Arts & Entertainment
SPRING ARTS 2018 EVENTS: D.C. jamboree LGBT potpourri
Standup acts, D.C.-based LGBT group events, benefits, ‘Ask Rayceen’ and more
Many upcoming events don’t fit in our regular spring arts categories. Here’s the catch all arranged chronologically.
“Haters Roast: the Shady Tour 2019” with “RuPaul’s Drag Race” alums is Friday, March 8 at Warner Theatre (513 13th St., N.W.). It’s sold out.
MIM Entertainment presents VAMP: an Exclusive Event for Her on Saturday, March 9 at 10 p.m. at XX+ Crostino (1926 9th St., N.W.). Tickets are $10 at eventbee.com.
Ladies of LURe’s BARE Military Appreciation Night is Saturday, March 9 at 10 p.m. at Cobalt (1639 R St., N.W.). Admission is $7 before midnight or $10 after. Details on Facebook.
The Imperial Court of Washington presents Royal Mardi Gras Monte Carlo Casino Night on Saturday, March 9 at 8 p.m. at The Sphinx on K (1315 K St., N.W.). Its Imperial Crown Prince and Princess Ball is Saturday, March 23. A Little Bit Country Easter Show is Sunday, April 21 at 8 p.m. at Freddie’s (555 23rd St., Arlington, Va.). Awwooo Fest is Saturday, May 11 at 4 p.m. at the Eagle (3701 Benning Rd. N.E.). Event prices vary. Details at imperialcourtdc.org.
Family Pride Weekend celebrates the opening of “Rise Up” is March 9-10 at The Newseum (555 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.). Look for the event on Facebook for details.
Night OUT at the Wizards is Wednesday, March 13 at 7 p.m. at Capital One Arena (601 F St., N.W.). Tickets are $45. Details at teamdc.org.
Michelle Wolf plays The D.C. Improv Comedy Club (1140 Connecticut Ave., N.W.) March 14-17. Tickets are almost sold out for the entire run. Details at dcimprov-com.
Dappho presents Sunday Sessions: an (LGBT) Open Mic Night at XX+ Crostino (1926 9th St., N.W.) on Sunday, March 17 at 7 p.m. Tickets are $8 at eventbrite.com.
The National Cherry Blossom Festival runs with many events March 21-April 14. Details at nationalcherryblossomfestival.org.
GLOE (GLBT Outreach & Engagement at the Edlavitch D.C.-JCC) will host Pride of Purim: GLOE Masquerade Party Saturday, March 23 at 7 p.m. at Mission Dupont (1606 20th St., N.W.). Its 12th annual National Rainbow Seder is Sunday, April 14 at 5:45 p.m. at HRC Headquarters (1640 Rhode Island Ave., N.W.). Details at thejdc.convio.net.
The fifth annual Code Red V: Stigma Can’t Stop, an HIV benefit “with a fetishistic twist,” is Saturday, March 30 at 9 p.m. at the D.C. Eagle (3701 Benning Rd., N.E.). Tickets are $15-20. Link is at the event’s Facebook page.
DCATS’ Trans Visibility Community Festival is Saturday, March 30 at 1 p.m. at Spaces (1140 3rd St., N.E.) with open mic, raffle, film screenings and art. Details at transvisibilityfestival.com.
“The Ask Rayceen Show” continues throughout spring with installments March 6 (season premiere), April 3 (mini ball) and May 1 (community forum) at 7 p.m. at HRC Equality Center (1640 Rhode Island Ave., N.W.). They’re free. Look for the event on Facebook for details.
Queer-helmed Church Night has its fifth anniversary event on Friday, April 5 at 9 p.m. at the Black Cat (1811 14th St., N.W.). Look for the event on Facebook for details.
Capital Area Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce usually holds its annual LGBT Mega Networking mixer in early April but members say they’re “on a delayed schedule” this year in search of a new venue since Town closed. An announcement is expected soon.
“BENT,” a new LGBT dance party is Saturday, April 6 at 11:30 p.m. at the 9:30 Club (815 V St., N.W.). Tickets are $15 at ticketfly.com.
Distrkt C Golden with DJ Paulo is Saturday, April 6 at 10 p.m. at Karma D.C. (2221 Adams Place N.E.). Tickets are $40 at distrktc.com.
The Victory Fund’s National Champagne Brunch is Sunday, April 7 at 11 a.m. at J.W. Marriott (1331 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.). No ticket prices available at victoryfund.org as of this writing.
The National Association of Gay & Lesbian Real Estate Professionals has its LGBT Housing Policy Summit April 10-11 at HRC Headquarters (1640 Rhode Island Ave., N.W.). Details at naglrep.com.
Pretty Boi Drag presents #OpenKingNight on Thursday, April 11 at 8 p.m. at Bier Baron Tavern (1523 22nd St., N.W.). Tickets are $10. Details on Facebook.
Equality Virginia’s 15th annual Commonwealth Dinner is Saturday, April 13 at the Greater Richmond Convention Center. Details at equalityvirginia.org.
