Thursday: War and Treaty at the Hamilton
As part of The View’s Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit cast reunion episode that aired in June, War and Treaty singer Tanya Trotter stepped center stage to sing the solo introduction to “Joyful Joyful.” Sixty seconds in, a male voice can be heard enthusiastically shouting from offstage “Go on, girl!” “Yes, that’s my big mouth,” Michael Trotter, co-singer and husband of Tanya, admits sheepishly. “I just could not control myself … There was a second there where I forgot that was my wife.” For Tanya (previously Tanya Blount), who performed in the 1993 movie alongside Whoopi Goldberg, Lauryn Hill (who was not at the reunion), and Sheryl Lee Ralph, it was wonderful to revisit with the people who gave her her first big break. “It was incredible,” says Tanya. “Whoopi has this way of making everybody feel like they’re that 17, 16-year-old kid again … So when I saw her and I saw—I call them my classmates—I immediately started crying because I remembered how it felt to be on that set with everybody.” The visit to The View is the latest in a continuous series of highs for the D.C. duo. This year alone has included Grammy nominations, a performance at the Emmys, another performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, and touring as the opener for Zach Bryan. The year 2024 did include one awful low though. There was a cotton plant in their dressing room backstage at Austin, Texas’ Sips and Sounds Music Festival. Whoever used the plant as a set dressing was never determined; the duo received an apology from the promoter. Michael views the incident as a teachable moment. “With the temperature of our country and all that we’re going through with the ugliness of politics, I think that, in the spirit of following our current president, we need to tone it down a bit,” he says. “I would add to it—we need to tone it down a lot …What I would’ve loved to have seen is us and the promoter company come together and make a joint statement realizing that ‘Hey, the festival did not intentionally do this to us.’” Michael adds, “Also, letting people know that you can have a grievance and you can voice your grievance and it can be heard and it is not the end-all be-all.” After a brief respite at their home in Nashville, the duo will hit the road again, which includes a stop at the Hamilton on Aug. 22. As if that wasn’t enough for the couple, their biopic should (fingers crossed) start production this fall and a new album should land at the beginning of 2025. “We have a target date,” says Michael. “In good old Mike and Tanya fashion: Valentine’s Day 2025.” The War and Treaty play at 8 p.m. on Aug. 22 at the Hamilton, 600 14th St. NW. thehamiltondc.com. $25. —Christina Smart
Friday and Saturday: Local Theatre Festival at the Kennedy Center
Sword play at last year’s Local Theatre Festival; courtesy of the Kennedy Center
At its pre-pandemic peak, more than 40 theaters, universities, and playwriting collectives participated in the Kennedy Center’s Page-to-Stage, its free, annual Labor Day weekend festival of new play readings. Nearly every local actor in town who wanted to work over Labor Day weekend could—and the same went for anyone who wanted to see a free show. COVD ended what had been a great 18-year run. While the Kennedy Center’s Local Theatre Festival, the replacement event, which returns for its second year on Friday and Saturday, doesn’t offer the array of readings from heavy-hitter playwrights and theaters like Page-to-Stage did, it’s a step in the right direction, and at least tickets are still free. The 2024 Local Theatre Festival includes two panels, seven workshops, and 11 readings, which are mostly spearheaded by local emerging playwrights. The main draw is likely to be Friday night’s conversation between Peter Marks, the former longtime Washington Post theater critic who accepted a buyout from the paper in December, and Naveen Kumar, the New York-based freelancer for Variety recently tapped to replace him at our paper of record. Promising writer-generated readings include This Play Is Not About Brian, a semi-biographical show by Nikki Mirza, a multi-hyphenate artist wrapping up a star turn as Cynthia Weil in Olney Theatre Center’s production of Beautiful. Of the readings organized by local troupes, Spooky Action’s new musical adaptation of Mikhail Bulgakov’s novel The Master and Margarita sounds the most intriguing. It’ll probably be weird, but in a good way. Teen theater geeks may be good candidates to enjoy the festival’s workshops, which will cover everything from set design to commedia dell’arte. The second annual Local Theatre Festival runs Aug. 23 and 24 at the Kennedy Center. 2700 F St. NW. kennedy-center.org. Free. —Rebecca Ritzel
Saturday: All Time Low at Merriweather Post Pavilion
All Time Low; Credit: Ashley Osborn
