Lanford Wilson's intimate examination of marriage in suburbia, 1970's Serenading Louie is building a reputation as a neglected masterpiece. Steven Scott Mazzola directs. To Aug. 21. American Century Theater's Gunston Theater II, 2700 S. Lang St. Arlington. Tickets are $26 to $32. Call 703-998-4555 or visit americancentury.org.
"Gods of Angkor: Bronzes from the National Museum of Cambodia" presents the fascinating story of bronze sculpture and casting in Cambodia through 36 works. Through Jan. 23, 2011. At the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, 1050 Independence Ave. SW. Call 202-633-4800 or visit asia.si.edu.
The Renwick Gallery presents "The Art of Gaman: Arts and Crafts from the Japanese American Internment Camps, 1942-1946." The exhibit features more than 120 art objects, most on loan from former internees or their families, and presents historical context through archival photographs, artifacts and documentary films related to the internment experience. Through Jan. 30, 2011. Renwick Gallery's Grand Salon, 1661 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Free. Call 202-633-1000 or visit americanart.si.edu/renwick.
Though lesbian Canadian pop-rockers Tegan & Sara are on some dates of the Lilith Fair, they won't be on the stop at Merriweather Post Pavilion next week. Instead, they stop at the venue a few days earlier as part of the Honda Civic Tour. Paramore, an emo-pop band from Tennessee, is the multi-act concert headliner. Saturday, July 31. Gates at 5 p.m. Merriweather Post Pavilion, 10475 Little Patuxent Parkway, Columbia, Md. Tickets are $21 for lawn, $36 for pavillion. Call 800-551-SEAT or visit ticketmaster.com.
Tickets go on sale today at noon, for Waters's annual show at the Birchmere, which always sells out well in advance. And no wonder. Who better to celebrate Christmas with than the gay filmmaker who simply adores trash and kitsch and Xmas silliness? As Waters told Metro Weekly before last year's performance: "The show covers every possible thing about bad behavior at Christmas parties, what I want for Christmas, what I'm going to give you for Christmas, how to deal with Christmas. Is Christmas sexy? Is Christmas a gay holiday?" It's scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 16, at 7:30 p.m. The Birchmere, 3701 Mt. Vernon Ave., Alexandria. Tickets are $45. Call 703-549-7500 or visit birchmere.com.
John Waters photographed in his home, Dec. 2009, by Todd Franson.
The second annual edition of this touring festival hits D.C. starting today, Friday, July 30. Six Latino-themed films will screen over the next week: the Mexican drama The Kid: Chamaco co-starring Martin Sheen; the Mexican thriller Backyard co-starring Jimmy Smits; the American Chasing 3000, the true story of two brothers who drive cross-country to see their hero, baseball great Roberto Clemente; the Brazilian comedy Diva / In Therapy, about a mother having a mid-life crisis; the biopic Tropico de Sangre, about the Mirabel sisters, who were assassinated while fighting to topple a Dominican dictator; and the Spanish/Mexican thriller Solo Quiero Caminar, about violent Mexican drug traffickers and co-starring Diego Luna and Victoria Abril. Various times to Thursday, Aug. 5. Landmark's E Street Cinema, 555 11th St. NW. Call 202-452-7672 or visit landmarktheatres.com.
Quique Avilés's celebration of the Salvadoran presence in D.C., Los Treinta: Three Decades of A Salvadoran Immigrant in the Nation's Capital is a performance piece derived from a research project that teased out real-life stories, anecdotes and concerns of Salvadorans in the Washington region. Part of GALA Theatre's ArteAmérica Series, the play will be further developed by the DC Arts Center for a longer run in the fall. Friday, July 30, and Saturday, July 31, at 8 p.m. GALA Theatre at Tivoli Square, 3333 14th St. NW. Tickets are $10. Call 202-234-7174 or visit galatheatre.org.
