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KLMNO THE RELIABLE SOURCE Roxanne Roberts and Amy Argetsinger


Two bright stars well within reach


MATT TERL/WASHINGTON REDSKINS


Tanya Snyder gets pumped in a game against the wives of the Eagles.


Redskins wives score a win, too


A highlight of the Redskins-Eagles


matchup this weekend that was largely overlooked: Wives vs. Wives. The wives and girlfriends of the Redskins played the Philadelphia WAGs in a charity basketball match Saturday afternoon at the Rutgers campus in Camden, N.J. Organized by Renee Reese (wife of former Eagles linebacker Ike Reese), the game was very real, complete with a heated, on-court chest-bumping spat. (“All in good fun!” Redskins PR told us.) Mike Williams, the Redskins offensive tackle, coached the Washington ladies to a 50-38 victory, thanks to some impressive talent: Roxie McNabb (wife of Donovan), a standout player in her Syracuse days; Annabelle Williams (wife of Roydell Williams), who once got recruited to play pro ball overseas; and coming in for the fourth quarter, none other than the owner’s wife, Tanya Snyder.


THIS JUST IN


 Kai Milla’s fashion line appears to have abruptly shut down. The Bowie-born designer and wife of Stevie Wonder seemed to be on an upward trajectory, especially after dressing Michelle Obama last year. But her last show was a year ago, reports the New York Post, and her office’s telephone line has been disconnected. The publicist listed on her Web site said she no longer represents her; a rep for Wonder did not reply to our e-mail.


HEY, ISN’T THAT . . . ?  Michelle Rhee getting turned away from her own movie Sunday afternoon — because it was sold out! The D.C. schools chief, one of the stars of “Waiting for ‘Superman,’ ” showed up to the E Street Cinema’s 2:30 p.m. screening of the public-schools documentary with her daughters. Secured seats for the 4:15 showing, in rainy-day jeans and flannel.


Mall gears up for a Transformation


It’s official: After some debate, KEVIN ALLEN Guest of honor Annette Bening and hubby Warren Beatty at the Harman Center for the Arts annual gala.


overbearing handlers: Be more like Warren Beatty and Annette Bening. The A-list movie stars spent the weekend in D.C. and charmed all by not behaving like typical Hollywood actors: egocentric, slightly bored, prickly. (Why is it that the biggest names have the best manners?) Bening, 52,was the guest of honor


A


at the Harman Center for the Arts annual gala; Beatty, 73, tagged along in his role of devoted husband. The joint appearance was a guaranteed crowd-pleaser and belied tabloid rumors that their 18-year marriage is


ll you celebrities who come to Washington with your temporary gravitas and


on the rocks: The couple appeared hand-in-hand at a Saturday reception for donors at the British Embassy and the gala Sunday, chatting happily about their four kids (ages 10 to 18), how much they like their iPads, and politics. “I couldn’t believe how gracious and approachable they were to everyone,” said gala co-chair Abbe Lowell. On the face of it, Bening was an odd choice. She was honored for her work in classical theater but has never appeared at the Shakespeare Theatre — despite a lovely snippet from “Romeo and Juliet” in her acceptance speech. But big names sell tickets: The two were


surrounded by fans all night, staying until almost every guest had a chance to chat or pose for pictures. We finally caught up with Beatty near the end of the party. Did the hometown boy (raised in Arlington) make it back to any childhood haunts? “I haven’t been back for a while, but I do like to come back,” Beatty told us. “I’m kind of sentimental about everything. We’re staying at the Willard. That’s where I had my senior prom.” Oh yeah? Who’d you take? He


wouldn’t name names. “It was very nice,” he said with a grin, and then slipped away.


GOT A TIP ? E-MAIL U S A T RELIABLESOURCE@WASHP OST . COM. FOR THE LA TEST SCOOPS, VISIT WA SHINGTONP OST . COM/RELIABLESOUR CE Synetic’s ‘King Arthur’: Soaking it all in theater reviewfrom C1


knights, led by Ben Cunis’s brawny King Arthur, joust and spar and spin and somersault in the shallow lake, as if all day, ev- ery day were bath time. Watching actors slash at each other with gleaming swords on slippery- looking surfaces does compel you to wonder about insurance pre- miums. But that’s the fun in a production that works so hard to get the juices flowing. The Tsikurishvilis have had some of their grandest successes over the past decade by stripping classic plays of the spoken word and letting actors’ bodies do the talking. Shakespeare was the in- spiration for their previous dia- logue-free dance plays; many other Synetic offerings do incor- porate dialogue. Now, as they em- bark on their 10th season, in a space that until recently served as a temporary theater for Arena Stage, the Tsikurishvilis turn to the legend of Arthur to broaden their source material for word- less works. Their “King Arthur” is as ex- plosively physical as anything they’ve ever done, and some of the sequences expose new facets of their ambition to evolve as en- tertainers. The scene, for in- stance, of Arthur’s marriage to Guinevere (a radiant Brynn Tuck- er) outdoes Synetic’s prior at- tempts at buoyant ceremony. The throne throws a pool party! The wedding guests twirl to Konstan- tine Lortkipanidze’s mash-up musical compositions — one minute they sound like disco, the next, a Celtic folk song. Caught up in the joy of the moment, the


in early Celtic legends, “pools and cauldrons figure prominently.” Presumably, there’s no mention of a constant need for towels. It also must be noted that a


goodly chunk of this “King Ar- thur” concerns itself with com- bat, and that after the sixth or seventh or eighth round of knights elbowing enemies in the face or cartwheeling over a stone barrier, all the splashing around begins to look the same. Yet, with a production this vis-


GRAEME B. SHAW WET & WILD:Brynn Tucker and Ben Cunis in “King Arthur.”


