May 2011 Archives

Comedy's Lovable Queen of Mean, Lampanelli is just the “special guest” for the New Majority Comedy Tour with Gabriel Iglesias, a Last Comic Standing finalist several years ago and known as the “fluffy” -- not fat -- comic of Latino descent, and Russell Peters, a popular Canadian comic of Indian ancestry who often pokes fun at the subjects of race, class and culture. While as a white chick she may not technically be part of “the new majority,” Lampanelli is the major draw here, with her racy and raunchy style of comedy popular with gays and other minorities. Friday, June 3, at 8 p.m. Patriot Center at George Mason University, 4500 Patriot Circle, Fairfax. Tickets are $49.50 to $75. Call 703-993-3000 or visit patriotcenter.com.

It's not exactly magic, but what Constellation Theatre Company is pulling off at 14th Street's Source Theatre right now is pretty extraordinary. The fledgling nonprofit theater company's production of 18th century Italian playwright Carlo Gozzi's The Green Bird, which mixes commedia dell'arte farce, melodrama and visual special effects, soars because of the nimbleness of its surprisingly high-caliber acting ensemble and of its masterful stage, sound and costume designers. Of particular note is actress Nanna Ingvarsson, who hams it up playing ruthless old queen Tartagliona as a sort of sexpot Cruella de Vil, or an evil Liza Minnelli: She's sultry, strong-willed, solipsistic, utterly show-stopping. It's the kind of performance gay men in particular relish and would normally pay two or three times Constellation's ticket prices to see. Closes this Saturday, June 4. Source Theatre, 1835 14th St. NW. Tickets are $25 to $30. Call 202-204-7760 or visit constellationtheatre.org.

Read Doug Rule's full review here.

The first African-American woman to head Talk Soup on E! and a former regular on Friends, CSI and 24, Aisha Tyler is currently the voice of sexy superspy Lana Kane on FX's brilliantly funny animated series Archer. But she's also no stranger to late night television, as a guest comedian on The Tonight Show, Late Night with David Letterman, Jimmy Kimmel Live and more. Thursday, June 2, through Sunday, June 5, at 8 p.m. There's a second show Saturday, June 4, at 10:30 p.m. DC Improv, 1140 Connecticut Ave. NW. Tickets are $17 to $20. Call 202-296-7008 or visit dcimprov.com.

Inspired by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch's notorious erotic novel, which first shocked readers in 1870, David Ives's saucy and sensational Venus in Fur is a crackling exploration of desire and control. The play pits actress against playwright in a virtuosic display of seduction, cruelty and gamesmanship. Christian Conn and Erica Sullivan star in Studio Theatre's production, directed by David Muse. Now to July 3. Studio Theatre, 14th & P Streets NW. Call 202-332-3300 or visit studiotheatre.org.

Less than two years ago, John Oates reunited with Daryl Hall, for an "Up Close and Personal Tour" with the '80s-era rock & soul pioneers. But when he performs without Hall, as he will tonight, he performs mostly his own material, including music from the new Mississippi Mile, an ode to artists and songs that influenced him. He'll also perform a few Hall and Oates' tunes, but in an interpretive, acoustic vein. Yeah, that ought to work real well for "Maneater." Friday, May 27. Doors at 7 p.m. The State Theatre, 220 North Washington St., Falls Church. Tickets are $35. Call 703-237-0300 or visit thestatetheatre.com.

Arena Stage presents a pre-Broadway, world premiere adaptation of A Time to Kill, John Grisham's first novel -- and his first to be adapted for the stage -- by Tony Award-winner Rupert Holmes. After an unspeakable crime is committed against his daughter, Carl Lee Hailey takes the law into his own hands. To June 19. Mead Center for American Theater, 1101 6th St. SW. Tickets are $55 to $85. Call 202-488-3300 or visit arenastage.org.

Public radio star Garrison Keillor comes to Wolf Trap to offer D.C. another live trip to his fictional-but-oh-so-real Lake Wobegon, which will be broadcast over the weekend. This year's Wolf Trap stop of A Prairie Home Companion brings special guests The Wailin' Jennys. Produced in association with Minnesota Public Radio and WAMU. Friday, May 27, at 8 p.m., and Saturday, May 28, at 5:45 p.m. Wolf Trap, 1645 Trap Rd., Vienna. Lawn seats are still available for $25 to $90. Call 703-255-1900 or visit wolf-trap.org.

