What’s The Little Theatre of Alexandria without a Brit Wit comedy in its repertoire? For its 2013 fall season opener it has chosen Caught in the Net, a rollicking romp by the wildly successful British playwright Ray Cooney about a husband’s marital deception. And this one’s a doozy.
Mike Baker as John Smith, Annie Ermlick as Barbara Smith (Center) and Tricia O’Neill-Politte as Mary Smith – Photo credit Tabitha Rymal – Vaughn
John Smith (Mike Baker) has spent his marital life leading two lives with two wives – one in Streatham, the other in Wimbledon. He has a teenage child with each. Gavin Smith (Luke Markham) lives with his mother Barbara (Annie Ermlick), while Vicki Smith (Eliza Lore) resides with her mother Mary (Tricia O’Neill-Politte). John races back and forth between the two families, juggling his affections like a Chinese plate twirler. The trouble begins when the teens find each other on the Internet and uncover an odd coincidence. Each has a father named John Leonard Smith, age 53, taxi driver.
Luke Markham (Gavin Smith) and Eliza Lore (Vicki Smith – Photo credit Tabitha Rymal – Vaughn
The teens become fascinated by their shared knowledge and Vicki invites Gavin to tea at her home. John is appalled, or as he puts it, “horrified, mortified, petrified and crucified,” should they meet. He tells Mary that Gavin must be a sexual pervert and locks Vicki in her room. Thus begins the farcical shenanigans of John’s subterfuge and many disguises, as he tries to keep his family members from running into each other. Little white lies lead to evasions and outright fabrications as John digs his self-imposed grave.
Mike Baker (John Smith) and Paul Tamney (Stanley Gardner) – Photo credit Tabitha Rymal – Vaughn
Mike Baker presents us with a pitch perfect portrait of the harried husband caught a web of lies. In one particularly brilliant scene, faking a wrong number to conceal his identity from one of his wives, he puts on a Chinese accent, rattling off countless dishes at a furious clip to keep Barbara at bay. In another phone call Baker employs a German accent all to the relentless pace of sight gags, pratfalls and a stream of hilarious one-liners. Mary, “He’ll kill himself.” Stanley (Paul Tamney), their longtime boarder and John’s comrade-in-tomfoolery, “That would solve all our problems!”
When Stanley’s doddering, half-blind and senile grandfather, played handily by Richard Fiske, is enlisted in the scheme to keep the beautiful Barbara at bay, he rises to the occasion. “I have a curious urging in my loins,” he exclaims while lusting after her with arms outstretched.
Director Eleanore Tapscott, who recently returned to the DC area from New York where she directed Shakespeare and Moliere for the Westside Repertory Theatre, and her Co-Producer, Alan Wray, steer a terrific cast in this masterful comedy of sex, lies and mistaken identities.
Special mention to Set Designer, Michael deBlois, for the seven-door set lending the production a note of mass hysteria as the characters alternately chase and avoid each other across a central living room.
Through September 28th at The Little Theatre of Alexandria, 600 Wolfe Street. For tickets and information call the box office at 703 683-0496 or visit www.thelittletheatre.com
Thom Sesma plays the French-Vietnamese club owner who refers to himself as The Engineer in “Miss Saigon” Photo: Christopher Mueller.
With the Vietnam War as dramatic backdrop, Miss Saigon, presents a poignant tale of doomed love amidst the horrors of war. This well-known re-interpretation of Puccini’s classic opera, Madame Butterfly, with music by Claude-Michel Schönberg and lyrics by Richard Maltby, Jr. and Alain Boublil, has become one of the longest running shows ever to hit the American stage – – in no small part because of the thousands of Amerasian children called “Bui-Doi” that continue to be part of the greater tragedy.
It’s Saigon in the spring of 1975 near the close of the ‘Great Undeclared War’ when Chris, a young Marine meets Kim, an innocent country girl forced into a life of prostitution. In a strip club named Dreamland Chris’s buddy, John, buys her attentions, giving her to the forlorn Chris who is searching for meaning in a world gone mad.
