Reviews

‘The Whole Truth’ at Urban Arias

“Contemporary Opera” or even “Original Opera” are not categories that immediately reveal their meanings to the average consumer of theatre. Sure, we may know and love the likes of RENT, Sweeney Todd...

‘The Beauty Queen of Leenane’ at Spotlighters Theatre

The biggest question many theater goers will have leaving Beauty Queen of Leenane is “What is Complan?” Allow me to save you much speculating and googling, according to the Complan company website,...

‘Watch on the Rhine’ at The Colonial Players

Watch on the Rhine takes place during a seldom explored or even talked about era in American history. After the Great Depression and The New Deal, but before the bombing of Pearl Harbor there existed...

Russian Chamber Art Society: ‘Ballades, Fantasies, & Satires’

The Russian Chamber Art Society (RCAS) has become the go-to organization for those in the know in the DC area when it comes to rarely heard—and rewardingly performed—works from the Russian classical...

Silk Road Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma at the Kennedy Center

An icy Sunday evening turned into a lush and warm, and enjoyable evening inside The Kennedy Center with the Silk Road Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma. Many of DC’s dignitaries attended, including TV journalist...

‘God of Carnage’ at The Little Theatre of Alexandria

As the curtain opens on God of Carnage, Veronica Novak (Karen Shotts) is walking on eggshells, trying to have an adult conversation with the parents of the child who hit her son with a stick. Veronica...

Mahler’s Fifth Symphony with the University of Maryland Symphony Orchestra at The Clarice

Not just any conservatory or university school of music can mount a concert featuring Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 5. It may not have familiar tunes, but Mahler’s Fifth is a landmark composition from...

‘The Three Musketeers’ at Encore Stage & Studio

Encore Stage & Studio presents The Three Musketeers, adapted for the stage and composed by Matthew Heap, with direction by Susan Alison Keady. A large number of young actors (over 25 total!) make up...

‘Sunset Boulevard’ at Reston Community Players

Joe Gillis: You’re Norma Desmond. You used to be in silent pictures. You used to be big. Norma Desmond: I AM big. It’s the PICTURES that got small. Well pictures may be small but Reston Community...

‘Good Kids’ at University of Maryland’s School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies

Who knows for sure what really happened when sexual assault is the charge and impetuous youth, just out to have a good time, are exploring the possibilities? Good Kids, presented by the University of...

‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company

Baltimore’s vibrant and growing Chesapeake Shakespeare Company looks comfortable indeed inside its gorgeous new digs on South Calvert Street. If only it looked as comfortable inhabiting the world of...

Spine: ’33 Variations’ at Silver Spring Stage

The Creation of Art. The Wrestle with Death. 33 Variations, Moisés Kauffman’s Tony nominated play, juxtaposes those two turbulences. In one — circa 1820 in Vienna, Austria — Ludwig van Beethoven...

‘Kid Victory’ at Signature Theatre (Review) by John Stoltenberg

“You have no idea what I’ve been through,” says Luke early on in Kid Victory, the nervy and unnerving new musical by John Kander (music) and Greg Pierce (book and lyrics) that just opened at Signature...

‘Shining City’ at Port City Playhouse

I could hardly contain my anticipation before seeing the Port City Playhouse’s production of Shining City, directed by Becky Patton. The critically acclaimed play, first performed in 2004 and later...

‘Kid Victory’ at Signature Theatre (Review) by Derek Mong

Haunting, chilling, and totally mesmerizing are just a few words that you could use to describe the second collaboration between legendary composer John Kander (Chicago and Cabaret) and acclaimed...

Why You Must See The Final Performance of ‘Uncle Vanya’ at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company at 2 PM

“Time is of the essence” is a term in British and United States contract law. It serves as a jumping off point in this short, sweet review of Uncle Vanya that wraps up its three week run today at 2 PM...

‘Dialogues of the Carmelites’ at Washington National Opera

A penetrating and extremely lucid psychological austerity permeates the current production of the Washington National Opera’s (WNO) Dialogues of the Carmelites by composer and librettist Francis...

