Reviews

UrbanArias Presents ‘Blind Dates’ including ‘Craigslistlieder’ at IOTA on August 5th at 7 PM by Robert Wood

UrbanArias, the DC-area’s purveyor of high-quality, short contemporary opera is performing at Arlington’s IOTA Club and Cafe this coming weekend, on August 5th at 7 p.m.. Our program includes a set of...

Dance Review: Bill T. Jones and the Arnie Zane Dance Company performing ‘Story/Time’ at Wolf Trap by Carolyn Kelemen

“All art is informed by a spiritual impulse,” Bill T. Jones told fans at a Columbia Festival of the Arts workshop in 1994, which I attended. “Language and idea and emotion transcend intellectual...

‘Sunset Boulevard’ at Cockpit in Court by Amanda Gunther

With one look you’ll find yourself surrendering to the mystical magical charms of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s classic story in Cockpit in Court’s final musical offering of their 40th anniversary season as...

‘Laura’ at Cockpit in Court by Amanda Gunther

The dark and stormy night. The shadowy detective. The dame in distress. The murder. The mystery. All of the signature notes of crime noir are bundled up in one tight suspenseful package as Cockpit in...

‘Marathon ’33’ at The American Century Theater by David Friscic

If you think the Summer Olympics from London this year is a grueling test of endurance, join the haggard corps of downtrodden, exploited dance marathon contestants at the grueling Marathon ’33 which...

‘Personals’ at Tasty Monster Productions by Jane Coyne

I always enjoy spending time in the quaint and creative environment of the Gaithersburg Arts Barn. It was especially fun last night, because of the wonderful jazz set that preceded the Tasty Monster...

‘Sweeney Todd’ at The Little Theatre of Alexandria by Julia L. Exline

The Little Theatre of Alexandria presents Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, a macabre musical about a wronged man and his consuming fixation on revenge. Directed by...

Cabaret Review: ‘Revenge of the Understudies’ at Signature Theatre by Jennifer Perry

14 Signature Theatre understudies closed out Signature Theatre’s Summer 2012 Sizzin’ Summer Cabaret Series with Revenge of the Understudies. Presenting an interesting conglomeration of mostly...

‘Lincoln and God’ at Greenbelt Arts Center by Kim Moeller

The producers, cast, and crew of Lincoln and God must have felt like God was out of town on Friday night as their production experienced one calamity after another. The computer system was down making...

‘The Agony and The Ecstasy Of Steve Jobs’ by Erica Laxson

Steve Jobs is a well-known fanboy’s wet dream, but Mike Daisey’s one-man performance of The Agony and The Ecstasy Of Steve Jobs enlightens viewers to the soul numbing truth of Jobs’ real legacy....

Summer Youth Production of ‘Guys and Dolls’ at the Laurel Mill Playhouse by Amanda Gunther

Luck be a lady for the 2012 Summer Youth Production of Guys and Dolls at the Laurel Mill Playhouse. The musical fable of Broadway hits the stage with 30 young actors singing and dancing to Frank...

Film Review: ‘The Queen of Versailles’ by Bari Biern

The Queen of Versailles illustrates perfectly the roller-coaster-flying-by-the-seat-of-your-pants aspect of documentary filmmaking. The director straps herself in, points the camera and holds on for...

‘Mein Kampf’ at Scena Theatre by Grace Kim

Having had a long tough week, a play billed as a dark comedy sounded like just the thing to end my Friday night with. And Mein Kampf, written by the illustrious George Tabori and directed by Robert...

‘Will Gartshore: Stripped Down’ at Round House Theatre by Don Michael Mendoza

Multiple Helen Hayes Award-winner Will Gartshore presented part two of his summer cabaret series entitled Stripped Down, (part one was called Dressed Up) at Round House Theatre’s Over The Line...

‘The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses’ at Wolf Trap by Erica Laxson

Last night Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts celebrated the middle of their summer season with a National Symphony Orchestra masterpiece. Hundreds of video game fans flocked to the one...

‘Erin Driscoll: Get Happy! The Songs of Harold Arlen’ at Signature Theatre by Kim Moeller

I spent a wonderful evening last night going back in time at Signature Theatre’s ‘Sizzlin’ Summer Cabaret’s’ Erin Driscoll: Get Happy! The Songs of Harold Arlen. It wasn’t just the music of Harold...

DC Theater Arts Reviews All 134 Capital Fringe Shows

Last night DC Theater Arts completed its goal of reviewing all 134 shows in The Capital Fringe Festival. It is a major accomplishment for our site and it coincided with the 5th month anniversary of...

