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Jordan Wright
Whisk and Quill
February 2010
 From left Cynthia Tsai with 'Whisper', Neil Livingston with 'Flake' and Stephanie Woods at the Washington Humane Society's Sugar and Champagne - photo credit Jordan Wright It was cheek-to-muzzle last week as hosts Todd and Ellen Gray of DC’s Equinox Restaurant put on the dog for all those who love their four-legged friends. The 9th Annual Sugar and Champagne Affair benefiting the Washington Humane Society at the Ritz-Carlton showcased area chefs, mixologists, and their fans, who showed their sweetest support at the scrumptious event. There were treats for canine guests and their escorts as pastry chefs like Amanda Cook of City Zen and Sou-Wester whipped up dog biscuits and profiteroles. “This is the first batch of dog treats I’ve ever made,” she admitted. “It has peanut butter and other natural ingredients in it. Let me know how your dog likes it!”
 Alexandria's Barkley Square handed out home made dog biscuits with a little help - photo credit Jordan Wright Some chefs were cooking savory delights a la minute, partridge consommé from Brabo Chef Robert Wiedmaier and ravioli over Napa cabbage from Equinox Chef and the evening’s host, Todd Gray, while others had prepared lavish pastries, molecularly-crafted ice cream ‘dots’ and precious marzipan animals gallivanting across grass-lined displays.
Pastry chef extraordinaire David Guas was signing his new cookbook, DamGoodSweet, an homage to his youth in New  Pastry Chef of the Year David Guas signs his new cookbook Dam Good Sweet - photo credit Jordan Wright Orleans and replete with stories of Hubig’s Pies and Café du Monde. He brought dozens of melt-in-your-mouth pecan pralines (the recipe is thankfully in the book). Can you guess who he’ll be rooting for come this Sunday? Who dat!
Don’t fret if you and your pet missed this one. The Fashion for Paws Runway Show will be at the Embassy of Italy on April 10th and the 23rd Annual Bark Ball follows on June 5th where the four-on-the-floor crowd goes black tie. Book your grooming appointments now.
In a little horn-tooting, our little Shih-Tzu, Inspector Foo Foo, (he’ll have his report on your desk in the morning) was selected from over half a million dogs with the distinction of having one of the 10 Wackiest Pet Names and featured on the Today Show. Eat your hearts out Spot and Fido!
See the rest of the list including favorite pet names.
For questions or comments on this story contact [email protected].
Jordan Wright
March 2010
 Korean director/screenwriter Bong Joon-ho at the Ritz Carlton in Georgetown - photo by Jordan Wright Korean-born Bong Joon-ho is one of the most seminal and controversial directors and screenwriters to emerge lately onto the international film scene. With two of the highest-grossing films in his country’s history, “The Host” and “Memories of a Murder”, he has enjoyed critical success at major worldwide film festivals, gaining US notoriety with the release of his latest venture, “Mother”, a grisly murder mystery reflecting deep oedipal themes, that was chosen as a Cannes Official Selection along with such notable directors as Ang Lee, Jane Campion, Pedro Almodovar, Werner Herzog and Terry Gilliam. A brilliant craftsman of the suspense genre his work recalls a number of classic filmmakers, yet he shows a remarkable social consciousness rarely addressed by the old masters.
Jordan Wright – I thought I sensed Hitchcock, Tarantino, Japanese director, Kurosawa, and Roman Polanski in your film, “Mother”. Who would you say are your greatest influences?
Bong Joon-ho – I was always inspired by Hitchcock…ever since I was young. I grew up watching so many of his films. He is a big influence of course. As a matter of fact during pre-production of “Mother” I was thinking of “Psycho” and I couldn’t stop wondering if the mother from “Psycho” had still been alive in the film would a little of that twisted mother/son relationship be similar to that relationship in “Mother”.
JW – There were so many different plots, counter-plots and sub-plots presented in your film. Notwithstanding the complexity of action, in the dizzying array of characters, each one was well developed and presented. Would you talk about the broader themes you conveyed in this film?
BJH – The broader theme of my film was how far would a mother actually go to clear her accused son’s name and the second one was the sexual theme in this film. As you know there is a little girl that is missing and throughout the neighborhood there is a whole history surrounding the disappearance of this girl and the sexual scandals revealed. I really wanted to portray that alongside the sexual hysteria of the crime. I thought of how the characters tried to help each other and I wanted to express how they actually end up hurting one another.
