Jordan Wright
December 7th, 2009
 striking 12 Valerie Vigoda, Gene Lewis, and Brendan Milburn in Striking 12 at Arena Stage December 2 - December 13, 2009 (photo by Joan Marcus) Groove Lily etched a new groove at Arena Stage last night with their performance of Striking 12. Based on Hans Christian Andersen’s story of ‘The Little Match Girl’ this rock musical, co-written by band members, Valerie Vigoda, on electric violin, keyboardist Brendan Milburn and playwright, Rachel Sheinkin, is an enchanting, heart-wrenching, comedic avenue into the soul.
Set in modern-day New York, with flashbacks to Copenhagen, all roles are played by the three musicians…add blow-out drummer and record producer, Gene Lewin, who channels a Jewish grandma better than Estelle Getty. It’s a knockout show by a rock band with multi-dimensional talents.
I was introduced to Groove Lily seven or eight years ago by a good friend who has now made it a sideline to book acts for Focus Music (an all-volunteer org that presents folk and acoustic music around the DC area). I fell for their tight power-packed sound and well-enunciated lyrics but even more so by the force-of-nature haunting violin strains of Vigoda, who grew up in McLean, VA. If you’ve never heard her play you are missing a piece of your heart.
Around that same time the Army used her image in a recruiting print ad that was featured in every mainstream mag across the nation. There was red-hot Valerie in her camo fatigues and combat boots, wailing on her violin and urging future rock stars to join Uncle Sam. She got some flak for that…not the ammo type.
She was a part timer, ROTC in college, with an 8-year commitment in the reserves as a weekend warrior and then four years with the IRR. She says it gave her the skills and stick-to-tiveness she needed for show biz, though she never once played in an Army band.
I spoke to Vigoda this week as she and husband, Milburn, were en route to New York’s Lincoln Center to receive ASCAP’s Richard Rogers New Horizons Award. (Tiny disclosure here: I am a 40-year member of ASCAP. My sister a 25-year member of New York’s prestigious Outer Critics Circle.)
Jordan Wright – What was the first instrument you played?
 striking 12 Valerie Vigoda in Striking 12 at Arena Stage December 2- December 13, 2009 (Photo by Joan Marcus). Valerie Vigoda – I used to sit on the piano bench with my father [Bob Vigoda, noted jazz musician] and learned to play with him. I wanted to play trumpet but I never could have sung and played had I chosen that.
JW – Do you play any other instruments?
VV – I played mandolin in the Cyndi Lauper band and I’ve just learned the banjo.
JW – I understand you are writing for Disney now. What’s that like?
VV – We have written the theme song for Pixar’s TinkerBell and the Lost Treasure, a prequel to Peter Pan, being released direct to Blu-Ray and DVD. It sold 2 million copies in its first week. It’s our first song for a movie. I can’t believe how big it is! They now have Pixie Hollow attractions at Disneyland and in Disney Paris. All these little girls go crazy to meet TinkerBell and her fairy friends. They love TinkerBell! There will be six of these movies. So now we are writing songs for the second, third and fourth one.
Also we have written the music for Toy Story: The Musical – an adaption for the stage of the movie that came out in 1995 with Randy Newman songs. This new version will be live on stage at the Hyperion Theater at Adventure Park next year where it will be presented four times a day. It’s currently on the Disney cruise ships.
At the theme parks it will have a giant orchestra with puppets made by Michael Curry [who did the phantasmagorical puppets for Cirque de Soleil, The Lion King and the Olympic Opening Ceremonies]. It’s a spectacular multi-million dollar Broadway-type production with a big cast, about 25 people, and we are so excited because we have loved Toy Story since we saw it when Brendan and I first started dating.
JW – Do you record at the Disney studios?
VV – We go there around once a week and work song by song.
JW – Will you perform at Lincoln Center the night you receive your award?
VV – We’ll play “Only a King” from our show Sleeping Beauty Wakes.
JW – Will you be doing any solo work?
VV – Ernest Shackleton Loves Me is my one-woman show. I’m playing the banjo in it. For a long time we’ve been planning to do a show just for me. I love a live audience and get twitchy without it. Whereas Brendan is not as interested in performing. So we’re writing this show together with Joe Di Pietro who wrote the current Broadway hit MEMPHIS and I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change.
JW – Did I hear that you’re doing Striking 12 at Imagination Stage in Bethesda next week?
VV – Well, we won’t be in it. Actually Striking 12 is currently in production on over a dozen stages worldwide. We were able to license the show – adapt it for others to do with larger casts. It will be in Korea this coming year.
JW – What’s on the immediate horizon for you?
VV – Sleeping Beauty Wakes is another show we’re really excited about. It’s in development at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, NJ. We are very hopeful that we are going to take the show to Broadway. We wrote it but won’t perform it. It’s a fairy tale with a twist about Sleeping Beauty oversleeping for a thousand years and waking up in a modern-day sleep clinic. It’s another collaboration with Rachel Sheinkin who won a Tony award for The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.
