Performance

Gary Tischler • August 15, 2013

Goodness gracious, I don’t know how much nostalgia an old body can handle.

These past few months have seen Janis Joplin re-emerged in the person of Mary Bridget Davies at Arena Stage like a furious, fiery storm of blues right out of 1960s San Francisco. I’ve seen and talked with old icon, Rambling Jack Elliott, singing under the shade of a cowboy hat as part of a star-studded tribute and centenary celebration of folk hero and working-man minstrel Woody Guthrie at the Kennedy Center.

And now, this: Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lewis on stage together live, at least in the very live facsimile persons of Cody Slaughter, Robert Britton Lyons, David Elkins and Martin Kaye, respectively, in the touring production of “Million Dollar Quartet,” a musical play by Colin Scott and Floyd Mutrox now at the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater through Jan. 6.

The show is based on a historical fact—that on Dec. 4, 1956, Presley, Perkins, Cash and Lewis ended up hanging out at Sam Phillips Sun Records Studio in Memphis and did a number of impromptu songs together and separately which were taped and recorded and became known as the Million Dollar Quartet. It was the only time the four were ever together in each other’s presence at the same time, all of them having been discovered by Phillips before they became rockabilly and rock-n-roll juggernauts whose fame lasted unto death and beyond for Presley, Perkins and Cash, while Lewis, a slower and somewhat chastened version of his “Killer” self is still recording and performing.

What you get in “Million Dollar Quartet” is essentially a live concert, mixed in with less convincing and more contrived dramatic elements. There is the return of Elvis for a visit after he has already gained mega-fame and celebrity. We see Cash wanting to jump to a major record company even as Phillips is planning to extend his contract. Perkins shows smoldering resentment of Elvis and frustration with his own floundering career, while Phillips weighed an offer to join RCA, where Elvis is king. And there is an Elvis girlfriend who seems cooler, smarter and more savvy that the wailing girls usually surrounding the king of rock-n-roll in those days.

If your pop heart was baked in the songs of these four men all of your life, then this musical play is like being at a high school reunion where everybody is still alive and young and where are heard the songs, “Hound Dog,” “Ghost Riders of the Sky,” “Matchbox,” “Great Balls of Fire,” “Peace in the Valley” and “Blue Suede Shoes.” You just gotta get up and dance even if you’ve got two left feet.

Everybody in this audience did get up, as some of them managed to do it very slowly. They clapped, and some shook their fragile booties, while others just slapped their program on their knees.

What’s remarkable about this show is just how good the young musicians are—they’re more musicians than actors at this stage. This realization leads you to see just how great that million dollar quartet really was, and why the music is laid so deeply in our veins—just as you recognize, beneath all the trivial contrivances in the show, what a great songwriter Irving Berlin was seeing “White Christmas” next door at the Opera House.

All of these guys—the real ones—ended up in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and all of them influenced a host of musicians and singers and legends that came later. From Eric Clapton to Bob Dylan and beyond, all of them shone the light on the source of their particular appeal, where they heard the music and who played it—Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Fats Domino and Jimmy Reed. They came from the sharecropper fields of Mississippi and Alabama, from New Orleans and the segregated south where all of them grew up poor. All of them heard the blues, rhythm and blues, gospel and country, and drunk with that music they invented something new. Phillips’s genius was to recognize their music as something new and overwhelming. After that, pop music was never the same.

What Lyons, Elkins, Slaughter and Kaye do isn’t exactly acting. It’s inter-acting with each other. It’s performing the music and hitting it out of the park. It’s a presence that’s convincing for the real-life characters they’re inhabiting.

Watch Kaye when he sits down at the piano as a young, completely irreverent and raw Jerry Lee Lewis—the kid doesn’t have a bone or inhibition in his body. He crawls over the piano and thumps and runs with it. It’s like a wrestling match where everybody wins and out comes “Real Wild Child,” making the Phillips character stand up and take notice. Watch Elkins as Cash, the epitome of the man in black cool. He’s kind of languorous and dangerous. He sings “I Walk the Line” and “Folsom Prison Blues” (with that cold line “I shot a man just to watch him die”), as if they were as fresh as a cold beer on a hot day.

Then, there’s Slaughter, who’s got the job of catching Elvis as a meteor rising, flush with success and a longing for simpler times. He tells Phillips of how the colonel got him to do a gig in Vegas where the older audiences booed him. “One thing I can tell you,” he says, “you’ll never catch me playing Vegas again.” He’s got a chunk of the Elvis sound and all of his moves. And there’s Kelly Lamont, as the girlfriend, coming home to meet his momma, who’s as slinky as the recently invented slinky in a pink-purple 1950s dress where women seemed to move around inside the dress, in case you weren’t paying attention. She sings the Peggy Lee standard “Fever” as if she has one.

Most interesting of all in this show where the glory tends to be shared and nurtured except when Jerry Lee Lewis is in the area is Robert Britton Lyon as Perkins, who looks like a walking, dark-haired short fuse, but who plays an electric guitar like he came out with it on day one. He is the master musician, if not the great singer among the four. Still burned up over Elvis gaining fame with “Blue Suede Shoes,” a song that Perkins rode to number one status until a car wreck sidetracked his career, Perkins lets the anger get into his playing which makes it zing with danger.

It doesn’t take long to talk yourself into feeling, if not knowing, that you’re present at the creation. Your feet twitch, your elbows get restless, you shake your head. It’s 1956 when you were . . . well, no you’re not.

But, still, it feels like a million bucks up there and out there, too.

Gary Tischler •

Jean-Louis Wolzfeld, the new Ambassador of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg to the United States, was still getting acclimated.

Over coffee and cookies, which had an appropriately holiday feel to it, in a small room dominated by portraits of the imposing and courageous Grand Duchess Charlotte, an inspirational figure in exile during the World War II Nazi occupation and annexation of her state, we talked with Wolzfeld about Luxembourg’s cherished Christmas traditions, about Luxembourg’s role in the European Union, about U.S.-Luxembourg relations (very good), and other matters historic and cultural.

Wolzfeld became ambassador a month ago, just in time to preside over what has become practically a tradition, the annual Christmas event, musicale, concert followed by champagne and dinner presented by the Embassy Series at the Embassy of Luxembourg at 2200 Massachusetts Avenue, held Dec. 6, 7 and 8.

“I’m looking forward to it,” Wolzfeld said. “I’ve heard a lot about it already from many people including my predecessor Jean-Paul Senninger.”

“It started in 2010,” said Jerome Barry, director and founder of the Embassy Series. “When Ambassador Senninger and I were standing at the buffet table at an event at the Embassy of Turkey. He suggested we have some series events at his embassy, and we thought of it in terms of Christmas. That first year involved ‘Call Me Madam’ and was a kind of festive, three-concert holiday event centered around ‘Call Me Madam,’ Irving Berlin and his music—he wrote ‘White Christmas’ after all. Berlin’s daughter was there. We did it again last year, again with music, carolers, and a theme of Luxembourg Christmas traditions—the embassy had gifts laid outside at the door per Luxembourg custom. It’s become something really special.”

