Arts & Entertainment
‘Pop!’ goes the easel
Warhol Factory recreated in new Studio production
‘Pop!’
Through Aug. 7
The Studio 2ndStage
1501 14th Street, NW
$38-$43
202-332-3300
There’s a happening on 14th Street. It has all the essential ‘60s elements: music, sex, drugs, counterculture sensibility, art, some dancing, and even a cast of Warhol superstars. But be warned — it’s a violent crime scene too.
The Studio 2ndStage’s summer show “Pop!” is a musical mystery that asks not so much who shot Andy Warhol (everyone knows it was radical feminist writer and hanger-on Valerie Solanos who pulled the trigger), but why? Was the non-lethal shooting a random act of craziness or did the seemingly soulless Warhol ask for it? In 90 fast-paced minutes of song, fun, and complaint, we’re asked to figure it out.
An Andy Warhol self portrait. The eccentric late gay artist is the subject of a current Studio Theatre production, ‘Pop!’ (Photo courtesy of the Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh)
Action kicks off interactively, and getting seated is parted of the fun. On entering Studio Stage 4, theatergoers find a party already in progress filled with scenesters (costumed in bell bottoms, fringy vests and mod frocks by Ivania Stack) and a few artists in action. Here a woman paints the inside of a bathtub; across the room, a videographer films a young man in various states of undress. His image is projected largely on a back wall.
Set designer Giorgos Tsappas has morphed the black box venue into a slightly smaller version of Warhol’s legendary Factory (his silver-walled Manhattan studio/party space) with aluminum foil and varied touches of iconography including brightly labeled Brillo boxes and 15 outsized handgun silk screens.
Eventually the milling about ends, the stage lights come up and we meet the famously bewigged Warhol — played with marvelous languor by Tom Story. We learn he has blithely offered each of his minions an empty brown paper lunch bag in lieu of money or contracts (no wonder he was shot). And in response to that shooting, he utters an underwhelming “Ouch,” quickly setting the tone and introducing Warhol in all of his deadpan glory.
Sleuthing begins in earnest when the evening’s hostess — transsexual star Candy Darling (young actor Matthew Delorenzo) — assigns detective duties to Factory factotum Gerard Malanga (Luke Tudball) and opera-loving, speed freak Ondine (Sean-Maurice Lynch) who proceeds to snort up the chalk used to mark where Warhol’s injured body had fallen. While all and sundry are suspect, inspector magnifying glasses are trained on a trio of Factory ladies: beautiful heiress turned junkie, Edie Sedgewick (Marylee Adams); smart, sexy Viva (Deborah Lubega); and finally the fore-mentioned Valerie Solanas (Rachel Zampelli), the proud lesbian author of the SCUM (society for cutting up men) manifesto. Seems each has her reasons to resent Warhol, and all three are called on to express it rather formulaically in song.
The score (played by a terrific six-person band led by Christopher Youstra) makes reference to various musical genres — rock, Latin, vaudeville and Gospel. Highlights include a spot lit Candy Darling singing a lament to her fading star, and the madcap funeral sequence in which the cast dons outré clerical garb and sing long and loud about their injured leader. Even Mama Wahola (the artist’s original surname) makes the scene.
Then there’s “Big Gun,” a rousing disparagement of the male member sung by Solanas backed by Edie and Viva. But what’s missing from the score — considering many of the Factory girls and boys’ prodigious drug habits — is a musical paean to heroine or maybe a zippy patter song about methamphetamine.
Stylishly staged by Studio 2ndStage’s artistic director Keith Alan Barker, the production is a strong collaboration of designers and performers. They’ve recreated a feel for the Factory in a musical theater setting — not easy. But don’t come to “Pop!” expecting to find doppelgangers for coltish Edie, aquiline Viva, and pouty, floppy-haired Melanga, you won’t. Instead you will find an energized, diverse cast of talented actors working looks of their own.
After Warhol’s brush with death, the Factory changed. Things became less sloppy; security was upped — no longer were quirky nonentities allowed in from the street. Warhol changed too. He began to focus even more on making money and cultivated a different crowd, befriending tonier It girls like Bianca Jagger and Lee Radziwill.
We know who shot Andy Warhol. Why still remains a matter of opinion. Solonas the gatecrasher was nuts, but like most of Warhol’s real superstars, she also craved attention and may possibly have felt used by the man who ultimately and unwittingly gave them all fame. In some gray but mostly candy-colored bright tones, this “Pop!” makes revisiting the crime scene fun.
