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8/20/2019 Metro Weekly - 07-23-15 - Rufus Wainwright

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EDITORIAL

EDITOR-IN-CHIEFRandy Shulman

GUEST ART DIRECTORChristopher Cunetto

ART DIRECTORTodd Franson

NEWS & BUSINESS EDITORJohn Riley

ASSISTANT EDITORRhuaridh Marr

CONTRIBUTING EDITORDoug Rule

SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHERSWard Morrison, Julian Vankim

CONTRIBUTING ILLUSTRATORScott G. Brooks

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Sean Bugg, Christian Gerard, Connor J. Hogan,Troy Petenbrink, Kate Wingfield

WEBMASTERDavid Uy

PRODUCTION ASSISTANTJulian Vankim

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PUBLISHERRandy Shulman

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DISTRIBUTION MANAGERDennis Havrilla

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COVER PHOTOGRAPHYTina Tyrell

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All material appearing in Metro Weekly is protected by federal copyright law and may not be

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JULY 23, 2015Volume 22 / Issue 12

NEWS 6

BOY SCOUT BAN NEARS ITS END by John Riley

8 THE SPACE BETWEEN US

by Sean Bugg

10 COMMUNITY CALENDAR

FEATURE 14 R UFUS WAINWRIGHT: THE MAN, HIS

MUSIC, AND HIS LEGACY

by Connor J. Hogan

17 R UFUS WAINWRIGHT: A TIMELINE

by Connor J. Hogan

19 EMIL DE COU ON R UFUS WANWRIGHT

OUT ON THE TOWN 20 LAMB CHOPS

by Doug Rule

22 V OCAL CHORDS

by Doug Rule

24

LITERARY OFFERINGS

by John Riley

FILM 27 ORAL FIXATION

by Rhuaridh Marr

GAMES 29 BEAUTIFUL MIND

by Rhuaridh Marr

HEALTH 31 HOT BODS

by Kate Wingfield

NIGHTLIFE 35 BARE AT COBALT

photography by Ward Morrison

SCENE 43 PRIDE SPLASH & R IDE AT SIX FLAGS

photography by Ward Morrison

46 LAST WORD


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Boy Scout Ban Nears its End BSA Executive Board expected to lift current ban on

openly gay adult leaders in coming months

A marcher in San Diego’s 2013 pride parade

WE MUST DEAL WITH THE WORLD AS IT IS, not

as we might wish it to be,” said Robert Gates, thepresident of Boy Scouts of America (BSA). “The status

quo in our movement’s membership standards cannot be sustained.”Speaking at the BSA’s national meeting in Atlanta earlier this year,

Gates was referencing the Scouts’ ban on gay adult members.“We cannot ignore growing internal challenges to our current

membership policy from some councils,” he continued. “Nor can we

ignore the social, political and juridical changes taking place in our

country — changes taking place at a pace over this past year no oneanticipated.”

Although BSA did not take any actiton to lift the ban at the time,

the remarks by Gates — the former U.S. Secretary of Defense andCIA chief — foreshadowed what was to come. On July 10, the BSA’s

executive committee unanimously approved a resolution that wouldallow openly gay adults to serve as Scout leaders and parent volun-

teers. BSA previously lifted a similar ban prohibiting gay Scouts from

participating in the organization in 2013.However, while the resolution would allow openly gay adults,

it also contains provisions that allow Scout troops chartered tochurches or other religiously-affiliated institutions to set their own

adult leadership standards. That means they’ll be able to continue

discriminating against LGBT people by citing religious objections.

R I C H M A C K E Y

In any case, the resolution must still be ratified by the National

Executive Board on July 27 before it can go into effect, but is expectedto be approved.

It is precisely that expected ratification that has created a politicalstir over the past week, with some social conservatives weighing in to

decry the potential lifting of any ban on gay adult leaders.First up was presidential candidate Gov. Scott Walker (R-Wisc.),

himself a former Eagle Scout whose two sons were also active in BSA.

“I have had a lifelong commitment to the Scouts and support

the previous membership policy because it protected children andadvanced Scout values,” Walker said on the campaign trail lastTuesday. His comment was reported by The Independent Journal

Review, a conservative website.But Walker eventually walked back those comments after receiv-

ing criticism from various LGBT rights groups — among them theHuman Rights Campaign — that decried the comments as relying

on stereotypes of gay adults as child predators. Walker later said he

was not pushing to keep the ban, saying it was “up to the Boy Scouts”whether to keep it in place and further clarifying his comments about

“protection.”“The protection was not a physical protection,” Walker was quot-

ed as saying by The New York Times. Rather, it was about “protecting

them from being involved in the very thing you’re talking about right

L G B TNews Now online at MetroWeekly.comRepublicans back Cuccinelli for Virginia governorGroup fears kindergartens will start teaching anal sex

by John Riley


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LGBTNews


now, the political and media discussion about it, instead of just focus-ing on what Scouts is about, which is about camping and citizenship

and things of that nature.”In contrast to his rival Walker, presidential candidate and former

Gov. Rick Perry (R-Texas) has adopted a more hardline stance, refus-

ing to apologize for a statement he made in a 2008 book.“Openly active gays, particular advocates, present a problem,”

Perry wrote On My Honor. “Because gay activism is central to theirlives. It would unavoidably be a topic of conversation within a scout

troop. This would distract from the mission of scouting, characterbuilding, not sex education.”

In an interview on NBC News’ Meet the Press, Perry defendedhis previous statement. “I believe that scouting would be better off, if

they didn’t have openly gay scoutmasters,” he told moderator Chuck

Todd.Meanwhile, the socially conservative activist organization

Concerned Women for America (CWA) has begun circulating an“open letter” to Gates that people opposed to the policy change can

sign. In the letter, CWA references a previous Supreme Court deci-sion, Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, which found that BSA’s decision

to expel openly gay Scoutmaster James Dale was protected by the

group’s constitutional right to freedom of association.

“As a strong believe in the time-honored, time-tested institutionthat is the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), I’m urging you to remaintrue to BSA’s founding principles and values as they relate to ‘sexual

orientation,’” the letter reads. “The Supreme Court affirmed yourright in 2000 to exclude openly ‘gay’ and lesbian adults from partici-

pating in your scouting program. Clearly, your call to end the ban on‘gay’ Scout leaders is more about bending to cultural pressure than

taking the moral high ground.

“Furthermore, those pushing for a change in the current policyare putting political correctness and greed above child safety. Such

a change will force parents and community leaders to reconsidertheir involvement in an organization that is respected, trusted, and

morally centered.”

But even supporters of lifting the ban on openly gay adult lead-ers are echoing some of the same themes touched upon by Walker

and Perry, specifically that the debate over allowing LGBT adultsdistracts from the BSA’s mission.

“I’m pleased that they’re resolving it and putting it behind them,”Will Stone, the Scoutmaster of Troop 52, representing Northwest

D.C. and Chevy Chase, says of the national executive committee’sactions.

Notably, Troop 52 had one of the first openly gay Scouts, PascalTessier, achieve Eagle rank, Scouting’s highest honor, in 2014, after

the ban on gay Scouts was lifted. Tessier’s older brother, Lucien, is

also gay and achieved Eagle rank, but did so while the ban on gayScouts was still technically in effect. Even before the ban was lifted,

several other members of Troop 52 and their families were vocal intheir support for lifting the ban.

Stone says that all adults, regardless of sexual orientation, havebeen and continue to be carefully screened and must undergo youth

protection training before they can be an active Scout leader or vol-

unteer with the troop. That screening process will not change, evenif the National Executive Board lifts the ban.

For Stone, knowing what someone’s sexual orientation just hasn’tmattered.

“I never asked about someone’s sexual orientation,” he says ofthe policy change. “It’s a good thing it’s being changed, so we can put

it aside and move on, because it’s been a huge distraction. Now thatNational [BSA leadership] has the issue behind them, we can focus

on what we’re supposed to be doing.”l

OPINION Sean Bugg

The Space Between UsWhite gays have a responsibility to combat

the racism still inherent in society

SO, HERE I SIT, STILL BASKING IN THE GLOW of themarriage victory, my Facebook feed liberally sprinkled withrainbow profile pics, and enjoying the unexpected bonus vic-

tory of the EEOC declaring employment discrimination against LGBTpeople to be unlawful. I’m watching the Republican presidential herdgenuflect to the anti-gay base, but it feels mostly convictionless sinceeven they know which way the wind is blowing.

Everything’s coming up gay these days. But the glow is starting tofade, as I keep looking at how fast LGBT rights have been won — froma historical perspective, not a personal one — yet we still struggle toacknowledge, much less fix, the embedded racism in our society.

I’ve always liked to think of myself as anti-racist. Of course, evenactual racists often like to think of themselves as anti-racists, so it’s

not that noble of a thought. But over the past few years I’ve spent a lotmore time reading and listening to the history and experience of blackAmericans, and I’ve realized not just how little I know but how muchracist crap had actually sunk into my head over the course of my life.

In his new book, Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coatesdescribes the America white people live in as “the Dream,” the post-racial place where the past is elided and the present ignored: “[A] greatnumber of educators spoke of ‘personal responsibility’ in a countryauthored and sustained by a criminal irresponsibility. The point of thislanguage of ‘intention’ and ‘personal responsibility’ is broad exonera-tion. Mistakes were made. Bodies were broken. People were enslaved.We meant well. We tried our best. ‘Good intention’ is a hall passthrough history, a sleeping pill that ensures the Dream.”

I was raised by my parents to not be racist. I grew up white in a

country that guaranteed racism would worm its way into me. The sameas no one ever sat me down and explicitly told me homosexuals wereevil yet I still got the message, I got the message about blacks. Black sec-tions of towns were places to be avoided. Young black men were to befeared. Black women were welfare queens. Your black friend? Not likethe other blacks.

It’s insidious and corrupting and when you finally realize howmuch of it is there it’s deeply shameful. Not that I’m asking anyone tofeel sorry for me or other white people — we weren’t the black childrengrowing up with those same messages. But it makes me angry to real-ize I was complacent and complicit, that my culture created a spacebetween us and them, white and black, dreamers and others, an emptyspace that contradicts every lesson we tell ourselves about our nation,our culture, our history.