Each simple character in this film is powerless. They do not have money or authority. I wanted to portray how these individuals met and mingled and became tangled up through the very tragic force of their meeting. Case in point, the high school girl who sells her body for money to an older man and also the main character, Crazy JP, who has Down’s Syndrome and who is being accused of this crime. The mother knows all the relationships between these individuals and she is in agony trying to make sense of it. I wanted to show how they wind up hurting each other in a very tragic manner.
JW – The opening scene in which the hit-and-run Mercedes driver was discovered at the local country club seemed to touch on the class system still in place in Korea. How did Korea’s “Old Guard” receive your film?
BJH – There wasn’t really any negative feedback [in regards to that]. I think because my previous movie, “The Host”, was more of a parody on the US and I remember that conservatives were not thrilled with that film. But with “Mother” the core story was not controversial.
JW – In American culture we share many of the same social issues you have in Korea. Why was it important to you to highlight societal themes of malaise, lack of education, disenfranchisement, poverty, and the increase of youth violence?
BJH – Even in the past my films would always try to portray these individuals as outside the scope of government assistance. I hoped that by my focusing in on them I could bring attention to the faults or shortcomings of the system and bring awareness to a greater audience. I address this in my previous film, “The Host”. But in “Mother” I feel it is purely about the mother and her relationship with her son.
JW – Talk about your style of directing. Is it hands-on? Do you vary from the script or use the actor’s emotions in a scene to drive the result?
BJH – In my case I always write my own script and then do a storyboard. My storyboard has many details and I already have fixed the set-up position of the cameras and frames. But I always try to do something new and different on set and when I shoot I always hope to give the actors some kind of freedom.
I love the improvisation of the actors and also in regards to lighting and production design. I try to allow as much freedom and vitality for the actors to bring their characters to life. In my opinion the relationship between the actor and director is much more intimate and personal than that between cinematographer and actor, and you can never predict what is going to happen. I like to get to know the actors personally to discover what they’re really like.
JW – In future how do you see bringing your films to the US?
BJH – I enjoy the stable relationship that I have with Magnolia Pictures even though my films are not yet in wide release. Actually they [Magnolia] have recently purchased the copyrights of my very first film.
In my opinion there is currently a limit of how far foreign films can be widely received and appreciated. Hopefully in due time there will be a greater audience for subtitled foreign films and I really want to be a part, even if it is small, of how viewers in the US receive foreign films.
This interview was conducted, edited and condensed by Jordan Wright. For comments or questions contact [email protected].
Jordan Wright
For Local Kicks and Whisk and Quill
January 2010
 Celery root soup with grated apple and Stilton mousse at AGAINN -photo by Jordan Wright Before the trendy nomenclature could sink its British tentacles across the pond and set down its twiny roots in American soil, owners at the two-month-old AGAINN (pronounced ah-gwen) declared it dead…at least as an artful descriptor for their first foray into the world of concept restaurants.
At AGAINN the food is too serious for Yankee sensibilities to be considered “pub food”. Pubs are imagined as the average Englishman’s other living room, serving up greasy newspaper-wrapped fried cod and chips or Branson pickles and ploughman’s cheese sandwiches with a pull of Guinness. This watering hole’s $500-a-year liquor lockers are too committal for the blue-collar worker and its ultra-modern interiors too retro chic for the typical English family’s neighborhood gathering spot, lest it conjure up Gramps and the kids after Sunday service.
No, no, no, they cried before it could catch on. They would hereafter be referred to as a “European bistro”. A concept much tossed around but surely indicating a more sophisticated approach to dining and drinking.
On a recent visit to AGAINN I had the chance to commend their change of heart. For here was a restaurant with a serious chef guarding a strong philosophy and respect for the land, an extensive, worldwide wine list and a penchant for success.
But don’t come here expecting spring mix salad with a tumble of heirloom tomatoes…at least not in the off-season. Chef Wesley Morton is bucking the naysayers and keeping true to seasonal. This writer was mightily impressed by such gastronomic bravery. Swim against the tide, Morton and you will find you can create your own waves.