Bob Vigoda, who had initially been apprehensive about his daughter’s career choice, still lives in McLean, VA, no longer afraid of her following in his footsteps.
Conducted, edited and condensed by Jordan Wright. For comments or queries contact [email protected] or visit www.WhiskandQuill.com .
Striking 12 will be at Arena Stage in Crystal City until December 13th.
www.ArenaStage.com
www.GrooveLily.com
www.FocusMusic.org
Jordan Wright
December 7, 2009
 Sarah, The Duchess of York discusses her film, The Young Victoria at Neiman Marcus - photo by Jordan Wright The strikingly disarming Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, familiar to us as ‘Fergie’, stood in a black and red wool suit at Neiman Marcus today and told the story of Queen Victoria and her great love, Prince Albert. She called it, “A contemporary love story in an historical setting.”
 The rare and signed Clive Christian perfume 'No. 1' - photo by Jordan Wright In her role as co-producer, along with seasoned filmmakers Martin Scorsese, Tim Headington and Graham King, the Duchess of York was the driving force in getting the film made. The film stars Emily Blunt and Rupert Friend and opens on December 18th.
The Duchess, whose own difficulties are long behind her, described the travails of Victoria before she became Queen of England, “Her mother was extremely strong-willed and kept her in her tummy,” she said, “withholding delivery throughout a six-week drive over unpaved roads, all the way to London, so that she that she could be born in England.
“Oh, I thought that was interesting!” she quipped. “In order to get the Regency from her uncle, the King, Victoria was kept in a gilded cage for 17 years. She never saw anybody, never talked to anybody and wasn’t allowed to read. The King was furious!” she said. She said the story had so touched her that she became committed to making the film which was started six years ago.
“At eighteen she took the throne as the youngest reigning sovereign ever. She and Albert had nine children in 25 years. A very passionate love story!”
I asked her about the costumes displayed around her, “Are they costumes from the film?”
 Emily Blunt as Queen Victoria in The Young Victoria - photo by Jordan Wright “Yes they are and look at that tiny waist! They wore corsets. Albert wore corsets too!” she let on.
 Victoria Christian and Sarah, The Duchess of York at the Neiman Marcus signing - photo by Jordan Wright Accompanying the Duchess was Victoria Christian, there to introduce Clive Christian ‘No. 1’, described as one of “the rarest and most expensive scents ever created”, only 1,000 bottles are produced annually and retail for $2350.00.
Twenty-five years ago a young Victoria discovered an original bottle beneath the floorboards of their family’s Victorian manor home. Her father, Clive Christian, founder of the noted British Design House, was so inspired by its association with Queen Victoria, that he bought the 1800’s Perfumery to the Queen in 1999 in order to revive the line.
Later the pair sat together in the store while the Duchess graciously signed boxes of the perfume and posters of the upcoming film.
No gaffes were sighted and the Duchess appeared to have a splendid time among the excited photo-snapping shoppers.
For questions or comments write to [email protected] and visit www.WhiskandQuill.com.
Food Inc. Clips
By Jordan Wright
In his new documentary “Food, Inc.,” scheduled to premiere here on June 19, producer Robert Kenner lifts the veil on the shameful underbelly of food production in this country. Kenner is the director of the Academy Award-winning documentary “An Inconvenient Truth,” narrated by Al Gore. It’s now the fourth largest-grossing documentary of all time. After the screening I wondered, could “Food, Inc.” have the same radical, policy-changing influence on business as usual in the food production world as “An Inconvenient Truth” did when it challenged and informed us on climate change? Could we continue to ignore the realities of an industry gone haywire?
Featuring interviews with the iconic food author and activist Michael Pollan (“The Omnivore’s Dilemma” and “The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s Eye View of the World”), Eric Schlosser, author of “Fast Food Nation” and Joel Salatin, real-life farmer of Polyface Farms, a sustainable, organic model farm in Swoope, VA, and author of “Holy Cows and Hog Heaven”, the directors have proffered the reality of agri-business in this country. This is an inconvenient truth of a different kind. It reveals how our nation’s food is being raised, produced, slaughtered, cloned, genetically modified, seed patented and engineered, and co-opted and controlled by a few mega-conglomerates. Monsanto, Smithfield and Con-Agra top the list of eco-villains. Continue reading FOOD, INC. REVIEW OF FILM BY ROBERT KENNER
April 2010
 Paul Scott Goodman in Son of a Stand Up Comedian - Photo credit: Chris Mueller Paul Scott Goodman’s edgy solo show opened at MetroStage last night. Set in 1980’s Manhattan counter-culture, it is a time capsule itinerary of a hip rocker’s life…a soul-baring, self-analytical musical voyage with the Scottish-born Goodman at the helm. At turns sarcastic and heart-warming, the monologue-set-to-music is Goodman’s chance to bat back at the travesties, injustices and sheer bad luck that befell his early musical career.
