Metro Weekly

Editor’s Picks: Kathy Griffin, Reba McEntire, Looney Tunes, Queen + Adam Lambert, and more!

Our picks of the best arts and entertainment in the D.C. area this week!

Looney Tunes at AFI Silver: Buggs Bunny in “What’s Opera, Doc?”

LOONEY TUNES

Every Saturday and Sunday morning over the next six weeks the AFI Silver Theatre screens a different 45-minute program featuring selections of Warner Bros.’ classic cartoons starring the Looney Tunes gang — Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Road Runner, Wile E. Coyote, Porky Pig, Foghorn Leghorn, Sylvester, Tweety, and more. Program 1 kicks things off this Saturday, July 27, and Sunday, July 28, at 11 a.m. 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring. Tickets are $5. Call 301-495-6720 or visit www.afi.com/Silver.

Unexpected Stage Company: The Few — Photo: David Lewis

THE FEW

A drama from playwright Samuel D. Hunter (A Bright New Boise) set in an Idaho town where residents are struggling to connect, relate, and make sense of it all. Baakari Wilder plays a man returning after a few years away, Dawn Thomas Reidy plays his friend and former lover, and Andrew Flurer a newcomer who complicates his future in a changed town. Audrey Cefaly, Ira Joe Fisher, Michael Grenham, and Zach Brewster-Geisz also lend their voiceover talents to this production from Maryland’s Unexpected Stage. To Aug. 4. Fireside Room in the River Road Unitarian Universalist Congregation building, 6301 River Rd., Bethesda. Tickets are $10 to $29.50. Call 301-337-8290 or visit www.unexpectedstage.org.

Olney Theatre: Tiger Style — Photo: Teresa Castracane

TIGER STYLE!

An outrageous and cutting satire of Asian-American identity, Mike Lew’s latest work closes out the current season at Olney Theatre Center in a production helmed by Helen Hayes Award-winning director Natsu Onoda Power. Regina Aquino and Sean Sekino star as third-generation Chinese-Americans, affluent Millennial siblings who face something of a late-adolescent identity crisis that leads them to try their hand at living in the motherland. To Aug. 18. Mulitz-Gudelsky Theatre Lab, 2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Road, Olney, Md. Call 301-924-3400 or visit www.olneytheatre.org.

Reba McEntire at Wolf Trap

REBA MCENTIRE

One of country’s top-selling and most influential female artists takes a break from her long-running Las Vegas residency to perform at Wolf Trap. The LGBTQ rights and marriage equality supporter will sing from her bounty of hits with perhaps a nod to her past work on Broadway in Annie Get Your Gun. Sunday, July 28. Gates at 6:30 p.m. The Filene Center at Wolf Trap, 1551 Trap Road, Vienna. Tickets are $45 to $125. Call 877-WOLFTRAP or visit www.wolftrap.org.

John Scott Dance

JOHN SCOTT DANCE: CUNNINGHAM CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION

Works by the modern dance pioneer Merce Cunningham take the focus of this program featuring an internationally acclaimed dance company as well as a crew of local dancers. Presented by Dance Place in collaboration with the Kennedy Center, the celebration features Ireland’s John Scott Dance performing works by its namesake founder as well as three early Cunningham pieces: Totem Ancestor, Night Wandering, and a solo from Second Hand. Saturday, July 27, at 8 p.m., and Sunday, July 28, at 7 p.m. Morris & Gwendolyn Cafritz Theater, 3225 8th St. NE. Tickets are $25 in advance, or $30 at the door. Call 202-269-1600 or visit www.danceplace.org.

Mason Funk: Book of Pride

MASON FUNK

Funk’s The Book of Pride: LGBTQ Heroes Who Changed the World consists of detailed interviews with 75 queer individuals who witnessed or participated in the gay rights movement over the past 50 years, including instrumental figures such as marriage equality pioneer Evan Wolfson, trans icon Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, Stonewall-era rabblerouser and veteran LGBTQ publisher Mark Segal, and anti-Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell activist Grethe Cammermeyer. The details come from OutWords (www.theoutwordsarchive.org), billed as the first national effort to capture, via on-camera, first-person interviews, the stories of LGBTQ pioneers and elders, and to ensure that their work and efforts are not erased or lost to history. Thursday, Aug. 1, at 6:30 p.m. Kramerbooks, 1517 Connecticut Ave. NW. Call 202-387-1400 or visit www.kramers.com.

