Reviews

Preview: ‘That Part is True’ at Atlas INTERSECTIONS Festival

That Part Is True, written and directed by DC local Madeline Farrington, is a psychological thriller for the resistance featuring activists, intrigue, betrayal, and garden stakes. As a blizzard...

In the Moment: ‘Power and Lunch’ at Atlas INTERSECTIONS Festival

In the DMV area, there are plenty in the political and social elite who can be found clicking away on their social media working hard to make us aware of what we should think. These same folks are...

Review: ‘Brilliant Traces’ at The WorkShop Theater

Through the hand of fate, two lonely and damaged strangers have been brought together in an isolated cabin in the Alaskan wilderness, each suffering the effects of familial trauma, the devastation of...

Review: ‘Fire and Air’ at Classic Stage Company

Terrence McNally has been a steady contributor as a playwright ever since his first play, And Things That Go Bump In The Night landed on Broadway in 1963. It didn’t bump for long; it played a few...

Review: ‘The Raid’ at Theater Alliance

Can social justice happen without militancy? Can ideals of equality become real without resort to violence? These questions gnaw at the mind during Theater Alliance’s powerfully eloquent staging of...

Review: ‘Hobson’s Choice’ at Quotidian Theatre

Hobson’s Choice is a winner. The play – a sparkling comedy with a terrific cast – just opened at the Quotidian Theatre Company, a jewel of a playhouse tucked into the rear of the Writer’s Center in...

In the Moment: DIAVOLO ‘The Veterans Project: A Long Journey Home’ at The Kennedy Center

“We all move, we all walk, we all run, we all fall, we all can even dance.” said Artistic Director Jacques Heim of DIAVOLO. With a motto of “architecture in motion” DIAVOLO will be bringing its highly...

Review: ‘The Farnsworth Invention’ at 1st Stage

In 1920, a fourteen-year-old boy in Idaho, named Philo Farnsworth, asked his science teacher for advice on a design he was working on for an electronic television system. Seven years later, that kid...

Review: ‘The Lathe of Heaven’ at Spooky Action Theater (Women’s Voices Theater Festival)

Puppets, people, props, projections, and sci-fi pop up a lot on DC stages, but not often with the narrative verve, literary cred, and nonstop wit of The Lathe of Heaven. Adapted and directed by...

Review: ‘The Boys Next Door’ at the Port City Playhouse

Review by Betsy Lizotte The Port City Playhouse production of The Boys Next Door is playful, yet provocative. This community theater, operating out of the Sleepy Hollow United Methodist Church in...

Dangereuse: The Two Noras: ‘Noura’ at the Shakespeare Theatre Company (Women’s Voices Theater Festival)

Noura, the story of a Chaldean Christian refugee from Iraq, is a magnificent production. The acting is first-rate, the technical aspects flawless, the whole experience complex and full of deep...

Review: ’35mm: A Musical Exhibition’ at George Mason University School of Theatre

35mm: A Musical Exhibition is referred to as a musical by the directors, but it is different from the way many think about the standard musical. The George Mason University School of Theatre and the...

Review: ‘Count Down’ at Strand Theater Company (Women’s Voices Theater Festival)

The seven teenage girls in The Strand Theater Company’s production — and regional premiere — of Count Down are the standout stars of the show. From the performances of the actors playing the girls and...

Review: ‘The Veils’ at Nu Sass Productions (Women’s Voices Theater Festival)

Written by Hope Villanueva, The Veils explores the dualities of identity and traverses the delicate terrain of PTSD. This show, produced by Nu Sass Productions, is enjoying its world premiere at the...

Review: ‘U-Street, The Musical’ at Momentum Collective

U-Street, The Musical, directed by Alexandria, Virginia-based playwright Jason A. Ellis, explores the tribulations of the homeless in an engaging story punctuated with humor, song, dance, and a touch...

Review: ‘Light Years’ at Signature Theatre

How does someone pay honor to a deceased parent whom they loved dearly? How does a son give thanks to his father? And when does a son really come to learn what a father went through, in those many...

Review: ‘Chess’ at the Kennedy Center

Who knew a game of chess could be so rock ’n roll? Or so sexy? Or set off rumblings of nuclear war? The semi-staged concert version of Chess, the 1984 rock opera playing a short run at the Kennedy...

