Roger Catlin - Page 5

One may never know what to expect on April Fool's Day, but a one-night-only performance by a Venezuelan-American artist at the GALA Hispanic theatre was certainly one of them.

Couples planning intricate surprise dance moves at their upcoming wedding receptions might as well give up now. Nothing will ever top the astounding artistry and athleticism that is highlighted in the back and forth between the wedded pair in American Ballet Theatre's performance of 'Don Quixote' that caps their annual Kennedy Center residency.

The Kennedy Center's 50th anniversary (whose celebrations have largely been pushed back a year due to the pandemic) coincides with the golden anniversary of the annual residency there of New York's American Ballet Theatre, whose first performance there came the day after the venerable Washington Performing Arts center opened in 1971.

It was a long road to create 'The Cartography Project' - some 20 months, says Kennedy Center president Deborah Rutter - dating back to the national and international uprisings following the murder of George Floyd in May 2020. But, she said, in exploring the role that art and artists can play in social change, 'process is as important as performance.'

'Jesus Christ Superstar' originally ascended more than a half century ago - an audacious creation, written from the philosophical viewpoint of Judas Iscariot.

The pandemic changed the world and it changed art - most immediately in closing places where people would gather for it, for months on end.

Lisa Stephen Friday could have presented the eight semi-autobiographical songs she worked up with her band Lisa Jackson & Girl Friday, just as she once did at a series of Lower East Side clubs in the 90s.

August Wilson was always a font of stories. In addition to the 10 plays of his lauded Pittsburgh Cycle, there were books, essays and poems largely about the African-American experience.

'Heaven and earth' had to be moved in order to bring in an acclaimed dance company from Madrid to cap Fuego Flamenco XVII, the 17th annual Flamenco Festival at the GALA Hispanic Theatre, the theater's executive director Rebecca Medrano announced at its opening.

The 17th Fuego Flamenco Festival at the GALA Hispanic Theatre has opened with a returning favorite, Edwin Aparicio's spectacular autobiographical piece, 'Salvador.'

The racial reckoning coursing through American theaters and arts companies as a result of last summer's social justice uprisings isn't a new thing.

The pandemic has thrown traditional events like the National Symphony Orchestra's annual Labor Day concert for a loop for two years running. Held for years on the West Lawn of the Capitol, it had to be broadcast last year to an audience parked at RFK stadium, watching on screens and listening to their car radios.

Inspired in part by August Wilson's 10-play depiction of Pittsburgh life, Dominique Morisseau embarked on a similar ambition reflecting the Motor City in her 'Detroit Project.'

Dire statistical upticks remind us that we're not quite out of the Pandemic Era. Live theater is still largely virtual; tickets are being sold for the fall but with crossed fingers the performances will actually go on.

It's becoming common for theaters to pause before each production and include, alongside the usual cell phone reminders, a land acknowledgement, recognizing indigenous people that came before.

You can tell things are getting better in the world just by watching the Round House Theatre's latest production. It's the last of their filmed productions, for one thing. At its start, more people are seen coming into the theater to react to the performance - some 25 instead of the five or 10 in past productions. It's not strictly a solo performance on stage, as others have been - there's a backing band that even sometimes interacts.

The biggest surprise about the surprise program at the Kennedy Center by the National Symphony Orchestra under the direction fo Gianandrea Noseda may have been that it was happening at all.

The penultimate program in the Kennedy Center's Young Audiences streamed season features the music of Baltimore-born and D.C. raised singer Maimouna Youssef.

In the most trying of times, the Round House Theatre has managed to put together a pretty remarkable season, entirely online but leaning on one-person showcases that eliminated the need of distancing among cast members.

In Mario Vargas Llosa's novel about his early days as a writer, his main character tries and tries again to get his work right. To present a live production of that tale, 'La Tía Julia y el escribidor (Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter)' at the GALA Hispanic Theatre required the same patience and determination.