With her new album The Music of Randy Newman, Roseanna Vitro stakes a claim as the first jazz vocalist to explore the richly melodic, sharply observant songbook from the singer-songwriter best known for his work in creating film scores for Disney-Pixar (Toy Story, A Bug's Life). The focus on Newman follows Vitro's past work covering songbooks from Ray Charles and Bill Evans. Tonight, Thursday, May 26, at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. Blues Alley, 1073 Wisconsin Ave. NW. Tickets are $25, plus $10 minimum purchase. Call 202-337-4141 or visit bluesalley.com.

American Ensemble Theater presents Why Torture is Wrong, and the People Who Love Them, a new black comedy from Christopher Durang (Beyond Therapy, Laughing Wild), following a young woman in crisis, worried that her husband and her father could be a terrorist and a spy, respectively. Opens tonight, Thursday, May 26, at 7:30 p.m. To June 11. CHAW, 545 7th St. SE. Tickets are only $8. Call 800-838-3006 or visit AmericanEnsemble.org.

Peter Shaffer's Tony-winning play (which became an Oscar-winning film) depicts the flamboyant genius of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as seen through the eyes of his desperately jealous contemporary, composer Antonio Salieri. Edward Gero stars as Salieri and Sasha Olinick as Mozart in a production directed by Ford's Theatre's Mark Ramont. To June 5. Round House Theatre, 4545 East-West Highway, Bethesda. Tickets are $25 to $60. Call 240-644-1100 or visit roundhousetheatre.org.

The American Film Institute's Silver Theatre presents the second in a three-part series this year exploring the works of the great filmmaker. Part II focuses on his early Hollywood pictures, and up this weekend are 1946's Nazi-era espionage caper Notorious, starring Ingrid Bergman, Cary Grant and Claude Rains, and 1947's leaden courtroom drama The Paradine Case, starring Gregory Peck. Honestly, you can skip Paradine -- it's one of Hitchcock's duds, not helped by a wooden Peck (though it is occasionally enlivened by a scene-stealing Charles Laughton). But Notorious? Don't miss it. Even if you've seen it before. It's arguably the director's masterpiece, featuring one of the longest single-take kisses in cinematic history, breathtaking performances from Bergman and Rains, and an intensely romantic narrative that boils over with suspense. Watch for the extraordinary tracking shot that starts at the ceiling and closes in on a hand nervously clutching a key. This was before CGI folks, and it is beyond technically astonishing -- it is a marvel. Notorious screens Friday, May 20, at 7 p.m., Saturday, May 21, at 7:30 p.m., Sunday, May 22, at 9:45 p.m., and Wednesday, May 25, at 8:45 p.m.; The Paradine Case screens Sunday, May 22, at 12:30 p.m., Monday, May 23, at 8:45 p.m. AFI Silver Theatre, 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring. Tickets are $11 for each screening. Call 301-495-6720 or visit afi.com/Silver.

Local drag phenom Galactica, a.k.a. the "pink-haired diva," will sing -- not lip-synch -- at her latest cabaret-style show "Rapture!" A live band, the Escape Pods, led by musical director Captain Satellite accompanies Galactica through a hodge-podge of songs by Peggy Lee, the Rolling Stones, Dolly Parton, No Doubt, Harold Arlen, even Captain and Tennille, all framed by an interplanetary narrative that references Judgment Day, which some believe will happen this Saturday. It's billed as "the only show of its kind in the Washington, D.C. area," and it's hard to argue that. Friday, May 20, and Saturday, May 21, at 8 p.m. Black Fox Lounge, 1723 Connecticut Ave. NW. Tickets are $15. Call 202-483-1723 or visit ganymedearts.org or blackfoxlounge.com.

An early transsexual celebrity, Candy Darling (nee James Slattery) became a downtown New York fixture in the '60s and went on to become part of Andy Warhol's legendary Factory, starring in two of his shocking movies, Flesh and Women In Revolt. Tennessee Williams cast her in his play Small Craft Warnings, and she might have gone on to become a bigger actress had she not died of lymphoma in the early '70s at the age of 29. James Rasin's documentary Beautiful Darling pays tribute through the use of both current and vintage interviews, excerpts from Darling's own diaries and letters and vintage footage of Candy and her crew. Opens Friday, May 20. West End Cinema, 2301 M St. NW. Call 202-419-FILM or visit westendcinema.com.

Lil Wayne brings his "I'm Still Music Tour" to Jiffy Lube Live on Saturday, July 16. The artist will be joined by Rick Ross, Keri Hilson, Far East Movement and Lloyd. Tickets go on sale this Friday, May 20 at 10 a.m. at LiveNation.com, Ticketmaster outlets, the Jiffy Lube Live Box Office or by phone at 800-745-3000.

