Reviews

‘Nabucco’ at Lyric Opera Baltimore

No one in peril had faith in God and perished. Verdi’s celebration of spirit, sacrifice, and faith comes to The Lyric Opera Baltimore to close out the 2013/2014 season of Redemption and Revenge in the...

‘Ragtime’ at Arts Collective@HCC

The wheels are turning, the dream is burning; justice and love and a time where the music inspired the world to build a better hope for tomorrow. They call it Ragtime, and it’s on the stage for a...

‘Perfect Wedding’ at McLean Community Players

McLean Community Players continues its tradition of producing shows that most people have not heard of with aplomb. The area premiere of British playwright Robin Hawdon’s Perfect Wedding–an...

‘Three Men in a Boat (To say nothing of the dog)’ at Synetic Theater

Cultish musical enthusiasts have The Rocky Horror Show, movie-goers have Night of the Living Dead, 60’s rockers had The Grateful Dead, and literary enthusiasts have Three Men in a Boat (To say nothing...

‘Smokey Joe’s Café – The Songs of Leiber and Stoller’ at Arena Stage

Arena Stage is raising the roof with a rollicking journey through the golden age of rock, rhythm, and blues with Smokey Joe’s Café – The Songs of Leiber and Stoller. Director Randy Johnson,...

‘Nero/Pseudo’ at WSC Avant Bard at Fort Fringe

Celebrities are the new royalty; rock stars are the new idols. With bacchanalian excesses on both sides of the equation, is it any wonder that someone decided to make the comparison literal? In the...

A Report on The Concert Reading of ‘Yank! A New Musical’ at Rainbow Theatre Project

For it’s final play reading of the season, Rainbow Theatre Project delighted an SRO audience at Source on Monday night, May 4, 2014, with the off-Broadway hit Yank! A New Musical. Successfully...

‘Killer Joe’ Cast is Set For SeeNoSun OnStage Production

Killer Joe Cast is Set Sun King Davis to Play Title Role in Tracy Lettsʼ Play Actor Sun King Davis taking on the title role of Killer Joe Cooper in this gritty southern gothic black comedy. Killer Joe...

SPINE: Theatre, Culture, and History in the Belly of the Beast: “THE ADMISSION: The Theatre of War and National Identity, Lovely or Otherwise”

I recently experienced Motti Lerner’s The Admission, Theatre J’s production remounted by Busboys & Poets at Studio Theatre (my review is here). The controversy that the play generated was surprising...

‘The Miser’ at Rockville Little Theatre

It is often difficult to engage modern audiences with classics like Moliere’s The Miser. However, Rockville Little Theatre’s production succeeds with its unique take. Originally performed in 1668,...

‘Peter and the Starcatcher’ at Hippodrome Theatre

Glowing! Ringing! Flying! That can only mean one thing! Peter and the Starcatcher has landed at Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theatre as a part of the Broadway Across America— CareFirst Hippodrome Broadway...

‘Blue Man Group’ at National Theatre

What do you get when you mix 10 gallons of blue paint, 360 pounds of Jell-O, 15 pounds of Cap’n Crunch cereal, 30 boxes of Twinkie Lights, 550 feet of PVC piping, and 40 drum heads? A theatrical...

‘Brother Hal’ at Lumina Studio Theatre

I was so impressed by Lumina Studio Theatre’s Brother Hal, adapted from Shakespeare’s Henry V by David Minton and Jamie Raskin, which was performed on Sunday, May 4th at Round House Theatre in Silver...

‘Boeing Boeing’ at The Little Theatre of Alexandria

The Little Theatre of Alexandria’s latest production, Boeing Boeing, by French playwright Marc Camoletti with English translation by Beverley Cross, is marketed as “a non-stop comedy,” and after a...

‘The 39 Steps’ at Dignity Players

After nine years of excellent theatre, Dignity Players will be closing their doors, but they aren’t going out without a bang. Action! Excitement! Romance! Special Effects! Chases! Deception! Murder!...

‘Shout! The Mod Musical’ at Creative Cauldron

I attended Shout! The Mod Musical braless. TMI? Well, Creative Cauldron invited us to dress like something out of the Sixties-Seventies, so there we were, women in our 50s and 60s, grooving to the...

