C2 Roxanne Roberts and Amy Argetsinger


EZ SU


KLMNO THE RELIABLE SOURCE


THISJUSTIN. . . l CIA Director Leon Panetta unveiled his newest staffer at Friday’s office holiday party: Bravo, his Irish setter. Bravo “is an important member of the Panetta family,” a source “close to Panetta” told our SpyTalk colleague Jeff Stein. The dog, formerly a regular at the Panetta Institute, made “quick friends” with CIA officials during his first week at Langley. So far, no leaks of any kind, said the proud source: “He’s well trained in the art of discretion.” l Wayne StateUniversity will no


Panetta


longer present its Helen Thomas Spirit of Diversity in theMedia Award after she made what it called “anti- Semitic” remarks at a Detroit conference Thursday. To wit: The veteran journalist declared that


“Congress, the WhiteHouse and Hollywood,Wall Street are owned by the Zionists.No question, in my opinion,” reports the Detroit Free Press. Interim dean Matthew Seeger said the controversy around the famous alum “is no longer helping us achieve our goals.”


MONDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2010


BELOW THE BELTWAY LLC


Paul Begala, left, and the film “Below the Beltway” (with Tate Donovan, above) have taken the same jab at Washington residents, along with many others since the 1990s.


A D.C. gibe that lingers


internproblem, aprotagonistwho goes for a runpast themonuments, a cameo by ChrisMatthews ashimself. “BelowtheBeltway,” anindie flick


A


writtenandproduced by veterancityhall andCapitolHill aide JimWareck,made its localdebutThursday atWestEndCinema. (Aone-time screening; like somany indies, it’s going straight fromthe festival circuit to cable,withanairing onShowtime this month.)All those cherishedD.C. tropes were trottedout, but a fourthaswell, reports our colleagueAnnieGowen—the inevitablemomentwhena character declares that “WashingtonisHollywoodfor theuglypeople.” Actually,wait—didthey just get the


clichewrong? Isn’t it “Washingtonis Hollywoodforuglypeople,”no “the”? It got


nymovie aboutWashington, it seems, is legally requiredto containcertain elements:Asleazypoliticianwithan


uswondering:Where theheckdidthis phrase come from, andhowhas it become everyone’s favorite gibe about ournation’s capital? Our researchthroughnewsdatabases


suggests the line somehowenteredthe cultural bloodstreaminthemid- to late- ’90s,whencolumnistswouldcite the line but typically credit it to some vague anonymous sage. Thephrase appears to be animmediate


descendant of one that took off inthe early ’90s: “Politics is showbusiness forugly people.” It is frequently creditedto Jay Leno—butwhenwe checkedthe record, it appears the late-nighthost always presentedit as someone else’switticism: “It’s like they say, ‘Politics is. . .’ ” Whowere “they”?While JamesCarville


utteredthephrase ina 1996Playboy interview,we foundwhatmayhave been the first in-printusage of it, ina 1992


WashingtonPost interviewwithCarville’s fellowClinton-Gore strategistPaulBegala. Okay,Mr.Begala,where’dthis come


from? “I first startedusing thatphrase in Texas inthe ’80s,” theCNNcommentator toldus. It’s caught onfor obvious reasons— apithiness that so accuratelydescribes whatwe’ve all sensedabout the two industries. “There’s aneedy quality that actors and


politicianshave, but there’s also anelement of caprice to anypolitical career”—just as there is for any struggling actorwho beats the odds to become a star. “Bothtake a lot of talent anddrive anddiscipline, but there’s also the element of lightning striking.” Well said.Butdidhe coinit?Begala


sighed. “Imighthaveheardit ina bar. . . . I can’thonestly lay claimor credit. I’ma speechwriter—I just collect these things. I steal fromJames everyday;he steals from me.”


HEY,ISN’TTHAT. . . ? l Tyrese Gibson drawing a small mob in front of the Verizon


Center ticket windows at the Georgetown-Utah State game Saturday —which might have happened anyway to the model/movie star, but the videocamera following him around maybe tipped off the crowd. Gibson was rewarding a bunch of hardworking BatesMiddle School students with box seats to the game, via the Communities in Schools program. l Christy Turlington dining at Estadio with a group Thursday


night. The supermodel (a regular celebvocate visitor on maternal-health issues) gets points for venturing off the usual VIP grid to the newLogan Circle hot spot.


Tyrese Gibson with Jason Statham, center, and IanMcShane, right.


