Arts & Entertainment
‘Ordinary’ yet charming
Low-key musical delights with its minimalism
Janine Divita as Claire and Will Gartshore as Jason in ‘Ordinary Days.’ (Photo courtesy Round House Theatre)
‘Ordinary Days’
Through June 22
Round House Theatre
4545 East-West Highway, Bethesda
$25-50
240-644-1100
In the program notes for Round House Theatre’s delightful area premiere of “Ordinary Days,” out composer/lyricist Adam Gwon says the show’s gay character is most like him.
Warren is an optimist. He isn’t terribly put off by rude behavior. For him, a calamity is an opportunity. In jaded Manhattan he might seem an anomaly, yet in Gwon’s charming chamber musical about young people carving out lives for themselves, it’s Warren who embodies the promise and possibilities of Gotham.
“Ordinary Days” is two stories — one about friendship the other love. The first involves nervous Deb (Erin Weaver), a humorless grad student who is unsure what she wants; and Warren (Samuel Edgerly), a happy cat sitter and aspiring artist who canvasses the street handing out flyers with inspiring messages. Two complete strangers. Deb and Warren come together after she loses her thesis notes and he finds them. A hand-over rendezvous is arranged. Warren, ever the romantic, suggests the two meet on Saturday at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in front a Monet painting in one of the museum’s myriad galleries. Deb reluctantly agrees. The meeting is amusingly played out in the duet “Sort-of Fairy Tale.”
On parting, uptight Deb feels she owes Warren a thank you. After affirming he’s gay, she suggests a quick 20 minutes at Starbucks, her treat. They sip and chat. Her initial distaste for Warren softens.
That same Saturday, Jason (Will Gartshore) and Claire (Janine Divita) are also at the museum. An afternoon taking in art is part of Jason’s plan to get the couple closer. Though Jason recently moved into Claire’s place, the relationship feels stalled. A painful secret prevents reserved Claire from taking things to the next level.
Almost entirely sung through, Gwon’s 19-song melodic score is filled with the yearning of youth and some more clearheaded thinking prompted by a little maturity. His lyrics are sharp, clever and often funny. Through his songs, Gwon deftly introduces and rounds out complex characters and smartly moves an engaging but hardly groundbreaking plot, which is part of its charm.
Out director Matthew Gardiner’s staging is masterful. Under his sure hand, the perfectly cast, four-person ensemble make it all look so easy, which of course it isn’t. As Jason, Will Gartshore is in gorgeous voice, especially with “Favorite Places,” a sentimental tune in which Jason lists his most prized spots in the city including one he’s yet to visit, Claire’s heart. Janine Divita’s Claire hides her hurt with a hardened veneer. Finally she comes clean with her feelings and reveals the show’s secret with a touching rendition of “I’ll Be Here.”
The eminently watchable Erin Weaver is terrific as Deb, displaying some serious comic and vocal talent with songs like “Don’t Wanna Be Here” and “Calm” (which Deb isn’t). Samuel Edgerly is delightful as the preternaturally sunny and sometimes oblivious Warren. Like his fellow cast members, Edgerly more than does justice to the score. Sole musical accompaniment comes from the excellent musical director/pianist William Yanesh who is seated on stage at a baby grand.
A relatively modest musical, “Ordinary Days” is fun and affecting. Gardiner’s production exudes New York’s energy. There’s the sense of a big city teeming with people in which near misses and accidental meetings can change fates. Misha Kachman’s set is open. A table and chairs, benches and newspaper boxes suggest locations where the characters meet. High above there’s a high balcony from which falls a colorful flurry of inspiring messages.
During his ordinary days as a college student at New York University, Gwon, 34, enjoyed listening to Broadway star Audra McDonald’s first solo album, imagining that one day he would compose for musical theater. Last year McDonald recorded “I’ll Be Here” from “Ordinary Days” on her most recent album, “Go Back Home.”
Gwon’s “Ordinary Days” makes for something special.
