We can all recite the famous intro from Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, “Ladies and gentlemen, and children of all ages.” It’s the opening line from the ringmaster – – the signal you are about to be entertained, something the legendary Ringling Bros. has fine-tuned for over a century. Prior to opening night of a four-day run at DC’s Verizon Center, I joined a group of journalists invited to dine in the fabled “Pie Car”. On Thursday afternoon a small shuttle bus whisked us off to a far-flung corner of the District where we were amazed to arrive at a lengthy one-mile long, 60-car train. The locomotive-driven stream of boxcars houses the circus’s animals, handlers, cast and crew as they travel by rail around the country.
The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus Train.
Once on board Ringmaster Johnathan Lee Iverson ushered us into one of the many dining cars. Iverson, a commanding fellow who was dressed in one of his dazzling costumes of sequined tails and top hat, is the first African-American ringmaster and at twenty-two, the youngest ringmaster in Ringling Brothers’ history. At a towering 6’ 5”, he must surely be one of the tallest. An award-winning tenor and student of voice in college, Iverson had hoped to become an opera singer. But when the role was offered, Iverson gladly gave up Pagliacci, to be the singing and speaking voice of ringmaster. In addition, he proved to be a gracious host.
Ringmaster John flanked by Brazilian circus dancers Deborath Aranjo and Carol Grego
Our lunch was billed as a culinary journey with dishes from a few of the more than fifty countries represented by the cast and crew of the troupe’s current show, LEGENDS. The menu featured Japanese spaghetti and meatballs, Brazilian cheesy bread and Chilaquiles con chorizo (a dish of deep fried tortilla wedges, salsa verde, onions and chorizo sausage, topped with a fried egg). While this may not be the Greatest Chow on Earth from a gourmand’s perspective, the food is hearty fare geared to please the carb-craving performers.
Lunch aboard the Pie Car
Chef Matt Loory, who became Pie Car manager two years ago at a mere twenty-two years of age, produces nearly 1,000 meals each week for 48 weeks a year. I asked Loory why it’s called the Pie Car. It seems there are three competing stories about the origin of the name. One is that coffee and pie were all that was served on circus trains in the early days. Another holds that meat pies were commonly served to the roustabouts employed by the circus. But the tale most popular with the diners is that Pie Car is an acronym standing for, “privileged individuals and employees.” Everyone agrees, however, that it is a catchy name no matter how you slice it.
Elephant on pedestal
Attending the show the same night after meeting some of the performers in the Pie Car, was like watching friends step into the limelight from backstage. While we took our seats, skillful clowns (grads from the Ringling Bros. Clown College) did rope jumping tricks and slapstick while families watched from the floor of the arena for a one-on-one experience. Then Ringmaster John appeared, no longer relaxing and chatting with a few journalists, but now the riveting centerpiece of a spectacular display of swirling lights, bright colors and breathtaking acts.
Elephants walking in line
Soon a line of elephants entered the ring lumbering along tail to trunk. These graceful giants have fascinated audiences ever since Ringling introduced Jumbo, “The World’s Largest Elephant,” in the 1880’s. (Recently Ringling Bros. announced plans to phase out their elephant performers and keep them at their 200-acre Center for Elephant Conservation in central Florida.)
Motorcycles in steel globe
One of the first acts of the evening was a troupe of Asian bicyclists performing gymnastics while on top of the bikes – and each other! Next came the amazing Torres siblings who ride motorcycles at speeds of up to 65 miles per hour in a now iconic 16-foot steel globe. If they ever slow down long enough to look like anything but a blur, you can see that there are eight of them racing in circles at once.
Dogs on hind legs
Tumblers who vault through 10-foot high hoops, trapeze artists who defy gravity, and sidesplitting clowns are among the many attractions. Magnificent horses, roaring lions and tigers, and adorable dogs of all sizes round out the evening. We even saw a pair of kangaroos leaping over high jumps.
Lions and tigers
Any one of these acts alone would be worth the ticket. Put together they provide an entertainment experience that truly is “The Greatest Show on Earth.”
Masters of the horse – Photo credit Jordan Wright
The circus will be in the area for five weeks with the following schedule:
Washington, DC, Verizon Center:
March 20, 2015 – March 22, 2015
Baltimore, MD, Royal Farms Arena
March 25, 2015 – April 05, 2015
Fairfax, VA, Patriot Center
April 08, 2015 – April 19, 2015
For further information or to buy tickets, visit www.ringling.com.
