Reviews

‘Sense & Sensibility’ at Annapolis Shakespeare Company

Annapolis Shakespeare Company’s Sense & Sensibility is the ultimate tale of First World problems. While the story predates both hashtags and the concept of the First World, it is tale of the rich who...

‘Cinderella’ at Ballet Theatre of Maryland at the Modell Performing Arts Center at the Lyric

Entering the closing phase of this season, Maryland’s premier ballet company –Ballet Theatre of Maryland (‘BTM’)- returned to the scene of last season’s major artistic triumph in Swan Lake for a...

‘The Merchant of Venice’ at The Baltimore Shakespeare Factory

In sooth I know no other way to write my thoughts of seeing friends both here and past bestride the open boards of a holy cockpit to speak a muse of fire in the music of its day. If ‘twere enough to...

Studio Theatre Announces its Fall 2015 and Winter 2016 Line-Up

SEVEN PLAYS ANNOUNCED FOR STUDIO’S FALL AND WINTER 2015-2016 LINE-UP The inaugural year for Studio X programming The creation of Studio Cabinet, Studio’s affiliated artist program A new slate of...

‘The Secret Garden’ at NextStop Theatre Company

Weary of winter, Washingtonians? NextStop Theatre Company has your antidote. Instead of a resurrection-vague Jesus Christ Superstar timed to Easter, this praiseworthy playhouse subbed in Marsha Norman...

‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ at Spotlighters Theatre

With Director Greg Bell at the helm, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest made a strong premiere at Audrey Herman’s Spotlighters Theatre Friday night. Written by Dale Wasserman and adapted from the novel...

Audra McDonald at the Music Center at Strathmore

The amazing vocal talent of Audra McDonald was a like a breath of the most enchanting spring air and perhaps the first real sign of spring in the DC area as Audra sang from the “Great American Song...

‘After the Revolution’ at Centerstage

Introducing its wide-ranging audience members to the work of a talented young playwright on the rise, Baltimore’s Centerstage premiered the “Amy Herzog Festival”: the first time Herzog’s After the...

‘Hairspray’ at Our Lady of Good Counsel High School

If you like big and beautiful Broadway musicals with colorful costumes and sets, and a double-dose of talented performers, Our Lady of Good Counsel High School’s production of the Tony-award-winning...

‘Willy Wonka Jr.’ at KAT 2nd Stage and The City of Gaithersburg at The Gaithersburg Arts Barn by Jenna Jones

Chocolate lover? Fond of seeing talented kids on stage? Well, rush over to The Arts Barn in Gaithersburg for KAT Junior and The City of Gaithersburg’s co-production of Willy Wonka Jr., and catch one...

‘Do You Hear the People Sing?’ With The National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center

For more than 30 years, the music of Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg has uplifted, inspired, and invoked passion in audiences and artists alike. Under the baton of conductor Steven Reineke,...

Barbara Cook Spotlight Series: ‘Malcolm Gets: Come A Little Closer’ at The Kennedy Center

Malcolm Gets is one of the most underrated stars in musical theater today. Fortunately, he got a well-deserved chance to display his exceptional talents during his solo cabaret show, Come a Little...

‘utopia parkway’ at Single Carrot Theatre

“The day is coming when a single carrot, freshly observed, will set off a revolution (Paul Cezanne).” Today, that carrot is Charles Mee’s Utopia Parkway. On his website, the playwright Mee offers up...

Cassandra Wilson-Coming Forth by Day: A Tribute to Billie Holiday at The Kennedy Center

The legacy of the brilliant and iconic jazz legend, Billie Holiday, coupled with the cool, classic styling of the very contemporary and experimentally-inclined jazz artistry of Cassandra Wilson fused...

‘Cinderella’ at American Ballet Theatre at The Kennedy Center

Just as the cherry blossoms come out, pure romance is in the air with Cinderella at The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The American Ballet Theatre (ABT) is performing this three-act ballet...

‘Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead’ at The George Washington University

You’d be hard pressed to find a better theatrical catharsis for high school angst than Dog Sees God, Bert V. Royal’s funny/poignant reimagining of characters from the Peanuts comic strip playing this...

