| FEATURE 06.22.09 11:37 AM |
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Washington Top Arts & Entertainment Events 2009
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 | FotoWeek
Photo: Paul Fetters |
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1. Kennedy Center Honors
Morgan Freeman and Barbara Streisand were among those feted at the 31st annual awards for artistic achievement in 2008. Traditionally attended by the president and first lady, the ceremony returns to the Kennedy Center on December 6, followed by a seated dinner in the complex’s grand foyer.
2. Ford’s Theatre Annual Gala
After last year’s gala at the National Theatre while Ford’s completed an extensive renovation, this event returned to its traditional home in 2009, with a gala moved up from June to February to coincide with the reopening of the theatre. The 30th annual gala will take place June 2010.
3. SilverDocs Film Festival
One of the nation’s largest and most prestigious documentary film festivals came to the American Film Institute in Silver Spring, Maryland, from June 15 to 22. More than 21,000 attendees screened more than 100 films at last year’s fest.
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Washington's Top 100 Events, Morgan Freeman, Barbara Steisand, Kennedy Center, Ford's Theatre, George Lucas, Sidney Poitier, SilverDocs, American Film Institute, Black Entertainment Television, BET Honors, National Design Awards, Virgin Mobile, Shakespeare Theatre Company |
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| VENUE NEWS 01.22.09 12:53 PM |
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New Ris Restaurant to Include Flexible Event Space
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 | A rendering of Ris
Rendering: Courtesy of Ris Restaurant and Nightclub |
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After many delays, one of the city’s premier chefs, Ris Lacoste, said that her long-awaited new dining venue, Ris, will open in late summer 2009 in the West End. Designed by local architect Tom Kamm, the newly constructed 3,200-square-foot flexible space will have five separate dining areas and 160 seats (plus an additional 40 to 50 outdoors in fair weather), which can be reconfigured to create private rooms with 12 and 40 seats. Kamm said his design is based on "a contemporary reinterpretation of a French café with additional influences from the chef’s experiences in Australia and the Northern California wine country."
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| EVENT REPORT 05.06.08 4:33 PM |
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For Film Music Gala, Kennedy Center Stages Red Carpet in Dining Rooms
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 | The Kennedy Center gala's preperformance dinner
Photo: Joseph Allen |
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The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts' annual spring benefit, held Sunday night, paid tribute to the "Art of Film Music," with a performance hosted by directors (and Kennedy Center honorees) Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg and featuring the National Symphony Orchestra conducted by composer (and honoree) John Williams. Songs from Lawrence of Arabia, E.T., and Indiana Jones, among others, were accompanied by clips from the movies.
With Hollywood bigwigs in the house (Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes arrived later in the evening), Kennedy Center director of special events Leslie Miller aimed to create an appropriately glamorous setting for the preperformance dinner, held in the atrium and the north and south galleries. The rooms took on striking color palettes, mixing stark black-and-white decor elements with splashes of red. "Every year we take our decor theme from the performance, so each has a different feel," Miller said. "Last year we had a spring feeling in the room, with lighter colors."
Miller channeled the red carpet in the dining spaces, with catwalks erected between the tables and models walking in dresses from previous award ceremonies. Neiman Marcus manager Martha Slagle helped wrangle the outfits (including the green Escada number worn by Kim Basinger when she won the Oscar in 1997 for L.A. Confidential), and New York's Siegelson provided $27 million worth of accompanying jewelry.
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Kennedy Center |
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| EVENT REPORT 12.05.07 2:22 PM |
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Kennedy Center Honors Gather Celebrities, Politicians (and Secret Service)
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Washington’s smart set turned out in diamonds and tuxedos on Sunday for the annual Kennedy Center Honors, one of the biggest nights on the event calendars of even the most social socialites. The black-tie evening gathers venerable honorees along with a cast of celebrities to pay tribute to them, with the whole performance done before an audience of Washington’s bold-faced arts patrons, including President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. A gala supper caps off the night.
This year’s honorees—pianist Leon Fleisher, funnyman Steve Martin, supreme songstress Diana Ross, filmmaker Martin Scorsese, and Beach Boy Brian Wilson—garnered a slew of tributes from celebrity admirers, even though, as both Yeas and Nays and Reliable Source reported, most of the honorees had never met their tribute performers. (Lyle Lovett was a stranger to Wilson, Steve Carell to Martin, and Jordin Sparks to Ross.)
Like an Academy Awards ceremony, but without the suspense, the production was plenty theatrical, with elaborate sets and dozens of musicians, dancers, and singers on hand. The stage was styled in a glamorous yet low-key Art Deco theme, and most of the sets were white, lending an understated but elegant feel to the evening. The vibe, too, was distinctly highbrow, with dignified and polished performances (a silver-catsuited Ciara belting out a medley of Diana Ross tunes was as MTV as the evening got), the gentlest of ribbing of the honorees, and an audience whose most raucous moment was clapping along with a gospel choir. The event will air December 26 on CBS.
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Kennedy Center |
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| GUEST QUESTIONS 05.17.07 3:57 PM |
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Cheese Is King at Culinary Preview
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 | Neiman Marcus's sleek "Vert et Noir" table.
Photo: Philip Greenberg |
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The Kennedy Center’s Roof Terrace restaurant hosted a culinary preview on Thursday, March 29, to showcase the talents of its new team, including executive chef Tom Green and catering chef Joe Gurner. Waiters passed fruity, fizzy cocktails, and multiple food stations offered Nuevo Latino and Provençal cuisine. In another room, guests voted for their favorite of six tabletop designs, created by such D.C. notables as Nycci Nellis of TheListAreYouOnIt.com and Jeff Dufour and Patrick Gavin, Yeas and Nays columnists for The Examiner. With so much to see and taste, we wondered what impressed guests the most.
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