Arts & Entertainment
Arts news in brief: Jan. 28
‘Faux queen’ pageant at Ziegfeld’s, another dance company at the Kennedy Center and more
Gay-helmed dance company at George Mason next weekend
He is the dancing world’s strapping bad boy, with a fullback’s girth and at 6 feet, 2 inches tall, he towers over many other dancers, though these days he is now largely retired from performing. And he has been called by Time Magazine “the most prodigiously gifted choreographer of the post-Balanchine era.”
He is 54-year-old Mark Morris, founder and still chieftain of the world-renowned Mark Morris Dance Group, now in its 30th year during a 17-month-long anniversary season touring to 20 cities including the D.C. area on Feb. 5 and 6, in performances and discussions at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.
Morris, who is gay, was born in Seattle in 1956, and at the age of 16, after graduating early from high school, traveled to Spain where, at the time, he felt he was destined to be a flamenco dancer. But because of the fascist repression of the Franco regime, he returned to the U.S. and in 1976 began living with other artists in a loft in Hoboken, N.J., and performing in New York City.
In 1980, with a collection of friends, he staged a concert of his own choreography and called them the Mark Morris Dance Group. Since then, he has worked with Mikhail Baryshnikov to found the White Oak Dance Project and has been much in demand as a ballet choreographer, most notably with the San Francisco Ballet, and for staging operas for the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. In 2001, his company moved into its first permanent headquarters, the Mark Morris Dance Center in Brooklyn.
Open about his sexual orientation, Morris has been outspoken also on the topic of marriage equality, though he chooses to call gay marriage “queer marriage.”
“We have been coming to Fairfax many years,” says Morris, who looks to the D.C. area for its “steady and devoted audience for what we do.”
This includes his plan to perform the D.C.-area premiere of “Petrichor,” set to the music of Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos, which first premiered in Boston in 2010. The company will also perform three classical works from the Morris repertory — 1990’s “Going Away Party,” set to music by Bob Willis and His Texas Playboys; 1999’s “Silhouettes,” set to music by Richard Cumming; and 2008’s “Excursions,” set to music by 20th century gay American composer Samuel Barber.
Performances are at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Feb. 4 and 5, at George Mason University’s Center for the Arts at its campus, at the intersection of Braddock Road and Route 123, in Fairfax City, Va. Tickets are $22, $36 and $44, by phone at 888-945-2468 or visit www.cfa.gmu.edu. — David Hoffman
Alvin Ailey dance company celebrates 50th at Kennedy Center
The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is celebrating its 50th anniversary with seven performances at the Kennedy Center (2700 F St., N.W.) starting Tuesday. It’s named after the choreographer, a gay groundbreaker in his field who died of AIDS in 1989.
All of the group’s performances will include “Revelations,” a tribute to Ailey’s African-American heritage that uses traditional spirituals to explore the places of “deepest grief and holiest joy in the human soul,” as their promo material states.
On Tuesday at 7 p.m., Feb. 4 at 7:30 p.m. and Feb. 5 at 1:30 p.m., the company will be performing “Anointed,” “Cry and the Hunt” in addition to “Revelations.”
On Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30 p.m.,, the company will perform “Night Creature,” “The Evolution of a Secured Feminine” and the “Prodigal Prince” as well as “Revelations.”
The second performance on Feb. 5 at 7:30 p.m. and the Feb. 6 performance at 1:30 p.m. will include “Three Black Kings,” “In/Side” and “Forgotten Time.”
On Feb. 5 after the matinee, there will be a free post-performance discussion with a moderator and members of the company.
Tickets range from $30 to $99 and can be purchased online at kennedy-center.org. — David Hoffman
Show tunes and cocktails continue at the Jefferson
After its kick off in December, “Show Tunes and Cocktails at the Jefferson” continues as a monthly sing-along in the Jefferson’s Quill Bar (1200 16th St., N.W.) Monday from 7 to 10 p.m.
Orchestra leader Glenn Pearson, a Helen Hayes Board member, will be playing the piano “to encourage everyone in attendance to shed their inhibitions” and sing.
“For many years, following our annual October benefit, several guests stayed and broke into an impromptu gathering to sing show tunes around the piano with [Pearson],” says Linda Levy Grossman, Helen Hayes President and CEO said in a press release for the event. “Now it’s become a signature part of the evening.”
Specialty cocktails and featured appetizers will be available and attendees will have an opportunity to win Washington Theatre TixCertificates (flexible $20 gift certificates redeemable at almost 50 theaters throughout D.C.).
The Jefferson is donating 20 percent of the proceeds to support the Helen Hayes organization.
Admission is free and discounted parking is available with validation. — Juliette Ebner
Drag queen contest for ‘real’ women to be held
A contest for women born as biologically female but with drag sensibilities will be held Sunday at Ziegfeld’s at 3 p.m.
The Imperial Court of Washington is hosting Miss Faux Queen, an event modeled after female impersonation contests and a similar pageant that was held in San Francisco in the ’90s. There will be four categories — interview, international costume, interview and talent.
Contestants will dress similarly to drag queens with padding, wigs, makeup and more. All contestants will have a “drag mother” to guide them. Miss Faux Queen International is for in-town contestants while the “national” event is for out-of-town participants.
Admission is $20. Ziegfeld’s is at 1824 Half Street, S.W. Doors open at 2. For more information, e-mail to [email protected].
Books
A boy-meets-boy, family-mess story with heat
New book offers a stunning, satisfying love story

