Photo credit: Margot Schulman
If you were a resident of the Watergate apartments adjacent to The Kennedy Center, you were no doubt treated to a free concert on Thursday night by Tituss Burgess – known for his spectacular high tenor voice – as he belted out songs and engaged in some light comedic banter with Jane Krakowski as part of the National Symphony Orchestra Pops Three-Day Festival sponsored by Capital One for the second year at The Kennedy Center.
Tituss Burgess and Jane Krakowski
The actor/singer is best known for Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (2015), The Angry Birds Movie (2016) and Smurfs: The Lost Village (2017), while Krakowski is best known for her role as Jenna Maroney in the NBC sitcom 30 Rock, for which she received four Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.
The Banter: “We mentioned earlier that we both have a shared love for Broadway,” said Krakowski, “and I’m excited to talk about your putting together a project Tell us, tell everyone, tell everyone about it.” “It’s a few years away from Broadway,” said Tituss, “but I bought the rights to The Preacher’s Wife. It’s going to be really lovely.”
Jane Krakowski and Tituss Burgess
As for Jane, she always wanted to do a one woman show about the life of Carol King but couldn’t get the rights to the Carol King songs, so she thought maybe she would do a straight play about Carol King’s life. She met King during a taping of the NBC Thanksgiving Day parade which Carol remembered because Jane shoved her during the taping causing her to fall onto a pilgrim and sprain something so she did not giver her the rights to her life either.
Tituss: “You shoved Carol King?” Jane: “I couldn’t help it, Tituss. I had slipped and I was dangerously close to not getting on camera.” Tituss: “Okay, so in its stead, what are you working on now?” Jane: “Well, I did not want to give up the Carol King idea because it was a passion project and I had already borrowed a lot of money. I’m continuing on with the show and as my lawyer says, he says as long as I am not recognizable as Carol King, or a Carol King-like person, and if I change 40% of the words, I’ll be fine. At least I think that’s what he said, his English is terrible.” Tituss: “Okay, so what’s the show called?” Jane: “Okay, well it was called, Pretty: The Carolyn King’s Musicale but my lawyer said that that was too similar, oh and technically I’m not allowed to call it a show. Now it is called, “Decent Looking: The Constance Crying Situation.” Tituss: “All right, so let me just get this straight, you can’t sing like Carol King?” Jane: “No Sir.” Tituss: “Okay and you can only use 40 percent of the words?” Jane: I have to use only 40% of the words, yeah.” Tituss: “Okay. Right. Could you have a piece of it for us tonight?” Jane: “Yes, I’d love to do it for you.” Tituss: “All right ladies and gentlemen, Decent Looking, The Constance Crying Situation.” We’re assuming Jane’s banter was Fake News, but who knows.
Tituss Burgess and Jane Krakowski
While Washington D.C. is often thought of as a city that’s all business, Capital One and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts are on a mission to change that. In October 2014, the Kennedy Center announced a five-year $5 million gift from Capital One to fund Comedy at the Kennedy Center, a signature program focused on elevating comedy as an art form and uniting the local community together through laughter.
Last year, the duo transformed the District of Columbia into the District of Comedy with the first annual District of Comedy Festival, a three-day festival that celebrates the art of comedy as a means to explore creative expression and raise awareness about current topics of relevance. The Festival returned this year, from July 20-22, and featured stand-up shows, music, theater and performances for children and families.
Disclosure: Hollywood on the Potomac were guests of Capital One at this exclusive event.