This year’s event—“Luxembourg at Holiday Time—A Celebration of Mostly Baroque Music” will include a the German School’s children’s choir singing carols of the season and performances by baroque trumpeter Marc Weydert, pianist Maurice Clement, pianist George Peachey — and on Saturday, the Thomas Circle Singers.

Barry himself will add his baritone voice to the proceedings. The evening will also include champagne, wine, hors-d’ouvres and a buffet dinner.

“Thursday is a special day when it comes to Christmas in Luxembourg,” Ambassador Wolzfeld told us. “We don’t have a Santa Claus per se, but we have St. Nicholas Day, which is celebrated December 6. The custom is that children put out their slippers in front of their doors with the hope that St. Nicholas will bring a gift.”

It’s also customary to leave out plates in the kitchen or dining room area which are filled by St. Nicholas with sweets and cookies. On Christmas Eve, Luxembourgers attend midnight mass and gather for suppers the dishes of which include black pudding and mashed potatoes and apple sauce. “I remember this from childhood very well,” said Wolzfeld, who is a 61-year-old bachelor and career diplomat. “We, too, had a good and a dark Santa, who was very strict and made sure that children receiving gifts had actually been good. It was a different time, of course, slower and more traditional. The state, the duchy and Europe has changed.”

Luxembourg is a small nation wedged among its neighbors of Germany, France and Belgium, and the cultural evidence is everywhere. “Some of the Christmas traditions come from Germany, some from France,” Wolzfeld said. “Our population is part German, French, Luxembourgers, and now, increasingly, we are getting many immigrants from Portugal.”

Wolfzeld speaks French, English, German, Italian and Luxembourgish, which he says “is more like a dialect.” But he and his capacity for languages and his record as a diplomat, speak to a state that appears very much in the European tradition, but is also, although primarily Catholic, ecumenical in its culture, welcoming in its diversity and pragmatic in its outlook toward the rest of the world. “Our economy is very good right now,” he said. “So, our immigration policy is very welcoming. Our people and our traditions come from many different cultures and traditions, and that in and of itself is a quality we can take a lot of pride in. We look outward, not just inward, and, of course, that is also what the European Union is all about, also.”

That attitude was strained during World War II when Nazi Germany sent its forces through the Ardennes and invaded France and its neighbors, resulting in the annexation of the Duchy of Luxembourg. “I think it took a long time to get over that in terms of our relations with Germany, no question,” Wolzfeld said. “One of the reasons we have such a good relationship with the United States—and we do—is that people have not forgotten that it was the United States Army which liberated us. Patton’s forces came here, and there are 7,000 graves of American soldiers here, including General Patton himself, who requested to be buried with his troops.”

“I have been a diplomat all my life,” Wolzfeld said. “It has allowed me to see the world with a practical eye, to see our similarities not just our differences.” He a permanent representative to the United Nations in the mid-1990s, as well as an ambassador to the Court of St. James and to Japan. For Wolzfeld, Japan was “a most interesting appointment. Japan was in a boom at the time, but it was a view of a very different culture and very rewarding.”

Wolzfeld remembers Washington from his time at the United Nations. “I think it was still changing at the time as a city, and there was much more crime as I recall. But it is so different now, much more cosmopolitan, if you will. There’s so many cultural opportunities now, and the cityscape has changed also. There’s an energy here.”

Gary Tischler •

Every year the holiday season seems to stretch a little further and longer. In these pages, we will celebrate the season with celebrations of performance over the holidays.

Usually, that means trumpets, nutcrackers, Scrooges, elves, Santa Claus, and Christmas or seasonal music, concerts that celebrate the holidays, and concerts that occur during the holidays, plays that are about the holidays and plays that are not, but seem to indicate a celebrate a celebratory or musical spirit.

We give not all, but some, of the traditional, best and most eclectic choices folks can have on Washington stages and venues. Dancing and singing and the playing of music will be involved, and familiar characters—and some not—will be heard from and familiar music will be played, as well as some music less familiar but by familiar stars in the music world.

So here we go:

Pick a Nutcracker, Any Nutcracker
There are numerous performances of “The Nutcracker” to be seen in the Washington area over the holidays: at the Puppet Theatre, in Glen Echo, for instance, or at the Kennedy Center, or the Moscow Balles’s Great Russian Nutcracker version at the Music Center at Strathmore or George Mason University, or Nutcracker in a Shell at Broad Run High School, or at the Thomas Jefferson Community Theatre in Arlington, or the Ernest Community Cultural Center Theater in Annandale, the Franklin Park Performing Arts Center in Purcelville, Battlefield High School in Haymarket, George Mason High School in Falls Church, the Maryland Youth Ballet in Rockville, and at the Northern Virginia Community College and many, many more, but . . .

There will always be the Washington Ballet’s now an annual D.C. holiday presen- tation with George Washington, as the hero and George III as the Rat King. Every year, Tchaikovsky’s music seems to fit perfectly with the Revolutionary War. The ballet, beautiful and intact, is at the historic Warner Theatre Nov. 30 through Dec. 23 and at THEARC Theatre Nov. 24 to 28. Maki Onuki, a Washington Ballet star and favorite stars as the sugar plum fairy.

‘Hansel and Gretel’ for the Washington Opera
Engelbert Humperdinck’s classic chil- dren’s opera “Hansel and Gretel” begins a new tradition for the very busy Washington Opera Company Dec. 21 to 23 in the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater. The family opera stars current stars and alumni of the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program and is directed by David Grately, with the WNO Orchestra conducted by Michael Rossi. Sarah Mesko and Julia Mintzer star as Hansel and Emily Albrink and Shantelle Przybylo star as Gretel.

More Holiday Alleluias At the Kennedy Center
One of many Messiah’s being performed over the holidays will be the National Symphony’s in the Concert Hall Dec. 20 to 23 with guest con- ductor Rolf Beck conducting soprano Katherine Whyte, countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo, tenor Sunnyboy Vincent Dladla, and bass-baritone Panajotis Iconomou. There will also be a Messiah Sing-Along in the Concert Hall Dec. 23.

Ballet West will bring its version of “The Nutcracker” Dec. 5-9 at the Opera House.

The traditional “Merry Tuba Christmas!” will be at the Millennium Stage Dec. 13, while the NSO Pops will perform its “Happy Holiday” concert in the Concert Hall Dec. 13 to 16.

In a Millennium Stage (Free) Christmas tradition, there’s the All-Star Christmas Day Jazz Jam Dec. 25.