Like all baby bands when they first start out, All Time Low would play any venue that would have them: VFW halls, churches, small bars—you name it. And like most baby bands, those early shows for the Towson, Maryland, band would typically have a sparse turnout. “I think the show [when] we played at Sidebar … I think we probably played for 14 people,” lead singer Alex Gaskarth tells City Paper. “There can’t have been over 20 people there. There were some really small ones but nobody knew who we were.” All Time Low don’t have issues with people not knowing who they are anymore. Twenty-one years into their career, the pop-punk quartet have released nine studio albums and their music has streamed more than 4 billion times worldwide. They also reached peak rock star status when they launched their own wine brand Everything is Wine. Not bad for a band that formed while attending Dulaney High School. Now, in celebration of their more than two decades career, the band are performing a series of shows that include playing a small club followed by a larger venue a few nights later. For Gaskarth, it’s a great opportunity for the band to get back to their roots. “We’ve been having a blast doing these kinds of clusters, these weekends of shows,” he says. “Those are the rooms that we grew up playing. I think our band really connects in those kinds of rooms and it’s really fun for us to actually be able to put on a show like that. Nothing beats that kind of energy.” Though the local small show, scheduled for August 22 at the Atlantis, is already sold out, you can still see the local band in another D.C./Baltimore suburb, not unlike their hometown. All Time Low play at 7 p.m. on Aug. 24 at Merriweather Post Pavilion, 10475 Little Patuxent Pkwy., Columbia. merriweathermusic.com. $45–$75. —Christina Smart
Saturday: Washington Salsa Festival at Eaglebank Arena
El Gran Combo performing in July; courtesy of the band
Reggaeton, bachata, and Regional Mexican music may be the biggest Latin music genres these days but salsa will forever be popular, and the Washington Salsa Festival will feature a who’s who of veteran greats from the percussion and horn-filled dance music. Salsa has managed to stay timeless for decades thanks to its combination of tuneful vocals and energetic instrumentation. The old-school stars on Saturday’s bill include the South Bronx-raised singer and trombonist Willie Colon. His raw-rhythmed 1970s solo albums and collaborative efforts with vocalists Hector Lavoe and Ruben Blades are still considered classics today. Puerto Rico’s El Gran Combo have changed members over the years since their 1962 beginning. Still, this well-rehearsed, charismatic outfit always offer three vocalists who cleverly alternate call-and-response and harmony while dancing—propelled by the group’s keyboard, drums, and bass-led musical background. Puerto Rican singer La India has sung house music and pop over the years, but her strong-voiced ’90s salsa efforts are what many still treasure the most from her catalog. The event’s lengthy bill also includes Tito Nieves, Rey Ruiz, Frankie Negron, and Los Adolescentes. Expect to see couples dancing in the aisles all night long. Washington Salsa Festival starts at 8 p.m. on Aug. 24 at Eaglebank Arena, 4500 Patriot Cir., Fairfax. eaglebankarena.com. $39–$350. —Steve Kiviat
Ongoing: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Southwestern Pennsylvania at the National Building Museum
A sketch of Rhododendron Chapel, by Frank Lloyd Wright, courtesy of the National Building Museum
The central tension of the exhibit Frank Lloyd Wright’s Southwestern Pennsylvania at the National Building Museum is between the famed architect’s “realized” and “unrealized” projects. The “realized” projects—notably the Fallingwater residence—are justly celebrated. The “unrealized” ones? They’re more of a mixed bag. To the exhibit’s credit, it communicates Wright’s vision through more than just standard architectural drawings and scale models; it has partnered with Skyline Ink Animators + Illustrators to produce high-quality digital animations that capture both exterior and interior views of Wright’s unbuilt designs. Some of these animations are simply lovely. One shows a farm cottage blanketed with swirling snow and chimney smoke; another depicts a small Rhododendron Chapel with a fireplace full of quietly licking flames; another shows a never-built addition to Fallingwater with an unexpectedly castle-like roof that features a succession of small dentiles. More mundane is Wright’s circular-ramp design for a 1,100-space vehicular garage in downtown Pittsburgh; it was never constructed, but it eventually came to fruition more than a decade later for the infinitely classier purpose of housing New York’s Guggenheim Museum. The big swing-and-miss from Wright, however, was a proposed, multi-use civic center on Pittsburgh’s “Point,” where the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers meet to form the Ohio River. In Wright’s vision, this triangular focal point for the city, a geographic and historical treasure, would have been overrun by a web of circle-and-spoke structures. Thankfully, the city went a different direction and built the simple, untrammeled greenery of Point State Park, which remains a civic treasure to this day. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Southwestern Pennsylvania runs through March 17, 2025, at the National Building Museum, 401 F St. NW. Thursday through Monday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. nbm.org. $7–$10.—Louis Jacobson