David Friscic

Review: ‘Falsettos’ National Tour at the Kennedy Center

The motley crew of neurotic and quasi-neurotic characters in Falsettos, now playing at the Kennedy Center, offers an eye-opening look at all-too-human dilemmas. The rituals of everyday life under...

Review: Mark Christopher Lawrence at the DC Comedy Loft

Mark Christopher Lawrence is a comedian of myriad talents. Appearing at the Bier Baron Tavern’s Comedy Loft, Mr. Lawrence commanded the stage with an act that was multi-dimensional – and with many...

Review: ‘Clothes for a Summer Hotel’ by Rainbow Theatre Project

Rainbow Theatre Project has presented a trenchant and exciting production of the rarely produced Clothes for a Summer Hotel. The dualistic themes of the great playwright Tennessee Williams are found...

Review: ‘An Evening Of Mozart: The Da Ponte Operas’ by Maryland Lyric Opera’s Young Artist Institute

The Maryland Lyric Opera (MDLO) presented an evening of an assortment of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s musical excerpts from three of his most esteemed operas–The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, and...

Review: ‘The National Symphony Orchestra with Cellist Kian Soltani’ at the Kennedy Center

The National Symphony Orchestra delighted with a superb program on Thursday night at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. Acclaimed cellist Kian Soltani performed with panache as he joined forces with...

Review: ‘Working’ by the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC

The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC has presented a production of the musical Working that perfectly captures the individual and collective spirit that embodies the strength and dignity of the...

‘Jeffrey’ at Rainbow Theatre Project

Jeffrey, the current offering of the Rainbow Theatre Project by playwright Paul Rudnick, casts a humorously defiant eye towards the tragedy of the AIDS epidemic – as set in the New York City of the...

Review: The Gay Men’s Chorus Holiday Show

The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC presented their annual Holiday Show on a cold winter’s night and the warmth exuded by this very polished and respected chorus obliterated any bitter winds. Since...

An Interview with Jeffrey Higgins of ‘Jeffrey Higgins: A Deafening Sound’

Jeffrey Higgins: A Deafening Sound is an apt title for the anguish and turmoil that singer and pianist Jeffrey Higgins went through after being fired as a singer in the Archdiocese of Washington, DC...

Review: ‘Silent Night’ at the Kennedy Center Washington National Opera

The Washington National Opera’s current production of the opera Silent Night is a shattering indictment of the futility and waste of war set during the historical truce that occurred during World War...

Review: ‘La traviata’ by the Washington National Opera

Washington National Opera’s current production of Giuseppe Verdi’s La traviata is a moving and heart-wrenching view of tragic romantic love in all its variations. Under the taut and astute direction...

Review: ‘Como Agua Para Chocolate (Like Water for Chocolate)’ at GALA Hispanic Theatre

The current offering from the justly renowned GALA Hispanic Theatre, Como Agua Para Chocolate (Like Water For Chocolate) is a veritable feast for the senses and a savory mixture of theatrical...

Review: ‘The Legend of Georgia McBride’ at Round House Theatre

In The Legend of Georgia McBride, a theatrical cornucopia of camp, country music, drag, domestic dilemmas, and larger-than-life divas await you. This disarming and sexually-charged excursion into the...

Review: ‘The Nance’ at The Little Theatre of Alexandria

The “double bind” of being gay in an oppressive climate of prejudice against gays and, yet, choosing to turn down any hope of redemption with a loving partner (or a political party that does not...

Review: ‘Today’s Classical and Jazz Masters’ by the National Chamber Ensemble

As was announced at the beginning of the National Chamber Ensemble’s recent musical offering Today’s Classical and Jazz Masters —in a veiled reference to the British Royal Wedding —the audience was...

Review: ‘The Barber of Seville’ at the Kennedy Center

The current production of the Washington National Opera –Gioachino Rossini’s The Barber of Seville plays like a frenetically captivating musical dreamscape of schemers, clowns, and romantic lovers....

Review: ‘John’ at Signature Theatre

An eerie sense of the supernatural combined with an almost ritualistic sense of the minutiae of daily living combine to form the aesthetic ambiance of playwright Annie Baker’s haunting and disarming...

Review: ‘DEMO by Damian Woetzel: Now’ at The Kennedy Center

An eclectic excursion into choreographic experimentation, innovative instrumental accompaniment, and exciting vocalizing is all part of DEMO by Damian Woetzel: Now at Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater....

