Performance

Gary Tischler • December 3, 2014

Nutcrackers and Scrooges

At the Washington Ballet, it’s the 10th anniversary of Artistic Director Septime Webre’s production of “The Nutcracker” (Nov. 29-30, THE ARC, and Dec. 4-28, Warner Theatre). It’s set in 1882 Georgetown, no less, and features George Washington as the heroic Nutcracker.

Olney Theatre Center will present Mary Day’s “The Nutcracker,” directed by Patricia Berrend with choreography by Washington Ballet founder Mary Day, performed by students and dancers from Washington-area ballet schools (Dec. 12-24). Also at Olney: actor Paul Morella’s one-man version of “A Christmas Carol, A Ghost Story of Christmas,” in the tradition of Dickens himself (Nov 28-Dec. 28).
“A Christmas Carol” has been a traditional mainstay at Ford’s Theatre (Nov. 20-Jan. 1). For the last five years, in an adaptation by Michael Wilson directed by Michael Baron, Edward Gero has taken on the role of Scrooge, the misbegotten miser who must learn the meaning of Christmas. One of the Washington area’s most brilliant actors, Gero will play Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia this spring at Arena Stage.

The 21st Century Consort presents Jon Deak’s “A Christmas Carol” at the Smithsonian American Art Museum with baritone William Sharp as Scrooge (Dec. 6), along with Dylan Thomas’s “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” and George Crumb’s “Little Suite for Christmas.”

At Bethesda’s Round House Theatre,“The Nutcracker,” a new version created by Tommy Rapley, Jake Minton, Phillip Klapperich and Kevin O’Donnell weaves together “spellbinding spectacle, riveting dialogue, astonishing puppetry and an original score” (Nov. 26-Dec. 28).

At Adventure Theatre, “Tiny Tim’s Christmas Carol,” adapted by prolific Washington playwright Ken Ludwig (“Lend Me a Tenor,” “Crazy About You”), adapted Dickens’s classic tale with Jack Ludwig, telling the story through the eyes of Tiny Tim. Directed by Jerry Whiddon, the show runs through Jan. 1.

More for the Family

The Gift of Nothing (Nov. 22-Dec. 28, Kennedy Center Family Theater) – A world premiere Kennedy Center commission, this musical – conceived and written by Patrick McDonnell, Aaron Posner and Erin Weaver, directed by Posner with music and lyrics by Andy Mitton – tells the tale of Mooch, a cat, who wants something special for his friend Earl, a puppy. Both are characters from the comic strip “Mutts.”

The Little Prince (Dec. 19-21, Kennedy Center Terrace Theater) – Washington National Opera’s holiday family opera is based on the magical, mystical book by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Originally staged by WNO Artistic Director Francesca Zambello, the production, with a remarkable score by Oscar-winning composer Rachel Portman, is sung in English.

Musicals, Musicals, Musicals

It has been 50 years since the American musical classic “Fiddler on the Roof” first became a smash on Broadway, with the late, great and iconic Zero Mostel starring as Tevye, the much-put-upon Jewish shtetl milkman with his five daughters, his daily conversations with the Man Above and the constant threat of eviction and pogroms. Since that time, the musical has been revived and redone and restored many times. This time, Arena Stage Artistic Director Molly Smith continues her exploration of the American musical with a new, in-the-round production at the Fichandler (through Jan. 4). Jonathan Hadary heads an exceptional cast, which in this setting becomes an intimate, as well as a musically rousing experience.

Five Guys Named Moe (through Dec. 28, Arena Stage Kreeger Theater) – This highly original, soul-and-blues-flavored musical showcases the music and lyrics of Louis Jordan. Known as the King of the Jukebox, Jordan was one of the great composers of songs that make you jump. The Five Guys Named Moe? Count ’em: Big Moe, Four-Eyed Moe, Eat Moe, No Moe and Little Moe.

Diner (Signature Theatre, Dec. 9-Jan. 25) – Pop-rock chanteuse Sheryl Crow and film director Barry Levinson provide the sound and feel of this world-premiere musical based on Levinson’s classic film about growing up in Baltimore.