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
Theater
‘Amm(i)gone’ explores family, queerness, and faith
A ‘fully autobiographical’ work from out artist Adil Mansoor
‘Amm(i)gone’
Thorough May 12
Woolly Mammoth Theatre
641 D St., N.W.
$60-$70
Woollymammoth.net
“Fully and utterly autobiographical.” That’s how Adil Mansoor describes “Amm(i)gone,” his one-man work currently playing at Woolly Mammoth Theatre.
Both created and performed by out artist Mansoor, it’s his story about inviting his Pakistani mother to translate Sophocles’s Greek tragedy “Antigone” into Urdu. Throughout the journey, there’s an exploration of family, queerness, and faith,as well as references to teachings from the Quran, and audio conversations with his Muslim mother.
Mansoor, 38, grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and is now based in Pittsburgh where he’s a busy theater maker. He’s also the founding member of Pittsburgh’s Hatch Arts Collective and the former artistic director of Dreams of Hope, an LGBTQ youth arts organization.
WASHINGTON BLADE: What spurred you to create “Amm(i)gone”?
ADIL MANSOOR: I was reading a translation of “Antigone” a few years back and found myself emotionally overwhelmed. A Theban princess buries her brother knowing it will cost her, her own life. It’s about a person for whom all aspirations are in the afterlife. And what does that do to the living when all of your hopes and dreams have to be reserved for the afterlife?
I found grant funding to pay my mom to do the translation. I wanted to engage in learning. I wanted to share theater but especially this ancient tragedy. My mother appreciated the characters were struggling between loving one another and their beliefs.
BLADE: Are you more director than actor?
MANSOOR: I’m primarily a director with an MFA in directing from Carnegie Mellon. I wrote, directed, and performed in this show, and had been working on it for four years. I’ve done different versions including Zoom. Woolly’s is a new production with the same team who’ve been involved since the beginning.
I love solo performance. I’ve produced and now teach solo performance and believe in its power. And I definitely lean toward “performance” and I haven’t “acted” since I was in college. I feel good on stage. I was a tour guide and do a lot of public speaking. I enjoy the attention.
BLADE: Describe your mom.
MANSOOR: My mom is a wonderfully devout Muslim, single mother, social worker who discovered my queerness on Google. And she prays for me.
She and I are similar, the way we look at things, the way we laugh. But different too. And those are among the questions I ask in this show. Our relationship is both beautiful and complicated.
BLADE: So, you weren’t exactly hiding your sexuality?
MANSOOR: In my mid-20s, I took time to talk with friends about our being queer with relation to our careers. My sexuality is essential to the work. As the artistic director at Dreams of Hope, part of the work was to model what it means to be public. If I’m in a room with queer and trans teenagers, part of what I’m doing is modeling queer adulthood. The way they see me in the world is part of what I’m putting out there. And I want that to be expansive and full.
So much of my work involves fundraising and being a face in schools. Being out is about making safe space for queer young folks.
BLADE: Have you encountered much Islamophobia?
MANSOOR: When 9/11 happened, I was a sophomore in high school, so yes. I faced a lot then and now. I’ve been egged on the street in the last four months. I see it in the classroom. It shows up in all sorts of ways.
BLADE: What prompted you to lead your creative life in Pittsburgh?
MANSOOR: I’ve been here for 14 years. I breathe with ease in Pittsburgh. The hills and the valleys and the rust of the city do something to me. It’s beautiful, it’ affordable, and there is support for local artists. There’s a lot of opportunity.
Still, the plan was to move to New York in September of 2020 but that was cancelled. Then the pandemic showed me that I could live in Pittsburgh and still have a nationally viable career.
BLADE: What are you trying to achieve with “Amm(i)gone”?
MANSOOR: What I’m sharing in the show is so very specific but I hear people from other backgrounds say I totally see my mom in that. My partner is Catholic and we share so much in relation to this.
I hope the work is embracing the fullness of queerness and how means so many things. And I hope the show makes audiences want to call their parents or squeeze their partners.
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‘Amm(i)gone’ explores family, queerness, and faith
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