GALA Hispanic Theatre: Aguardiente: Where Magic Transcends Boarders

 As fate would hate it, this was the last performance of the final production of GALA Hispanic Theatre's 50th Season.  All of this failed to connect when I bought my ticket.  I had inadvertently invited myself to the PARTY!

Housed in the renovated Tivoli Theater on 14th Street, it sits in the commercial heart of DC's Largest Hispanic neighborhood.  Anchored by a Metro Stop, and revitalized by a series of newish (20-year-old) high rises with ground floor commerce that includes a Target, a Giant grocery, Old Navy, Burlington Coats, etc.  There are also beggars and un-housed individuals among the bustling pedestrians who, while predominantly Hispanic, also have a smattering of Black, White, Asian, and Gay residents and visitors.  Between the proper store fronts and the 14th Street, a wide range of pop-up entrepreneurs with tables and booths full of wares vie for the attention of those walking past.  There's everything from clothing to cosmetics, fresh fruit to jewelry.  A woman popped down on the sidewalk with a large sleeping baby cradled in her arm, rocks back and forth.  Her free hand is extended upwards as she plaintiffly begs for change.

There are two exists from the Metro, one deposits you on the north side of 14th and the other on the South side.  I forget which side the theater is on and make the wrong choice.  This is no big deal, I'm still just two blocks from the Tivoli.  At the first cross street I use the lights to get on the correct side.  No sooner am I there than I recognize a pair of African American boys.  They were on the Metro train with me.  When they reached the exit turnstiles, they bypassed them and went directly to the Metro Workers glass in both.  

They said something to the women inside, and that's when I first noticed them.  During COVID, turnstile jumping became a veritable art form.  Everyone did it.  I would come out of a station toward the exit and watch while a dozen or more young men mostly would just vault their unpaid way out.  Once, a young woman tried to squeeze in behind me as I paid and opened the gate.  I turn around and baked at her, "What the FUCK do you think you're doing!?" and she backed off and found someone else to collaborate with her petty felony.  Eventually, Metro cracked down.  Lots of officers were assigned, the gates were redesigned.  And now I rarely see anyone steal a ride.

So back to the boys (I would guess, and I've had a lot of experience with young people, that they were 13 or 14.  There was clearly an Alpha with his sidekick in tow.  He shouted at the woman, "Open the goddamned gate, Bitch!"  A real charmer!  And then he and his acolyte jumped the barrier and left the station.  All the while he continued to mutter about the "Bitch" and why she wouldn't open the gate, his sweatpants caught under the bottoms of his butt cheeks which bounced behind the loose fabric of a pair of over-sized boxer shorts.   All of this human drama and I hadn't even gotten to the theater year yet!

The Tivoli was a classic turn of the 20th century show piece back with 14th Avenue was known as Black Broadway.  It's a magnificent building that at one point prior to GALA taking in on was so dilapidated that had it been a car, there wouldn't have been an insurance company in American that wouldn't have declared it "totaled" and just cut a check.  I would love to say that it was beautifully and authentically restored, but that's not what happened.  To keep the outer walls from collapsing the interior was horizontally sliced into three stories.  There is a ground level that I've never been in.  There's a second level that contains the box office and a bar/lounge, and then there's a third level with the height of say two stories (25 feet).  This is where the present day performance space is located.  Once seated you can look up and see the restored original ceiling with all of its ornate and gaudy plaster work, now partially concealed by the pipes lined with stage lights like pot-bellied bats hanging upside-down in the shadows of a reclaimed glory.

From the moment I entered someone smartly dressed welcomed me and directed me to the box office.  There I encountered a delightful sprite of an old woman.  She couldn't have weighed as much as your average dining room chair.  Her face was a sculpture made of foundation and blush.  Her hair a shade of platinum orange cut short and crimped into waves.  She had a widow's hump, wore a shiny satin blouse full of folds as if unable to discover any resistance in her body's waning form and a mini-pencil skirt with any hint of a wrinkle.  The outfit was completed with opaque white nylons, white pumps and lips traced in a bright pink lipstick.  She was the very image of a soul no longer tethered to the whims of others--free--so free!  Later, she would stand before the sold out audience and do all the welcomes and words of celebration before the performance began--apparently she is the theatre's CEO.

