A Few Things Recently Observed

As the world has melted, and then flooded last weekend, I've gotten out again more in the last month or so. Here are a few things I've partaken in:

Andy Warhol - Good for the Jews? by Josh Kornbluth @ Theater J - Thanks to Jason I got a free ticket to see this. Certainly on paper it sounded good - neurotic Jew discusses his mixed-feelings about a series of portraits of prominent Jews. But Kornbluth, while getting in some good zingers and some fine observations doesn't have the chutzpah to pull a great show from just this base of observation. As he explains his reason for taking the commission - he wanted to buy a house so his son could have a dog - you can feel a bit of the air escaping the auditorium.

Turner to Cézanne: Masterpieces from the Davies Collection, National Museum Wales @ The Corcoran - This is not a bad show. Let me emphasize that. But in a town where it's tough to get folks into free museums, it's a touch sell for $10, and feels more like a stop gap. You'll see a number of nice works from folks you've heard of, but after heavy hitters like their Modernism exhibit, this is not a must see.

Georgia O'Keeffe: Abstraction @ The Phillips - Now this is more of a big deal. When I went on the opening weekend there was literally a line out the door to get tickets, and for good reason. These are great, bright colorful works. O'Keeffe's work didn't quite hold it's own in the joint show with Ansel Adams at the SAAM last year. But on it's own these piece testify to her greatness.

Sandre Lerche @ Rock and Roll Hotel - I didn't quite know what I would get with Lerche, besides the fact that I'd be in the company of two fellow Gentlemen, which is always a pleasure. His last album Heartbeat Radio wasn't bad, but it just didn't have the bite of Phantom Punch, the disc that really sold me on his work. So the bar was pretty low, and he leaped over it. Lerche solo is better than many a full band, and many of the songs worked as well, if not better in the stripped down context.

Yacht @ Rock and Roll Hotel - Yacht was once one man, then a man and woman, and then five people, and then four people (one of the five people got a triple whammy of spinal meningitis, mono and strep throat at the same time and had to miss the tour). But the important thing is, Yacht are a good time. Originally an odd little techno act, they're now closer to the sing/shout along jams LCD Soundsystem, which makes sense as they have recent joined DFA, James Murphy of LCD's label. Basically, there was singing, there was dancing, there was talk of the afterlife, there were tuxedos, and a great time was had by all.

Fourtet - There is Love in You - This is technically Fourtet aka Kieran Hebden's first album in five years, but in that time he's record four challenging improvised albums with Steve Reid, an album with his own band Fridge and a few compilations. So although hasn't gone anyway, this new album is still a complete breath of fresh air. Fourtet has often been on the more avant side of the electronic music, But on There is Love in You the melodies are huge, epic, Boards of Canada sized. He may go back to the weird side after this, but for now, this is the soundtrack to the springtime.

Who's in Your Full Circle

On Saturday, at the kind invitation of Jason, I attended to the Who's In Your Circle even at Woolly Mammoth - which consisted of a performance of the play Full Circle and a multi-room discussion on the nature of Woolly Mammoth's mission, purpose, art as part of the institutions 30th anniversary.

I won't talk too much about the show except to say that it was really wonderful to see a theater company try to user all of their space from the lobby to the stage of the main theater in amusing and unexpected ways. I said to Jason afterward that although it worked well in this context, it would have been an amazing first show in the Woolly Mammoth space.

The discussions, afterward were really got me thinking (as I'm sure was intended). The main discussion that Jason and I sat in was on the nature of the audience. To quote the question: "Who should our [ie Woolly's] audience be, how does their identity impact our work, and what would it take to get them in the door." The focus of the dialogue was more on the first point of the question, especially because Woolly and DC are unique entities.

Many of the folks began by suggesting that Woolly's audience should better represent the city, demographically, and trumpeted the idea of outreach. But it's not quite that simple. Should there be more theater performances for young folks or different communities? Yes, absolutely. Is it Woolly's place to do all of this outreach? For the most part, probably not. Woolly is not an institution that is about easy art, their slogan is "Defy Convention". In that sense it's more like the Velvet Lounge than Nissan Pavilion.