‘The Admission’ at The Studio Theatre

In playwright Motti Lerner’s provocative and relevant play, The Admission, now playing at The Studio Theatre (as originally produced by Theater J), the question of when does the personal become the...

‘The Fantasticks’ at Rep Stage

Try to remember, four months before September when Rep Stage mounted The Fantasticks to close their season. A classic love fable springs to mind; the Music by Harvey Schmidt, the Book and Lyrics by...

‘Woody Allen, Woody Allen’ at The Montgomery Playhouse

I am a huge Woody Allen fan and not just for his films. I’m a fan of his early plays and it was a treat to watch two talented casts having a blast yesterday performing two of his plays: Central Park...

‘Monty Python’s Spamalot’ at West Potomac High School-Saturday, May 3, 2014 Matinee Cast

This is a review of the Saturday matinée cast of West Potomac High School’s production of Monty Python’s Spamalot, with the following changes in casting from ‘Monty Python’s Spamalot’ at West Potomac...

‘The Magic Flute’ at Washington National Opera

Brightness and color abounded in the Kennedy Center Opera Hall on Saturday night as the Washington National Opera debuted its second-to-last show of the season: Mozart’s The Magic Flute, in a truly...

‘Pinocchio’ at The Puppet Co.

The Puppet Co. presents Pinocchio, the classic story of a wooden puppet’s adventurous quest to become a real, live boy! Directed by Allan Stevens, this production is adapted from Carlo Collodi’s Book...

‘Into the Woods’ at NextStop Theatre Company

Happy Ever After: NextStop’s Innovative Into the Woods Gloriously Updates a Classic for a New Generation NextStop Theatre Company’s Into the Woods is a glorious reinterpretation of the Stephen...

‘Spamalot’ at Act Two @ Levine’s Pre-Professional Program

When Spamalot director Kevin Kuchar delivered the ubiquitous pre-show curtain speech, he emphasized a focus on process over product that serves as the foundation for the Act Two @ Levine’s...

‘9 to 5: The Musical’ at Fairfax High School

You Deserve a Break Today We’ve all heard those jokes about the corporation. In Taiwan, the translation of the Pepsi slogan “Come alive with the Pepsi Generation, came out as “Pepsi will bring your...

‘Les Misérables’ at Kensington Arts Theatre

I dreamed a dream in time gone by that one of Broadway’s most moving stories came to the Kensington Arts Theatre. Life has made the dream I dreamed a reality as Les Misérables opens the end of the...

‘Amadeus’ at Fells Point Corner Theatre

I don’t believe it. Salieri. What does he cry? Salieri. We won’t believe it! Salieri! I know who started the tale. What a story! What a scandal! And the only way to discover the truth is to attend the...

‘4 Girls 4’ at The Music Center at Strathmore

For one night only, North Bethesda, MD., was Diva City. Four luminous songbirds swept in to The Music Center at Strathmore on Friday night to lead a largely snowbird audience on a mind-jog down memory...

‘Blues for an Alabama Sky’ at Port City Playhouse

Blues for an Alabama Sky at Port City Playhouse: A Kiss to Build a Dream On: After the Harlem Renaissance The gifted and much admired Pearl Cleage is a poetic playwright. Her dialogue shines with wit,...

‘Living Out’ (‘Cama Afuera’) at GALA Hispanic Theatre

On a superficial level, the two women at the heart of Lisa Loomer’s elegantly crafted Living Out couldn’t be more different. Ana (Belén Oyola-Rebaza) is an undocumented nanny working to bring her...

Barbara Cook’s Spotlight: Megan Hilty at The Kennedy Center

Stage, film, and television star, Megan Hilty wowed the audience at The Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater last night with an eclectic concert that proved that Hilty is the sort of striking talent that...

‘Monty Python’s Spamalot’ at West Potomac High School

West Potomac High School’s production of the “lovingly ripped off from” the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the musical Monty Python’s Spamalot brings lotd of humor to the stage in a rousing...

‘Wayne McGregor Random Dance’ at The Kennedy Center

The curtain rises on a dark stage, lit only by torches held by four dancers at the four corners of the stage, surrounding two dancers prancing and weaving about in coordinated, syncopated step. One by...