And so the idea that what I was about to experience was a thing "where magic transcends borders" was not difficult to imagine.

The show itself "Aguardiente" was a commissioned musical conceived and created by Luis Salgado and Daniel Gutierrez.  It is about two writer friends who have been commissioned to create a new musical.  In their version a third party joins in on the creating, Kiara; thus creating a trio that you just cannot help but compare them to the leads in Sondheim's "Merrily We Roll Along".  The key difference: in "Merrily" the point is in the transformation of the characters and their friendships, with "Aguardiente" the focus is on the difficulty of creating a work that gets made, but still holds onto its creator/s vision with integrity.

The bulk of the work was performed in Spanish, though certain characters where more likely to break into English depending upon their backstory.  The music was vibrant full of a range of Latin cultural genre references from Mariachi to Cumbia.  The choreography was electric, physical, enhanced by visual effects and lighting.  Of the ten identified roles, only one felt forced, and it wasn't a major component of the story.  As to the leads, they both come to the show sporting impressive and well-deserved credentials.  Samuel Garnica hails from Venezuela and assumed the role of Alberto, the more level headed member of the team who is also front and center in deciding when and where a compromise might be necessary.  He brought a centering gravitas to the story that gave you the sense, no matter how crazy things got, it would be okay.  Sebastian Trevino brings his Mexican/Colombian heritage to bare as the uncompromising team member.  His passion, expressed through his tight, instinctual physicality and ebullient charm drives the high moments and absolutely sinks the difficult ones.  their chemistry was the lynch pin to the entire show's success.  

There were other stand out moments.  The character of Eve, played by Eric Gonzalez as the flamboyant, self-obsessed producer whose sycophantic personality and over the top presentation sucks the life out of every encounter was so obnoxiously delivered that it was hard to hate the person when they tried to manipulated our heroes and compromise their vision.  Ergo, forgetting that he's just an actor playing a part.  That's good acting.   

As the writers develop their ideas, the stage flows between them and the vision of the story they are creating.  A love story called "Aguardiente" set in a magical place.  However, in a turn worthy of Shakespeare's "As You Like It," fortunes take turns and what seems like a reasonable ending ends reasonably, instead.  

It was a very stimulating afternoon.

Alberto (Samuel Garnica) and Alejandro (Sebastian Trevino) hatching out their ideas for this new Musical: "Aguardiente".

"Aguardiente's" main characters, Anis (Ana Luisa Martinez) and Azuquita (Vin Ramos)

Alberto and Alejandro joined by their muse Kiara (Shayla Hernandez)

Eve (Eric Gonzalez), the faux-sophisticated player whose ego is larger than his talent...

Beta (Emy Ramos), the assistant producer who falls in love with Anis...Oh yeah, I didn't spill all of the beans!

"Aguardiente's" star crossed lovers confronting the reality of a love that is not destined to last...

"Circles Gardens" 2026

 Once free from Winter's schmutz, the time comes to add and create something new for the coming year.

This year, as last, I am planning on a "blanket" of Impatiens through the main area of the rock garden.

Buddha agrees.

These are fossil laden field stones form Central Kentucky.  Infamously used to build the "slave" walls that once defined so many of the fields--I actually dug these up out of the ground myself.

A side bed is filled with little 4" Terra Cotta pots plated with Petunias!

Additional planters help to define the space between the pathway and the Circles Garden path.

Ended the first day of planting with this section yet to finish.

All done for now with a total of 56 Impatiens ready to grow and thrive.

I have actually planted squash elsewhere.  I hope there's enough light to at least get something from it.  I also have ideas about areas in the backside of the circle ...  

Rediscovering My "Circles Gardens"

 When I first moved into my home in 1994, my backyard was a true blank slate.  A Deck outside of the kitchen door sitting like a platform perched on a "rock".  There were no trees.  There was no grass.  The ground was hard clay filled with small rocks left by some alluvial glacier 30,000 years ago.  My first project was to create a circle path to house a garden.  I also planted azaleas and a few trees...then a few more.  After about 10 years, trees just started popping up on their own.  Today my back yard is a true extension of the nearby woods.  Decades on annual soil enrichment has paid off by creating a rich dark loam.  I have lots of annuals, and EVERYTHING is green.  Annually I have nesting Gray Catbirds, Carolina Wrens and Cardinals, along with House Sparrows, Song Sparrows, Purple Finches, Chickadees, Robins, Blue Jays, Titmice, the occasional Nuthatch, Yellow Bellied Sap Sucker, American Star, Crows, a Red-tailed Hawk, Palliated Woodpecker, I even had a Brown spotted Bittern pay me a visit once!  No double on his way to the nearby Sligo Creek.  

