Twelfth Night

Posted on September 2, 2010 by djnpub

Another great night of Shakespeare in DC. This evening I saw the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s production of Twelfth Night. It was this year’s Free For All production. Instead of my usual seat, I was in the front row of the balcony, which was interesting. As usual the acting was great. The staging was interesting. The set was mostly fixed, with an edifice that resembled a marble half-pipe through which there was one entry way. As they changed the lighting, the appearance changed significantly. The performance was very entertaining, and there was heavy use of dropping rose petals whenever one of the characters was smitten with love. By the time the second half opened, the stage was deep in rose petals, which provided an interesting effect. It was very well done, very funny, and very enjoyable. My second Shakespeare play in two weeks … I could get addicted to this.

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Macbeth California Style

Posted on August 26, 2010 by djnpub


The highlight of a very hectic week visit to the Bay Area was a chance to see one of the summer California Shakespeare Festival plays, Macbeth. It was interesting to see in comparison having recently seen so many high production value plays in DC. The staging was clearly sparer by comparison, but it was very entertaining nonetheless. It was a very creepy production. The weyrd sisters had black face coverings, and were all in white like nuns. The members of the ensemble were attired as 19th century operating room personnel (usually blood stained). Overall a pretty bloody production (and play). But it was good. And to cap it all off, after a week that hit 107° the evening cooled down, and before it was all over the wind was blowing pretty good, and the fog was flying over the top of the theater. It was good to see the old Shakespeare gang, and good to see a summer outdoor Shakespeare production.

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Spontaneous Fun, Yet Again

Posted on August 3, 2010 by djnpub

While walking home from a gluttonous dinner at TenPenh, I came across the Coast Guard Dixieland Jazz Band playing at the Navy Memorial. It was a six-piece ensemble, and they were pretty good. A fun way to end the evening.

It reminded me of what’s enjoyable about the summer in the city. At 9 pm it was warm, perhaps a little too warm, at 84 degrees and 76 percent humidity. But it was the fact that it was a nice night, and there was a large crowd of people (more than 100) casually gathered to hear this free entertainment. It’s just a pleasant ambiance to have a warm evening with people casually gathered around. It’s a lot different when a town basically shuts down at night except for the big streets, and the shopping zones. It makes you want to go out in the evening and enjoy it … and I did.

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One Ring To Rule Them All

Posted on August 1, 2010 by djnpub

Another example of me catching the last day of a run, I managed to see the One Man Lord of the Rings, performed by Charles Ross at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre this afternoon. It was an impressive piece of acting, somewhat humorously capturing the three films of Lord of the Rings in a little over an hour. It was actually quite impressive through the use of voices, vocalizations of the soundtrack, and body movements how he was actually able to capture the spirit of the scenes, quickly morphing from one to the next. He also periodically managed to interact with the live audience as he went along, reacting to some things that were happening. The Woolly Mammoth is a nice small theater, and I think I’ll probably sign up for next year’s season subscription.

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There’s a Fine, Fine Line

Posted on July 22, 2010 by djnpub

This evening I saw my first Broadway musical, Avenue Q, at the Lansburgh Theater. So Funny. It was basically like Sesame Street, pitched at an adult audience … along with a mixture of puppets, people and monsters. It focused on the travails of 20-somethings trying to find their place in the world in the post college years. But the real charm of the show was in the very funny, and slightly naughty songs. Beginning with “What do you do with a B.A. in English?” and “It sucks to be me” to “The Internet is for porn,” many of the songs were very funny; and the over dramatization of some of them through the use of the puppet characters just made them better. The first half ended with a beautiful, poignant, song “There’s a fine, fine line (between love and a waste of time).” The second half wasn’t as strong as the first, but still it was a very enjoyable show. I’ll definitely have to see if I can borrow the CD from Andi.

Update: Saw it again tonight (8/11) with Kathy C, and it was just as good as the first time.

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She Was A Whore

Posted on July 1, 2010 by djnpub

Tonight I saw the last play in the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s 2009-10 season, George Bernard Shaw’s Mrs. Warren’s Profession. It starred the well known actress Elizabeth Ashley in the title role. As I’ve come to expect from the STC productions, the acting was superb, particularly from the supporting cast. The sets also were great, particularly for the first two scenes. Those consisted of a an English cottage in the countryside, surrounded by the flowers and landscaping that was so real you wanted to go and stay there. The play itself wasn’t quite what I was expecting. I guess I thought it was going to be a comedy. There were certainly many humorous parts, but it was also counterpointed with some very poignant scenes, and it ended on a serious/sad note. Definitely another enjoyable theater experience in DC. I can’t wait till next year’s season starts.

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Surprise Visit

Posted on June 24, 2010 by djnpub

Stan, Dan, Dave
I got a surprise visit from a couple of cousins that I haven’t seen in more than a decade. Dave was working on one of his rental houses in this area, and Stan and Ruthann were driving up from Florida to Massachusetts. We managed to connect up for dinner. It was great to see them all, and reconnect.

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More Spontaneous Fun

Posted on May 14, 2010 by djnpub

I was on my way back to my apartment after grabbing some lunch, just prior to heading off to the airport, and I stumbled across a fun little event. They had blocked off F street just in front of the National Portrait Gallery, and the Philadelphia Police Department’s precision motorcycle drill team were putting on a demonstration. They drove motorcycles sort of like the Blue Angles fly jets; columns of motorcycles driving at each other, weaving in and out. Very impressive driving. Someone managed to video them and post them on YouTube: video1 video2 video3 video4

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Hamlet

Posted on May 13, 2010 by djnpub

Tonight I saw another great play, Hamlet, at the Folger Shakespeare Library. As with most of the plays I’ve seen lately the acting was superb. My seat was in the second row, right at the foot of the stage. Considering how all the seats at FSL are relatively close to the stage, this was real close. I really enjoyed this production. The set was fixed, all white, styled somewhat like modern architecture … but it worked. With subtle alteration of the lights you could imagine the settings changing. They also made great use of subtle background music and sound effects, all of which were executed by one musician off to the side. This is another production I’d consider seeing again.

My return trip home reminded me of why this is a great place to be living. My walk took be back, right past the capitol steps, under the impressive capitol dome in the dark, through some of the parks, then down Pennsylvania Ave. Even after a year, going that close to the seat of government is pretty awe inspiring.

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Julia Nunes at DC9

Posted on May 6, 2010 by djnpub

Julia NunesI got a big treat tonight. I got to see Julia Nunes perform at a small local club, DC9, and it was wonderful. This place epitomized the term funky. You enter downstairs which appears to be a small, somewhat grungy, bar. The musical performing area was upstairs, in an area about three times as big as my apartment. The stage was an area in the corner raised a few inches relative to the rest of the floor. While there were some chairs and tables towards the back, out of the way, the audience primarily crowed around the stage, right next to the performers. The performers basically had to work their way through the crowd to get to the stage.

The show kicked off with a half hour warm up by Jessica Louise Dye, who did a nice solo set accompanied by guitar. She apparently is the lead vocalist of a local band Lightfoot. Julia came on soon after. She sang and played great, and the audience was very engaged. She seemed to enjoy the enthusiasm of the audience. She’s as friendly and engaging in person as she appears on her videos. She did about an hour set including a number of my favorites. She mentioned that she was rushing through it because I guess in DC minors have a curfew, and there were a few younger folks in the audience. It was very very enjoyable. During part of her set she was accompanied on guitar by her friend Mike. I’m glad I got to hear her perform a full set live, to follow up the one song performance I heard at YouTube live. I know she’s playing in Annapolis in a couple of days. I’d be tempted to see here again.

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