But that’s not all:

The NSO Pops Orchestra will feature Megan Hilty, Broadway star and star of the hit show “Smash” on television in “Luck Be A Lady: Megan Hilty Sings Sinatra and More” Nov. 23 and 24, while Linda Lavin is in the “Barbara Cook’s Spotlight” series Nov. 16.

There’s also lots of music in theater at the Kennedy Center:

“Jekyll & Hyde,” a musical, will hit the Opera House Nov. 20 through 25, starring Constantine Maroulis and Deborah Cox.

The much anticipated “Million Dollar Quartet,” the Tony Award-winning musical features characters called Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lew Lewis in the Eisenhower Theatre, Dec. 18 through Jan. 6

But the most essential Christmas show of all is “Irving Berlin’s White Christmas” based on the classic holiday movie that featured the likes of Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye, Dec. 11 through Jan. 6 in the Opera House

Music Center at Strathmore
Mark O’Connor: An Appalachian Christmas, Dec. 13 American folk, classic Christmas.

Cathedral Choral Society: A Dickens Christmas—a staging of Scrooge with chorus, brass and madrigal ensemble, Dec. 17.

The Washington Chorus: A Candlelight Christmas, Dec. 21

The Brian Setzer Orchestra: Christmas Rocks Extravaganza. Rocking around the Xmas tree, Dec. 4.

Dave Koz and Friends: Christmas Tour, Dec. 3, with David Benoit, Javier Colon, Sheila E and others.

National Philharmonic: Handel’s “Messiah,” Dec. 8.

Holiday Music by the Stocking-full
Family Christmas Concert Series— The Georgetown Concert Series presents the American Boychoir in a family Christmas concert at St. John’s Episcopal Church Dec. 2 at 5 p.m. American Boychoir is considered America’s premier concert boys’ choir.

Tudor Nights—The annual holiday celebration will be held at historic Tudor Place, Dec. 6, between 6 and 8 p.m. Spiced ginger cocktail on hand.

A Celtic Christmas—The Barnes and Hampton Celtic Concert will be featured in the Dumbarton Concert Sesaon Concerts by Candlelight Series, Dec. 1, 2, 8 and 9.

The Embassy Series—Luxembourg at Holiday—A highlight of the series, this annual holiday event at the Embassy of Luxembourg has been expanded to three evenings, Dec. 6, 7 and 8, and will feature the Thomas Circle Singers, Marc Weydert on Baroque trumpet, Maurice Clemont on piano, baritone Jerome Barry, and George Peachy on piano in a celebration of mostly baroque music. Deluxe buffet dinner, refreshments, champagne and elegance.

Washington National Cathedral—The WNC will have its Christmas Pageant on Dec. 22, Carols By Candlelight Dec. 23 and 24, the Festival of the Holy Eucharist Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, its annual Creche Exhibit, performances of Handel’s “Messiah” Dec. 7, 8 and 9, a “Joy of Christmas” concert Dec. 15.

The Christmas Revels—The 30th annual production and community celebration of the Winter Solstice will be performed at George Washington University’s Lisner Auditorium, Dec. 8, 9, 14, 15 and 16.

Children’s music superstars the Laurie Berner Band will perform a special holiday concert at Lisner Auditorium Nov. 18.

Gay Men’s Chorus—The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington will presenst its “Winter Nights” holiday concert Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 with the Virginia Bronze handbell ensemble at Lisner Auditorium.

Washington Performing Arts Society— Yo-Yo Ma performs solo cello pieces by Bach, Turkish composer Ahmet Adnan Saygun, with bluegrass violinist Mark O’Connor and George Crumb at the Kennedy Center, Dec. 3, Concert Hall.

The Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela is at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Dec. 4, and will play Mexican compose Carlos Chavez’s “Sinfonia India” with conduc tor Gustavo Dudamel.

Theater
Shakespeare Theatre Company— It’s hard to think of a play not about Christmas more festive than
Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” This production of magic, mistaken lovers, groundlings and kings and queens and a donkey’s head, is directed by the ever-surprising Ethan McSweeny, Nov. 15 through Dec. 30, in the Sidney Harman Hall.

Arena Stage—Almost as festive is “My Fair Lady”, the Lerner and Lowe music based on Shaw’s “Pygmalion”, staged and imagined anew by Molly Smith, and starring Manna Nichols, Benedict Campbell and Nicholas Rodriguez. Through Jan. 6.

Signature Theater—The big Michael Bennett hit “Dreamgirls” gets the Signature Theatre Treatment through Jan. 6.

Les Miserables—Just in time for the movie version is the 25th new anniversary production of Cameron McIntosh musical version of Victor Hugo’s classic novel of revenge justice, revolution, and romance. At the National Theatre Dec. 12 to 30.

Cinderella at Olney—Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical “Cinderella” is being staged at the Olney Theatre through Dec. 30.

Round House Theatre—“Young Robin Hood”, a world premiere production by Jon Klein will run Nov. 28 through Dec. 30, a rousing, swashbuckling new adventure version of the old Hollywood-and-Nottingham legend

Adventure Theatre—“A Little House Christmas” Nov. 16 through Dec. 31, based on the popular Laura Ingalls Wilder Little House books, directed by Serge Seiden.

Imagination Stage—“Seussical,” the smash Broadway hit about Dr. Seuss and his many characters will be staged at the Lerner Family Theatre in Bethesda through Jan. 6.

Scrooges Galore
At Ford’s Theater, its production of “A Christmas Carol” is a popular tradition, and this year once again features D.C. acting great Ed Gero as Scrooge, with Michael Baron directing, Nov. 16 through Dec. 30.

Olney Theatre will do “A Christmas Carol” (A Ghost Story of Christmas) adapted and performed by Paul Morella, Nov. 30 through Dec. 30.

The Keegan Theatre on Church Street in Dupont Circle will feature “An Irish Carol” beginning Dec. 15. [gallery ids="101059,137045,137024,137039,137030,137036" nav="thumbs"]

Gary Tischler •

The Millennium Stage Series at the Kennedy Center since its inception has been a venue for the surprising, the new, the varied and diverse. On Monday, Oct. 22, 6 p.m., that will be especially true and special when Laurie Rubin takes the stage.

The young, heralded mezzo-soprano brings her astonishing voice and sharp, powerful insights to the event, sharing excerpts from her memoir “Do You Dream in Color? Insights from a Girl Without Sight” (Seven Stories Press, to be published Oct. 23), telling her story in effect, and singing excerpts from a recent album which is also entitled “Do You Dream In Color?” along with Broadway and opera favorites. She will be accompanied by pianist/clarinetist Jenny Taira.

The question is a fairly recent one, but it’s a critical one for Rubin. In a phone interview, we had asked, almost naturally, whether or how she dreams. “I can’t see anything, specific colors,” she answered. “But I can see shapes. I can see light, and, of course, I hear. Recently, I had a dream that I was talking with my mother, but my mother’s voice was not hers. Strange. But yes, I dream.”

