Reviews

Bhangra Blowout XXI at The George Washington University’s Lisner Auditorium

Lisner Auditorium was filled with movement, color, dazzle and (ear-splitting) sound during Saturday night’s 21st annual Bhangra Blowout. Eight colleges vied for championship of Bhangra Blowout XXI....

‘Other Desert Cities’ at Silver Spring Stage

Acting or reality; the two are hardly mutually exclusive. We live with each other’s divergent truths because we know no other way to live. Our lives could be complete lies that we have no idea we are...

‘An Actor’s Nightmare’ and ‘Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You’ at Chevy Chase Players

A Double Feature of two plays: An Actor’s Nightmare and Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You by Christopher Durang, the Tony Award-winning playwright (for Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike)...

‘The Memo’ at Single Carrot Theatre

Zchu vuzk shnipt oz guggu guga oldi felckin ni tni ofdurn bubvah. Neylt bloofd forba suli sulli zym zyek nodda bim boem. Nyish vits nyik kibs. Orscht dublig obva ogva igbli shnin. Dorse tont zchui...

‘The Thousandth Night’ at MetroStage

MetroStage’s The Thousandth Night is a Five Star Perfect Night at the Theater How do you define the perfect night at the theater? Does it make you laugh? Does it make you cry? Do you witness a tour de...

‘Camp David’ at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater

The real President Jimmy Carter attended the premiere of Camp David—the engrossing new play by Lawrence Wright in which he is the central character—and offered up this mini-review of it in an...

‘Reefer Madness’ at Being Revived

STOP! Do you know where you children are? What they’re doing? What they could be— SMOKING? That vile vapor, that odious offender, that sinful slayer waiting to possess your sons and daughters, turning...

‘One Mic: Marc Bamuthi Joseph: red, black, and GREEN: a blues (rbGb)’ at The Kennedy Center

Marc Bamuthi Joseph, best known as a spoken word artist, and his collaborators, raised questions and gave many ideas for discussion through a multi-layered, multi-sensory performance at The Kennedy...

‘Mark Twain Tonight!’ at The National Theatre

Let’s be honest-this performance is legendary and Hal Holbrook’s performance as Twain is one for the ages! What an honor it was to be in his presence. And for two hours he had me and the audience in...

‘The Most Happy Fella’ at The Arlington Players

Who doesn’t like a good, touching love story? If you are also fond of musicals-especially the grand old fashioned Broadway productions of the 1950s-seeing The Most Happy Fella at The Arlington Players...

‘Norton: A Civil War Opera’ at Loudon Lyric Opera

World Premiere of New American Opera Shows Immense Promise and Possibility It’s not often one gets to be present at the birth of a new American opera. Loudon Lyric Opera’s Norton: A Civil War Opera is...

‘The Last Five Years’ at Red Branch Theatre Company

Miss The Last Five Years at your peril. If you fail to catch this season-opener by the Red Branch Theatre Company, you’ll never know exactly when this hard-working Columbia playhouse made its big step...

Matt Nathanson and Noah Guthrie at George Mason University’s Center for the Arts

Acoustic Show with Matt Nathanson and Opening Act Noah Guthrie By Marlene Hall Thursday night at the George Mason University’s Performing Arts, Matt Nathanson performed with his partner Aaron Tap....

‘Violet’ at The Theatre Lab School of the Dramatic Arts

Since mid-January an intrepid troupe of musical-theater students has been rehearsing the sweet and soulful show Violet at The Theatre Lab School of the Dramatic Arts under the able direction of Deb...

Film Review: ‘The Unknown Known’

SUBJECT: What You Know There are known knowns. There are known unknowns. There are unknown unknowns. But there are also unknown knowns—that is to say, things that you think you know that it turns out...

‘Arguendo’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

Can conduct communicate? In what instances do practices of non-speech— such as music, money, or dancing— become speech in the sense that they are then protected by the Constitution under the first...

Linda Eder at The Barns at Wolf Trap

It was a sold-out, enthusiastic crowd at Linda Eder‘s concert on Thursday, April 3, 2014 at The Barns at Wolf Trap. Between the energy of the crowd and Eder’s own humor and magnificent voice, it was...

New York City Ballet’s ‘Jewels’ at The Kennedy Center

NYCB shows its ballet gems at the Kennedy Center Be still my heart. The New York City Ballet is back at the Kennedy Center, and best of all, dancing Jewels, George Balanchine’s full-length classic...