I found a dreamy celery root soup topped with grated apple and smooth counterpoint Stilton mousse, freshly opened Blue Point oysters, brine intact with shallot mignonette (the dreaded red sauce thankfully nowhere to be found), corned tongue with puntarelle, a lovely winter green similar to chicory and only in season from November to February. Prawns are served with Marie Rose sauce…a delicious throwback accompaniment recently revived by British Chef Andy Waters at his restaurant Edmunds in Henley.
 Maryland Rockfish with winter vegetables, spinach and preserved lemon in a spicy lobster broth - photo by Jordan Wright Morton, assisted by sous-chef and five-year accomplice, Michael Sindoni, has taken an extraordinary route by channeling top Michelin-starred chefs such as Gordon Ramsay and Mark Aikens and award-winning chef, Tom Hix of London’s Oyster and Chophouse fame. Though he counts his Cajun grandmother as his muse, he has embraced and conquered the new British-inflected cuisine and trumpeted the local, organic, sustainably- and humanely-raised cuisine that is the culinary wave of the future.
Morton breaks down whole cows and pigs from neighboring farms to make his soul-stirring charcuterie – blood sausage, potted pork, “brawn” and black pudding, creating homey relishes like pickled mustard seed, piccalilli and onion marmalade to balance the rich meats. This is “nose-to-tail” eating, as described by British chef Fergus Henderson, and it is sublime.
 Charcuterie board with brawn, potted pork, pork terrine, Allan Bentons country ham, piccalilli, pickled mustard seeds and onion marmalade - Photo by Jordan Wright
Within the confines of Morton’s kitchen the beef is corned, the sausage hand-stuffed and the grass-fed Shenandoah lamb from Blue Rooster Farm, a Tuesday special, fabricated in-house. Even such comfort food as a ham and cider pie incorporates house-made ham with heirloom apples and cabbage.
There are nods to pub food with dishes like shepherd’s pie, locally raised Scottish Highland beef rib-eye and Yorkshire pudding, and bangers and mash. But here is a whole new paradigm.
The wine list at AGAINN gave me pause. The wines by the glass were dispiriting and without the usual wine by the glass pairing menu, I couldn’t find anything remotely palatable. With over a hundred wines by the bottle, I sought advice from trusted friend and professional oenophile, Larry Austin. Austin is a Harvard-educated lawyer, banker and conductor of international wine seminars with an unparalleled passion and knowledge of wines, and who, as a serious collector, vowed to provide me with some insight.
He noted stellar wines including the 2003 Antinori ‘Pian Delle Vigne’ Brunello di Montalcino, a slew of top quality premier cru French Chardonnays, a 2005 Nickel and Nickel ‘Harris’ Merlot, a 2006 Miner Family ‘Stage Coach’ from Oakville and a 2006 Sequoia Grove, Rutherford, from what he referred to as the two best parts of Napa Valley. A 2007 Luca Malbec, Mendoza caught his eye along with a 40 Year Tawny Port by Dow’s. To his tally of favorites he added a 2007 Zinfandel, Biale ‘Black Chicken’ from Napa and a 2008 Cloudy Bay from New Zealand, “whose vineyards revolutionized the world’s thinking on Sauvignon Blanc and put New Zealand on the wine map!” he exclaimed. I lost him after that plumbing the depths of a serious collection of Spain’s exemplary riojas. Wine for thought indeed!
 A sumptuous Banofee Pie with bananas, caramelized milk, graham biscuit, cream and ganache - photo by Jordan Wright Two desserts swept me off my feet. Eton Mess, harkening from the English boarding school of the same name, was made with huckleberries, baked meringue and lemon curd, and sticky toffee pudding, a familiar face in the Anglo-crowd, but this version was complete with a surprisingly delicious stout ice cream.
Later in the week I engaged Morton by phone hoping to explore his approach deeper and mine the chef so driven to expose diners to this new cuisine that he traveled throughout the British Isles for inspiration. I expect exciting things to come from this Texas transplant, whether gastro or Euro, it’s an epicurean direction that will break tradition by reclaiming it.
Jordan Wright – What do you hope sets your food apart from other chefs?
Chef Wesley Morton – I try to keep it simple, precise and refined. I get ideas from the best the new British chefs and adapted them to our local ingredients. I try not to do too much…just the let the quality of the ingredients speak for themselves.
JW – What ingredients are inspiring you lately?
