Arts & Entertainment
Signature to host ‘Summer Cabaret’
Local gay singers Peter Fox and Will Gartshore among those to appear
Signature Theatre’s Sizzlin’ Summer Cabaret begins July 16 with the return of the 21/24 program and a new musical reading based on the novel “I Capture the Castle” by Dodie Smith at 8 p.m. It is the coming-of-age tale of two English who find themselves becoming women in romantic — yet squalid — circumstances as their novelist father and bohemian stepmother Topaz focus on their art rather than their children. The musical will also be read on July 17.
There are seven other events in this series in July.
July 20 is an open mic night at 8 p.m. Will Gartshore’s “All the Kings Men: Broken Ballads with Stiff Upper Lips” will be performed on July 21 at 8 p.m. and July 22 at 7:30 p.m. Peter Fox will be performing on July 22 at 9:30 and Marc Kudisch will perform on July 27 and 28 at 8 p.m.
“Let Me Sing & I’m Happy: The Music of Irving Berlin” will be performed on July 29 at 7:L30 and 9:30 p.m. Colleen McHugh and Bob McDonald will both be performing on July 30 at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. respectively.
Tickets for all cabarets are $25. There is a limited quantity of all-access passes for $125. Call 703-820-9771 for an all-access pass.
For more information and to purchase individual tickets, visit signature-theatre.org.
Celebrity News
More than 1 million people attend Madonna concert in Rio
Free event took place on Copacabana Beach on Saturday
An estimated 1.6 million people on Saturday attended Madonna’s free concert on Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana Beach.
The concert, which was the last one as part of Madonna’s Celebration Tour, included a tribute to people lost to AIDS.
Bob the Drag Queen introduced Madonna before the concert began. Pabllo Vittar, a Brazilian drag queen and singer, and Anitta, a bisexual pop star who was born in Rio’s Honório Gurgel neighborhood, also joined Madonna on stage.
Congresswoman Erika Hilton, a Black travesti and former sex worker, and Rio Municipal Councilwoman Mônica Benício, the widow of Marielle Franco, a bisexual Rio Municipal Councilwoman who was assassinated in 2018, are among those who attended the concert.
“Madonna showed that we fight important fights for the human rights of Black (people), young (people), women and LGBTQIA+ people, and against all injustice, discrimination, and violence,” said Associaçao Nacional de Travestis e Transexuais (National Association of Travestis and Transsexuals), a Brazilian trans rights group known by the acronym ANTRA, on its X account. “What they call identitarianism’ is our subversion to the retrograde and conservative tackiness that plagues the country.”
The Associated Press reported the concert was Madonna’s biggest ever.
The DC Center for the LGBTQ Community, SMYAL and Rainbow Families sponsored Gay Day at the Zoo on Sunday at the Smithsonian National Zoo. The Smithsonian observed International Family Equality Day with special exhibits and an event space.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
Covering Gay Day at the Zoo for @WashBlade . Here at @NationalZooDC pic.twitter.com/LqgGNOOAiM
— Michael Patrick Key (@MichaelKeyWB) May 5, 2024
Photos
PHOTOS: Taste of Point
Annual fundraiser held for LGBTQ youth scholarship, mentorship organization
The Point Foundation held its annual Taste of Point fundraiser at Room & Board on May 2.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)