Pippin (Dec. 16-Jan. 4, National Theatre) – This all-new production of Roger O. Hirson and Stephen Schwartz’s “Pippin” was directed by Diane Paulus with choreography by Chet Walker in the style of Bob Fosse. It stars Kyle Dean Massey in the title role, John Rubinstein (the original Pippin in 1972) as his father and Lucie Arnaz as Berthe.
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Dec. 16-Jan. 4, Kennedy Center Opera House) – Husband-and-wife team Diana DeGarmo and Ace Young star in the groundbreaking rock musical by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber.

More in the Christmas Spirit

Theater Alliance’s Black Nativity (Nov. 29-Dec. 7, Bowie State University; Dec. 11-Jan. 4, Anacostia Playhouse) – The Langston Hughes Christmas classic “Black Nativity” comes to life, directed by Eric Ruffin with music director e’Marcus Harper-Short and choreographer Princess Mhoon.

Donny & Marie: Christmas at the National (Dec. 2-7) – Still going strong, siblings Donnie and Marie Osmond mix holiday songs with music from their Osmond family days, brother-and-sister act and solo careers. There’s a good chance that “Paper Roses” and “It Takes Two” will slip in with the seasonal tunes.

Wolf Trap Holiday Sing-A-Long (Dec. 6, Filene Center) – Sing along with the United States Marine Band and D.C.-area choirs and vocal groups.

NPR’s A Jazz Piano Christmas (Dec. 12, Kennedy Center Terrace Theater) – Top jazz pianists Harold Mabern, Kris Davis, Lynne Arriale and Cyrus Chestnut perform holiday favorites.

The Embassy Series will commemorate the heroic spirit of the Battle of the Bulge with a special holiday program of songs and cabaret, “I’ll Be Seeing You,” at the Embassy of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (Dec. 12-13). The Thomas Circle Singers will appear on Dec. 13.

Megan Hilty’s A Kennedy Center Christmas (Dec. 13, Kennedy Center Terrace Theater) – The sassy, classy and classic Broadway star ushers in the season with holiday music and songs from the American songbook.

The Cathedral Choral Society’s “Joy of Christmas” (Dec. 13) brings the Washington Symphonic Brass and the C.D. Hylton High School Troubadours to the National Cathedral for a program that includes the procession of the Advent wreath and carol sing-alongs.

The Folger Consort’s “A Renaissance Christmas” at the Folger Theatre (Dec. 16-23) is a program of music of Flanders and Italy performed by winds, viol, lute and a quintet of voices.

A Kennedy Center tradition, the National Symphony Orchestra will perform Handel’s “Messiah” (Dec. 18-21).

“Christmas with the King’s Singers” (Dec. 21) is a concert of traditional and modern Christmas carols performed by the renowned English a capella sextet at the National Cathedral.

Coming up at the Music Center at Strathmore – Pianist George Winston (Nov. 30), Dave Koz and Friends (Dec. 9), Motown celebration with the Temptations and the Four Tops (Dec. 12), Mannheim Streamroller Christmas (Dec. 13).
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Gary Tischler • November 26, 2014

It’s fair to say that violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter has reached iconic status. According to one writer: “If Yo-Yo Ma is the reigning god of classical music, Anne-Sophie Mutter is the goddess.”

Mutter would probably decline either honor – goddess or icon. “I don’t like looking back every day,” she said in a telephone interview with The Georgetowner. “Music to me is about moving forward.”

It’s not that she’s notably restless, but that she believes in living a full life. The program for her Nov. 23 Kennedy Center performance, under the auspices of Washington Performing Arts, is emblematic of her passions and interests, musical and otherwise.

She will be playing with the Mutter Virtuosi, a 14-member string orchestra of young scholars and professionals, alumni of the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation. Supporting young musicians is one her passions. Another is giving exposure to the works of contemporary composers. The program includes “Ringtone Variations,” written in 2011 by Mutter favorite Sebastian Currier on the theme of everybody’s favorite possession and irritant, the cell phone.

Juxtaposing “Ringtone Variations” with Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” and Mendelssohn’s “Octet” may be a little dizzying. Majestically romantic, Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” is as familiar as a waltz. “I know everybody loves it, but it’s not that simple. It’s a complicated work. I think it’s been somewhat abused by people who used it as elevator music,” she says. “‘Ringtones’ to me, I’ve never heard music that is so dense. The notes seem to be traveling from the moon.”

On the phone, Mutter is fully engaged. Her voice is warm, with a hint of a German accent. She was raised in the Black Forest region and today lives in Munich. Apart from her extraordinary talent, some of her fame comes from being a classically beautiful woman that age has made few intrusions upon.