Sitting on my deck has gone from roasting in the hot sun, to resting a place of shade and birdsong.  Mostly by letting nature do its thing, I have created my own little slice of paradise.  From the original pair of Canadian Hemlocks, two Redbuds and a Trio of River Birch.  I have only added a Japanese Maple and Kwanza Cherry, while mother nature has tossed in two Dogwoods, a Swamp Oak, half a dozen Green Ash, a gorgeous Scarlet Oak, several Norway Maples, and a Live Oak.  For some of these, I do have my little brigade of Squirrels to thank.  But back to that little circular path.

It was laid with flat bricks, bound on either side by more bricks that were planted deep, long end to long end to keep those laid flat in a shallow trench from sliding.  I'm sure there are better ways to have done this; however, my scheme has held up nicely over 30 years hence.  When younger, I would take care to rake the fallen leaves and prep the beds for winter.  Now, an "older gardener," I let nature close out its own affairs in the autumn and deal with my inertia at some point in the spring.  That point was this past Sunday; Mother's Day.   With no mother in sight, I liberated my Circles Garden from the dormant season's detritus.  The process involves weed whacking the hell out of the new growth and caked leaves on the bricks.  Then, leaf blowing the jetsam out across the wilds of the rest of the yard.  Finally, removing any stuck schmutz with the "jet" setting on the hose.  Start to finish including the concrete pathway about 2.5 hours.  

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

Now, that the canvas is prepped, the planting of some flowers, then another year of reveling.  

Climbing Rose: Joseph Coat of Many Colors

 

 I have shared with you before how I have a strict set of rules around going to the theatre.  I do NOT peak!  1) I do NOT read any reviews, period!  What do I care what others think make good theatre?  I have a right to protect what will become MY opinion after all.  2) I don't look ahead to see who's in the cast.  I like being surprised.  3) If I'm unfamiliar with the show, I do nothing to educate myself about the plot, etc. ahead of time.  And, 4) I do not seek out press photography.  Again, I want to be surprised by the not only who the actors are, but what the sets and costumes, etc. look like.  

Well, I held my ground pretty well...and then I peaked!  This is a show I have never seen performed on stage before.  I have however, completely worn out 1 CD of the original Broadway cast recording and am well on the way of disintegrating a second!  I love every song and I've memorized them so thoroughly, that I already have an image of the whole musical in my head.  Now, imagine my surprise when I discovered that there are a lot of words in between the songs.  Upon arrival at the Ford's Theatre, I also discovered that the show is three hours long!  Yet, from the first actor to idly wander onto the stage set up to look like a museum exhibition to the final standing ovation--the presentation was exceptional!  

Scenic Design praise goes to Milagros Ponce de Leon. 

Then the stage transforms into the chamber in Independence Hall back in the summer of 1776!

The Ford's Theatre is the very one in which our 16th President was assassinated.  I tend to go on weekend matinees and any performance is always full of visitors to DC who marvel at it's 19th century size (it's small), and the fact that the presidential booth is maintained as a memorial right there, to the right of the stage.  While it always brings a certain gravitas to the production being staged, never more so than with a production like 1776.  For while the musical tells the story of that hot summer in Philadelphia as the Continental Congress debated declaring independence from King George and England, the true drama pivots on a compromise.  The decision to favor independence alone over both Independence and the manumission of enslaved people along with the abolition of the institution of slavery.

The cast was, to a person, pitch perfect.  I could not have loved them more.  Both Jake Loewenthal as Thomas Jefferson and Derrick D. Truby Jr. as Benjamin Franklin were convivial and understated in a way that enhanced their performance and brought a necessary balance to the work of the whole.  Michael Perrie, Jr. as Virginia delegate Richard Henry Lee made the most of this solo thus establishing the volume of presentation needed to impress for the rest of the musical.  As a whole the choreography, by Luis Salgado was set on "Amazing" and made the grade from start to finish.  

