Andra Abramson

Disney’s ‘Newsies’ at Arena Stage is the good news DC needs right now

From the moment you enter Arena Stage’s Fichandler Stage, an intimate theater-in-the-round where everyone has a seat close to the action, you’ll be transported to turn-of-the-19th-century New York,...

Signature Theatre’s “A Chorus Line” is a singular sensation

In the theater world, a performer who is a true triple threat – one with the ability to perform at the highest levels as an actor, singer, and dancer all at the same time – is rare. Luckily, Signature...

Review: An Emotionally Gripping ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ at the Kennedy Center

Some musicals are all about the entertainment. You expect to see some awesome dancing, amazing singing, and leave the theater smiling (see my review of Disney’s Aladdin, also currently playing at the...

Review: ‘The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee’ by Wildwood Summer Theater

How do you spell “talented”? This summer it’s spelled W-I-L-D-W-O-O-D. Wildwood Summer Theater is the DC area’s only all-youth musical theater company. Everyone associated with the group, from the...

Review: ‘Aladdin’ at The Kennedy Center

Ever since The Lion King took the Broadway world by storm back in 1997, Disney has been recreating its beloved animated films for the stage, with successful runs by The Little Mermaid, Beauty & the...

Review: ‘The Winter’s Tale’ at Annapolis Shakespeare Company

Summer and Shakespeare are two very different things that somehow seem to go perfectly together. Every summer, theater companies all over the country dust off their British accents and take The Bard...

Review: ‘Thumbelina’ by Metropolitan Ballet Theatre and Academy

Thumbelina, the story of a miniature girl who grows from a seed, is kidnapped by a toad, tormented by beetles, and eventually marries the fairy prince, is not one of Hans Christian Andersen’s most...

Review: ‘Once’ at Olney Theatre Center

If you’ve never heard of the musical Once, written by Enda Walsh, with music and lyrics by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, you aren’t alone. Despite receiving eleven 2012 Tony Award nominations and...

Review: ‘The Play That Goes Wrong’ at the Kennedy Center

Even before the curtain officially goes up on The Play That Goes Wrong, you can tell you are in for a laugh riot. The show’s “Director” Chris Bean (played by Evan Alexander Smith), “Stage Manager”...

Review: ‘Beauty and the Beast’ by Damascus Theatre Company at Olney Theater Center

I doubt there was one person in the entire Carl Freeman Auditorium who hadn’t seen some version of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (either the original animated film from 1991, the live-action version...

Review: ‘The Last Five Years’ by Montgomery Playhouse

The Last Five Years is a modern musical that follows the 5-year romantic relationship between Catherine, an aspiring actress, and Jamie, an aspiring writer, from their first date to the final days of...

Review: ‘Anything Goes’ by Rockville Musical Theatre

Anything Goes is one of those old-timey musicals where even if you’ve never seen the show before, you somehow discover you know the words to every one of the songs. Filled with exciting dance numbers,...

Review: ‘Heathers the Musical’ by Wildwood Summer Theater

With book, music, and lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe and Kevin Murphy, Heathers the Musical is a faithful rock musical adaptation of the 1988 hit film Heathers, a dark comedy complete with a confused...

Review: ‘Alice in Wonderland’ by Metropolitan Ballet Theatre & Academy

Alice in Wonderland, the whimsical, magical story of a girl named Alice who follows a mysterious White Rabbit down a rabbit hole and into a mystifying dream world, strikes me as a difficult subject...

Review: ‘Annie’ at Olney Theatre Center

The musical Annie is 40 years old this year, and thanks to the Olney Theatre Center’s cheerful new production, a whole new generation of theater goers will get the chance to travel back in time to...

Review: ‘Heathers: the Musical’ at Chesapeake Arts Center

The production company known as How Do You Like Me Now Productions and its sister organization Erase Hate Through Art were founded with the specific intention of provoking dialogue and action aimed at...

Review: ‘Dreamgirls’ at ANKH Repertory Theatre and The Finest! Performance Foundation

Dreamgirls, with book and lyrics by Tom Eyen and music by Henry Krieger, was one of the very first shows I saw on Broadway, back in the 1980s. It was memorable then and it remains memorable now in the...

Review: ‘Peter and the Starcatcher’ at Maryland Ensemble Theatre

If you’ve thought to yourself “I will never see another rip-off of the Peter Pan story ever again”, I totally understand where you are coming from. And I definitely urge you to reconsider and see the...

Review: ‘From the Mouths of Monsters’ at The Kennedy Center

From the Mouths of Monsters, a world premiere Kennedy Center commission by award-winning playwright Idris Goodwin, directed by Dougie Irvine, is a gripping, intense glimpse into the mind of...

Review: ‘The Giver’ at NextStop Theatre Company

I loved the book and hated the movie, so I was really curious to see how The Giver, Lois Lowry’s Newbery award-winning story about a dystopian society where everything has gone to “sameness”, would...

Review: ‘Famous Contemporaries: Music by Gliere, Medtner, Rachmaninov, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Tcherepnin’ at the Russian Chamber Art Society

As a novice opera aficionado, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from Masterpieces of Russian Vocal Music: Famous Contemporaries, the Russian Chamber Art Society’s most recent offering at La Maison...

Review: The Fiasco Theater’s ‘Into the Woods’ at The Kennedy Center

I did not listen to my much-loved soundtrack of Stephen Sondheim’s and James Lapine’s classic fairy tale mash-up before heading off to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to see the...

Review: ‘Merlin: A Traditional British Panto’ at The British Players

If your kids squirm through The Nutcracker, it might be time to consider a new Christmas theater tradition: the annual British Pantomime produced by The British Players. Pantomimes are traditionally...