Chuck Dluhy as Michael Novak, Jack B. Stein as Alan Raleigh – Photo credit Keith Waters
Sharon Field and Rance Willis produce this tidy rendition of French playwright and social satirist Yasmina Reza’s 2009 Tony award-winning play God of Carnage. It’s a kind of “Thinking Man’s Guide on How to Raise Bullies”. Reza introduces us to two New York couples whose sons have gotten into a bloody scrap in a neighborhood park. At a meeting in the apartment of the victim’s parents to discuss the incident, the couples seem to agree on how the incident unfolded and Annette (Allison Block) and Alan (Jack B. Stein) appear to take the blame for their son’s aggressive actions. All is sweetness and light as they exchange pleasantries over coffee and Veronica’s homemade clafouti..
Initially the well-mannered grownups appear to take responsibility for their children’s actions resolving to discipline the boys and urge them to make up. Veronica (Karen Shotts), a writer on the atrocities in Darfur, has high-minded principles and tries to present a united front with her husband Michael (Chuck Dluhy) to lay the blame on Annette and Alan’s son. But Michael lets slip that, “It could have been the other way around. Our son is a savage.”
Annette is a buttoned-up career woman married to Alan an evidence-suppressing spindoctor of a lawyer who’s more wedded to his business than his wife. His incessant cell phone calls punctuate the couples’ mounting diatribes and show his pugnacious nature.
Jack B. Stein as Alan Raleigh, Allison Block as Annette Raleigh – Photo credit Keith Waters
Initially the prim Annette tries to stay above the fray, pleading with her husband not to escalate the situation, but with her one small remark, “How many parents standing up for their kids become infantile?” the play’s direction is revealed.
Soon all decorum is tossed aside as the confab turns into a verbal slugfest with the couples pushing each other’s emotional buttons and quickly devolving from respectable middle class professionals into screaming bullies. After Michael confesses to tossing his daughter’s hamster out into the street, his credibility as the nice guy is compromised and the women bond in their anger against him. Soothing his bruised ego he shares a bottle of his “well-aged Antiguan rum” and with that the civilities dissolve, allegiances shift and the couples re-bond. “You keep vacillating. Playing both ends against the middle,” Veronica accuses her husband. Director Christopher Dylton keeps the constant carousel of alliances fascinating – – like watching an elegantly choreographed train wreck in Scenic Designer Grant Kevin Lane’s stylishly modern set.
Chuck Dluhy as Michael Novak, Karen Shotts as Veronica Novak – Photo credit Keith Waters
Reza wields humor with a surgeon’s scalpel. Her observations of couples’ conflicts, and their ability to emotionally destroy each another, are just as incisive. Yet our ability to laugh at their infantile antics is a universal response to the belief that we are all born into a culture of violence. “The God of Carnage has ruled since the beginning of time,” Alan reminds them.
Enjoy this fine cast that rewards the audience with a well-drawn plot of controlled mayhem and insightfully drawn hilarity. Adult language.
Through March 21st 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
Jake Winn (Luke) and Christiane Noll (Eileen) in Kid Victory – Photo by Margot Schulman.
Luke is frightened. He can’t relate to anyone anymore and can’t explain where he’s been. At seventeen he vanished and now, one year later, he’s returned to his middle class home in small town Kansas. Was he taken or did he leave on his own? The police and the searchers never knew if they’d find him dead or alive. How will he explain his disappearance to a grieving community, a family whose deeply held religious convictions couldn’t, and can’t, help him and a girlfriend whom he refuses to see? “Why did you stay? What went on?” Detective Marks (Bobby Smith) asks of him. A cursory examination of the Stockholm syndrome would explain the conflict Luke endures.
Kid Victory is a haunting musical written by the legendary composer, John Kander (Chicago, Cabaret) and playwright Greg Pierce(Slowgirl). Its themes are both compelling and disturbing. They tell of a boy who’s made dangerous decisions he can’t come to terms with and a family who has too much invested in the prayer circles of the Heavenly Day Church to see beyond their blind faith to real human connection. Donna Migliaccio plays Gail, the family’s religious guide.
