This Refreshed ‘Fair Lady’ Learns Anew at Arena

December 6, 2012

The trouble with the Arena Stage production of “My Fair Lady” is that it’s “My Fair Lady.”

That being said—and more will be said—I thought and more importantly felt that this production of the Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe stage (and movie) classic musical was fresh. It belongs to the audience of these our times as much as it did for previous generations without neglecting any of the great score and work of L&L. While long at nearly three hours, this production also had something that energized the evening. Being a musical based on George Bernard Shaw’s “Pygmalion,” it had pungent, prickly Shavian smarts in the script on the subject of gender and class, emotionally and intellectually executed, sung and acted.

What did it not have? It did not have Rex Harrison inimitably speaking his songs. It did not have a dubbed Audrey Hepburn. It did not have Stanley Holloway’s English vaudevillian turn as Eliza Doolittle’s dad, getting to the church on time.

I mention these things because the film version of “My Fair Lady” is so much in the mind of theater audiences or new audiences, not to mention critics, that it’s hard to shake, especially when confronted with stage productions that cannot hope to or want to reproduce the effects and affectations of the film version.

“My Fair Lady” has its own, original charms, virtues and passions.

What I saw and felt was a successful and fully loaded attempt to offer up the rich musical, dramatic gifts that “My Fair Lady” has to offer through inventive staging, casting and costuming and sets. In this, casting Shaw Festival and Canadian veteran Benedict Campbell as Henry Higgins (he comes from Smith’s original SF production staged earlier this year), and relative newcomer Manna Nichols as Eliza Doolittle was critical, leading a standout cast up and down the line. Campbell is an excellent and experienced actor who can sing while Nichols is a wonderful singer who can act. In this production, something happens that I’ve rarely if ever seen in the show—film and two other productions—I was moved by where the relationship between Eliza and Henry was heading and ended up, an ending that’s often mystifying to lovers of romantic endings in musicals.

“My Fair Lady” remains the same story—Shavian in its intellectual content, so very L&L in its musical themes. The noted linguist Henry Higgins, bets his old friend Colonel Pickering that he can turn Eliza Doolittle, a dirty, near unintelligible Cockney flower girl (he calls her than once a “guttersnipe”) into a countess by teaching her—in a rigid, slave-driving regimen—how to speak the King’s English. In England, class was defined by how you spoke the language (and dressed, and went to school and so on). Bloody hell, you might say, and she probably did, but agrees to participate. Using repetition, sometimes Pavlovian starvation, and sleep deprivation, Higgins slowly turns the scruffy but moral (“I’m a good girl, I am) working-class girl into someone lady-like, mannered and well-mannered and powerfully and fashionably attractive, at that.

All the familiar strains are here—the test run at the races where Eliza relapses in high and low fashion—a meeting with Higgins’s mum, and the ball where she conquers all, especially poor Freddy, the handsome scion of an artistocratic family. That would be Nicholas Rodriguez, who gets to sing the achingly yearning “On the Street Where You Live” and turns it into a show stopper, just as he turned “Oh, What a Beautiful Morning” into a roaring show starter in “Oklahoma.”

Nichols, elfin and shining, puts a swirling, dreamy, sweeping quality in her voice singing the songs that wish like “I Could Have Danced All Night” and “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly.” Campbell actually sings and moves with power through the thoroughly misogynist “Hymn To Him.” “The Rain In Spain” number, sung by Eliza, Higgins and Pickering, is high-spirited and fun.

The folks on the poor side of town—the bartenders, the chimney sweeps, the flowers girls, the cabbies, including Eliza’s father Alfred Doolittle are a different sort, and so is Doolittle himself. Their clothing in brash steampunk style—it sometimes harks back to the 1960s hippie style as well—and their diversity speak to a multi-ethnic (The Doolittles are part Asian here) world that existed in London then and does so now as well as here. Daddy Doolittle’s “Get Me to the Church” is no longer specifically London cockney or vaudeville, it’s a paean to the group, into which James Saito often disappears in the role.

