“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.
The fall looks primed to be a strong season of concerts by -- and appealing to -- the LGBTQ community. Among the highlights in the category of the well-known, consider Andy Bell (Lincoln), Jane Lynch (Strathmore), Renee Rapp (Merriweather), DOECHII (Anthem), and of course All Things Go (Merriweather). In the category of merely appealing, not gay per se, consider The Queens (Capital One Arena), Deborah Cox (Bethesda Theater), and Judith Hill (The Hamilton).
That barely scratches the surface. There's a lot of new -- or perhaps new to you -- queer artists out there, just waiting for you get into them including Katie Pruitt (Union Station, Rams Head), Rio Romeo (Songbyrd), Aaron Lee Tasjan (Jammin Java), Dixon Dallas (Union Stage).
Metro Weekly magazine was barely a year and a half old when, in 1995, we were offered the chance to interview — and photograph — Broadway legend Carol Channing, then appearing at the Kennedy Center in Hello, Dolly! that fall. Two moments from that experience stand out, the first at the photo shoot with Annie Adjchavanich.
We'd set up a black velvet backdrop in the Hall of States and were waiting for Miss Channing to arrive. When she finally swept in, she looked radiant. Except… she refused to remove her enormous sunglasses. Indoors.
I begged her to take them off, but she firmly declined. "I don't have my eyelashes on," she said. "You are not seeing me without my eyelashes!" And that was that — sunglasses it would be. The result was a cover that was both thrilling (Carol Channing!) and oddly surreal (Carol Channing in giant sunglasses!).
Little by little, year after year, from one season to the next, there have been some subtle yet certain shifts in programming among local classical music organizations -- in both good and not-so-good ways, depending on whether you like, say, holiday sing-alongs come Christmastime. If you do, well, good for you, but boo hoo for the rest of us, because that's definitely on the uptick this season, as in previous years. Similarly, if Halloween is more your jam, you're also in luck, because there's also been a slight increase in the number of eerily inspired, scary-themed shows.
There's also more diversity all around, and in multiple senses of the term -- from slightly more female composers with works being performed around town, to more genre- and boundary-pushing works and programs overall, to seemingly more out, LGBTQ-identified people in this particular genre.
These are challenging times for news organizations. And yet it’s crucial we stay active and provide vital resources and information to both our local readers and the world. So won’t you please take a moment and consider supporting Metro Weekly with a membership? For as little as $5 a month, you can help ensure Metro Weekly magazine and MetroWeekly.com remain free, viable resources as we provide the best, most diverse, culturally-resonant LGBTQ coverage in both the D.C. region and around the world. Memberships come with exclusive perks and discounts, your own personal digital delivery of each week’s magazine (and an archive), access to our Member's Lounge when it launches this fall, and exclusive members-only items like Metro Weekly Membership Mugs and Tote Bags! Check out all our membership levels here and please join us today!
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