Take the Stage Announces Annual Broadway Revue ‘Dynamic’

Dynamic showcases the best of Broadway and movie musical numbers choreographed by our own talented directors and special guest artists including Broadway and film actress and New York choreographer...

Review: ‘Translations’ at The George Washington University

There’s a lovely scene just before intermission that is both heartwarming and heartbreaking. It is 1833 in agricultural County Donegal Ireland, and two star-crossed lovers—Maire (Samantha Gonzalez), a...

Review: ‘George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic’ Funk Up the Howard Theatre

George Clinton, legendary songwriter, bandleader, and record producer, at 76 years young, put on a rapturous, stunning, extraterrestrial funk fest at the Howard Theatre on a warm February night in...

Review: ‘NSO Pops: West Side Story in Concert’ at The Kennedy Center

West Side Story remains glorious from its opening notes to its incredibly powerful final curtain. The National Symphony Orchestra’s (NSO) Pops concert version adds its own distinctive, intelligent...

Review: ‘Frankenstein’ at St. Luke’s Theatre

Marking the bicentennial of Mary Shelley’s classic horror novel of 1818, Frankenstein, a new musical with book, music, and lyrics by Eric B. Sirota, focuses less on the monster and more on the man...

Review: ‘Hey, Look Me Over!’ by Encores! at City Center

To celebrate its 25th anniversary, the very successful Encores! series threw us a party by offering its seven audiences (February 7–11) a potpourri of book scenes and musical numbers from eight...

Review: ‘No Word in Guyanese For Me’ by the Rainbow Theatre Project (Women’s Voices Theater Festival)

No Word In Guyanese For Me challenges our social conditioning around gender norms, identity, immigration, religion, and sexuality. Rainbow Theatre Project remounts this award-winning play by Wendy...

Review: ‘Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day’ at Adventure Theatre MTC

Have you ever had a day where absolutely every little thing goes wrong? Well, Alexander has. In the musical version of Judith Viorst’s book, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad...

Review: ‘Noura’ at Shakespeare Theatre Company (Women’s Voices Theater Festival)

Imagine this: it is the night before Christmas. A silent snow blankets New York City, and inside a spare living room, a woman dozes in front of her Christmas tree. Her adolescent son snuggles into the...

Review: ‘Death by Design’ at The Potomac Playmakers

By Karen Lane Walking into the elegant, bright theater hall of The Woman’s Club, the audience happily chatters away anticipating a fun-filled evening. Before them on the stage, a cozy English sitting...

Who’s in Town? Jamie Bernstein Reflects on Dad Leonard Bernstein’s Legacy in ‘The Bernstein Story’ at Strathmore

The first time music hit me – and it hit me hard – was when I was seven. My mom handed me Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story, a bright-red album whose rhythms were as hot as the album cover...

In the Moment: ‘Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill’ at Creative Cauldron

“Don’t threaten me with love, baby. Let’s just go walking in the rain,” is a quote attributed to the late, and lost-too-soon, singer Billie Holiday (1915-1959). Creative Cauldron’s production of Lady...

Review: ‘The Princess and the Pauper – A Bollywood Tale’ at Imagination Stage

Imagination Stage proudly debuts The Princess and the Pauper- A Bollywood Tale, a musical adaptation of the classic Mark Twain novel. Written exclusively for Imagination Stage by Anu Yadav (read my...

Review: ‘Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill’ at Creative Cauldron

No one sinks her hook in you like Billie Holiday. You listen to her, following her voice as it quavers like a flickering torch and, when you recover, you’re bound to her forever. She’s the fellow...

Review: ‘Stick Fly’ by ANKH Repertory at the Gaithersburg Art Barn

Stick Fly is a boiling stew of classism, colorism, parent-child dynamics, unspeakable secrets, and marital choices. With a cast every bit the equal of Lydia R. Diamond’s Broadway-produced script, you...

Review: ‘Aubergine’ at Olney Theatre Center (Women’s Voices Theater Festival)

There are certain meals that stay with you forever. It could be the pie that your mom makes every Christmas, the soup that you made for your son when he had the flu, or the casserole you made your...