What’s clear in this show is how through their battling, Henry and Eliza find not only each other but themselves. While Eliza hardly lacks passion, in the end she’s not interested in a future with the smitten Freddie. She wants something more substantive, and that would be Henry Higgins. The more she knows about herself and her own gifts, the more she’s a match for Henry. And the more Higgins—the confirmed old bachelor type who prefers solitude and subsists on arrogant intellectual superiority—is around Eliza, the more he realizes she completes him—that missing human part that includes longing.

This “My Fair Lady” is what it is: something pretty special. It delivers the old goods and the new.

Washington Harbour Ice Rink Inaugurated


The oldest neighborhood in Washington, D.C., now sports the newest and largest ice skat- ing rink in the region at Washington Harbour down by the Potomac River. Along with its festive store fronts and nicely lighted homes, the intersection at Wisconsin Avenue and M Street is also sporting an illuminated ornament and bows above the traffic. Whether business recep- tions, parties or persons meeting at a restaurant after shopping, Georgetown has been the place to meet for decades. This year, the venues have only apped up their seasonal cheer and flair.

The ice skating rink at Washington Harbour held its own inauguration of sorts Dec. 1 with strolling entertainers, ice skating performances, choral singers, a St. Lucia procession and light- ing effects, along with special food and beverag- es served outdoors by Washington Harbour res- taurants. At 11,800 square feet, the Washington Harbour ice rink is D.C.’s largest outdoor ice skating venue, larger than New York City’s Rockefeller Center rink. It is managed by the complex’s owner, MRP Realty. The rink will be open through February for recreational skating every day, including all holidays. For more information, visit TheWashingtonHarbour.com/ skating.

Weekend Round Up November 29,2012

December 3, 2012

Downtown Holiday Market

November 30th, 2012 at 12:00 PM | Event Website

Downtown Holiday Market will create a cozy, winter wonderland in front of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery. Wear your walking shoes. There will be lots of art work, crafts, and goodies to satisfy everyone on your shopping list. Catch the celebratory, outdoor spirit when the Market returns for 24 glorious days, Friday, November 30th to Sunday, December 23rd, noon to 8:00 pm.

Address

American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery

Glen Echo Potters 25th Annual Show and Sale

December 1st, 2012 at 09:00 AM | Free | glenechopottery@verizon.net | Tel: 301-229-5585 | Event Website

Show and sale by more than 50 local potters, including several featured in local and national juried shows. Saturday, December 1, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sunday, December 2, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Free parking

Address

The Lab School of Washington; 4759 Reservoir Road, N. W.

Duke Ellington School of the Arts Holiday Bazaar & Art Show

December 1st, 2012 at 10:00 AM | FREE | shade4desa@gmail.com | Event Website

Holiday Shopping doesn’t have to be hard. Find something for everyone at Duke Ellington’s Annual Holiday Gift Bazaar & Art Show at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, DC!

This year’s Bazaar hosts fine art and artists ? silver & gold jewelry ? unique home decor ? natural bath and body products ? local food vendors ? books and authors – and so much more!

Vending Opportunities are still available at EllingtonHolidayBazaar.wordpress.com or email shade4desa@gmail.com.

Address

Duke Ellington School of the Arts; 3500 R Street, NW

Jewelry Holiday Shopping Event to Benefit Smith Center for Healing and the Arts

December 1st, 2012 at 12:00 PM | info@sheilacahilldesign.com | Tel: 202-656-2415 | Event Website

Sheila Cahill Design will generously donate 25% of the profits to Smith Center for Healing and the Arts, the only stand alone cancer support organization in DC. Shop Sheila’s unique, one of a kind jewelry pieces – better known as “adornment for confident women.” Find holiday gifts that range from one of a kind jewelry pieces to fun and playful bejeweled objects. The event will take place at Sheila’s Jewelry Studio, close to the Cathedral. Open from 12 noon to 5 pm on both 12/1 and 12/2.

