Arts & Entertainment
Shop talk
Organist Christopher Houlihan on tricks of the trade, his weekend recital and why being out is not a big deal
Christopher Houlihan is slated to perform works such as Liszt’s Fantasy and Fugue on the chorale ‘Ad Nos ad salutarem undam’ and Patrick Greene’s ‘Steel Symphony for Organ’ at his recital Sunday at First Baptist. (Photo by Ali Winberry; courtesy Classical Music Communications)
Organist Christopher Houlihan
In recital
Playing the new 118-rank Austin organ
First Baptist Church of Washington
1328 16th Street, N.W.
Sunday at 4 p.m.
Free
Organ virtuoso Christopher Houlihan will be in Washington this weekend for a recital at First Baptist Church.
He lives in Queens, New York but is on the road more often than not. We caught up by phone with the 26-year-old during a rehearsal break two weeks ago in Hartford, Conn. His comments have been slightly edited for length.
WASHINGTON BLADE: Do you have an organ at home?
CHRISTOPHER HOULIHAN: No. I practice at a church on the Upper West Side where I’m artist in residence. I practice there and play for them a few times a year. I’m on the road too much to have a regular church job.
BLADE: Is it far from your place? Is it like many of us are with the gym — if it’s too much hassle to get there, we don’t go as often as we should?
HOULIHAN: It’s a subway ride but it works out OK. It gets me out of my apartment. If I were a violinist, I’d just pick up my instrument and practice. But I get to practice in all these amazing spaces, which is much more inspiring than just sitting in my apartment. I like it that practicing takes me to these beautiful spaces.
BLADE: The organ at First Baptist is new. How long will you need to familiarize yourself with it before your recital?
HOULIHAN: I’ll be arriving on Friday afternoon. I never know how long it will take with a new organ. I estimate needing more time when it’s a larger instrument. I’ll be practicing late into the night on Friday and probably Saturday as well.
BLADE: Some young organists say they’re tired of having to constantly learn a new instrument while most seem to accept that it’s part of the deal. Are you frustrated by it?
HOULIHAN: It can be frustrating. Believe me, I’ve had situations where I’m really frustrated because the organ I’m playing can’t do the things I want it to do or it might not be a great instrument. But pianists have to do deal with that too in some ways. Of course organs are much more different. But at the same time, it can also be incredibly rewarding. I think of it like being a conductor and working with different orchestras. Some, maybe, the woodwinds are weak. With others, it might be the brass. … Others you play with are just stunning and inspiring and wonderful. The site specificity, the uniqueness of each instrument, brings so much more to the idea of going to hear an organ recital so each performance ends up being different from the rest.
BLADE: Is it sort of like driving a rental car and you can’t figure out how to turn the wipers on?
HOULIHAN: Sort of. I have that problem in rental cars all the time. It can be scary but exciting.
BLADE: Do you have a favorite organ builder or company?
Christopher Houlihan. (Photo by Ali Winberry; courtesy Classical Music Communications)
HOULIHAN: No, but I have a soft spot for Austin because I’ve played a lot of them and the first organ I had lessons on was an Austin.
BLADE: Do you play from memory?
HOULIHAN: For the most part. … It’s a lot harder to change registrations if I have to read the music too.
BLADE: Does it come naturally as you practice or is memorizing a significant part of the rehearsal process?
HOULIHAN: It’s never a skill that came naturally. I had to develop it, but it’s part of the learning process. … I find once I internalize the piece that way, I’m able to digest it better.
BLADE: Isn’t the thought of blanking out terrifying? I suppose it happens occasionally on the stage for actors.
HOULIHAN: Everyone has those scary moments sometimes but you just deal with it and that’s really the only answer. It can be terrifying, but you move forward and get over it.
BLADE: When you’re playing standard repertoire that so many great organists have played over the years, how do you bring something new to it or do you think in those terms?
HOULIHAN: I don’t necessarily try to be different. I just try to be honest to my personality and try to play it like I want to play it. … I just try to listen to my instincts and play it the way I think it should be played. That may be different from other interpretations or very similar, but I just try to be honest to the music and to myself.