In Ruined, playwright Lynn Nottage and director Charles Randolph-Wright manage to confront head-on the mass-rape of civilian women by combatants during the Second Congo War with a rare blend of finely controlled realism and priceless restraint. Not only do they quash any notion of sexual violence as entertainment, they also show us that a finely crafted less can be far more effective than a shocking more. With Nottage's careful balance, we know exactly what has happened to these women. And yet she ensures us the space to see where they have landed spiritually and emotionally, not just physically. Any treatment of war and women written and performed with such power, grace and humanity is simply not to be missed. To June 5. Mead Center for American Theater, 1101 6th St. SW. Tickets are $70 to $90. Call 202-488-3300 or visit arenastage.org.

Read Kate Wingfield's full review here.

As part of a month-long retrospective of the work of queer filmmaker Todd Haynes, known for I'm Not There and most recently the HBO miniseries adaptation of Mildred Pierce starring Kate Winslet, the American Film Institute's Silver Theatre presents Haynes's best-known film, Far From Heaven. An homage to Douglas Sirk's style of social critique by way of melodrama, the movie focuses on a 1950s-era closeted, alcoholic businessman, played by Dennis Quaid, and his wife, a touching Julianne Moore, who struggles with her attraction to her black gardener. Sunday, May 15, at 9:15 p.m., and Wednesday, May 18, at 7 p.m. AFI Silver Theatre, 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring. Tickets are $11 general admission. Call 301-495-6720 or visit afi.com/Silver.

Paul Morella performs a benefit for The American Century Theater, reprising An Encounter with Clarence Darrow: A Passion for Justice, the one-man show created by TACT ten years ago about the American lawyer/social activist Clarence Darrow, who successfully defended over a hundred men facing the death penalty. Monday, May 16, at 8 p.m., preceded at 7 p.m. with a pre-show beer, wine and appetizers and followed by coffee and dessert. The Dome Theater at Artisphere, 1101 Wilson Blvd., Arlington. Tickets are $75 per person. Call 703-875-1100 or visit artisphere.com.

J. Reilly Lewis conducts the choral group, mezzo-soprano Viktoriya Bright and the National Cathedral School Girls Chorale in the return of the popular Russian Riches program featuring Rimsky-Korsakov's Russian Easter Festival Overture, Taneyev's Ioann Damaskin cantata and Gretchaninov's Hvalite, Boga cantata. Sunday, May 15, at 4 p.m. Washington National Cathedral, Massachusetts and Wisconsin Aves NW. Tickets are $25 to $80. Call 202-537-5527 or visit cathedralchoralsociety.org.

The American Film Institute's Silver Theatre continues exploring the works of the great filmmaker. Up this weekend: Spellbound (1945), starring Ingrid Bergman and Gregory Peck and featuring an iconic dream sequence designed by Salvador Dali and Miklos Rozsa's Oscar-winning, theremin-intense score. Watch carefully -- if you're lucky, AFI has a version of the black and white film that includes a carefully placed flash of color. It's a startling effect. Also showing is Lifeboat, Hitchcock's inventively staged drama, set entirely on a lifeboat. It was a big hit with wartime audiences though some critics faulted it for not being more patriotic. Tahllulah Bankhead, giving a razor-sharp performance, steals the film. Watch for Hitchcock's traditional cameo in a weight-reduction newspaper ad. Spellbound screens Saturday, May 13, at 7 p.m., Wednesday, May 18, at 9:15 p.m., and Thursday, May 19, at 9:15 p.m.; Lifeboat screens Sunday, May 14, at 12:30 p.m., Tuesday, May 17, at 9:15 p.m., and Thursday, May 19, at 7 p.m. AFI Silver Theatre, 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring. Tickets are $11 for each screening. Call 301-495-6720 or visit afi.com/Silver.

The Gay Men's Chorus's select ensemble Potomac Fever presents the second of two performances of "Crazy Little Thing Called Love," a celebration of "what makes our hearts race," from making out to shacking up to tying the knot. The men's chorus NoteWorthy from Greensboro, North Carolina's Triad Pride Men's Chorus joins the Fever in the show Saturday, May 14, at 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. Westminster Presbyterian Church, 400 I St. SW. Tickets are $30 for each show. Call 202-293-1548 or visit GMCW.org.