“I think sometimes there’s too much emphasis and too much talk about that, the appearance, how musicians look and appear on stage,” she said. “The music is everything, and live performance is unique and central to this.”

In some critical quarters, there are grumbles about her having something of a cool persona as a performer. “I don’t understand that,” she said. “I’m not an actress. It’s always about the music. I saw a woman, a violinist, once, who sat absolutely on a chair, hardly moved at all, except with bow and fingers. And the most remarkable music would come forth, and it was to me an act of magic.”

The 2011 Deutsche Grammophon release of a huge boxed set of her recordings was a long way and time from 1978 when, as a teenager, she began her performing career at the Lucerne Festival. A year later, she performed at the Salzburg Whitsun Concerts under famed conductor Herbert von Karajan.

She’s performed at the Kennedy Center frequently over the years. “This is a wonderful city to perform in, to visit. I head straight to the museums when I’m here.”

She also exercises (passionately, we’re guessing), loves Rilke, reads Marquez and for a time was listening to Elvis. Lately she has been listening to jazz vocalist Madeleine Peyroux.

Mutter herself sounds a bit jazzy at times. She’s funny, with a sly sense of humor, and says she once – before her destiny took over – wanted to be a clown. Her life in full comes across in her voice and, of course, in her playing, which always brings out the bottomless depths of the music. She says: “How you play a piece changes all the time and so does the music. But it’s that connection that’s important: musician, violin, composer, audience.”

Gary Tischler •

Mike Nichols died Wednesday at the age of 83, leaving behind a mountain of stuff—plays, movies, musicals and comedies, television movies, some jokes and shticks, pearls of wisdoms, a few flops here and there, having lived a big life fully rounded out so that it leaves a big imprint in the world, and in particular, the world of theatrical art—be it movie theaters, a flat-screen television or a cineplex.

Still, when you contemplate that mountain of work with the honors it engendere —pictures pop in your mind: the young Nichols (with his partner in standup and recorded comedy Elaine May), a kind of smart and confident grin on his face, thin black tie, as if he knew something and what it was would be smart and funny. Even though many of the films and movies (some were films, some were movies) treaded into dark and moody waters, there was something sharp as well as insouciant about his directorial touch, a distanced lightness that often proved irresistible.

And a question arose: Who knew he was 83?

In his pictures—even though in his last years, he looked frail, such as when he received the Tony for best direction for the 2012 revival of “Death of a Salesman” starring Philip Seymour Hoffman—he still managed also to look like somebody who could take over the role of Puck from “Midsummer,” still boyish in his years.

We all—some more than others—remember his first successes—the film version of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf,” Edward Albee’s poetic screaming match, the Liz and Dick show at its apex, with Burton giving one of his finest performances in 1966 and the groundbreaking “The Graduate,” starring Dustin Hoffman as a naïf who was seduced by Mrs. Robinson—aka Ann Bancroft—and told to go into “plastics” in 1967. That film spoke to a generation of young people as much as Bob Dylan did—they listened to him and Simon and Garfunkel, if they happened to be less political but more sensitive. Nichols won an Oscar for Best Director.

In 1967, he made his Broadway debut directing a slim romcom of the theater called “Barefoot in the Park,” starring the soon to be uber-star Robert Redford and Elizabeth Ashley. Nichols won a Tony for Best Director, the first of nine. (“Death of a Salesman” was the last). He achieved EGOT, winning four Emmys, one Grammy, one Oscar and Nine Tonys.

This from a guy who entered life as one Mikhail Igor Peschkowsky, born in Berlin, the son of soon-to-be-Russian-Jewish immigrants to New York. The record has it that he and his younger brother were sent to the United States in 1939, to escape the Nazis. He was an actor, bought horses, and was married four times, the last to the elegantly blonde newscaster Diane Sawyer, since 1988.

His forays into theater began with his stand up act with his good friend May from a troupe in Chicago which eventually became Second City, from which a generation of Saturday Night Live performers erupted.

But it’s the work on screen, the work on stage (and two spectacular forays into cable films, “Angels in America” and “Wit,” adapted from plays) that mattered and are, if not exactly revealing or telling about Nichols, the private man, certainly about Nichols and his ingenious gift for diversity and versatility.