BLADE: It seems the gulf is widening between the world of organ music aficionados and the general public. There are obviously folks who are really into it and can geek out and talk ad infinitum, but so many of the media questions asked of organists are stuff like, “How would you describe this for somebody who’s never been to an organ recital before?” I know you’ve had that question. Whereas nobody on ESPN asks pro athletes to describe their event for someone who’s never been to a football or baseball game. Do you feel this is true? If so, why?
The new Austin Organ (Op. 2795) at First Baptist Church of Washington. (Blade photo by Joey DiGuglielmo)
HOULIHAN: I think it’s true with classical music in general, not just organ music. I think fewer and fewer people attend churches so they’re hearing less and less organ music. So it becomes something that seems more foreign to the general public.
BLADE: But is the public generally less interested in classical music than it was, say, 50 years ago?
HOULIHAN: I think so, but I have no idea why. When people ask me the “what to expect” question, it makes me feel as if I have to prove it’s something they should care about. I think maybe we have to prove ourselves a bit more than musicians in other fields, but I also think maybe organists overall could do a better job of bringing people in and intriguing them. It’s such an instrument that’s unlike any other instrument. It’s big and epic and you see people getting hooked and drawn in by it all the time. I try to convey that this is different and exciting and something that’s worth giving it a shot. People do end up loving it many times, this happens over and over. But as for how to fill that gap more generally, I don’t know. It’s never gonna be the kind of music that fills stadiums, but it is exciting and can really communicate to your soul, as cliché as that sounds. It’s music that can reach out and communicate in a very deep way. I try to reach people to their core and move them somehow. That’s what music does for me.
BLADE: Did you decide to be out at the beginning of your career or was it just a natural outgrowth of your personal life?
HOULIHAN: I came out in high school to my friends and family. It’s not really a big part of my musical public personality but it’s who I am. It’s never been a problem.
BLADE: Are you in a relationship now?
HOULIHAN: No.
BLADE: With movie and TV performers, there’s a huge degree of interest in who’s sleeping with whom, yet in classical music it swings to the other extreme where it’s treated as a non-issue, but sometimes so much so that it seems kind of disingenuous. Why?
HOULIHAN: Right. I think maybe there should be a bit more conversation about that. I think it would make it seem much less like what we’re doing is so elitist or something. I think a bit more talk about that sort of thing or excitement about people’s lives could be a positive development. I think it would make us seem more interesting to the general public like we’re not just these old farts, we are interesting people. And of course the organ world is very gay and there are lots of gay people involved. It’s never been a thing for me. I’m out and there’s never been any reason not to be.
The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington perform “The Holiday Show” at Lincoln Theatre (1215 U St., N.W.). Visit gmcw.org for tickets and showtimes.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
Santa will be very relieved.
You’ve taken most of the burden off him by making a list and checking it twice on his behalf. The gift-buying in your house is almost done – except for those few people who are just so darn hard to buy for. So what do you give to the person who has (almost) everything? You give them a good book, like maybe one of these.
Memoir and biography
The person who loves digging into a multi-level memoir will be happy unwrapping “Blessings and Disasters: A Story of Alabama” by Alexis Okeowo (Henry Holt). It’s a memoir about growing up Black in what was once practically ground zero for the Confederacy. It’s about inequality, it busts stereotypes, and yet it still oozes love of place. You can’t go wrong if you wrap it up with “Queen Mother: Black Nationalism, Reparations, and the Untold Story of Audley Moore” by Ashley D. Farmer (Pantheon). It’s a chunky book with a memoir with meaning and plenty of thought.
For the giftee on your list who loves to laugh, wrap up “In My Remaining Years” by Jean Grae (Flatiron Books). It’s part memoir, part comedy, a look back at the late-last-century, part how-did-you-get-to-middle-age-already? and all fun. Wrap it up with “Here We Go: Lessons for Living Fearlessly from Two Traveling Nanas” by Eleanor Hamby and Dr. Sandra Hazellip with Elisa Petrini (Viking). It’s about the adventures of two 80-something best friends who seize life by the horns – something your giftee should do, too.