Review: Washington National Opera Presents Verdi’s ‘Don Carlo’ at the Kennedy Center

“Peace and transcendence can only be found in death” seems to be the eternal thread that runs through Verdi’s operatic masterpiece, Don Carlo. Presented by the Washington National Opera, the gloom and...

Review: ‘Infinite Future: Bernstein’s Lasting Impact’ by Monumental Theatre Company at Atlas Intersections Festival

Enticingly presented by Monumental Theatre Company as part of the Atlas Intersections Festival, Infinite Future: Bernstein’s Lasting Impact is an exciting and multi-dimensional theatrical event that...

Review: ‘It Takes Two…’ at Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington D.C.

The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC has just offered the DC Metro Theatre Region an alternately wistful, romantic, and humorous cabaret review entitled It Takes Two…. Presented at the Atlas...

Review: ‘Alcina’ at The Washington National Opera

The Washington National Opera is now offering opera lovers the rare treat of a disarming and whimsical baroque opera, Alcina, by Composer George Frideric Handel. An opera, by default, is often a...

Review: ‘Aida’ at Washington National Opera

Eternal, romantic love conquers all — even a jealous rival — in Verdi’s ravishingly melodic Aida, now being presented by the Washington National Opera with splendid work from all involved. Verdi’s...

Review: ‘Madame Butterfly’ at The Kennedy Center

Gorgeous, ravishing arias by the legendary Puccini, an ethereally beautiful performance by Soprano Ermonela Jaho as Cio-Cio San (Butterfly), and an exceptionally ingenious concept and stage design by...

Review: ‘Alan Cumming Sings Sappy Songs’ at The Kennedy Center

Wearing his heart on his sleeve throughout, entertainer extraordinaire Alan Cumming (Tony-award winner for Cabaret, regular on the hit television series The Good Wife, concert and recording star,...

Review: ‘Three Sisters’ at Maly Drama Theatre at The Kennedy Center

Anton Chekhov’s classic play Three Sisters is being given a superb rendering by the Maly Drama Theatre (from St Petersburg, Russia) at the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater. Director Lev Dodin...

Review: ‘Champion’ at Washington National Opera

In the fascinating contemporary opera Champion, the external world of the often-violent sport of boxing and the inner turmoil of the self-loathing and self-denial of the lead character collide to...

Review: Dionne Warwick: The 4th Anniversary Celebration of the Bethesda Blues & Jazz Supper Club

One of the natural vocal wonders of the world, the legendary entertainer and vocal artist Dionne Warwick beguiled the audience at the Bethesda Blues & Jazz Supper Club. The occasion to celebrate was...

Review: ‘Dead Man Walking’ at Washington National Opera

It is certainly a “Dark Night of the Soul” (St. John of the Cross) for Sister Helen Prejean in the contemporary opera Dead Man Walking. A meditative, spiritually resonant study of our common humanity...

Interview: Dionne Warwick on Performing Tomorrow, 2/28 and Wednesday, 3/1 at 8 PM at Bethesda Blues & Jazz Supper Club’s 4th Anniversary Show

I recently had the privilege to interview the music legend, Dionne Warwick. The occasion for the interview is to celebrate Ms. Warwick’s illustrious career, ask some related questions, and to...

Review: ‘Company’ at McLean Community Players

Stephen Sondheim’s gloriously urbane, stylistic and sophisticated musical Company was groundbreaking when it first arrived on Broadway in the Seventies and it still remains relevant today. McLean...

Review: ‘RIN: Tales From the Life of a Troubadour’ Starring Rinde Eckert at The Kennedy Center

The acclaimed writer, composer, librettist, physician, performer, and director Rinde Eckert delighted and amazed the crowd on Friday evening at the Kennedy Center’s Family Theater. Eckert allowed the...

Review #2: ‘Caroline, Or Change’ at Round House Theatre

Caroline, or Change, now playing at Bethesda’s Round House Theatre, is a musical clarion call for change at all levels. Whether it is personal change and transformation at the most personal level,...

Review: Carla Cooke at the Bethesda Blues & Jazz Supper Club

There was a fabulous, swinging party on this past Sunday night and it all happened at the wonderful Bethesda Blues & Jazz Supper Club as the dynamic and talented singer Carla Cooke paid tribute to her...