An Update: Returning to Clandestine Arts’ ‘Bare: A Pop Opera’

An update: I went back to see Clandestine Arts’ production of Bare last night (Friday, January 27th) and found the show even more enjoyable than the first time. The quality of musical numbers and...

’33 Variations’ at Silver Spring Stage

33 Variations is a drama by Moisés Kaufman that deals with the nearly always fatal disease of ALS and the study, not just of music, but also the variations of life. The main character is Dr. Katherine...

‘Back to Methuselah’ at Washington Stage Guild (Review)

George Bernard Shaw wrote Back to Methuselah (A Metabiological Pentateuch) during World War I, with its assassination, its trench warfare, its chemical attacks, its all-too-human brutality unleashed —...

Pianist Jenny Lin at The Strathmore Mansion

The intimacy of the recital room at the Strathmore Mansion creates the perfect atmosphere to listen to a piano virtuoso play a night of sonatas. Jenny Lin chose these particular composers, because she...

‘Shear Madness’ at The Kennedy Center

Even prior to the opening of Shear Madness, the audience is drawn into the world of the play. A realistic set is built on the thrust stage of the Kennedy Center’s Theater Lab. The aqua blue walls,...

‘Rent’ at Montgomery College

Director David Gram has handed his audiences quite a treat with this faithful adaptation of the ground-breaking Jonathan Larson musical. Working with Music Director Jonathan Tuzman and Choreographer...

‘Anything Goes’ at The Warner Theatre

The national tour of Anything Goes, the Broadway revival of Cole Porter’s theatrical masterpiece made its premiere at the The Warner Theatre last night, demonstrating that the long-established...

Chita Rivera Performs “A Legendary Celebration” at The Alden

The Alden Theatre in McLean, Virginia offered the Washington area last night some welcome relief from the relentless deep freeze outside in the form of the sizzling hot Broadway legend Chita Rivera....

The President’s Own United States Marine Band: ‘Time Capsule 1945: The 70th Anniversary of the End of WWII’ at Strathmore

The main emotion I felt last night at Strathmore, while I watched The President’s Own United States Marine Band, was pride. These very talented musicians gave up the chance for a professional career...

Imago Theatre: Frogz at Presented by The Music Center at Strathmore

Strathmore brings a wide variety of performances to its spacious Music Center each month, from the Tango Buenos Aires: Song of Eva Perón, which performs there tomorrow, to the Annapolis Symphony...

Magic Time! A Hard Look at the Theme of Pornography in ‘Rapture, Blister, Burn’

I knew I would be bummed if I missed the Round House Theatre production of Gina Gionfriddo’s Rapture, Blister, Burn. Everything I read told me, “John, you gotta see this.” So when I caught its...

‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ at Unquiet Theatre Company

When you follow Alice down this rabbit hole, you need to leave the children at home. Unquiet Theater Company is clearly having fun putting on an adult-themed reimagining of the well-known Alice tale....

She’s Ready for Her Close-Up: Meet Katie McManus, Star of Reston Community Players’ ‘Sunset Boulevard’

Norma Desmond, in the form of the multi-talented and versatile Katie McManus, is waiting for her close-up in Reston Community Players’ sumptuous rendition of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard,...

‘Harvey’ at Laurel Mill Playhouse

Harvey, currently playing at Laurel Mill Playhoue, and produced by Maureen Rodgers, is a wonderful classic American comedy. It was unique when it opened in the 1940s. First of all, it won a Pulitzer...

‘Unlimited: The Music and Lyrics of Stephen Schwartz’ at No Rules Theatre Company and the Benjamin T. Rome School of Music at The Catholic University

Having Composer Stephen Schwartz in the audience last night really pumped up the talented young cast of singers and musicians at Opening Night of the premiere of the new-and-improved Unlimited: The...

‘Patti Austin Sings Ella and the Duke’ at the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra

Grammy and Oscar-winning songwriter and vocalist Patti Austin returned to team up with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra for a spectacular performance of jazz classics, paying homage to the brilliance...

‘Bare: A Pop Opera’ at Clandestine Arts

A young new theater company called Clandestine Arts has come to town and marked its arrival by tackling the beautifully scored coming out musical Bare: A Pop Opera. With a spirited cast of 17 all...