Black people — or any people of color — don’t bear the responsi-bility for finding a solution to racism. That’s something white peopleshould be doing. The fact is that a century and a half after a civil war toend slavery and decades after a civil rights movement to ensure equaltreatment under law, we’ve failed. Racism is inherent in the system. Toacknowledge that is fundamental to having any hope of progress.

And I hope white LGBT people will step up and be a part of thesolution. While our experiences of discrimination aren’t directly analo-gous to racism, homophobia and the AIDS epidemic have shown usthe damage embedded hate can do to individuals and communities.We may have challenges left in our own communities but we have aresponsibility to push beyond ourselves. We can’t come this far only tostop and immerse ourselves into a gay version of “the Dream.”

Sean Bugg is a writer and former editor of Metro Weekly. Follow himon Facebook (/seanbugg) and Twitter (@seanbugg).l


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THE DC CENTER’S INTERN PARTYoffers a chance for those interning inD.C. for LGBTQ-related organizationsthis summer to socialize and meetnew people. 6-9 p.m. 2000 14th St.NW, Suite 105. For more information, visit thedccenter.org.

WOMEN IN THEIR TWENTIES, a

social discussion and activity groupfor LBT women, meets on the secondand fourth Fridays of each monthat The DC Center. Social activity tofollow the meeting. 8-9:30 p.m. 200014th St. NW, Suite 105. For moreinformation, visit thedccenter.org.

WEEKLY EVENTS

ANDROMEDA TRANSCULTURALHEALTH offers free HIV testing, 9-5p.m., and HIV services (by appoint-ment). 202-291-4707, andromeda-transculturalhealth.org.

DC AQUATICS CLUB (DCAC) prac-tice session at Hains Point, 927 OhioDr. SW. 6:30-8 p.m. Visit swimdcac.org.

GAY MARRIED MEN’SASSOCIATION (GAMMA) is a con-fidential support group for men whoare gay, bisexual, questioning andwho are married or involved witha woman, that meets regularly inDupont Circle at 7:30 p.m. and alsoNorthern Virginia and Maryland. Formore information: GAMMAinDC.org.

HIV TESTING at Whitman-WalkerHealth. At the Elizabeth Taylor

Medical Center, 1701 14th St. NW,9 a.m.-5 p.m. At the Max RobinsonCenter, 2301 MLK Jr. Ave. SE, 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. For an appointment call202-745-7000. Visit whitman-walker.org.

METROHEALTH CENTER offersfree, rapid HIV testing. Appointmentneeded. 1012 14th St. NW, Suite 700.202-638-0750.

PROJECT STRIPES hosts LGBT-affirming social group for ages 11-24.4-6 p.m. 1419 Columbia Road NW.Contact Tamara, 202-319-0422, layc-dc.org.

9 a.m.-5 p.m. At the Max RobinsonCenter, 2301 MLK Jr. Ave. SE, 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. For an appointment call202-745-7000. Visit whitman-walker.org.

IDENTITY offers free and confidentialHIV testing in Gaithersburg, 414 EastDiamond Ave., and in Takoma Park,

7676 New Hampshire Ave., Suite411. Walk-ins 2-6 p.m. For appoint-ments other hours, call Gaithersburg,301-300-9978, or Takoma Park, 301-

422-2398.


SMYAL offers free HIV Testing, 3-5p.m., by appointment and walk-in, for youth 21 and younger. 202-567-3155or [email protected].

US HELPING US hosts a Narcotics Anonymous Meeting, 6:30-7:30 p.m.,3636 Georgia Ave. NW. The group isindependent of UHU. 202-446-1100.

WOMEN’S LEADERSHIPINSTITUTE for young LBTQ women,13-21, interested in leadership devel-opment. 5-6:30 p.m. SMYAL YouthCenter, 410 7th St. SE. 202-567-3163,[email protected].

FRIDAY, JULY 24CENTER AGING, the group for LGBTseniors, launches its first monthlyCenter Aging Lunch Event, held onthe fourth Friday of every month.Lunch is potluck, so bring a dish of your own to share. 12-2 p.m. The DCCenter, 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105.For more information, visit fb.com/ centeraging.

LGB PSYCHOTHERAPY GROUP for adults in Montgomery Countyoffers a safe space to explore comingout and issues of identity. 10-11:30a.m. 16220 S. Frederick Rd., Suite 512,Gaithersburg, Md. For more informa-tion, visit thedccenter.org.

THURSDAY, JULY 23Join ¡Empoderate! and the Latino

LGBT Task Force for a “Know

Your Rights Workshop” by TheNetwork for Victim Recovery of D.C.The presentation will deal with therights of victims of criminal, civil

and Title IX violations and servicesavailable to them. 5-6 p.m. 3055 Mt.Pleasant St. NW. For more informa-tion, contact Eric Perez, 202-682-2245 or [email protected].

METRO DC PFLAG, a support groupfor parents, family members andfriends of LGBT youth, meets on thefourth Thursday of every month.English and Spanish-speaking par-ents welcome. 6:30-8 p.m. 3055 Mt.Pleasant St. NW. For more informa-tion, contact Jesus Chavez, [email protected].

WEEKLY EVENTS

ANDROMEDA TRANSCULTURALHEALTH offers free HIV testing, 9-5p.m., and HIV services (by appoint-ment). Call 202-291-4707, or visitandromedatransculturalhealth.org.

DC AQUATICS CLUB (DCAC)practice session at Takoma AquaticCenter, 300 Van Buren St. NW. 7:30-9p.m. swimdcac.org.

DC LAMBDA SQUARES gay andlesbian square-dancing group featuresmainstream through advanced squaredancing at the National City Christian

Church, 5 Thomas Circle NW, 7-9:30p.m. Casual dress. 301-257-0517,dclambdasquares.org.

The DULLES TRIANGLES Northern Virginia social group meets for happyhour at Sheraton in Reston, 11810Sunrise Valley Drive, second-floor bar, 7-9 p.m. All welcome. dullestri-angles.com.

HIV TESTING at Whitman-WalkerHealth. At the Elizabeth TaylorMedical Center, 1701 14th St. NW,

Metro Weekly’s Community Calendar highlights important events in the D.C.-area

LGBT community, from alternative social events to volunteer opportunities.

Event information should be sent by email to [email protected].

Deadline for inclusion is noon of the Friday before Thursday’s publication.

Questions about the calendar may be directed to the

Metro Weekly office at 202-638-6830 or

the calendar email address.

LGBTCommunityCalendarSMYAL’S REC NIGHT provides asocial atmosphere for GLBT and ques-tioning youth, featuring dance parties, vogue nights, movies and games. Moreinfo, [email protected].

SMYAL offers free HIV Testing, 3-6p.m., by appointment and walk-in, for youth 21 and younger. Youth Center,410 7th St. SE. 202-567-3155, testing@

smyal.org.

SATURDAY, JULY 25BURGUNDY CRESCENT, a gay vol-unteer organization, volunteers todayfor Food and Friends. To participate, visit burgundycrescent.org.

CHRYSALIS arts & culture group visits two DuPont family estates nearWilmington, Del. About $50 for trans-portation and admissions, plus lunchat museum cafe and dinner in Havrede Grace, Md. Carpool at 9 a.m. from

Forest Glen Metro Station, late return.Craig, 202-462-0535. craighowell1@ verizon.net.

DEFEND YOURSELF offers a series ofself-defense workshops for cisgenderwomen, teen girls, and transgenderor gender non-conforming womenand men ages 16+, offered by BrandiCarlile’s Lookign Out Foundation. 2-5p.m. 16th and R Streets, NW. Specificlocation provided upon registration.To register, call 301-608-3708 or [email protected]. For moreinformation, visit defendyourself.org/ find-a-class.

The DC Center holds an introductoryLGBTQ ASL CLASS. 2-3:30 p.m. 200014th St. NW, Suite 105. For more infor-mation, visit thedccenter.org.

The DC Center hosts a read-

ing and discussion of SHANNONGILREATH’S THE END OFSTRAIGHT SUPREMACY:

REALIZING GAY LIBERATION . Hewill also discuss arguments made inhis forthcoming book, After Marriage: An Agenda for Action. 12-2 p.m. 200014th St. NW, Suite 105. For more infor-mation, visit thedccenter.org.

THE SPOTLIGHT PROJECT, an edu-cational nonprofits for LGBTQ peopleand allies, offers a series of classesfocusing on Life Skills and Art at TheDC Center. 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. 2000 14thSt. NW, Suite 105. For more informa-tion, email [email protected] or visit spotlightproject.us.

WEEKLY EVENTS

ANDROMEDA TRANSCULTURALHEALTH offers free HIV testing, 9-5p.m., and HIV services (by appoint-ment). 202-291-4707 or andromeda-transculturalhealth.org.


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BET MISHPACHAH, founded bymembers of the LGBT community,holds Saturday morning Shabbatservices, 10 a.m., followed by Kiddushluncheon. Services in DCJCCCommunity Room, 1529 16th St. NW. betmish.org.

BRAZILIAN GLBT GROUP, includingothers interested in Brazilian culture,meets. For location/time, email bra-

[email protected].

DC AQUATICS CLUB (DCAC) prac-tice session at Hains Point, 972 OhioDr., SW. 8:30-10 a.m. Visit swimdcac.org.

DC FRONT RUNNERS running/ walking/social club welcomes alllevels for exercise in a fun and sup-portive environment, socializingafterward. Meet 9:30 a.m., 23rd & PStreets NW, for a walk; or 10 a.m. forfun run. dcfrontrunners.org.

DC SENTINELS basketball teammeets at Turkey Thicket Recreation

Center, 1100 Michigan Ave. NE, 2-4p.m. For players of all levels, gay orstraight. teamdcbasketball.org.

DIGNITYUSA sponsors Mass forLGBT community, family and friends.6:30 p.m., Immanuel Church-on-the-Hill, 3606 Seminary Road, Alexandria. All welcome. For more info, visit dig-nitynova.org.

GAY LANGUAGE CLUB discussescritical languages and foreign lan-guages. 7 p.m. Nellie’s, 900 U St. NW.RVSP preferred. [email protected].