Address

4000 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Suite 1630, Washington DC 20016

Winter on the Water

December 1st, 2012 at 04:00 PM | Free Admission | info@thewashingtonharbour.com | Tel: 202-295-5007 | Event Website

Come celebrate the inauguration of Washington DC’s newest, largest, outdoor ice skating venue, the Washington Harbour Ice Rink, with a fete of continuous strolling entertainers, ice skating performances, choral singers, a St. Lucia parade, and artistic lighting effects, with food and beverages served outdoors by the restaurants of the Washington Harbour. Free admission.

Fees for ice skating and skate rental: Adults – $9.00; Children/Seniors/Military – $7.00; Skate Rental – $5.00
Address

The Washington Harbour; 3050 K Street NW

Washington Bach Consort presents “Great Glad Tidings”

December 1st, 2012 at 05:00 PM | Tickets $23-$65, Students 18 and younger $10, Pay Your Age 18-38 | contact@bachconsort.org | Tel: 202.429.2121 | Event Website

An all-Bach program contains cantatas composed for Advent and the Christmas season, including one of the six that make up the Christmas Oratorio. J. Reilly Lewis performs the Canonic Variations on Von Himmel hoch, one of Bach’s most famous compositions published towards the end of his life.

Note day and time

Address

National Presbyterian Church; 4101 Nebraska Avenue, NW

Jackson Art Center Winter Open Studios

December 2nd, 2012 at 12:00 PM | Free | Event Website

Join The Jackson Art Center and 44 Georgetown Artist for when the art studios will be open to the public for free with music by Robert Hanson.

Address

3050 R Street NW (on R between 30th & 31st Streets)

Football 101 Open Bar, BBQ, Seminar and Game Watch

December 2nd, 2012 at 06:30 PM | 25.00 | contactmlgf@gmail.com. | Event Website

Bobby Johnson will kick off the event by taking you through the fundamentals of the game, followed by Warren Powers who will share his insights on the NFL from his perspective as a former player.

Then watch the Philadelphia Eagles take on longtime rivals the Dallas Cowboys on the big screen at 8:20PM EST while enjoying a BBQ dinner and OPEN BAR throughout the game.

Tickets are $25 and all proceeds go to Septima Clark, a public all-boys charter school in Southeast DC. Purchase your tickets

Address

Fisher Colloquium, Rafik B. Hariri Building

McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University

Embassy of Sweden Presents Norrbotten NEO

December 2nd, 2012 at 05:00 PM | Free | Event Website

Embassy of Sweden presents Norrbotten NEO; Sweden’s newest voice on the contemporary music scene. Formed in January 2007, NEO has a core ensemble of seven musicians: Flute, clarinet, percussion, piano, violin, viola, and cello.

Address

Embassy of Sweden; 2900 K ST NW

Santa Claus at Volta Park

December 2nd, 2012 at 10:00 AM | Event Website](http://voltapark.org/)

Join Santa Claus, your neighbors and friends on Sunday, Dec. 2, 10 a.m. to noon at the Volta Park Playground on 34th Street for a morning of Yuletide fun.
Trim the Volta Park Christmas Tree and Playground with ornaments made at the craft table.

Santa will listen to all children’s Christmas gift requests and pose with them for photos(Pictures with Santa are $10.)

Brought to you by the Friends of Volta Park with generous support from Nancy Taylor Bubes.

Address

Volta Park Playground on 34th Street NW

You Can Help Duke Ellington School Get $50,000 Grant


Here is your chance to play Kris Kringle for Duke Ellington students and help them get a huge Christmas present of computers — just be using your mobile phone or computer.

Students at Duke Ellington School of the Arts on 35th Street have recently been nominated for a $50,000 grant from the Clorox Company. Clorox’s Grants for Schools Program is called “Power A Bright Future” and is now in its fourth year. If the students are awarded the grant, they will gain much needed access to a mobile laptop cart with 50 new Apple computers.

