Sam Hall

Review: The Kennedy Center and Pro Musica Hebraica Present ‘Wandering Stars: Two Centuries of European Jewish Song’

I left The Kennedy Center Terrace Theater last night walking about in that peaceful sort of glow one gets after an experience of great beauty; a kind of encounter that seems to refocus the world in...

Review: ‘Sherlock Holmes and the West End Horror’ at Prince William Little Theatre

“Yet another Sherlock Holmes play?” you might say. Yes, but with a twist – Prince William Little Theatre’s production of Sherlock Holmes and the West End Horror is anything but same-old, same-old....

Review: ‘An Evening with Groucho’ at Hylton Performing Arts Center

“Groucho, please don’t die!” a woman is said to have begged the great comedian near the end of his seventy or so years in show business. She had grabbed on to him, clutching his arm. Frank Ferrante –...

Review: ‘Br’er Cotton’ at The Catholic University’s Department of Drama

It is exciting when new works of theater appear by young and promising playwrights. Tearrance Arvelle Chisholm, whose Br’er Cotton premiered last night at The Catholic University of America’s Hartke...

‘Henry IV,” Part 1 at the Britches and Hose Theatre Company

The Britches and Hose Shakespeare Company is just the sort of grass roots, do-it-yourself theatrical troupe one might have hoped the nation would be awash in, but isn’t. Their Henry IV, Part 1,...

Review: ‘Grey Gardens’ at The Little Theatre of Alexandria

Grey Gardens the musical (book by Dough Wright, lyrics by Michael Korie, music by Scott Frankel) is a faithful adaptation of the 1970’s cult classic documentary of the same name directed by Albert and...

‘Snow White and the Family Dwarf’ at Providence Players of Fairfax

Heartwarming, hilarious, and fun, reminiscent in tone to It’s a Wonderful Life, and similar in its moral purpose, Snow White and the Family Dwarf makes an uplifting holiday entertainment. It’s a sweet...

‘Danú: A Christmas Gathering – Féile Na Nollag’ at GMU’s Center for The Arts

“How do you dance a jig in a concert hall?” I wondered going in to the Danú Concert at George Mason’s Center for the Performing Arts on December 6th. Danú is a top-notch Irish traditional music band,...

‘Don Giovanni’ at University of Maryland’s Maryland Opera Studio

Interesting fact –Lorenzo da Ponte , librettist for Don Giovanni, was the first professor of Italian literature at Columbia University in New York City; he was also the first ethnically Jewish member...

‘La Bohème’ at Virginia Opera at the GMU Center for the Arts

La Bohème takes place in winter, between Christmas Eve and February. Director Kyle Lang has set the Virgina Opera’s current production in the year 1939-40, World War II, after the fall of Poland and...

‘The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife’ at The Little Theatre of Alexandria

Herman Hesse was once – and for all I know still is – highbrow chic. Marjory Taub (Karen Jadlos Shotts) – heroine of Charles Busch’s The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife, directed by Michael Kharfen — is...

‘Julius Caesar’ at Prince William Little Theatre

It’s 1991, and Julius Caesar, General Secretary of the Communist Party and, for the past year, President of the Soviet Union, is letting his successes and the adulation of the people go to his head....

‘Romeo and Juliet’ by Aquila Theatre at George Mason University’s Center for the Arts

It is a body-felt joy of the senses to hear and see Aquila Theatre’s new production of Romeo and Juliet, directed and adapted by Desiree Sanchez, which played at George Mason University’s Center for...

Virginia Opera’s ‘Orpheus in the Underworld’ by Jacques Offenbach at George Mason U

I was expecting to be entertained by the Virginia Opera’s rendition of Jacques Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld, directed by Sam Helfrich, which played at George Mason University’s Center for the...