IDENTITY offers free and confidentialHIV testing in Takoma Park, 7676New Hampshire Ave., Suite 411.Walk-ins 12-3 p.m. For appointmentsother hours, call 301-422-2398.

SUNDAY, JULY 26ADVENTURING outdoors grouphikes strenuous 7.5 miles with 1800feet of elevation gain to see water-falls in Shenandoah National Park.Dinner and/or blackberry ice creamat Skyland Resort to follow. Bringplenty of beverages, lunch, bug spray,

sunscreen, about $20 for fees andrefreshments. Carpool at 9 a.m. fromKiss & Ride lot of East Falls ChurchMetro Station. Craig, 202-462-0535.adventuring.org.

WEEKLY EVENTS

LGBT-inclusive ALL SOULSMEMORIAL EPISCOPAL CHURCH celebrates Low Mass at 8:30 a.m.,High Mass at 11 a.m. 2300 Cathedral Ave. NW. 202-232-4244, allsoulsdc.org.

BETHEL CHURCH-DC progressiveand radically inclusive church holdsservices at 11:30 a.m. 2217 Minnesota Ave. SE. 202-248-1895, betheldc.org.

DC AQUATICS CLUB (DCAC) prac-tice session at Hains Point, 972 OhioDr., SW. 9:30-11 a.m. Visit swimdcac.org.

DIGNITYUSA offers Roman Catholic

Mass for the LGBT community. 6p.m., St. Margaret’s Church, 1820Connecticut Ave. NW. All welcome.Sign interpreted. For more info, v isitdignitynova.org.

FIRST CONGREGATIONAL UNITEDCHURCH OF CHRIST welcomes allto 10:30 a.m. service, 945 G St. NW.firstuccdc.org or 202-628-4317.

FRIENDS MEETING OFWASHINGTON meets for worship,10:30 a.m., 2111 Florida Ave. NW,Quaker House Living Room (next toMeeting House on Decatur Place), 2ndfloor. Special welcome to lesbians andgays. Handicapped accessible fromPhelps Place gate. Hearing assistance.quakersdc.org.

HOPE UNITED CHURCH OF CHRISTwelcomes GLBT community for wor-ship. 10:30 a.m., 6130 Old TelegraphRoad, Alexandria. hopeucc.org.

INSTITUTE FOR SPIRITUALDEVELOPMENT, God-centered newage church & learning center. SundayServices and Workshops event. 5419Sherier Place NW. isd-dc.org.

Join LINCOLN CONGREGATIONAL

TEMPLE – UNITED CHURCH OFCHRIST for an inclusive, loving andprogressive faith community everySunday. 11 a.m. 1701 11th Street NW,near R in Shaw/Logan neighborhood.lincolntemple.org.

LUTHERAN CHURCH OFREFORMATION invites all to Sundayworship at 8:30 or 11 a.m. Childcare isavailable at both services. WelcomingLGBT people for 25 years. 212 EastCapitol St. NE. reformationdc.org

METROPOLITAN COMMUNITYCHURCH OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA

services at 11 a.m., led by Rev. OnettaBrooks. Children’s Sunday School, 11a.m. 10383 Democracy Lane, Fairfax.703-691-0930, mccnova.com.

METROPOLITAN COMMUNITYCHURCH OF WASHINGTON, D.C. services at 9 a.m. (ASL interpreted)and 11 a.m. Children’s Sunday Schoolat 11 a.m. 474 Ridge St. NW. 202-638-7373, mccdc.com.


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NATIONAL CITY CHRISTIANCHURCH, inclusive church withGLBT fellowship, offers gospel wor-ship, 8:30 a.m., and traditional wor-ship, 11 a.m. 5 Thomas Circle NW.202-232-0323, nationalcitycc.org.

NEW HSV-2 SOCIAL ANDSUPPORT GROUP for gay men liv-ing in the DC metro area. This groupwill be meeting once a month. Forinformation on location and time,email to [email protected].

RIVERSIDE BAPTIST CHURCH,a Christ-centered, interracial, wel-coming-and-affirming church, offersservice at 10 a.m. 680 I St. SW. 202-554-4330, riverside-dc.org.

ST. STEPHEN AND THEINCARNATION, an “interracial,multi-ethnic Christian Community”offers services in English, 8 a.m. and10:30 a.m., and in Spanish at 5:15 p.m.1525 Newton St. NW. 202-232-0900,

saintstephensdc.org.

UNITARIAN CHURCH OFARLINGTON, an LGBTQ welcoming-and-affirming congregation, offersservices at 10 a.m. Virginia RainbowUU Ministry. 4444 Arlington Blvd.uucava.org.

UNITARIAN UNIVERSALISTCHURCH OF SILVER SPRING invites LGBTQ families and individu-als of all creeds and cultures to jointhe church. Services 9:15 and 11:15a.m. 10309 New Hampshire Ave.uucss.org.

UNIVERSALIST NATIONALMEMORIAL CHURCH, a welcom-ing and inclusive church. GLBTInterweave social/service groupmeets monthly. Services at 11 a.m.,Romanesque sanctuary. 1810 16th St.NW. 202-387-3411, universalist.org.

MONDAY, JULY 27CENTER MILITARY WORKINGGROUP of The DC Center for LGBT veterans, servicemembers and theirfamilies, holds a meeting to discussupcoming initiatives. 7-8:30 p.m.

2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. Formore information and to RSVP, EricPerez, 202-682-2245 or [email protected].

SAGE METRO DC holds a movienight, screening the film Ma Vieen Rose, about a transgender girlwho can’t wait to grow up to be awoman. 6:30-8 p.m. The Residencesat Thomas Circle, 1330 Massachusetts Ave. NW. For more information, con-tact [email protected].

WEEKLY EVENTS

DC AQUATICS CLUB (DCAC) prac-tice session at Hains Point, 927 OhioDr. SW. 7-8:30 p.m. Visit swimdcac.org.

DC SCANDALS RUGBY holdspractice, 6:30-8:30 p.m. GarrisonElementary, 1200 S St. NW. dcscan-

dals.wordpress.com.

GETEQUAL meets 6:30-8 p.m. atQuaker House, 2111 Florida Ave. [email protected].

HIV Testing at WHITMAN-WALKERHEALTH. At the Elizabeth TaylorMedical Center, 1701 14th St. NW,9 a.m.-5 p.m. At the Max RobinsonCenter, 2301 MLK Jr. Ave. SE, 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. For an appointment call 202-745-7000. Visit whitman-walker.org.

KARING WITH INDIVIDUALITY(K.I.) Services, 3333 Duke St., Alexandria, offers free “rapid” HIV

testing and counseling, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.703-823-4401.

METROHEALTH CENTER offers free,rapid HIV testing. No appointmentneeded. 11 a.m.-7 p.m. 1012 14th St.NW, Suite 700. 202-638-0750.

NOVASALUD offers free HIV testing.5-7 p.m. 2049 N. 15th St., Suite 200, Arlington. Appointments: 703-789-

4467.

SMYAL offers free HIV Testing, 3-5p.m., by appointment and walk-in, for youth 21 and younger. Youth Center,

410 7th St. SE. 202-567-3155 or [email protected].

THE DC CENTER hosts Coffee Drop-In for the Senior LGBT Community.10 a.m.-noon. 2000 14th St. NW. 202-682-2245, thedccenter.org.

US HELPING US hosts a black gaymen’s evening affinity group. 3636Georgia Ave. NW. 202-446-1100.

WASHINGTON WETSKINS WaterPolo Team practices 7-9 p.m. Takoma Aquatic Center, 300 Van Buren St.NW. Newcomers with at least basicswimming ability always welcome.

Tom, 703-299-0504, [email protected], wetskins.org.

Whitman-Walker Health HIV/AIDS SUPPORT GROUP for newlydiagnosed individuals, meets 7 p.m.Registration required. 202-939-7671,[email protected].


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OVEREATERS ANONYMOUS—LGBT focused meeting everyTuesday, 7 p.m. St. George’s EpiscopalChurch, 915 Oakland Ave., Arlington, just steps from Virginia Square

Metro. For more info. call Dick, 703-521-1999. Handicapped accessible.Newcomers welcome. liveandletli- [email protected].

SMYAL offers free HIV Testing, 3-5p.m., by appointment and walk-in, for youth 21 and younger. Youth Center,410 7th St. SE. 202-567-3155, [email protected].

SUPPORT GROUP FOR LGBTQ YOUTH ages 13-21 meets at SMYAL,410 7th St. SE, 5-6:30 p.m. CathyChu, 202-567-3163, [email protected].

US HELPING US hosts a supportgroup for black gay men 40 and older.7-9 p.m., 3636 Georgia Ave. NW. 202-446-1100.

Rainbow Tuesday LGBT Clinic, Alexandria Health Department, 4480King St. 703-746-4986 or text 571-214-9617. [email protected].

HIV TESTING at Whitman-WalkerHealth. At the Elizabeth TaylorMedical Center, 1701 14th St. NW,9 a.m.-5 p.m. At the Max RobinsonCenter, 2301 MLK Jr. Ave. SE, 9 a.m.-

4:30 p.m. For an appointment call202-745-7000. Visit whitman-walker.org.

THE HIV WORKING GROUP of THEDC CENTER hosts “Packing Party,”where volunteers assemble safe-sexkits of condoms and lube. 7 p.m.,Green Lantern, 1335 Green CourtNW. thedccenter.org.

IDENTITY offers free and confidentialHIV testing in Gaithersburg, 414 EastDiamond Ave., and in Takoma Park,7676 New Hampshire Ave., Suite 411.Walk-ins 2-6 p.m. For appointmentsother hours, call Gaithersburg at

301-300-9978 or Takoma Park at 301-422-2398.

KARING WITH INDIVIDUALITY(K.I.) SERVICES, at 3333 Duke St., Alexandria, offers free “rapid” HIVtesting and counseling, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.703-823-4401.

TUESDAY, JULY 28The DC Center hosts a roundtable of

its GENDER QUEER DISCUSSIONGROUP. 7-8:30 p.m. 2000 14th St.NW, Suite 105. For more information, visit thedccenter.org.

WEEKLY EVENTS


ASIANS AND FRIENDS weekly din-ner in Dupont/Logan Circle area, 6:30p.m. [email protected], afwashington.net.

