“The Kennedy Center is my favorite place to work in the U.S.,” crows Randy Graff. “Two of the most meaningful shows in my professional life happened there and the Opera House is where it all began for me as a musical theater actor.” The year was 1986, with the pre-Broadway American premiere of Les Miserables. And Graff played the pivotal role of Fantine, whose “I Dreamed a Dream” is one of the musical’s biggest, most heartbreaking, showstoppers. The second moment came sixteen years later, in 2002, with A Little Night Music, the closing production of the Sondheim Celebration festival, in which Graff played Charlotte.
Graff’s one-woman cabaret, Made in Brooklyn, will include a nod to her KenCen roots. “I am singing ‘I Dreamed a Dream,'” she notes, in honor of Les Miz. But the October 30 appearance — her fifth in the venue — is mainly a tribute to the place where she spent her childhood.
“It’s the story of me growing up in Brooklyn, singing on street corners and eventually getting to Broadway,” she says. “Every song I sing was either written or made famous by a Brooklynite — foremost Barbra Streisand, but so many composers, lyricists and movie stars.”
Graff has appeared in countless hits on the Great White Way, including 1989’s City of Angels, for which she won a Tony, 1992’s Falsettos and revivals of A Class Act and Fiddler on the Roof. Through it all, she’s noticed her “very large gay fanbase” is among the most engaged.
“They’re the most accepting — perhaps that comes from living their own self-acceptance,” she says. “No matter what I do — I could fall on my face, I could crack on a high note, whatever I do, they’re just with me for the ride. I just so appreciate it.”
Randy Graff performs as part of the Barbara Cook Spotlight series on Friday, Oct. 30, at 7 p.m., at the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater. Tickets are $50. Call 202-467-4600 or visit kennedy-center.org.
Variety is the name of the game of this very section, a treasure trove of nontraditional, often multi-genre, events that don't neatly categorize in the other listings. This is where you'll find a few different alt-queer dance parties at DC9 to check out. Or if you'd like to consider reading a new book or getting to know a new-to-you queer author, flip the page to browse the lineup at the queer-owned Loyalty Bookstore.
Feel like taking in an art show that's not in a building surrounding the Mall? Consider Glen Echo Park. Looking for drag queens? See the Boulet Brothers at the Fillmore, or Shi-Queeta-Lee and company at The Hamilton Live. And if you like to laugh, well... we have queer comics galore.
The season of rebirth and renewal is beautifully expressed in dance. And in that spirit, it's especially beautiful this season to see so much renewed life among dance artists, companies, and venues that have for the past few years endured the pandemic struggles and survived, or even come back stronger.
In every corner of the DMV, from Dance Place to Wolf Trap, the Kennedy Center to Hylton Performing Arts, world-class artists are making their debuts on our stages, or premiering never-before-seen works sure to excite, inspire, or push the boundaries of what we've come to expect.
"Depending on the cities that we're in, people have more or less familiarity with the piece, and with the song specifically," says Matt Rodin of the Stephen Sondheim classic "Getting Married Today."
The showstopper is a highlight of the composer's Tony Award-winning musical Company, and Rodin, who performs it in the production now at the Kennedy Center, refers to it as a "rollercoaster."
Company debuted on Broadway in 1970 with music and lyrics by Sondheim and a book by George Firth. Director Marianne Elliott conceived of this production before the pandemic as a way to mark the musical's 50th anniversary.
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