Another month, another iteration of State Theatre's two-night party, billed as D.C.'s "biggest '80s Retro Dance Party," where guilty-pleasure hits from now nearly three decades ago are given the full tribute. Many in the crowd come dressed to the nine: shellacked big hair, lacy ankle socks, stirrup pants, parachute pants or anything else big in the '80s. Friday, July 30, and Saturday, July 31, at 9 p.m. The State Theatre, 220 N. Washington St., Falls Church. Tickets are $17. Call 703-237-0300 or visit thestatetheatre.com.
This spacey program revolves around Gustave Holst's masterpiece The Planets with HD images from a suite of seven short films, with images from NASA, intended to accompany live performances of the piece. Emil de Cou conducts the NSO, which will also perform music from films including WALL*E, Avatar, 2001: A Space Odyssey and E.T. Saturday, July 31, at 8:30 p.m. Wolf Trap, 1645 Trap Rd., Vienna. Tickets are $20 to $52. Call 703-255-1900 or visit wolf-trap.org.
The Queen of Soul Aretha Franklinreturns to Wolf Trap to perform from her rich repertoire and the first time since she performed at the inauguration of President Barack Obama. What crazy hat will she wear this time out? Thursday, July 29, at 8 p.m. Wolf Trap, 1645 Trap Rd., Vienna. Tickets are $25 to $45. Call 703-255-1900 or visit wolf-trap.org.
In The Facebook Effect: The Inside Story of the Company That Is Connecting the World, David Kirkpatrick, a senior tech writer at Fortune magazine, presents an authorized biography of the Internet phenomenon that started in a Harvard dorm. The book includes questions of privacy. Tuesday, July 27, at 7 p.m. Politics and Prose, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW. Call 202-364-1919 or visit politics-prose.com.
The annual Screen on the Green series has returned to the National Mall for a four-week run. Next up is 12 Angry Men, the 1957 classic starring Henry Fonda as a juror trying to convince his colleagues to reconsider their guilty votes for a man on death row. Co-starring Lee J. Cobb, John Fieldler (best known perhaps as the voice of Winnie the Pooh), and Jack Klugman. Directed by the legendary Sidney Lumet. Monday, July 26, at sunset (around 8:30 p.m.). National Mall, between Fourth and Seventh Streets NW. Free. Call 877-262-5866.
Lindsay Reishman Real Estate is hosting several monthly free moving viewings in Stead Park. Up next is Hitch, a 2005 rom-com starring Will Smith as a professional matchmaker and Kevin James as a single man he's trying to help. Tuesday, July 27, at 9 p.m. Stead Park Field, 1625 P St. NW. Free. Call 202-491-1275 or visit reishmanrealestate.com.
This series celebrates (mostly) camp classics. Thursday, July 29, brings 1960's Where The Boys Are, about sex and spring break in Ft. Lauderdale. All films are screened with food and drinks to add to the festivities. Thursday nights at 8 p.m. through Sept. 2, Atlas Performing Arts Center's Sprenger Theatre, 1333 H St. NE. Tickets are $6 each. Call 202-399-7993 or visit atlasarts.org for a full schedule.
The Crowded House that Neil Finn built is responsible for several indelible pop hits in the '80s ("Don't Dream It's Over," "Distant Sun," "Weather With You"). The band reunited in 2006, recently released a new album, Intriguer, and on Monday will make their debut on the Wolf Trap stage. Monday, July 26, at 8 p.m. Wolf Trap, 1645 Trap Rd., Vienna. Tickets are $25 to $40. Call 703-255-1900 or visit wolf-trap.org.
Loftily touted as "the only successful Arab/Jew partnership since the dawn of human culture," Chromeo, the Montreal-based duo of P-Thugg and Dave 1 is fresh off performing a buzzed-about set with Daryl Hall (all Hall, no Oates) at the Bonnaroo Festival. Support comes from disco-poppers Holy Ghost, fresh off supporting LCD Soundsystem on tour. Monday, July 26. Doors at 7 p.m. Nightclub 9:30, 815 V St. NW. Tickets are $25. Call 202-265-0930 or visit 930.com.
