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(02/01/10 1:55am)
The National Gallery of Art’s latest exhibit, “Impressionism to Modernism: The Chester Dale Collection,” sounds like the title of an art history survey course. In contrast to a typical exhibit that showcases the work of a single artist or movement, the NGA’s undertaking sweeps through periods, artists and styles of French art from the 19th and 20th centuries.
(10/26/09 3:04am)
It seems fitting that amid passionate cries for the return of Polaroid film, the National Gallery of Art should present a new exhibit tracing the development of photographic processes.
(10/01/09 1:52am)
“Bang, Bang, You’re Dead!” the AU Players fall season opener, begins not with a bang but with music. Orchestral notes sweep through the dark corner of the Katzen parking garage that serves as the performance’s stage, followed by the eerie echo of laughter.
(09/28/09 1:34am)
Those who have crossed the line from aging to dying share certain mannerisms. Eyes squint. Voices rise and fall. Hands twitch uncontrollably. The world has lost its focus and keeps coming in and out of clarity like an old record player whose needle can’t hit the groove.
(09/24/09 3:20am)
The cover art for “Lúcido,” the latest staging at GALA Hispanic Theatre, depicts a man hovering in the clouds in high heels, trying to tug his brain down from the sky with a rope like a deflated balloon.
(09/14/09 2:06am)
For a moment, the audience can only listen. “Eclipsed,” Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company’s latest production, begins in the dark. Female voices and the rustling of trees narrate the blackness. When the lights finally come on, they illuminate two women arguing as they do their hair. Their daily banter belies the preceding moment of disquietude.
(04/23/09 4:00am)
Amid the charged media coverage of Hurricane Katrina, little attention was paid to the process of rebuilding community arts education in New Orleans. The Katrina Project emerged out of the city's post-hurricane rubble to create theater opportunities for the local public schools.
(04/09/09 4:00am)
Two American filmmakers venture into Mexico to document Coca-Cola's actions in an effort to promote understanding and social justice. The premise of "The True History of Coca-Cola in Mexico," the latest comedy at GALA Theatre, sounds familiar. We have seen this film - or something like it.
(04/06/09 4:00am)
"Chicago" is meant to be experienced live. The theatrical qualities that make it, well, "Chicago," have an in-your-face immediacy lost in film. Those who have only experienced "Chicago" in its Hollywood version will be startled by how much more vibrant the production is on stage. The current staging of "Chicago" at the downtown National Theatre returns the familiar story of fame won and lost to its theatrical roots, heightening both its authenticity and famous tawdry musical intensity.
(03/30/09 4:00am)
Sam, Mark and Keith, the three central characters in the new novel "All the Sad Young Literary Men," are a little too familiar. They are you and me: bright, driven and committed to big, intellectual dreams. They are convinced that with enough patience and dedication they'll find someplace in this world that will let them realize their great intellectual vision.
(03/30/09 4:00am)
It's time to take back Sunday morning. Yes, on Sunday mornings you're often tired or hung-over or want to use your meal plan and get soggy pancakes at TDR. But Sunday morning just happens to be when D.C. truly comes to life - downtown fills with intelligent-looking people in search of The Washington Post, a pastry and a cup of coffee. If you want to call yourself a true Washingtonian, you need to pull yourself out of bed and join them. Sunday morning isn't just about coffee and carbohydrates; if done right, with fun people and cool traditions, it's the best way to celebrate the weekend.
(03/26/09 4:00am)
Local movie critic Axel Hammond is the type of character you wish you had as a friend. One of the main characters in playwright Larry Shue's "The Nerd," he makes deadpan wisecracks that show just how smart he is while sending the audience into violent laughter.
(03/23/09 4:00am)
The first room of the recently-opened "Louise Bourgeois" exhibit at the Hirshhorn Museum showcases a golden, curved body dangling in mid-air, arms bent unnaturally towards the figure's angles. Both a highly detailed study of form and movement and a more personal expression of the sculptor's anxiety, the work, "Arch of Hysteria" sets the tone of the exhibit. Personal and vividly sculpted works give physicality to the artist's emotions, with each piece in the exhibit precisely displayed so as to allow the viewer to feel as though he is walking through the creative process.
(03/19/09 4:00am)
Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" is perhaps the most iconic love story. Some high schools read "Hamlet," others "Macbeth," but everyone has read "Romeo and Juliet." Even more than our memories of struggling with iambic pentameter, "Romeo and Juliet" shaped some of our earliest thoughts about love.
(02/16/09 5:00am)
Admittedly, the recently opened musical comedy "Pluck - The Titanic Show," at the Bethesda Theatre, has a far-fetched premise. Three musicians aboard the infamous Titanic weave together familiar classical music melodies to recount their stories as the boat sinks. And it's a screwball comedy!
(02/05/09 5:00am)
The current staging of Lope de Vega's "The Best Judge, the King" at GALA Hispanic Theatre is at once modern and anachronistic. High-top wearing peasants dance with Spanish royalty in elaborate 17th-century costuming; straightforward staging competes with poetic and elevated dialogue; a classically written play comes to life with sparse scenery. This use of contrast creates a fictional world where the themes of justice and conscience play out with jarring disregard for historical context.
(02/02/09 5:00am)
The National Gallery of Art is going Dutch. Pedestrians ambling along Amsterdam canals; boats filling the harbor; vintage maps with smoothed-out folds: the newly-opened exhibit at the NGA offers sweeping Dutch cityscapes with dazzling attention to light and detail.
(02/02/09 5:00am)
With generous guitar riffs, twangy vocals and fun hooks, local indie rock band The Moderate create the type of heartfelt show you want to drink a beer and dance with your friends to. Their Friday night performance at the Rock and Roll Hotel opening for The Milkstains and The Breakups was no exception, with an audience full of dancing, enthusiastic fans. The set streamed from the sultry blues track "Rock and Roll," with swelling saxophone and guitar solos, to folksier ballads in which lead singer and guitarist Jim Dempsey brought out the twang in his voice.
(01/29/09 5:00am)
Jason Hutto, the keyboardist and vocalist for the D.C. duo The Aquarium, is a full-body performer. Coaxing the perfect sound out of the keyboard, he kicks his legs wildly behind him and shakes his shaggy hair.
(01/22/09 5:00am)
The recently opened exhibit "Accommodating Nature: The Photographs of Frank Gohlke" at the American Art Museum showcases the artist's evocative black and white commentary on the American landscape. From his Texan roots to his later exploration of the Northeast, the subjects of his work are familiar and geographically diverse. Exquisite framing and use of light create a quietly beautiful collection of work, compelling because of its contemplation rather than its flash.