Often, but not always, good art is about challenging the audience and Woolly unambiguously focuses on that challenging art. But are there still ways for an institution to reach out and get people crossing boundaries? How about events that bridge different art forms. Could you do a series of one-acts along with a few bands in between? Sure. Or you could bridge the theater crowd. How about selling discount tickets that have a show at Woolly and a show at Shakespeare Theater? Get the older crowd seeing a Woolly show and the comparatively young crowd at Shakespeare.

One really important point from the discussion came when one participant admitted that honestly she doesn't go to many shows at Woolly shows. Not every theater, or concert, or book, or art gallery is for everyone, and no amount of outreach will get a "perfect" audience. I don't think in a million years theater and classical music will skew as young as rock concerts and movies, but if you work hard and promote right you can get attention and the adventurous people will find you. The Wordless Music Series is the best example I have in music, a half-classical half contemporary series of shows that, while skewing rock, is still getting the indie kids to see string quartets.

Thriller on Broadway: Bad Idea

Remember this cartoon?



I know right!!! Totally brings me back too. Well this new idea, as approved by the woman masquerading as Michael Jackson, reminds me of that cartoon.

Jacko has approved the rights for a group to make his Thriller video into a musical for the stage.

This is by no means the first time a major music star will take their iconic songs to the world of theater - but I still get the feeling this could be an extra special affair. Oh sure, Billy Joel was plagued by depression, but his songs helped make Movin' Out a success. Elton John's just kind of crazy, but he's done the music for a variety of Broadway shows including Billy Elliot and The Lion King. In fact, many musicals come from pop artists; just off the top of my head, I know of Franki Valli and the Four Seasons re-imagined in Jersey Boys, and heck, the ABBA musical Mamma Mia!

But Michael Jackson's Thriller - that just seems different, and knowing he's involved in the project makes it all the more fascinating. This might not just be bad, this could be epically bad.

Even if you disagree, you have to admit it can't be any more amazing than this, which I think we can agree should be filed under Good Idea:



The kicker is that Michael Jackson may not actually have all the rights to his REAL Thriller video. And now he's being sued. I think I'm disappointed, because I secretly want this to happen... out of morbid curiosity.

MORE INFO:
NYTIMES
PITCHFORK
POPEATER

Reflection - Blackbird

I just got back from seeing Blackbird at Studio Theater and it was absolutely incredible, one of the single best written, well acted, and most powerful performances I have ever seen. It's an incredible shame that today was the last performance of this particular production because I would unequivocally reccomend it. The performances by area vet Jerry Whiddon and hopefully up and coming New Yorker Lisa Joyce were phenomenal, the direction under David Muse was spot on, and David Harrower's script is probably the one I have had the most visceral reaction to since i first saw Patrick Marber's Closer.

There's a reason for that.

Both of those plays are undeniably and unashamedly modern. We're conditioned so often in theater and film and television, and everything, to expect a watered down version of conflict, of language. Not violence, we see that in all it's gruesome and bloody detail. But words, incredibly passionate vile and dirty words are so rarely used to their full effect that actually hearing them passionately and gloriously uttered in unflinching truth is like a call to arms. So when I heard a young woman honestly and provokingly demand of her past abuser and hopeful would be future lover whether he still masterbated over the image of her twelve year old body, it brought me back in all the best ways to Larry demanding from Anna "What does it taste like?" only to hear "It tastes like you but sweeter."

It's that kind of play.

It's the kind of play that asks incredibly difficult questions without offering any concrete answers and still feels satisfying. It's the kind of play that is utterly in your face and at the same time covers all it's bases my presenting a multi-faceted look at characters so absolutely real that their pain and needs are open like wounds. It's the kind of play that requires actors willing to bare a kind of honesty that the average human being would run crying from in our regular lives.