YouTube is one of those places on the Internet where gifted people naturally are drawn in, showcased, illuminated and in Rubin’s case there’s a tape and interview that showcases her voice, her slender, attractive looks, the emotion and ranginess of her mezzo tones. Consider the first lines of the song, “Do You Dream in Color,” and hear a phrase so loaded with emotion, a phrase she seems to take apart letter by letter, consonant by consonant, vowel by vowel. The composition is by Bruce Adolphe, the poem, the words, the lyrics are by Rubin, sparked by a question from a child:

“Do you dream in color? She asks/watching me apply my makeup/her question gives me pause/as I fumble in my bag/for that perfect shade of purple.”

“I dream what I experience,” she tells the child in the poem. “I dream the smell of flowers, the taste of chocolate.”

The subconscious seeing or not is a powerful motivational tool. It’s always with you. “When I think of things be it chocolate which is a major weakness of mine or anything else, I think in musical terms, like chocolate as a musical note.”

Raised in California, Rubin was diagnosed as being blind very early. From the beginning, however, the state of being blind seemed more of a challenge as opposed to a wall you couldn’t get around for her. “I had a gift, a voice,” she said. “But early on, in spite of all the help from your parents, your teachers, the encouragement, you do feel isolated. I think that’s the key difficulty, not what you can or can’t do. I can ski. I design jewelry. I am a bona-fide shopaholic. I navigated the streets of New York with my guide dog Mark. I read. But the difference, when I was younger, always remained. You felt outside. In high school, friends were into or sang pop music. I loved classical music from the start. That sort of thing.”

She speaks at a great distance from Hawaii, where she lives now pretty much like she writes. There’s a musicality to her voice that is rich with range and energy. She lets you into her imagination. She’s direct and open, not like a book, but like a song that you react to. Her writing moves fast—she’s telling the stories of her life—at Oberlin, at Yale in music studies, where—even though she has operatic ambitions—she was in the end not cast for parts because others were afraid she could not find her way around a stage.

Blindness isn’t always obvious. It’s certainly not an impediment to singing and can be essentially enriching because other senses are emboldened, heightened. “That adds something to how I sing, certainly,” Rubin said. And that’s been noticed. The New York Times chief classical music critic Anthony Tommasini wrote that she has “compelling artistry” and “communicative power” with a voice that displays “earthy, rich and poignant qualities.” Rubin has been praised and supported in her concert work and stage work as well as recordings by the likes of opera legend Frederica von Stade and singer-song writer Kenny Loggins. The album marks the world debut of “Do You Dream in Color?” Rubin has recorded “Faith in Spring” with Graham Johnson and David Wilkinson on the Opera Omnia label, and she made her solo recital debuts at Wigmore Hall in London as well as at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall.

There’s a more prosaic but no less moving encounter on YouTube in which Rubin sings “You Lift Me Up” at the Israel Guide Dog Center, bringing her long-time service dog Mark on stage on the day of his retirement. “He has been with me for a long time, my friend,” she said. Naturally, we talk about dogs, how a replacement standard poodle “freaked out” in the city, about a new pet, about the patient qualities and intelligence of Mark. On the phone, we’re talking about qualities of blindness, about colors, sound, music. Phones take away what you think you know, talking like this, and you find a way to see each other in the talking.

Gary Tischler • August 8, 2013

You don’t see “ A Chorus Line ” too often anymore, certainly not in many regional theaters.

“It’s not that people have forgotten it, or that it’s not a popular show,” said Christopher Youstra, associate artistic director and director of musical theater at Olney Theatre Center, where the ground-breaking, and record-breaking Broadway musical is getting a vivid staging. “It’s a very difficult thing for regional theaters to do properly, it’s a big cast, it’s physically demanding.”
“The show also places some special demands on casting,” said Youstra, who’s worked at Round House Theatre and Studio Theatre and is a fixture on the Washington area theater scene. “You’re looking for triple threats—acting, singing and dancing, and especially dancing, because that’s what the show is about.”

“It’s a mega show. It’s a musical about show business, specifically about all those people who went to auditions to flesh out chorus lines in musicals,” he said. “In that sense, it’s a little bit of a history piece—those kinds of splashy, big musicals with those kind of musical and dance numbers are not so much in evidence any more, and Broadway itself has changed.”

It’s true enough. You don’t get much talk about the dancing in mega-hits like “The Lion King,” “Spiderman” or “The Book of Mormon.” Revivals and new stagings of the likes of “Anything Goes” only serve as reminders of what Broadway musicals used to be.

The denizens of Broadway included exactly the kind of people who were essential to the legends and lore of Broadway musicals—remember the director’s admonition to the chorine who has to take the place of the star in “42nd Street”? “You’re going out there as a chorine, but you’re coming back a star,” he said.

That was the dream of every guy and girl auditioning for the chorus. It was the late director Michael Bennett—with the help of a process that included actual interviews of actors and gypsy chorus aspirants-who turned the material—with a book by James Kirkwood and Nicholas Dante, lyrics by Edward Kleban and music by Marvin Hamlich—into Broadway gold.

With Donna McKechnie in a star turn as Cassie, with glamorous production numbers and solos, and an often heartbreaking but always honest and gritty story line, “A Chorus Line” began with workshops and an Off-Broadway run before opening on Broadway on July 25, 1975. It was a huge success at a time when Broadway and Times Square were going through a decline. The production got 12 Tony Award nominations and won 9—and earned a Pulitzer Prize. When it was all over and said and sung, it had rung up 6,137 productions, sailing past the previous record holder, “Grease,” with ease. The run was finally surpassed by “Cats” in 1997, but it still remains the sixth longest-running Broadway show in history. “A Chorus Line” was revived in 2006 and just recently, another revival opened in the West End of London.

“The show revived Broadway, it brought people to Time Square, who, even if they couldn’t get tickets to it, went to another show,” Youstra said.

“A Chorus Line” is about show business, about dancers in particular, and in that sense, the world the characters in the show occupy has changed radically. McKechnie, a gifted dancer along the lines of Chita Rivera and Gwen Verdon, won a Tony award for her performance in “A Chorus Line,” but there were not too many shows calling for star dancers on the horizons, except for revivals. The age of great dancers and dance producers and directors was coming to a close at the time—there were few Gower Champions (who famously died of cancer just before the opening of “42nd Street”) or Bob Fosse of “Chicago” fame. Fosse, who had a sterling film career directing “Cabaret,” “Star 80” and “All That Jazz” equally famously died on his way to the opening of the revival of “Sweet Charity” at the National Theatre on Pennsylvania Avenue, accompanied by his ex-wife Gwen Verdon. “Sweet Charity” starred McKechnie.

In the end, “A Chorus Line” is an echo of Broadway past and theater now—“What I Did for Love” is a standard, but it’s also unique to the show, just as is the “One.”