Ingrid Michaelson and Rufus Wainwright at Wolf Trap by Teal Ruland

Before this evening, I had never been to Wolf Trap for a performance, but it reminds me of the greatest tree house I never had, with stellar acoustics and lights to boot. Tonight, Ingrid Michaelson...

Johnny Mathis with Special Guest Brad Upton at Wolf Trap

One might think that Johnny Mathis received an extended and spontaneous standing ovation simply for setting foot on the stage at Wolf Trap on Friday night, but this would not be true. You see, with a...

‘Grease’ at Toby’s Dinner Theatre of Baltimore by Amanda Gunther

You’ll fall head over heels into summer loving as Toby’s Dinner Theatre of Baltimore presents the hit musical classic Grease, and I promise you’ll have a blast! The epic love story of the 50s comes...

Capital Fringe Review: ‘Inanimate Thoughts’ by Joel Markowitz

MashUp Contemporary Dance Company presented an energy-filled Inanimate Thoughts tonight at Gala Hispanic Theatre – the perfect venue to showcase the beautiful and breathtaking talents of its group of...

Jackson Browne With Sara Watkins at Wolf Trap by Mike Spain

It is rare to see the headliner introduce the opening act; however that is exactly what Jackson Browne did Monday night at Wolf Trap when he introduced Sara Watkins. Jackson Browne also sat in for her...

‘The Pirates of Penzance’ at Encore Stage and Studio by Julia L. Exline

Encore Stage and Studio presents Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance, a two-act operetta that has remained in production since 1879. Directed by Evan Hoffmann, this production is...

‘Lethal Injection’ at The Vagabond Players at The Baltimore Playwrights Festival

At what point does murder no longer qualify as murder? And what happens if murder is murder but the justice system is corrupted by politics? Who will ensure that justice is served? That is the premise...

‘Colonial Players Bits ‘N Pieces One Act Play Festival’: Part One by Amanda Gunther

For a bit of fun and excitement this summer you should check out the Colonial Players Bits ‘N Pieces One Act Play Festival. With so many exciting entries to the festival this year the creative team...

John Tesh at Wolf Trap by Mike Spain

John Tesh looks so natural fronting a band even if it is a 12-piece big band orchestra. His speaking voice and stage presence has been honed by many years of television and radio work. Fifty plus...

‘Snow White and the 7 Dwarves’ at The Puppet Company by Julia L. Exline

The Puppet Co. presents Snow White and the 7 Dwarves, a retelling of the Grimm’s classic with a cast comprised of people…and puppets! With puppets and animation by Christopher Piper, this version...

‘The Dumb Waiter’ and ‘Trifles’ at Unexpected Stage Company by Kim Moeller

Who? What? Why? These are just the first of many questions that arise during Unexpected Stage Company’s newest production, a double bill of Harold Pinter’s The Dumb Waiter and Susan Glaspell’s...

‘A Little Trick and Afterplay’ at Quotidian Theatre Company by Connie Morris

What a wonderful little gem the Quotidian Theatre Company of Bethesda is. With performances tucked away at the Writer’s Center on Walsh Street, the decidedly unremarkable building houses a delightful...

Capital Fringe Review: ‘A is for Artist’ by Natalie McCabe

“Often times, I’ve observed that organizations feel forced to prioritize art, audience, and artist. O Starsf the three, the artists are, more often than not, left to their own devices,” JR Russ,...

Capital Fringe Review: ‘Delusions of Grandeur’ by Cyle Durkee

Delusions of Grandeur is a fun romp through many things clown and a few things Shakespeare (though the only actual monologue comes from Matthew Pauli {and is beautiful}). There is a clownish heist,...

Capital Fringe Review: ‘The Cloudism Project’ by Cyle Durkee

Ok…this one is a bit different. Start with one of the best curtain speeches (designed to get everyone to turn off their cell phones) I’ve ever seen, delivered by Karen Beriss who is telling her mom on...

A Capital Fringe Review; ‘Raising Cane: A Family Portrait’ by Derek Mong

Raising Cane, presented by Grain of Sand Theatre, was quite a pleasant surprise at the Capital Fringe. Set in a backwards incestuous cult in a location I can only presume is the South, the play...

Capital Fringe Review: ‘The Freshman 15/Life in Transition’ by Derek Mong

the freshman 15/life in transition presents an intimate, honest look at the college experience for today’s young people. This performance is presented in a series of 15 vignettes that complicate the...

