joel Hernández of Mexico and Walter Albán of Peru, Opera Camerata presented a concert version of Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville” at the OAS June 23. Guests enjoyed wine and a silent auction before the performance, which featured many young Latin American artists already known to D.C. audiences, including Peruvian baritone José Sacín and coloratura soprano Elizabeth Treat. The evening continued with a delectable Latin American repast. [gallery ids="100884,127589,127564,127582,127571,127578" nav="thumbs"]

Georgetowner •

In a glorious collaboration, Imagination Stage and The Washington Ballet have made magic with their own “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.” The spell was cast at the June 22 opening, replete with reception, and will continue to delight audiences through August 12. Jean-Marie Fernandez, Anne Marie Parisi-Trone and Evonne Courtney Connolly were the ?Lion Ladies,? ensuring funding for the voyage through the wardrobe. Morgann Rose is a daunting wicked White Witch and designer Eric Van Wyk?s inspired lion puppet Aslan had the audience aroar. Please bring your nearest and dearest of every age to this inspirational marvel.

Jade Floyd • June 27, 2012

Each year, nearly 10 million flights circle the globe, carrying passengers to new locales and old stomping grounds alike. Travel comes with the territory in the District ? dignitaries commute to and from home countries, businessmen and women cross continents to close deals and families spend much-deserved vacations to relax beyond the Beltway. I?ve seen passports filled with enough stamps to rival secretaries of state. Most recently, after a return from a world tour, a friend complained that, with too many stamps, he needed a new passport.

While many of us dream of winters in Whistler, British Columbia, and summer cruises off the Solomon Islands, there is a segment of inner-city youth that will never leave D.C. ? or the Eastern Seaboard. In fact, the idea of needing a passport is even more foreign to them than travelling to a national park. But a number of organizations across the city are now working to address this lack of cultural and geographical awareness by exposing inner-city youth to outdoor and cultural opportunities.

D.C.?s City Kids, for one, offers annual backpacking excursions to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where youth learn mountaineering and life skills on a 62-acre ranch. On June, 20 young girls journeyed to Jackson Hole for a summer filled with outdoor adventure and leadership development courses.
?Having the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to live in Wyoming for the summer has exposed me to a life I did not know existed,? said a past City Kids participant. ?Those experiences have given me a new outlook on life. Through the skills developed at City Kids, I know that my actions matter and what I choose to do or choose not to do has repercussions.?

Like City Kids, Wilderness Leadership & Learning (WILL) is also based in D.C. and provides youths with life skill development tools. Primarily working with high school students from under-served neighborhoods in Wards 1, 6, 7 and 8, WILL expose a group of students to the Appalachian Trail for a week-long trip with Steve Abraham, president and founder of WILL. A former attorney, Abraham created the 12 month long, interactive WILL program providing safe after-school time for kids.

?WILL not only enables teens to become aware of the world around them, but also encourages them to become better stewards of the environment,? Abraham said. ?Our programs include environmental learning and service projects on the Anacostia and Potomac Rivers, scavenger hunts on the National Mall, canoeing on the Anacostia River, a seven-day backpacking Expedition on the Appalachian Trail and three days at the Chesapeake Bay.?

Travel opportunities exist locally, too. Live It Learn It partners exclusively with high-poverty Title I D.C. public elementary schools and their teachers. It offers classroom instruction and trips to a range of recognized museums and memorials; more than 1,500 students from 21 schools across the District benefit.

?We partner with schools in every quadrant of the city, with the majority located east of the Anacostia River,? said Matthew Wheelock, founder of Live It Learn It. ?Despite having world-renowned monuments, museums, memorials and national parks right in their own backyard, the overwhelming majority of our students have never experienced these places. . . It seemed like such a waste.?

For many of the youth enrolled in these D.C. programs, their first entr?e to travel both near and far stems from the commitment of non-profits focusing on education through travel. You can help them on their journey by donating to these organizations to support flights, bus transportation and needed gear for each kid?s adventure. ?

**HOW YOU CAN HELP**

**City Kids** welcomes donations of gear, including hiking books, fleece tops, twin bedding, saddles and horse tacks. Visit its wish list at www.CityKidsDC.org/donors/our-wish-list

**Wilderness Leadership & Learning** (WILL) is always looking for volunteers to help drive students to events and welcomes online donations at www.WILL-lead.org/friends.html

**Live It Learn It** seeks in-school volunteers and welcomes donations at
www.LiveItLearnIt.org/pages/get-involved.php

*Jade Floyd is a managing associate at a D.C.-based international public relations firm and has served on the board of directors for several non-profits. She is a frequent volunteer and host of fundraising events across the District supporting arts, animal welfare and education programs. Follow her on Twitter @DCThisWeek.*

Gary Tischler • June 18, 2012

There’s a certain air of expectation that hangs over artistic director Molly Smith’s production of “The Music Man” at Arena Stage, now running for a better part of the summer there.

It’s the rarefied air of success achieved by Smith with “Oklahoma,” the classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musical with which she chose to open the newly renovated Mead Center for the American Theater, a grand old musical that has quite a few things in common with “The Music Man.”

Broadly speaking, it’s a show, like “Oklahoma,” which resurrects the spirit of a mostly vanished turn-of-the-20th-century America. “Oklahoma” bristled with western confidence, its characters are swept up by and embrace change. “The Music Man” is carried and buoyed by what happens when a burst of con-man energy lifts a classic Midwestern small town out of its narrow-minded, time-locked lethargy. Smith’s way with classic American musicals is to bless them with a breath of fresh air that is both energizing and engaging. It’s as if she waves a magic wand over things and makes the proceedings both rejuvenating and meaningful for today’s audiences.

