Wendi Winters

Review: ‘Ever in the Glades’ at the Kennedy Center

Whether we grew up in the heart of DC, Manhattan, Evanston, on a midwestern farm, or in the Everglades, we all seemingly arrive at adulthood after spending years on an isolated island, cut off from...

Review: ‘Hairspray’ by Tantallon Community Players

Tantallon Community Players’ current production of Hairspray is one of those shows where this reviewer wouldn’t mind seeing every performance. It’s just that damn good. I’m saying that despite driving...

Review: ‘Alice in Wonderland’ by the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company

Follow the White Rabbit down the rabbit hole for an enchanting Alice in Wonderland performance. It was a surreal evening on Friday evening, the Opening Night of Chesapeake Shakespeare Company’s...

Review: ‘The Improvised Shakespeare Company’ at The Kennedy Center

The Improvised Shakespeare Company is a show that has been performed to sold out, jam-packed houses in its Chicago hometown since 2005, and in New York City, L.A., San Francisco, Montreal and more...

Review: ‘George – Don’t Do That!: The Music and Magic of Joyce Grenfell’ at MetroStage

George! Go see this! George – Don’t Do That!: The Music and Magic of Joyce Grenfell is part two of MetroStage’s three-part Spring Solo Series featuring three artists telling stories of the remarkable...

Review: ‘Complete Dogness’ at The Athenaeum

Doggone it! This is a fun show! (And, Arf-fully family-friendly). Complete Dogness is about a dog with bad habits, who has the ability to learn new tricks and win hearts. This was a one-time...

Review: ‘Every Brilliant Thing’ at Olney Theatre Center

Five minutes into the start of Every Brilliant Thing, most of the audience had already cried for the first time – and had laughed aloud. By the end of the show, the entire room seemed to be infused...

Review: ‘Gypsy, A Musical Fable’ by Ovations Theatre Senior Company

Gypsy, A Musical Fable, a Broadway classic that debuted in 1959, has become intertwined with the DNA of most Baby Boomers, Gen Xs, Gen Ys, and even Millennials. The book by Arthur Laurents was...

Review: Happenstance Theater’s ‘Slapstick Jukebox’ Is a Wacky Good Time

Catch Happenstance Theater’s Slapstick Jukebox before it scoots away. Only five shows were planned for this weekend, so only the fast and the few will get the opportunity to watch this solid ensemble...

Review: ‘Image China: Dragon Boat Racing’ a Dynamic and Inspiring Offering at the Kennedy Center

One of the most amazing things in this eye-popping production happened after the show ended. The audience at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts stood and applauded for more than ten...

Review: ‘A Christmas Carol’ at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company

The annual productions throughout this region of Charles Dickens’s nearly 175-year-old tale, A Christmas Carol, are as timeless and an integral part of the holiday experience as nativity scenes,...

Review: ‘The Pajama Game’ at Arena Stage

The Pajama Game is a classic, a Broadway mega-hit with themes and tunes as timely as today’s news. The show is currently a wonderfully realized, dynamic production at the Fichandler Theater in the...

Review: ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ at Vagabond Players

The timing of Vagabond Players’ production of Little Shop of Horrors is fortuitous, opening Halloween weekend when thoughts turn to the spooky and macabre, and running through November 25, before the...

Review: ‘The Book of Mormon’ at The Kennedy Center

Just as Fiddler On The Roof, Cabaret, Porgy and Bess, and Hello Dolly! defined their generations, The Book of Mormon mirrors the zeitgeist of the Millennial Generation. It is often vulgar, smarmy,...

Review: ‘Native Gardens’ at Arena Stage

Native Gardens is a bloomin’ hysterical comedy at Arena Stage Need something to boost you up? Perhaps something to make you, temporarily, forget the current political and social climate? Or, the...

Review: ‘Two Trains Running’ at Spotlighters Theatre

Okay, I’ll say it: the production of August Wilson’s Two Trains Running is so packed with dynamic performances under the direction of the multi-faceted Fuzz Roark, it threatens to explode out of the...

Review: ‘The Nerd’ at Prince George’s Little Theatre at the Bowie Playhouse

Now in its 58th season, The Nerd is Prince George’s Little Theatre’s 192nd production. Scripted by Larry Shue, the zany comedy is directed by John Degnan, a long-time area director and retired NASA...