Donna Migliaccio (Gail), Bobby Smith (Ensemble), Laura Darrell (Ensemble), Parker Drown (Ensemble), Jake Winn (Luke) in Kid Victory – Photo by Margot Schulman.
Jake Winn plays Luke, aka ‘Kid Victory’, a name thrust upon him by Michael, aka ‘Yachticus’. Through an online gaming site the older Michael befriends the wide-eyed Luke, inviting him to meet up for a day of sailing. Jeffry Denman crafts a credibly evil portrait of a psychopath whose pastime is dreaming up Viking adventures that provide the plot with unusual musical levity while conversely contributing Michael’s ominous line to Luke. “To the west of pain is paradise,” Michael convincingly declares.
Jake Winn (Luke) and Jeffry Denman (Michael) in Kid Victory – Photo by Margot Schulman.
Christianne Noll as Luke’s Mother plays a domineering woman more concerned with china collections and churchgoing than her son’s mental anguish. She is perfectly partnered with Christopher Bloch, Luke’s Father, a man so accustomed to being dominated by God and his wife that he is emotionally out of touch.
Christopher Bloch (Joseph) and Jake Winn (Luke) in Kid Victory – Photo by Margot Schulman.
Against his mother’s wishes Luke takes a job working for Emily (Sarah Litzsinger), an offbeat garden shop owner reminiscent of author Armistead Maupin’s quirky Haight-Ashbury characters. Emily is a free spirit and Luke takes to her uncomplicated life like a fish to water. In “People Like Us” she lets him know that it’s okay to be different. Litzsinger is marvelous as the take-no-prisoners hippy who can travel to Kenya to help the poor, but can’t care for her own daughter, Mara (Laura Darrell).
Sarah Litzsinger (Emily) in Kid Victory – Photo by Margot Schulman.
Scenic Designer Clint Ramos creates the perfect triptych, dividing the stage into a living room, a boy’s bedroom adorned with childishly drawn sailboats, and Emily’s gnome-filled shop. A photographic backdrop of the beautiful Kansas wheat fields frames the conflict between freedom and isolation. Ramos draws in the dark side with a revolving bed that takes us into the clashing worlds of innocent boyhood dreams and Michael’s diabolical mind games.
How, you might imagine, can seventeen songs accompany this plot? Though the music and scenes transition through ballads, blues and comedic slapstick, they appear to do so seamlessly – – so seamlessly that some numbers segue one into another.
Liesl Tommy directs this riveting tale that will leave you indelibly moved.
Through March 22nd 2015 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.
Cast of Much Ado About Nothing. Photo by Koko Lanham.
Hot Diggity Dog Ziggity Boom! In Synetic Theater’s jived up version of Much Ado About Nothing Las Vegas’s flamboyant landscape of feathered and sequined showgirls becomes the backdrop for Director Paata Tsikurishvili’s reinvention of the beloved comedy and the next installment in the troupe’s “Silent Shakespeare” series. In his interpretation Beatrice (Irina Tsikurishvili) is a lovelorn lounge singer and Benedick (Ben Cunis) her castoff lover who are reunited in her Uncle Leonato’s (Peter Pereyra) casino. Much to each other’s dismay.
Benedick has joined Don Pedro’s (Philip Fletcher) gang the ‘Syneticons’ and blown into town on their boss motorcycles – – gleaming single-wheel choppers designed by Props Master Kasey Hendricks and Technical Director Phil Charwood. Soon gang member Claudio (Scott Brown) falls hard for Don Pedro’s daughter Hero (Emily Whitworth) and that’s when the jealousies, betrayals and backstabbing ruses begin.
Scott Brown as Claudio and Emily Whitworth as Hero. Photo by Koko Lanham.
In this Grease meets West Side Story meets Car 54 Where Are You? fantasy the comic relief is often provided by a hilarious trio of cops led by the Chief of Police, Dogberry, purposely overplayed by Vato Tsikurishvili. The cut-ups give chase to the lawless gang in slapstick routines worthy of Buster Keaton and Laurel and Hardy. Of particular note is Zana Gankhuyag who plays Asian cop, Verges.
Choreographer Irina Tsikurishvili pulls out all the stops, letting the dancing dictate the period. In a departure from the dark side dynamic that infuses many of Synetic’s productions, the cast’s mood and infectious enthusiasm is flat-out joyful. Girls jitterbug in poodle skirts with James Dean bikers clad in leather and tight jeans while the super-fly theme from Peter Gunn takes it into overdrive.
