Review: DEMO: HEROES at Kennedy Center

Melding all forms of the arts into a cohesive program is never an easy task. Former New York City Ballet dancer Damian Woetzel is trying to do this with a series called Demo, which brings artists from the worlds of theatre, dance and opera together on one stage.

The latest installment entitled Heroes is based around the idea that each of the individual artists is inspired by another one. Each of the selected singers, dancers, and musicians pays tribute to their artistic hero, sometimes in partnership with another artist. The result was a mixed bag. The cast included extremely talented singers, dancers and musicians, but when mixed with an awkward host, and a video presentation that had nothing to do with the rest of the evening, it is difficult to say this was a must-see event.

My favorite of the performers hands down was singer/songwriter/musician Kate Davis. With her quirky voice and pixie-like presence her two original compositions "Daisy" and "Somewhere Not Too Far" were definite highlights of the night. Combine that with the fact that Davis plays guitar, piano, bass and ukulele all wonderfully.

Another of my personal favorites was a fifteen-year-old blind pianist Matthew Whitaker who performed a tribute to two legends of music: Stevie Wonder and Oscar Peterson. He was joined later by tap dancer Jared Grimes for a killer tribute to Sammy Davis Jr. with "The Birth of the Blues."

Later, the Musicorps Wounded Warriors Band tore the house down with Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah." The group is based out of Walter Reed Medical Center, and is made up of men and women wounded in combat. The program uses music to help the wounded veterans get through the pain of their injuries, and get on with their lives.

Two missed opportunities were both with dancer Carla Körbes who performed tributes to Martha Graham and George Balanchine. The choreography was so subtle that you never got to see what she could actually do as a dancer. Another issue was that her long, flowing white dress hid her dancer lines during the Balanchine tribute, making it nearly impossible to appreciate any of her precise movements.

On the out of place side of things was a photo exhibition by bestselling author Sarah Lewis. The visual art piece included photos featured in Aperture Magazine set to a portion of a speech by John F. Kennedy. I don't if it was a requirement to include the exhibit it in the show since the Kennedy Center is running a year-long exhibit on President Kennedy, but it didn't quite fit with the rest of the program.

Lastly, we come to the awkward host for the evening. Damian Woetzel is very talented as a dancer, but isn't very engaging as a host. As the saying goes, "he casts well" so maybe Woetzel should stick to putting the show together and let someone else handle the introductions and in-between segment banter.

The Demo series serves a good purpose, and there was a lot of talent on the Eisenhower stage this past Monday night. If Woetzel could just step off the stage and let his talent do the talking, Demo could be something very special.

Running Time 90 minutes with no intermission.

Demo: Heroes was a one night only event on Oct 10, 2016 at The Kennedy Center's Eisenhower Theatre. For future events, click here.

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