Yet, the lightness prevails in almost everything he touched. It prevailed in an obvious way in directing Neil Simon plays for instance, and any number of classic plays, but also in some of his sharper work on screen—the dark, almost ugly “Carnal Knowledge,” in which Jack Nicholson and Art Garfunkel played harried and competitive skirt chasers, the smart comedy “Heartburn,” set mostly in Washington (with some of it filmed in Georgetown), with Nicholson and Meryl Streep channeling Carl Bernstein and Norah Ephron, and the hugely popular “Working Girl,” starring Melanie Griffith and Harrison Ford.

He could do anything—the song “Be A Clown” comes up for air often, especially in the gut-splitting “The Birdcage,” a sort of straight (no music) version of “La Cauge aux Folles”, which featured Robin Williams, the irrepressible Nathan Lane, and a very funny Gene Hackman.

You never knew with Nichols: there would be the Simons-“Plaza Suite” and “The Odd Couple,” followed by a production of “Uncle Vanya,” the horrifyingly tough anti-war play “Streamers,” Tom Stoppard’s incisive play about marriage, “The Real Thing,” “The Seagull” and, finally, “Death of a Salesman.” Of course, who could have predicted in this bunch a producing credit for “Annie,” or a directing credit, yes, for “Spamalot.”

He also had duds: “Billy Bishop Goes to War” and “Fools” on stage, ‘Day of the Dolphin” and “What Planet are You From?” in film.

Nichols’ version of Joseph Heller’s cult classic “Catch 22” is considered one of his duds by many critics. But if a criteria for a fine film is the fact that, after a number of decades, you still remember World War II bombers, rising and falling at an Italian airfield, Alan Arkin as the anarchic hero, Yossarian trying logically and helplessly to stay alive, and a bewildering Major Major, then failure, though it might have been, it succeeded in capturing an elusive book. It operated like a giant hallucination in 1970, which now seems like a hallucination, too.

That mountain that Nichols left behind, that’s no hallucination. That’s real.

Gary Tischler • November 24, 2014

It’s been quite a time for celebration at the Washington Ballet for artistic director Septime Webre and his company.

The big news came this past week when it was announced that the Washington Ballet would mount its first-ever production of Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake” on April 5. The production marks an even more historic occasion with the presence of star American Ballet Theatre ballerina and celebrity Misty Copeland in the starring roles of Odette/Odile. Copeland, still on the raise to becoming one of America’s most celebrated ballerinas, is only the second African-American ballerina to be promoted to soloist at the American Ballet Theatre.

She’ll be matched with TWB Company dancer Brooklyn Mack, a pre-eminent African-American male dancer.

“The pairing of these two great African-American classical dancers redefines the typical notions of what a ballet dancer should look like, and is a model for where classical ballet is going,” Webre said.

Copeland said, “I am charmed about this pairing for my U.S. debut in ‘Swan Lake,’ a historic production with two African-American leads who will perform this unique production. It certainly goes against traditional casting and I am incredibly excited to share the stage with Brooklyn Mack.”

Webre said that this production—which the company has never attempted—was about five years in the works. “I knew Misty, but not that well until she did some work with youngsters in Anacostia. Watching her dealing with the kids was amazing. She’s a marvelous dancer, and it’s just amazing to have her for this.”

In addition, “Swan Lake” will also launch a creative collaboration between the Washington Ballet and the S&R Foundation’s Evermay Chamber Orchestra, which will perform the famed Tschaikovsky score. The Evermay Chamber Orchestra is an ensemble of solo-caliber artists from five continents, assembled by the S&R Foundation Washington Award Grand Prize Winner Tamaki Kawakubo.

“We have been leading up to ‘Swan Lake’ for some time,” Webre said. “We have been slowly and carefully working the classic 19th century repertoire into our company—we did ‘Le Sylphides,’ ‘Don Quixote,’ ‘Le Corsaire,’ and ‘Giselle’ last year, in which our company excelled so beautifully.”

“It’s a big step forward for us—it requires tremendous resources, of course, a depth of dancers, and I think we’re ready to do so. It’s challenging and it tests everybody, it may be a stretch, but a stretch is what makes dancers and the company better. And it’s wonderful to have Misty be a part of this. It’s totally historic for us. You seize the moment when it comes. This changes how we look at what dancers should be and look like.”

This year also marks the 10th anniversary of the company’s staging of Webre’s own production of “The Nutcracker,” which has featured George Washington in the form of the Nutcracker prince and a setting of Washington in the mid-19th century.

