"Sophisticated Ladies"

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Oh, my! I don't know where to begin!



Saturday night, I had a fabulous time! I went downtown Washington, DC with my friend, Paula, to see Duke Ellington's, "Sophisticated Ladies" at the Lincoln Theater. The entire evening was perfect - absolutely perfect! The weather...the food...the show. It was a trifecta of perfection!



We took the metro downtown and posed for photos inside the U-Street station. I LOVE the mural on the walls! It definitely puts you in the right spirit for an evening of awesome jazz!














Out on the streets, we found a huge mural of Duke Ellington. I managed to capture a shot with both Paula and the mural.






First stop...dinner. The line at "Ben's Chili Bowl" was very long, so we decided to continue down the street an see what else sounded tempting. There were a number of Ethiopian restaurants. Neither Paula nor I have ever eaten Ethiopian food, so we were intriqued. We looked over the menus - mmmmm! Everything sounded so good!

We definitely decided on a Ethiopian food, and after perusing menus, finally settled on Dukem. (The name is pretty cool too since we we'd come downtown to listed to the "Duke's" jazz!) The food was FABULOUS!!! We got a combo plate (Combo plate 23) so we could try a variety of entrees:

• REGULAR TIBS - Cubed tender beef fried with onion, rosemary jalapeno pepper served with injera and salad and spicy awaze sauce
• LAMB WOT - spicy - Freshly made lamb stew served with injera
• MINCHET ABESH - Finely chopped lean ground beef braised in milled ginger and garlic sauce
• Tomato salad.
  

(Sorry...we forgot to take a photo before we "dug in"!). We passed on the entrees that included tripe and tongue....neither sounded appealing to us. Everything was delicious! My favorite was the spicy lamb stew (LAMB WOT). Second favorite was one of the ground beef specialties (MINCHET ABESH) cooked in ginger and garlic. The TIBS was our least favorite, but it was still quite good. It was all served on a large flat bread.

The chopped up deep fried bit was a spinach Sambusa that we'd ordered in addition to the meal. It was quite delicious as well. The meal was served with some extra bread as well. It was quite fascinating bread too - very "springy" and soft. I definitely had a lot of fun tearing off bits of the bread and scooping up the meats with it. Mmmmm!!!!




Next, the theater...







I was dressed for the theater in my black and silver boa and Paula with her gorgeous lace scarf.







Paula scored the most AWESOME seats - front row center! I've NEVER been that "close to the action" at a major theater. The seats were perfect!



The music was fabulous. The singing was beyond words! The depth of passion that burst forth with every song was phenomenal. The voices of the cast members were perfect. Couple the fabulous music with the exquisite dancing and voila....the PERFECT evening!

Maurice Hines was spellbinding. I couldn't take my eyes off of him! He personality and performance totally captivating. Maurice was so expressive and full of energy, but somehow, made it all look effortless - like he was gliding on air. He even came down off the stage danced with one of the girls next to us. It was awesome!

All of the dancers were fabulous. There wasn't a bad song or dance in the entire show! I just can't say enough about how fabulous it was. I definitely didn't want the evening to end!



The entire evening put me in a fantastic mood...and Paula managed to capture my happiness with her camera as I posed with a historical marker.

Final thoughts....

The show has been extended, so if you have any time between now and June 6th, DEFINITELY make the effort to see it! You won't regret it!


Many thanks to Paula for bringing her camera...and providing me access to the photos we took!