Ford's Theatre - My Favourite Looking Theatre

I first went to Ford's Theatre for "The Widow Lincoln" with Sonu. That play was excellent! I fell in love with the theatre that visit. Not because of the play, but because of how little and quaint this theatre is. 

I went again for "The Guard" with Kristina to Ford's Theatre. This play wasn't really that good, but I was excited to see this theatre again. 

It is like the grand, big, old theatres I have been to, but it is much smaller. There is a small winding staircase that takes you to the balcony level. There is a chandelier, but it is smaller than you see at the other theatres. It's just very snug. I love it! :) 

Lincoln Box

Stage and Lincoln Box

I LOVE how these lamps look

Chimerica

The Set. The screen on the triangular part opens, and there are two rooms, as needed, on different floors.

Another fantastic play at Studio Theatre. The play is about China and America. The play focuses on the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989 and the reporting of an American photographer who was there in 1989. He took the famous tank man photograph. Now, 20 years later, he is looking for the tank man. The play does an excellent job switching between scenes, going into flash backs, and making the 3 hour play seem much shorter than that! 

I liked how they showed the scenes that were in "Mandarin". The first few lines of dialogue were in Mandarin with sur-titles, and then it would switch to English. 

The methods used in the play were excellent, and as expected, another delight to watch at Studio theatre.

David Muse

David Muse, the artistic director of Studio Theatre and the director of Chimerica, was sitting one row below and a few seats away from us. I enjoyed looking at him during the play and seeing him gesturing at scenes and telling another colleague something about it. :) 

Kishan vs Kanhaiya

Paresh Rawal's Kishan vs Kanhaiya (in hindi) played at Lisner today. This performance was the 99th in the US! They have been travelling a lot and seem pretty popular. The play was really good and hilarious, in typical Paresh Rawal style.

The play questions God and makes scientific arguments against typical religious customs the masses follow. I really like how the play ends, where it doesn't reject the presence of God, but instead calls out organized religion and its ridiculousness.

I wouldn't say this is one of the best plays I have been for, but it is definitely worth a watch. You will come away with laughs :)

The audience was all Indian, and obviously, there were several people trying to take videos. Paresh Rawal called a couple of them out during the play. He didn't break character or anything, but instead of launching into his lines, he pointed to the person in the audience and told them to "stop that nonsense". Good for him!

Hand Delivered Tickets :-o

I bought tickets for Kishan vs. Kanhaiya, a Paresh Rawal play on Sulekha. Soon after I completed the transaction for the tickets and got the confirmation email for the order, I received another email that Manan Singh sent also to Meenu Sabharwal asking him to "allocated tix for Naila Bhatri". I didn't receive any further communication about the tickets until today. At around 9:00 PM I got a call from someone and he told me that he was coming to deliver the tickets in about 15 minutes and if that would be fine! :-o :-o Um, what!? Deliver the tickets in person? :-o

In about 15 minutes, he was here, and our tickets for the play were delivered in this way! Who does that? Why do they do that? Isn't will call cheaper and more efficient? 

Silence! The Musical

Since I have been absent from my blog for almost 2 years, my love affair with Studio Theatre has not been captured here. I have enjoyed every play I have gone for there and it is hard to resist going to a play there. Their productions, acting, directing, sets, everything is so fantastic, that even a play with an average story line is worth the watch. They do an amazing job. 

We went there for a cabaret, Silence! The Musical. It was a spoof on Silence of the Lambs. The play was really good, funny! The actors, again, did a fantastic job. One of my favourite parts was a costume change. One of the actresses was out in black pants and shirt, singing and dancing, when a curtain drew around her. She was completely behind the curtain, with her head sticking out, singing and performing, and in a minute or less the curtains pulled away and she was in a shiny red dress!!! 

They had themed drinks. Mine was Hannibal Nectar, and Saurabh had Quantico Mule

Bell

Smita and I went to the NG museum for BELL - a one man play on Alexander Graham Bell by Jim Lehrer. The National Geographic Society turns 125 this year and is celebrating their second president, Alexander Bell. 

The play was excellently written by Jim Lehrer and peformed by Rick Foucheux. The play is focuses more on Bell's other invention while covering the phone too. 

Great performance! 

Photo courtesy Google images

Russel Brand - Messiah Complex

After watching this hilarious clip, and seeing that Russel Brand was coming to DC at the Warner Theatre, I had to buy tickets. 

Though he came 30 minutes late due to bad weather, he was hilarious and entertained us for the entire 2 hours! 

Warner Theatre is so beautiful!

Potted Potter

The Golden Snitch part was my favourite! I wish google had a photo from the performance we went to

We went for Potted Potter today - a 70 minute parody on the synopsis of all the 7 Potter books. The show was hilarious and had me in tears. 