Peter Shaffer's Tony-winning Amadeus (which became an Oscar-winning film) depicts the flamboyant genius of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as seen through the eyes of his desperately jealous contemporary, composer Antonio Salieri. Edward Gero stars as Salieri and Sasha Olinick as Mozart in a production directed by Mark Ramont. Now to June 5. Round House Theatre, 4545 East-West Highway, Bethesda. Tickets are $25 to $60. Call 240-644-1100 or visit roundhousetheatre.org.

We're giving away a pair of tickets to the Pat Benatar concert at the 9:30 Club this July. Enter now for a chance to win. Form is below or visit metroweekly.com/win for more contests to choose from.

The gay-led Trey McIntyre Project has become known for its efforts to broaden the appeal of dance, including by setting up its home base in Boise, Idaho. "I think of [the Project] as an all-American dance company," McIntyre tells Metro Weekly. "It made a lot of sense for us to be a pioneer, to move into a community that really had not developed its dance community to the extent of, say, San Francisco or New York." The company returns to Washington to perform two jazz-based pieces it developed for the New Orleans Ballet Association -- Ma Maison and The Sweeter End -- as well as a third piece, In Dreams, a ballet set to the rockabilly music of Roy Orbison. Friday, May 13, at 8 p.m., and Saturday, May 14, at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Sidney Harman Hall, 610 F St. NW. Tickets are $22 to $75. Call 202-785-9727 or visit wpas.org.

Marvin Hamlisch conducts the NSO Pops in a concert paying tribute to Latin rhythms, courtesy of percussionist Tito Puente Jr., son of the legend, and Latin crooning, from feverish Latin pop singer Jon Secada. Thursday, May 12, at 7 p.m. Also Friday, May 13, and Saturday, May 14, at 8 p.m. Kennedy Center Concert Hall. Tickets are $20 to $85. Call 202-467-4600 or visit kennedy-center.org.

It's been four decades since her iconic character first twirled her way across American television sets, and two years since Lynda Carter -- a.k.a. Wonder Woman -- first re-emerged, performing at the Kennedy Center in support of her last album At Last and sitting for a Metro Weekly cover feature. About the popularity among gays of Wonder Woman, she told the magazine: "It's kind of like being a country/western star. If you are liked by the gay and lesbian population, you've really made it. It's like that kind of loyalty." She's now promoting a new CD -- Crazy Little Things -- with a stop Saturday, May 14, at 2 p.m., at the Barnes & Noble at Tysons Corner Mall, 7851 L. Tysons Corner Center, McLean, Va. Call 703-506-2937 or visit barnesandnoble.com.

Linda Carter photographed for Metro Weekly in May of 2009 by Todd Franson.

Once a week through June 24, twenty-seven contestants from a variety of federal agencies, the U.S. Senate and the U.S. Army and Marines will compete to earn the distinction of the 2011 Funniest Fed. And can't you just hear the laughs when the winner tells a stranger about the achievement. The Fisher House Foundation, benefiting families of wounded soldiers, will receive 20 percent of all ticket sales. Competition launches Wednesday, May 11, at 7:30 p.m. Arlington Cinema N' Drafthouse, 2903 Columbia Pike, Arlington. Tickets are $11.75. Call 703-486-2345 or visit arlingtondrafthouse.com.

One of the largest and most expensive shows Ford's Theatre has yet mounted, Liberty Smith features 20 glorious singing actors, reenacting and reinterpreting the history of the American Revolution, taking a little liberty with the school-worn tales. If you ultimately leave the theater charmed, it'll be more because of Michael Weiner's irrepressible, catchy music and the superb, Broadway-caliber cast of actors and set design, with assist from an eight-piece orchestra. They bring the play to life in spite of a simplistic, somewhat silly story by Marc Madnick, Eric R. Cohen and Adam Abraham that recalls Disney, even Forest Gump. As the chorus sings in Liberty Smith, "Such a small, small world, after all." To May 21. Ford's Theatre, 511 10th St. NW. Tickets are $35 to $55. Call 202-397-7328 or visit fordstheatre.org. Read Doug Rule's full review here.

We're giving away a pair of tickets to Raphael Saadiq at the 9:30 Club! Enter directly at metroweekly.com/win or using the form below.