‘When the Harvest Comes’
By Denne Michele Norris
c.2025, Random House
$28/304 pages
Happy is the bride the sun shines on.
Of all the clichés that exist about weddings, that’s the one that seems to make you smile the most. Just invoking good weather and bright sunshine feels like a cosmic blessing on the newlyweds and their future. It’s a happy omen for bride and groom or, as in the new book “When the Harvest Comes” by Denne Michele Norris, for groom and groom.

Davis Freeman never thought he could love or be loved like this.
He was wildly, wholeheartedly, mind-and-soul smitten with Everett Caldwell, and life was everything that Davis ever wanted. He was a successful symphony musician in New York. They had an apartment they enjoyed and friends they cherished. Now it was their wedding day, a day Davis had planned with the man he adored, the details almost down to the stitches in their attire. He’d even purchased a gorgeous wedding gown that he’d never risk wearing.
He knew that Everett’s family loved him a lot, but Davis didn’t dare tickle the fates with a white dress on their big day. Everett’s dad, just like Davis’s own father, had considerable reservations about his son marrying another man – although Everett’s father seemed to have come to terms with his son’s bisexuality. Davis’s father, whom Davis called the Reverend, never would. Years ago, father and son had a falling-out that destroyed any chance of peace between Davis and his dad; in fact, the door slammed shut to any reconciliation.
But Davis tried not to think about that. Not on his wedding day. Not, unbeknownst to him, as the Reverend was rushing toward the wedding venue, uninvited but not unrepentant. Not when there was an accident and the Reverend was killed, miles away and during the nuptials.
Davis didn’t know that, of course, as he was marrying the love of his life. Neither did Everett, who had familial problems of his own, including homophobic family members who tried (but failed) to pretend otherwise.
Happy is the groom the sun shines on. But when the storm comes, it can be impossible to remain sunny.
What can be said about “When the Harvest Comes?” It’s a romance with a bit of ghost-pepper-like heat that’s not there for the mere sake of titillation. It’s filled with drama, intrigue, hate, characters you want to just slap, and some in bad need of a hug.
In short, this book is quite stunning.
Author Denne Michele Norris offers a love story that’s everything you want in this genre, including partners you genuinely want to get to know, in situations that are real. This is done by putting readers inside the characters’ minds, letting Davis and Everett themselves explain why they acted as they did, mistakes and all. Don’t be surprised if you have to read the last few pages twice to best enjoy how things end. You won’t be sorry.
If you want a complicated, boy-meets-boy, family-mess kind of book with occasional heat, “When the Harvest Comes” is your book. Truly, this novel shines.
The Blade may receive commissions from qualifying purchases made via this post.

The Victory Fund held its National Champagne Brunch at the Ritz-Carlton on Sunday, April 27. Speakers included Tim Gunn, Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Gov. Wes Moore (D-Md.), Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.), Rep. Chris Pappas (D-N.H.) and Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.).
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)

















Music & Concerts
Tom Goss returns with ‘Bear Friends Furever Tour’
Out singer/songwriter to perform at Red Bear Brewing Co.

Singer Tom Goss will bring his “Bear Friends Furever Tour” to D.C. on Sunday, June 8 at 8 p.m. at Red Bear Brewing Co.
Among the songs he will perform will be “Bear Soup,” the fourth installment in his beloved bear song anthology series. Following fan favorites like “Bears,” “Round in All the Right Places,” and “Nerdy Bear,” this high-energy, bass-thumping banger celebrates body positivity, joyful indulgence, and the vibrant spirit of the bear subculture.
For more details, visit Tom Goss’s website.
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