While he rails at mega Broadway productions, “Broadway is dead!”, and a failed fling as a catering waiter who joined the party and then was given the bum’s rush (he expresses surprise at this), there is no doubt that Goodman, an inspired and award-winning songwriter, accomplished guitarist and tale-spinner, puts forth raw energy in this semi-autobiographical piece.
Tender memories of meeting his wife, Miriam Gordon, the show’s collaborator, conversations with his stand-up Jewish comedian father and an unexpected sidelining off the Forest Hills “N” train to make a “mikvah” with strangers during the birth of his first child; save the show from total self-absorption. It remains to be seen if it will translate outside the New York City, Woody Allen brand of one-therapist-per-resident culture. But in the end it is Goodman’s sanguine, Scottish-accented, musical introspection that keeps the audience humming and toe-tapping along with him.
www.metrostage.org
For comments or queries on this article contact [email protected].
By Jordan Wright
 Turandot and her father, the mandarin. Maija Kovalevska made her Kennedy Center debut as the slave-girl, Liu, in this season’s Turandot and the role will never be the same. Her portrayal of the sympathetic Liu was nothing less than transcendent.
With a voice that renders music “noteless,” pours forth pure and effortless in its transitions, and a physical presence that captures her tragedy with balletic passion, Kovalevska owned every moment that she was on stage.
This “Lily of Latvia” challenges all who have ever sung the role and those who have yet to.
Like Alexander Pope’s sylph, full of spleen and vanity, Sylvie Valayre, as the bloodthirsty Princess Turandot, stalks the stage seeking revenge and becomes the very thing that she despises, cruel and loveless. Unfortunately, Valayre’s performance was neither sympathetic nor nuanced, so that when at last she is revealed by Calaf’s kiss to be a frightened girl, we are stymied by the sudden shift.
Dario Volente gave the vainglorious Calaf his all, but it was not enough to bolster the Persian prince. His Calaf was competent but devoid of heft, his stultifying voice following the libretto as notes on a page.
A very bright note was the brilliant set design by Sally Jacobs that reminds one of Canton Famille Rose porcelain, with its delicate depictions of Chinese life.
When Ping, Pang and Pong, fearing Calaf will fail the test of the three riddles, and hoping to flee their awful fate, wax nostalgic with homesickness, Jacobs employs a hand-painted bolt of silk fabric depicting scenic landscapes. This billowing panel unfolds behind them and travels across the stage like Christo’s “Running Fence”, quickly transforming the set to accommodate the music.
Her slate grey backdrop of a Chinese palace serves to further enhance the bright costumes and Kabuki-style masks in this amalgam of Asian culture that Puccini imagined.
Well-received too, was conductor, Keri-Lynn Watson, making her Washington National Opera debut with this production, which closed June 4.
By Jordan Wright
 Looped reach to director Valerie Harper wraps her considerable performing skills around the witty and uninhibited Tallulah Bankhead like a full-swing sable coat and inhabits the former screen star’s persona like a hungry spirit. Her portrayal of the imperious legend is spot on, an hilarious channeling of this Hollywood “bad girl”.
Bankhead was always a fascinating character in the same vein as Dorothy Parker, Josephine Baker and Eva Tanguy, the original “I Don’t Care Girl”. Bawdy, uncensored and drenched in bon mots, Bankhead was a brilliant but controversial leading lady.
Writer Matthew Lombardo’s “Looped” is based on an episode in a recording studio when Bankhead was asked to redo one line to be synced into the classic b-movie, ”Die! Die! My Darling!”.
Like Kathy Griffin (“My Life on the D List”), Bankhead was notorious for peppering her language with colorful four-letter words that would make a sailor blush, and Harper nails it with an uproarious performance in this over-the-top sendup.
 Emotional projection Fueled by cigarettes, cocaine, pot and booze Bankhead quips, “Everyone has their vices. It’s just that mine all come out to play at the same time.” The one-liners come fast and furiously, most too raunchy to repeat. In his role as studio “suit” Danny Miller, Jay Goede, as straight man, is convincing. To his rejection of her advances she declares, “If I were hungry for a man, I would want a meal not an hors d’oeuvre!”
After the show a little old be-pearled lady beside me whispered, “She’s not like me at all. I’m very straight-laced. Oh, I wish I could be like that!” To judge by the audience’s enthusiasm it seems we’d all like to be a little like that.
Catch it before it leaves town. (Harper will be the Celebrity Grand Marshall of DC’s feathered and fabulous Gay Pride March on June 13.)
If You’re Going…
LOOPED
At the Lincoln Theatre until June 28
1215 U Street
Washington, DC
www.thelincolntheatre.org
For ticket information call (202) 488-3300
|