Review: ‘Peepshow’ at dog & pony dc

“Who here is a feminist?” asked the Ring Announcer (Amelia Hensley). As she signed, wearing a bright red pantsuit and standing on a thick padded mat as used for a contact-sport match, a nearby hearing...

Review: ‘The Romantic Violin for Two’ by the National Chamber Ensemble

The Romantic Violin for Two by the National Chamber Ensemble was a tour of the different types of love, the sorrows and joys love brings, and most importantly the power it possesses to move the heart....

Review: ‘I Hate Hamlet’ at Spotlighters Theatre

When attending a show whose premise is a “play within a play,” look around. All of those audience members who are cracking up at things that are going right over your head are theatre people, the term...

Review: ‘Michael Feinstein Presents Laura Osnes’ at AMP by Strathmore

DC-based Broadway lovers rejoice: Michael Feinstein, reigning king of the Great American Songbook, is bringing his signature cabaret-style show to the DC region. Feinstein has partnered with...

Review: ‘Cabaret Rising’ by TBD Immersive at Dupont Underground

“Let your joy be an act of resistance!” proclaims the woman who has seized the stage underneath Dupont Circle. She’s wearing a top hat, winged liner, and a stylish frock coat. A lineup of cabaret...

Review: ‘All She Must Possess’ at Rep Stage (Women’s Voices Theater Festival)

An evening of wordplay on the meanings and messages of Modern art awaits audiences at All She Must Possess. This is another worthy world premiere from the venturesome Rep Stage Company at Howard...

Review: ‘The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940’ at Bowie Playhouse

Complete with double identities, hidden passages, murders, and mystery, The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940 is the type of comedy that blends the serious with the silly. Sharply directed by Jane B....

Review: ‘Familiar’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

When the 2018 Women’s Voices Theater Festival comes to a close and the hits to emerge from it are tallied, Danai Gurira’s comedy Familiar will surely be on the shortlist. Gurira’s play Eclipsed—a...

Review: ‘Titanic in Concert’ at the Heritage Players

Titanic in Concert, story and book by Peter Sone, lyrics and music by Maury Yeston, opened this weekend at the Heritage Players at the Rice Auditorium in Catonsville. This 1997 Tony Award-winning...

Ferocious, Compelling ‘Coriolanus’ Emerges at Brave Spirits Theatre

“Destroy’d his country, and his name remains to the ensuing age abhorr’d.” Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, as directed by Charlene V. Smith, takes the audience at Brave Spirits Theatre through the frenzied...

Review: ‘The Great Society’ at Arena Stage

Lyndon Johnson’s 1964 margin of victory – nearly 16 million popular votes and a lopsided total of 486 electoral votes – is almost unimaginable today. Armed as well with a 68-32 majority in the Senate,...

Review: ‘The Chekhov Dreams’ at Theatre Row

Whether you love the works of Russian playwright Anton Chekhov or hate them, you can’t help but enjoy The Chekhov Dreams, a dark and witty world-premiere rom-com by John McKinney. Presented at Theatre...

Preview: Howard Community College’s Arts Collective Presents ‘W.I.G. Valentine Affair’ at HCC

Underscoring the romance of the Valentine Holiday, W.I.G. Valentine Affair is presented by Howard Community College’s Arts Collective (AC) and its popular improv troupe, “What Improv Group?!?!”...

In the Moment: Interview with Patrick Lord, Projection Designer

For regular theater-goers, we have seen that projection design is not a fad or an eye-popping, one-time visual effect. Projection design has become an integral part of many a production’s overall...

Review: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater at the Kennedy Center

For the sixth consecutive year, Alvin Ailey renewed its February tradition of hosting a gala evening of dance to raise funds for gifted young dancers in the DMV. The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater...

Review: ‘Something Rotten!’ at the National Theatre

Something Rotten! at the National Theatre reminds us of why we loved theater in the first place. The Broadway show received ten Tony nominations, and this national tour is pure joy. The cast sent out...

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Philadelphia Orchestra Prepare to Dazzle Washington DC

The words “Chicago” and “Philadelphia” conjure up immediate images across all the human senses. In theater and movies, the musical Chicago and the movie The Philadelphia Story (or maybe Rocky) all...