Mara Bayewitz

That goofy guy Patton Oswalt kicks off Kennedy Center comedy season

He slayed the audience for over an hour and got a standing O.

Review: ‘Broadway Center Stage: Footloose’ at The Kennedy Center

Footloose, the 1984 movie starring everybody’s friend, Kevin Bacon, was a hit for many reasons, but one stood out over the others: dancing means life, and dancing gives meaning to life. This...

Review: Hannah Gadsby’s ‘Douglas’ at the Kennedy Center

You know that Hannah Gadsby’s new show, Douglas is different from anything you’ve seen before, even before you enter the theatre, when the ushers inform you that your cell phone must be placed inside...

Review: ‘Hamlet’ at the Baltimore Shakespeare Factory

You’ve seen ten productions of Hamlet, you’ve seen ‘em all, right? There is nothing new you care to see at this point, because even the innovative approach is becoming tired. But have you ever seen a...

Review: ‘Gilligan’s Island: The Musical’ at Way Off Broadway Dinner Theatre

Imagine sitting in your home watching a rerun of Gilligan’s Island when suddenly, the characters come through the screen, stand in your living room, and sing about their adventures while engaging in...

Review: ‘A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas’ at Olney Theatre Center

The entryway to the Muritz-Gudelsky Theatre Lab at the Olney Theatre Center is lined with holiday lights and garnish. The cozy lobby is adorned with electric candles and sprigs of holly, creating a...

Review: ‘Leather, Sand, Metal: An Audible Exploration of Tap Dance’ by Capitol Tap at Dance Place

Tap is its own beast. Any dancer can tell you that they can transfer training in ballet to jazz or contemporary, or swing into hip-hop, but they cannot transfer anything to tap. You either do it, or...

Review: ‘Bad Jews’ at the Vagabond Players

A battle between assimilation and affiliation, the personal and historical, Jewish versus Jew-ish. This is Bad Jews, Joshua Harmon’s bitingly witty maiden voyage that put him on the playwriting map....

Review: ‘Shear Madness’ at The Kennedy Center’s Theatre Lab

Let’s face it: things have been a little stressful lately. Everywhere we turn we see violence, corruption, investigations, allegations. Shear Madness, a long-running (over 13,200 performances and...

Review: ‘The (curious case of the) Watson Intelligence’ at Silver Spring Stage

Thematically, The (curious case of the) Watson Intelligence is simple and relevant: the frightening trend toward rejecting selfless, mutual, unconditional love with a person in favor of a mechanical...

Review: ‘I Hate Hamlet’ at Spotlighters Theatre

When attending a show whose premise is a “play within a play,” look around. All of those audience members who are cracking up at things that are going right over your head are theatre people, the term...

Review: ‘Proof’ at Olney Theatre Center

Who wants to go see a play about math? That could be a typical dialogue when people are perusing the paper wondering how to spend their Saturday night. In the case of David Auburn’s Tony Award-winning...

Review #2: ‘An American Daughter’ at Montgomery Playhouse and Arts on the Green

Just when you thought that scandalous political agendas were restricted to CNN’s 24-hour news cycle, along comes An American Daughter, Wendy Wasserstein’s 1997 play about a woman’s nomination as...

‘Hay Fever’ at Olney Theatre Center

Noël Coward himself described his breakout hit, Hay Fever as having “no plot at all, and remarkably little action…” The Olney Theatre Center’s production of this part-farce, part-comedy of manners,...

‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ at Rockville Little Theatre

Rockville Little Theatre’s To Kill a Mockingbird ends their 2014-15 season on a smooth note. The play, based on the award-winning book by Harper Lee and adapted by Christopher Sergel, is set in...

‘Earth and Sky’ at Silver Spring Stage

Earth and Sky by Douglas Post brings Dylan Thomas, cops and robbers, murder and true love to at Silver Spring Stage in an uninterrupted two-hour production. Director David Dieudonne’s signature...

Savion Glover at The Howard Theatre

There are those who have never heard of Savion Glover, those who have heard his name, and those who fly from England to see him dance at the Howard Theatre in Washington last night. Savion Glover is...

Bill Spitz on His One-Man Show ‘Honest Abe: The Wit and Wisdom of Abraham Lincoln” Playing This Weekend at the Rosborough Theatre, in Gaithersburg, MD by Mara Bayewitz

Beginning tomorrow night, the Sandy Spring Theatre Group will be hosting another weekend of their original one-man show, Honest Abe: The Wit and Wisdom of Abraham Lincoln at the Rosborough Theatre in...

‘Guys and Dolls’ at Rockville Musical Theatre by Mara Bayewitz

I discovered something while at opening night of Guys and Dolls – what I thought was my Grandma Grace’s favorite nursery rhyme, “A Bushel and a Peck,” originated as a song from this show. Having never...

‘The Nerd’ at Rockville Little Theatre by Mara Bayewitz

Nerds: Everyone should have one. Last night, I went to the theater and laughed until my stomach hurt as I watched grown adults put paper bags over their heads. No, I am not seven years old; […]

‘War of the Worlds’ Begins Performances at Sandy Spring Theatre Group at Arts Barn October 11th by Mara Bayewitz

Sandy Spring Theatre Group (SSTG) and The Gaithersburg Arts Barn present War of the Worlds and When Welles Collide, a two-part radio play Directed by: David Dossey *PERFORMANCES: October 11th – 27th,...

Auditions on September 7 & 8th for “Scrooge, the Musical” at Sandy Spring Theatre Group by Mara Bayewitz

Auditions for Scrooge, the Musical at Sandy Spring Theatre Group will be held on Saturday and Sunday, September 7th and 8th, from 5:00 – 8:00 PM. Scrooge, the Musical by Leslie Bricusse Produced by...

‘Jekyll & Hyde’ at The Kennedy Center by Mara Bayewitz

Jekyll and Hyde is simply miraculous, and chilling, sexy, romantic, ironic, dangerous, tragic, jaded, modern, classic, kinky, edgy, and absolutely spectacular. The musical is based on the acclaimed...

‘A Flea in Her Ear’ at Rockville Little Theatre by Mara Bayewitz

Mistaken identity? Check. Double entendres that would make your grandmother stifle a giggle? Check. Over-the-top characters going in one door and coming out another? Check mate. Ladies and gentlemen,...

‘Rumors’ at The Fredericktowne Players by Mara Bayewitz

You know when you go to your favorite neighborhood restaurant and the wait is too long, so you shlepp to another place farther away-and that becomes your NEW favorite restaurant? This is what happened...