FRIDAY & SATURDAY

Do Russian émigrés dream of George Washington and Vladimir Lenin? Art-world satirists Vitaly Komar and Alexander Melamid say they do, and though they may be kidding—they may be kidding about their entire careers—the expat artists have taken these dreams seriously enough to make them the basis of a multimedia opera, Naked Revolution. Ever the conceptualists, Komar and Melamid turned the project over to librettist Maita di Niscemi and composer Dave Soldier, the latter of whom is a tireless classical/pop boundary jumper. Among other distinctions, Soldier is the first guy since Lou Reed to work with both John Cale and Maureen Tucker; he’s also the man who actually composed “The Most Wanted Song” and “The Least Wanted Song,” based on K&M’s survey of mainstream musical taste. Naked Revolution has not been performed since its 1997 debut, perhaps because—according to Soldier—”it confused people.” This production, staged by George Mason University’s Multimedia Performance Studio, will employ video projections, a 12-piece orchestra, and 16 actor-singers playing such roles as Washington, Lenin, and King George III, as well as Marcel Duchamp and Isadora Duncan. The score has been revised “substantially” since 1997, but statues still come to life and Lenin still hails a cab, a reference to a K&M painting that became a New Yorker cover. The results may still confuse people. These performances complement “Komar & Melamid’s American Dreams,” an exhibition of the duo’s work (TKTK is pictured) that continues through Nov. 9 at GMU’s Johnson Center Galleries. Naked Revolution will be performed at 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 9, and Saturday, Nov. 10, at George Mason University’s Center for the Arts’ Harris Theater, 4400 University Drive, Fairfax. $10. (703) 218-6500. (Mark Jenkins)