The cast of “Miss Saigon” welcomes you to Dreamland, the Vietnamese nightclub where bargirl Kim will meet American GI Chris. Photo: Christopher Mueller.
The club’s owner, a crafty con man they call, ‘The Engineer” senses the men’s interest and ups the price. “Men play the moon to get fresh meat,” he snickers. Thom Sesma plays the sleazy Svengali to the hilt, delivering a memorable in-your-face performance filled with equal parts charm and smarm. “The Heat is On in Saigon” is a number aswirl in strippers, beefy Marines and lounge hustlers, but especially notable for the introduction of Gigi (Cheryl Daro) the sexy pole-dancing queen of the strippers who is crowned Miss Saigon. When Gigi, Kim and the bar girls commiserate in “The Movie in My Mind”, a song later reprised, we are forced to recognize their despair.
In one fateful night Chris and Kim find love amidst the ruins and pledge to spend their lives together. Gannon O’Brien (who took over the role of Chris on press night) showed engaging sensitivity and starry-eyed innocence against the fierce pathos of Kim as played by Diana Huey. Huey is an outstanding actress and singer whose compelling portrayal of a young woman fighting for her dignity and that of the couple’s love child in a country ravaged by war and uncertainty, is magnificent. Her delivery of “Sun and Moon” to their son, Tam, is a master class in character immersion.
A warm welcome from the girls of Dreamland (from left: Tamara Young, Katie Mariko Murray, Cheryl Daro, Diana Huey, Eunice Bae) in “Miss Saigon” Photo: Christopher Mueller.
Theatergoers will be wowed by this brilliantly crafted production. Signature Theatre’s award-winning Director, Eric Schaeffer, has assembled a cast and crew in spectacular synch. Kudos to Sound Designer Matt Rowe for the rhythmically clanking and stomping devil-masked dancers and thundering helicopter rotors in the iconic scene of the last plane out of Vietnam, and Lighting Designer Chris Lee’s blood red expression of Communist rule, neon-lit B-girls cavorting erotically, and a hauntingly evil nightmare sequence of the Commissar’s ghost. Special effects run the gamut from wind to smoke and create an atmospheric ambiance that envelops the audience in a sensory explosion. And with thirty-four spectacular musical numbers to orchestrate, Music Director Gabriel Mangiante accomplishes a herculean task using both classical and Asian instrumentation.
In this iconic show with plenty of memorable acting to rave over, Diana Huey, Thom Sesma, Christopher Mueller as Thuy, and Chris Sizemore as John, give the performances of their lives.
Chris Sizemore, playing the American soldier John, sings of reuniting families through international aid work (“Bui Doi”) in “Miss Saigon” Photo: Christopher Mueller.
Highly recommended.
Through September 29th 2013 at Signature Theatre (Shirlington Village), 4200 Campbell Avenue, Arlington, VA 22206. For tickets and information call 703 820-9771 or visit www.signature-theatre.org.
I could say what a long strange trip it’s been, when reflecting on last night’s Grace Potter concert at Wolf Trap. With her band the Nocturnals the indie group performed a reimagined form of vintage psychedelia and hard-driving rock that hasn’t been heard since the heady days of the Fillmore West in the late 60’s.
Grace Potter & the Nocturnals. Photo courtesy of Wolf Trap.
You have to wonder what’s taken Potter so long to emerge as one of the most promising hard rock, blues and country stars we’ve seen since Grace Slick and Stevie Nicks stole our hearts with the same raw emotional style. Maybe it’s because Potter is too beautiful with her swirling, head tossing, mane of honey blonde hair and legs way out to the next county. Or maybe it’s because we can only imagine men tearing the guts out of their guitars to find notes that only the Eric Claptons of the world could unleash. Is the male-dominated rock world ready to accept a woman who can write her own music, dance like Isadora Duncan on LSD, play both keyboards and guitar, and sing with as pure and powerful a voice as has ever been heard on a rock stage? Oh yes, it is. And a packed house at Wolf Trap proved it last night.