Broadway musicals, and the people in them, have a life of their own, and the stories go on. Sometimes, they come back. McKechnie will add a flavor to the times, bringing her own cabaret show, “Same Place, Another Time,” to the Olney on Sept. 1.
And this production of “A Chorus Line” brings with it its own lore: Nancy Lemenager, originally cast as Cassie, had to leave the show due to injury. Michelle Aravena, who had been cast as Morales and a Cassie understudy, took over, with Jessica Vaccaro, who played Morales at Paper Mill Playhouse, stepping into the role at Olney. [gallery ids="101418,154925" nav="thumbs"]

Eve Barnett • July 29, 2013

One-woman performances bring up one question: can a single storyteller actually hold an audience’s attention for the entire show? You might be tempted to think not.

But, Israeli storyteller Noa Baum does just this, defying any skepticism.

In “Impossible to Translate, But I’ll Try,” her first show in the Capital Fringe Festival, Baum engagingly and humorously carries the audience through waves of memories. She narrates everything from growing up as a young Jewish girl in Jerusalem to living as an Israeli adult in America. Through five distinct stories, Baum invites us to meet her beloved “bubbe” (“grandmother” in Yiddish), learn about her namesake, the original Jewish feminist, watch her fall in love – twice – and reflect on the meaning of motherhood. As a Jewish viewer, I related to her stories, appreciating the rawness of her experiences.

Imagining Baum’s Israeli childhood through her verbal vignettes, the audience hears a unique, loving perspective on a country most often associated with violence and vengeance. We learn about neighborhood hideaways she enjoyed with friends in Jerusalem and the dating scene. Her honest, warm tone conveys youthful frivolity and happiness and humanizes Israel in a refreshing, engrossing way.

Baum, an experienced storyteller, is quite funny. Her mannerisms, Yiddish interjections and voice changes keep the audience laughing. Her show primarily draws a 40-and-over-crowd, but the relatable humor and self-deprecation in her show also make it family-friendly.

Seventy-five minutes of memories and laughter later, the audience will have its question about one-women shows answered: yes, it is possible. Baum proves it.

Tickets are still available for shows on Sunday, July 21, 5:45 p.m., and Sunday, July 28, 4:45 p.m., at Goethe Institut, 812 7th St. NW, Tickets can be bought at www.capitalfringe.org/.

Gary Tischler • July 22, 2013

Have you ever overheard or been part of one of those man-woman, husband-wife, boyfriend-girlfriend discussions where the situation is rife with potential for hours on end of argument, misunderstanding, verbal missteps and accidental inflictions of mortal wounds by thoughtless inflection, a sigh or a raised eyebrow?

“Rabbit Hole,” the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by David Lindsay Abaire, now getting an emotionally gripping performance by the Keegan Theatre, ratchets up the stakes by widening the battlefield to include not only a husband and wife, but a grandmother and sister, the barking of a beloved (by some) dog and a hesitant teenaged boy, all of them are dealing with the blowback of a gigantic grief after the loss of a four-year-old boy in an accident.

Death and loss is a staple of theater drama and tragedy, of course, and the death of a child only ups the ante, even if it is not unfamiliar stage fare. It ought to be cause for automatic tearing up, but Abaire, director Kerri Rambow and an outstanding cast don’t let the audience wallow but make it almost painful, no-exit observers of how people deal or don’t deal with an unfathomable tragedy. Abaire is a lyrical writer but not a sentimental one—he’s after a kind of geography of feeling which is mapped with empathy and love, sans judgement in the writing. The actors treat the material the same way—while the play abounds in opportunity and temptation to overact and pounce on emotions, they resist naturally, without any sweat or effort.

Talk all you want in funeral notice or celebratory tribute language about long illness, old age or how one will always be remembered. If there is great love—or even if not—or simply habit, no death prepares survivors for the absence and loss, the alterations in the lives remaining. There are thousands of things we do with parents, lovers, friends, partners, even pets, that simply disappear and instantly become the past with a last breath. With the death of a child, all these factors exist, with the added pain not only of the daily presence but the imagined future of a child now blasted from the horizon.

Becca and Howie have to navigate what was once the familiar landscape of home, living room, kitchen, bedrooms and the outside world revealed in conversation, like soldiers crawling through a minefield. All the familiar words we use in every day talk have become weighted, full of double and triple meanings, potentially incendiary, their surroundings glowing even in the dark with memories.

We first meet Becca in the kitchen of an expansive home—colorfully filling up the Keegan stage—folding clothes and putting them in a box, with the help of her excitable sister, the aptly named Izzy, who recounts a funny and tortured story about getting into a bar fight with the former girlfriend of her boyfriend. It is a funny story, to which Becca responds in brittle, sarcastic fashion, overly so, until you realize that the clothes she’s folding for charity are the lost boy’s clothing.

The “event” isn’t recent, but months ago. It still overshadows everything for Becca and husband Howie (played by real life husband and wife Susan Marie Rhea and Mark A. Rhea): how they move in the house, how much space is between them sitting and standing. In this context, Izzy is almost a reproachful example of life going on—she’s pregnant, she’s in life, and maybe love, a live wire by nature. Becca often stands like an obstacle, not quite rigid, but strong with unspent emotion and steely pragmatism. Her best friend hasn’t spoken to her since the child’s death, and Howie is trying to navigate the wrenching, roiling process of both keeping the boy alive in his memory while going back to a space before the awful accident. “I want to go back to the way we were,” he says, trying awkwardly, like a teenager on a first date, to get physical with Becca on the couch. In that scene, beautifully played by both Rheas, you can see for a brief moment, how they were at the start. The scene evaporates with Becca’s resistance, and it’s a poignant moment of loss for the audience.

Susan Marie Rhea plays the wife in such understated fashion, a woman barely maintaining control over not just herself but everybody else, that she seems almost chilly. She’s lost among other things the qualities that you see shadow-like, warm intelligence, a coy flintiness, deep passions. Mark’s character, Howie, is exactly the opposite. He’s lost his confidence and assurance of a place in the world he created. He slurs his words, he mumbles, he yells and he stumbles like a shadow-punching fighter. He’s meaty and needy.

The couple has reacted differently to what has happened. She’s trying to erase memory by boxing away photos—but keeping the kid’s room intact—books and anything that might spark a memory as well as putting up a for-sale sign on the house. Howie on the other hand wants a return. Shaking, he watches videos of him playing with the boy. He wants the dog—who helped cause the accident—back in the house, and he’s joined a support group.

Becca’s mom Nat is an irascible, powerhouse presence and present. She is a reminder of another loss, the suicide of Becca’s brother years ago, a memory that’s like a strong irritant on an open wound for both. But she’s also obsessively tart and funny—explaining her own theory of loss by way of the Kennedy family, for instance. Linda High plays her like a forceful mess.

