Spotlights: Events in D.C., December 21-27
Casablanca
What is billed as the most popular and enduring screen romance of all time closes out the year — and helps launch 2018 — as part of Landmark’s West End Cinema Capital Classics. The 1943 Oscar-winning drama, directed by Michael Curtiz (Mildred Pierce) and set in the throes of World War II, stars Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. Screenings are Wednesdays, Dec. 27 and Jan. 3, at 1:30, 4:30, and 7:30 p.m., 2301 M St. NW. Happy hour from 4 to 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $12.50. Call 202-534-1907 or visit landmarktheatres.com.
Nellie’s Holiday Drag Brunches
Shi-Queeta Lee will host even more festive brunch buffets over the holidays at everyone’s favorite gay sports bar. Expect a “special holiday performance,” and on Christmas Eve, the first mimosa or bloody mary is on Nellie’s. Sunday, Dec. 24, and Dec. 31, at 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. Also, Monday, Jan. 1, at 1 p.m. Nellie’s Sports Bar, 900 U St. NW. Tickets are $45 (please note, the printed edition has the price listed incorrectly; this was an editorial error and Nellie’s is under no obligation to honor the incorrect price). Call 202-332-NELL or visit nelliessportsbar.com.
An Irish Carol
For the sixth year in a row, Keegan Theatre offers company member Matthew Keenan’s homage to Dickens, albeit with biting Irish humor and incisive candor. Mark A. Rhea directs a cast featuring himself plus Kevin Adams, Josh Sticklin, Timothy Lynch, Mike Kozemchak, Christian Montgomery, Caroline Dubberly, and Daniel Lyons. Closes Sunday, Dec. 31. Keegan Theatre, 1742 Church St. NW. Tickets are $35 to $45. Call 202-265-3768 or visit keegantheatre.com.
Les Miserables
The National Theatre plays host to a touring production of Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg’s Tony-winning musical phenomenon, featuring new staging and reimagined scenery inspired by the paintings of Victor Hugo. Now to Jan. 7. National Theatre, 1321 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Call 202-628-6161 or visit thenationaldc.org.
A Hank Williams Tribute
The Birchmere offers the 21st annual tribute to one of the most heralded and influential country singers of all time, this year including performances by Robin & Linda Williams, Robbie Fulks, Patrick McAvinue, and Mark Schatz, in addition to the Grammy-winning lesbian couple Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer. Saturday, Dec. 30, at 7:30 p.m. The Birchmere, 3701 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria. Tickets are $29.50. Call 703-549-7500 or visit birchmere.com.
The Strauss Symphony of America’s New Year’s Concert
Bernhard Schneider conducts the Strauss orchestra with soloists soprano Micaela Oeste and tenor Zoltan Nyari, plus dancers from the Kiev-Aniko Ballet of Ukraine and the International Champion Ballroom Dancers in the annual “Salute to Vienna,” inspired by the Austrian capital’s famed Neujahrskonzert and offering Strauss waltzes, polkas and operetta excerpts. Attila Glatz Concerts presents the 17th annual concert, this year offered a day before New Year’s. Saturday, Dec. 30, at 3 p.m. Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda. Remaining tickets are $49 to $125. Call 301-581-5100 or visit strathmore.org.
Broadway, Hosted By Franqi French
In its black box space, D.C.’s Drafthouse Comedy presents a new variety show featuring stand-up comedy, music and sketches by a diverse group of local female, minority and LGBTQ performers — and all hosted by a comedian who has shared the stage with DL Hughley, Todd Glass, Fortune Feimster, and Judy Gold, among others. Wednesday, Dec. 27. Doors at 8:15 p.m. Drafthouse Comedy, 1100 13th St. NW. Tickets are $5. Call 202-750-6411 or visit drafthousecomedy.com.
Cyrus Chestnut Trio
“The best jazz pianist of his generation,” Time music critic Josh Tyrangiel recently wrote about Baltimore’s versatile virtuoso Cyrus Chestnut, who 20 years ago portrayed a Count Basie-inspired pianist in Robert Altman’s film Kansas City. He returns to D.C.’s leading jazz venue for a weeklong run of shows with a bassist and drummer, culminating in New Year’s Eve performances, both offering a three-course meal — with a midnight glass of champagne at second seating — and featuring vocalist-led Integriti Reeves Band. Tuesday, Dec. 26, through Saturday, Dec. 30, at 8 and 10 p.m., and Sunday, Dec. 31, at 6:30 and 10 p.m. Blues Alley, 1073 Wisconsin Ave. NW. Tickets are $36 to $41, or $116 to $166 for New Year’s Eve dinner/show packages, plus $12 minimum purchase. Call 202-337-4141 or visit bluesalley.com.
Nicholas Rodriguez
Now that his work portraying Captain von Trapp in the national touring production of The Sound of Music is a wrap, the New York-based performer ventures down to Richmond for a New Year’s Eve cabaret. The focus is The First Time — also the name of his 2016 solo debut — and includes everything from a gospel jazz version of “Oh, What a Beautiful Morning” to a sexy cover of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene.” Sunday, Dec. 31, at 8 and 10:30 p.m. Richmond Triangle Players, 1300 Altamont Ave. Richmond. Tickets are $45 to $65. Call 804-346-8113 or visit rtriangle.org.
Judy Chicago: Visual Archive, The Dinner Party Exhibition
As part of its 30th anniversary celebration, the National Museum of Women in the Arts honors the iconic artist through establishment of a new archive and opening of a new exhibition. The archive, in the Boyd Dettre Library and Research Center, documents the artist’s work through photographs, slides, negatives, and printed ephemera spanning the 1960s through the present. As such, it captures fleeting performance pieces such as her pyrotechnics and dry ice works as well as exhibitions of drawings, paintings, sculpture and installations, including The Dinner Party. Meanwhile, the creation of that monumental and radical installation is the focus of a temporary exhibition. Closes Friday, Jan. 5. 1250 New York Ave NW. Admission is $10. Call 202-783-5000 or visit nmwa.org.
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