Atlas's third annual Gay 101 film series has been more than cut in half, with only four films screening as opposed to last year's eleven. And this year, it emphasizes gay camp, with two films that made Metro Weekly's :13 Camp Films Everyone Should See" list from earlier this year. The series includes the original Hairspray, Some Like It Hot ... [more]

"Leave Britney alone!" Those three words catapulted the ranting personality of Chris Crocker out of YouTube obscurity and into the homes of news and comedy show watchers around the world. In the 5 years since he posted that viral defense of Britney Spears, Cocker has self-produced hundreds of videos which have been viewed over 255 million times. Crocker has also ... [more]

Brave is like nothing Pixar's made before, but not for the reasons you might expect. For starters, it's a straightforward fairy tale, and for the first time in the studio's history, it's not about a boy. So, who's the lucky lady who gets to break Pixar's animated glass ceiling? Merida (Kelly Macdonald), a stubborn girl who's got a head ... [more]

Titanic: 100 Year Obsession showcases the importance of the Titanic and its sinking on April 15, 1912, taking visitors through the history of the ship and especially the discovery of its wreckage in 1985 by National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Robert Ballard -- not to mention exploration by James Cameron, both before and after his blockbuster movie. On display through July 8. ... [more]

Commissioned by Carnegie Hall, acclaimed young Italian composer Paola Prestini's folk opera Oceanic Verses is a multimedia opera concert event with scenic installation. Julian Wachner (pictured) leads the The Washington Chorus and several soloists, not to mention a filmmaker and video designer, in this New Music for a New Age performance. Saturday, June 23, at 7:30 p.m. Kennedy Center Terrace ... [more]

Christopher Durang's controversial and satirical 1979 comedy, Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You skewers religion, dogma and the Catholic Church in a way that is still timely today. The American Century Theater offers a production directed by Joe Banno and starring Cam Magee in the title role. A post-show discussion planned after every performance. To July 7. Gunston ... [more]

Wolf Trap welcomes back the national tour of the Broadway hit production RAIN, featuring Beatlesmania performers re-creating live every note, song, gesture and nuance of the Fab Four -- including many of the band's later songs, which they never actually performed live. RAIN performs Friday, June 22, and Saturday, June 23, at 8 p.m. Wolf Trap, 1645 Trap Rd., Vienna. ... [more]

It's not a tale as old as time, but it's definitely been told many times: The 1994 musical Beauty and the Beast, based on the extraordinary 1991 Disney animated film, ran for 5,464 performances by the time it closed on Broadway in 2007, becoming the Great White Way's eighth-longest running production in history. Now, the musical, with music by Alan ... [more]

If you missed her namesake cabaret shows last Friday, fear not. You can at least see why Barbara Cook, a 2011 Kennedy Center honoree, is a national treasure when it comes to the vocal arts. The original Marian the librarian in The Music Man and Cunegonde in Candide, Cook will offer guidance as pre-professional artists perform for her in this ... [more]

Cast members from the two shows currently being staged in the Arena Stage complex, The Music Man (pictured) and The Normal Heart, will stick around after performances next Wednesday, June 20, and again on Wednesday, July 11. Why? To sing showtunes around a piano, of course. Metro Weekly sponsors the free events, giving theatergoers added incentive to see either show ... [more]

Joe Henry is the man behind Madonna's songs "Don't Tell Me," "Jump" and "The Devil Wouldn't Recognize You." But far more than being Madonna's occasional co-writer, or even her brother-in-law -- he's married to Madge's sister Melanie -- Henry is known as a multi-Grammy-winning eclectic producer, fashioning songs and albums for artists as diverse as the black bluegrass band Carolina ... [more]

LiveNation is holding a special pre-sale for Kathy Griffin's Oct. 19 appearance at DAR Constitution Hall, in Washington, D.C. The presale runs through Thursday, June 14 at 10 p.m. For access, use the special password KATHY12 when ordering. Tickets are on sale to the general public tomorrow. Read our interview with Kathy Griffin in last week's Metro Weekly here. ... [more]

The four-time Tony-winning musical Memphis, with a book by Joe DiPietro (I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change) and a score by David Bryan (a founding member of Bon Jovi), is a fairly typical tale about a white radio DJ in the segregated 1950s who faces public outrage for playing "black" music and for trying to help a black club ... [more]

Four best friends from Baltimore County teamed up to make wild, eccentric, challenging rock music -- or as they call it, "sonic free form electronic horror gospel hip hop soul pop madness." And the surprise of it all is, they succeeded beyond anyone's wildest dreams. Animal Collective is just about the most popular act going in the indie/hipster music scene, ... [more]

If one really hustles, one could catch at least the start of Deborah Cox's headlining performance at Capital Pride Sunday, June 10, and also a rare concert by the celebrated Broadway performer Kristen Chenoweth down the street at D.A.R. Constitution Hall. And what a gay day that would turn out to be. Chenoweth's concert is intended to showcase the wide-ranging ... [more]

If you wanna run from the Capital Pride Festival, you better do it as fast as Mark Foster's gun if you want to catch his psychedelic-tipped pop band's concert tonight, Sunday, June 10, at Merriweather Post Pavilion. Keyboardist/guitarist/vocalist Foster and his People -- bassist Cubbie Fink and drummer Mark Pontius -- had one of last year's biggest hits, "Pumped Up ... [more]

The specter of AIDS haunts Steven Dietz's Lonely Planet -- and yet the disease is never mentioned by name. But it is AIDS causing the play's lead character Jody to get so wrapped up in his safe world of maps, he has mostly shut out the vastly more complicated real world. What good are maps if not used as guides ... [more]

For the June edition of their popular monthly gay and gay-friendly comedy show at the new Riot Act Comedy club, Chris Doucette and Zach Toczynski present New York comedians Carolyn Castiglia (VH1’s The White Rapper Show) and William Mullin, who has written for Jane Lynch and Ed Helms, among others. Wednesday, June 6, at 8:30 p.m. Riot Act Comedy Theater, ... [more]

The second of two local jazz festivals going on right now, this year's DC Jazz Festival features concerts at two of D.C.'s hottest new performance venues, The Hamilton and Howard Theatre, as well as more established institutions, from Bohemian Caverns to Sixth and I Historic Synagogue to the Phillips Collection. But possibly the most interesting concert takes place at the ... [more]

Stalwart lesbian folk-popper k.d. lang, credited with helping to establish the alt-country genre, brings her big band Siss Boom Bang to a show at Wolf Trap, re-creating the country-fied energy of her 2011 release Sing It Loud. Canadian folk artist Jane Siberry guests. Wednesday, June 6, at 8 p.m. Wolf Trap, 1645 Trap Rd., Vienna. Tickets are $25 to $45. ... [more]

The Gay Men's Chorus of Washington helps kick off Capital Pride with a fun and flirtatious homage to hit-making men in music, from teen idols to rock stars, from the '50s to today. You can expect performances to the tunes of Elvis, Justin Timberlake, Ricky Martin and Maroon 5, among others. Fingers crossed that we'll be spared Bieber Fever. Tonight, ... [more]

J.S. Adams helped start Queering Sound a dozen years ago in part as a response to the consumerist bent of mainstream gay culture, as well as to push against stereotypes of queer music as just dance or folk. The non-curatorial event, presented by D.C.'s experimental music promoter Sonic Circuits, has expanded to include not just music but spoken word and ... [more]