Daniel Clarkson and Jefferson Turner perform this 2 man parody with many props and just do a wonderful job! In 2005 they were commissioned to create a 5-minute street show recapping the plot of the first 5 Potter books, for performance to queues of fans waiting for the midnight release of the sixth book. In 2006, Potted Potter is born as a street show and into an hour long performance in which the first six books are parodied. After touring the U.K. in 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2011, they start touring North America in 2012. 

The performance started out okay, but it just kept getting funnier. The audience participation was fun and the little girls they brought on stage from the audience to be the seekers, in the audience quidditch game, were just adorable. Both were in witch robes! The audience was split into two teams - Gryffindor and Slytherin and had to punch around the quaffle trying to get it through the high goal post. It was just hilarious. Then Jefferson Turner came out as a golden snitch while the seekers tried to catch him. The. Best. Part. Ever! 

This snake was just hilarious! :D

Photos courtesy Google images

Dog Days of Improv

We went to the Source Theatre for Dog Days of Improv, with fairly cheap tickets and seats on the stage! 

Three groups performed improv. I don't remember the names of the groups, though. The first one was decent (it was musical style), the second one was really not good, but the last one was HILARIOUS! :D :D. And! to add to it all, a lady behind us SNORTED really loud every time she laughed hard. She even made the performers laugh mid-sentence when she snorted. 

The Birds

We went with Smita for The Birds at the Writer's Center. It is a Quotidian Theatre Company production. The acting was excellent, but for some reason the actors all put on a terrible Irish accent. Saurabh was unable to get over that. But, the play, itself, was excellent!

The story was about birds taking over the world and killing all living beings. There unaquainted people had found refuge in a barn and the play tells the story of their interaction and actions for survivals while the birds are out destroying things. 

Photos courtesy Google images.

Show Boat

We went for Show Boat at the Kennedy Center this evening. It was just okay. 

Photo courtesy Google images.

Good People

We went for Good People at the Arena Stage this evening. It's been forever since we have gone for a play, and this was our first time at Arena Stage. The theatre is really nice and conveniently located. I definitely want to go there more often for performances. 

The play was excellent! The main characters are Southies from Boston. The play centers around Margie who is a single mother with a handicapped daughter and has just lost her job as a cashier. During these times of economic woe, the play is about her trying to find a new job. The dark humour and the acting are both great! I highly recommend the play.

Arena Stage Theatre

Broken Images

Broken Images, a Girish Karnad play starring Shabana Azmi was excellent. I completely enjoyed watching Shabana Azmi whose performance was absolutely brilliant in this one man play. :) If it comes to your city, I recommend going!

Bill Cosby - Take 2

We went for Bill Cosby for the second time in as many years this evening. We had gone for his stand-up (well...in his case it is sit down) on Jan 24th last year. It was hilarious! But, this time, I was a tired/sleepy so I remember enjoying the performance in 2009 better. Also, a few of the jokes were repeated so that obviously had a role to play.

At 73 he's just amazing!!! He's old and he doesn't try to hide it. He performs sitting down with a table near him that has a tissue box that is extensively used. His expressions are what make his jokes! I'm so so so so glad I've been able to watch him live twice, now.

I realised late into the show that people were taking photos. I tried to take some of to capture the plethora of expressions he has. I was unable to capture his classic gesture of raising his hand up with his fist closed when he ends a joke that has a the husband victorious over the wife. hehe!

I love the guy!

Ovo

Photo of the stage that I took before I realised photography wasn't permitted

Ovo is playing at the National Harbor right now in the DC area. This cirque du soleil performance was about insects. I went for it with Houda, Adnan, Houda's mom and Houda's brother (Hisham). The show was fantastic!!

My favourite performances:

1. Ants
The hardest working insects in the community are the bright red Ants. As soon as they’re awake they spend their day gathering food: On the menu today – kiwis, corn and mushrooms. But it’s not all work. They play with their food, too – with their feet – in an astonishing display of precision juggling that climaxes with ants juggling ants.

The sync, the juggling and the acrobatics was just amazing!!! This performance was my absolute favourite of all.

Ants!!!!

2. Slackwire
The spider defies gravity and physics in a succession of seemingly impossible feats of strength and balance as he traverses a wire that appears to give him no support. At one point he hangs at a 45-degree angle over the ground, some 15 feet below, and he tops that with an upside-down unicycle act. And the wire is in almost-constant motion up and down, adding to the degree of difficulty.

My favourite bit was when he rode the the unicycle upside down!

Slackwire

3. Wall
This act features some 20 artists running, jumping, and walking across – and straight up – an 8m vertical wall without artificial support. Power track and trampolines give them the speed, lift and momentum to take flight. Their athletic ability, physical strength and team coordination take care of the rest.

