Mark Ludder

Review: At the Kentlands Arts Barn, Nat King Cole is as ‘Unforgettable’ as you remember him to be

A near-capacity crowd hushed as the evening opened with the title song from Nat King Cole’s 1959 album Welcome to the Club. I was immediately impressed that Don Dillingham, the evening’s soloist,...

StageCoach Theatre Company’s ‘Santa’s Funky Hawaiian Christmas Cabaret’ a clever, enjoyable twist on holiday favorites

Mele Kalikimaka all y’all! This lively original musical collaboration between Director Joey Olson and Producer Jerri Wiseman captured the entire audience from the moment we all got “Lei’d” during the...

A colorful ‘Seussical’ at Rockville Musical Theatre

Imagine how excited I was. For the first time in my life, the baseball World Series was being played in Washington DC. On top of that, it is rookie left fielder Juan Soto’s 21st birthday. But, best of...

Review: ‘Sherlock’s Veiled Secret’ at Rockville Little Theatre

A day marked by soaking rains lent a fitting atmosphere to Sherlock’s Veiled Secret, set between Sussex and London, England. K.C. Brown crafted the play around the legendary sleuth Sherlock Holmes in...

Review: ‘The Wizard of Oz’ at Theatre@CBT

Everything about the Theatre@CBT production of The Wizard of Oz (book by John Kane based on L. Frank Baum’s classic novel, music and lyrics by Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg) was thoroughly...

Review: ‘Catch Me If You Can’ at the Montgomery Playhouse

In Montgomery Playhouse’s production of Catch Me If You Can, now playing at the Gaithersburg Arts Barn, Director Ed Starr has once again sprinkled fairy dust on an erstwhile gaggle of ordinary...

Review: ‘A Christmas Messe’ at Folger Shakespeare Library

This time of year, it can be challenging to keep your spirits merry and bright through the commercialized din of holiday exhortations. Well, I may have found an antidote to the seasonal fog....

Review: ‘A Christmas Story’ by Rockville Little Theatre at the Arts Barn

SMOKE! That raises the alarm that there’s been another “Clinker” episode from the diabolical furnace in the basement of the Parker home as the Gaithersburg Arts Barn hosts an entirely entertaining and...

Review: ‘Brigadoon’ at Rockville Musical Theatre

Below a luxurious burgundy velvet curtain, Rockville Musical Theatre’s Brigadoon Orchestra delivers the Overture under the Musical Direction of Joseph Sorge. The curtain opens as traveling New...

Review: ‘Radium Girls’ at Rockville Little Theatre

Throughout history, the term ‘Cover-up’ has evoked feelings of frustration, sadness and often horror once the truth is brought to light. Public perception changed drastically about products like...

Review: ‘The Consul, The Tramp, and America’s Sweetheart’ at Best Medicine Rep Theater Company

This sold out production by local playwright John Morogiello and directed by Rabbi Stan Levin touched on so many current and historical hot points that I wonder how it all happened in ninety...

Review: ‘The Reluctant Dragon’ at The Montgomery Playhouse

Barely two months ago, the call went out for auditions to this cast. This is worth mentioning because in that short time, considering all the holiday distractions and scheduling challenges, the...

Review: ‘Miracle on 34th Street’ at Sandy Spring Theatre Group

I heard Kris Kringle (played by Harley Venton) tell little Susan Walker (Leah Packer): “…Imagination is a place all by itself. Now, you’ve heard of the French nation? … And the British nation? … Well,...

Review: ‘Lost In Yonkers’ at Peace Mountain Theatre Company

I had a Great Aunt whose fourth floor walk-up apartment was very much on display when I entered the performance space at Har Shalom. I wondered if set designers Maggie Moddig and Steven Leshin had...

Review: ‘The Canterville Ghost’ at The Montgomery Playhouse

Just as you are taking down your Labor Day bunting and searching for last year’s fall decorations, there arrives a bit of spooky mystery and merriment for the whole family to enjoy. The Montgomery...

Review: ‘The Legend of Pufferfish Pat’ at InterAct Story Theatre

Pufferfish Pat is hardly your run of the mill Cowboy name. In fact, it’s so unusual that the cowboy it identifies gets “madder than a wet hen!” whenever it is mentioned. His face turns red, he swings...

