Arts & Entertainment

FALL ARTS PREVIEW 2017: Bernstein centennial, WNO’s ‘Aida’ among classical standouts

From straight-up opera to fun stuff like Pink Martini and the Gay Men’s Chorus, area stages packed with talent

Published

9 years ago

September 14, 2017

Classical Music Events, Cameron Carpenter, gay news, washington blade

Organ virtuoso Cameron Carpenter returns to the Kennedy Center Sept. 28 and 30 for performances with the National Symphony Orchestra. (Photo courtesy Bucklesweet Media)

Washington National Opera has launched its season with Verdi’s “Aida,” the first time it’s been in the Kennedy Center Opera House in 25 years. It continues through Sept. 23. Details at kennedy-center.org/wno. “Aida” will be live simulcast at Nationals Park on Saturday, Sept. 23 for “Opera in the Outfield.”

Queer organist Cameron NatioCarpenter returns to the Kennedy Center Concert Hall where he’s performed several times Sept. 28 and 30 for appearances with the National Symphony Orchestra with performances of works by Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein and other American composers. Christian Macelaru conducts. It’s part of the Bernstein at 100 series. Tickets range from $15-89.

Other highlights in the Bernstein (gay though married to a woman) at 100 series include an exhibit in the Terrace Gallery that runs through Nov. 5, a Bernstein on Broadway performance on Friday, Sept. 22, the NSO season opening gala concert on Sunday, Sept. 24 and more. Details at kennedy-center.org.

The NSO Pops presents “The Life Aquatic: a Tribute to David Bowie” on Friday, Sept. 29. Tickets are $25-89.

The gay-helmed Pink Martini performs with the NSO Pops and China Forbes on Saturday, Oct. 28 with a varied program. Tickets are $24-89.

Tickets for these and all Kennedy Center performances are online at kennedy-center.org.

The Library of Congress is also getting in on the Bernstein centennial with an exhibit of items from its collection related to the late composer (who died in 1990). Its concert series/fall season kicks off with concerts by Ensemble Signal performing works by composer Steve Reich (Oct. 18) and fusion band La Santa Cecilia (Oct. 19). Details at loc.gov.

The Washington Bach Consort opens its 40th season with a program celebrating the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation (which turned out to be a good thing for gays though it took centuries to come to fruition) on Sunday, Sept. 17 at 3 p.m. at National Presbyterian Church (4101 Nebraska Ave., N.W.). Tickets are $10-69.

Other Consort performances are a chamber concert in which the ensemble will perform works from its inaugural season on Friday, Oct. 20 at First Congregational UCC and Bach’s “Christmas Oratorio” on Sunday, Dec. 9 at National Presbyterian. Details at bachconsort.org.

As usual, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra splits its time between Charm City and the Strathmore in Bethesda, Md. It’s doing “Tchaikovsky Thrill Ride” this weekend and “Poetic Fire: from Hamlet to Don Juan” Sept. 22-24. Esperanza Spalding performs with the orchestra as part of its BSO Pulse series on Thursday, Oct. 19. Several other performances are planned throughout fall. Details at bsomusic.org.

The Alexandria Symphony Orchestra kicks off its season Sept. 23-24 with a program featuring Beethoven, Wagner and Strauss. Michael Rossi is guest conductor. Tickets range from $20-80. Details at alexsym.org.

Urban Arias, a local, gay-helmed, contemporary opera outfit, brings the life of architect Frank Lloyd Wright to the stage in “Shining Brow” by Daron Aric Hagen (music) and Paul Muldoon (libretto) Oct. 14-21 at Atlas Performing Arts Center. Tickets are $42 ($39 for students and seniors). Details at urbanarias.org.

In the “sorta” classical vein, the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington is recording a live album on Saturday, Sept. 30 at 3 p.m. at Foundry United Methodist Church (1500 16th St., N.W.) that’s free and open to the public. The group is recording material it performed on its recent “Southern Equality Tour.” Its fall fundraiser “ropeburn” will be held on Saturday, Oct. 7 at 7 p.m. in Dupont Underground. Tickets are $75. “It Takes Two,” a duet show, is Saturday, Nov. 11 at Atlas (tickets are $39). Its annual holiday show is Dec. 9-17 at Lincoln Theatre. Full details at gmcw.org.

D.C. Different Drummers performs “D.C. Swing! Gig” on Sunday, Oct. 29 at 3 p.m. at Mr. Henry’s (601 Pennsylvania Ave., S.E.). Its fall band concert is Saturday, Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. at Church of the Epiphany (1317 G St., N.W.). Details at dcdd.org.

Washington Concert Opera performs “La Straniera” (Bellini) on Sunday, Nov. 19 at 6 p.m. at Lisner Auditorium (730 21st St., N.W.). Tickets are $40-110. Details at concertopera.org.

The Strathmore’s fall offerings include the Shen Yun Symphony Orchestra (Oct. 22), pianist Rachel Franklin (Oct. 26), Sol Gabetta performs Tchaikovsky with the BSO (Oct. 28), Pinchas Zukerman performs Bach with the BSO (Nov. 9), Black Violin on its “Classical Boom Tour” (Nov. 10), the National Philharmonic (Nov. 11), Renaissance chamber ensemble Sonnambula (Nov. 16), Andre Watts returns for “Rach 2” with the BSO (Nov. 18). Note some performances are at the Music Center at Strathmore; others are in the Mansion. Full details, times and prices at strathmore.org.