WM – It’s all about the season for me. That’s what drives me. Farmers tell me beet greens are in. But pork and pigs are my favorite vegetable.
JW – You speak of your father’s mother as your muse. How did she influence your cooking?
WM – Every Sunday she cooked for the whole family, she’s a Cajun cook through and through, and there would be up to 25 of us at her house for lunch. We always had cattle, chicken and eggs and fresh vegetables from her garden. I always helped out as a kid.
JW – How did your commitment to organic, non-GMO foods and sustainably- and humanely-raised meats arise?
WM – My uncle back home is an environmental consultant and he has taught me how important it is to support the family farm. It means a great deal to me. I have friends in these communities and have seen how important it is to keep these famers in business, even if the costs are higher, because it affects the local economy and at the end of the day you can taste it in the dish.
JW – What are your plans for the future of AGAINN?
WM – Well, we’re still young. We’ve only been open for two months and we’re just beginning to hit our stride. We will push the envelope slowly, always following the seasons. I’m looking forward to having morels, ramps, asparagus and halibut in the spring.
JW – What local farms are you currently sourcing from?
WM – We are really fortunate to have the farmers we have. Garden Path Farms brings us their pigs, purebred all-natural Red Devon beef, chickens and eggs. We use Blue Rooster Farms for lamb and Fresh Link Co-op, a collection of small family farms, for produce. Our fruits come from Fresh Link and Tuscarora.
This interview is conducted, condensed and edited by Jordan Wright of Whisk and Quill. For questions or queries contact [email protected] or visit www.WhiskandQuill.com
www.againndc.com
Jordan Wright
The Georgetowner/Downtowner
December 2009
 Cabbages and carrots with dill and Granny Smith apple - photo by Jordan Wright Consider the humble cabbage. After a soul-stirring dish of sarmale lovingly prepared by my Romanian acquaintance, Madame Pourchot, I thought long and hard on its cross-cultural worth. Sarmale are simple fare, cabbage rolls, stuffed with ground pork, beef or veal and rice then slow-cooked with tomatoes and herbs. A vegetarian version replaces the meat with carrots, mushrooms and Parmesan and loses nothing in tender sublimity. The pilgrimage-worthy menu began with Hungarian mushroom and potato soup cradling a dollop of sour cream, then latkes, crisp potato pancakes with applesauce on the side, then both the meat and vegetarian versions of sarmale and plenty of hearty oat bread and sweet butter. The meal was crowned with a fluffy rum-infused ginger marmalade bread pudding with sultanas.
Madame Pourchot served this simple yet elegant dinner last week to over thirty guests whose eyes grew wide with amazement, with several pleading in earnest to be adopted by her, before the last fork was set down. Oh, yes, I was one of the potential adoptees!
 Spices frequently used in preparing cabbage - Juniper berries, Hungarian paprika, fennel seed, white pepper and bay leaves - photo by Jordan Wright There is a place for cabbage in nearly every culture. Syria calls cabbage rolls mihshi malfuf and uses lamb, seasoned with allspice, mint and pomegranate molasses. Ukranians call it holubtsi and top it with a cheesy béchamel sauce. In the late 14th C the legendary chef Taillevent convinced King Charles V to eat his first cabbage – a matter of historical significance and recordation. One of France’s most traditional dishes showcases the earthy flavors of choucroute, the hearty Alsatian dish made with pork, duck, sausages and sauerkraut. Scented with bay leaves, caraway seeds and juniper berries and served with grainy pommery or tarragon mustard it is a peasant’s dish fit for a king.
Contemporary cooks can claim a working knowledge of Asian cabbages like bok choy and Napa. But sauerkraut can be traced back to Chinese “sour cabbage”, cabbage soaked in rice wine in order to preserve it for the winter. Think Korean kimchi, with its infinite pickled varieties. Health magazine named it as one of its top five, “World’s Healthiest Foods”.
 Hearty crusted breads - photo by Jordan Wright From Lorenza de’ Medici’s cookbook, “The Renaissance of Italian Cooking” I found cabbage rolls from the Lombardy region called involtini di verza, from Marcella Hazan, salsicce col cavolo nero, sausages with black cabbage, though she translates that to red cabbage for the American cook. In the Tuscan region of Italy cavolo nero, the rare black cabbage or kale, is much preferred. It is a prehistoric wild plant. When the central stalk is harvested mini-black cabbages are produced on it resembling a corsage.