Meet the Cast of ‘August: Osage County’ at The Highwood Theatre Part 3: Layla Edwards

In Part 3 of a series of interviews with the cast of August: Osage County at The Highwood Theatre, meet Layla Edwards. Joel: Please introduce yourself and tell our readers where they may have seen you...

‘See Jane Sing! An Evening With Jane Lynch’ at The Birchmere

The crowd that came to The Birchmere last night to See Jane Sing! got a great big ol’ cabaret show full of offbeat tunes and upbeat fun. Jane Lynch wowed ‘em with her artful blend of agile song...

Meet the Cast of ‘August: Osage County’ at The Highwood Theatre Part 1: Max Rome

In Part 1 of a series of interviews with the cast of August: Osage County at The Highwood Theatre, meet Max Rome. Joel: Please introduce yourself and tell our readers where they may have seen you...

‘Blue’ at Imagination Stage

Imagination Stage presents Blue, the newest production in their Early Childhood series, written by Annie Cusick Wood and directed by Kathryn Chase Bryer. Best for children ages 1-5, this interactive...

‘G-d’s Honest Truth’ at Theater J

Illusions and dreams are often enough the stuff needed to help us keep on truckin’ through life. Certainly Prospero in The Tempest and Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon suggested it was so. But, neither...

‘Big Fish’ at Act Two @ Levine

Big Fish is a production of the Pre-Professional Program at the Act Two @ Levine, derived and adapted from the Broadway production with music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa and a book by John August....

‘Man of La Mancha’ at Shakespeare Theatre Company

“Too much sanity is madness!” This counterintuitive declaration is made by Don Quixote, the iconic lead character in the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s current production of Man of La Mancha. Portrayed...

‘Oklahoma!’ at Port Tobacco Players

With brilliant direction by Richard Highby, Port Tobacco Players’ Oklahoma! takes place in the year 1905 in a small community of rangers and farmers in the Oklahoma territory. 1905 is moving rapidly,...

‘Haydn and Ravel’ with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra at Strathmore

You can’t get a much pithier title of a composition than Maurice Ravel’s La Valse. You also can’t get a much more misleading one, either, even if the composer fully meant the irony of the title. Oh,...

‘Passion Play’ at Forum Theatre

During the Roman times, theatre was a savage sport: need a crucifixion, grab a slave. During the Dark Ages, theatre disappeared under the cloak of Catholicism: better to have no fun, if having fun...

‘Hexagon 2015: The Spoof, the Whole Spoof, and Nothing but the Spoof!’ at Woodrow Wilson High School Auditorium

If fast-paced apps, tweets, and glowing screens have your eyes abnormally a-glaze (yes, millennials, you can admit this, too) trade Facebook for good-feeling farce and be sure to pop over to Hexagon’s...

‘Paint Your Wagon’ at City Center’s Encores

I’m sending you this note on the City Center’s staged reading of Lerner and Loewe’s Paint Your Wagon even though its brief 6 performances scheduled ended earlier today. I was at yesterday’s matinee...

‘The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged!)’ at Fells Point Corner Theatre

The sounds of lutes. A rainbow of lights. A copy of The Yale Shakespeare positioned conspicuously on a leather chair. A skull sitting on a pedestal. A ghost hanging from the rafters. These are the...

‘God Don’ Like Ugly’ at Venus Theatre Company

As a writer for this website, I’ve had the privilege of seeing shows at The Kennedy Center and The National Theatre, Arena Stage and Ford’s, Sidney Harmon Hall… a big budget, an elegant space, and an...

‘Soon’ at Signature Theatre

Under the assured, skillful touch of Director Matthew Gardiner, Signature Theatre has delivered a smart, engaging, delightfully personal-sized production of Soon, a new musical by Nick Blaemire (Glory...

‘The Dum Dums’ at Glass Mind Theatre

While a depression journal might be an unlikely starting point for Glass Mind Theatre’s unpretentious, fast-paced, delightful romp through classic sci-fi and isolation, Joshua Conkel’s The Dum Dums...

‘Shrek The Musical’ at Reisterstown Theatre Project

Shrek is back in full green glory Last year Jonah learned to ride a bike. More recently he picked up a hockey stick. During the holidays my seven-year-old grandson tolerated three “Nutcrackers” – one...