Benjamin Bratt plays a traditional Latino father who struggles to come to terms with his teenage son's homosexuality in La Mission, which screens as part of a one-night, film festival throughout the Smithsonian Institution. Also on tap is Winter's Bone, an unflinching look at family and rural American life today and one of this year's Best Picture Oscar nominees. In all, 10 films screen nearly simultaneously in different locations, with each screening accompanied by the filmmaker and special guest presenters. The films have already been shown as part of the globetrotting Film Forward: Advancing Cultural Dialogue, an international initiative of the Sundance Institute and the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. La Mission show Thursday, May 12, at 6 p.m. Smithsonian American Art Museum's McEvoy Auditorium, Lower Level, 8th and F Streets NW. Winter's Bone shows Thursday, May 12, at 6:30 p.m. National Museum of Natural History's Baird Auditorium, 10th & Constitution Ave. NW. Tickets are $10 for each. Visit residentassociates.org for more details, including about the other eight films.

Britney Spears is coming to the Verizon Center this summer and we have a pair of tickets to give away! Fill out the form below. And visit our win page to see all the other contests currently on offer!

A source at the Helen Hayes Awards sent out this email alert on Friday regarding the district's proposed six percent tax on ticketed art events. Here's his missive in full, along with suggested ways you can respond, as well as help to spread the word.

Yep, it's true. The District of Columbia's 2011 budget includes a 6% ticket tax on all ticketed arts events including those at theatres and dance companies, museums, universities, public schools, churches and any other organization that sells tickets for the arts. The Helen Hayes Awards, Cultural Tourism DC and Cultural Development Corporation are working to protect the dynamic and thriving DC arts community. If this tax happens -- and audiences won't attend arts events because ticket prices are too high -- everyone loses:

Audiences who would otherwise attend these events.

Arts organizations dependent on ticket income and who don't have the existing infrastructure to manage the tax compliance activities.

Artists and arts employees whose jobs will be affected due to their organization's revenue loss.

Area public school children who depend on DC arts organizations to provide arts education programs.

Arts-related businesses, such as those that sell lumber for sets, fabrics for costumes, concessions, etc. as well as the restaurants, transit and the many other D.C. businesses so importantly supported by traffic attending arts events.

And the DC government who loses the 10% tax it receives from restaurant sales by virtue of resulting reduced restaurant traffic

There are 4 ways we are asking theatre administrators, artists, audiences and supporters to help us tell DC Government Leaders they are opposed to taxing theatre & other arts tickets:

Send a copy of the opposition letter [click here to download a template] to every member of the city council. Use this link to get councilmembers' email addresses.

Sign an online petition here.

Ask others to do the same.

Post the cause on their social media pages.

The bottom line is that in order for the council to rescind this amendment, they MUST see a significant volume of responses before the final vote is taken on May 26.

Without leader Natalie Maines, the Dixie Chicks might sound a lot like Sheryl Crow. At least that's the impression left by the music of the duo Court Yard Hounds, featuring Emily Robison and Martie Maquire, the two sisters of the Chicks trio. Together, these country-rocking siblings create a familiar blend of folk, bluegrass, country and pop/rock. The resulting stew is missing Maines's feistiness and coarseness, but it still packs a punch. The band's self-titled debut from last year even included a blistering gem about a son's struggle to come out as gay to his father, "Ain't No Son." Virginia native Justin Jones opens, playing his dark, country-tinged rock. Thursday, May 12. Doors at 7 p.m. Sixth & I Historic Synagogue. 600 I St. NW. Tickets are $40. Call 202-408-3100 or visit sixthandi.org.

The inimitable Fran Lebowitz will appear at a special screening of Public Speaking, Martin Scorsese's 2010 documentary about her career. Andy Warhol gave Lebowitz her big break by hiring her to pen a column for Interview magazine, and she has since become a popular author offering insights on timely issues of gender, race and gay rights, not to mention her pet peeves, from celebrity culture to smoking bans to strollers. Thursday, May 12, at 7 p.m. AFI Silver Theatre, 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring. Tickets are $15 general admission. Call 301-495-6720 or visit afi.com/Silver.

The British post-punk band Echo & the Bunnymen toured last year in support of a new album, The Fountain, but this year they're back to play two of their older albums in their entirety: Crocodiles and Heaven Up Here. Wednesday, May 11. Doors at 7 p.m. Nightclub 9:30, 815 V St. NW. Tickets are $35. Call 202-265-0930 or visit 930.com.

Metro Stage presents The Real Inspector Hound, Tom Stoppard's hilarious send-up of classic Agatha Christie murder mysteries. John Vreeke directs a cast that includes Ralph Cosham, John Dow and Catherine Flye. To May 22. MetroStage, 1201 North Royal St., Alexandria. Tickets are $45 to $50. Call 800-494-8497 or visit metrostage.org.

