Em Skow

National Symphony Orchestra: Handel’s Messiah at The Kennedy Center

There is a reason Handel’s Messiah has been performed for hundreds of years. It’s a masterpiece and its intricacies, depth, and sheer mass make continually new interpretations both possible and, for...

‘An Acoustic Evening with Over the Rhine’ at The Barns at Wolf Trap

An Acoustic Evening with Over the Rhine is the equivalent of a big, warm musical hug. Everything, from their chords to their consonants, was soft and rounded with nothing even resembling a pointed...

‘Peter Pan: The Boy Who Hated Mothers’ by the Mason Players at GMU’s Center for the Arts

I know we all remember our first trip to Neverland, our first time meeting Peter Pan. And still without fail, every trip back is slightly different from the last. In Michael Lluberes’ adaption of...

‘Jekyll & Hyde in Concert’ at Young Artists of America at The Clarice

If ever anyone is in doubt of the future of the arts, go and see a production by the Young Artists of America (YAA). Celebrating its 5th anniversary this coming year, YAA took on the chilling tale of...

‘Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street’ at Laurel Mill Playhouse

I cannot think of a more perfect way to celebrate the Halloween season than with this Laurel Mill Playhouse production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. With music and lyrics by...

‘Little Shop of Horrors’ at The Arlington Players

I have a confession to make, by the end of The Arlington Players’ production of Little Shop of Horrors, I wanted to feed the plants. With book and lyrics by Howard Ashman and music by Alan Menken,...

‘The Calendar Girls’ at McLean Community Players

It’s all fun, games, and broccoli lectures when the curtain rises on Tim Firth’s Calendar Girls put on this season by the McLean Community Players. For the women of the village of Knapeley in...

Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons at Wolf Trap

Few people in the world have a voice so iconic that they are recognizable after only one note. What was inescapable last night in that bandstand in Virginia is that Frankie Valli is without a doubt...

‘Family Portrait’ at DC Music Theatre Workshop

What do you do when home isn’t what it appears to be or even what you remember it to be? For the family of five at the heart of Family Portrait, with music and lyrics by Theo Jamieson, it’s a struggle...