To get the grant, Duke Ellington School must win the contest, which is determined by those voting (at no cost) via text message and online.

“We are the only D.C. public school that’s been nominated for this national grant contest,” says Seth Brecher of D.C. Public Schools. “The good news is that we are currently ranked 30 out of nearly 1,700 schools in our category. There will be multiple grants distributed, and we’re right in the hunt to win. It’s very exciting, and it’s a very important opportunity for Ellington’s scholar-artists.”

Here is how you, the reader, can help Ellington students win right now:

Those in Georgetown, Burleith and all of D.C. can support Ellington’s grant efforts by voting:

Via text: Text text 2258pbf to 95248 every 24-hours until Dec. 19.

Online: Visitpowerabrightfuture.clorox.com every 24 hours until Dec. 19 (keyword search: “Duke Ellington School of the Arts”).

Gant Opens M Street Store

November 29, 2012

Gant has opened in Georgetown, marking the brand’s continued retail expansion outside of New York. The 2,000 square-foot store opened its doors at 3239 M St., NW, near clothiers J. Crew, Rag & Bone and AllSaints Spitalfields. The new location will sell a curated assort- ment from all collections including Gant, Gant Rugger and Gant by Michael Bastian.

“Georgetown, specifically M Street, has become a key shopping destination in recent years, especially for men,” said David Arbuthnot, chief executive officer of Gant USA. “Expanding into Georgetown was a natural step as Gant’s aesthetic is grounded in our authentic American East Coast heritage.”

Washingtonians may be familiar with the space that Gant now calls home. Once a popular live jazz bar called Saloun, the build- ing’s renovation maintained and upgraded key architectural elements of the original design, paying homage to the lounge that came before it.

Gant’s Georgetown location joins the brand’s existing seven retail locations, includ- ing Gant Rugger neighborhood shops and a Fifth Avenue global flagship in New York City, a Gant Campus Store at Yale University. It also recently opened Los Angeles and Boston locations. Gant plans to open four to five additional North American stores in 2013 and is also looking at several spots in the U.S. and Canada. The Sweden-based brand — with $1.23 billion in global sales last year — is owned by Switzerland-based Maus Frères SA. Gant was founded in New Haven, Conn., in 1949. For more information, visit Gant.com, or call its M Street store at 202-625-1949.

Tuckernuck Sets Up Showroom on Potomac Street


On-line boutique Tuckernuck, named for an island off Nantucket, has established its first brick-and-mortar retail presence at 1052 Potomac Street, NW. Based on “a classic life- style that spans generations,” the clothing con- cern of American styles (some might call it preppy) promotes “a timeless look based on ease, traditional and American cool.” Founded in May 2012, Tuckernuck is a woman-run busi- ness: “Yes, gents, we’re all ladies, and we’re all willing to help with any styling questions you have.” (Three of the ladies went to the National Cathedral School.) For more info, visit www.Tnuck.com, or call 202-670-1265.

Jonathan Adler Finally Opens at N & Wisconsin


After several delays, the Jonathan Adler store at 1267 Wisconsin Ave., NW, has opened. The maker and purveyor of pots, pillows, acces- sories and furniture is located at the corner, where the Kids Gap store used to be, across from Martin’s Tavern. The Adler whimsy and practicality are on full display throughout the large store, which shows off a Washington bust of sorts and D.C. pillows. Amid everything else, in time for Hanukkah, beginning Dec. 8, the store offers unique dreidels and menorahs. Visit www.JonathanAdler.com, or call 202-965-1416.

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Jack Evans Report: D.C. School Closings

November 28, 2012

This week I want to put my views on the record regarding the recent proposal by DC Public Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson to close 20 DC Public Schools. In Ward 2, the proposal is to close Garrison Elementary School and Francis-Stevens.