Review: ‘Seussical The Musical’ at Wildwood Summer Theatre

Hurry to see Seussical the Musical! This may be one of our area’s most popular theatrical events in no small part because it invites performers of all ages. Yet this particular performance stands out...

Review: ‘Rent’ at the National Theatre

Okay, twenty years ago I was more concerned with raising kids than living rough on the street, but that’s what the current tour of Rent celebrates. Where to live, how to love, finding work, survival,...

Review #1: ‘An American Daughter’ at Montgomery Playhouse and Arts on the Green

Humanity can never quite manage to get out of its own way. And that’s a good thing for the entertainment industry. Since “there is nothing new under the sun,” there is constant material for every next...

Review: ‘Adam & Anthony Live’ at Strathmore

Suppose your two best friends were really talented and you invited them over to sing and tell stories and a few of your other friends found out and showed up to listen and it turned out to be a really...

Review: ‘Pygmalion’ at The British Players

I envy the folks lucky enough to have attended the opening night performance of George Bernard Shaw’s brand new play Pygmalion in 1913. They were afforded an unfiltered observation of class war humor...

Review: ‘Footloose’ at Quince Orchard High School

WOW!!! Actual bouncing off walls, excitement, enthusiasm and synchronized choreography – and that was just maneuvering into a parking space out front! Footloose Director Nicholas Jullian Saadipour and...

Review: Beethoven’s ‘Leonore’ at Washington Concert Opera

Washington Concert Opera (WCO) concluded its 30th anniversary season with a rare performance of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Leonore on stage at the George Washington University Lisner Auditorium...

Review: ‘Bo Dacious and Liz Russo’ at AMP Powered by Strathmore

There’s this hot little night club right across from some swanky automobile dealerships in a neighborhood calling itself Pike & Rose. The venue hosts a wide variety of arts and entertainment and makes...

Review: ‘Image China: Confucius’ at The Kennedy Center

It seemed fitting somehow during a full moon, on Friday the thirteenth, to be attending Confucius on the eve of the Chinese Lunar New Year. Kong Dexin, a 77th-generation direct descendent of Confucius...

Review: The Choral Arts Society of Washington’s ‘A Choral Arts Christmas’ at The Kennedy Center

I love choral music. I love the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. I’ve been looking forward to this performance. Everything musical was wonderful during the evening. Even as the doors opened, a small brass...

Review: The Washington Chorus’ ‘A Candlelight Christmas’ at The Kennedy Center

Once the energized crowd was seated and ready, Guest Conductor Andrew Clark, (Director of coral activities at Harvard), had us all stand up for some vocal warm ups. Moans, laughter and hearty Ho, Ho,...

Review: ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ at Adventure Theatre

Once again I was faced with the question: “How are they going to pull this off?” I mean a two person cast with easily a dozen significant characters in the original text – somethings gotta give! Well...

Review: The Capital Hearings at AMP by Strathmore

I came to review the venue as well as the performance so I need to share a bit about both. First of all AMP by Strathmore is a swanky nightclub nestled at the corner of Montrose Road and Rockville...

Review: ‘The Comedy of Errors…at Colonus’ at Lumina Studio Theatre (Blue Cast)

The Comedy of Errors at Colonus: Uauthorized by William Shakespeare and Sophocles, adapted and directed by David Minton on December 3, 2016, at 7 PM, performed by the blue cast. I wonder if there’s...

Review: The NSO Pops: ‘E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial’: Film with Live Music at The Kennedy Center

The most significant difference between entering your neighborhood cinema to catch the latest PG film offering and traversing the Hall of Nations to enter the Grand Foyer at The Kennedy Center in...

Review: ‘The Waiting Room’ at Robert E. Parilla Performing Arts Center

Inside Montgomery College (MC) Online advertised The Waiting Room by Lisa Loomer as, “a dark comedy about the timeless quest for beauty–and its cost.” Director Dennis Mulligan masterfully animates...

Review: ‘Almost, Maine’ at Quince Orchard High School

“If needed, use additional sheets.” I remember always being curious how anyone writing a High School exam essay could ever write enough to need additional sheets. Then I had the opportunity to review...

Review: ‘Postmortem’ at Montgomery Playhouse

In partnership with Montgomery Playhouse, Arts on the Green presents Postmortem, a thrilling mystery by Ken Ludwig. Unravelling the relationships between cast members on holiday in a whodunit within a...