DC AQUATICS CLUB (DCAC)practice session at Takoma AquaticCenter, 300 Van Buren St. NW. 7:30-9p.m. swimdcac.org.

DC FRONT RUNNERS running/ walking/social club serving greaterD.C.’s LGBT community and allieshosts an evening run/walk. dcfront-runners.org.

THE GAY MEN’S HEALTHCOLLABORATIVE offers free HIVtesting and STI screening and treat-ment every Tuesday. 5-6:30 p.m.

13

LGBTCommunityCalendar

METROWEEKLY.COM JULY 23, 2015

Whitman-Walker Health’s GAYMEN’S HEALTH AND WELLNESS/STD CLINIC opens at 6 p.m., 1701 14thSt. NW. Patients are seen on walk-in basis. No-cost screening for HIV,syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia.Hepatitis and herpes testing availablefor fee. whitman-walker.org.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 29THE LAMBDA BRIDGE CLUB meetsfor Duplicate Bridge. 7:30 p.m. DignityCenter, 721 8th St. SE, across fromthe Marine Barracks. No reservationneeded. 703-407-6540 if you need apartner.

WEEKLY EVENTS

AD LIB, a group for freestyle conversation, meets about 6:30-6 p.m.,Steam, 17th and R NW. All welcome.For more information, call FaustoFernandez, 703-732-5174.



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THE MAN, HIS MUSIC,

AND HIS

LEGACY.B Y C O N N O R J . H O G A NP H O T O G R A P H Y B Y T I N A T Y R E L L


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EDONIST, GENIUS, FATHER, BROTHER, ADDICT, SODOMITE, LEGEND: RUFUS WAINWRIGHT HAS BEEN CALLED A LOT

things. But mundane? It’s just not an adjective you can ascribe to the modern day composer. With a tuft of Oscar Wildean hair and a wit

sharp as that 19th century poet, Wainwright evokes a time when to be gay was to change the world through art, music, and language.

But today, when gay culture is synonymous with Glee or has been summed up in a trite hashtag, what has changed? With over a decademusic to his credit, Wainwright has always courted the mainstream, but refuses to compromise himself for pop star status. It’s thiswavering confidence that draws his fans back time and time again.

Now married, Wainwright is instead focusing on grander projects to leave his own legacy — beyond that of his daughter, ofurse. The transition has not been easy. With his opera, Prima Donna, a difference of opinion over the libretto forced a wedge

tween the musician and the Metropolitan Opera. But Wainwright, not one to back down from a challenge, has pressed forward

d will be joining the National Symphony Orchestra at Wolf Trap on July 31 to serenade us with his music: some old and some new.

ETRO WEEKLY: Twelve years ago, you told us that the next thing you’re going to make is an opera. Now that you’ve written Prima Donna , howyou feel?

FUS WAINWRIGHT: I’m definitely a man of my word, at least artistically. If I have an idea in my head, I tend to stick with it. Although Ive changed my mind on things before. Like on gay marriage. I never really thought I’d have a child. But on a creative level, I’m extremely

nacious.Prima Donna just recently aired on the BBC, the libretto is going to be released in the fall, and there will be concerts of the opera around

H


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the world. It’s been a big success, people want to hear it, people

want to sing it, and orchestras want to play it. It’s very excitingand very scary. When I first started writing songs, I worked tire-

lessly at my piano, and my singing, and I still do that. But overthe years it’s gotten easier, now I am handed things on a silver

platter. Sometimes, I miss the raw turmoil that entails.MW: You mentioned you changed your mind on marriage. What do

you think about the recent Supreme Court decision? [ This inter-view was conducted on June 26, the day of the ruling.]

WAINWRIGHT: I think it’s incredible. This whole week has been

such an incredible milestone. Both with upholding Obama’shealthcare decision, the housing decision, gay marriage. It’s a

great time to talk about gay marriage. But ultimately, I’m in awonderful relationship and I’m happy to know that some old

people in dresses like what I’m doing.MW: What were your thoughts in the past?

WAINWRIGHT: Initially, I was against gay marriage, because I

felt strongly that gay men had created their own intense andhigh culture — whether it was Oscar Wilde, or Andy Warhol

or Tchaikovsky. In my opinion, the most sophisticated culturalmovements have been in the gay male community. I didn’t want

to lose that. I didn’t want to lose the sexual freedom, but I heldstrongly to that sense of culture. That being said, I’ve been mar-

ried to my husband for three years, and in a relationship for ten

years. Beyond being gay, beyond being a man, I am a humanbeing, I’m a living soul. And being united with another soul

in the eyes of the community is a very important concept thatI have to adopt. I am getting older, and I can’t just go to bars

anymore.MW: Are you worried that marriage will homogenize the gay com-

munity?

WAINWRIGHT: Gay marriage will not be the same as straight mar-

riage. There won’t be a way to disassociate from the history

we’ve had. We’re not just going to become straight. We have

tasted from the poison chalice. Marriage is a

difficult prospect for anyone whether you’regay, straight, transgender. It’s constantly

evolving.I grew up in the days of danger. When

I was young, it was late ’80s, early ’90s.Last gasp of the very clandestine world of

being a gay man. It was very intense. People

were dying of AIDS. I experienced that asa young person. For better or worse, it was

very inspiring. But now it’s a different world— new challenges, new tragedies and new

triumphs.MW: Speaking of challenges, in addition to

marriage you’re also a father. Your daughter Viva enjoys two sets of musical genes, doesn’t

she?WAINWRIGHT: Her grandfather is LeonardCohen. Both my parents are musical kings

and queens. My father [Loudon WainwrightIII] was a singer, and so was my mother [Kate

McGarrigle]. So to me it seemed really natu-ral to have a musical family. But her main

residence is with my friend, Lorca [Cohen].That being said, when we began this journey,it was very old-fashioned. I thought “You

know, we’re all from Montreal, we’re all frommusic, why don’t we join forces?”MW: So when is her first album coming out?

JULY 23, 2015 METROWEEKLY.COM

“GAY MARR IAGE WILL NOT BE THE

SAME AS STRA IGHT MARRIAGE . THERE

WON’T BE A WAY TO D ISASSOCIATEFROM THE H ISTORY WE’VE HA D. WE’RE

NOT JUST GOING TO BECOME

STRAIGHT. WE HAVE TASTEDFROM THE POISON CHALICE.”

WAINWRIGHT: [ Laughs. ] Whenever she comes from a show of

mine, she comes right up to me and says “Okay, now it’s myturn.” I wouldn’t hold it against her if she did write an album.

MW: Isn’t there a song on Out of the Game about her?

WAINWRIGHT: Yeah, “Montauk.” I wrote it about her when she

was just born. It was looking forward to times when she would

come and visit me at my house in Montauk. It was about settingthe frame of a beautiful painting that we could all eventually

walk into. But now we’ve done it. We’ve been in that picture.MW: As one of the first openly gay artists, what are your thoughts

on the current influx of gay musicians?

WAINWRIGHT: You know, there was some article about Adam

Lambert saying he was the first gay person to be signed to a

major label, which is not true, because I was signed first. I wastrying to get in touch with them to make this correction, and

they insisted I was in the closet when my first album came out.When I started my album, I said I was gay, but I’ve always been

more concerned with my music. Let’s talk about boys until thecows come home, but it’s really about the art. Adam Lambert

really focused on his being gay because it was kind of his thing.It’s a difficult question, because on one hand, being gay and

being out in the Western world, that’s a privilege. You can dothat. You’re not arrested or killed, or hurt. But if you’re in SaudiArabia, or Africa, it’s a matter of life or death. It’s a huge human

rights violation. If you take away my art, you take away mymusic, I want to affect human rights. That should come before

songwriting or your career.MW: What does the future hold for you?

WAINWRIGHT: I still have to write this other opera, Hadrian. It

will premiere in 2018, and it’s gonna be a major work — fouracts, with ballet numbers. That will definitely leave an impres-

sion. Of course, there are other legacies. I still love workingwith my family. My sisters and my father are doing a tour of

Alaska. That’s a very big part of me. It’s been ten years since Judy


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came out. I’m still writing songs throughout all of this. At the

moment, I am really taking stock of all these incredibly eventsthat have happened. But the fact is, I can’t go out and make pop

records as much. I have to see what happens. I’m just followingmy instincts. And at the end of these two years, I will be very

instinctual.MW: You’ll be singing with the National Symphony Orchestra later

this month. What makes orchestras a compelling medium for you?

WAINWRIGHT: Oh, I’ve sung with many orchestras — the Chicagosymphony, the Montreal symphony. I am quite experienced in

that forum. I’m excited to do it. It’s quite a good match actually.In terms of my voice, and my knowledge of opera and love of

classical music, it comes naturally to me. It’s embedded in myvoice. I can hear what’s going on in the music.

MW: In terms of your own music, you’ve gained a huge following inthe gay community. You’ve also inspired many of them. How does

it feel to be so integral to those people?

WAINWRIGHT: I’m incredibly, incredibly moved and thankful tothe forces that be that I’ve been able to help people along the

way just by being myself. I have walked the streets in protest,but it’s not the center of my existence. I have been honest at the

outset of my career about my sexuality, writing songs about guyseven on my first album. Telling my record company that I am

gay and saying “We’re not going to try and change that.” I thinkthat was the right choice.

There was a deep-seated bigotry that did occur because of

my sexuality. I suffered some passing over in terms of the guywho gets the video budget, or the guy who gets the SNL gig. But

at this point there are so many people who have come togetherover my music. And I would say for gay men, I’ve been a little

critical. You know, this whole concept of coming out of the clos-et is “the best thing.” It’s not just about doing a lot of drugs, and

having sex all the time — I’m not against that — but I’m always

for what makes being gay great. Like what I was saying aboutOscar Wilde, and Tchaicovsky. For me personally, it’s been a

good run I think, and that’s because I’ve always been myself.