“This year, there will be some surprises and different thing,” he said. “I’ve never gotten tired of doing this. It’s always fresh and challenging. There’ll be some new party guests—ambassadors of the period, Frederick Douglas. There’ll be cherry blossoms, American clowns, alley cats, Native Americans from Anacostia. We’ll have a fresh crop of bumble bees, and we’ll have different casts—the total number of people involved is 500 or more, many coming from our school.”

This season also marks Webre’s 15th as Artistic Director of the Washington Ballet. “I do think we’ve come a long way. We always move ahead, doing new things, but bringing in as much of classical ballet as we can. ‘Swan Lake’ and having Misty Copeland with us for it, will mark a significant step forward.”

Robert Devaney •

The Library of Congress presented Billy Joel with the 2014 Gershwin Prize for Popular Song during a tribute concert at DAR Constitution Hall Nov. 19, after a luncheon on Capitol Hill the day before with the nation’s lawmakers. At the concert, one heard America — and a uniquely Washington crowd — singing his songs, now etched into national memory.

The 65-year-old Joel was seen as a unifying force for Congress with Democrats and Republicans — some of whom were in the audience — singing his praises for a 50-year musical career. Indeed, one observer noted that House minority leader Nancy Pelosi ditched President Barack Obama for the rock-and-roll icon. The White House held a meeting on Obama’s new immigration directive the same night as the Gershwin Prize concert, which Pelosi chose to attend.

After all, it’s not every day that a group of musical talents gathers on stage to sing Billy Joel songs and then have the man himself and his band take control and rock the house with some classics — just three blocks from the White House.

“Billy Joel is a true example of this vision for the library’s Gershwin Prize.” said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington, who added that Joel is “a storyteller of the highest order.” The award, created by Congress, is named for the songwriting team of George and Ira Gershwin.

At the beginning of the show, Billington sat with Joel and Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor — also from New York like the awardee. Later, she presented Joel with the Gershwin Prize and said, “Billy Joel has inspired new generations of performers, musicians and singer-songwriters,” she said. “Tonight we recognize Long Island’s favorite son, even if he is a Mets fan.” Also at the award presentation were Billington, House majority leader Kevin McCarthy, Pelosi, Rep. Gregg Harper and Rep. Candice Miller.

“Kind of verklempt,” began Joel as he held the prize in his hand and said that Gershwin was his hero. This year has brought, he said, “a bounty of blessings. I want to ensure everyone I don’t have a terminal illness.”

Performers sang one piece each from the singer-songwriter’s songbook: Boyz II Men, LeAnn Rimes, Gavin DeGraw, Josh Groban, Natalie Maines, John Mellencamp and Tony Bennett, who got the biggest applause of the night before the honoree stepped on stage.

Kevin Spacey offered opening remarks: “I think even a man like Frank Underwood would be pretty excited about a night like tonight.” The actor — who can sing, too — was referring to his character at the Netflix show, “House of Cards.”

Dancers from “Movin’ Out,” choreographed by Twyla Tharp, got the party going with their high energy moves from the Broadway musical that is based on Joel’s music.

It was when Joel and his band owned the stage and the hall with “Movin’ Out,” “Vienna,” “Miami 2017” and “You May Be Right” that it all came together to see who was in charge here and also see Washingtonians singing and bopping to the music.

At the very end, all the performers came on stage as Spacey played the harmonica and sung “Piano Man” with Joel. It was a perfect mix of music and moments for Joel and the kind of evening that only the nation’s capital can give to the American people.

PBS will broadcast the Gershwin Prize Tribute Concert for Billy Joel on Jan. 2.
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Gary Tischler • November 20, 2014

It was an eclectic audience on hand for the official opening night of Arena Stage Artistic Director Molly Smith’s production of “Fiddler on the Roof,” which is celebrating its 50th anniversary. It cuts across tastes, memories and generations.

There were, for instance, several people who had actually seen the one-of-a-kind Zero Mostel in the original, and there were people there who had never seen it, like the young woman sitting next to me. Somehow, this production, this musical, almost effortlessly managed to reach out and touch not only someone but pretty much everyone.

Smith gave us a “Fiddler,” a Tevye, his daughters, and all the residents of this small Jewish village living a precarious and dangerous life in Czarist Russia that clung cleanly to the original. She left no obvious directorial thumbprints on the production, except for one important one: a clear, tangible faith in the power of the material to move us and the talent of the company to do the same.