guests kick shafts of water into the audience. (Like ticket holders to Gallagher’s shows, front-row denizens here wear splash pro- tection.) The plot, worked out in the ad-


aptation by Cunis and his direc- tor, follows the legend’s familiar developments, such as young Ar- thur’s pulling Excalibur from a stone and the king’s celebrated gathering of the knights. Reflect- ing Synetic’s own preoccupa- tions, it also emphasizes Arthur and Guinevere as objects of de- sire. Here, in the guise of malle- able Alex Mills — strapped up in leather like a catalogue model out of Frederick’s of Hollywood — the magical Merlin is not only a surprisingly youthful being but also a highly sexual one. Merlin’s mentoring of Arthur spills over into covetousness; the caresses that Mills lavishes on Cunis’s heroic frame convey any- thing but paternal intentions. Similarly, the designs on Arthur by his half sister, the evil sorcer-


DOONESBURY FLASHBACKS By Garry Trudeau


ess Morgan le Fay (Jodi Niehoff ), seem exceptionally physical, as she compels him into the carnal act that will produce their cor- rupt offspring Mordred (Sean Pe- dersen). The flip side is the sensuality of the mutually consenting Guine- vere and Lancelot, the stalwart knight who steals her heart. Lan- celot proves to be a breakout role for the Tsikurishvilis’ son Vato, who accomplishes the subtle task of tempering the character’s big- lug swagger with a trace of en- dearing self-awareness. The fluid landscape, surround- ed in Anastasia Rurikov Simes’s eye-catching design by walls of rock and movable boulders, serves as a voluptuous cushion for all the lovemaking in Camelot (where, cozily, it also seems to be the rainy season). Still, to suggest a metaphorical justification for rendering Arthur’s entire king- dom as a flood plain is a stretch. In the program’s elaborate direc- tor’s note, Tsikurishvili says that


cerally exciting, you can ignore some of the redundancies and artier rationalizations and sim- ply revel in the exhilarating vis- ual style. (Simes’s gorgeous gowns and faux-chain-mail get- ups for the knights assist in the il- lusions, too.) The cast, from Cu- nis down to the least-heralded of his Round Table cortege, con- spires to confer on “King Arthur” acrobatic intensity and stunt- man panache. Even when water- based, Synetic’s thrills are un- diluted.


marksp@washpost.com King Arthur


adapted by Paata Tsikurishvili and Ben Cunis. Directed by Paata Tsikurishvili. Choreography, Irina Tsikurishvili; sets and costumes, Anastasia Rurikov Simes; lighting, Andrew F. Griffin; original music, Konstantine


Lortkipanidze; sound, Irakli Kavsadze. With Kathryn Elizabeth Kelly, Dallas Tolentino, JB Tadena, JR Russ, Peter Pereyra, Hector Reynoso. About 90 minutes. Through Oct. 31 at Synetic in Crystal City, 1800 S. Bell St., Arlington. Visit www.synetictheater.org or call 800-494-8497.


MUSIC REVIEW


A shoeless Spalding, on solid footing


by Mike Joyce


Esperanza Spalding had the best seat in the house at the Lin- coln Theatre on Sunday night. Shedding her jacket and scarf moments after the lights went down, the 25-year-old jazz bass- ist-vocalist sat at a corner table onstage, tossed off her heels and poured herself a glass of wine. A few sips later, still barefoot, she led her Chamber Music Society ensemble through an imagina- tively arranged collection of tunes that not only showcased her remarkable vocal range but also her gift for infusing ballads with a soulful or dreamy aura. While the show opened on a


theatrical note, what immediate- ly won the crowd over was sheer musicality. When singing or scat- ting, Spalding often reveled in the tricky intervals associated with bebop, but her phrasing was more syncopated and spirited, sometimes bringing to mind the likes of Al Jarreau and Flora Pu- rim. When playing upright bass, Spalding seldom took on the con- ventional role of underpinning the chord progressions. Instead, she used the instrument to frame and echo her vocals or to provide a resounding pulse for modal in- terludes. Meanwhile, the cozy en- semble sound (bass, viola, violin and cello) grew in size and tex- ture, with the addition of vocal- ists, keyboards and drums. A dissonant edge distin-


CUL DE SAC by Richard Thompson


“Transformers 3” will indeed film on the Mall, next week. The city’s Department of Transportation on Monday announced street closings and parking restrictions that seem to guarantee an impressive backdrop for the armies of Autobots and Decepticons, including key streets in front of the Capitol, at various points from Tuesday night through Friday morning. (For specifics, see The Post’s Dr. Gridlock blog.) Unclear if actual human stars such as Shia LaBeouf or Josh Duhamel will be there — a production rep did not return a call — but Josh Friedman of the D.C. Film Office said there will be special effects. Blowing stuff up? “Low-level pyrotechnics,” he said, “like you might see at a concert.”


TUESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2010


KYLE GUSTAFSON FOR THE WASHINGTON POST


DUAL TALENT:Esperanza Spalding showcased her fluid musicality at Lincoln Theatre.


guished some of the music, but a hushed rendering of Antonio Carlos Jobim’s “Inutil Paisagem” was pure enchantment (thanks in part to guest vocalist Gretchen Parlato), and keyboardist Leo Genovese found numerous ways to subtly tweak the arrange- ments. Spalding also performed moving — and vocally challeng- ing — renditions of “Wild Is the Wind” and “Apple Blossom.” Presented by the Washington


Performing Arts Society, the con- cert ended as it began. Spalding retrieved her shoes, wrapped her jacket and sweater around her and walked offstage to a richly deserved standing ovation. style@washpost.com


Joyce is a freelance writer.


DREAMWORKS/PARAMOUNT


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