Rufus Wainwright performs with the National SymphonyOrchestra on July 31 at The Barns at Wolf Trap, 1635 Trap Road,

Vienna, Va. Tickets are $25-$58 and are available at wolftrap.org

or by calling 1-877-WOLFTRAP (965-3872). l

METROWEEKLY.COM JULY 23, 2015

RUFUS WAINWRIGHT:

A TIMELINEBY CONNOR J. HOGAN

ORN INTO A FAMILY OF FOLK MUSIC ROYALTY, RUFUSWainwright’s musical history extends far beyond his first

self-titled album. However, he’s been able to break free fromhis lineage, creating a musical legacy uniquely his own. At times

lyrical and grandiose and at others singular and raw, his songs

reveal the artist behind the piano, his melodies soaked in hisinner turmoils and joys.

RUFUS WAINWRIGHT (1998)

On October 6th, 1998, Matthew Shepard was brutally murdered.Beaten, pistol-whipped, tied to a fence left to die. With Shepard’s

murder, Americans — still not comfortable with the idea of homo-

sexuality — suddenly were confronted with the real dangers ofbeing openly gay. Although part-Canadian, Rufus Wainwright,

whose self-titled album debuted in May 1998, was acutely aware

of these dangers, something evident throughout his first album.At the time, Wainwright was twenty-five. It was four years

since he had ended a seven-year period of celibacy. In 1988,Wainwright had been brutally raped by a man he picked up in a

bar. “I thought it was going to be a romantic walk in the park, buthe raped me and robbed me afterwards and tried to strangle me,”

he told Contact Music. “AIDS was at its height and you were told

that this kind of contact could kill you. So I was just put off sex. Ididn’t sleep with anyone again until I was 21.”

Plagued by the loneliness that being gay can sometimes cause,songs like “Foolish Love” demonstrate a man unwilling to give

everything to his lover: “Why won’t you last? Why can’t you last?”However, the entire album isn’t melancholic. In “April Fools,” he

shows a curious level of optimism, with an upbeat chorus thatpromises “You will believe in love, and all it’s supposed to be.”

POSES (2001)

From 2000 to 2001, Wainwright spent six months in the Chelsea

Hotel in New York City. There, he wrote most of his secondalbum Poses. In the same year, movies like Hedwig and the Angry

Inch, L.I.E., and Kissing Jessica Stein were hitting the alterna-tive movie houses across the country. Even Shepard’s story was

chronicled in The Laramie Project, which premiered in 2000.

Although not yet mainstream, gay issues were inching closer andcloser to the center thanks to fringe artistic movements.

During his stay at the Chelsea, however, Wainwright foughtnot for gay rights, but for his life. Addicted to crystal meth and

spending hours having sex with strangers, Wainwright’s life wasa whirlwind party that lasted twenty-four hours, seven days a

week. “Crystal meth had sort of been around since my L.A. days,”he told Metro Weekly in 2003. “Every time I did it, I was like ‘This

is the one for me, this is the great drug.’ It’s cheap. It lasts for

twenty hours. Sex is great. You think you’re brilliant.”

What came out of that borrowed brilliance was Poses, analbum about “[a] character who sort of has a foray into drugs andnightclubs. He enters in as this beautiful young man and leaves

as a wrecked human being.” Faster and more upbeat than hisself-titled album, Poses bounces from Gregorian chants to Folksy

blues. One of the final tracks is “One Man Guy,” a cover of a song

by Loudon Wainwright III, his father. However, the track takeson a new life with Wainwright’s sexuality and feels like a break

from the hedonistic life that he was living at the time. Through Poses, it became apparent to Wainwright that the man he was

writing about was himself.

THE WANT ALBUMS (2003-2005)

In May, 2004, Massachusetts became the first state to issue mar-

riage licenses to same-sex couples. Six months later, Wainwright’s

fourth studio album, Want Two, was released as the second halfof his previous album, Want One. While things were improving

for LGBT people around the world, Wainwright was recover-ing from his crystal meth addiction, which had peaked in 2002

with bouts of blindness and hallucinations of his father. Whateventually convinced him that he needed help? A couple of days

with former president George W. Bush’s daughter, Barbara Bush.

“That freaked the shit out of me,” he told The Guardian. “She’s akind of ditsy sorority girl but I had this sense … of her being so

very close to evil.”The hallucinations of his father, Loudon Wainwright III, cre-

ated tremendous internal tension for the singer/songwriter. “I

B


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realized suddenly just how unhappy I was,” Wainwright contin-

ued. “I believed I had two choices. I was either going to rehab or

I was going to live with my father. I knew I needed an asshole to

yell at me, and I felt he fitted the bill.”

The Want albums express a longing for his old days of

debauchery, but also the necessity of deliverance from that life-

style. On Want Two, we’re introduced to that savior through the

“Gay Messiah.” A silly, lyrical painting of a messianic figure that

comes to save the gay community from Studio 54 and the Fire

Island Pines. And on Want One, “Vibrate” gives us a glimpse intoWainwright’s newfound maturity. “God knows what all these

new drugs do,” he exclaims in world weariness. Want One and

Want Two, while companion pieces, reflect two diametrically

opposed sensations: light against dark, joy against sorrow, and

fulfillment against longing.

RUFUS DOES JUDY AT CARNEGIE HALL (2007)

Weary of American culture, in 2006 Wainwright sought solace

in Judy Garland’s live album Judy at Carnegie Hall. Traumatized

by the attacks of September 11th, the subsequent War on Terror,

and the presidency of George W. Bush, Wainwright wanted

to be reminded of the former greatness of the U.S. and the joy

that came with that citizenship. “Somehow that album, no

matter how dark things seemed, made everything brighten,”

Wainwright told the New York Times. “She had this capacity to

lighten the world through the innocence of her sound.”

In collaboration with Carnegie Hall, Wainwright recreated

Garland’s legendary live performance of Judy at Carnegie Hall.

And to a sold out house on June 14 and 15 of 2006, Wainwright

revived the golden age diva. “It’s a communal experience; I’m

drawing upon a collective unconscious,” Wainwright said to

Time Out New York. “In this day and age I think it is important

for us, as gay men, to respect that part of history, and not put it

in a place of shame.”

In Rufus Does Judy, that history of inescapable optimism

comes soaring through in Wainwright’s unwavering tenor.

“By the way, this is one of the songs in its original key,”

Wainwright mentions before launching into a perfect “Do ItAgain.” Accompanied by a forty piece orchestra, it proved that

his voice was built for these grandiose productions. You can’thelp but smile listening to his renditions of Judy’s classics “Foggy

Day,” “You Go To My Head,” and “Puttin’ On The Ritz.”

RELEASE THE STARS (2007)

After his Carnegie Hall appearances, Wainwright began working

on Release the Stars. While initially meant to be only voice andpiano, a visit to Berlin changed everything. He was overwhelmed

with the German Romanticism of the city. In addition to Berlin’s

inspiration, Kate McGarrigle’s (his mother) recent cancer diag-nosis pushed him to work relentlessly, believing it would cure

her.In a way, Release the Stars is not unlike the Want albums.

Sweeping orchestral movements under complicated pianoarrangements complemented with electric guitar riffs, the album

is at once personal and political. In “Going to a Town,” a

song which he wrote in five minutes before he flew to Berlin,Wainwright continues to express his frustration with the state

of the United States. “I’m so tired of America,” he croons. “I’vegot a life to lead.” And a big part of that life for Wainwright was

his newfound beau, Jörn Weisbrodt. The song “Tiergarten”recounts their walks through a Berlin park while he was record-

ing the album.

ALL DAYS ARE NIGHTS: SONGS FOR LULU (2010)

On January 18th, 2010, McGarrigle died in Montreal, Canada.With just his piano and his voice, Wainwright explores his sad-

ness over the loss of his mother in All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu.

The raw nature of this album, produced by Wainwrighthimself, gives listeners a peek behind the curtain at the emo-

tional underpinnings of the enigmatic musician. While sitting

at his mother’s hospital bed, Wainwright worked on the song“Zebulon,” a haunting melody that builds to a climactic ending,

which quickly became one of his and his mother’s favorites. Andin “Martha,” he details a conversation he’s had with his sister,

Martha Wainwright, about visiting their mother in the hospital,and the stress that comes with those visits.

In February, 2011, nearly a year after her grandmother’sdeath, Wainwright’s daughter Viva Katherine Wainwright

Cohen was born.OUT OF THE GAME (2012)

By 2012, the battle for marriage equality was in full swing. With

nine states passing same-sex marriage laws and Lady Gaga’s Born This Way anthem lodged in our brains, hope gleamed on

the horizon for LGBT Americans. Together since the mid-2000s,Wainwright and Weisbrodt were married in August in Montauk,

New York. Earlier that year, Wainwright released his seventh

studio album Out of the Game, produced by Mark Ronson.

Wainwright believed there was still work to be done to makeeveryone equal. To that end, he wanted something enjoyable forall his fans. “The main objective –- not for the entire [album],

necessarily, but for portions of it –- is to be danceable,” he told Rolling Stone. “I just want to make something that you love,

driving around in your car listening or losing your mind to on adance floor. Something to serenade us through these very, very

troubling times.”Out of the Game is a celebration of humanity. From the single

“Out of the Game” where Wainwright gives up on being famous

to “Montauk,” a touching lullaby to his daughter, this albumemerges from Wainwright’s life and paints it in beautiful water

colors. But life isn’t always floral. Fittingly, his final song on thealbum is “Candles,” an “in memoriam” for his late mother. l



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EMIL DE COUON RUFUS WAINWRIGHTI

THINK RUFUS WAINWRIGHT STRADDLES TWO

worlds. A lot of his influences came from Judy Garland and

from Edith Piaf, two torch song singers who basically sang

about their lives. There’s something autobiographical in his

work that really connects with an audience, which is why I

think he’s had such a huge following. A lot of his music — he

sings a lot of ballads, some kind of arch, some deeply emotional

— comes from his perspective.

“But also you have this beautiful old sound — it reminds me

a little bit of Burt Bacharach. Quirky French harmonies and

unusual melodies and phrases. He’ll be sitting center stage. I’ll

be right behind him. There’s an intimacy about it that really

comes across. It’s an old school way of performing.

“When you’re accompanying an artist like this, you’re kindof like a dance partner, in a way. Some people like to lead and

some like to follow. Some like to backphrase — which means

you’re slightly behind the music and you catch up — and some

people like you to be very steady. You just have to gauge how

they like to have the music. I sense from his music that he

seems very easygoing — he seems so likeable and nice and

seemingly uncomplicated. I think that’s also part of his charm,

because he comes across as very boyish. And then you hear

these world weary songs behind his life story.