I have seen performances before where artists jump off trampolines and climb walls but they have some form of artificial support. This performance was just phenomenal!

The Wall

Anita Ratnam

Smita and I went to watch Anita Ratnam perform at the Lincoln Theatre today. The opening performances were the same as for Mallika Sarabhai. Anita Ratnam was fabulous. I especially enjoyed her performance of Yashoda and Yashoda's interaction with Lord Krishna.

After the performance she came out to meet with the audience. The photo at the beginning is the least blurry photo I got of her. Heh heh heh

Mallika Sarabhai

We won tickets for the Mallika Sarabhai performance at the Lincoln Theatre today. The opening act was quite uncoordinated, to say the least. But, the main act with Mallika Sarabhai and the Darpana Dance Company was EXQUISITE!!!!! The coordination, expression, strength and choreography was absolutely spellbinding and enthralling. There were 4 perfomances by Mallika and the dance group. Each equally magnificent!!

At the end of the performance, I paid my customary visit to the restroom and when I came out Mallika Sarabhai was out meeting with the audience. After hanging out long enough I got a photo with her! :D

PS: I am aware of the excessive use of superlatives in this post.

The Importance of Being Earnest

Ever since I read the play for the first time in school I have wanted to watch it. We got tickets for the play running at the H Street Theatre and headed there this evening. I was disappointed. The performance had a very in a very crude and crass manner. The humour Oscar Wilde generates in this play is because of the delivery of the lines by proper aristocratic British people. The accents didn't live up and the direction the artistic director took was not what I wanted from this play. I laughed, but only because I knew what the lines all ready were and I remembered enjoying them while reading the play. Very often I laughed before the lines were acted out. If I hadn't read the play before a lot of the subtle humour would have been lost on me during this delivery of it.

What was interesting about this play was that all the male roles were played by women and vice versa. I especially liked Sara Barker who played Algernon Moncrieff. Everyone else was just okay.

My thirst to watch this play still remains unquenched.

Mary Poppins!

We went to Kennedy Center today to watch Mary Poppins! I have been wanting to go for this performance for a while, now. It was EXCELLENT! The sets, the singing, the dancing, the acting...all brilliant! They changed the story from the movie, but they made it work well.

My favourite performance in the first act was Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. The dancing was just amazing. They did a bit where the entire troupe was acting out the alphabets of supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. This is what I ABSOLUTELY LOVED about the performance. All the performers were in absolute sync! Excellent!

In the second act I especially enjoyed the tap dance performance to Step in Time. It was a fun performance and since I am partial to tap dancing, I really enjoyed this. One of my favourite bits in this performance was when Bert (the chimney sweeper) walks up the side of the stage, then upside down on the top of the stage (while performing to the song and tapping) and then walks back down the other side of the stage! :)

The sets were just amazing! I think if photos were taken, the photos would look real-ish! One of my favourite set scenes was when the kids (Jane and Michaei), Mary Poppins and Bert are sitting on the roof with there feet dangling and you can see other rooftops in the background! (the photo above)

The one thing I have realised about watching broadways that I have all ready watched the movie is that I tend to expect to see the movie actor on the stage, so end up being disappointed. It first happened when I went for Chicago. I wanted to see Richard Gere, Catherine Zeta Jones and Rene Zellweger. That time, I didn't really enjoy the performance, so my disappointment was enhanced. This time, I wanted to see Julie Andrews when Mary Poppins came on, so of course, I was disappointed. However, this time, the performance was so fabulous that I soon forgot about Julie Andrews.

I highly highly recommend this broadway!

ps: Mary Poppins final exit is pretty cool! I won't say what it was :)

CATS and Wolf Trap

This afternoon we headed to Wolf Trap for the a 2:00PM show of CATS. I have been wanting to go for this broadway for a very long time. It finally came to the area. We had excellent seats (10th row from the stage). The performance was absolutely fantastic. I think this is probably one of the better broadway performances I have been for. The dancing, the singing was just so well done.

This show was like Les Miserables in that one song lead into the next. There was very very little dialogue. If there was, it was just a couple of lines that were a prelude to the song coming. Fantastic cast! I am really glad we made the long trip out to Wolf Trap for it.

Wolf Trap is a beautiful location. The Filene Center stage and seating is covered, but the entire unit is still open to the outside. There is also lawn seating at the back. This makes for a very interesting and fun setting. It was incredibly hot today, but even without any air conditioning it was very cool inside! :)

Wolf Trap is part of a national park...and looks like it is a farm. Very very pretty. I am glad I finally made it out there to see such a pretty location.

Wolf Trap Grounds

Filene Center

Filene Center Stage (hard to make out 'coz it is dark)