Review: Aretha Franklin at Wolf Trap

Last night was a miracle of sorts. The heavy rains forecast to wash out the Aretha Franklin concert at The Filene Center of the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts didn’t show up. And,...

Review: ‘Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike’ at Cockpit in Court

This hot, summery production of Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (VSMS), a production of Cockpit in Court Summer Theatre, is a spicy show you definitely want to… Chekhov… your bucket list. This...

Review: ‘Mary Poppins’ at 2nd Star Productions

A show that’s “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” on every level. There has never been a nanny quite so magical – or musical – as Mary Poppins, a character created by author P.L. Travers in eight...

Review: ‘See How They Run’ at Vagabond Players

We all need a good laugh these days – not a snicker or a snarky smile. A series of side-splitting belly laughs that leave you exhausted and smiling. See How They Run aptly named for the nursery rhyme...

Report: ‘The 33rd Annual Helen Hayes Awards’ at the Lincoln Theatre

The glammed-up, black tie crowd began arriving at the historic Lincoln Theatre in U Street, NW, 90 minutes before show time. Most of the men were in tuxedos or dark suits. Some of the suits were...

Review: ‘Legally Blonde The Musical’ at Silhouette Stages

OMG! OMG! Silhouette Stages’ Legally Blonde is a blast! The closed curtains on the stage at Slayton House Theater gave no clue as to what dynamic show the highly regarded Silhouette Stage’s would be...

Review: ‘Annie’ at the Modell Performing Arts Center at the Lyric in Baltimore

This was the first time this reviewer had seen a show with a large, and largely young audience of elementary, middle and high schoolers. Hundreds swarmed into the cavernous Victorian-era building,...

Review: ‘Los Otros’ Review #1 at Everyman Theatre

Los Otros, now on stage at Everyman Theatre in Baltimore is a musical in transition. The version audiences in Baltimore are seeing now is different from what audiences in Los Angeles viewed at the...

Review: ‘Ain’t Misbehavin’: The FATS WALLER Musical Show’ at Howard University

Coming out of the Howard University Department of Theatre Arts production of Ain’t Misbehavin’: The FATS WALLER Musical Show, we checked googlemaps to be absolutely sure we hadn’t accidentally...

Review: ‘The Women’ at Spotlighters Theatre

Fangs for the Memories The Women by Clare Booth Luce, which opened on Broadway Christmas week in 1936 after its premiere in Philadelphia three weeks earlier, and included an actress named Doris Day in...

Review: ‘Peter and the Starcatcher’ at 2nd Star Productions

2nd Star Productions’ over-the-top presentation of Peter and The Starcatcher is a recent addition to the cannon of lore surrounding the first appearance of that ever-young, pre-tween character, Peter...

Review: Charles Dickens’ ‘Great Expectations’ at Everyman Theatre

Charles Dickens career as a writer, journalist, and editor was well-established when he wrote Great Expectations. He did not disappoint. Originally published in All Year Round, a weekly magazine...

Review #1: ‘As You Like It’ at Folger Theatre

An updated classic that rocks! Shakespeare’s comedy, As You Like It, is the icing on the Folger Theatre’s 25th season and its observance of the 400th anniversary of The Bard’s passing. This show,...

Review: ‘Doc Severinsen and Friends – The Art of the Big Band’ at Strathmore

Five BRASS Stars! Doc Severinsen may have not appeared on your screen since Johnny Carson turned the keys to The Tonight Show over to Jay Leno in 1992, but he hasn’t slowed down. Hired as a musician...

Review: BSO at Strathmore: Mahler Symphony No. 6

Some critics go to music performances as a modern day Shakespearean Brutus: They come to bury the performance, not praise it. And, bury it they do with raised pinky, off-putting, arcane phraseology...

Review: ‘An Evening with Garrison Keillor’ at Strathmore

The Music Center at Strathmore was filled with nary an empty seat. The crowd was there to see – and listen to – their favorite National Public Radio star, 73 year-old 6 foot 3 inch Garrison Keillor....

Review: ‘An Evening with Chris Botti’ at Strathmore

Chris Botti and his Band know how to rock a house. “There are a few things that make us different from other bands,” announced popular trumpeter Chris Botti from the stage in the concert hall at The...