Capital Fringe Review: ‘Paul Gonsalves on the Road’ by Veronique MacRae

A poignant and moving piece about the inner demons that plague the soul of the brilliant jazz artist, Paul Gonsalves, Art Luby’s Paul Gonsalves on the Road is a masterpiece in the making. While the...

Capital Fringe Review: ‘Daydreams’ by Veronique MacRae

As the lights rose, the familiar scene of a bustling New York subway slowly emerged upon the stage. A ‘Chatty Cathy’ filled the air with the latest gossip as a woman applied makeup to her face. The...

Capital Fringe Review: ‘Sacred & Scared Get the Same Score in Scrabble’ by Tzvi Kahn

“Listen, it can get lonely up here at the top,” God informs the audience in the opening minutes of Charles Shafer’s breezily amusing one-man show, which seeks, according to the program notes, to...

Stephen Gregory Smith – ‘Naked’ at Sizzlin’ Summer Cabaret by Doug Poms

Stephen Gregory Smith is in love, and he wants the world (or at least cabaret audiences to know it). In his poignant cabaret called Naked, which is part of Signature Theater’s ‘Sizzlin’ Summer...

Capital Fringe Review: ‘The Play About the Coach’ by Jessica Vaughan

The Play About the Coach tracks the three potentially most important minutes of a man’s life and career. It is also one of the tensest hours of theater I’ve experienced and one of the best one-man...

Capital Fringe Festival: ‘Thomas is Titanic’ by Jessica Vaughan

Thomas is Titanic could more accurately be called “Stalking Kate Winslet.” Thomas Choinacky wrote and performed this one-man show about his preoccupation with her and her role in Titanic growing up....

Capital Fringe Review: ‘Blanche: The Bittersweet Life of a Wild Prairie Dame’ by Jessica Vaughan

Blanche: The Bittersweet Life of a Wild Prairie Dame is something special and unlike most musicals I have seen before. Onalea Gilbertson found a photo album of her Grandmother’s as she moved to a...

Capital Fringe Review: ‘Dada Returns (20th Anniversary Edition) by Mariya Danilenko

Dada Returns! is a play in true Dada style; it is completely absurd, irrational and avant-garde. The Dada art movement was created in Europe during the early twentieth century as a reaction to the...

Capital Fringe Review: ‘Lady Luck is a Whore’ by Andrew L. Baughman

Lady Luck is A Whore (What happens in Vegas Stays in this show) is a sharply written one-woman show by NYC based Leanne Linsky. Linsky flexes her Second City and Upright Citizens Brigade trained...

A Preview of ‘Nightmerica’ by B. Stanley

I receive mass email forwards from my right wing religious pro-military uncle in North Carolina every couple of weeks. Inevitably he has had something sent to him in a mass email forward that he feels...

Capital Fringe Review: ‘Nightmerica’ by Andrew L. Baughman

Veteran DC Artist B Stanley, Artistic Director of Theatre Du Jour, has this annoying habit of making me think every time I walk into his theatre. I prefer to live in a fluffy world of superheroes and...

Capital Fringe Review: ‘Medieval Story Land’ by Anne Tsang

Medieval Story Land (Written and Co-Produced by Scott Courlander) is this uproariously funny story of an innocent and naïve elf with a heart of gold named Todd (Forrest Rilling) who meets the...

Capital Fringe Review: ‘Ecce’ by Veronique MaCrae

The attempt to birth a theatrical piece rooted in the history of the Roman takeover of the land of Israel, the conflict for position of authority and favor of Caesar (Thomas McGrath) between Tiberius...

‘How to Train Your Dragon Live Spectacular’ by Joel Markowitz

DreamWork Animations’ How to Train Your Dragon Live Spectacular has landed at The Verizon Center until Sunday with its fire-breathing dragons, wall-to-floor projections, stunning costumes, and...

Capital Fringe Review: ‘The Last Flapper’ by Julia L. Exline

Carmela Lanza-Weil directs The Last Flapper, a theatrical biography of Zelda Fitzgerald, with a passionate solo performance by Kate Erin Gibson as Zelda. Set on the date of her death (March 10th,...

Nibbles and Sips Around Town: ‘Love Thy Neighbor and Their Beer’ by Jordan Wright

What’s more local than partnering with your neighbor? For the food trucks that visit Alexandria’s Port City Brewing Company, producer and neighbor Logan’s Sausage lends kitchen space close by the...