Ben Cunis as Benedick. Irina Tsikurishvili as Beatrice. Photo by Koko Lanham.
It’s a doo-wop mash-up of oldies from back in the day as Sound Editor and Composer Konstantine Lortkipanidze and Music Director Irakli Kavsadze conspire to bring back Chubby Checker with ‘The Twist’, Bobby Darin’s “Dream Lover” and the era of “Beach Blanket Bingo”. Actually a few decades overlap here, but who cares, it’s an idealized backdrop for teenage angst and puppy love. So even if the Chippendales didn’t launch their striptease act till 1979, we don’t mind these hot male dancers doing a bit of bump-and-grind along with a game of strip poker. And though Leonato reminds us a bit of Al Pacino in the 1980’s Scarface and the preacher is a Black Elvis (Wait! Was that James Brown?), it’s fun to play along.
Photo by Koko Lanham.
As expected there is breathtaking dancing and gravity-defying acrobatics from the classically trained Georgian troupe. And although it gets off to a bit of a slow start, after a few minutes in it explodes in full-throttle Synetic-styled mania fueled by dancers that look as if they’ve been just waiting to cut loose and show their cool daddy-o side.
Dig it! It’s like crazy, man, crazy!
Through March 22nd at Synetic Theater, 1800 South Bell Street, Arlington in Crystal City. For tickets and information call 866 811-4111 or visit www.synetictheater.org.
(L to R) Jessica Frances Dukes as Tonya and Bowman Wright as King in King Hedley II – Photo by C. Stanley Photography
Hangin’ in the hood in the 1980’s wasn’t so very different than it is today. In playwright August Wilson’s King Hedley II we find that guns, gambling, alcohol, drugs, teen pregnancy and prison time informed the toughest inner city neighborhoods and still does. It bears mentioning in light of the recent incidents in Ferguson and New York City, that this play reflects a societal atmosphere that is not much changed. The final play of Wilson’s ten-part cycle dives headlong into the seamy side of the African-American experience, setting the play in Pittsburgh’s rough Hill District (it’s still a dangerous place) and creating characters that appear to have stepped out of a Thomas Hart Benton mural or a Shakespearean tragedy.
Bowman Wright plays King Hedley, a man out of luck, out of money and out of opportunities. (Coincidentally Wright played another King – – as in Martin Luther King, Jr. – – in Arena’s earth-shattering production of The Mountaintop favorably reviewed here in April 2013.)
In this concentrated circle of life King is married to Tonya (Jessica Frances Duke), a young woman who aims to escape the ghetto and avoid another unwanted pregnancy through her steady job. Ruby (E. Faye Butler), a feisty yet endearing matriarch who rules the neighborhood and brooks no jive talk, has raised King with high hopes for his post-prison redemption. But Mister (Kenyatta Rogers) King’s crony and partner in crime has other ideas to raise fast cash for their hoped-for video store and hooks King up selling hot refrigerators while making plans for an armed robbery. In a world of dead ends there are few options and many temptations.
(L to R) Michael Anthony Williams as Elmore and E. Faye Butler as Ruby in King Hedley II – Photo by C. Stanley Photography.
When the notorious gambler Elmore (Michael Anthony Williams) returns after serving time for murder, Ruby, who has a past with Elmore, warns, “He talks sugar and gives salt.” Elmore teases her, “You still pretty. You just old.” In this hood there’s plenty of colorful trash talking to go around and enough gallows humor to lighten the load.
Bearing witness is the graybeard Stool Pigeon (André De Shields) – – a bible-spouting newspaper hoarder whose wisdom and experience is lost on the men’s nefarious activities. “God’s got a plan,” he warns them, “and God is a bad mother****er!”
André De Shields as Stool Pigeon in King Hedley II – Photo by C. Stanley Photography.
Director Timothy Douglas, who has directed most of Wilson’s plays, brings a concentrated pathos to the stage, setting the play in the round to reflect the cyclical nature of the characters’ lives and the destructive outcome of their interdependence. Douglas keeps the actors onstage, or perched nearby, at all times, intertwining their lives amid the concrete wreckage of designer Tony Cisek’s sparse set.