One of dance/electronica's fastest-rising stars -- and also one of its most baffling -- Canada's Joel Zimmerman only started spinning and recording as DeadMau5 ("dead mouse") less than five years ago, and just released his mostly instrumental debut artist album a year ago. But he already ranks in the upper tier in international DJ polls and has garnered several industry awards. He's also become something of a staple at the 9:30 Club, returning for his third set of gigs in just over a year. He's supporting his sophomore set, For Lack Of A Better Name, which is slightly less spare and blippy than the debut. Thursday, July 29, is the only night of three that is not already sold out. Doors at 7 p.m. Nightclub 9:30, 815 V St. NW. Tickets are $40. Call 202-265-0930 or visit 930.com.
Perched on the border of the Adams Morgan and Dupont Circle neighborhoods, Eric Hirshfield's 18th & U Duplex Diner has long served as a lively and casual gathering spot for D.C.'s gay movers and shakers. You might well call it the Gay Palm. The dining room is as social as the bar, with much table hopping and hobnobbing. The food is classic American comfort -- a generous meatloaf, a spectacular twist on the mac and cheese, and unbeatable pork chops -- all adding to the at-home-with-friends feel. The restaurant is celebrating its 12th anniversary tonight at 10 p.m. Located at 2004 18th Street NW. Call 202-265-9599 or visit duplexdiner.com
In-Flight Theater presents the second annual Baltimore Aerial Festival in "Graffiti Alley," which is dedicated to the vibrant art of urban graffiti. Twenty aerial artists from Baltimore and D.C., including Trixie Little and the Evil Hate Monkey, Arachne Aerial Arts and more, offer cutting-edge, site-specific performances. Saturday, July 24, at 8 p.m. Also Sunday, July 25, at 1 p.m. Graffiti Alley behind Load of Fun, 120 North Ave. Ticktes are $20. Visit in-flighttheater.com.
"Electro Shutdown & The Pea" is a dance piece set within a nightclub and begins upon your arrival. Entering the theater, you will find the familiar Dance Place stage transformed into a D.C. nightclub called "The Pea." The Next Reflex Dance Collective's dancers represent an array of clubgoers and play out various nightclub scenarios, from the funny and absurd to the romantic and frenetic. The big question is: Will there be flaggers? The evening closes with a live musical performance by Electro Shutdown and an open dance floor, where you can show off your own moves. Saturday, July 24, at 8 p.m., and Sunday, July 25, at 7 p.m. Dance Place, 3225 Eighth St. NE. Tickets are $22. Call 202-269-1600 or visit danceplace.org.
Randall Craig Fleischer leads the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Broadway performers Doug LaBrecque (Show Boat) and Patricia Phillips (The Phantom of the Opera) in a program on the lawn at Baltimore's Oregon Ridge Park of popular Broadway melodies spanning Gershwin ("Fascinating Rhythm") to Bernstein (Overtures to Candide and West Side Story), Porter ("Begin the Beguine") to Webber ("Music of the Night"). The evening, the final program in the BSO season, culminates in a fireworks display. Tonight, Saturday, July 24, at 8 p.m. (Rain date Sunday, July 25.) Attendees are invited to come early for lawn partying and picnicking. Oregon Ridge Park, 13555 Beaver Dam Rd. Cockeysville, Md. Tickets are $18.
Reading Silk: A Living Sculpture features an installation with hundreds of small, silk leaf-shaped forms by live silkworms with the collaborative efforts of local students and teachers, led by artist Elsabe Dixon. On display through July 30. Torpedo Factory Art Center, 105 N. Union St. Alexandria. Free. Call 703-838-4565 or visit torpedofactory.org.