Green: the Color and the Cause is the second exhibit in the museum's year-long exploration of the ties between textiles and environmentalism. The exhibit explores the symbolism behind the color green, showcasing the work of contemporary green artists as well as historical precedents from the museum's collection. The museum will even have a "growing garden sculpture" installed in June. The Textile Museum, 2320 S St. NW. Suggested donaton of $5. Call 202-667-0441 or visit textilemuseum.org.

Master mixologist Dale DeGroff shares anecdotes from historical drinking spots and traces the evolution of the cocktail in his book Life In Saloons, Speaks and the Big City Bar. But at the Warehouse Theater on Monday, May 9, DeGroff won't just read from his book. He'll also offer sample cocktails representative of the various eras -- Gilded Age, Prohibition, Modern Times. Cheers to all that. Monday, May 9, at 6:30 p.m. Warehouse, 645 New York Ave. NW. Tickets are $35 to $40. Call 202-783-3933 or visit warehousetheater.com.

Marvin Hamlisch conducts the NSO Pops in a concert paying tribute to Latin rhythms, courtesy of percussionist Tito Puente Jr., son of the legend, and Latin crooning, from feverish Latin pop singer Jon Secada. Thursday, May 12, at 7 p.m. Also Friday, May 13, and Saturday, May 14, at 8 p.m. Kennedy Center Concert Hall. Tickets are $20 to $85. Call 202-467-4600 or visit kennedy-center.org.

From the 9:30 Club website:

"Whenever you're here, you're alive" are the first words sung on Dynamite Steps, the fifth album from Greg Dulli's Twilight Singers collective, and the group's first in five years. The Twilight Singers' previous release, the acclaimed confessional opus Powder Burns, came out in 2006. Dynamite Steps is clearly the next chapter, a whole new level of catharsis and progress, evocatively cramming all the highs and lows of the maverick singer-songwriter's past half-decade into unexpected sonic trapdoors. "Shot on location" at various locales significant to Dulli's life, you can hear the sense of place emanating up from the grooves of Dynamite Steps. Here, the weary nighttime decadence of New Orleans rubs up against the oppressive sunshine of Los Angeles and the desolation of Joshua Tree's desert vistas. Dynamite Steps explores the thin line between life and death, mortality and immortality, resignation and celebration -- that mythical moment when your life flashes before your eyes, drawn out here over the course of eleven songs. The album's forty-three minutes prove an unflinching odyssey through the dark side, but one that's ultimately redemptive in its scope and power.

A Slate film critic said that Werner Herzog's latest film, Cave of Forgotten Dream, a three-dimensional documentary about 30,000-year-old paintings in the Chauvet cave in southern France, "may be the best 3D movie ever made." It's a probing essay on the history of art, and even of humankind. So, a feast for the senses and the smarts. Now playing. Visit fandango.com.

Three lesbian authors will entertain as they read from their recent works. D.C.'s Lisa Gitlin reads from her comic memoir I Came Out For This?, Rehoboth Beach's Fay Jacobs reads from her collection of essays For Frying Out Loud -- Rehoboth Beach Diaries and Amy Dawson reads from her latest female-focused action thriller Miles To Go. Sunday, May 8, at 4 p.m. Langston Room at Busboys & Poets, 2021 14th St. NW. Call 202-387-POET or visit busboysandpoets.com.

The author of the provocative "Gay Science" historical analysis series, Nick Benton will speak on his views about gay identity and purpose at Georgetown's Dumbarton United Methodist Church. Benton, who founded and publishes the Falls Church News-Press, is lauded as a gay pioneer for his early activism, including co-founding the Berkeley Gay Liberation Front in California. He also has theological training from a school affiliated with the progressive United Church of Christ. Sunday, May 8, at 10 a.m. Dumbarton United Methodist Church, 3133 Dumbarton Ave. NW. Visit dumbartonumc.org.

Nick Benton photographed for a 2007 Metro Weekly cover interview by Todd Franson.

The Ward 5 artist home and gallery 52 O Street, formerly a People's Drug warehouse and Decca Records office, offers its annual Open Studios event this weekend, presenting a peek into the process and environment of artists engaged in many different disciplines, as well as works for sale by the creators, plus performances, workshops and demonstrations from building residents. Saturday, May 7, and Sunday, May 8, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. 52 0 St. NW. Visit 52ostreet.blogspot.com for more information.