World Stages: International Theater Festival – The Five Star Weekend Wrap in Review: ‘Fallujah’ and ‘The Adventures of Robin Hood’ at The Kennedy Center

The World Stages: International Theater Festival took center stage at The Kennedy Center, March 10-30, 2014 bringing together some of today’s most exciting theatrical visionaries presenting an...

‘The Cripple of Inishmaan’ at 1st Stage

Mounting Martin McDonagh’s The Cripple of Inishmaan as their springtime offering is a perfect way for 1st Stage to shake off the chill of winter and welcome in the warmer weather. Directed by Steven...

An Interview with Open Air Stereo’s Scott Pounds, Appearing Tonight at 8 PM at Jammin’ Java in Vienna, VA

Open Air Stereo is a band full of storylines from taking eleven years to release a debut album, to finding their guitarist through Craigslist, and from their lead singer Chase Johnson starring on...

‘Bat Boy: The Musical’ at Colonial Players

Sweet wounded Jesus! A fanged creature has been spotted roaming East street in Annapolis and shocking the patrons of the Colonial Players! Terrorized by the prospect that a freak runs among them, the...

‘Bedside Manners’ at The British Players

Will you be having your Mr. Smith in the blue room or the green room? Mind you, the blue room is awfully blue. Regardless of which room you’re sneaking off to, be sure you sneak off to The British...

‘Brief Encounter’ at Shakespeare Theatre Company

Venerable plays get made into acclaimed movies (August: Osage County of recent note), and some movies translate successfully to the stage. The Rocky Horror Picture Show is that famous amalgam of film,...

World Stages: International Theater Festival-‘Les Souffleurs Commandos Poetiques’ at the Kennedy Center

The World Stages: International Theater Festival took the center stage at The Kennedy Center, March 10-30, 2014 bringing together some of today’s most exciting theatrical visionaries presenting an...

‘Hairspray’ at Thomas S. Wootton High School by Brent Stone

Welcome to the Sixties, Baltimore style! Grab your neon-colored shirts and Madison down to T. S. Wootton High School Center for the Arts’ production of Hairspray, energetically directed by Jessica...

‘If/Then’ at The Richard Rodgers Theatre

If/Then, the musical with the biggest heart you can imagine, is now back home in the Big Apple, and just like its main character, Elizabeth (the incomparable Idina Menzel), it is starting over in...

World Stages: International Theater Festival ‘Solomon and Marion’ at The Kennedy Center

The World Stages: International Theater Festival takes the center stage at The Kennedy Center, March 10-30, 2014 bringing together some of today’s most exciting theatrical visionaries presenting an...

World Stages: International Theater Festival- The National Theatre of China’s ‘Green Snake’ at The Kennedy Center

The World Stages: International Theater Festival takes the center stage at The Kennedy Center, March 10-30, 2014 bringing together some of today’s most exciting theatrical visionaries presenting an...

‘Hamlet’ at Annapolis Shakespeare Company

Since brevity is the soul of wit, I will be brief. Annapolis Shakespeare Company has mounted to the stage, for their first offering of 2014, Shakespeare’s noble tragedy: Hamlet. Directed by Sally...

‘A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum’ at The Heritage Players

It’s a pretty little picture: three houses each alike in dignity— wait, wrong play. Tragedy tomorrow, comedy tonight! And comedy is what you’re getting as the Heritage Players mount to the stage A...

‘Bring It On: The Musical’ at The Music Center at Strathmore

Elphaba, step aside! The high-flying cast of the Tony-award nominated best musical Bring It On: The Musical is defying gravity and launching itself to new heights—literally—and there’s not a single...

‘If/Then’ Opens Tonight in NYC at The Richard Rodgers Theatre

If/Then opens tonight at The Richard Rodgers Theatre, and we send all the cast, creators, production team, and designers a big ‘Merde!’ DCMetroTheaterArts’ John Stoltenberg reviewed the show here at...

Lily Tomlin at The Music Center at Strathmore

Thirty-plus years after 6-year old Edith Ann debuted on Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In, the eternally young Edith Ann was complaining about her big sister Irene’s iPhone and how she “texthhhsss” too...