If there’ll be someone at your holiday table who’s finally coming home this year, wrap up “How I Found Myself in the Midwest” by Steve Grove (Simon & Schuster). It’s the story of a Silicon Valley worker who gives up his job and moves with his family to Minnesota, which was once home to him. That was around the time the pandemic hit, George Floyd was murdered, and life in general had been thrown into chaos. How does someone reconcile what was with what is now? Pair it with “Homestand: Small Town Baseball and the Fight for the Soul of America” by Will Bardenwerper (Doubleday). It’s set in New York and but isn’t that small-town feel universal, no matter where it comes from?
Won’t the adventurer on your list be happy when they unwrap “I Live Underwater” by Max Gene Nohl (University of Wisconsin Press)? They will, when they realize that this book is by a former deep-sea diver, treasure hunter, and all-around daredevil who changed the way we look for things under water. Nohl died more than 60 years ago, but his never-before-published memoir is fresh and relevant and will be a fun read for the right person.
If celeb bios are your giftee’s thing, then look for “The Luckiest” by Kelly Cervantes (BenBella Books). It’s the Midwest-to-New-York-City story of an actress and her life, her marriage, and what she did when tragedy hit. Filled with grace, it’s a winner.
Your music lover won’t want to open any other gifts if you give “Only God Can Judge Me: The Many Lives of Tupac Shakur” by Jeff Pearlman (Mariner Books). It’s the story of the life, death, and everything in-between about this iconic performer, including the mythology that he left behind. Has it been three decades since Tupac died? It has, but your music lover never forgets. Wrap it up with “Point Blank (Quick Studies)” by Bob Dylan, text by Eddie Gorodetsky, Lucy Sante, and Jackie Hamilton (Simon & Schuster), a book of Dylan’s drawings and artwork. This is a very nice coffee-table size book that will be absolutely perfect for fans of the great singer and for folks who love art.
For the giftee who’s concerned with their fellow man, “The Lost and the Found: A True Story of Homelessness, Found Family and Second Chances” by Kevin Fagan (One Signal / Atria) may be the book to give. It’s a story of two “unhoused” people in San Francisco, one of the country’s wealthiest cities, and their struggles. There’s hope in this book, but also trouble and your giftee will love it.
For the person on your list who suffered loss this year, give “Pine Melody” by Stacey Meadows (Independently Published), a memoir of loss, grief, and healing while remembering the person gone.
LGBTQ fiction
For the mystery lover who wants something different, try “Crime Ink: Iconic,” edited by John Copenhaver and Salem West (Bywater Books), a collection of short stories inspired by “queer legends” and allies you know. Psychological thrillers, creepy crime, cozies, they’re here.
Novel lovers will want to curl up this winter with “Middle Spoon” by Alejandro Varela (Viking), a book about a man who appears to have it all, until his heart is broken and the fix for it is one he doesn’t quite understand and neither does anyone he loves.
LGBTQ studies – nonfiction
For the young man who’s struggling with issues of gender, “Before They Were Men” by Jacob Tobia (Harmony Books) might be a good gift this year. These essays on manhood in today’s world works to widen our conversations on the role politics and feminism play in understanding masculinity and how it’s time we open our minds.
If there’s someone on your gift list who had a tough growing-up (didn’t we all?), then wrap up “I’m Prancing as Fast as I Can” by Jon Kinnally (Permuted Press / Simon & Schuster). Kinnally was once an awkward kid but he grew up to be a writer for TV shows you’ll recognize. You can’t go wrong gifting a story like that. Better idea: wrap it up with “So Gay for You: Friendship, Found Family, & The Show That Started It All” by Leisha Hailey & Kate Moennig (St. Martin’s Press), a book about a little TV show that launched a BFF-ship.
Who doesn’t have a giftee who loves music? You sure do, so wrap up “The Secret Public: How Music Moved Queer Culture from the Margins to the Mainstream” by Jon Savage (Liveright). Nobody has to tell your giftee that queer folk left their mark on music, but they’ll love reading the stories in this book and knowing what they didn’t know.