“Some artists’ music is made more expressive, made bet-

ter with having orchestral accompaniment. And so many pop

performers are just so much better with piano and a combo.

With Rufus’s music, his accompaniments are always so orches-tral, that even just with the piano, or a small combo, you hear

more.” — As told to Randy Shulman

— Emil de Cou, music director of the Pacific Northwest Ballet

and the official NSO at Wolf Trap Festival Conductor, will

conduct the National Symphony Orchestra’s portions of Rufus

Wainwright’s concert at Wolf Trap. l


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JULY 23, 2015

SPOTLIGHT

BALTIMORESYMPHONY ORCHESTRADvorak premiered his fantastic Symphony No. 9 “From The NewWorld” 120 years ago as a toast to thepast — specifically the folk tunes andgypsy music from his native Bohemia— and the future, with his impressionof America. Tito Munoz conducts theBSO in a performance of this bold,thrilling and moving work alongwith Ariel Horowitz, who will per-form Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto.

Both performances begin with a BSOBlock Party at 5:30 p.m. with localfood trucks and other attractions.Thursday, July 30, at 8 p.m. MusicCenter at Strathmore, 5301 TuckermanLane, North Bethesda. Also Friday,July 31, at 7:30 p.m. Joseph MeyerhoffSymphony Hall, 1212 Cathedral St.,Baltimore. Tickets are $25 to $45. Call410-783-8000 or visit bsomusic.org.

BRANDON FLOWERSIMP Productions presents a concert by the lead singer of the great neo-newwave/synth-pop band, The Killers.Would you believe Flowers’ new soloalbum The Desired Effect is every bit

as good if not better than anything his band has put out in its first 11 yearsas a recording sensation? Once youlisten to this varied, uptempo set, youwill. Wednesday, July 29, at 7 p.m.Echostage, 2135 Queens Chapel Rd.NE. Tickets are $35. Call 202-503-2330 or visit echostage.com.

ERIK BRUNER-YANG:VEGAN COOKING CLASSNortheast D.C.’s most famous chef,the man behind Toki Undergroundin the H Street Corridor and Makettoin Union Market, drops by SoutheastD.C.’s Hill Center to offer a courseon creative vegan cooking. Bruner-

Yang will focus on the mostly fer-mented products made by UnionMarket’s Honeycomb Grocer,helmed by Isaiah Billington, former-ly of Woodberry Kitchen, and SaraConezio. Honeycomb Grocer sourcesingredients from the Chesapeake Baywatershed, preserving them throughfermentation. Saturday, July 25, at 11a.m. Hill Center, Old Navy Hospital,921 Pennsylvania Ave. SE. Ticketsare $85. Call 202-549-4172 or visitHillCenterDC.org.

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Compiled by Doug Rule

P H O T O C O U R T E S Y S U T D I O T H E A T E R


Lamb ChopsEnjoy a nice chianti while you take in Studio’s wildly

funny Silence of the Lambs spoof

W

HILE NOT A PART OF THIS MONTH’S CAPITAL FRINGE FESTIVAL,

Studio is certainly appealing to the anything-goes audience with its latest produc-

tion. Silence! The Musical ( HHHH ) is about as wild and whacked out as a profes-sional show ever gets.

Perhaps you’ve heard the buzz about Jon Kaplan and Alan Kaplan’s musical, with a book by

Hunter Bell. Yes, this is that show, “the unauthorized parody” of the 24-year-old cinematic classicThe Silence of the Lambs. Silence! is a fringe show down to its roots, having emerged as the breakout

hit of the 2005 FringeNYC Festival. It strips away the film’s focus on horror, replacing it with nutty,

off-kilter, sexualized humor.Four years ago the show ran off Broadway in a two-hour, two-act production that the New York

Times said was “stretched well past the point of inspiration.” That’s not the case at Studio, wheredirector Alan Paul has trimmed the fat into a lean, 90-minute, intermission-less show, set in Studio’s

intimate upper-level Stage 4 space — featuring a full bar. By the time you’ve just about had your fillof the lewd sight gags, uproariously perverse rounds of dialogue and gleefully vulgar songs, it’s all

said and done.

Laura Jordan earns the biggest applause for her deadpan work in the tricky role of ClariceStarling, the aspiring FBI agent and “West Virginia hick” with a comically exaggerated lisp. Tally

Sessions is similarly jovial in his portrayal of an attractive, almost likeable Hannibal Lecter — thingsyou’d never say about Anthony Hopkins’s cinematic monster. Even Tom Story manages to make

Buffalo Bill a more multi-dimensional character than the film’s one-note transgressive transsexual.But it is Hayley Travers who steals the show in her dual role as little Catherine trapped in Bill’s well

and as Catherine’s mother, U.S. Senator Ruth Martin. Her scenes are short but indelible — this moth-er and daughter are effectively portrayed as cut from the same cheap but sturdy T.J. Maxx cloth.

Even more fleeting are the ensemble adorned with white ears and hoofs, gamboling around the

stage and into the crowd. These little lambs will make you laugh and smile, and then laugh somemore. —Doug Rule

Silence! The Musical runs to Aug. 9 at Studio Theatre, 14th and P Streets NW.Tickets are $40 to $45. Call 202-332-3300 or visit studiotheatre.org. l


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and Stephanie Waters performing“Isn’t It Romantic?” accompanied byChristopher Wingert, on Friday, July24, at 9 p.m. and Saturday, July 25, at7 p.m.; and the popular “Revenge ofthe Understudies,” in which this pastseason’s backstage divas — male andfemale — get to have their moment inthe spotlight, on Saturday, July 25, at 9p.m. Signature Theatre’s ARK Theatre,4200 Campbell Ave., Arlington.Tickets are $25 for each show, or $150

for a special All-Access Pass. Call 703-820-9771 or visit signature-theatre.orgfor a complete schedule.

THE OUTRAGEOUSSOPHIE TUCKERThe Washington DC Jewish FilmFestival presents a screening nextweek of William Gazecki’s new docu-mentary The Outrageous Sophie Tucker, based on research by Susan and LloydEcker about one of America’s first pop-ular female entertainers from a centuryago. Also known as “The Last of theRed-Hot Mamas” for her frank andrisque songs and comedy about sex,the Ukrainian-born Sophie Tucker was

a vaudeville star who gained widerfame in television, including as a regu-lar guest on popular shows includingThe Ed Sullivan Show. Interesting sidenote: In addition to having widespreadindirect influence, Tucker specificallyinspired the career of Bette Midler aswell as the character of Mama Mortonin Chicago. Tuesday, July 28, at 7:30p.m. The Aaron and Cecile GoldmanTheater, Washington, D.C.’s JewishCommunity Center, 1529 16th St. NW.Tickets are $13. Call 202-518-9400 or visit washingtondcjcc.org.

THE SECOND CITY’S LETTHEM EAT CHAOS

Chicago’s legendary improv troupereturns to present a D.C.-centric pro-duction at Woolly Mammoth TheatreCompany for the sixth time, after sell-out success with previous provoca-tive, political-skewering shows, from Barack Stars to American All Better!! To Aug. 2. Woolly Mammoth, 641 DSt. NW. Tickets range from $35 to $83.Call 202-393-3939 or visit woollymam-moth.net.

WASHINGTON IMPROVTHEATER: WIT ATTACKS!No two performances are alikewhen performed by the WashingtonImprov Theater — D.C.’s answer to

those comedy star-making groupssuch as Chicago’s Second City andL.A.’s Groundlings — especially sincethey’re spurred on by audience sug-gestions. All of the company’s improvensembles have devised new work forthis summer’s WIT Attacks!, includ-ing Commonwealth’s public radio-inspired That American Life, KingBee’s production inspired by the AlfredHitchcock classic Rear Window anda short musical by iMusical. To Aug.1. Source Theater, 1835 14th St. NW.Tickets are $12 in advance, or $15 atthe door. Call 202-204-7770 or visitwashingtonimprovtheater.com.


Vocal ChordsSingers are the stars in charge at Maryland Lyric Opera

IT’S NOT THAT TALENTED SINGERS ARE NOT BORN ANYMORE,” SAYS HENRIETTELund. “But they are, shall we say, ‘coached to death.’”

A vocal coach at Catholic University, Lund feels the quality of singing in opera hasdegenerated dramatically in the past 20 years. It is, at least in part, because elaborate staging

has become the norm. She recalls a recent production of Barber of Seville in which Figaro had

to sing while riding a bike, even while jumping off the handles at one point. When a singer hasto perform stunts, “physically, you can maybe hit the notes, but you will never ever sing it well.”

Lund founded the Maryland Lyric Opera Company last year with Brad Clark in reaction tothe trend of prioritizing staging over singing. In Lund’s company, those who fundamentally

make opera what it is — the singers — are once again the stars in charge. “In the old days it wasalways about the singers,” Lund says. “The conductor would lead the orchestra to accompany

the singers. Today, the singers have to accompany the orchestra.” Not with her company, now

offering its second semi-staged production, Gounod’s Romeo et Juliette. In addition to a fullaccompanying orchestra, MLO has hired dancers and actors to perform in non-singing roles so

that the singers “can move and stand and walk where they want” — freeing them to focus on

singing and finding their individual voices.“A good singer is always playing around with his sound,” Lund says. “He’s always spontane-

ous, he’s never repetitive — because if he were you wouldn’t get any life in the sound.” Yet sing-

ers are not trained that way today, the emphasis being on tangible, testable aspects, from howprecise one hits written notes to how many languages one can sing in. The result is singing that

is sanded down and bland. And this sets up a kind of “vicious circle.”

Explains Lund: “If you’re a good stage director [confronted with] mediocre singing, you say toyourself, ‘We got to do something about this. Get them more to do!’ But the more you get them

to do, the worse they’ll sing.” — Doug Rule

Maryland Lyric Opera Company’s Romeo et Juliette is Friday, July 24, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, July 26, at 3 p.m., at the Clarice’s Kay Theatre at the University of Maryland in College Park.