Nothing had changed in a show that has been done many times in uncounted places with uncounted actors. Here was a fiddler, this time ensconced in wooden trappings above the station. Here was Tevye, the milkman, his absolute faith in tradition being time and time again tested by his daughters and constant impending disasters at the hands of their Russian overlords. Here were the familiar songs that echoed and fine-tuned the rhythms of life in the village and in Tevye’s family—“Sunrise, Sunset,” “Tradition,” “If I Were a Rich Man,” “To Life” and so on.

One thing was very different—the theater-in-the-round setting of the Fichandler space, which gave an added naturalness and intimacy to the proceedings. And the acting and singing as a whole was better than good, headed by Jonathan Hadary as Tevye.

It’s no small task doing Tevye in front of an audience with such a warehouse of memories of other actors assaying the part—or with no memories at all. Hadary was walking in large footsteps that included Harvey Fierstein, the formidable Theodore Bikel, in town for his 90th Birthday, who had done the role more times than other actor, as well as Hershel Bernardi and Topol.

Hadary is not big of voice, body or even gesture. He lets Tevye be himself without trying to bowl you over with heartiness and earthquake-sized pain and feeling. Like many other Tevyes, he’s not a great singer, but he is a terrifically natural actor—this is a Tevye you can feel for and maybe raise a glass with. He’s stronger than he looks—not only does this Tevye pull his milk cart to spell his ailing horse, he pulls our hearts to him and his friends, family, daughters, their beaus and his wife. It’s a little magical—every scene he’s in with someone else makes them shine.

“Fiddler on the Roof” is another foray by Molly Smith into the annals of the great American musicals, begun in spectacular fashion with “South Pacific,” continued with “Camelot” and “Oklahoma” and more recently with “The Music Man” and “My Fair Lady.”

“Fiddler” has a historic place in that genre, for all the right reasons, but it’s also a musical that is based on Yiddish short stories and chronicles the lives of people who have every reason not to rejoice. They are also the source of the lifeblood of American ideals and dreams—the characters—the survivors—would eventually come to America to invest their culture, music, literature and art into that great American stream of immigrant contribution.

Watching Tevye, as each of his daughters falls in love—without the help of a matchmaker—with a tailor, an intellectual rebel exiled to Siberia, and, the last bitter pill he cannot swallow, a Russian, is to watch a man embracing tradition even as he has to let go of many of the strands from which it’s made. That “Fiddler” is bracing and embracive, that it touches old memories and new experiences, is a kind of theater tradition. Or as Motel the tailor sings, it’s a little bit of a “Miracle of Miracles”.
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Gary Tischler •

The pianist Orion Weiss, the 2010 Classical Recording Foundation Young Artist of the Year, will have an unusual partner in his Washington Performing Arts concert at the Kennedy Center in the Terrace Theater Nov. 11.

In addition to performing three Schumann pieces—“Papillons,” “Blumenstuck, Op.19” and “Novellette, Op. 21, No. 8”—he also has DeBussy’s “La boite a joujoux (“The Toy Box”) as the centerpiece of his concert.

His creative partner in the concert will be something you might have coming out of a toy box, the renowned Salzburg Marionettes, one of the oldest marionette companies in the world, founded in 1913 in Mozart’s birthplace.

The company—it has its own puppet version of “The Sound of Music,” for one thing—is noted for its performances with live musical accompaniment. Still, a solo artist taking on puppets is rare—Andras Schiff has also done it.

The presence of the famed marionette company is part of a special program by Washington Performing Arts, saluting puppetry called “Welcome to Mars: A Salute to D.C. Puppetry”.

There was a community puppetry building event at the Brookland Farmer’s Market Nov. 8 as well as a D.C. Puppet Slam with Washington and Baltimore area puppeteers at Bus Boys & Poets at 5th and K Streets Nov. 10..

Featured area puppetry artists included puppeteers Schroeder Cherry, DinoRock Productions, Don Becker, Katherine Fahey, the Puppet Company, the Black Cherry Puppet Theater, Blue Sky Puppet Theater and Pointless Theater.

