Monday, February 6, 2012

Weekend Report: Two Gentleman of Verona & the Newseum

I’ve seen a lot of Shakespeare plays in my life, and I’m pretty sure that Friday night’s “The Two Gentleman of Verona” was my favorite Bard experience to date. 


LLC joined me to see my friend from home star in the play. Natalie Mitchell acted in my last DC Shakespeare experience (“All’s Well that Ends Well”) and was awesome in “Two Gentleman!” 

The play was set in semi-modern times, but with Shakespearian elements (i.e. the costumes were Shakespeare-ish, but made of modern materials). It sounds a bit odd, but it actually really worked. The WaPo review calls "Two Gentleman" “the ‘Gossip Girl’ of the Shakespearean canon,” and I totally agree. Each scene opened with a banner setting the scene,  and they were kinda sassy, which guaranteed that the audience started every scene laughing (i.e. “The Duke’s Court at Verona. It’s a nightclub. The kind with $20 drinks. Ouch.”).




There was modern music too – Coldplay, Ben Folds, and U2, to name a few –  and the characters sang! Plus, (how’s this for a fun fact?) this is the only Shakespeare play with a dog, and he’s absolutely adorable. 


Afterwards LLC and I met Natalie backstage in the “green room” to congratulate her on a great performance. We also got to meet all the stars!!! I’m not going to lie, LLC and I may or may not have had a giggly-fan-girl moment when we shook Valentine and Proteus’ hands… 

Theater reviews aren’t normally my jam, so I’ll leave you to read someone else’s. The play was great and if you’re in DC I strongly suggest you go see it. (It's at the Shakespeare Theater Company’s Landsburgh Theater until March 4.)

I started the next morning (Saturday) with a ten-miler on the Mall (the long run puts the tiger in the cat! Ten points to whomever can tell me who says that).

Then I met LLC and another friend to explore the Newseum. I’ve never been (blasphemy!), mostly because it’s a bit on the pricey side and as a spoiled Washingtonian I feel that all museums should be free...


But with a Groupon in hand it was time to see what the Newseum had to offer.  It really was impressive. The permanent collection includes parts of the Berlin Wall (love me some Cold War), and the Pulitzer Prize Photographs Gallery. I especially enjoyed the special exhibits: Photo Finish: The Sports Photography of Neil Leifer, and G-Men and Journalists. Plus it has a great rooftop view.


The day was a bit exhausting – that museum is HUGE – but totally worth it. 


Sunday night I (and the rest of America) watched some footgame with friends. The food was great and the company was awesome, but alas, the wrong team won. Womp womp. (Before you go all crazy-fan on me, note that I just referred to it as “footgame” and gauge my level of seriousness about the sport accordingly). 


Hope you had a great weekend too!