Tickets are $35 to $100. Call 301-405-ARTS or visit theclarice.umd.edu. l

GILBERT & SULLIVANEvery summer, the Capitol Hill ArtsWorkshop (CHAW) and its direc-tor Jill Strachan present a differentGilbert and Sullivan production. This year brings Trial by Jury and selectionsfrom Yeomen of the Guard . As always,the production features a cast primar-ily from the CHAW and LGBT com-munities. Opens Thursday, July 30, at7:30 p.m. Weekends to Aug. 8. CapitolHill Arts Workshop, 545 7th St. SE.

Tickets are $20. Call 202-547-6839 or visit chaw.org.

INGENUE TO ICON: HILLWOOD’SFASHION EXHIBITIONSubtitled “70 Years of Fashion from theCollection of Marjorie MerriweatherPost,” the Hillwood Museum offersa special exhibition focused on theelegant fashions and sumptuous fab-rics documenting the evolution of20th Century fashion — and all drawn,naturally, from the late Hillwoodowner who gave the place so muchstyle. To Dec. 31. Hillwood Estate, 4155Linnean Ave. NW. Suggested dona-tion is $12. Call 202-686-5807 or visit

HillwoodMuseum.org.

NATIONAL SYMPHONYORCHESTRA WITH WOLFTRAP OPERA ALUMNI Alumni of the Wolf Trap OperaCompany return for a first-ever spe-cial performance with the NationalSymphony Orchestra, as conducted by Daniele Callegari, offering a con-cert version of Verdi’s Aida. We’retalking soloists who’ve become starsin the opera firmament: SopranoMarjorie Owens, who recently made

her Metropolitan Opera debut in Aida,as well as other Met vets includingtenor Carl Tanner and mezzo-sopra-no Michelle DeYoung, plus HoustonGrand Opera regular baritone ScottHendricks. Friday, July 24, at 8:15p.m.The Filene Center at Wolf Trap,1551 Trap Road, Vienna. Tickets are$22 to $75. Call 877-WOLFTRAP or visit wolftrap.org.

ROMEO AND JULIET: LOVEKNOWS NO AGEMaryland’s Unexpected Stage theatercompany presents a contemporaryinterpretation of Shakespeare’s classictragedy, in which Romeo and Juliet

are played by older actors, septuage-narians in an adult living community,with the Montagues and Capulets as

their adult children. This marks thefirst production of Shakespeare fromthe company known for its thought-provoking works. To Aug. 10. RandolphRoad Theatre, 4010 Randolph Road.Silver Spring. Tickets are $10 to $25.Call 800-838-3006 or visit unexpect-edstage.org.

SAM SMITHW/JAZMINE SULLIVANThe gay pop star offers one of the

main concert draws of the summer,with opening act Jazmine Sullivan,who emerges after a hiatus to continuewhat she started — busting the win-dows out your car. Friday, July 24, at 8p.m. Merriweather Post Pavilion, 10475Little Patuxent Parkway, Coltumbia,Md. Tickets are $45 to $97.50. Call800-551-SEAT or visit merriweather-music.com.

SIGNATURE THEATRE’SCABARET SERIESSignature Theatre’s popular annu-al cabaret series runs through nextweekend. Remaining highlightsinclude: Mitchell Jarvis perform-

ing “Jacques Brel is Alive and Welland Living Everywhere,” on Friday,July 24, at 7 p.m.; Will Gartshore


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FILM

MEAN GIRLS As part of its monthly “Mean GirlMovie Night,” Nellie’s screens the2004 film featuring some juicy, laugh-out-loud lines from scripter Tina Feyand starring Lindsay Lohan, beforeshe became known as Hollywood’sproblem child. Those part of theNellie’s clique — that is, those wearing

a “Mean Girl” Nellie’s t-shirt — getan entree at half-price and specialsincluding $3 Tito’s Vodka and $3Nellie Beer. Mean Girls membershipdoes have its privileges, after all. Everyfourth Monday, including this lMon-day, July 27, at 8 p.m. Nellie’s SportsBar, 900 U St. NW. Call 202-332-NELL or visit nelliessportsbar.com.

PIXELSSurprisingly, Pixels looks to finally buck the trend of awful Adam Sandlercomedies. Its premise? A space probesent by NASA carrying copies of vid-eogame classics such as Pacman and Donkey Kong was misinterpreted by

aliens as a declaration of war, causingthem to send versions of the games’characters back to earth to destroyhumanity. Christopher Columbus’sfilm looks to be silly, CGI-heavy fun.Opens Friday, July 24. Area theaters. Visit fandango.com.

SCREEN ON THE GREEN:THE POSEIDON ADVENTUREThe 17th annual film screening serieson the National Mall continues nextMonday, July 27, with one of the firstall-star disaster flicks, The Poseidon Adventure. Twenty-five years beforeTitanic, Ronald Neame’s flick about acapsized luxury liner in the Atlantic

was the box office champ in 1973and won a special Oscar for its visualeffects and another for Best Song for“The Morning After” as performed by Maureen McGovern. The cast wasled by Gene Hackman, Leslie Nielsenand Shelley Winters. Monday, July 27,at sunset (around 8:30 p.m.). NationalMall, between 4th and 7th StreetsNW. Free. Visit hbo.com/scree-nonthegreen.

STAGE

CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF

HHHHH As directed by Keegan Theatre’s mar-ried leaders Mark A. Rhea and SusanMarie Rhea, this production of theTennessee Williams masterpiece putson full display the company’s abilityto stage dramatic plays with a largecast in a small space. The play goes alot further in drawing out the homo-sexual longing at its root than thefamous movie with Elizabeth Taylorand Paul Newman ever did — yet atKeegan, you still don’t feel the levelof sexual anguish in Kevin Hasser’sportrayal of Brick you might expect.


Hasser instead makes his character’sflaws all about alcohol and his fam-ily’s mendacity, not about his immenseregret from having spurned the sexualadvances of his high school buddy, whocommitted suicide shortly thereafter.Kevin Adams is once again the fam-ily patriarch in a Keegan production,though even this fine actor seems tostruggle a bit to parse out the nuancesin his role as Big Daddy. It’s a quandaryshared by most everyone else in the

cast, to varying degrees, in this longshow — which as a result feels longerthan its over three-hour runtime. To Aug. 1. Keegan Theatre, 1742 ChurchSt. NW. Tickets are $35 to $45. Call703-892-0202 or visit keegantheatre.com. (Doug Rule)

DEAR EVAN HANSEN Arena Stage has recruited some all-startalent for its world premiere musical Dear Evan Hansen, featuring a book bySteven Levenson ( Masters of Sex ) anda score by Tony nominees Benj Pasekand Justin Paul ( A Christmas Story ).Michael Greif ( Rent, Next to Normal ) directs this modern tale about a boy

preparing for a bright future — so longas his secret past doesn’t come back tohaunt him. Ben Platt from Pitch Perfect stars. Now in previews. To Aug. 23.Mead Center for American Theater,1101 6th St. SW. Tickets are $51 to $66.Call 202-488-3300 or visit arenastage.org.

DOUBLE TROUBLE(AKA THE PARENT TRAP)Bethesda’s youth-oriented theatercompany Imagination Stage offers aworld-premiere musical based on ErichKastner’s novel Lottie & Lisa as adapted by David S. Craig, with music by MarcSchubring. The focus is on 10-year-old

twins who are being raised separately,unknowingly, by their divorced par-ents. To Aug. 14. Imagination Stage,4908 Auburn Ave. Bethesda. Ticketsare $10 to $25. Call 301-280-1660 or visit imaginationstage.org.

GARFIELD, THE MUSICALWITH CATITUDE Adventure Theatre MTC presents thismusical for all ages based on the adven-tures of the sarcastic, tubby cat, witha book co-written by creator and car-toonist Jim Davis and Aventure’s ownMichael J. Bobbitt. John L. CorneliusII wrote the music and lyrics. To Aug.23. Adventure Theatre MTC, 7300

MacArthur Blvd., Glen Echo. Ticketsare $19.50. Call 301-634-2270 or visitadventuretheatre-mtc.org.

NEIGHBORHOOD 3:REQUISITION OF DOOMFocused on Grand Guignol-inspiredhorror theater, the Molotov TheatreGroup is also a favorite of the CapitalFringe Festival, and its latest produc-tion is pegged to Fringe. The focusis on Jennifer Haley’s play about apsychologically addictive video gamethat emulates players’ actual neigh- borhoods as the on-screen environ-ment. Moving from one level to thenext means destroying armies of


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ONCE

HHHHH

Once is one of those quiet, under-stated shows that will sneak up andsurprise you. Featuring a book by cel-ebrated Irish playwright Enda Walsh,Once focuses on a man, Guy (StuartWard), who is about to give up onhis music until a mysterious woman,Girl (Dani De Waal), enters the pic-ture and becomes his muse. Soon thepair are making hauntingly beautifulmusic together, which is all the morepowerful because it expresses their

love for each other in a way that theynever fully realize otherwise. Music becomes the couple’s primary outletfor conveying their feelings towardone another. And several of GlenHansard and Marketa Irglova’s dra-matic folk-inflected rock songs herewould be chart-toppers if there wereany justice in the pop music world— or at least if this were an earlierera when musicals had that kind ofmainstream sway. Every actor in Once plays an instrument, and the ensemble becomes the show’s orchestra, sittingon the edge of Bob Crowley’s set tug-ging on strings when not part of thecentral action. The effect is as sub-

tly smart and seamless as everythingelse about this show, including StevenHoggett’s graceful choreography. To Aug. 16. Kennedy Center EisenhowerTheater. Tickets are $65 to $160. Call202-467-4600 or visit kennedy-center.org. (Doug Rule)

PETER PAN 360Inspired — to put it mildly — by Cirquedu Soleil, Herrick Entertainment andThreesixty Theatre brings to life J.M.Barrie’s famous family tale under a100-foot-high tent with projection,

puppets and acrobatic sequences.Thom Southerland directs the produc-tion featuring a set designed by WilliamDudley, choreography by Gypsy Sniderand original music by BenjaminWallfisch and Howard Herrick. To Aug. 16. Threesixty Theatre in TysonsCorner Center, 8200 Watson St.,McLean. Tickets are $25 to $125. Call202-397-7328 or visit peterpan360.com.