Playing songs from their latest album, The Lion The Beast The Beatas well as earlier material, Potter showed off powerful wailing leads on her signature Gibson Flying V guitar and haunting notes from a Hammond B3 organ, all the while creating a bold new sound built on the old yet without ever sounding retro.
Clad in a sizzling hot platinum lamé bat-wing sleeve gown that revealed her long legs with a slit up to there, Potter and the Nocturnals opened with “I’ve Got The Medicine That Everybody Wants”. Later she gave a grateful shout-out to a guy named Sandy she knew would be at the concert and who’d introduced her parents, Sparky Potter and Peggy Sparks, to each other back in 1969 by explaining, “That’s why I’m here!” She later introduced locally born tenor saxophonist, Ron Holloway, who came on stage for a duet on “Treat Me Right” with the sentiment, “We go back to the days of hard drinking and hard touring.”
The Nocturnals consisting of Matt Burr (drums/vocals), Scott Tournet (guitar/bass/keyboard/vocals) and Benny Yurcot (guitar/bass/vocals) are as tight as they come and it shows. During one number the entire band dropped their instruments and held a group drumming session on Burr’s drums. In others Potter traded fiery licks with her fellow guitarists and gave tribute to the Jefferson Airplane with the number, “White Rabbit”.
Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue. Photo courtesy of Wolf Trap.
Famed musician Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, opened the show. Born Troy Andrews in the Treme section of New Orleans, he’s performed with U2 and Green Day and recently played at the White House in celebration of Black History Month. His 2011 album For True features Jeff Beck and Warren Haynes. Andrews, who calls his sound “Supafunkrock”, opened with “American Woman” amping up the crowd with his fierce horn and a rumbling bass. Amazing lead guitarist, “Freaky” Pete Murano, and a back up horn section gave it the stuff soul was made of. There were George Clinton-style funkadelic 60’s riffs using a wah-wah pedal from Murano coupled with Shorty’s signature staccato repetitions in which he appeared to split notes into fractals ending in long breath-averse wails on the trombone. Though Andrews’ style gallivants around the musical map, there’s a bottom line Chicago horn sound going down, especially on power numbers like Ray Charles “I Got a Woman Way Over Town”.
Bad Idea Bears (puppets), Matt Liptak and Charlene Sloan – Photos by Keith Waters
With the presentation of Avenue QThe Little Theatre of Alexandria continues its successful leap into the 21st century, with productions that a few years ago would have seemed, well, unseemly to their faithful supporters. My, how times have changed. No longer content with a steady diet of British farce, show tunes and murder mysteries, the theater has branched out this year to include complex religious themes in the sensitive and brilliantly crafted Cantorial, racy topics with a splash of nudity in the hilarious The Full Monty, and now X-rated humor with the uproarious musical Avenue Q. It’s taken some adjusting from the Old Guard benefactors. Overheard – “If they say a bad word, I told him I’d cover his ears.”. Even the director’s notes encourage playgoers to loosen up with this comment, “Let political correctness and sexual and social propriety take a back seat…” But all theaters know they must attract newer, younger audiences and in this day and age swear words and sex talk is everyday TV fare.
Avenue Q picks up where Sesame Street left off. It centers on the generations of kids who grew up with the furry puppets and kooky TV characters that cheered them on, mollified their fears, and taught them the alphabet and, who now as young adults entering the work force, struggle to realize their dreams. The actors, who are quite visible to the audience and mimic the puppets’ emotions, manipulate the twelve furry creatures in a set-to-music guide to the galaxy filled with lessons on love, sex and the Internet.