Young Artists of America present “The Sound of Music” on Sunday, Oct. 29 at 4 p.m. at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center (8270 Alumni Dr., College Park, Md.). Young Artists presents symphonic productions featuring young artists from the D.C. area performing alongside professional mentors. Details at yaa.org/fall-production.

Virginia Opera brings its “Samson and Delilah” (Saint-Saens) production to Fairfax Oct. 7-8 at George Mason. Tickets are $54-110. Its “Girl of the Golden West” (Puccini) will be in Fairfax Dec. 2-3. Details at vaopera.org.

And, of course, as always Washington Performing Arts has a wide spate of fall performances including:

• Aaron Diehl and Murray Horwitz in “Conversations in Music I: Rhythm” on Tuesday, Oct. 3 at McEvoy Auditorium (Tickets are $25)

• Sphinx Virtuosi on Sunday, Oct. 15 at the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater (Tickets are $35)

• Orchestra Dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia at the Kennedy Center on Wednesday, Oct. 25 ($45-115)

• Other highlights include A Far Cry/Luciana Souza (Nov. 4), Joshua Bell (Nov. 5), the Verona Quartet (Nov. 10), the Mariinsky Orchestra (Nov. 12), Nathan Lee (Dec. 2) and Denyce Graves (Dec. 4). Full details at washingtonperformingarts.org.

Every Friday at 12:15 p.m., free organ recitals are held at National City Christian Church (5 Thomas Circle). The church has one of the finest organs in the city and often attracts world-class performers. Out minister of music Rev. Michael McMahon programs the series. The church also has monthly LGBT Bible studies and happy hours. Details at nationalcitycc.org.

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Theater

‘Feeling Afraid’ explores life of a neurotic stand-up comic

Navigating sex, work, and possibly love in London

Published

1 day ago

June 20, 2026

Patrick Folliard

Steven Webb in ‘Feeling Afraid As If Something Terrible Is Going To Happen’ (Photo by DJ Corey)

‘Feeling Afraid As If Something Terrible Is Going to Happen’
Through July 12
Studio Theatre
1501 14th St., N.W.
$55-$102
Studiotheatre.org

Wordily yet rightly titled, solo show “Feeling Afraid As If Something Terrible Is Going To Happen” dives deeply into the world of a neurotic stand-up comic as he navigates sex, work, and possibly love in London.

Busy arranging hookups and dates on “The App,” the 36-year-old gay funnyman juggles a full dance card; still he’s never been in a romantic relationship. While he’s willing to give love a shot, he’s not pressed about it. As he says, he harbors no fear of dying alone.

Currently making its American premiere at Studio Theatre, this darkly humorous Edinburgh Fringe import features terrific out English actor Steven Webb as The Comedian who’s about to explore what it means to spend all his time with one man.

At Studio’s intimate Mead Theatre, Kat Heath’s minimal set says standard comedy club (fluorescent tube lighting, the mic with a long cord, a single stool backed by a rose-colored curtain), but gay playwright Marcelo Dos Santos has conjured something much more than a live comedy set.

Yes, The Comedian bounces onstage in his red Converse high tops, jeans, and pink shirt with a huge mouth emblazoned on the back, but he delivers more than jokes. At times hilariously self-deprecating, then dark, and occasionally a lesson on what makes standup work, this is a layered, well-acted piece.

With Webb (a keen caricaturist of types and voices) playing all the parts while conducting The Comedian’s hilariously frenetic interior monologue, “Feeling Afraid” takes us through a summer of love. It seems after six chaste dates with The American, our nervous hero has found Mr. Right. The American is earnest, smart, hesitant to initiate sex. He’s also well built with a beautiful smile. And strangely, he’s been medically advised not to laugh aloud.

The Comedian delights in the joys of new love: dates, first kisses, sex, and then suddenly spending all of his time with the adored. Visits to art galleries become fun. Eating home cooked meals followed by grim documentaries is a thing. The Comedian is beguiled as his own boyish figure fills out, but something isn’t right. He can’t entirely relax.

Along the way we meet the Aussie doctor, our protagonist’s longtime hookup; a young runner with some exceptional body parts; the random third in a failed threesome; grumpy working comics, male and female; and an ineffectual counselor.

Webb gives a lightning-fast performance that boggles the mind (in terms velocity and virtuosity). He can be impish, very impish. He’s nervous energy incarnate, flashing jazz hands, grimacing but handsome when still. He’s likeable, a necessity when delivering a hilariously rude joke just feet away from two stone-faced audience members. (Perhaps they were laughing on the inside? At any rate, they stayed through the end the show.)

Produced by the team behind Fringe hits “Fleabag” and “Baby Reindeer,” small stage works that were developed into major TV screen successes, “Feeling Afraid” is funny for sure, and it’s also highly confessional, sexually explicit, and raw.

Written by Dos Santos during COVID lockdown, the piece was a smash hit in the 2022 Edinburgh Fringe before finding further success in London. Its depiction of a youngish queer guy navigating the big city rings entirely true. Like so much Fringe stuff, the one-man show is delightfully lewd and standup inspired.

One little moan: the show closes cleverly but too abruptly with its star dashing offstage without sufficiently basking in the admiration and applause of his thoroughly chuffed audience.

They say third time’s a charm, and regarding “Feeling Afraid,” I’d agree. After two performance cancellations (first for laryngitis and the second involving faulty air conditioning on an especially muggy June evening), I made my third trek to Studio where I found both the actor and AC in very fine fettle. And truly, Webb’s work was more than worth the wait.