‘La Cage aux Folles’ at Dundalk Community Theatre

It’s a bonanza, it’s a mad extravaganza and it’s arrived at Dundalk Community Theatre to close out their season. With Music and Lyrics by Jerry Herman and the Book by Harvey Fierstein, La Cage aux...

Enter by 8 PM Tonight To Win Free Tickets to NERO/PSEUDO at Washington Avant Bard at Fort Fringe 5/2-4 and 5/6@7:30 PM

ENTER BY 8 PM TONIGHT! WE ARE GIVING AWAY 3 PAIRS OF TICKETS FOR EACH PREVIEW PERFORMANCE: (12 PAIRS OF TICKETS -24 TOTAL TICKETS!-Only One Pair Per Winner) TO WSC AVANT BARD’S BRAND NEW SCORCHING HOT...

‘The Wild Party’ at Laurel Mill Playhouse

Laurel Mill Playhouse is having a wild, WILD party and they’re inviting you! There’s excitement! There’s sex! There’s dancing! There’s scandal! It’s a roaring good time guaranteed on the pernicious...

‘Ben Folds Solo’ at Lisner Auditorium

If piano men Elton John and Billy Joel got together to have a son, he might look and sound a lot like Ben Folds. Wait. That’s talkin’ ’bout my generation. Still, 47-year-old singer-songwriter Folds...

Magic Time! ‘The Threepenny Opera’ at Signature Theatre

Signature Theatre’s new production of The Threepenny Opera—directed and choreographed with unerring cunning by Matthew Gardiner—is cringe-inducing, snarky, impudent, and jarring. Everything it’s meant...

‘The Threepenny Opera’ at Signature Theatre

Stepping into the Signature Theatre’s MAX Theatre, you immediately realize that you are standing on a giant, weathered Union Jack—transported, perhaps a bit uneasily for some, into the eerie streets...

Tom Paxton at The Barns at Wolf Trap

Tom Paxton‘s soul-stirring performance at The Barns at Wolf Trap brings us near the end of his more than 50-year career as one of America’s most influential folk singers. He retires in October, 2015...

‘Elling’ at The Washington Stage Guild

The urge to create goes hand in hand with the urge to destroy and The Washington Stage Guild is creating a beautiful classic upon its stage with their production of Elling, a part of Norwegian...

“Failure: A Love Story” at The Hub Theatre

Failure is defined as the state of not functioning and the lack of success. For most “success” stories, failure is a part of the journey. Although unsatisfactory results are tough to accept at the...

‘The Love of the Nightingale’ at Constellation Theatre Company at Source

Let’s get this out of the way: The Love of the Nightingale is a difficult, and at times brutal play. It is also incredibly smart, and often funny – and an example of Constellation Theatre Company at...

‘Tango Turco (Turkish Tango)’ at Teatro de la Luna

Tango Turco (Turkish Tango) is a fascinating play, veering from soapy and melodramatic to thoughtful and philosophical. Argentinian playwright Del Autor’s strange but oddly likeable play is being...

‘Faith Healer’ at Quotidian Theatre Company

Quotidian Theatre Company’s production of Brian Friel’s play Faith Healer is a superlative exploration of the theme of the fallibility of memory versus reality. This intimate play consisting of three...

‘Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka’ at Main Street Theater Productions

I love Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory so when I saw the opportunity to review it in Purcellville at Main Street Theater Productions, I thought, “I’ve got a golden ticket! Whereas, both the...

Review: ‘Catch Me If You Can’ at McLean High School

McLean High School’s production of the Regional debut of Catch Me If You Can-a musical with a libretto by Terrence McNally and a score by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, of Hairspray fame, spins a...

2014 Spring Gala at Strathmore: Julio Iglesias

Last might was a special night at the Strathmore for Julio Iglesias and his local fans. “We get to present one of the most successful recording artists, and at the same time we are here to raise money...

‘The Amish Project’ at Factory 449

Shooting sprees have become commonplace in our media consumption. Nowadays breaking news of yet another gunman and his multiple victims (the shooters are always male) more numbs than shocks. The...

‘Chapter Two’ at Reston Community Players

This weekend the Reston Community Players premiered Neil Simon’s Chapter Two, a semi-autobiographical comedy about George, a man in his early forties recovering from the death of his wife; Jennie, a...