Local drag phenom Galactica (a.k.a. the "pink-haired diva" a.k.a. Jeffrey Johnson) will preview her upcoming show with her band Capt. Satellite (a.k.a. musical director Christopher Wingert) and the Escape Pods (a.k.a. the Escape Pods). Entitled Rapture! and billed as "the only show of its kind in the Washington, D.C. area," the cabaret includes a hodgepodge of songs by the likes of Peggy Lee, the Rolling Stones, Dolly Parton, No Doubt, Eddie Cantor, Harold Arlen, even Captain and Tennille. Certainly sounds unique. The full show takes place the weekend of May 21, but an "open rehearsal" is set for Monday, May 9, at 7:30 p.m. Black Fox Lounge, 1723 Connecticut Ave. NW. Tickets are $10. Call 202-483-1723 or visit blackfoxlounge.com.

Galactica photographed exclusively for Metro Weekly by Todd Franson.

One of Stephen Sondheim's greatest works -- with a book by James Goldman -- the Kennedy Center stages a major revival of the Tony-winning Follies with a few of Broadway's leading ladies: Elaine Paige, Linda Lavin, Jan Maxwell and, last but not least, Bernadette Peters, perhaps the greatest interpreter of Sondheim's work. What more do you need to know? Get your tickets already. In previews starting Saturday, May 7, at 7:30 p.m. To June 19. Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater. Tickets are $45 to $150. Call 202-467-4600 or visit kennedy-center.org.

The American Film Institute's Silver Theatre presents the second in a three-part series this year exploring the works of the great filmmaker. Part II focuses on his early Hollywood pictures and up next are: 1943's Shadow Of A Doubt, a film noir about a killer (the wonderfully sinister Joseph Cotton) who moves into a small town that Hitchcock had stated was his personal favorite of his films; and 1942's Saboteur, the first of Hitchcock's American films to fully engage with America as a setting -- mountain cabins, cattle ranches, the circus, New York City sites -- as a California man wrongly accused of sabotage leads the police on a cross-country quest to nab the real culprit. Saboteur is famous for its fight atop the Statue of Liberty -- ending with the now-famed "Hitchcockian plummet," a motif Hitchcock would refine years later in movies like North by Northwest (Mount Rushmore, anyone?). Shadow Of A Doubt screens Saturday, May 7, at 8:15 p.m., Wednesday, May 11, at 7 p.m., and Thursday, May 12, at 9:45 p.m.; Saboteur screens Sunday, May 8, at 12:30 p.m., Tuesday, May 10, at 9:15 p.m., and Wednesday, May 11, at 9:15 p.m. AFI Silver Theatre, 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring. Tickets are $11 for each screening. Call 301-495-6720 or visit afi.com/Silver.

The Gay Men's Chorus's select ensemble Potomac Fever teams up with two other ensembles from men's choruses in Virginia and North Carolina to present "Crazy Little Thing Called Love," a celebration of "what makes our hearts race," from making out to shacking up to tying the knot. Potomac Fever performs with the MonuMENtals from Virginia's Richmond Men's Chorus on Saturday, May 7, at 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. Metropolitan Community Church, 474 Ridge St. NW. NoteWorthy from Greensboro, N.C.'s Triad Pride Men's Chorus joins the Fever on Saturday, May 14, at 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. Westminster Presbyterian Church, 400 I St. SW. Tickets are $30 for each show. Call 202-293-1548 or visit GMCW.org.

Carl Tanner got his start as a singer with a Glee-like moment: The Washington-Lee High School footballer and wrestler joined the school chorus after someone overheard him singing in the locker room shower. Now an international opera star, most recently performing with the Metropolitan Opera, Tanner returns to perform with sopranos Paula Delligatti and Lesley Craigie and baritone Jason Stearns plus pianist Patrick O'Donnell in a benefit for Aurora Opera Theatre, formerly the Opera Theatre of Northern Virginia where Tanner had his first professional role. Program will feature opera highlights from Puccini, Verdi and Mascagni, followed by a Q&A with Tanner and a wine a cheese reception. Friday, May 6, at 8 p.m. Rosslyn Spectrum Theatre at Artisphere, 1611 N. Kent St. Arlington. Tickets are $40. Call 703-875-1100 or visit auroraopera.org or artisphere.com.

As part of a month-long retrospective of Todd Haynes's work, the American Film Institute's Silver Theatre presents one of the earlier films from the somewhat subversive queer filmmaker. Velvet Goldmine (1998) stars Christian Bale, Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Ewan MacGregor as a rock journalist and two wild rock stars, respectively. Set in 1984, the film takes its musical cues from Roxy Music, David Bowie, Iggy Pop and Lou Reed, among others. It's a wonderful film, brilliantly directed by Haynes -- and it's very, very, very gay. Saturday, May 7, at 10:30 p.m., and Sunday, May 8, at 9:40 p.m., and Monday, May 9, at 9:30 p.m. AFI Silver Theatre, 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring. Tickets are $11 general admission. Call 301-495-6720 or visit afi.com/Silver.