Kathy Griffin: Hell of a Story – Photo: Tanne Willow

KATHY GRIFFIN: A HELL OF A STORY

Two years ago, the Emmy- and Grammy-winning comedy queen and TV celebrity suffered a mighty fall after releasing a photo of her holding a bloodied prop resembling the head of President Trump. The documentary shows the hell she went through and all that she lost as a result of that controversial antic, and the globe-spanning comedy tour she embarked on that reignited her star. A hit at its debut during Austin’s SXSW Film Festival earlier this year, Fathom Events premieres the documentary at a nationwide screening next week that includes a live, exclusive, post-screening Q&A with Griffin. Wednesday, July 31, at 8 p.m., at various Regal venues, including Gallery Place (701 7th St. NW), Potomac Yards Stadium (3575 Jefferson Davis Highway), and Majestic Stadium (900 Ellsworth Dr., Silver Spring). Visit www.fathomevents.com.

Queen with Adam Lambert

QUEEN + ADAM LAMBERT

Adam Lambert has been fronting the legendary rock band on tours of stadiums the world over for years now. Yet there’s even more momentum in 2019 on account of the Oscar-winning success of Bohemian Rhapsody, on track to become the highest-grossing music biopic of all time. Lambert and the two founding members of Queen, guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor, will be joined by three additional musicians on this year’s Rhapsody Tour, which features new staging of all of Queen’s biggest hits. Tuesday, July 30. Doors at 7 p.m. Capital One Arena, 601 F St. NW. A few official tickets remain for $395 to $625, although reseller sites including VividSeats have tickets available starting around $198. Call 202-628-3200 or visit www.capitalonearena.com.

Ruth Gresser, Pizza Paradiso — Photo: Moshe Zusman

PIZZERIA PARADISO

Next week ushers in two different promotions at the two newest offshoots of the acclaimed local pizza chain that chef Ruth Gresser first launched in Dupont Circle 28 years ago. First up is a drink special to toast the new patio at the pizzeria’s newest location in D.C.’s Spring Valley neighborhood (4850 Massachusetts Ave. NW; 202-885-9101). Starting at 11 a.m. on Monday, July 28, the one-year-old venue will serve Beer Floats for customers or stick to traditional root beer in which to float scoops of ice cream, at a cost of $8 for beer and $6 for root beer. The month of July concludes with a reasonably priced three-course dinner special at the two-year-old Pizzeria Paradiso in Hyattsville (4800 Rhode Island Ave.; 240-467-3210) — geared for those who want something other than pizza. Starting at 5 p.m. “until the food runs out” on Wednesday, July 31, “Momma Ruth” will be serving from the kitchen one of two salad options as a first course, followed by a main course of Herb Roasted Chicken Thighs with succotash and stewed tomatoes, Cod and Crab Cake with succotash and coleslaw, or Dry Rub Pork Shoulder with succotash and broccoli rabe. The special, priced at just $30 per person, concludes with your choice of dessert: tiramisu, chocolate almond cake, seasonal fruit pie, or Dolcezza push pop. Visit www.eatyourpizza.com for more details.

Let’s Play Double the Fun: Ice Cream, 6/12/17 — By Maggie O’Neill

MAGGIE O’NEILL: LET’S PLAY

There’s a lot happening at the Rooftop at Union Market, which has been designed as a new community space by its developer and operator, EDENS. In addition to a 700-seat stadium where celebrity members of the Washington Kastles play select games and fans get sweeping views of the action and the Washington cityscape, there’s a one-day experiential, interactive solo exhibit featuring 30 pieces of the D.C.-based artist and designer Maggie O’Neill’s original artwork and merchandise inspired by bingo, ice cream, roller skates, and disco, displayed alongside activities meant to bring to life some of the paintings. A centerpiece of Let’s Play is a life-size bingo game board, on which 75 participants, over the course of three rounds, will play to win limited-edition prints by O’Neill as well as gift certificates to local favorite merchants, including modern Afghan bistro Lapis and the coffee and craft cocktails establishment Lapop. The event also features live music, a roller skate raffle, and food and drink available for purchase from Taco Bamba and other Union Market vendors. The co-founder of the Dupont Circle creative design firm Swatchroom, O’Neill has been working with materials from the classic game as a medium for her artwork for several years, as well as hosting bingo events at her studio and engaging through the game with patients at Children’s National hospital. A portion of art sales from the event will benefit the medical center. Sunday, July 28, from 6 to 9 p.m. 1309 5th St. NE. Free and open to the public, though RSVP recommended; bingo rounds are first-come, first-play. Call 800-680-9095 or visit www.letsplay2019.eventbrite.com.

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