‘Sleepy Hollow’ at The Washington Ballet

‘Sleepy Hollow’ ballet premieres at the Kennedy Center: D.C. Ballet shakes up expectations Yes, even classical ballerinas let their hair down once in a while. They relish tossing off those stiff upper...

‘The Musical of Musicals (The Musical!)’ at Damascus Theatre Company

Do you love classic Broadway theatre? Do you love the work of legendary Broadway composers? Do you love clever satire, glittering costumes, and talented performers? If so, you will absolutely love The...

‘The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek’ at The George Washington University’s Department of Theatre and Dance

There were many moments in Naomi Wallace’s The Trestle at Poe Lick Creek, as interpreted by Director Jodi Kanter at The George Washington University’s Department of Theatre and Dance, when I inwardly...

‘Rashomon’ at American University

The stunning production of Rashomon, directed and adapted by Randy Baker at American University, is set at the City Gate to Kyoto, a court of law, and in a grove in the forest, circa 1100 AD. This...

‘Big Fish’ at McLean High School’s Theatre Company

Attention all Broadway producers of a musical that shuttered much too quickly on Broadway: bring that show to the ‘Show Doctors’ at McLean High School’s Theatre Company and let Surgeon/Director Amy...

Nibbles and Sips: ‘Chef To Chef With Chris Lusk’

At forty-one, East Texas native and Johnson & Wales grad, Chris Lusk has seen the ins and outs of a few restaurant kitchens and learned a wide variety of international cuisines. After an externship in...

‘Wiley and the Hairy Man’ at Imagination Stage

Imagination Stage presents Wiley and the Hairy Man, an adventurous folktale about a boy who must face his biggest fear, with Book by Suzan Zeder and Music by Harry Pickens. Pickens and Zeder co-wrote...

‘Conversations I’ve Never Had’ at The Catholic University of America

Conversations I’ve Never Had is a brilliant, poignant, and funny new play written by CUA M.F.A. candidate, Kathleen Burke, and directed by Mary Resing. This is Burke’s first produced work at CUA,...

‘Parade in Concert’ at Avery Fisher Hall in New York

Jason Robert Brown’s Parade is a gut-punch of a musical about the 1913 murder trial of an Atlanta Jewish man, his unjust conviction, his subsequent semi-exoneration to “only” life in prison, and his...

Valentine’s Day Concert: ‘The Thrill of Tchaikovsky!’ at The National Chamber Ensemble

What a wonderful way to spend Valentine’s Day! The National Chamber Ensemble presented a colorful concert for Valentine’s Day with music by Peter Ilych Tchaikovsky, one of the greatest composers of...

‘The Lost World’ at the University of Maryland’s School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies at The Clarice

There’s something about dinosaurs that fosters common ground — children and adults alike are fascinated by the extinct creatures. They’re the stars of the University of Maryland School of Theatre,...

‘Shrek The Musical’ at The Suburban Players

The Suburban Players celebrate 40 years with a fabulous production of Shrek. The Suburban Players at Saint Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church have chosen the fun fairy tale Shrek the Musical, drenched in...

The Reel Deal: Watch Kyle Osborne’s Video Movie Review of ’50 Shades of Grey’

DC AREA SHOWTIMES. LINKS Kyle Osborne’s Video Movie Review of of The Boy Next Door and Still Alice. Kyle Osborne’s Video Movie Review of Taken 3 and Inherent Vice. Kyle Osborne’s Video Movie Review of...

‘The Pirate Laureate and the King of the Sea’ at Flying V Theatre Company

Escape the constraints of the everyday world to swagger and carry-on with some entertaining steampunk pirates of the Caribbean. All you need to do is take in the world premiere of The Pirate Laureate...

Duke Ellington Orchestra at Bethesda Blues & Jazz Supper Club

Once Charlie Young, conductor of the Duke Ellington Orchestra, invited the audience to the dance floor last night, they needn’t be asked twice. The band played to a packed house at the Bethesda Blues...

‘Much Ado About Nothing’ at Synetic Theater

“Synetic” is a word that has come to mean more, at least in the parlance of DC theatre, than the Crystal City-based company which it names. It has come to mean a theatre that is physical, sexy,...