PSYCHO BEACH PARTYThe Richmond Triangle Playersoffer the perfect summer stage show,Charles Busch’s campy ode to theoriginal surfer flicks — imagine Gidget

crossed with Mommie Dearest. Penny

Ayn Maas directs. Opens Thursday,July 23, at 8 p.m. Weekends to Aug.15. Richmond Triangle Players, 1300 Altamont Ave. Richmond. Call 804-346-8113 or visit rtriangle.org.

SILENCE THE MUSICAL A musical spoof based on the 1991Oscar-winning thriller The Silence ofthe Lambs, Studio Theatre stages thisOff-Broadway hit cabaret-style witha full-service bar. Alan Paul directsthis production by writer Hunter Belland composer/lyricists Jon Kaplan

and Al Kaplan, featuring a cast includ-ing Tally Sessions as Hannibal Lecter,Laura Jordan as Clarice Sterling and

Tom Story as Buffalo Bill. To Aug. 9.Studio Theatre, 14th & P Streets NW.Call 202-332-3300 or visit studiothe-atre.org.

SWEENEY TODD-PROGMETAL VERSION Yes, Stephen Sondheim really did givethe quirky and risqué Landless TheatreCompany permission last year to adapthis most commercially successfulmusical as a “prog-metal” piece, whileleaving the lyrics and Hugh Wheeler’s

zombies, but what does it mean forthe neighbors who aren’t playing thegame? David Dieudonne directs a castincluding Jen Bevan, Yoni Gray, BrianKraemer, Annette Mooney Wasno and Alex Zavistovich. Weekends to Aug.2. District of Columbia Arts Center(DCAC), 2438 18th St. NW. Tickets are$17 plus cost of a $7 Fringe button. Call202-462-7833 or visit molotovtheatre.org.

OLIVER! Adventure Theatre MTC offers a pro-

duction at Bethesda’s Round HouseTheatre of Lionel Bart’s bittersweetclassic musical, based on the Dickensnovel, about the porridge-demand-ing orphan. Joseph Ritsch directs acast including local knockouts RickHammerly and Felicia Curry. OpensFriday, July 24, at 7 p.m. Runs to Aug.16. Round House Theatre, 4545 East-West Highway, Bethesda. Tickets are$50 to $60. Call 240-644-1100 or visitadventuretheatre-mtc.org.

Literary OfferingsThe OutWrite Book Festival provides a forum for

diverse perspectives in writing and publishing

“I always say that the reason a community center like us does artsevents is because it’s important to tell our stories,” says David Mariner,

executive director of The DC Center. “Celebrating who we are isimportant.”

And the Center hopes its upcoming OutWrite LGBT Book Festivalcan serve as a public forum for those stories. Now in its fifth year, the

annual two-day event showcases various LGBT literary works and

authors.Things kick off on Friday, July 31, with a tribute to James Earl

Hardy, whose bestselling B-Boy Blues series is celebrating its 20thanniversary. On Saturday, there will be two separate series of work-

shops, one focused on the writing process, the other featuring readingsor spoken word performances by authors and artists. A used-book fair

featuring more than 25 different vendors selling thousands of LGBT-themed books, some for as little as a dollar, will run throughout the day.

Other events over the weekend include Trans* Self-Publishing, a

Black Writer’s Forum (an annual favorite), and “Fade to Hot,” whichdeals with how to write literary sex scenes.

Mariner is especially excited about a children’s workshop co-hostedwith the D.C. Public Library. “They’re going to have readings of books

that are targeted to LGBT families,” Mariner says. “So we’re superexcited about that, because we haven’t had quite as many events where

you can bring your kids to the Center.” — John Riley

The 5th Annual OutWrite LGBT Book Festival will take place on July 31 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. and on Aug. 1 from 10:30 a.m. to 6

p.m. at the Reeves Center, 2000 14th St. NW. Admission is free. For more information, visit thedccenter.org/outwritedc. l

A guest browses books at 2015’s OutWrite

P H O T O C O U R T E S Y O U T W R I T E


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book intact. “Prog-met al is actu-ally a very complex, a very precise,almost classically based metal,” direc-tor Melissa Baughman explains. “It’snot just, ‘Let me rock your face off.’”Landless’s Andrew Baughman, whodevised the prog-metal concept, playsthe title character. During its debutrun last summer, Landless repeatedlysold out performances — and it alsogarnered the company its first threeHelen Hayes Awards nominations,

including for Outstanding Musical andOutstanding Director. For this year’sremount, Landless stages the showat the Atlas’s 260-seat Lang Theatre,which is more than twice the size oflast year’s venue Warehouse Theater.To Aug. 2. Atlas Performing ArtsCenter, 1333 H St. NE. Tickets are$29. Call 202-399-7993 or visit atla-sarts.org.

THE BOOK OF MORMON Yes indeed, the biggest show onBroadway in the last decade returnsto the Kennedy Center after 2013’sinitial sold out run. Tickets are thank-fully easier to come by the second

time around, particularly since itnow runs for two months. Written by South Park’s Trey Parker and MattStone, the riotously funny, audaciousmusical, which won a whopping nineTony Awards, is both cutting edge inshocking substance yet traditional instyle. The Book of Mormon may weavein unexpected and provocative plottwists and scenes as well as conveyextremely modern sensibilities aboutlife, culture and organized religion. Yet it still hews to the standard musi-cal mold, from repeated musical linesand lyrics, to boisterous sing-alonggroup anthems, to sharp group chore-ography and a tap number. To Aug. 16.

Kennedy Center Opera House. Ticketsare $43 to $250. Call 202-467-4600 or visit kennedy-center.org.

THE PRODUCERSMark Waldrop directs an OlneyTheatre production of the zany MelBrooks musical, based on the zany,nearly 50-year-old Mel Brooks film,following the adventures of washed-up Broadway producer Max Bialystockand his mousy accountant Leo Bloomwho scheme to get rich by producingthe most notorious flop in the his-tory of show biz. Michael Kostroffplays Max and Michael Di Libertoplays Leo at Olney. Closes this Sunday,

July 26. Olney Theatre Center, 2001Olney-Sandy Spring Road, Olney, Md.Tickets are $55 to $65. Call 301-924-3400 or visit olneytheatre.org.

TWELVE ANGRY MENIn 1994, Reginald Rose’s jury dramawas the very first show from Virginia’s American Century Theater. Now, itwill also serve as its very last. DirectorJack Marshall has assembled his“dream cast” among TACT veterans,including Craig Miller, Steve Ferry,Michael Replogle, Joe Cronin, EvanCrump, Michael Sherman, Bruce AlanRauscher, Steve Lebens, Lyle BlakeSmithers, David Jourdan, Brian Crane

and John Tweel. To Aug. 8. Gunston


Theater Two, 2700 South Lang St. Arlington. Tickets are $32 to $40. Call703-998-4555 or visit americancentury.org.

COMMUNITY STAGE

ALTAR BOYZBaltimore’s Spotlighters Theatre offersa community-theater productiondirected by Jillian Bauersfield of thefoot-stomping, rafter-raising musicalcomedy about a fictitious Christian boy band. Dating to 2005, the show,featuring music and lyrics by Gary Adler and Michael Patrick Walkerand a book by Kevin Del Aguila, ranksas the ninth longest-running musicalin Off-Broadway history. To Aug. 2.Spotlighters Theatre, 817 St. Paul St.,Baltimore. Tickets are $20. Call 410-752-1225 or visit spotlighters.org.

COMMANDER As part of the Baltimore PlaywrightsFestival, Baltimore’s VagabondTheatre, a community theater, stagesMaroi Correa’s play about a gay politi-cian who decides to see if America isready for a gay president — thoughhe’s not helped by personal demonsand a troubled partner. Chelsea Dovedirects the production. Closes thisSunday, July 26. Vagabond Theatre,806 S. Broadway, Baltimore. Ticketsare $12. Call 410-563-9135 or visit vaga- bondplayers.org.

MONTY PYTHON’S SPAMALOTMaryland’s Port Tobacco Players offersthis musical retelling of the classicfilm Monty Python and the Holy Grail,directed by Brooke L. Howells-Weiser.Weekends to Aug. 9. Port TobaccoPlayers, 508 Charles St., La Plata, Md.Tickets are $14 to $17. Call 301-932-6819 or visit ptplayers.com.

MUSIC

BILLY JOELFive years ago this straight rock pianoman teamed up with his gay counter-part Elton John for a doubleheader atNationals Park. After knocking it outof the D.C. baseball park again lastsummer, this year Joel returns to theregion for another nostalgia-laced sta-dium show, only this time he’s aimingfor a touchdown further up I-95 wherethe Baltimore Ravens play. Saturday,July 25, at 8 p.m. M&T Bank Stadium,1101 Russell St. Baltimore. Tickets are$54.50 to $129.50. Call 800-745-3000or visit livenation.com.

CASTLETON FESTIVALCelebrated classical music maestroLorin Maazel, who died last year, start-ed this festival with his wife DietlindeTurban-Maazel principally as a wayto boost the careers of young artists,pairing them with professional men-tors to produce full-scale operas andfirst-rate concerts. Taking place atthe Maazels’ picturesque property in Virginia’s Rappahannock County, thenot-exclusively classical event, now inits seventh season, runs through Aug.


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Johnny Mercer’s prolific songbookto weave together stories about theman along with his music, includingthe standards “Moon River,” “AutumnLeaves,” “Black Magic,” and “ComeRain or Come Shine.” Friday, July 31,and Saturday, Aug. 1, at 8 p.m. Amp by Strathmore, 11810 Grand Park Ave.North Bethesda. Tickets are $35 to$45. Call 301-581-5100 or visit amp- bystrathmore.com.

LITTLE BOOTS, PRINZE GEORGE Victoria Hesketh, better known byher alias Little Boots, makes some ofthe smartest house-steeped pop musicaround, and certainly any fan of Robynor Kylie Minogue should take heed.The British singer-songwriter offers arare U.S. tour in support of her cohe-sive new album Working Girl, with astop at U Street Music Hall presented by the 9:30 Club and featuring openingact Prinze George, a synth-pop trio outof Prince George’s County led by theLana Del Ray-esque vocalist Naomi Almquist. Saturd

metro weekly - 07-23-15 - rufus wainwright

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