Meredith Wilson — book author, composer and lyricist of “The Music Man”— may not have a Rodgers and Hammerstein resume but he has the Broadway musical pedigree. “The Music Man” is at turns energized by spirited dancing, it has bowl-you-over songs that make a perfect sales pitch like “76 Trombones” and “Trouble” and soaring ballads, none more pertinent and moving than “Til There was You.” It has romance, it has conflict, it has a believable and recognizable setting, and it resolves itself, not with schmaltz, but with a believable inevitability.

And so far as entertainment machines go, “The Music Man” delivers. It’s a robust vehicle that never flags and runs right past potential pitfalls, thanks to Smith. It has a deftly selected cast that couldn’t be more gifted, especially in the leads. Kate Baldwin, as Marian the town librarian and music teacher, is slight and dynamic, all blazing red hair with a shining, patient sort of charisma. Burke Moses strikes up the band and revs up the room temperature as Harold Hill, the con man as magician. He’s every bit as high-stepping and high-spirited as the iconic Robert Preston, sweeping almost all before him as he works his con of talking the town folks into the dream of a marching band, complete with lessons, uniforms and instruments.

The number of persons who might have seen the original Broadway production “The Music Man” is probably pretty small, although we have the happy coincidence of Barbara Cook, the original Marian, singing for two nights at the Kennedy Center next month. Our memories, if we have any, are tied to the film, where Preston shares the screen with Shirley Jones.

It seems to me that “The Music Man” and “Oklahoma” are about change. They’re transformative to audience and characters, and Smith makes change the beating hearts of both shows, especially this one. You could do a “Music Man” that hits all the highlights of song and story and not disappoint a soul, but this production does a little more for an audience that’s plugged into the whole wide world. The first thing you hear is a slow, almost mournful instrumental riff off the usually jaunty “76 Trombones,” accompanied by the sound of a train on its tracks, the rhythmic, familiar syncopated sound of movement and progress. Out of the Arena stages rises a table and seats filled with traveling salesmen, railing musically against change—you can’t give credit, you gotta know the territory, and so on. They gossip about one of their own, the elusive Harold Hill whose specialty is boondoggling small towns with promises of a marching band.

Hill arrives in River City and knows just what to do—he warns against the evils of sin in pool halls, he sings about marching bands—those trombones again—and he lays siege to the often disappointed, but still dreamy, heart of Marian. The townspeople—a generally unfriendly, gossipy and intolerant lot—are quickly undone by Hill’s abundant charms and soon enough he has the kids dancing, the matrons smiling and the town’s long-time enemies pulling together as a barbershop quartet.

“He sure seems to be having a good time,” one audience member said of Moses as Hill, and that’s a judgement that’s self-evident. Once he collides with Marian in a kind of tug-and-pull of romance and energy, the show practically takes wing. Baldwin, as Marian, has the task of singing songs that usually provide a lull in most musicals—the love-proclaiming ballad, the high, high soprano sweet songs that can kill energy like a fly swatter. She, however, knocks them right of the park, and the show never skips a beat. They get help from the high-flying wrong-side of the track kid Tommy played with energetic charm by Will Burton, and the Nehal Joshi’s goofy sidekick Marcellus, and area veteran actors like Donna Migliacco, John Lescault and Lawrence Redmond.

The costumes may indeed be suggestive of no particular period, although the outrageous costumes worn by the local ladies’ culture club are eye-boggling. If that’s confusing, you’re not paying attention. Wilson — born in Mason City, Iowa, in 1902 — meant to resurrect his hometown with all of its shortcomings and glories, which are located in Marian’s heart, in the tuning fork hum of barbershop quartet, in the leaps of the dancers, in the whispers of gossip, in the small, but greedy ambitions of the mayor, in a time when kisses, instead of investor money, could still be stolen on the back porch.

“The Music Man” isn’t “Oklahoma,” but it is something just as good. In this show, there really is love all around, and you can hear it singing

(“The Music Man” runs in Arena’s Fichandler Stage through July 22)

Mary Bird •

The Helen Hayes Tribute, sponsored by Jaylee Mead, was presented at the Warner Theatre on April 23 to Kevin Spacey. Chairman of the theatreWashington Board of Directors Victor Shargai termed him a man who understands that theatre is a transforming experience. Spacey delighted the audience with tales such as when his mentor Jack Lemmon recommended him for an apartment in New York by saying of the then young actor “the only things he’s ever stolen are my scenes.” Greater Washington is second only to New York for the number of yearly productions.

Robert Devaney •

The parties before and after the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, April 28, are at least half the fun of running around town, whether to Vote Latino at the Hay Adams, NPR’s party at the Gibson Guitar Showroom, Tammy Haddad’s brunch at Mark Ein’s house on R Street (the former home of Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham), the newly launched Google party, the Time reception at the St. Regis, the Capitol File party at the Newseum or the MSNBC party at the Italian Embassy. Of course, the pre-dinner receptions at the Washington Hilton are great for checking out the scene. Just show a ticket to the guard at the escalator. And, of course, the main event itself, where the president and Jimmy Kimmel threw out jokes on the GSA, Secret Service, Mitt Romney, dogs and the media. Thank goodness for the McLaughlin Group-Thomson Reuters brunch on Sunday atop the Hay-Adams: a sunny, mellow way to recover from the parties with friends and colleagues. Yeah, it was sort of a nerd prom when “glitz meets geeks,” as one smartie observed, but it’s ours for a few days in April each year. [gallery ids="100769,123448,123441,123433,123428,123461,123420,123468,123413,123475,123405,123482,123454" nav="thumbs"]