Others worth celebrating individually include Casey Evans as the ever truculent Pennsylvania Delegate John Dickinson.  The last and the only hold out who in the end was out voted by his delegation and left the Congress firm in his commitment to avoid war, but ready to fight for the colonies if circumstances required.  I've seen Casey in nearly a dozen shows over the past decade, and I've never seen him deliver a finger performance.  His voice was in an excellent state.  Also, and arguably the most difficult to like delegate, Joe Mallon, as Edward Rutledge from South Caroline.  His rendition of "Molasses to Rum" which indicts the members of the Congress from New England for their complicity in the infamous slave triangle was bone chilling delivered.  His baritone, bellowed out during the recitative of place names meant to sound like the names of the men and women being auctioned off in the slave markets of Charleston, felt like a cyclone sucking up all the hypocrisy of mankind and laying it bare in a place without winners.

Finally, we come to Jonathan Atkinson who portrayed the irascible John Adams, delegate of Massachusetts.  What can be said?  For decades the amazing character actor William Daniels has been the person of John Adams in the role; as he did originate it on Broadway.  How I would have loved to have seen him experience Mr. Atkinson's portrayal.  It was, based on everything I know of the original version, on a scale 1 to 10, where the original was a tried a true 10--a 12.  Atkinson to this character by the horns and never stopped shaking new life out of it from the first "Sit Down John!" to the final "Is anybody there?"  On a championship team, Atkinson was the quarterback who through every ball to a touchdown.

So many hours later, I'm still glowing inside.  It was the best thing I've ever seen at Ford's Theatre, and I've seen some amazing productions from "Lincoln" with Scott Bakula to "Come Away From" with the original Broadway bound cast.  This production was for me a dream come true.

The number: "For God's Sake, John, Sit Down!"

John Adams of Massachusetts (Jonathan Atkinson)

Abigail Adams (Kanysha Williams)

As their diologue is taken from their actual letters to one another, they may appear to be together on stage, but they cannot, in the end, actually "touch" each other.

Richard Henry Lee of Virginia (Michael Perrie, Jr.)

Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania (Derrick D. Truby, Jr.)

Stephen Hopkins of Rhode Island (Stephen F. Schmidt)

Thomas Jefferson of Virginia (Jake Loewenthal)

In a contrivance of the production, Martha Jefferson, Thomas' young bride, is brought to Philadelphia by Adams and Franklin to help him over his "writer's block."

Adams, Martha Jefferson (Justine "Icy" Moral), and Franklin in the number "He Plays The Violin."

John Dickinson of Pennsylvania (Evan Casey)

The number: "Cool, Cool Considerate Men"

The Courier (Hunter Ringsmith) singing "Momma, Look Sharp".  The woman to right did everything she could to stench the flow of tears from her eyes.  I took a more passive stance and just let the warm, salty liquid run down my cheeks.

Jefferson, Franklin and Adams performing the song "The Egg."

Edward Rutledge of South Carolina (Joe Mallon) performing "Molasses to Rum".

Breaky: Scrambled Eggs and Fried Potatoes

 

Baltimore Center Stage: Holes

 "Holes" is a play adapted by the author from a young adult novel.  The story is as fantastical as it is allegorical and traces the experiences of one very unlucky, possibly even curse, teenager in a parallel telling of his great great grandfather's tale and who the "curse" got placed in the first place.  Bottom line: Don't steal a pig from a Gypsy.

The adaptation is ingeniously done and made successful in conjunction with one of the most beautiful sets I've ever seen.  An arid desert full of holes one moment to a lake side community made abundant by waves of flowing water.  Add in a lighting design that perfectly connects to and transforms the sets as needed...it was magical.  Kudos to Scenic Designer Sydney Lynne who was brought in from Chicago to craft this inspiring set, and Jesse Belsky for the accompanying Lighting Design.  I've seen Jesse's work before, but always in standard, unimaginative productions where success is determined by the way you DON'T notice the lights.

