Metro Weekly's Editor's Picks for Nov. 21

Nina West

I am a queen of Christmas,” exclaimes Nina West. “I have five Christmas trees in my house. I have a classic Santa Claus tree. I have three Disney Christmas trees, and then I have one of a kind classic rustic old-time antique ornaments that I've collected over the years.” West is beloved by RuPaul’s Drag Race fans as the winner of the Miss Congeniality Award in Season 11. The honor was clearly not without merit, as a phone conversation with West — real name Andrew Levitt — is effervescent and upbeat. She’s polite to a fault.

She’s also talented to a fault. Anyone lucky enough to have witnessed her performance at June’s Capital Pride can attest to that fact, as she roared through a brilliant Disney princess medley with a dazzling (and funny) array of rapid-fire costume reveals.

“The fact the stage was right in front of the Capitol was overwhelming,” she says. “I felt this tremendous responsibility to be uplifting and in the moment, especially in this dialogue and the conversation that's taking place daily within our country. It was important to me.” West, named in 2019 by New York magazine as one of the “100 Most Powerful Drag Queens” in America, has a particular affection for Disney. “It's the storytelling,” she says. “Disney gives you permission to dream big, and that no dream is crazy or unattainable. It's like that line in the Cinderella song, ‘A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes.’ I am an optimist — glass more full than empty.” West has just released a holiday EP, The West Christmas Ever, which is as festive and funny as you’d hope. For the narrative portions, West snagged the legendary Jim Cummings, who voices the current Winnie the Pooh. Meanwhile, this Saturday, Nov. 23, West hosts the latest incarnation of “A Drag Christmas: The Naughty Tour,” produced by Murray and Peter Presents, at the Warner Theater.

“It's a golden ticket,” says West of the touring that occupies more than half of her professional life. “I try not to even for one moment second-guess the opportunity. I'm on the ride of a lifetime. I've met more people in the last six months that have changed my life than I have probably in 18 years of performing. I've traveled the globe. I just got back from Australia with plans in 2020 to go to Japan and the Far East for another round of touring.”

Culture wags are exulting drag as a major touchstone that has finally permeated mainstream society, but West has her own feelings on the matter. “Drag will always be a subcultural art form that belongs to the queer community specifically. What I'm doing is that distinctly gay, queer, LGBTQ art form, and sharing it with the world. Having people respond to it so positively is pretty great.” — By Randy Shulman

Nina West hosts “A Drag Christmas” this Saturday, Nov. 23, at The Warner Theatre, 513 13th St. NW. at 8 p.m. Tickets are $38 to $56. Visit www.dragfans.com for more information and additional cities on the tour.

Downtown Holiday Market

Over 150 artisans rotate among sixty tents set up on two blocks in the heart of downtown. Now in its 15th year, the holiday market offers a vast, eclectic, and international assortment of gifts and souvenirs, collectibles and wearables — from prints and photographs, to pottery and glassware, to custom jewelry and accessories. Each day also brings free staged concerts by local musicians, and options for food and non-alcoholic drink. Opens Friday, Nov. 22. Runs daily from noon to 8 p.m. to Dec. 23, except closed on Thanksgiving, Nov. 28. Located on F Street between 7th and 9th Streets NW. Visit www.downtownholidaymarket.com.

A Chanticleer Christmas

The Grammy-winning all-male a cappella group, The Chanticleers (called “the world’s reigning male chorus” by the New Yorker) returns to the George Mason University Center for the Arts for a festive program of Gregorian chant, Renaissance motets, Gospel melodies, and Christmas carols. Saturday, Nov. 30, at 8 p.m. Concert Hall, 4373 Mason Pond Drive, Fairfax. Tickets are $33 to $60. Call 888-945-2468 or visit www.cfa.gmu.edu.

A Christmas Carol

Craig Wallace returns for his fourth year as the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge in Ford’s Theatre’s cherished annual production of the Dickens Yuletide classic, A Christmas Carol. It really wouldn’t be Christmas in Washington without this music-infused adaptation, conceived by Michael Wilson and directed by Michael Baron. Also featured in the production are Stephen F. Schmidt as Jacob Marley, Rayanne Gonzales as the Ghost of Christmas Present, Justine “Icy” Moral as the Ghost of Christmas Past, Gregory Maheu as Bob Cratchit, and Yesenia Iglesias as Mrs. Cratchit. Now to Jan. 1. 511 10th St. NW. Call 800-982-2787 or visit www.fordstheatre.org.

Alice Smith

Soul-pop singer-songwriter Alice Smith is understated, sophisticated and every bit as vocally talented as fellow four-octave ranger Christina Aguilera — except her music is better. Smith returns to her hometown of D.C. over the Thanksgiving weekend and on the very evening of her 41st birthday. That’s a cause for celebration all by itself, with the icing the fact that the concert comes in support of Mystery, Smith’s third collection of originals and first since 2013’s astonishingly brilliant She. Saturday, Nov. 30. Doors at 8 p.m. 9:30 Club, 815 V St. NW. Tickets are $35. Call 202-265-0930 or visit www.930.com.

"Study of Hands" by Matina Marki Tillman

In “Humanography: Shifts and Variations,” Greek artist Matina Marki Tillman presents individual, self-as-a-subject, double and multiple portrayals of the human, most created and arranged with a sequential character. In her charcoal and pencil etchings, Tillman focuses on the importance of the motion (or lack of motion), and the weight of the instant. The artist’s goal remains the exploration of the mood, state of mind, and response of the human to life’s events. At the Washington Printmakers Gallery, 1641 Wisconsin Ave. NW, through Nov. 24. A closing reception with the artist will be held on Saturday, Nov. 23, from 4 to 6 p.m. at the gallery.

Six years after “Let It Go” conquered the world, Elsa, Anna, Olaf, Kristoff, and Sven are back with Frozen 2 to try and earn Disney another billion dollars at the box office and billions more in merchandise sales. Songwriting husbandand-wife duo Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez return, as do writer-director Jennifer Lee and director Chris Buck, so expect more heart-tugging, toe-tapping comedy-drama as sisters Elsa and Anna venture north to find the source of Elsa’s powers. Oh, and Josh Gad promises the songs are “even catchier,” so get ready to hum them for the next six years. Opens Friday, Nov. 22. Area theaters. Visit www.fandango.com. (Rhuaridh Marr)