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Eastern Shore chef named James Beard Finalist
Harley Peet creates inventive food in an inclusive space
In a small Eastern Shore town filled with boutiques, galleries, and the occasional cry of waterfowl from the Chesapeake, Chef Harley Peet is most at home. In his Viennese-inflected, Maryland-sourced fine-dining destination Bas Rouge, Peet draws from his Northern Michigan upbringing, Culinary Institute of America education, and identity as a gay man, for inspiration.
And recently, Peet was named a James Beard Finalist for Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic – the first “Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic” finalist representing the Eastern Shore.
Peet, after graduation from the Culinary Institute of America, took a position as sous chef at Tilghman Island Inn, not far from Bas Rouge. Falling in love with the Eastern Shore, he continued his passion for racing sailboats, boating, gardening, and fishing, and living his somewhat pastoral life as he opened Bas Rouge in 2016 as head chef, a restaurant part of the Bluepoint Hospitality group, which runs more than a dozen concepts in and around Easton, Md.
Coming from a rural area and being gay, Peet knew he had his work cut out for him. He was always aware that the service and hospitality industry “can be down and dirty and rough.”
Now as a leader in the kitchen, he aims to “set a good example, and treat people how I want to be treated. I also want to make sure if you’re at our establishment, I’m the first to stand up and say something.”
The Bas Rouge cuisine, he says, is Contemporary European. “I’m inspired by old-world techniques of countries like Austria, Germany, and France, but I love putting a new spin on classic dishes and finding innovative ways to incorporate the bounty of local Chesapeake ingredients.”
His proudest dish: the humble-yet-elevated Wiener Schnitzel. “It is authentic to what one would expect to find in Vienna, down to the Lingonberries.” From his in-house bakery, Peet dries and grinds the housemade Kaiser-Semmel bread to use as the breadcrumbs.
Peet works to support the LGBTQ community inside and outside of the kitchen. “I love that our Bluepoint Hospitality team has created welcoming spaces where our patrons feel comfortable dining at each of our establishments. Our staff have a genuine respect for one another and work together free of judgment.”
Representing Bluepoint, Peet has participated in events like Chefs for Equality with the Human Rights Campaign, advocating for LGBTQ rights.
At Bas Rouge, Peet brings together his passion for inclusion steeped in a sustainability ethic. He sees environmental stewardship as a way of life. Peet and his husband have lived and worked on their own organic farm for several years. Through research in Europe, he learned about international marine sourcing. Witnessing the impacts of overfishing, Peet considers his own role in promoting eco-friendly practices at Bas Rouge. To that end, he ensures responsible sourcing commitments through his purveyors, relationships that have helped create significant change in how people dine in Easton.
“I have built great relationships in the community and there’s nothing better than one of our long-standing purveyors stopping in with a cooler of fresh fish from the Chesapeake Bay. This goes especially for catching and plating the invasive blue catfish species, which helps control the species’ threat to the local ecosystem.
Through his kitchen exploits, Peet expressed a unique connection to another gay icon in a rural fine-dining restaurant: Patrick O’Connell, of three Michelin starred Inn at Little Washington. In fact, Peet’s husband helped design some of O’Connell’s kitchen spaces. They’ve both been able to navigate treacherous restaurant-industry waters, and have come out triumphant and celebrated. Of O’Connell, Peet says that he “sees [his restaurants] as canvas, all artistry, he sees this as every night is a show.” But at the same time, his “judgment-free space makes him a role model.”
Being in Easton itself is not without challenges. Sourcing is a challenge, having to either fly or ship in ingredients, whereas urban restaurants have the benefit of trucking, he says. The small town “is romantic and charming,” but logistics are difficult – one of the reasons that Peet ensures his team is diverse, building in different viewpoints, and also “making things a hell of a lot more fun.”
Reflecting on challenges and finding (and creating) space on the Eastern Shore, Peet confirmed how important it was to surround himself with people who set a good example, and “if you don’t like the way something is going, fuck them and move on.”
Team DC, the umbrella organization for LGBTQ-friendly sports teams and leagues in the D.C. area, held its annual Night of Champions Awards Gala on Saturday, April 20 at the Hilton National Mall. The organization gave out scholarships to area LGBTQ student athletes as well as awards to the Different Drummers, Kelly Laczko of Duplex Diner, Stacy Smith of the Edmund Burke School, Bryan Frank of Triout, JC Adams of DCG Basketball and the DC Gay Flag Football League.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
The 2024 National Cannabis Festival was held at the Fields at RFK Stadium on April 19-20.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
Covering the @NatlCannaFest at RFK Stadium for @WashBlade . Stop by the LGBTQ+ booth and pick up a paper if you are here. pic.twitter.com/is7hnsaPns
— Michael Patrick Key (@MichaelKeyWB) April 20, 2024
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