Joan "As Police Woman" Wasser has been a member of Antony and the Johnsons, has a connection with the Scissor Sisters and has been championed by and collaborated with the likes of Lou Reed and Rufus Wainwright. So it's not clear why she's not more popular, especially so given her captivating new album The Deep Field, filled with lively, hopeful, sultry, soul-filled songs. And, if her video below is any indication, scantily clad muscle men. Wednesday, May 4, at 8 p.m. Jammin' Java, 227 Maple Ave. E. Vienna. Tickets are $15. Call 703-255-3747 or visit jamminjava.com.

In Edmund Rostand's Cyrano, our hero secretly adores Roxanne but fears she could never share the sentiment because of his extraordinarily huge nose. So he uses his gift for wit and wordplay to help a tongue-tied friend Christian woo her instead. Adapted and directed by Aaron Posner and starring Eric Hissom in the title role. To June 5. Folger Elizabethan Theatre, 201 East Capitol St. SE. Tickets are $30 to $60. Call 202-544-7077 or visit folger.edu.

The African Continuum Theatre Company presents Blues for an Alabama Sky. Set in the summer of 1930 in Harlem, the creative euphoria of the Harlem Renaissance has given way to the harsher realities of the Great Depression. Directed by Walter Dallas, Blues brings together a rich cast of characters who reflect the conflicting currents of the time through their overlapping personalities and politics. To May 8. Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H St. NE. Tickets are $35. Call 202-399-7993 or visit atlasarts.org.

The American Film Institute's Silver Theatre presents the second in a three-part series this year exploring the works of the great filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock. Part II focuses on his early Hollywood pictures. Up next two films from 1941: Suspicion, starring Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine, who won an Oscar for her role (watch the sinister glass of milk -- they lit it from the inside to bring attention to it); and Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Hitchcock's (disastrous) foray into screwball comedy, starring Carole Lombard and Robert Montgomery as an on-again, off-again married couple. Suspicion screens Monday, May 2, at 7:20 p.m.; Mr. & Mrs. Smith screens Monday, May 2, at 5:20 p.m. AFI Silver Theatre, 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring. Tickets are $11 for each screening. Call 301-495-6720 or visit afi.com/Silver.

The composer and producer Scott Freiman offers "Looking Through A Glass Onion: Deconstructing The White Album," a sure-to-be fascinating live multimedia lecture exploring all aspects of the Beatles's eclectic seminal 1968 album. Tuesday, May 3, at 8 p.m. Avalon Theatre, 5612 Connecticut Ave. NW. Tickets are $12.50. Call 202-966-6000 or visit theavalon.org.

The Washington Bach Consort's season finale celebrates Easter and draws from four distinct areas of Bach's incomparable creative genius, including Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in C Major, Orchestral Suite No. 4 in D Major, Motet: Signet dem Herr nein neues Lied and the Easter Oratio. Sunday, May 1, at 3 p.m. National Presbyterian Church, 4101 Nebraska Ave. NW. Tickets are $65. Call 202-429-2121 or visit bachconsort.org.

David Crosby and Graham Nash, two of the anti-Vietnam War era's most prolific singer-songwriters -- and core members of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young -- team up once again to relive the magic, now as a duo. From "Long Time Gone" to "Teach Your Children" to "Our House," the concert is sure to turn into a sing-along. Monday, May 2, at 8 p.m. Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda. Tickets are $35 to $125. Call 301-581-5100 or visit strathmore.org.

The No Rules Theatre Company, just honored with a special Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Emerging Theatre Company, presents The Stephen Schwartz Project, a musical revue honoring the Oscar- and Tony-winning creator of hit shows Godspell, Pippin and Wicked. The revue, arranged by John L. Cornelius II and directed by Matt Cowart, was conceived by Adventure Theatre's Michael J. Bobbitt, who will receive an award from No Rules as an emerging theater leader as part of a special benefit performance on Monday, May 2. Regular performances Friday, April 29, and Saturday, April 30, at 8 p.m. Also Saturday, April 30, and Sunday, May 1, at 2 p.m. Edmund Burke School, 4101 Connecticut Ave. NW. Tickets are $10, or $75 for the May 2 benefit show. Visit norulestheatre.org.