“Arabesque” A Cel­e­bra­tion of Ara­bian Arts and Cul­ture at the Kennedy Cen­ter: Feb 23 – Mar 15… and the FBA takes a Behind the Scenes Tou

Lebanese Bridal Costume

One can indulge in so many of the amaz­ing per­for­mances: the­ater, dance, music, film, and lit­er­ary arts, and pause within the tra­di­tional Arab mar­ket, the Souk on the lower level, filled boun­ti­fully with ceram­ics, hang­ing lanterns, more jew­elry, bas­kets, tex­tiles and wraps, fine inlaid fur­ni­ture, tra­di­tional hang­ing lamps, small drums and tambourines.

The main halls are now filled with the exhibit of tra­di­tional Wed­ding Dress, true trea­sures, not for sale, but serv­ing as an intro­duc­tion to the jew­elry that is for sale on the upper level.

Each of the con­cert venues has Arabesque per­for­mances the next three weeks. In addi­tion, there are the 6 pm Mil­len­nium Stage per­for­mances (first come, first seated) that pro­vide a casual and, free intro­duc­tion to many of the fine musi­cians, dancers.

This aggre­ga­tion of Ara­bic artists is so rare to expe­ri­ence any­where. The New­sHour with Jim Lehrer cov­ered it daily its first week.

For FBA mem­bers, the tim­ing couldn’t be more per­fect. Last Thurs­day, the FBA had the good for­tune to take a tour of the KC “Behind the Scenes” with Mickey Berra, the Kennedy Center’s guru for all stage oper­a­tions, tech­nol­ogy, and pro­duc­tion. Mickey has been at the Kennedy Cen­ter for 38 years – since its open­ing, start­ing as a stage hand and now, coor­di­nates it all.

Walk­ing through the wings with Mickey, on and behind the stage of the Opera House and Con­cert Hall was amaz­ing, par­tic­u­larly as the group passed the stage hands busily putting together the sets for “Cara­calla: Knights of the Moon” per­for­mances for this past Sat­ur­day and Sun­day. The sets and the exquis­itely tra­di­tional cos­tumes of the male and female dancers really brought the excite­ment home. Mickey’s nuanced overview of how “Arabesque” came together was fas­ci­nat­ing, host­ing 900 artists and asso­ciates, import­ing the cos­tumes and elab­o­rate sets, and mov­ing them flaw­lessly (in one case 19 times in the first act), coor­di­nat­ing KC stage­hands with their Ara­bian coun­ter­parts — a fun­da­men­tal dimen­sion that is nec­es­sar­ily invis­i­ble to the audience.

Stand­ing on the Eisen­hower The­ater stage and gaz­ing out into the audi­ence, there is no ques­tion about what magic gifted actors must expe­ri­ence. And for those behind the scenes with the infrared cam­eras run­ning the lights, sound and cur­tains, or hoist­ing sets and lights between scenes, the sen­ti­ment is most likely sim­i­lar to Mickey’s, “ I am so for­tu­nate to do some­thing I love, it’s hard to call it work.” —FBN

Tra­di­tional Wed­ding Dress