‘The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee’ at Ford’s Theatre

Exhilarating— adj. “making one feel very happy, animated, or elated; thrilling.” E-X-H-I-L-A-R-A-T-I-N-G. Exhilarating; the perfect word used to describe your mood once you’ve attended the Ford’s...

‘The Carolina Layaway Grail’ at The Welders

Joseph Campbell taught that myth is a mirror for the ego. So it is through myth that protagonist Diana examines her life experience in Allyson Currin’s The Carolina Layaway Grail, the auspicious debut...

‘Inherit the Wind’ at American University

A great play is sweet solace, and there’s a relief in knowing that all the love and hard work you’ve just witnessed culminated into a success. American University’s production of Inherit the Wind, the...

World Stages: International Theater Festival: ‘The Adventures of Robin Hood’ at The Kennedy Center’s Family Theater

The Adventures of Robin Hood Offers Cheeky, Intelligent Fun How much fun can you have with a stage full of cardboard boxes, a shopping cart, bags of crisps, a reinvented legend, and two incredibly...

‘The Cradle Will Rock’ at The George Washington University

“The Dorothy Betts Marvin Theatre entrance temporarily closed for emergency work until Monday, March 31.” For anyone familiar with the legendary lockout that threatened to strand several hundred eager...

‘Hansel and Gretel’ at The Puppet Co.

The Puppet Co. presents a kinder version of the childhood classic Hansel and Gretel. Inspired by Engelbert Humperdinck’s operatic version Hänsel und Gretel, instead of the wider-known version by the...

An Interview With Luísa Maita on Her Performance at Artisphere Tomorrow 3/28 at 8 PM

The humble and talented musician/singer Luísa Maita has been dubbed the “New Voice of Brazil” by NPR. Her music pulls from the country’s rich heritage of jazz and rhythms. Luisa blends modern...

‘Richard III’ at The Baltimore Shakespeare Factory

‘Tis indeed the winter of our discontent with the never ending snow. And what better way to dispel the forces of winter than for the The Baltimore Shakespeare Factory to kick off their 2014 season,...

150 Students Involved in Wootton High School’s Production of ‘Hairspray’ Which Opens Tonight and Runs 3/28-30 & 4/4-6

More than 150 Students at Rockville’s Wootton High School Gearing up for Performances of the Broadway Hit “Hairspray” Hairspray plays at Thomas S. Wootton High School – 2100 Wootton Parkway, in...

Tasty Tidings Part 2: An Interview with Lauren Schein on Spotlighters’ ‘Five Course Love’

She may be looking for love in all the wrong places…or maybe she’s licking the wounds of her bruised heart. Either way, Lauren Schein has the scoop for us on what it’s like to be a part of this area...

Here Are the Winners of 2 Pairs of Tickets to ‘Bring It On’ at Strathmore This Saturday 3/29 at 8 PM & 50% Discount Offer for 3 & 8 PM

Here are the winners of the Ticket Giveaway! FRANCINE AMARAL AND SAM McCRAE BRING IT ON: THE MUSICAL THIS SATURDAY, MARCH 29TH AT 8 PM AT THE MUSIC CENTER AT STRATHMORE 5301 Tuckerman Lane, IN North...

World Stages: International Theater Festival: Nalaga’at Theater Deaf-Blind Acting Ensemble: ‘Not by Bread Alone’

The World Stages: International Theater Festival takes the center stage at The Kennedy Center, March 10-30, 2014 bringing together some of today’s most exciting theatrical visionaries presenting an...

‘Seussical’ at Reisterstown Theatre Project

If you open your mind, oh the things you will find waiting to get loose! When you attend the Reisterstown Theatre Project’s musical about Seuss! Springing lively to the stage, in a full vibrant...

‘Once Upon a Mattress’ at Mount Vernon Community Children’s Theatre

Everyone thinks that they know the story of the princess and the pea; a prince is looking for a princess and the queen forces her to take a test to see if she is a true princess by having her sleep on...

‘The Admission’ at Theater J by John Stoltenberg

As many who follow local theater news know, Theater J’s production of The Admission has been preceded by an offstage drama—a who’s-right/who’s-wrong argument, a...

‘The Homo Poe Show’ at Iron Crow Theatre Company

Conceived as a new work by Artistic Director Steven J. Satta, where each of the seven installments has an individual director, Iron Crow Theatre Company’s The Homo Poe Show – a reinvention of Edgar...