Composer and Sound Designer Ryan Rumery evokes the period with soulful strains reminiscent of the era. In fact some of the play’s lines seem grabbed straight from the lyrics of that tumultuous period.
Bowman Wright as King and the cast of King Hedley II at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater – Photo by C. Stanley Photography.
The cast is tight, tight, tight. Wright, undoubtedly one of the country’s pre-eminent actors, delivers another brilliantly intense performance. But so too, do Butler, whose comic timing is dead on, Williams, who creates an Elmore who is as unctuous and riveting as a snake oil salesman, and De Shields whose portrayal of Stool Pigeon is award-worthy.
Tough and gritty, but highly recommended.
Through March 8th at Arena Stage, 1101 Sixth St., SE, Washington, DC 20024. For tickets and information call 202 488-3300 or visit www.ArenaStage.org.
When MGM’s movie Gigi debuted in 1958 legions of little girls were captivated by the City of Lights and its magical allure. I know. I was one of them, listening hours on end to the vinyl soundtrack by Maurice Chevalier, Hermione Gingold, Louis Jourdan and Leslie Caron who transported us to a place we could only dream of.
Raised by her grandmère Mamita a calligraphy teacher and her spotlessly mannered grande dame, Aunt Alicia, the spunky Gigi was a paragon of insouciance. We embraced her joie de vivre, studied our français more diligently and longed for a soigné and très riche gentleman like, Gaston Lachaille, to sweep us off our feet. Indeed postwar Paris was everyone’s dream of the most exciting place in the world to be.
Fifteen years later Gigi was brought to the stage and another generation embraced Alan Jay Lerner’s and Frederick Lowe’s spectacular score and heartwarming tale. And now, 37 years hence, Director Eric Schaeffer has revived the musical in all its glorious splendor. I asked myself if it could have the same impact on a new audience as it did in the late 50’s. Does Gigi’s indelible charm translate to a more technologically absorbed generation of little girls?
Howard McGillin as Honore Lachaille and Victoria Clark as Mamita
To insure it does, Schaeffer has wisely cast Vanesa Hudgens as Gigi. An adorable and multi-talented actress, best known for her role in the wildly popular High School Musical series, Hudgens proves her acting, dancing and singing have the snap, crackle and pop to earn her the lead role against such seasoned Broadway actors and opera-caliber voices as Victoria Clark (Mamita), Dee Hoty (Aunt Alicia), Howard McGillin (Honoré Lachaille) and Steffanie Leigh as Liane d’Exelmans, Gaston’s mistress.
As you may recall Gigi is raised by her grandmother in a modest flat in Paris where the pair play frequent hosts to Gaston (Corey Cott), a dashing and well-to-do man about town who is an old family friend. Her sister Alicia, determined to marry Gigi off to a wealthy gentleman, is consumed with tutoring the girl in the art of feminine allure, including how to tell a real sapphire from a faux. “A girl must think constantly – – unless a man can tell,” she instructs her.
It is La Belle Epoque, Maxim’s is in its heyday, and all of Paris is très gai. Set Designer Derek McLane captures the mood of the era with drop-dead sets evocative of the period. Maxim’s becomes a wonderland of Can Can girls high-kicking amid red velvet banquettes and flower-shaped chandeliers, while Paris is evoked with the massive curved iron girders of the Eiffel Tower and the beach at Trouville, where Gaston sees Gigi in a new light and his Uncle Honoré revives a romance with Mamita, is a splendid seascape.
Steffanie Leigh as Liane of Exelmans, Howard McGillin, Victoria Clark, Vanessa Hudgens, Corey Cott as Gaston Lachaille
From five-time Tony Award-winning Costume Designer Catherine Zuber, we are treated to dreamy chiffon gowns, elegant frock coats, feathered picture hats, glittering jewels, bellmen in carmine britches and so much more extravagance. James Moore conducts the soaring strains of the 13-piece orchestra through the memorable songbook including “Thank Heaven for Little Girls”, “The Night They Invented Champagne” and sixteen other wonderful numbers. Emmy Award-winning Choreographer for the late, yet beloved, TV show Smash, Joshua Bergasse, enlivens the dancing with electrifying Broadway-bound energy.
Highly recommended.
Through February 12th at the Kennedy Center, 2700 F St., NW, Washington, DC. For tickets and information call 202 467-4600 or visit www.Kennedy-Center.org.