Patrick Joy is almost awkwardly whimsical as the teenage boy, who, without real fault, caused the death of the child. Not so much as to make amends, he tries to provide a kind of cleansing and solace.

Solace, of course, is hard to come by in this play and on this stage. The process of grieving is a kind of grind, full of explosions, a dangerous process. The audience—in a case like this—is stuck in the same place as the character, wishing and hoping for them without knowing the end of the story. Abaire has the good sense to resist a placebo ending. All along, he’s resisted manipulating either the characters or the audience.

Gary Tischler • July 18, 2013

What? The cravin’, crazed Frank N. Furter and the gleeful me-boy Mormon Elder Price in the same sentence?

What again? “Spooky Mormon Hell Dream” and “Sweet Transvestite,” being sung in the same city, if not exactly the same time (that would require doing a time warp)?

What again, and then, again? “The Book of Mormon” and “The Rocky Horror Show” have a lot in common? Actually, they do. They’re kind of nice. Seriously?

Yeah, sure. The Broadway and road company juggernaut, “The Book of Mormon,” now for an extended stay at the Kennedy Center’s Opera House and “The Rocky Horror Show, “now in a brassy, up-close and sometimes intimate mounting at the Studio Theatre have a lot in common.

It’s not just that both musicals –“Rocky” with a blasting, almost stadium-rock sound (hard rocker Meatloaf was in the movie) and “Mormon” with its high-energy current Broadway pop score –brazenly try to shock and sock your eyes out with blasphemous, bloody, gory, nightmarish sexual references, language or content. It’s that, at their heart, both shows are all-in-fun fun stuff and engaging in their efforts to please you like a puppy does.

The more “The Book of Mormon” reveals its “South Park” genetic code of near-obscene — okay, obscene — references meant to shock your grandma and yourself, and the more indecent the garter belts, Frederick of Hollywood outfits and pan- and transsexual proceedings become in “The Rocky Horror Show” — “Damn it, Janet!” — the more comfortable the audience gets.

In “The Book of Mormon,” that infectious little ditty the Ugandan villagers sing to show that they’re mad at the deity is like a slap in the face, sort of, like bad aftershave, but wipe that smile off your face once you close your mouth. That heavily made-up sweet guy in the hoops may not be for you in the aisle, but perhaps you’ll smile back at the bouncy girl in the mop wig in “Rocky Horror.”

Underneath and out front in both shows, there’s a quality that forgives everything. There’s a genuine enthusiasm that seems almost innocent. In the case of the “The Book of Mormon,” it just sort of makes you surrender. “The Rocky Horror Show” is not so innocent in its celebration of all things sex and sexy, but it also has an affectionate undertone. “The Book of Mormon,” in no small part because of its cast and various players, celebrates — when all is said and done — Broadway musicals. If Brother Price came out singing “Oh, What a Beautiful Morning,” it would be no surprise.

Bad things may be happening to good people, but the plucky spirit of the young elders stranded in Uganda is almost overpowering.

For sure, “The Book of Mormon” is irreverent about the real “Book of Mormon.” You can bet Ann Romney wouldn’t like it. I would not vouch for Mitt Romney, Harry Reid, Bill Marriott or Bryce Harper. The creators — Trey Parker and Matt Stone of “South Park” fame along with Robert Lopez, of “Avenue Q” fame — have toned down their act only a little.

With Elder Price the uber popular and narcissistic guy teamed up with the chubby foul-up Elder Cunningham to convert a group of sick, troubled and poor Uganda villagers, there’s plenty of room for inappropriate satire. But there’s also room for tunes: “You and Me, Mostly Me,” “Turn it Off,” and the heroine Nabalungi, singing about “Sal Tlay Ka Siti,” “I Believe” and the hot, sexy “Babtize Me.”

Chris Evans, as the me-me Elder Price, and Christopher John O’Neill pair up nicely as an odd-couple team, while Samantha Marie Ware is a powerful and attractive presence with a major Broadway voice.

It’s the endearing energy that grabs you. You don’t need to be a fan of “South Park” humor to figure out why this show is as big as it is. It delivers whole-heartedly — and with a whole heart — an evening of great entertainment.

So does director Keith Alan Baker, the star of the Studio’s 2nd Stage series. Although with “Rocky Horror,” you get great entertainment as more of a nearly full contact sport. Here, the sweet stuff underneath is the undying affection displayed for old B-style horror movies, from “Frankenstein,” “Godzilla” and “Them” to “Bride of Frankenstein” and “Invasion of the Body Snatchers.” It’s all done in exuberant style, totally shameless in delivery, but also with full-throat, rock-and-roll voice. That’s the other thing that’s being celebrated here: the blasts of power from the past of rock and roll.

The look is a little different from both the movie and other productions: it’s a little more grungy, a little more filled with running makeup and even a lot of feverish dangerous looks. But hats off — or anything else — to Mitchell Jarvis, a foot-stomping, gleaming-in-the-dark Frank N. Furter, as he seduces the two naifs who visit the castle, Janet and Brad. Kudos to Sarah Marshall as a narrator and a wheelchair-bound secret professor-agent. Matthew G. Myers as the ill-fated Eddie, a rock and roller to the end. And kudos to us and to you, should you venture into the castle.

“The Book of Mormon” is at the Kennedy Center’s Opera House through Aug. 18. “The Rocky Horror Show” is at the Studio Theatre on 14th Street, NW. [gallery ids="101394,154080,154077" nav="thumbs"]

Gary Tischler • July 11, 2013

The Capital Fringe Festival—which, by the way, was given the Washington Post Award for Innovative Leadership in the Theatre Community at this year’s Helen Hayes Awards—presents itself in many guises. It’s a glorious mash of styles and genres. Theatrically speaking, it’s also like one of those frontier scouts—or baseball scouts—discovering new worlds, new paths, new talent across the land.

Running July 11 through July 28, the festival is something of a weather vane for theater and the performing arts. Pull yourself through the more than 100 shows, and you’ll find an expanded definition of just what theater is. These days, you’ll see a resurgence of old forms as well as the continued re-invention of new ones. Popular old—beyond the memory of today’s tweeters and YouTube addicts—forms are making a reappearance. Clowning, standup comics, jugglers and magic and puppets are everywhere—so are variations on vaudeville, English music hall tropes, and what used to pass for the seamy side of the street, burlesque performers and shows which have become increasingly popular over the last couple of years.

More anything, there is variety and the titles of shows and troupes alone smack of a certain high spirited irreverence, as well as bits of serious theater business here and there, along with new found attention to the digital age and the people who live in it.

We’re offering up some of the offerings we found interesting—perhaps because of a concept, a funny name, a harrowing idea, a jolly good attitude. You’ll find Shakespeare here, locals and out of towners, brazen darkness, history, gender bending, the straight (but not narrow) path and world, and the gay world and everything in between. We won’t vouch for what’s good or bad. After all, it is the Fringe Festival, but we can probably vouch—and sing along with Cole Porter—that anything goes. Here’s some samplings.