It's no secret that Jerry Whiddon is like a mentor to me. Working with him on The Crucible at UMD was a revelation to me, and directly led to me pursuing directing as a passion and career. Since then I've had the opportunity to work with and learn from him several times as both an actor and assistant, and am blessed to have several more projects lined up. In the three or four years I've known him I've never seen him act. I was told by my boss that however good a director is (and he's great, the former artistic director of Round House for 20 years) he was ten times the actor he is a director. Not a knock on his directing, just a clarification on just how good he is.
I got to see that tonight.

Lisa Joyce was utterly phenomenal. Her character has a monologue midawy through the play that is a game changing event, and I was with it every single second, every single word. We've been talking a lot on this blog about women who are the victim's of abuse. While we;ve been focusing on domestic violence, this wa still an incredibly impactful time for me to see this show. Too often victims become just that - victims. Lessons, stories, statistics - but what they really are are PEOPLE. This was a person onstage - carrying the weight of abuse, and even more frightening and amazing and sad the weight of love despite it.

The basic premise of Blackbird is that a young woman has finally tracked down the man who slept with her when she was twelve. But it's so much more than that, and so much more complicated. There are moments of utter revulsion, and amazingly moments where the two of them kissing and or almost fucking on the floor doesn't only seem normal, but what you WANT to happen, even when you absolutely don't.
It's people being real people, as utterly fucked as that always turns out to be.

And that language. Brutal, beautiful, harsh, and poetic.
It's the kind of work I aspire one day to write, and the kind of theater I want to create.

Cultural Sabaticals

Some things have become so ingrained in our culture that they've become multimedia muzak. Take for example Shakespeare, The Simpsons and The Beatles. I love all of these things, but the level of saturation for each of these is such that we need a break. I've had this idea for a while of a cultural sabbatical. Bill Drummond the greatest conceptual artist in the history of popular music (I'm dead serious) had proposed something similar with No Music Day, but this would be for a year.

Imagine a year without Midsummer Nights Dream, or Simpsons references or Hey Jude. Shakespeare in the Park and Shakespeare Theatre would have to change things up for a year, Michael Jackson would stop licensing the Beatles to bad commercials for a year. I think it would be quite refreshing and we would appreciate all of these things that much more when the year came to a close. Then the next year we could have a Rolling Stones break, or Prince, or Madonna.

Peter Pan is Actually Very Sketchy

Let's ignore the blatant cultural insensitivity towards the Native American nations (one of the songs is called "ugah wuguh wig-wam." Found in the themes of this children's classic are such gems as;

Kidnapping: Both at the end and the beginning of the play, Peter Pan sneaks into a private home and makes off with children. The pirates also kidnap a large group of children with intent to make them walk the plank. However, as readers of the blog know, that was historically inaccurate. They would have tied them to a cannon and whipped them.

Murder: The Indians and Pirates make a large show of running around fighting and scaring each other off, all in good fun. Then at the end of the play, Peter begins actually murdering the pirates. This is response to the pirates aforementioned premeditated murder of all the small children. Captain Hook is forced into death by being eaten.

Really Creepy Sexual Undertones: I don't really even need to get into this one. Just think about it as an adult - Wendy comes to Neverland to be the Lost Boy's "mother," and spends the whole time in a nightdress around a man she's obviously attracted to, whom also regards her as his "mother." Let's move on.

Drug Use: Peter and Tiger Lily smokum peace pipe. 'Nuff said.

Wait, let's take a deeper look here. Don't stop at Peter Pan, let's examine some of the other residents of Fabletown:

Snow White: Poisoning, strangulation, murder, attempted murder, midget porn
Cinderella: Self-mutilation, slavery
Jack & The Beanstalk: Forced entry, burglary, murder
Little Red Riding Hood: Little old lady eaten to death, cruelty to animals
Puss n' Boots: Rampant lying
Goldilocks: Forced entry, burglary, terrible cooking
The Pied Piper of Hamelin: Kidnapping, cruelty to animals, mass infanticide
The Hunchback of Notre Dame: Kidnapping, murder, suicide, blasphemy
Rapunzel: Unlawful imprisonment
Sleeping Beauty: Unwarranted insult towards the narcoleptic community

It's a good thing kids don't read anymore.