The Washington Post - 01.08.2019

BY AVI SELK

There were two distinct audiences for the

Democratic primary debate on Tuesday: people

who tuned in to see a long row of aspiring

presidents snipe at one another over policy

differences and those who wanted to watch the

orb queen Marianne Williamson resonate fre-

quencies of love into the universe.

If you were in the former group, maybe you

invited some friends over and broke out the

Doritos. If you were one of the latter, you might

have checked out the “occult task force” being

organized on an orb-festooned Reddit page “to

influence the events at the debate so that

Marianne gets as much airtime as possible.”

In the few minutes she got to speak, William-

son did not disappoint the online fan club of

professed occultists, liberal peaceniks and iron-

ic memeophiles who have gathered around the

67-year-old New Age guru’s metaphysical cam-

paign for the White House.

“If you think any of this wonkiness is going to

deal with this dark psychic force of the

collectivized hatred that this president is bring-

ing up in this country, then I’m afraid that the

Democrats are going to see some very dark

days,” she warned her rivals midway through.

This echoed Williamson’s famous closing argu-

ment from the previous round of debates in

Florida, when she dismissed the preceding

hour-and-a-half of policy talk and declared in

her best Hepburnian accent: “Mr. President, if

you are listening, I want you to hear me, please.

You have harnessed fear for political purposes,

SEE WILLIAMSON ON C3

The mystical allure of

Marianne Williamson

Her debate presence has won over occultists, meme-makers and others

MARY INHEA KANG FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

KLMNO

Style

THURSDAY, AUGUST 1, 2019. SECTION C

EZ RE

BY ANNE MIDGETTE

Two weeks ago, the Maryland-

based National Philharmonic an-

nounced that it was planning to

close because it had run out of

money. Now, the group has an

embarrassment of riches. On

Tuesday, the orchestra adminis-

tration said that it had raised the

funds needed to stay open, while

on Monday night, a local musician

and businessman presented to

the board a concrete proposal to

save the year-round regional or-

chestra, which performs at Strath-

more in Montgomery County.

“We certainly are thrilled be-

yond belief that the community

has come together to support this

organization with its hard-earned

dollars for the organization to

move forward,” said Leanne Fer-

folia, the orchestra’s president,

who has been working overtime

on an emergency fundraising

campaign to raise the $150,000

that was needed by Wednesday.

Meanwhile, James Kelly, a vio-

list who is co-owner of Potter

Violins in Silver Spring, said he

had pledges from 12 donors, in-

cluding himself, amounting to

$275,000. The only contingency:

that the orchestra boot its leader-

ship and allow him to take over as

interim president.

Now the orchestra’s board has

SEE PHILHARMONIC ON C2

About 40 minutes
after the start of
Tuesday night’s
Democratic
debate, I got an
email from a
Washington Post
reader with this
subject line: “I
don’t care for this.”
He was complaining, of
course, about the Detroit debate
on CNN, which he described as
a reality TV show with
journalists playing celebrity
hosts.
With frustratingly tiny and
rigidly enforced response time,
outsize attention to fringe
candidates and divisive
questions — some of which
could have been framed by the
Republican National Committee
— the first Detroit debate was a
lost opportunity to inform the
voting public.
“Honestly, you could catalog
all journalism’s faults just from
watching debate moderators,”
tweeted Joshua Benton, who
runs Harvard’s Nieman
Journalism Lab.
To wit: “An obsession with
conflict over explanation,
forcing complex policies into
soundbites, above-it-all
savviness that only makes sense
if you spend all your time on
Politics Twitter or in DC.”
The worst of Night 1 may
have been the format itself,
which started with a painfully
high-octane video that managed
to simultaneously evoke “The
NFL Today,” World Wrestling
Entertainment and “Jeopardy!”
Then there was the spaceship-
like set that (according to CNN’s
Oliver Darcy) took 100 people
eight days to build and involved
SEE SULLIVAN ON C3

CNN needs

to put away

its debate

stopwatch

Margaret
Sullivan

Struggling

orchestra

receives

2 lifelines

Philharmonic board now

faces competing plans

BY PETER MARKS

Every popular art form strives
to be a big tent. In the world of
musical theater, Harold Prince,
who died Wednesday at 91, was a
big tent all by himself.
The list of Broadway musicals
for which Prince was lead pro-
ducer, or director, or both is noth-
ing short of breathtaking. The
history of the American musical,
from the 1950s on, was all but
packed into the frame and con-
sciousness of one balding, beard-
ed, tirelessly imaginative, peer-
lessly inspirational figure. Con-
sider his achievements: “West
Side Story,” “Fiddler on the Roof,”
“Wonderful Town,” “The Pajama
Game,” “Damn Yankees,” “A Fun-
ny Thing Happened on the Way to
the Forum,” “She Loves Me.” And
these were all before he really got
going.
An appreciation of Hal, as he
was universally known, practical-
ly writes itself. The shows above
are among his pre-1965 triumphs.
After that, he would produce and
direct “Cabaret” in 1966, “Compa-
ny” in 1970 and “Follies” in 1971
(at the height of his partnership
with Stephen Sondheim), “A Lit-
tle Night Music” in 1973 and
“Pacific Overtures” in 1976.
SEE APPRECIATION ON C8

APPRECIATION

Hal Prince,

king of the

Broadway

musical

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in transcendent evenings

BY SONIA RAO

Woodstock 50 organizers an-

nounced Wednesday that the

beleaguered music festival,

which was supposed to take

place Aug. 16 through Aug. 18, is

officially canceled.

“We are saddened that a series

of unforeseen setbacks has made

it impossible to put on the Festi-

val we imagined with the great

lineup we had booked and the

social engagement we were an-

ticipating,” organizer Michael

Lang, co-founder of the 1969

festival, said in a statement.

Organizers had been forced to

relocate Woodstock 50 last week

to Merriweather Post Pavilion in

Columbia, Md., a move that set

off the most recent series of hits

to the commemorative festival.

When announced in January, the

festival was supposed to take

place in Watkins Glen, N.Y., a few

hours northwest of the 1969

festival’s Bethel Woods site. But

organizers failed to obtain the

proper permits. They were later

denied another permit for a

venue in Vernon, N.Y., a town a

few hours north of Bethel Woods

that then voted unanimously to

reject the festival’s appeal alto-

gether.

Artists announced in March as

part of the festival lineup —

including Jay-Z and Miley Cyrus,

as well as 1969 performers Dead

and Company, Santana and John

Fogerty — were released from

SEE WOODSTOCK ON C3

Woodstock

50 canceled

after more

setbacks

JACOB BIBA FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

Best-selling author Marianne Williamson, 67, seen at top in New York and above in South

Carolina, has garnered an online fan club with her metaphysical presidential campaign.

Fest commemorating the

original in 1969 has faced

lineup, financial issues