Coinciding with the artist's 80th birthday, Robert Ryman: Variations & Improvisations presents Ryman's ongoing examination of painting, including the effects of light and shadow and the painting's relation to surrounding space. Through Sept. 12. The Phillips Collection, 1600 21st St. NW. Call 202-387-2151 or visit phillipscollection.org.
The top 10 finalists from the ninth season of the hit reality show American Idolcelebrate their fame while it lasts, led by winner Lee DeWyze and runner-up Crystal Bowersox. Friday, July 23, at 7:30 p.m. Jiffy Lube Live, 7800 Cellar Door Dr., Bristow. Tickets are $32 to $76.50. Call 703-754-6400 or visit livenation.com.
Patterson Hood creates rock albums with friends under the band name Drive-By Truckers. The albums are fashioned like low-budget films, filled with carefully told, fiercely rendered short subjects and cinematic songs. Friday, July 23. Doors at 8 p.m. Nightclub 9:30, 815 V St. NW. Tickets are $30. Call 202-265-0930 or visit 930.com.
The British pop band Level 42, who scored hits in the '80s with "Something About You," "Lessons in Love" and "Running in the Family" are touring to celebrate 30 years of music-making. Thursday, July 22, at 7:30 p.m. The Birchmere, 3701 Mt. Vernon Ave., Alexandria. Tickets are $49.50. Call 703-549-7500 or visit birchmere.com.
This is the first American retrospective of the influential French artist Yves Klein, whose talents span from composing to photo-conceptualizing to performance art to judo mastering. On display through Sept. 12. Hirshhorn Museum, Independence Ave. and Seventh St. SW. Call 202-633-1000 or visit hirshhorn.si.edu.
Art by the Yard: Women Design Mid-Century Britain focuses on three women designers pivotal in transforming Britain from a country devastated by World War II into an optimistic consumer society: Lucienne Day, Jacqueline Groag and Marian Mahler. On display through Sept. 12. The Textile Museum, 2320 S St. NW. Suggested donation of $5. Call 202-667-0441 or visit The Textile Museum.
Melissa Etheridge is touring in support of her 10th studio album, Fearless Love. The newly separated famous lesbian mother of four and cancer survivor told Metro Weekly last month that her focus in writing and singing and performing these days is on fearless love. "If you are not choosing to love, you are choosing fear," she said, laughing, "And then [I] try to make it entertaining. That's the trip I'm on." Tuesday, July 20, at 7:30 p.m. Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda. Tickets are $37 to $102. Call 301-581-5100 or visit strathmore.org.
Read Will O'Bryan's feature interview with Melissa Etheridge here.
The Paul Taylor Dance Company celebrates its namesake's 80th birthday with a D.C. premiere of a new Wolf Trap co-commissioned work. Taylor's choreography, once deemed experimental and avant-garde, quickly became the gold standard of modern dance. Tuesday, July 20, at 8:30 p.m. Wolf Trap, 1645 Trap Rd., Vienna. Tickets are $10 to $38. Call 703-255-1900 or visit wolf-trap.org.
The Avalon Theatre and Kino International present the Washington-area release of the new restoration of Fritz Lang's remarkable 1927 science fiction epic Metropolis, now with 25 minutes of lost footage and the original Gottfried Huppertz score. As you watch the trailer below, keep in mind, these were the days long before CGI. Pretty astonishing stuff. Limited engagement. Avalon Theatre, 5612 Connecticut Ave. NW. Tickets are $10.50. Call 202-966-6000 or visit theavalon.org.
A mix of fact and fiction, theology and philosophy, David Ives's New Jerusalem: The Interrogation of Baruch De Spinoza at Talmud Torah Congregation: Amsterdam, July 27, 1656 is an immensely complex exploration of everything from the nature of God to the existence of the human soul. The play, about Jewish philosopher Spinoza, tumbles forward, moved by a complicated clockwork of interlocking arguments and grand debates discussed with great intensity. Theater J's wonderful production is also fantastically entertaining. To July 25. The Aaron & Cecile Goldman Theater, Washington, D.C.'s Jewish Community Center, 1529 16th St. NW. Tickets are $30 to $55. Call 800-494-TIXS or visit boxofficetickets.com.