In general terms, I have expressed support for the idea of finding efficiencies by closing under-enrolled schools. The problem, however, is that the savings projected from these closings never seem to materi- alize. No matter how many schools are closed, the DCPS annual budget of $2 billion keeps going up by 2% per year, maintaining the highest per pupil funding formula in the nation. In the past ten years, the number of public school students has been cut in half, but our budget has doubled! And yet, so many of our schools still have no librarians, music teachers or art teachers. I introduced a bill to mandate that each public school be provided with a full-time librarian, music teacher and art teacher, and I believe any savings from school consolidations should first be used for these purposes.

Now to the specifics of the Chancellor’s proposal. With regard to Garrison, I have let the Mayor and the Chancellor know that I am opposed to its closure and understand Councilmember Graham agrees, as a number of Ward 1 families also support Garrison. Garrison, with its lively and involved support system consisting of parents, a strong PTA, and community support from the LCCA and the ANC, should remain open. If consolidation is needed, students can come from Seaton to Garrison. Garrison is at nearly 70% capacity – higher than almost any other school set to close. Consolidation of Garrison and Seaton will result in children being in trailers – this is not a good option!

With respect to Francis-Stevens, I have let the Mayor and the Chancellor know that I am opposed to its closure also. While I support School Without Walls and think the concept of using space at Francis-Stevens is an interesting idea, I cannot support the idea of clos- ing Francis-Stevens as it exists today. When the execu- tive closed Stevens School, a commitment was made to the community regarding Francis-Stevens. If enroll- ment numbers are down, it more likely indicates prob- lems with the K-8 model rather than a lack of need or demand for educational resources in the neighborhood.

I have been pleased by the Chancellor’s tone in being open to feedback from the neighborhoods and would urge you to make your views known. In addi- tion to the Council hearings, the DCPS website lists several ways in which parents and the community can provide feedback. While there are four community meetings scheduled, I have to note that just one single meeting has been scheduled for parents from wards 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 together, on Dec. 5 at Brightwood, 1300 Nicholson Street NW. Please try to attend the meet- ing and share your views so that Ward 2 is not taken for granted. The DCPS website also provides a link to an online forum, as well as a promise of office hours that will be announced beginning Dec. 5. Please let me know your thoughts, as well, so that I can continue to advocate on your behalf.

Democrats Not Realigned by Obama


Monday morning quarterbacks are saying that President Obama’s re-election realigned the Democratic Party and that the Republicans are facing a permanent declining base of support. Not so.

This election was about Facebook against Super PACs.

If you gave President Obama $3 and had a Facebook account, he knew all your friends. (Of course, most of my friends didn’t vote the same way I did.) But, he didn’t realign the White House.

Super PACs, however, did realign the Congress. Millions of dollars of Super PAC spending on negative ads didn’t work on a national level, but it did work at the local level. Apparently, a billion dollars isn’t enough to destroy a candidate at the national level, but few hundred thousand dollars can win a local election where only a few thou- sand votes are at stake.

In the years ahead, Super PAC spending will have a bigger impact than friending. Congress is more likely to remain in Republican hands than the White House is likely to stay in Democratic hands.

The Obama administration has been com- pared to Roosevelt’s and Reagan’s. It’s not. Even though Roosevelt’s coalition was cen- tered on the notion that government was the solution, and Reagan’s coalition ushered in the idea that government was the problem, both administrations made Americans feel that tomorrow would be better than today. Both made Americans feel better in tough times. Today, Americans do not feel so good and this election did not make them feel better.

Though President Obama cemented his legacy as a truly historic figure, his coali- tion of women and minorities will not last three or four decades as did Roosevelt’s and Reagan’s. Reagan and Roosevelt did not rise like a Phoenix out of their coalitions while President Obama is a member of his coalition. Millions of Obama voters – 93% of African Americans and 75% of Hispanics and Asians – felt an affinity to him. He was the first. The next minority nominee will not enjoy the same aura.

Republicans aren’t rethinking who they are, and don’t need to. They can’t even agree on whether their platform was too conserva- tive or whether Romney became too moderate.