James Hotsko Jr., Kate Monster (puppet), and Kristina Hopkins – Photos by Keith Waters
Everything takes place on Avenue Q. Princeton (Sean Garcia) is new to the neighborhood. He’s just graduated college but his life has no purpose, “What Do You Do With a B. A. in English”, he posits. Kate Monster (Kristina Hopkins) is the girl-next-door, an aspiring teacher that Princeton falls madly in love with. Unfortunately he thinks love is not fulfilling enough in his self-absorbed world of job searches and grown-up responsibilities. Christmas Eve (Stephanie Gaia Chu) is the neighborhood’s crazy Japanese lady and psychotherapist, who doesn’t care if she is perceived as Chinese or Korean, but won’t abide by the term Oriental, her significant other is Brian, an out of work Caucasian who wants to be a stand-up comedian.
Princeton (puppet) and Sean Garcia – Photos by Keith Waters
Nicky (Matt Liptak) and Rod (Sean Garcia) are roommates. Rod, who is still in the closet, hopes to convince everyone otherwise with the song, “My Girlfriend Who Lives In Canada”. And then there are the cuddly cute Bad Idea Bears (Charlene Sloan and Matt Liptak), who try to undermine everyone’s better judgment by sobbing uncontrollably when their devilish advice is not taken.
Gary Coleman (Aerika Saxe) is the street-smart African-American superintendent who balances out the yuppies’ dilemmas with real life issues in the number “Everyone’s A Little Bit Racist”. But they all agree on one thing, including Trekkie (Matt Liptak), the kindhearted but scary monster, in “The Internet Is for Porn”. “He a pervert,” Christmas Eve suggests, but he’s no match for Lucy the Slut (Claire O’Brien), whose Mae West allure has Princeton in her thrall.
Lucy the Slut (puppet) and Claire O’Brien – Photos by Keith Waters
In a show where puppets rule, the actor’s expressions, as they mirror the speaking parts of their hairy avatars, are crucial. Each actor must take on their puppet’s personality and dialogue, both physically and verbally. To say that this troupe excels in their character’s puppet persona, is an understatement and a tribute to Director Frank D. Shutts II’s superb casting as well as Puppet Master Kristopher Kauff and Puppet Wrangler Katherine Dilaber, who taught eight neophytes the art of puppeteering.
Highly recommended. For adults only.
Through August 17th at The Little Theatre of Alexandria, 600 Wolfe Street. For tickets and information call the box office at 703 683-0496 or visit www.thelittletheatre.com
Jordan Wright
July 09, 2013
Special to The Credits – Motion Picture Association of America
David works with elephant
If you’ve ever seen a rhino in a television commercial, his name is Tank and he’s the only working rhino in show business. Maybe you’ve noticed zebras, bears, leopards, African lions, panthers or Siberian tigers in TV ads or on the big screen and wondered how they’re train to stand still, lie down, run around or roar on command for the camera?
Meeks with his Zebra Zeke
Many of the animals you see on the big and small screen belong to David Meeks, director of Hollywild Animal Park in South Carolina. Meeks is the East Coast animal wrangler filmmakers call when they need, say, a panther in their in movie. The business side of the 100-acre park is called Cinema Animal Talent, and it’s been going strong for over 30 years. Tank, the white rhino, is one of Meeks’ biggest stars.
With over 700 exotic animals living in the park, Meeks has tapped on his zoological collection for over 60 major motion pictures and countless print ads and television commercials since the early 1980’s. For nearly a decade his cougars shilled for Lincoln-Mercury and pounced in The Last of the Mohicans and Reversal of Fortune. Pongo the orangutan did commercials for Mazda, and Donna the Asian elephant appeared in Ryder Trucks and Land Rover ads. Tank the rhino can’t stop getting work, offering his majestic prehistoric-looking bulk for Blue Cross/Blue Shield and Land Rover ads. Meeks’ lynxes have worked for Minolta, while Alfonso the Leopard Appaloosa horse was in The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking, along with some of Meeks’ crafty Capuchin monkeys.