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Theater
Studio’s ‘Mother Play’ draws from lesbian playwright’s past
A poignant memory piece laced with sadness and wry laughs
‘The Mother Play’
Through Jan. 4
Studio Theatre
1501 14th St., N.W.
$42 – $112
Studiotheatre.org
“The Mother Play” isn’t the first work by Pulitzer Prize-winning lesbian playwright Paula Vogel that draws from her past. It’s just the most recent.
Currently enjoying an extended run at Studio Theatre, “The Mother Play,” (also known as “The Mother Play: A Play in Five Evictions,” or more simply, “Mother Play”) is a 90-minute powerful and poignant memory piece laced with sadness and wry laughs.
The mother in question is Phyllis Herman (played exquisitely by Kate Eastwood Norris), a divorced government secretary bringing up two children under difficult circumstances. When we meet them it’s 1964 and the family is living in a depressing subterranean apartment adjacent to the building’s trash room.
Phyllis isn’t exactly cut out for single motherhood; an alcoholic chain-smoker with two gay offspring, Carl and Martha, both in their early teens, she seems beyond her depth.
In spite (or because of) the challenges, things are never dull in the Herman home. Phyllis is warring with landlords, drinking, or involved in some other domestic intrigue. At the same time, Carl is glued to books by authors like Jane Austen, and queer novelist Lytton Strachey, while Martha is charged with topping off mother’s drinks, not a mean feat.
Despite having an emotionally and physically withholding parent, adolescent Martha is finding her way. Fortunately, she has nurturing older brother Carl (the excellent Stanley Bahorek) who introduces her to queer classics like “The Well of Loneliness” by Radclyffe Hall, and encourages Martha to pursue lofty learning goals.
Zoe Mann’s Martha is just how you might imagine the young Vogel – bright, searching, and a tad awkward.
As the play moves through the decades, Martha becomes an increasingly confident young lesbian before sliding comfortably into early middle age. Over time, her attitude toward her mother becomes more sympathetic. It’s a convincing and pleasing performance.
Phyllis is big on appearances, mainly her own. She has good taste and a sharp eye for thrift store and Goodwill finds including Chanel or a Von Furstenberg wrap dress (which looks smashing on Eastwood Norris, by the way), crowned with the blonde wig of the moment.
Time and place figure heavily into Vogel’s play. The setting is specific: “A series of apartments in Prince George’s and Montgomery County from 1964 to the 21st century, from subbasement custodial units that would now be Section 8 housing to 3-bedroom units.”
Krit Robinson’s cunning set allows for quick costume and prop changes as decades seamlessly move from one to the next. And if by magic, projection designer Shawn Boyle periodically covers the walls with scurrying roaches, a persistent problem for these renters.
Margot Bordelon directs with sensitivity and nuance. Her take on Vogel’s tragicomedy hits all the marks.
Near the play’s end, there’s a scene sometimes referred to as “The Phyllis Ballet.” Here, mother sits onstage silently in front of her dressing table mirror. She is removed of artifice and oozes a mixture of vulnerability but not without some strength. It’s longish for a wordless scene, but Bordelon has paced it perfectly.
When Martha arranges a night of family fun with mom and now out and proud brother at Lost and Found (the legendary D.C. gay disco), the plan backfires spectacularly. Not long after, Phyllis’ desire for outside approval resurfaces tenfold, evidenced by extreme discomfort when Carl, her favorite child, becomes visibly ill with HIV/AIDS symptoms.
Other semi-autobiographical plays from the DMV native’s oeuvre include “The Baltimore Waltz,” a darkly funny, yet moving piece written in memory of her brother (Carl Vogel), who died of AIDS in 1988. The playwright additionally wrote “How I Learned to Drive,” an acclaimed play heavily inspired by her own experiences with sexual abuse as a teenager.
“The Mother Play” made its debut on Broadway in 2024, featuring Jessica Lange in the eponymous role, earning her a Tony Award nomination.
Like other real-life matriarch inspired characters (Mary Tyrone, Amanda Wingfield, Violet Weston to name a few) Phyllis Herman seems poised to join that pantheon of complicated, women.
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