Read Tom Avila's full review here.
The annual Screen on the Green series has returned to the National Mall for a four-week run. Next up, The Goodbye Girl, the 1977 original, not the recent wan remake. The film won Richard Dreyfuss an Oscar for his endearing turn as Elliot, a struggling New York actor who finds himself saddled with two unwanted roommates. Co-starring Marsha Mason. Written by Neil Simon and directed by Herbert Ross (Steel Magnolias, Funny Lady). Monday, July 19, at sunset (around 8:30 p.m.). Nationall Mall, between Fourth and Seventh Streets NW. Free. Call 877-262-5866.
Informed Design expounds on the role of art objects within the context of interior design and architecture. The exhibition features a sampling of the gallery's new corporate art consulting branch as well as two architectural design vignettes by Ernesto Santalla and David Jameson. On display through Aug. 1. Long View Gallery, 1234 Ninth St. NW. Call 202-232-4788 or visit longviewgallery.com.
The National Players, America's longest-running touring theater company, presents Forever Plaid for its annual summer musical, a deliciously goofy story of a classic '50s all-male singing group who return from "the Great Beyond" to perform the show they never got to when they were alive. To Aug. 1. Olney Theatre Center, 2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Road, Olney, Md. Tickets are $26. Call 301-924-3400 or visit olneytheatre.org.
To make the cleverly titled documentary Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, filmmakers Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg followed the pioneering female comedian Joan Rivers during 2008, the year she turned 75, a year that started low and ended high. Over the course of the film, Stern and Sundberg strip away the layers that shroud Rivers in her outlandish, loud, brassy persona. Though their approach borders on idolatry, Stern and Sundberg take Rivers off the stage and reintroduce her to the people. And she's someone worth getting to know. Landmark's E Street Cinema, 555 11th St. NW. Call 202-452-7672 or visit landmarktheatres.com.
Read Tim Plant's full review here.
If you can get to New York on Wednesday, July 21, you'll be rewarded with much laughter. Correspondents and friends of The Daily Show perform stand-up at the fourth annual free comedy program of New York's Central Park SummerStage. Lewis Black hosts and the show's executive producer/writer Rory Albanese performs along with John Oliver, Rob Riggle and others. Wednesday, July 21, at 8 p.m. Central Park's Rumsey Playfield, New York, NY. Free. Call 212-360-2777 or visit summerstage.org.
The National Theatre focuses its Summer Cinema 2010 on the films of Cary Grant, including the 1940 screwball romantic comedy His Girl Friday, by the legendary director Howard Hawks. Grant stars as a conniving newspaper editor trying to keep his ace reporter and ex-wife, played by Rosalind Russell, from quitting and getting re-married. The whipsnap banter between the two stars is truly movie magic from a golden age of cinema long past. Monday, July 19, at 6:30 p.m. National Theatre, 1321 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Tickets are free, and distributed 30 minutes prior to screening. Call 202-628-6161 or visit nationaltheatre.org.
Signature Theatre's Target Open House, an annual all-day extravaganza of free performances, classes, demonstrations and exhibits returns. This year's activities include a Broadway-style "Signature Idol" contest to be judged by Signature's Eric Schaeffer and Washington Post theater critic Peter Marks as well as TLC's What Not to Wear co-host Clinton Kelly, who will also emcee the day's finale Broadway Concert. Also on tap is a performance by Rick Hammerly of his favorite songs from Hedwig & The Angry Inch. Saturday, July 17, from noon to 10 p.m. Signature Theatre, 4200 Campbell Ave., Arlington. Tickets are free. Call 703-820-9771 or visit signature-theatre.org.