‘La Traviata’ at Virginia Opera

In a fitting capstone to Virginia Opera’s 40th anniversary season, the Virginia Opera, in conjunction with Des Moines Metro Opera, presents a thrilling production of Verdi’s masterpiece La Traviata....

UrbanAria’s ‘Blue Viola’ at Artisphere

Feelin’ Blue? Are you a violist who’s feeling unwanted and underappreciated? Then run down to UrbanArias‘ entertaining and high-strung English sung short opera Blue Viola, and you’ll be playing more...

‘On the Twentieth Century’ at Roundabout Theatre Company’s American Airlines Theatre

The word is out. It didn’t arrive in town with much hoopla, most thought “another revival of a relic from the past” so it fooled even the vast ticket buying public, but the fact is the Roundabout’s...

‘Rigoletto’ at The Catholic University’s Benjamin T. Rome School of Music

The Catholic University of America, Benjamin T. Rome School of Music had its opening night of Giuseppe Verdi’s opera Rigoletto this past Thursday night at the Hartke Theatre, in a wonderful showcase...

‘The Winter’s Tale’ at HalfMad Theatre

Just a couple of blocks north of the now bustling H-Steet corridor in Northeast Washington, tucked away on Florida Avenue, you’ll find one of Capital Fringe’s newest venues: The Trinidad Theatre. If...

In The Moment: ‘The Originalist’ at Arena Stage at The Mead Center for American Theater

Arena’s resident playwright John Strand has developed an affectionate, quite delightfully complex, fictionalized account about Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Strand’s The Originalist has plenty...

‘The Heidi Chronicles’ at The Music Box Theatre

In 1989 Wendy Wasserstein’s play hit Broadway hard, dealing with her fervent feelings about women’s liberation which began with her graduation from high school just as the 1960s were rolling in. She...

‘The Norwegians’ at Scena Theatre

Norway is one of those small, gentle countries that we may not think of too often. In its Scandinavian quiescence, it hums along with its cold weather and sterling social services. But in C. Denby...

‘The Originalist’ at Arena Stage at The Mead Center for American Theater

Over 2500 years ago, Aristophanes put “living” contemporary power-brokers into his comic masterpieces and then skewered them with their own foibles. The results were scandalous and provocative. Then...

Mahler’s Ninth with the National Symphony Orchestra at The Kennedy Center

If you choose to let it, Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 9 can scare you to death. Or you can let its vast scope and its ethereal beginning and ending that sandwiches raucous and even sarcastic episodes...

‘MindFluctuations’ at Maida Withers Dance Construction Company

Last night, on Thursday, March 19, 2015, at Lisner Auditorium, Maida Rust Withers, artists from Maida Withers Dance Construction Company (MWDCCo), and Composer/Musicians John Driscoll and Steven C....

The American Century Theater’s Jack Marshall on “Broadway Hit Parade” and “12 Angry Men” and Reflections

As The American Century Theater’s (TACT) final musical Broadway Hit Parade is about to open tonight, I chatted with Artistic Director Jack Marshall. Joel: Since our last interview, you have had more...

‘Blithe Spirit’ at The National Theatre

No matter how low your spirits these days, Angela Lansbury will raise them. That’s the professional promise now drawing people into Washington, D.C. from all over the Mid-Atlantic region to catch one...

‘Freedom’s Song: Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War’ at Ford’s Theatre

With a glorious mélange of words and music, Freedom’s Song: Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War tells the story of America’s struggle to keep our nation together and abolish the wretched and cruel...

‘Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms’ at The National Chamber Ensemble

The National Chamber Ensemble continued its eight season on Saturday, March 14, 2015 with a concert titled The Three B’s for Three: Bach, Beethoven, Brahms. The event took place at the Spectrum...

‘9 to 5 The Musical’ at Riverside Center Dinner Theater

Riverside Center Dinner Theater presents 9 to 5: The Musical, based on the popular 1980 20th Century Fox movie, with Music and Lyrics by Dolly Parton and Book by Patricia Resnick. Patti D’Beck directs...

‘Disco Inferno’: Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre at StageCoach Theatre Company

My guest and I were treated royally by StageCoach Theatre Company’s Terry Smith and Jerri Wiseman when we drove from North Bethesda, MD to Leesburg, VA this past Saturday to see their newest Murder...