“Please to the Table – A Russian Cookbook” by Anya Von Bremzen and John Welchman describe Moldavian verza cu brinza, green cabbage baked with feta, and kislosladkaya krasnaya kapusta, a dish of sweet and sour red cabbage stewed in cherry vinegar with onions, cloves, apples and nutmeg…the perfect accompaniment to roast goose or pork.
To some the bouquet of cabbage cooking is anything but beckoning. Corned beef and cabbage comes to mind. But to others it harkens the origins of gastronomic civilization when meats were flung onto the fire and vegetables added in communal ritual to fill out the stewpot. Now ethno-botanical research has shed light on Bronze Age lake dwellers around Lake Zurich who ate cabbage.
 German-style sauerkraut with wine - photo by Jordan Wright Cabbage was thought to have originated in the Mediterranean regions where Egyptians raised altars to it, and Greeks and Romans believed it cured every disease from paralysis to pleurisy, including hangovers, a suggestion not to be ignored! In fact there are more myths and mysteries surrounding cabbages dating as far back as the third century B.C. Babies are said to have been found under the spreading leaves and we all know the fairy tale depictions of the stork in mailman’s cap, beak clamped down on a cloth sling wrapped around a newborn, and flying over the proverbial cabbage patch. Do Cabbage Patch Kids ring a bell?
Thomas Jefferson raised twenty-two varieties of cabbage in his magnificent gardens at Monticello. But his pride and joy was the Savoy cabbage. I’ll raise a toast to that! A more noble vegetable can hardly be found and I recommend it to the cook, as that is the preferred variety in Europe.
So enjoy your brassica oleracea capitata any way you prefer. One of my recipes, and the meat version of Madame Pourchot’s, follows.
CABBAGE AND GREEN APPLE SLAW
Chef Jordan Wright
1 ½ pounds of Savoy or green cabbage trimmed and shredded by knife into ¼ inch strips
2 Granny Smith apples, cored and thinly sliced or chopped
1 or more tablespoons of caraway seeds
1 cup of golden raisins or dried cranberries
¼ cup of chopped Italian flat leaf parsley
Sea salt and fresh cracked white pepper to taste
Make a vinaigrette of apple cider vinegar, honey and light olive oil or canola and a bit of lemon juice. Pour over slaw and refrigerate for an hour. Toss with parsley and serve cold with pork, duck, sausages or turkey.
MADAME POURCHOT’S SARMALE
1 large jar of pickled cabbage leaves * or one large head of cabbage plus one package of sauerkraut (half to place on the bottom of the pot and half over the top of the rolls)
1 pound each of ground pork, beef and veal from the farmers market
1 large onion, chopped
4 or more garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons each of thyme, oregano and parsley (less if using dried)
1 cup of rice, rinsed
2 tablespoons of Celtic salt
2 tablespoons of fresh cracked black pepper
1 large 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes or, in summer, three cups of fresh chopped tomatoes, peel and all
* Pickled cabbage leaves are sold at the Cosmopolitan Grill on Route 1 south of Old Town Alexandria or the Russian Gourmet in Reston, Rockville, McLean and Alexandria.
Mix these ingredients together for the first stage.
Stuff into pickled cabbage leaves (or you can make your own). Take about a tablespoon of the mixture and place it into the cabbage leaf. Wrap the leaf around the filling, turning in the sides as you roll up, and place tightly together into a deep pot that has been prepared with oil and a layer of shredded cabbage and chopped bacon or ham. Line them up around the pot in layers. When you are done cover with additional shredded cabbage or sauerkraut (the sourer the better) and ½ cup of oil and bacon or ham and peppercorns, oregano and thyme. Cover and boil for two hours over low to medium heat.
Taste one and, if the rice is done, add the tomatoes and simmer over low heat, or in the oven without a lid, until the top caramelizes. Serve with sour cream or plain, thick yogurt.
Sarmale are the traditional dish for all holidays, especially Christmas. According to Madame Pourchot, the smaller the sarma the more skilled you are as a cook! “Poftat buna!” she says, Romanian for bon appetit!
For questions, comments or additional recipes contact [email protected] or visit www.WhiskandQuill.com.
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.
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