CAMP Rehoboth Women’s Fest is April 11-14 in Delaware. Details at camprehoboth.com.
The Cherry Fund presents Cherrypop Weekend April 11-15 at various locations. Tickets are $20-289 at eventbrite.com.
GLSEN’s National Day of Silence is Friday, April 12. Details at dayofsilence.org.
The Team D.C. Night of Champions Awards Dinner is Saturday, April 13 at Omni Shoreham Hotel (2500 Calvert St., N.W.) at 6 p.m. Tickets are $125 at eventbrite.com.
Food & Friends’ Dining Out for Life is Thursday, April 14. Find participating restaurants at diningoutforlife.com.
GLAA usually has its Distinguished Service Awards and 48th anniversary the third week in April but no details have been announced yet.
“Trans Issues are not Trans Issues” with Ava Pipitone, a discussion event, is Tuesday, April 16 at noon at Impact Hub Baltimore (10 E. North Ave., Baltimore). It’s free and open to the public. Look for the event on Facebook for details.
Awesome Con is April 26-28 at 801 Mt. Vernon Pl., N.W. Pride Alley returns. Tickets are available in many packages at showclix.com.
Bill and Hill join up for “An Evening With the Clintons” on Saturday, April 27 at 7:30 p.m. at DAR Constitution Hall (1776 D St., N.W.). Tickets are $99-250 at Ticketmaster.
We the People and Us Helping Us are joining forces for a month-long series of events in the region devoted to “May Is? All About Trans: 31 Days Celebrating, Being, Living & Loving Transgender People” including a trans summit, trans awards dinner, mini ball for youth and more. Look for the group on Facebook for details.
Randy Rainbow plays Warner Theatre (513 13th St., N.W.) on Friday, May 3. Tickets are $35.50-45 through eventticketscenter.com.
Rainbow Families has its 2018 Family Conference & Gathering on Saturday, May 4 at 9 a.m. at Georgetown Day High School (4200 Davenport St., N.W.). Details at rainbowfamilies.org.
Gay Day at the Zoo is Sunday, May 5 from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. at Smithsonian National Zoo (3001 Conncticut Ave., N.W.). Details at thedccenter.org.
“AC2: an Intimate Evening with Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen” is Saturday, May 11 at the Hippodrome (12 N. Eutaw St.). Tickets are $93.50-137.50 at Ticketmaster.
CopCaks for a Cause 9 is Sunday, May 12 at 3 p.m. at UPROAR Lounge (639 Florida Ave., N.W.) for COPS (Concerns of Police Survivors) and the LGBT Fallen Heroes Fund. Tickets are $25 (wine/soda) or $40 (dessert, wine, soda and T-shirt). Details at Facebook.
The 35th annual Helen Hayes Awards for Washington theater is Monday, May 13 at The Anthem (901 Wharf St., S.W.). Details at theatrewashington.org.
Whitman-Walker Health’s Going the Extra Mile benefit is Wednesday, May 15 at City Winery (1350 Okie St., N.E.). Details at whitman-walker.org.
Capital Trans Pride is May 17-19. Details at capitalpride.org.
API Pride (Asian/Pacific Islanders) is also May 17-19. No further details available. Check later at capitalpride.org for more.
D.C. Black Pride is, as always, Memorial Day Weekend and runs May 24-27. This year’s theme is Our Truths in Harmony. Details at dcblackpride.org. Omega Entertainment runs events concurrently with Black Pride. Details at omegapartydc.com.
St. Thomas Episcopal Church consecrates its new building on Thursday, May 30 at 7 p.m.1517 18th St., N.W. with Bishop Mariann Budde, and Bishop Gene Robinson. Look for the event on Facebook for details.
Women’s Spoken Word FULL-STORE is Monday, June 3 at 7:30 p.m. at Busboys and Poets (location not specified). Check later at capitalpride.org for details.
The AIDS Walk & Run Baltimore is Sunday, June 9 (a month later this year) at 7 a.m. Details at chasebrexton.org.
The LGBTQ+ Victory Fund National Champagne Brunch was held at Salamander Washington DC on Sunday, April 19. Gov. Andy Beshear (D-Ky.) was presented with the Allyship Award.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
The umbrella LGBTQ sports organization Team D.C. held its annual Night of Champions Gala at the Georgetown Marriott on Saturday, April 18. Team D.C. presented scholarships to local student athletes and presented awards to Adam Peck, Manuel Montelongo (a.k.a. Mari Con Carne), Dr. Sara Varghai, Dan Martin and the Centaur Motorcycle Club. Sean Bartel was posthumously honored with the Most Valuable Person Award.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
Television
‘Big Mistakes’ an uneven – but worthy – comedic showcase
In the years since “Schitt’s Creek” wrapped up its six season Emmy-winning run, nostalgia for it has grown deep – especially since the still painfully recent loss of its iconic leading lady, Catherine O’Hara, whose sudden passing prompted a social media wave of clips and tributes featuring her fan-favorite performance as the deliciously daft Moira Rose. Revisiting so many favorite scenes and funny moments from the show naturally reminded us of just how much we loved it, even needed it during the time it was on the air; it also reminded us of how much we miss it, and how much it feels now like something we need more than ever.
