Arts & Entertainment
There’s a new girl in town!
Linda Lavin at the Kennedy Center and other D.C. arts briefs
Linda Lavin is at the Kennedy Center Friday night.
There’s a new girl in town!
The Kennedy Center (2700 F St., NW) presents Broadway singer/actress Linda Lavin as part of Barbara Cook’s theater cabaret series tonight at 7:30 p.m.
Lavin is known for winning a Tony for the show “Broadway Bound.” She also starred in shows such as “Gypsy,” “The Sisters Rosenweig,” “The Diary of Anne Frank,” “The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife” and “Collected Stories.” The first season of her hit ‘70s-‘80s sitcom “Alice” is finally out on DVD. For years, the only thing available was a single paltry sampler disc. This is Lavin’s first time back at the Kennedy Center following a successful run last year in “Follies” with Bernadette Peters.
Tickets are $45. For more information, visit kennedy-center.org.
Gargantuan craft show invades Convention Center
The 25th annual Washington Craft Show starts today at 10 a.m. and continues throughout the weekend at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center (801 Mount Vernon Place, NW).
This annual craft show is a showcase of contemporary craft in America. Around 200 of the nation’s top contemporary craft artists will be present with their pieces. There will also be special exhibitions, artist’s talks and fashion shows.
Admission is $15. For more information visit craftsamericashows.com.
Different Drummers offer ‘American Salute’
D.C.’s Different Drummers Capital Pride Symphonic Band is holding a fall concert dubbed “American Salute” at the Columbia Heights Education Center/ Bell High School (16th & Irving St., NW) Saturday night at 7:30.
D.C.’s Different Drummers is the area’s music organization for the LGBT community and their friends and family. The concert features pieces by famous American composers, including Bernstein to Copland.
Tickets are $21. For more information, visit dcdd.org.
Casino Night benefits area LGBT sports leagues
Team D.C. presents “Casino Night” Saturday night at 8 p.m. at Buffalo Billiards (1330 19th St., NW).
The night will include great prizes, gifts, drinks and food specials all night. Proceeds benefit D.C.’s LGBT sports teams.
The $10 entry gets attendees chips to play games and enters them into raffle prizes. For more information, visit teamdcsports.com.
Celebrity News
Madonna announces release date for new album
‘Confessions II’ marks return to the dance floor
Pop icon Madonna on Wednesday announced that her 15th studio album will be released on July 3.
Titled “Confessions II,” the new album is a sequel to 2005’s “Confessions on a Dance Floor,” an Abba and disco-infused hit.
The new album reunites Madonna with producer Stuart Price, who also helmed the original “Confessions” album. It’s her first album of new material since 2019’s “Madame X.”
“We must dance, celebrate, and pray with our bodies,” Madonna said in a press release. “These are things that we’ve been doing for thousands of years — they really are spiritual practices. After all, the dance floor is a ritualistic space. It’s a place where you connect — with your wounds, with your fragility. To rave is an art. It’s about pushing your limits and connecting to a community of like-minded people,” continued the statement. “Sound, light, and vibration reshape our perceptions. Pulling us into a trance-like state. The repetition of the bass, we don’t just hear it but we feel it. Altering our consciousness and dissolving ego and time.”
Denali (@denalifoxx) of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” performed at Pitchers DC on April 9 for the Thirst Trap Thursday drag show. Other performers included Cake Pop!, Brooke N Hymen, Stacy Monique-Max and Silver Ware Sidora.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
Arts & Entertainment
In an act of artistic defiance, Baltimore Center Stage stays focused on DEI
‘Maybe it’s a triple-down’
By LESLIE GRAY STREETER | I’m always tickled when people complain about artists “going political.” The inherent nature of art, of creation and free expression, is political. This becomes obvious when entire governments try to threaten it out of existence, like in 2025, when the brand-new presidential administration demanded organizations halt so-called diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programming or risk federal funding.
Baltimore Center Stage’s response? A resounding and hearty “Nah.” A year later, they’re still doubling down on diversity.
“Maybe it’s a triple-down,” said Ken-Matt Martin, the theater’s producing director, chuckling.
The rest of this article can be found on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
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