Both Roosevelt and Reagan received about 20% more votes – 5 million and 11 million respectively – when they were re- elected. Romney almost the same number of votes as John McCain did four years ago. President Obama got 8 million votes less, the only time in U.S. history when a re-elected president received fewer votes than he did in his original election. That’s not a permanent coalition.

The lesson of this election is that we got exactly what we already had – a divided country, a divided government, and same problems. And we don’t feel much better

Part II: Is This How the First Term Ends, Mr. President?


So, now what do we do for fun?

It’s been almost a month since the election that gave President Barack Obama another four years and snuffed out Rep. Allen West, R-Fla.

To be fair, neither Mitt Romney nor Rep. West went out without a fight. Unfortunately, the fights occurred AFTER the election. West got a recount and to the wonderment of him and his, he still lost. While Romney’s support- ers clung to the early call on Ohio longer than necessary, their candidate did manage to con- cede, tweaking his victory speech a little. The rest is not much history—Romney reminded those of us who had not voted for him why we didn’t as he blamed the takers, unnamed but sinister forces in the Republican Party and other sundry people and things not named Mitt Romney for his defeat. The Republicans then commenced to throw Romney under the bus into a manhole marked political oblivion.

So, what’s making the president’s iPhone ring these day?

President Obama: “Hello?”

“Mr. President, this is John.”

“John . . . John, John, John. Oh, hello, senator. What can I do for you?”

“No, Mr. President. Congratulations, by the way, on winning the election. It’s John Boehner, the Speaker of the House.”

“I knew it was you. I’m just pulling your leg. Have you given any thought to raising taxes on the rich as I mentioned?”

It’s been almost a month since the of us wants to go over the cliff. Everybody election that gave President Barack hates that phrase. It’s like being thrown under the bus. It’s going to hurt everybody. Except the rich, of course, who can afford it. I realize that. That’s why we’re going to fiddle with the tax code, and, assuming everybody doesn’t find new ways not to pay taxes, why it will literally save billions. Honest. Of course, if they do find new ways it will be more like hundreds.”

“Fiddle all you want. We need tax reform, I agree. But we need to get the people that make the most to pay a little more. It’s good for the country. And, if we can come together on entitlements, why this could be the start of something good and lasting. Why, if we can fix this thing together, Mitch . . . I mean John . . . why this could be the start of a beautiful friendship. I’d be Bogey and you’d be Claude Rains in ‘Casablanca.’ ”

“Why can’t I be Bogey?”

“Because Bogey doesn’t cry . . . ever.” “Oh, well Mr. President, about that Susan Rice thing. I . . .”

“Can’t talk now. I’m going out to find me some middle class folks who are struggling and maybe have a beer with them. See you John.

Ring.

“Hello?”

“Hello, Mr. President, this is John.” “What, again. Come on, Mr. Speaker, I told you that I . . .”

“It’s Senator John McCain, sir.”

“Oh. Well, what can I do for you?”

“I don’t know about that Susan Rice. We are very disturbed after talking to her. I don’t think I can vote for her. I just don’t know.”

“What don’t you know?”

“What happened in Benghazi, Libya. Who she is . . . the store hours for Walmart.”

“Well, if you don’t know, who does? By the way, that was sweet, the way you guys are starting to stand up to good old Grover. I mean no disrespect, but it’s about time. Who is that guy, anyway? Didn’t he used to write for the Georgetowner? Is there a bus in his future?”

“But . . . Mr. President.”

“Catch you later, John. Loved you in “Argo.”

Ring.

“Hello.”

“Grover Norquist here. What have you What have you done to these people? Lindsay, McCain, Corker– they don’t want to keep the no-tax pledge?”

“Is your name John?

Click.

Ring.

“Mr. President. My name is Gary. I write for a living. I think that qualifies me as a strug- gling member of the middle class. Wanna buy me a beer?”

“John? Is this John?’

Click.