It’s under the umbrella of the Mars Urban Arts Initiative, created by Washington Performing Arts with the support of Jacqueline Badger Mars and Mars, Incorporated. The Initiative works to fuel joint planning between WPA and grassroots neighborhood arts makers, local business, local arts institutions and local residents.
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Gary Tischler • November 17, 2014

The director Robert Richmond is not shy about messing with the classics—he’s known for his bold stagings at the Folger Theater, including a ‘Richard III’ which practically disemboweled the stately, familiar Elizabethan theater and saw that grand old villain Richard and other characters mingle with audience members while the many murder victims were unceremoniously dumped in openings on the stage.

Richmond isn’t quite so extravagant with “Julius Caesar”, that most familiar of Shakespeare’s plays, but he does put a recognizable and pointed touch on the tale of the consequences of murdering the overweening, charismatic and ambitious Roman would-be-ruler-of-them-all.

You might not recognize the play or the place when you walk in—no senators in white robes, ceremonial or otherwise, no red-cloth generals, no sunlit forum. The prevailing colors are all dark—shades of gray, black and brown and so are the costumes. Ghosts abound—as soon as a characters die—and many of them do—they become hooded wanderers in the afterlife to haunt the living, looking a lot like the soothsayer.

We are not, by the looks of things, in Republican or ancient Rome, but rather in ancient-ancient Rome in the first act, in what looks like the landscapes of modern warfare in the second act, in the middle of yet another war to end all wars, where the dogs of war have indeed been loosed.

This has the effect of electrifying the play, make it something brand new, but at the same time, there’s a certain amount of confusion in this approach, especially the attempt to put a stamp of “war is hell” on the second act.

But enough: “I’m here to praise this ‘Caesar’”, not to bury it.

What Richmond’s approach does do is make this play fresh and by reputation alone, it needs it. This is the best “Caesar” I’ve seen in a long time, maybe ever, short of the Brando-Mason black and white movie version many, many moons ago.

This is a Shakespeare that practically sounds like a staged version of Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations, so familiar are so many of the lines and speeches in the play. And yet, perhaps because of the unsettling staging, the lines and speeches seem somehow fresh, accessible, almost contemporary in the speaking and the playing.

Just a stone’s throw from Capitol Hill, where many a scheming senator makes a living, this is also a very political play by its nature. It’s about politics and power, its uses and misuses, about action and inaction, about calculation and mis-calculation. Here we have a man—Julius Caesar who’s all but created the foundation of the expanding Roman empire through his military victories. Here’s a man with populist charisma who’s not very interested in sharing power. He’s a modern man of his times, in a Roman republic built on strands of Greek democracy and an unbending class systems.

In the shadows, Roman senators, seeing themselves as upholders of Republican tradition, plot against Caesar, because he’s ambitious, because he’s taken on aspects of a tyrant. Cassius, with his lean look and jealousies, knows they need Brutus, the Roman with the noblest lineage, to participate in the assassination of Caesar.

In this murky, dark atmosphere, there is a sense of foreboding all around—not just a soothsayer warning again of the Ides of March, but dark omens, and whispers in the dark. Cassius enlists Brutus by appealing to his honor, pride and ego, until, in the end, he delivers the final thrust of a dagger to his mentor and friend, who collapses with his famous last words: “Et Tu, Brutus?”

Yes, him too.

Having slain the head of state, it’s all downhill for the conspirators, if not the play. Brutus, being an honorable man, makes the mistake of letting Anthony speak last in the funeral oration, and the war is pretty much lost by the conspirators right then and there.

I’m bothered by the mix-mash of WW1 (and WWII) helmets worn by the battling forces—it’s a civil war after all, but the second act also moves like a chariot race.

Directorial flourishes aside, it’s always the actors that make a bad, fair, good to better than good “Julius Caesar”. This one’s better than good. Michael Sharon gives Caesar an almost rock-star quality, a man who believes absolutely in his star power, and will eventually veer towards absolutism. And speaking of rock stars—there’s Maurice Jones as Mark Antony, Caesar’s ally and friend, who kills it in the funeral oration, essentially lighting up Rome in a civil war. And Louis Butelli practically channels John Malkovitch as Cassius in a lights out performance that makes the character more than just a jealous conspirator—his wooing of Brutus is based in friendship and love.

Anthony Cochrane, I think, has solved the riddle of Brutus—he’s the pivotal character in the play, yet somehow never takes command of the play. That’s not the actor’s fault—this Brutus is a cerebral man, a careful man who errs always on the side of humility lest he appear arrogant, like Caesar, which of course he is. He holds himself in—even when he gets the news that his wife has killed herself by eating fire, he barely raises an eyebrow until he shudders alone in his tent.

