Elizabeth Ashley brings Mrs. Warren to town

A guest review from Eric H.—
The Shakespeare Theater Company’s current play, Mrs. Warren's Profession, is well worth seeing. The acting is good, but that’s usually the case with the STC. The set is better than average, in an understated way. And George Bernard Shaw’s dialog is fun and witty. But what really stands out is the story’s moral.

In short, the play asks the audience to look at the source of its blessings before blindly accepting them. Is it sufficient that you have not done something immoral, if you are benefiting from the immoral acts of others? Despite the heavy themes, the play is funny and enjoyable. It alternates smoothly between humorous and serious dialog, likeable and despicable characters, large social issues and intimate family relationships.

The story is about mother who raised her daughter as best she could, resulting in a daughter who might not approve of her mother. Most of the play is set on the grounds of a diminutive English country cottage. The bucolic illusion is made complete by the changing colors in the sky. A careful eye will notice distant lightning, leading to a down pour in the final scene.

The characters enter one by one, each displaying his or her own peculiarities as if to give the audience time to make their acquaintance. The somewhat predictable humor surrounding the social inconvenience of Mrs. Warren’s profession is made fresh by good acting and entertaining characters. The potentially ponderous moral theme insinuates itself subtly in the play before taking the forefront of the action toward the play's conclusion.

It seems like an obvious set up for grade-B Hollywood comedy, but I couldn’t think of any films that arose to the challenge. You’ll have to go to the theater to enjoy this one. 

Earth Day in DC: Sting, John Legend, The Roots, and Bob Weir

Just announced: This year's Earth Day Climate Rally on the National Mall, April 25 from 12:00 - 7:00, will feature a free concert with performances by Sting, John Legend, The Roots, Bob Weir, Patrick Stump, Mavis Staples, Passion Pit, Q-Tip, Booker T and more. This is the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day and good time to remember that our country still has not enacted comprehensive legislation that may actually do something about climate change. 

For more info: DC Earth Day Rally

Oscar-nominated Foreign Language Films at National Geographic

Again this year, National Geographic's Global Glimpses series will be screening the five films nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. The films will be shown, once each, from Friday, February 26 - Sunday, February 28. 

Tickets are on sale now. These films do sell out in advance. Every year I see a long line of people without tickets just sitting there hoping someone doesn’t show up. Don’t take a chance—get your tickets in advance. $8.00 each plus a few dollars service charge. Global Glimpses Home Page

Here are the films and their screening dates:

The Secret in Their Eyes (El Secreto de Sus Ojos) (Argentina, 127 min)
February 26, 7 p.m.

Retired criminal prosecutor Benjamin Esposito plans to write a novel based on a 25-year-old rape and murder case. The resolution of that case has long haunted him, and he turns to his friends and former colleagues, the alcoholic Pablo and the beautiful Irene, now a chief justice, for help.

Ajami (Israel, 120 min)
February 27, 5 p.m.

In the city of Jaffa, Israel’s Arabs and Jews live in close—and sometimes volatile—proximity. When a young man is mistakenly shot in a gang-related revenge killing, his death has repercussions that echo through the lives and relationships of a wide cross-section of the region’s population.

The White Ribbon (Germany, 145 min) 

February 27, 8 p.m.

In pre-World War I Germany, a series of disturbing and violent incidents in a rural village hint at a dark reality beneath the community’s placid, repressive surface. The rigid espousal of both social and religious proprieties by their elders—and the hypocrisy it often hides—has begun to have a devastating effect on the village children. The White Ribbon is also nominated for Best Cinematography.

The Milk of Sorrow (Peru, 95 min)
February 28, 2:00 p.m.
In the aftermath of Peru’s violent and repressive former regime, many young women bear emotional scars that have been passed on to them by their victimized mothers. For the withdrawn Fausta, this legacy is a crippling burden that informs the most intimate aspects of her life.

The Prophet (Un Prophete) (France, 149 min)
Sunday, 2/28/10, 5:00 p.m
Petty criminal Malik begins a six-year prison term and finds himself trapped in a dangerous world of warring criminal factions. As the young man seeks his place in this violent society, its balance of power begins to shift from the old-style Corsican mobsters to the more recently formed French-Arab gangs.

All events are general admission. Event parking is free for all programs starting at 6pm or later on weekdays and all day Saturday and Sunday. Enter garage on M Street, between 16th and 17th.

National Geographic is located less than 1/2 mile from Farragut North Metro station (red line) and Farragut West Metro station (orange and blue lines).

Tone at the Rock and Roll Hotel

D.C.’s own Tone will bring their brand of propulsive soundscapes to the Rock and Roll Hotel tonight for what guarantees to be an evening of dynamic instrumental music.

Formed in 1991, the band has released five albums on Dischord, Independent Project, and Neurot Recordings. From the fall of 2004 through the spring of 2006, Tone collaborated with Bowen McCauley Dance Company, which led to numerous performances at the Kennedy Center, a festival appearance in Aachen, Germany, and a set of intense new works.

When I first saw Tone in the 1990s, I thought I was hearing a cross between a beefed up version of Pink Floyd’s “Interstellar Overdrive” and some cool movie soundtrack I had somehow never heard before. Since then, while the band’s lineup grew to two drummers, a bassist, and four or five guitarists, and then slimmed-down to three guitars, bass, and drums, they still deliver an intense sonic punch.

Also on tonight’s bill: King Giant, Gifts from Enola, and Dark Sea Dream.

Rock and Roll Hotel, 1353 H Street, NE.

$10.00 admission. Doors at 8:30.

Monteverdi at the National Cathedral

The Folger Consort, a nationally renowned chamber music ensemble who perform music from the 12th through the 18th century, begin the new year with a concert featuring music written 400 years ago: Claudio Monteverdi’s Vespers of the Blessed Virgin, published in Venice in 1610.

Although the Consort most often perform locally in the intimate confines of the Folger Shakespeare Library’s Elizabethan Theater, this weekend they continue their tradition of staging at least one concert series in the vast expanse of the National Cathedral. According to the Consort, the “resonant reaches of Washington National Cathedral provide a magnificent venue for the timeless masterpiece,” 1610 Vespers, one of the towering masterpieces of the Baroque era.

With this work, Monteverdi, a master of both old and avant-garde style, composed a work both retrospective and startlingly new—the grand Psalm settings are meditations on the age-old Gregorian chants, and the “sacred songs” are Monteverdi’s bold introduction of the latest theatrical style to liturgical music. Unlike most modern performances of the Vespers, the Folger Consort’s period version, without a conductor, features one-on-a-part virtuoso instrumentalists and vocal soloists who also serve as the choir.

The concerts will be held on Friday, January 8 and Saturday, January 9 at 8:00 p.m.

Folger Consort, 1610 Vespers