The actors were a wonderful mix that in some ways mirrored the audience at today's matinee.  Clearly the word is out, because there wasn't an empty seat in the place, and this on top of the fact that it was also the annual Mount Washington Flower Sale just one block behind the theatre!  Thus the traffic and parking were a thing to be avoided--it also explains why I was able to get such a good seat so late in time...  The audience was split 50-50 between folks my age and up and young parents with children (ages 7 to 12, upper elementary).  The gentleman who sat next to me referred to me as "young man" and regaled me with stories of shows he'd seen as a young man in the theaters than no longer even exist in Charm City.  Like the time after one performance he ran into the Smothers Brothers at the bar at a nearby hotel and they spent the evening drinking and enjoying one another's company.

The parallel with the cast was a divide between established, seasoned actors, and those young men and women still in high school dreaming of their way into the business.  Among the older set were several familiar and dependable staples in the DMV actors' scene: Marcus Kyd, Emily Kester, Jonathan Del Palmer, and Susan Rome.  I've followed all of them over many productions and none more passionately than Susan who can do it all and with such gusto!  From a supporting role in "Brighton Beach Memoir" to a solo show on the life of avant garde sculptor Louise Nevelson, and most recently in a cast written, experimental production on the theme of caring at Mosaic Theatre in the District.  In truth, I first noticed her in a recurring role as assistant district attorney over a couple of seasons of "The Wire".  Here again, she chameleon-ed herself through a series of roles with the comedic timing of a truly gifted professional.

Seven roles went to the young folk as inmates in this nightmarish and farcical juvenile rehabilitation camp called "Green Lake" where there is no lake and nothing is green.  Three are students at the Baltimore School for the Arts, and another is a senior in a different Baltimore High Schools acting program.  It is so exciting to see such talent on stage in its nascent moments.  The main role is that of Stanley Yelnats IV portrayed by Zachary Corey; the aforementioned senior in the Acting Magnet Program at G. W. Carver Center for the Arts and Technology.  No matter how good everyone else is in this play--the production lives or dies on the shoulders of this young man for whom this was his professional acting debut.  I can't imagine the pressure, but I didn't have to, because he was magnificent.  He took on the role with such a natural ease that never fell into pitfalls that can plague inexperienced actors like relying on some cliche or gimmick to define a character's disposition.  Instead, he just was Stanley to the point that near the end when exhausted by his quest he collapses in despair in the desert and cries, I completely forgot that he was an actor playing a role, and instead, wanted to weep with him in empathy with his situation.   Additional shout outs go to Kimberly Dodson as Madame Zeroni and Jude Sincere as Zero.

"Holes" at Baltimore Center Stage is a triumph of story telling and a joy start to finish.

POST SCRIPT:  Prior to the beginning the company often sends out a member of the Board or behind the scenes administrator to welcome the audience and make a pitch for contributions.  The young man who got the nod today began by describing Baltimore Center Stage as "Maryland's Official Theatre Company".  I thought, "What the fuck?  By whose standards?"  Then I realized that it was certainly the result of some promise of state money to underwrite the company, and like other such agreements (The Maryland Zoo, for example) probably exacted an expectation of free performances for Public School groups to performances like this one.  I know they also have an ongoing program that teaches acting at some of the state's juvenile jails--something I think is 100% a good thing.  

Introduced to his Unit D crew members at "Camp Green Lake".

Madame Zeroni (Kimberly Dodson)

Unit D Crew: Top L-R: Stanley (Zachary Corey), X-Ray (Ephraim Neheniah), Zig Zag (Hassan Aziz) Bottom L-R: (Armpit (Joshua Reginald Allen), and Magnet (Braxton Singhanath)

The D Crew member who holds the key to the truth...  Zero (Jude Sincere)

Crew Boss, Mr. Sir (Marcus Kyd), explaining how things go down at Camp Green Lake.

The Warden (Susan Rome)

Stanley is called before the Warden for an infraction.

Stanley Yelnats IV (Zachary Corey)

From the alternate story-line: Kate (Emily Kester) and Sam the Onion seller (Jonathan Del Palmer) attempt to make their escape across Green Lake.

The boys after Zero runs away!

Zero and Stanley on the lamb together.

The treasure is found and the gig's up!  All that has been wrong for over 100 years, will be made right.