Meeks’ film credits include, A Breed Apart, Order of the Black Eagle, Date with an Angel, Never Say Goodbye, Prince of Tides, Reuben, Reuben, Rottweilers, The Real McCoy, The Stand, Betsey’s Wedding Days, Days of Thunder, Monkey Shines, Prancer, Blood Savage and many, many others.
Recently the park had a joyous occasion when a long-horned African Watusi (a breed of cattle native to Africa) accidentally bred with an American Bison. They tagged the resulting offspring a Waffalo and cheerfully named them Pop Tart and Eggo.
The Credits had a chance to talk with Meeks about his unique career.
David Meeks with his rhino star Tank
The Credits: How do you even begin training animals to camera ready?
I don’t call it training because you can’t really train a wild animal. I call it “conditioning” and you have to keep it up even when they’re not in a film. You have to have a rapport with an animal—be firm but be fair. They’re not circus animals. And they don’t understand our humor.
But you’ve got these animals doing tricks…
An exotic animal will only do tricks if he thinks you won’t hurt him. He can react badly if you don’t know how to read his body language and make him relax. When I see that they’re uncomfortable I’ll tell the director, “We have to take a break.” I know what the animals are saying. They’ll scream it at you. You can’t second-guess an animal’s behavior. It’s instinctive for them to act from experience. Even a mixed martial arts master is nothing going up against a lion, a primate or a bear. If the animal doesn’t respect you, you’re gone.
What was one of the most unusual things you were asked to have an animal do?
One film company wanted to do a complete body scan of our rhino— film every inch of the animal’s body so that they could make him do everything a rhino can’t do, like cartwheels or a split. They wanted to make his horns perfect, too, but I realized that if they did that they would never need to use a real rhino again. I didn’t do it. The real thing looks much better.
Meeks with a potential new star
What are a few of the features your animals or you have appeared in?
There are so many. In Stephen King’s miniseries The Stand, where it was good versus evil, we used cockroaches, deer, a dog, a butterfly, hundreds of bats, a crow and a cow. I had to go all the way to Utah to find this giant Holstein. We used bats in The Big Chill, too. In Betsey’s Wedding I stunt doubled for Alan Alda when he had to fight a Bengal tiger we had provided. In another movie I doubled for Gary Sinise. For A Breed Apart, we provided the eagle, which at the time was considered an endangered species. Recently we shipped monkeys to Florida for an upcoming episode of Shipping Wars. And even though we didn’t have a lion in it, my lions were used for study purposes in The Lion King.
Have you ever had to modify an animal’s appearance for the purposes of a film?
Yeah, for this film Prancer [a Christmas movie about a girl who comes across a reindeer with an injured leg]. When director John Hancock came to me to do a Christmas movie I figured they would want a reindeer. I’d never even seen a reindeer up close and never worked with one. But he told me they preferred to use a fallow deer because it’s prettier. I told them any deer that has antlers is a male, and this time of the year they are in rut [their mating season], and there’s no way I’ll work with a deer in rut next to an 8 year-old girl. Even a deer that’s tame and workable will kill you when it’s in rut.
Who knew deers in mating season were so deadly.
Yeah. So I don’t hear from them for a while, and then one day I get a call back and they said I said I could use a reindeer, but now the problem is the timing. I tell them the females lose their antlers before the males and you could have a reindeer that loses its antlers in the middle of the shoot. So I flew up to see them and said we have to have several reindeer on the set because they are herd oriented and they need to stay together. So we used a female and had fake antlers made for her. A puppeteer made a fake reindeer head for close ups but they only had to use it once.
Did any of your animals do something you couldn’t have predicted?