It’s a revealing way to deal with Brutus—“the noblest Roman of them all” has a noble lineage but not enough of a noble bearing to carry the day. He’s been told that he’s an honorable man by too many people, including with sarcastic and deadly effect by Antony.

Gary Tischler •

The thing about the bad Jews in the young playwright Joshua Harmon’s play “Bad Jews” is that they’re really baaad, as in Ming the Merciless bad.

I don’t mean to suggest that they’re evil or villains—it’s that I care not a whit and wit about how deep the wounds or that they open with their verbal assaults on each other, how much damage they do, how much blood is on the floor.

Yes, the play, now being given a blood-sharp, claustrophobic staging at Studio Theatre under the direction of Serge Seiden, and with a brilliant cast of young actors is terrifically engaging. If these guys and gals were riding a bus, they’d be thrown off, but on stage. The verbal combat they engage in is compelling: you can’t shut your eyes, you can’t close your eyes and you can’t escape. So, you might as well stay and go into shock.

Part of the fascination is that the play is very, very smartly, sharply written and is very, very funny, like a late-night set with Lenny Bruce at his most intelligently, incessantly and carelessly cruel.

The characters in the play are all Jewish, but there’s no wise men here, no cliché Jewish mothers. It’s not even “Fiddler on the Roof,” which oddly enough wrestles with some of the same core issues that lie at the heart of the scorched-earth debates in “Bad Jews.” Is being Jewish a religion or a culture? Is secular better than orthodox? Where does self-interest meet or simply bypass strict religious observance? What does it mean to be a Jew in the early part of the 21st century?

The major combatants in this close-quarter (it’s set in a cramped New York City apartment) fight are Daphna, a transformed, fierce champion of being a real Jewish woman in an increasingly secular world, and Liam (ne Schlomo), who is as cooly, briskly, smartly secular young Jewish man as you want to meet. They’re all college age—Liam and Daphna, as well as Liam’s nebbish and soft brother Jonah and Melody, the wispy, waspy, blonde girl and intended future, non-Jewish wife who was once a music major.

The occasion: it’s the day after the death of their grandfather and emotional, heritage lynchpin of the family, a Holocaust survivor who’s always been part metaphor, part beloved patriarch to the young cousins.

Liam, being stuck without a cell phone in Aspen, Colo., didn’t make it to the funeral, and instead has brought Melody along. They’re all stuck in this high-end little place Liam and Jonah’s parents have bought for just such an occasion. Daphna, who’s returned from a life-changing trip to Israel—she wants to join the Israeli army, she’s got a presumed Israeli boyfriend—comes from a less well off part of the family and is full of anger—not just about Jewish traditions or the lack thereof, but economic envy and resentment as well

In comes another complication, the real source of the battle, a fight for a “Poppy” heirloom, a life-symbol pendant or “chai” that he kept under his tongue at the concentration camp. He used it as an engagement gift in his early years, and it’s intended for that use, apparently. Now, who gets the heirloom?

Liam wants it to use to give to Melody. Daphna says she deserves it because she’s the genuine article as an observant, traditional Jew. The fight once it gets going, appears about other things too—it’s entirely likely that Daphna’s resentment of Liam hides a deep-seated crush.

The fighting words are witty, funny, viscous, to the core and heart—Daphna is all passion, but armed with a gift for crushing insults. Liam is all precision and manipulation, the rational man, who whittles away vulnerable hearts until they’re the size of a raisin.

The actors dive into this with relish—especially Irene Sofia Lucio, as Daphna with her wild hair, her breathless, wild and looping thrusts, and Alex Mendell as Liam, the cold, rational, deadly customer. Theirs is a fight that seems close to violence and possible murder. They get so close to each other at full, screaming volume that you almost plug your ears.

Maggy Erwin, who has a sweet heart as the sweetheart of Liam, has her moments. She’s both touching and funny, including in a show-stopping moment, while Joe Paulik makes the most out of his silence and physical moves as the shy pacifier, who wants nothing more than to escape the bloodletting.

It’s terrific theater—and Harmon has the gift of gab. Nevertheless, because the fighting is so horrific, you want a little more consequence, a little more what-happens-next and why. Maybe that’s impossible, given the wounds inflicted.

“Bad Jews” runs through Dec. 21 at Studio Theatre.