The bard, bearded or otherwise, gets his due or what’s coming to him in the Fringe. There’s “Violent Delights: A Shakespearean Brawlesque Sideshow,” presented by Off the Quill, blending stage combat, dance, clowning alongside theatrical conventions. Conceived by Patrick Mullen.

There’s also at least not one but two versions of “Romeo and Juliet,” one by the We Happy Few Productions company, with its tradition of stripped-down classics, directed by Hannah Todd and Washington’s own hot theater company, the Helen Hayes Award-winning Factions of Fools Theatre Company diving in with full Italian-style commedia dell’Arte style.

The King’s Players take on the murderous Scot in “Mme. Macbeth,” in which the women are kings, warriors and murderers, and the men are the witches and gentlemen, which is to say that Macbeth is a woman and Lady Macbeth is a man (some critics have always thought so).

It’s a funny title, but perhaps not funny: “In Search of the Perfect G-String,” presented by G String Productions features NSO cellist Yvonne Caruthers who wrote the piece with Theresa Gambacorta, in a “poignant story of a small-town girl who practices her way into the world’s great stages and finds glory.”

Russ Widdall stars as Robert F. Kennedy in the one-man production “RFK” from the New City Stage Company, covering the final four years of RFK’s life, featuring music and footage from the era.

Here’s an intriguing concept: the ideas of young idealistic heroes confronting in both Nazi Germany (Sophie Scholl) and contemporary Germany hard choices in “Fallbeil, from the Field Trip Theatre Company, written by Liz Maestri.

Lee J. Kaplan, writes, presents and stars in “Bully,” inspired by 6th-grade journal entries in which the principal figure takes on bullies from his past in the ring.

In “Four Women,” by Clarissa McKithen, Farah Lawal, Jade Andwele, Jessica Solomon, margaux delotte-bennett, Nia McLean and Shonda Goward create four women exploring black womanhood through movement, dance and storytelling. From the Wild Women Theatre Company. Based on a work by Nina Simone.

In “Dark House,” playwright Tarpley Long re-imagines William Faulkner’s ruthless Colonel Sutpen (From “Absalom, Absalom!)” as a D.C. developer in the 1960s.

In a unique, unusual production, “Arlington National Cemetery: My Forever Home”, Ellouise Schoettler presents a woman’s personal journey woven into the daily life at the nation’s military cemetery.

Emma Crane Jester explores how women disguise, cover and uncover themselves in “To Know a Veil” throughout the world through interviews, dance, installation and party games.

The Pointless Theatre Company explores vaudeville in days of old in “Mark Twain’s Riverboat Extravaganza,” described as a puppet-packed vaudeville spectacular with Twain, sundry characters and the ghost of Lincoln and a whole bunch of tall tales.

Weird and strange is “Kubrilesque” from Cherry Kiss Productions, featuring burlesque and dance with a director working on his last film, as well as send-ups and parodies on director Stanley Kubrick’s films. Most of the work is by Crystal Swarovsky, with music by Mentally Restarted.

Local scenery is at work in “McPherson Madness” from Rabbie Crew Productions with a character named Dreama struggling with her life as a mother and a D.C. Occupier, directed by Lynnie Raybuck, written by Kelly Canavan.

Washington’s Dog & Pony company presented “A Killing Game,” part absurdist play, part party game, in which a deadly plague starts killing people. Not the zombie wars, but something else.

“The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs: The Musical” from Junesong, a play-musical already produced in venues all over the world, written by Timothy Guillot.

“Underneath the Lintel” was best solo show at the Minnesota and London (Ontario) Fringe Festivals and features Patrick O’Brien as a librarian who finds a book that is 123 years overdue and sets out to find the perp.

“Urban Legends,” presented by Beyond the Page Theatre Company of West Potomac High School, written and performed by students. It’s about, well, urban legends. You know who you are.

As for the rest, you can find your own points of interest and gems by going to the Capital Fringe Festival’s website — CapitalFringe.org — where you can also find venues, dates and ticket prices and other information.

Eve Barnett •

While most know and love the nation’s capital for its politics and monuments, Washington, D.C., offers both locals and tourists a smorgasbord of festivals throughout the year. This month, the Smithsonian Folklife Festival is now celebrating through July 7, and the Capital Fringe Festival runs July 11 through July 28.

Smithsonian Folklife Festival 2013

Every June, seemingly out-of-place structures emerge on the National Mall. These temporary canvas tents, juxtaposed against the surrounding majestic marble museums, are tempting to disregard. However, these structures, home to the annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival, deserve attention from Washingtonians and tourists alike.

Started in 1967, the Smithsonian Folklife Festival calls itself “the largest annual cultural event in the U.S. capital,” bringing over the years “more than 23,000 musicians, artists, performers, craftspeople, workers, cooks, storytellers, and others to the National Mall to demonstrate the skills, knowledge, and aesthetics that embody the creative vitality of community-based tradition.” The festival presents authentic performances, interactive booths and ethnic food stands to teach visitors about different cultures from around the world.

This year, the free festival includes three programs: “Hungarian Heritage,” “One World, Many Voices” and “The Will to Adorn.”
About 100 participants from Hungary, Romania and the U.S. are involved in the “Hungarian Heritage: Roots to Revival” section, engaging visitors in dances, games, crafts and styles that hail from Hungary. In its family-friendly booths, young visitors can test their balance walking on wooden stilts and get their hair braided in a traditional style. At the Hungarian Kitchen station, families can watch home-style cooking.

The Danubia Stage showcases Hungary’s vital dance tradition with hour-long performances. Among those excited about the festival, Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., said, “I think the Hungarian dancers are going to be fabulous. They are a great example of why the festival is so important. A visit to the festival is a way to learn about the rich cultures that exist around the world.”
The “One World, Many Voices: Endangered Languages and Cultural Heritage” section highlights the problem of worldwide language loss, raising awareness to the fact that up to half of the approximately 7,000 languages spoken today may disappear by the end of this century. Born from a long-term research project between the National Geographic Society, the Smithsonian Institution and UNESCO, the program offers workshops in Family Activities, teaching everything from Welsh words to Yiddish dancing along with engaging performances in Song and Story Circle by musicians and storytellers.

Perhaps the most prominent feature of this program, the Voices of the World tent showcases ensembles performing in their traditional languages. “The performance was definitely an accurate representation of not how they live today but, instead, their tradition,” said visitor Becky Perkins. Perkins came to the festival from New York specifically to watch a group from the Kalmykia region of Russia because she once studied there and wanted to support the group in the festival.