G O T A T I P ? E - M A I L U S A T R E L I A B L E S O U R C E@WA S H P O S T . C O M . F O R T H E L A T E S T S C O O P S , V I S I T WA S H I N G T O N P O S T . C O M / R E L I A B L E S O U R C E


“Whydo people like Wesley Snipes and Tim Geithner work so hard to avoid paying taxes? Because the tax is toodamn


high!” —Wes Benedict, head of the Libertarian Party, blasting the feds for sentencing Wesley Snipes to a three-year prison term (due to start this week) for failing to file a tax return, while taking a swipe at the TurboTax-challenged Treasury secretary. Benedict argued that the actor was prosecuted for an act that shouldn’t be an offense and that, heck, we don’t need a federal income tax anyway.


Much-loved music is a key to


dance review from C1


heaval that figures into the Tchai- kovsky ballets “Swan Lake” and “The Sleeping Beauty.” Then there is the variety and


perfect cohesion of one tune after another, calling to mind the ro- bust joys ofachildhoodmost ofus have never had but which we recognize as familiar and com- forting nonetheless. The music settles the listener into a relaxed and festive mood, and it unspools the story with exceptional clarity. And the story? It’s simple and


swift-paced, less like a typical ballet than like . . . television. Think about it: The first act is a sitcom, the second act a variety show. The Stahlbaum family high jinks — mischievous kids, tipsy adults, a broken-toy drama re- solved with a kiss—give way to a parade of special guests, from Mother Ginger’s comedy act to the romantic idols, the Sugar Plum Fairy and her cavalier. The dancing is unfailingly high-spirited — and brief. In any given “Nutcracker,” there’s just enough choreography, in a direct, celebratory folk-dance style, to entertain. To a ballet newcomer, “TheNutcracker” doesn’t feel like a foreign language, the way other ballets might. “SwanLake’s” successhangson


‘Nutcracker’


Snow Queen and King, Sona Kharatian and Tamas Krizsa as the Anacostia Indians (in what is traditionally known as the Arabi- an variation), Maki Onuki as the Sugar Plum Fairy and Jonathan Jordan as her cavalier. The students from the Wash-


ington School of Ballet are de- lightful, and there is no end to their cuteness: bees, butterflies and furry woodland creatures at- tend the festivities under the cherry blossoms in Act II. Two of the school’s young male dancers, Albert Gordon and Roland Spier, displayed thrilling promise in the “Stars and Stripes” duet, just one of many impressive moments in the battle scene. Christianne Campbell’s Clara displayed the essence of good behavior. Regarding the music, it is by


now, sadly, no surprise that this production is danced to a taped score; for financial reasons the company has not used an orches- tra in the past two seasons. But in breaking with its long tradition of live Tchaikovsky, theWashington Ballet has substituted a poor- quality recording of no distinc- tion—Iamtoldbythe press office that it is a compilation of “various tracks collected from various or- chestras.” The sound is particularly


KATHERINE FREY/THE WASHINGTON POST SNOWFLURRIES: Dancers of theWashington Ballet perform theWaltz of the Snowflakes on the stage of theWarner Theatre.


the quality of the dancing, but not so “TheNutcracker.” Chances are, adequate skill and the most rudi- mentary choreography will look splendid paired with that Tchaik- ovsky music — especially if charming costumes are involved. The role of costuming in “The Nutcracker’s” popularity cannot be underestimated. Typically, there is farmoreluxuryonviewin


DOONESBURY by Garry Trudeau


littleClara’s household and in her fantasy land of sweets than in any other ballet. Companies can justi- fy lavish spending on sets and costumes for “The Nutcracker,” since they’ll be banking on its ticket sales for their survival year after year. Thus it is that theWashington


Ballet’s “Nutcracker,” which opened Friday and will continue


through Dec. 26, is a spectacular eyeful. The colors and decorative detail are simply gorgeous, from the paintings that cover the walls of Act I’s richly furnishedGeorge- town mansion to the bright geo- metric prints of the little clowns that tumble out of the merry-go- round, complete with painted horses, in Act II. (This is the Mother Ginger segment, dubbed


Mother Barnum in this produc- tion, though it is by no means the only spot of comic relief.) This production is truly Artis-


tic Director Septime Webre’s greatest triumph, a showcase of his skills at stage direction and in sustaining a spectacle. Hearty praise is due to the


dancers as well, especially Rui Huang and Jared Nelson as the


CUL DE SAC by Richard Thompson


goopy in the Sugar Plum Fairy’s solo, one of Tchaikovsky’s most beloved creations. Surely his greatest gift to the ballet world can be better served with a more distinguished recording. kaufmans@washpost.com


TheNutcracker


Performances continue through Dec. 26, with cast changes, at theWarner Theatre. Visit www.washington ballet.com.


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