If you're a first-time visitor to the Stonewall Inn, then the documentary Stonewall Uprising by Kate Davis and David Heilbroner will be an adequate Gay History 101. However, if you've had too many rounds already, it all seems like a lot of historical backwash. Based on a book by David Carter, the film captures firsthand accounts of what transpired on June 28, 1969 when police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in Greenwich Village. Unfortunately, these stories are relegated to the final third of the film. The first hour is spent setting the scene, but Davis and Heilbroner repeatedly skim the surface in an effort to cover a lot of ground. A reflection of the LGBT movement in recent years, analogies to the civil rights movement abound during the narratives, but old news footage and anti-gay propaganda films are the most interesting part of the story. As stated at the beginning of the film, very few images exist from the actual riots, and you'll be very familiar with these shots by the end. While Stonewall remains a turning point for the LGBT movement, Stonewall Uprising doesn't represent a turning point for our insights into that fateful weekend. TWO STARS. Now playing at the Landmark E Street Cinemas, 555 11th St. NW. Call 202-452-7672 or visit landmarktheatres.com.
Reviewed by Tim Plant.
Now in its fifth year, this festival of offbeat theater, music and art is bigger than ever, with 140 performing arts groups and 800 individual performances over 18 days. Approximately 70 percent of the revenue from ticket sales goes to performing arts groups in the Fringe Festival. This year's highlights include Queer In The U.S.A., Manuel Simons's play about a gay teenager obsessed with Bruce Springsteen, who travels to New York to become his own idol; Irrelevant Acts of Entertainment, a full-length, lip-synched theatrical show from Special Agent Galactica (a.k.a. Ganymede Arts' Jeffrey Johnson); Chlamydia dell'Arte: A Sex-Ed Burlesque, in which two bawdy broads from Philadelphia teach about safe sex, masturbation, sexual orientation and transsexual grandmothers through striptease, fan dancing and more; Finn McCool, the Irish legend as retold by Dizzy Miss Lizzie's Roadside Revue; and Super Claudio Bros., a musical starring some of D.C.'s leading actors, including Sam Ludwig ([title of show]), Stephen Gregory Smith (High Fidelity), Lauren Williams (Into the Woods) and Chris Sizemore (Sweeney Todd). The festival runs through July 25. Various venues in downtown D.C. but based at Fort Fringe, 607 New York Ave. NW. Tickets are $15 for each show, plus a one-time purchase of a $5 Fringe button. Call 866-811-4111 or visit capitalfringe.org for full schedule and tickets.
British pop superstar Sting offers a "Symphonicity Tour," with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, recreating many of his most popular songs, both as lead singer of new-wave band The Police and as a solo pop hitmaker. Sunday, July 11, at 8 p.m. Jiffy Lube Live, 7800 Cellar Door Drive, Bristow, Va. Tickets are $27 to $182. Call 703-754-6400 or visit livenation.com.
The popular ABBA jukebox musical Mamma Mia! is the latest to take the stage at Wolf Trap. July 9, 10 and 11, at 8 p.m. And Saturday, July 10, and Sunday, July 11, at 2 p.m. Wolf Trap, 1645 Trap Road, Vienna. Tickets are $20 to $80. Call 703-255-1900 or visit wolf-trap.org.
Virginia's American Century Theater offers a concert presentation of the Rodgers and Hart's musical Babes in Arms. Forget the plot -- all you need to know are the songs: "I Wish I Were in Love Again," "Johnny One Note," "The Lady Is A Tramp," "My Funny Valentine," "Where or When," and more. Thursday, July 8, through Saturday, July 10, at 8 p.m. Also Saturday, July 10, and Sunday, July 11, at 2:30 p.m. American Century Theater's Gunston Theater II, 2700 S. Lang St., Arlington. Tickets are $15. Call 703-998-4555 or visit americancentury.org.