That, perhaps more than anything else, is why the arrival of “Big Mistakes” – the new Netflix series starring, co-created and co-written by Dan Levy – felt so welcome. We knew it wouldn’t be the Roses, but it seemed cut from the same cloth, and it had David Rose (or at least someone who seemed a lot like him) in the middle of a comically dysfunctional family dynamic, complete with a mother who gets involved in town politics and a catty sibling rivalry with his sister, and still nebbish-ly uncomfortable in his own gay shoes. Only this time, instead of running a charmingly pretentious boutique, he’s the pastor of the local church, and instead of a collection of kooky small town neighbors to contend with, there are gangsters.
As it turns out, it really does feel cut from the same cloth, but the design is distinctly different. Set in a fictional New Jersey suburb, it centers on Nicky (Levy) and his sister Morgan (Taylor Ortega) – he openly gay with an adoring boyfriend (Jacob Gutierrez), yet still obsessive about keeping it all invisible to his congregation, and she drudging aimlessly through life as an underpaid schoolteacher after failing to achieve her New York dreams of show biz success – who inadvertently become enmeshed in a shady underworld when a gesture for their dead grandmother’s funeral goes horribly awry.
They’re surrounded by a crew of equally compromised characters. There’s their mother Linda (Laurie Metcalf), whose campaign to become the town’s mayor only intensifies her tendency to micromanage her children’s lives; Yusuf (Boran Kuzum), the Turkish-American mini-mart operator who pulls them into the criminal conspiracy yet is himself a victim of it; Max (Jack Innanen), Morgan’s live-in boyfriend, who pushes her for a deeper commitment and is willing to go to couples’ therapy to prove it; Annette, his mother (Elizabeth Perkins), who lends her society standing toward helping Linda’s campaign against a misogynistic opponent (Darren Goldstein); and Ivan (Mark Ivanir), the seemingly ruthless crime boss who enslaves the siblings into his network but may really be just another slave himself. It’s a well-fleshed out assortment of characters that helps our own loyalties shift and adapt, generating at least a degree of empathy – if not always sympathy – that keeps everyone from coming off as a merely “black-and-white” caricature of expectations and typecasting.
To be sure, it’s an entertaining binge-watch, full of distinctive characters – all inhabiting familiar, even stereotypical roles in the narrative – who are each given a degree of validation, both in writing and performance, as the show unspools its narrative. At the same time, it makes for a fairly bleak overall view of humanity, in which it’s difficult to place our loyalties with anyone without also embracing a kind of “dog eat dog” morality in which nobody is truly innocent – but nobody is completely to blame for their sins, anyway.
In this way, it’s a show that lets us off the hook in the sense that it places the idea of ethical guilt within a framework of relative evils, as it permits us to forgive our own trespasses by accepting its “lovably” amoral characters, each of whom has their own reasons and justifications for what they do. We relate, but we can’t quite shake the notion that, if all these people hadn’t been so caught up in their own personal dramas, none of them would have ended up in the compromised morality that they’re in.
However, it’s not some bleak morality play that Levy and crew undertake; rather, it’s more an egalitarian fantasy in which even “bad” choices feel justified by inevitability. Everybody’s motivations make enough sense to us that it’s hard to judge any of the characters for making the choices – however unwise – that they do. In a system where everyone is forced to compromise themselves in order to achieve whatever dream of self-fulfillment they may have, how can anybody really blame themselves for doing what they have to do to survive?
Of course, all things considered, this is more a relatable comedy than it is a morality play. As a comedy of errors, it all works well enough on its own without imposing an ideology on it, no matter how much we may be tempted to do so. Indeed, what is ultimately more to the point is how well this pseudo-cynical exercise in the normalization of corruption – for that is what it really about, in the end – succeeds in letting us all off the hook for our compromises.
In the end, of course, maybe all that analysis is too deep a dive for a show that feels, in the end, like it’s meant to be mostly for fun. Indeed, despite its focus on being dragged into the shady side of life, the arc of its messaging seems to be less about a moralistic urge toward making the “right” choice than it is a candid recognition that all of us are compromised from the outset, often by choices we only force upon ourselves, and that’s a refreshing enough bit of honesty that we can easily get on board.
It helps that the performances are on point, especially the loony and wide-eyed fanaticism of Metcalf – surely the MVP of any project in which she is involved – and the directly focused moral malleability of Ortega; Levy, of course, is Levy – a now-familiar persona that can exist within any milieu without further justification than its own queer relatability – and, in this case, at least, that’s both the icing on the cake and substance that defines it. That’s enough to make it an essential view for fans, queer or otherwise, of his distinctive “brand,” even if he – or the show itself – doesn’t quite satisfy in the way that “Schitt’s Creek” was able to do.
Seriously, though, how could it?
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