A Chat with Singer Carla Cooke: Performing a Tribute to her Father Sam Cooke at Bethesda Blues & Jazz Supper Club This Sunday, January 22nd @7:30pm

I recently had the great privilege to have an engaging interview with the dynamic artist Carla Cooke, a wondrous singer in her own right and daughter of the singing legend Sam Cooke. Ms. Cooke will...

Review: ‘The Dictator’s Wife’ at Washington National Opera

A one-hour World Premiere opera is reason enough for the imagination to run rampant with artistic anticipation. So what a veritable array of riches it was to indulge the senses and challenge the mind...

Review: ‘Diana Ross – All the Best of Times’ with the National Symphony Orchestra at The Kennedy Center

Singer extraordinaire Diana Ross is a musical legend and she proved it last night in a concert at The Kennedy Center’s Concert Hall. Presenting a showcase full of golden oldies as well as some classic...

Review #2: ‘A View From the Bridge’ at The Kennedy Center

The stripped-down, minimalist and auteur-driven interpretation of Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge delivers a tragic, elemental, and mythic dimension to this stirring play that delineates the...

Review: The Washington Chorus Presents Philip Glass’ Symphony No. 5

On Sunday, November 13, 2016, the pulsating, transcendent and visionary music of the modern musical giant of minimalist music, Philip Glass —came to vivid life in a unique and powerful concert event....

Review #1: Washington National Opera’s ‘The Daughter of the Regiment’ (Opening Night Cast-11/12/16)

If your operatic desire is to hear one glorious aria after another sung by two operatic voices that would make the gods envious –set against a deliriously “light-as-air” comically sentimental soufflé...

Review #2: ‘Six Degrees of Separation’ at The Keegan Theatre

In John Guare’s wonderfully enigmatic and slightly precocious play, Six Degrees of Separation, now playing at The Keegan Theatre—the ripples of interconnection run rampant as the author intended. This...

A Report on ‘No Word in Guyanese For Me’ at Rainbow Theatre Project

The dual intersections of tradition and the authenticity of the individual, autonomous human being compartmentalize, collide and—then —slowly merge in the Rainbow Theatre Project’s thought-provoking...

Review: Melba Moore at Bethesda Blues & Jazz Supper Club

The indefatigable legendary singer and actress, Melba Moore, dazzled the crowd at the Bethesda Blues & Jazz Supper Club on Sunday evening. With a very strong family background in music and an early...

Review: ‘Angels in America: Perestroika’ at Round House Theatre and Olney Theatre Center

Prophetic Messages continue in the stunning second part of Tony Kushner’s masterwork, Angels in America: Perestroika –now appearing at the Round House Theatre as a joint production of the Round House...

An Interview with Tony Award Winner Melba Moore-Appearing at Bethesda Blues and Jazz Supper Club-Tomorrow, October 2nd at 8 PM Night

Tonight I had the great pleasure of a brief but extremely rewarding and stimulating telephone interview with the Tony Award-winning (Purlie) and Grammy and Emmy –Award nominated singer and actress...

Review: ‘Angels in America: Millennium Approaches’ at Round House Theatre and Olney Theatre Center

Social, political, and historical forces collide and converge to mirror the conflicted inner worlds of the fascinating characters in Playwright Tony Kushner’s audacious, insightfully subversive, and...

Review: Kristin Chenoweth at Wolf Trap

On a hot, humid summer evening at the Wolf Trap Performing Arts Center last night, the lithe and absolutely charismatic Broadway, television, and singing sensation Kristin Chenoweth brought out the...

Review: Barbra Streisand: ‘Barbra: The Music…The Mem’ries…The Magic!’

A diva in the best sense of the word, Barbra Streisand has always understood that only an artistic perfectionist could span decades inspiring generations with her God-given vocal instrument —and,...

Review: ‘The Lonesome West’ at The Keegan Theatre

The Keegan Theatre’s current and provocatively darkly comic production of Martin McDonagh’s The Lonesome West, written by the brilliant, raffish and audacious Irish playwright (The Beauty Queen of...

Review #1: ‘The Merchant of Venice’ at The Kennedy Center

The appropriately psychologically penetrating and vivid production of The Merchant of Venice (now playing at The Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater) embraces all the conundrums of William...