Review: ‘Young Frankenstein’ at Silhouette Stages

Silhouette Stages has a remarkable production of Young Frankenstein that is so dynamic, audience members kept checking the program to make sure they weren’t teleported back to 2008 when the original...

Review: ‘Love’s LaBEERS Lost’ at LiveArtDC and Grain of Sand Theatre at DC Reynolds

Get Thee to This Beer Fest – er – Show! Love’s LaBEERS Lost is a production in danger of becoming a hot, must-see show that will bring the fire department roaring down on DC Reynolds to clear everyone...

Review: ‘Macbeth’ at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company

Macbeth: A Bloody Good Show In his time, Macbeth was a successful, lauded warrior. He owned a castle and had an attractive wife whose ravenous ambitions, drive and ego matched his own. Neither was...

Review: ‘Look Through My Eyes’ at Baltimore Theatre Project

Mervin Primeaux-O’Bryant, who conceived Look Through My Eyes, is the Assistant Director for Quest Visual Theatre, a group of deaf, hard of hearing, and hearing performers/teaching artists and...

Review: ‘Venus in Fur’ at Fells Point Corner Theatre

Fells Point Corner Theatre’s Venus in Fur will knock you over. Whew! It is amazing! The dynamic talents of actors Andrew Porter and Anne Shoemaker fill the Fells Point Corner Theatre with their...

Review: ‘Alan Cumming Sings Sappy Songs’ at Strathmore

The sign in the Strathmore ticket booth said a lot about Alan Cumming’s appeal. “SHOW SOLD OUT!” it blared. An hour before the show, the place was filling up with people eager for the doors to open....

Review: ‘The Vagina Monologues’ at Laurel Mill Playhouse

Laughs and tears, cheers and sizzlers or Learning to love the “C” word Vagina. Vagina. Vagina. Cunt. Pussy. Twat. Snatch. There. I said it. The Vagina Monologues is an episodic play about vaginas....

Review: ‘Alice’s Restaurant 50th Anniversary Concert with Arlo Guthrie’ at Strathmore

Fifty years later, audiences can still get anything they want – but Alice is still not part of the package. Alice’s Restaurant 50th Anniversary Concert with Arlo Guthrie played to a packed house...

Review: ‘Zombie Prom’ at Greenbelt Arts Center

A Thriller! Grab your hoverboard and blast over to Greenbelt Arts Center to see its latest show, Zombie Prom. It’s totally nuclear, a tongue in chic fusion of Happy Days, Grease, and The Walking Dead....

‘The Nutcracker’ at Ballet Theatre of Maryland at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts

A sure sign the holiday season is in full swing is the annual return of classic ballet, Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker. It is almost as iconic as Santa Claus, a Christmas tree and catching the final...

‘Michael Feinstein: Sinatra Centennial with Big Band’ at Strathmore

Michael Feinstein is as warm, relaxed, and personable a musician as you’ll ever find. Last night, he worked every seat in the big house, making sure the folks in the nosebleed balconies in back felt...

‘A Christmas Carol’ at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company

Have yourselves a very merry Christmas – go see this timeless classic with a Charm City twist. Bring the family to this show! Kids of all ages will love it. Instead of watching the Mister Magoo...

‘Akeelah and the Bee’ at Arena Stage

How do you spell T-E-R-R-I-F-I-C S-H-O-W? Those of us with Millennial-generation children are used to the intensity of youth sports, like football, lacrosse or soccer, being played outdoors on a turf...

‘Galileo’ at the U.S. Naval Academy Masqueraders

Presenting Bertolt Brecht’s play, Galileo, is a terrific feat for Director Christy Stanlake of The Masqueraders. It is a production, a spectacle, filled with color, light, and delight – and a serious...

The Women’s Voices Theater Festival ‘Erma Bombeck: At Wit’s End’ at Arena Stage

A Wonderful “Mom-ologue” Many Baby Boomers’ earliest memories were of their stay-at-home mothers laughing at a risque line in an Erma Bombeck column, carefully cutting the column out – then glaring at...

‘Zombie Prom’ at Spotlighters Theatre

This musical comedy goes nuclear! Zombie Prom, with Music by Dana P. Rowe, and Book and Lyrics by John Dempsey, currently stalking the underground stage of Spotlighters in Baltimore, is a howl that...