We were in Nashville to do an ad. Every time I’d go there I had to do four or five commercials at a time. The last time I was up there I had a female chimp called Rosie. Chimps are really smart. They work on credit [meaning, incredibly, that they’re so smart they know they’ll be rewarded at a later time.] I said, “Rosie, could you please do some cartwheels over here?” But you can’t rush her. I can see the stool she’s sitting on is too close to the cabinets and there’s a paint bucket nearby. The director says they’ll have the stool secured, and I left the set and went to the trailer with Rosie. When I got back they said it was all fixed. So I dressed her up, put her diaper on, and the stool was still not locked down. Then I saw her go for the paint bucket. She snatched it up and when I grabbed it out of her hand she bit me. Every time animals do something there’s a good reason. They think you make it rain or make the sun shine. They look at you negatively or positively and they think and ask questions. They will instinctively blame you for your mistakes.
Meeks provided the Carolina Panthers with the real version of their namesake
What was the most dangerous thing that happened on set?
Once when we were filming in Chimney Rock, North Carolina late at night, I had my black panther walk between a cave and a rock. There was a fire nearby and she was on a piece of transparent monofilament we use for a leash [a thin plastic wire like a fishing line that can’t be seen, so it’s used as a leash during filming].When she crossed the fire the filament burned up and I didn’t know where she was. In this case I should have used a steel cable even though it doesn’t stretch. If something goes wrong on a shoot, you have to let the big cat run until you can get them back.
Whoa, you have to let a panther just run? Is that the craziest thing that’s happened to you on a set?
No. I was doing a Ryder Trucks commercial with the actor Steve Landesberg. I had worked with him before in Leader of the Band. We head off to Atlanta with this Asian elephant provided by this trainer I know, Rex.
When we got to the set I saw that the elephant was reaching out her trunk. I could tell she was fixing to hit Steve and I was worried. The line in the ad was, “When I’ve got something really big, I choose a Ryder Truck.” I asked Rex, “Has that elephant ever smacked anyone?” He hesitated. So I asked Rex if the elephant maybe needed a break, and he agreed. But then Rex said, “Nah. Shoot the rest of it.”
As soon as the cameras begin to roll, the elephant knocked Steve clear out of the shot.
It is with heavy heart that I divulge to my dear readers one of my secret pleasures – because not to share my latest adventures is anathema to my nature. But first I’ll tell of my history with a place that has been dear to my heart for many years.
Fifteen years ago I discovered one of the nation’s most under-the-radar destinations. A secluded destination that has more in common with Britain’s “Treasure Houses” than a Virginia gentleman’s farm, although that is what it once was. It began innocently enough on a Saturday morning in the beautiful foothills of the Piedmont region where we had gone to meet friends at the steeplechase races. After driving about an hour from Washington we turned off the highway onto a country lane past a series of stone columns fitted with iron gates. A large rock waterfall beside the road appeared as if out of nowhere. Meadows resplendent with wildflowers and a small airstrip came into view. The winding road led us high up to a racetrack that coursed over hill and dale and around several ponds. We spent a glorious day wondering where indeed we were.
The moon gate at Airlie – photo credit Jordan Wright
Fast forward to the following year and we are watching sheep trials on the same wondrous property. We take luncheon in the manor, tour the formal gardens, watch collies work the sheep, and stroll the grounds circling around quiet ponds bordered with more houses, cottages, swimming pools and a small pub. Herons and geese abound, frogs and crickets whir in concert and fish leap out of the water breaking the silence. We are at Airlie House.
Trumpeter Swans swim alongside Canada Geese on one of Airlie’s nine ponds – photo credit Jordan Wright
On our next visit we were guests at a lawn party at one of the homes on the property where the landowner’s son, a young doctor and musician, lived in bohemian splendor amidst mansions and stables and wild raspberries.
The Roger Tory Peterson Butterfly Garden dedicated to Airlie by his wife Virginia Peterson – photo credit Jordan Wright
Soon after we learned of the Airlie Environmental Studies Center and its Director Dr. Bill Sladen whose swan migration program trained Trumpeter Swans, bred on the property, to follow an ultralight plane. And so, we returned for a swan conference, an international ornithological event that occurs somewhere in the world every ten years. For the first time we spent a night in one of the lovely cottages before taking off to a secret location near the Chesapeake Bay where we banded swans while cradling them in our arms. The bus then took us further south to the Great Dismal Swamp on a 32-hour expedition shared with thirty-five ornithologists speaking seventeen languages.