The festival’s third program is “The Will to Adorn: African American Diversity, Style and Identity,” based on research conducted by the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. It highlights the many ways by which African American identities are expressed. In the Design Studio tent, visitors can look at distinctive types of African-American artwork, try on apparel and get their hair styled in traditional ways. At the Rock the Runway tent, visitors can watch fashion shows with specific, culturally significant articles of clothing and trends.

“The fashion shows tell how to evolve personal styles and incorporate what you already have into new trends,” said Amy Jalloh, a model from Fairfax, Va. Plus, from 5 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., everyday, visitors can show off their own styles and participate in the fashion show.

At the Collaborative Research station, visitors can also create their own “sartorial autobiographies” and compare their styles to evolving African-American ones.

“Those values…that we select from history and choose to emphasize in the present” are significant in learning about and contrasting divergent heritages, said James Early, director of Cultural Heritage Policy at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.

Early urged visitors to “make sure to see ‘The Will to Adorn’ to learn about the wide, deep, historical influence of imagination and creativity of African Americans … on how America sings, dances, speaks and thinks.”

In addition to enjoying the interactive activities and performances, no trip to the Folklife Festival could be complete without a sampling of the gourmet food stands. With five food stands, serving everything from Hungarian stew to Southern-style fried chicken, visitors should plan their visit around at least one meal and snack their way through all three programs.

“Good, family-friendly and reasonable” was how Kansas City tourist and mother-of-three Rachel Foote reviewed the food choices. “Delicious!” agreed Holly Torsilieri of New Jersey. And what could be a better than cooling off with a sweet, refreshing mango lassi while swaying along to native Hawaiian music in the Voices of the World tent?

Festival visitors should be sure to bring plenty of sunscreen and water because it can get extremely hot on the National Mall this time of year. Bottles can be refilled for free at three water stations. Visitors are also advised to bring some cash because some food stands do not accept credit cards. Credit cards can, however, be used to purchase the crafts displayed in the festival tents in the Marketplace.

Bearing all these tips in mind, visits to the 2013 Smithsonian Folklife Festival are sure to be educational, provocative experiences – and prove these seemingly out-of-place tents to be worth your time.

Capital Fringe Festival 2013

Although many may once have been ostracized to the “fringe,” the performances in the Capital Fringe Festival have recently taken center stage in the Washington theatre scene. This unique festival seems to have a show for everyone, whether a theater aficionado or an aspiring one.

The festival is a “great way to learn about the city and theater scene” and is, primarily, “about going to listen to stories and hanging out … and getting to meet new people,” said Capital Fringe Festival executive director Julianne Brienza.

Because the performances are between 70 and 90 minutes in length and relatively inexpensive, she added, the “fair-esque” atmosphere allows audience members to “go to multiple shows” and hear “a variety of stories.”

This year’s Capital Fringe Festival marks the eighth annual event. Created and organized by the D.C.-based nonprofit Capital Fringe, the idea comes from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society. In the 1940s, Edinburgh locals decided to create the Edinburgh Festival Fringe as a way to perform their unofficial shows that were, as one journalist described them, on the “fringe” compared to the approved ones being presented in the Edinburgh International Festival. The phenomenon has since spread, and fringe festivals like the one in D.C. now occur worldwide. For example, London, Singapore, Sydney and Prague also host similar festivals.

While they span the globe, the festivals share a common philosophy and mission. They give groups of different talents, genres, experience, and size opportunities to perform. Unlike most theater events, committees do not select the shows that will be in the festival. Rather, all groups are allowed, on a first-come first-serve basis, to participate. Accordingly, this welcoming environment encourages artists to take risks and experiment. It also serves as a “great gateway for young new artists,” said Ian Leahy, director of “Waiting for Orson.”

This year, 18 different venues across the city will host performances during the festival which describes itself as having “the purpose of infusing energy into performing arts in the Washington, D.C., region.” Capital Fringe considers its festival “the second largest, unjuried Fringe Festival in the United States” and has “premiered over 400 new works of contemporary performance.”

Recognizing that the wide choices of performance may feel overwhelming to potential theater-goers, Brienza recommended people go to Fort Fringe, the festival’s hub on New York Avenue, and choose shows based on “word-of-mouth advice.”

“People are always talking about the shows,” said Brienza, describing that audience members and artists alike congregate in Fort Fringe’s Baldacchino Gypsy Tent Bar. Take their advice and “be adventurous,” she said. There is also information about the shows online.

This year, the performances divide into four sections: comedy, drama, dance and physical theater and musical theater and opera. Brienza said the 2013 festival includes “a lot of shows dealing with veterans’ PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder], classical pieces that have been updated and adapted, burlesque and dance.” With this rich variety of shows, the Capital Fringe Festival seems to have performances for everyone.

In addition, Capital Fringe posts on its Twitter account “CapitalFringe” when certain shows are half-sold and sold out.
Fringe-enthusiast and self-proclaimed “big theatre person,” Glenn Ihrig, agreed with Brienza’s recommendations. He has learned, after coming to all seven previous festivals and seeing around 14 shows each time, “to come and meet people in Baldacchino, learn what’s ‘best,’ and buy tickets on the spot.” To get the most out of the festival, he encouraged others to “go to two shows in the afternoon and two shows in the evening, taking a break for dinner and a beer in Baldacchino.”

Indeed, the Baldacchino Gypsy Tent Bar seems to be the social centerpiece of the festival. Brynn Tucker, the writer and performer of “A Guide to Dancing Naked,” explained that Baldacchino creates “a great community feeling because, after every show, you can have a drink and connect with others in the theater community.” Plus, Baldacchino has free live music every night.

Perhaps we should all follow Irhig’s example and “let Fringe be [our] life for three weeks. It’s a good thing.”

This year’s festival includes the following 18 venues:

Caos on F (923 F St., NW)
Fort Fringe – Baldacchino Gypsy Tent Bar (607 New York Ave., NW)
Fort Fringe – Bedroom (612 L St., NW)
Fort Fringe – Redrum (612 L St., NW)
Fort Fringe – The Shop (607 New York Ave., NW)
GALA Theatre at Tivoli Square (3333 14th St., NW)
Gearbox (1021 7th St., NW, 3rd Floor)
Goethe Institut – Gallery (812 7th St., NW)
Goethe Institut – Main Stage (812 7th St., NW)
Jin Lounge (2017 14th St., NW)
Mount Vernon United Methodist Church – The Mountain (900 Massachusetts Ave., NW)
Source (1835 14th St., NW)
Studio Theatre – Stage 4 (1501 14th St., NW)
The Emergence Community Arts Collective – Studio 2 (733 Euclid St., NW)
The Gilbert C. Eastman Studio Theatre (800 Florida Ave., NE)
The Streets of Fringe (7th and New York Ave., NW)
Warehouse (645 New York Ave., NW)
Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company – Melton Rehearsal Hall (641 D St., NW) [gallery ids="101375,153222,153214,153218" nav="thumbs"]