The Week of March 17
Katie Holmes and Aaron Eckhart star in "Thank You for Smoking," opening March 17. Eckhart plays a spokesman for Big Tobacco.
(Copyright Twentieth Century Fox)
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The Week of March 17
The Harlem Globetrotters demonstrate their basketball wizardry March 18 in an afterno on game at the newly named Verizon Center (formerly MCI Center) and an evening game at George Mason University's Patriot Center. Call 202-397-7328. . . . The North American Wildlife Celebration features bald eagles, seals, sea lions and other North American fauna March 18 at the National Zoo. Call 202-633-4800. . . . The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus visits three area venues in March and April. It rolls into the D.C. Armory March 21-26, goes to the Verizon Center March 29-April 2 and wraps up at the Patriot Center April 5-16. Call 202-397-7328. . . . Four-time Grammy-winning banjo master Earl Scruggs and his family and friends visit the Kennedy Center's "Country: A Celebration of America's Music" festival with a free concert March 21 on the Millennium Stage. The festival continues through April 9. Call 202-467-4600.
The Week of March 24
The National Cherry Blossom Festival opens with family activities and a ceremony March 25 at the National Building Museum. Other events continue through April 9, including the festival parade April 8 along Constitution Avenue NW, followed by the Sakura Matsuri Street Festival around Pennsylvania Avenue and 12th Street NW. Call 202-547-1500 or visit http:/
The Week of March 31
The Merce Cunningham Dance Company dances classics from its repertory and a Washington premiere March 31-April 1 in the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater. Tickets cost $21 to $50. Call 202-467-4600. . . . Vendors display products and services for all varieties of pets and their owners, accompanied by a petting zoo, entertainment and presentations by local animal shelters and rescue leagues, at the Super Pet Expo March 31-April 2 at Dulles Expo Center in Chantilly. Call 301-564-4050 or 703-378-0910. . . . The National Cherry Blossom Festival Fireworks Show lights up the sky over the Southwest waterfront April 1 starting at 8:30. Call 202-547-1500 or visit http:/
Hot Tickets
Star tenor Luciano Pavarotti will take his final bows in "A Night to Remember -- The Farewell Tour" June 21 at Verizon (formerly MCI) Center, his only scheduled performance in the United States, and tickets go on sale Saturday at 10 from Ticketmaster. They cost $55 to $350. Call 202-397-7328. . . . Also on sale Saturday at 10 from Ticketmaster: Jimmy Buffett & the Coral Reefer Band Aug. 3 at Nissan Pavilion. Those tickets cost $126 in-house, $36 lawn.
On Stage
On stage soon, on sale now: "Shenandoah," the Broadway musical classic set in the Shenandoah Valley at the end of the Civil War, opens March 17 and runs through April 30 at Ford's Theatre. Tickets cost $25 to $52. Call 202-397-7328 or 202-347-4833. . . . The pre-Broadway tour of "Hot Feet," a new dance musical by Maurice White and Maurice Hines featuring music by Earth, Wind & Fire, stops at the National Theatre March 21-April 9. Tickets cost $41.25 to $151.25. Call 800-447-7400 or 202-628-6161.
On Screen
Opening March 17: In the Mexican comedy "Duck Season," teenagers Moko (Diego Cataño) and Flama (Daniel Miranda) battle boredom and real life on a lazy Sunday morning. . . . Douglas Bruce is the "Unknown White Male" in this documentary about a man with severe amnesia. . . . Vin Diesel plays mobster Jack DiNorscio in Sidney Lumet's courtroom drama "Find Me Guilty." . . . In the ensemble-comedy adaptation of Christopher Buckley's novel "Thank You for Smoking," Aaron Eckhart plays Big Tobacco spokesman Nick Naylor. . . . Natalie Portman plays a woman caught in a futuristic battle in "V for Vendetta." . . . Viola (Amanda Bynes) disguises herself as a boy in the teen comedy "She's the Man." . . . In the first collaboration by writer Graham Greene and director Carol Reed, a child is caught in a web of adult lies in the rerelease of the 1948 film "The Fallen Idol." Opening dates may change.
On Exhibit
These exhibitions open next week: "Harpies, Mermaids and Tulips: Embroidery of the Greek Islands and Epirus Region," opening March 17 at the Textile Museum, looks at 17th- to 19th-century textiles created for bridal trousseaux and domestic life. Call 202-667-0441. . . . "Reflections From the Heart: Photographs by David Seymour," opening March 18 at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, features the work of one of the pioneers of small-camera reportage. Call 202-639-1700.
Last Chance
Closing on stage this weekend: "The Heiress," at the Olney Theatre Center (301-924-3400); "Eleemosynary," by Catalyst Theater Co. at the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop (800-494-8497); and "The Murder of Isaac," at Baltimore's Center Stage (410-332-0033).
Next Friday in Weekend
The Kennedy Center's "Country: A Celebration of America's Music" is a welcome, albeit belated salute to the uniquely American music that is not jazz. We'll look at how this mini-festival of concerts (including a traveling Grand Ole Opry show), Millennium Stage events and arts education programs taking place March 20 to April 9 came about. We'll also spotlight some of the performers, look back at precedents and examine country music's
future in the nation's performing arts center.