Poolside at Airlie – photo credit Jordan Wright
Last weekend I returned for a stay at Airlie House for the full-on guest experience. The 1200-acre conference center, once known only to high-level government officials, corporate CEOs and those whose business is conducted free from prying eyes, has now flung open the doors and grounds of this historic property to overnight guests, offering weekend packages, winemaker’s dinners in the field and a new partnership with the Castleton Festival. No longer is it the exclusive purview of conference attendees. At last anyone can experience its once-hidden glories.
Airlie House Executive Chef Jeff Witte at the entrance to the kitchen gardens – photo credit Jordan Wright
As the summer sun climbed high overhead I met with Airlie’s Executive Chef Jeff Witte, a Los Angeles native and graduate of Le Cordon Bleu, who guided me through the sustainable gardens, a passive solar hoop house and raised beds bursting at the seams with herbs, vegetables and flowers. Bee hives, the wellspring of Airlie’s honey, dot one side of the fenced-in plots, while climbing hops twine around poles in the biergarten.
The Center’s kitchen benefits from 4,500 pounds of organic produce each year, some of which is shared with community food banks. “We source from over 30 local farms for our meats, cheeses and fruits, buying everything as locally as we can. We’re totally committed to our relationships with the community’s farmers,” explains Witte whose upscale regional cuisine strikes an elegant chord with diners.
A trio of palate cleansers – Alaskan halibut with Airlie garden vegetables – Garden figs with goat cheese ice cream, shortbread cookies and caramel sauce – photo credit Jordan Wright
Kae Yowell, Head Gardener for the Local Food Project at Airlie, who grew up on a dairy farm where her grandparents grew and canned their own vegetables, enjoys teaching others about the pleasures of the garden. “Throughout the year we have a series of lectures on gardening, seed saving and beekeeping. We just had one on making fruit jams and jellies from our strawberry patch.
The summer garden at Airlie – Flowers grow side by side with herbs and vegetables at the Local Food Project – photo credit Jordan Wright
This weekend guests can join in the annual Butterfly Count and by the looks of it there will be plenty of monarchs and swallowtails flitting about the gardens and the surrounding wildflower meadows. For more information on Airlie Center and its weekend packages with tickets to Castleton visit www.Airlie.com.
Butterfly weed in the meadows of Airlie – photo credit Jordan Wright
Castleton
The fields of Castleton – photo credit Jordan Wright
Entering its fifth anniversary season with Maestro Lorin Maazel, Castleton’s founder and world-renowned former conductor of the New York Philharmonic and guest conductor of many of Europe’s finest orchestras, the festival plays host to international opera and musician superstars, as well as up and coming orchestral virtuoso artists. Situated on a 550-acre farm the Theatre House and its concert venue feature weekend programs of classical music concerts played by a full orchestra, chamber music performances, cabarets, and operas by composers from Puccini to Verdi to Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Maazel’s wife, Dietlinde Turban Maazel, is the festival’s co-founder and Associate Artistic Director. As a stage and screen actress she is singularly qualified to train the young artists that come from around the world to Castleton’s doors for the summer Artists Training Seminars and workshops in the performing arts. Another famous faculty member is American mezzo-soprano, Denyce Graves, veteran of the Metropolitan Opera and native Washingtonian.
Westward ho for Castleton Festival’s “The Girl of the Golden West”
Last Saturday the Castleton Festival staged a spectacular performance of Puccini’s “The Girl of the Golden West” and organizers had put an exclamation point on the theme with a cowboy galloping around the hills on a black and white Paint and a Conestoga wagon pulled by two perfectly matched draft horses at the entrance to the concert hall. It was a glamorous night for attendees and benefactors who basked in the glow of a glittering opening night. For tickets and information on the Festival’s upcoming performances through July 28th visit www.castletonfestival.org
