Reviews

Review: Cher at The Theater at MGM National Harbor

Accompanied by a phalanx of golden shield-carrying gladiators, The Goddess of Pop strode onstage last night in a massive afro and shimmering turquoise and silver ensemble that exposed one singular,...

Review: ‘Donizetti’s Don Pasquale’ at The In Series: Opera & More

Happiness is a theatrical adaptation that successfully reinvents the original. The In Series’ production of Gabriel Donizetti’s 1843 comic opera Don Pasquale, now playing at GALA Hispanic Theatre (for...

Review: ‘Jekyll & Hyde the Musical’ at the John W. Engeman Theater

The John W. Engeman Theater at Northport’s current production of Jekyll & Hyde the Musical is a nostalgic nod to its first season. Based on the classic novel by Robert Louis Stevenson, with book and...

Review: ‘Three Sisters’ at The Studio Theatre

As improbable as it may sound, the plays of Anton Chekhov are vivid proof that there is such a thing as joyful melancholy. You can commune with his characters’ misfortunes and acknowledge the...

Review: ‘Mnemonic’ at Theater Alliance

Just now when the world is wracked with wave upon wave of ethnic animus—just now when our country has succumbed to xenophobia not seen on these shores for decades—there comes a work of theatrical art...

Review: ‘Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express’ at McCarter Theatre Center

One afternoon in 1979 or 1980, I saw Orson Welles on The Merv Griffin Show discussing his love of mystery stories. One of his favorites, he said, was Murder on the Orient Express. I was young, and I...

Review: ‘No Sisters’ at The Studio Theatre

A shout-out to Studio Theatre co-founder Russell Metheny, who designed the complex on 14th Street, for installing a backstage stairway connecting the dressing rooms of the second-floor Milton and the...

Review: ‘What Every Girl Should Know’ and ‘Dry Land’ in Rep at Forum Theatre

One hundred years separate the young women in What Every Girl Should Know and Dry Land, now playing in rep at Forum Theatre. In Monica Byrne’s What Every Girl Should Know, the four teenage girls are...

An Interview with Anna Szapiro and Johnny Smith: Making the Move from Philadelphia to New York

Following a year of critical acclaim in Philadelphia, which culminated in nominations for both for the Barrymore Award for Best Ensemble, the talented young couple Anna Zaida Szapiro (nominated for A...

Review: ‘Ben Dibble: Are We There Yet? Just a Little Father(hood Cabaret)’ at the Arden Cabaret Series

Ben Dibble might be as fine a cabaret performer as anyone in that field. He demonstrated that with the presentation of Are We There Yet? Just a Little Father(hood Cabaret), produced by the Arden...

Review: ‘Coriolanus’ at Lantern Theater Company

Coriolanus is one of Shakespeare’s least-performed plays – probably because it doesn’t fit easily into any of the standard Shakespearean categories. It’s a tragedy, but one without the epic sweep of...

Review: ‘Deconstruction’ at The Storm Theatre Company

“Who are you?” That is the philosophical question and moral issue raised in playwright Jonathan Leaf’s Deconstruction, a world-premiere three-hander (presented in conjunction with Christopher Ekstrom...

Review: Jay Leno at The Kennedy Center

Iconic television host, celebrated comedian and 2014 Mark Twain recipient Jay Leno returned to the Kennedy Center’s Concert Hall Friday night amped to get the trifecta of St. Patrick’s Day, March...

Review: ‘A Night with Jackie Moms Mabley’ at Germano’s Piattini

Legendary entertainer Loretta Mary Aiken, aka Jackie “Moms” Mabley saw and endured a lot in her 81 years. Born in 1894 in Brevard, North Carolina, Aiken saw racial, sexual and political oppression...

Review: ‘Ironbound’ at Simpatico Theatre

Her face is banged up and she lights a small votive candle before saying a prayer. Although it is freezing, she has created a makeshift bed outside using her white parka as a mattress and an old spare...

Update: Funeral Information: Local Theater and Restaurant Reviewer and Cable TV Host and Producer Rich Massabny Has Passed Away

Here is information on Rich Massabny’s funeral: Viewing: Wednesday, 2 to 4 and 6-8 pm Murphy’s Funeral Home -4200 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA Funeral Service: Thursday: 1 PM Murphy’s Funeral Home...

Review: ‘Grug & the Rainbow’ at The Kennedy Center’s Family Theater

A colorful story wowed the kids and their parents at today’s 1:30 PM performance of the Windmill Theatre Company of Australia’s Grug & the Rainbow, directed by Sam Haren, which ends its brief visit...

Review: ‘The Taming of the Shrew’ at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company

I had so much fun last night at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company’s (CSC) The Taming of the Shrew. There’s no telling what you will get when going to a production of Shrew because it’s known to be one of...

Review: ‘Mad Libs Live!’ at Red Branch Theatre Company

Mad Libs Live! sounds like a political gathering many would want to avoid. But happily it turns out to be a (Fill-in-the-Blank) musical providing peppy songs, millennial-rich humor, and random...

Review: ‘Not My Baby’ at Momentum Collective

What defines parenthood? Are children always a gift? The adoption-themed Hip Hop musical Not My Baby by Alexandria, Virginia-based playwright Jason A. Ellis, explores those questions and more. With...

Review: ‘Needles and Opium’ at The Kennedy Center

Sometimes the viewer of a theatrical experience can only sit in wonder at the spectacle, not because elephants dance on soccer balls or trapeze artists spiral on silken threads, but because actors sit...

A Report on Smithsonian Associates ‘Are the Cards Collapsing?: A ‘House of Cards’ Season 5 Preview’ with Professor Stef Woods

Wednesday night I did something very DC, I attended a talk on politics through the Smithsonian Associates. Not divisive politics, but pop culture politics about the show based on DC/ British politics...

Review: ‘Come From Away’ at The Schoenfeld Theatre

One thing is certain about this new musical, now on Broadway at The Schoenfeld Theatre – it had the youngsters in the audience hooting and hollering and having themselves a fine time from start to...

Review #2: ‘Parade’ at The Keegan Theatre

Arguments have been made that the theater is supposed to be a “safe place” where patrons can go to be entertained, away from the harshness of the world. Yet there is a large(r) number of people who...

Review: ‘Cinderella: A Magical, Musical Tale’ at The American Pops Orchestra

This is what theater is all about and it was my dream when I started DCMetroTheaterArts 5 years ago-to see a venue filled with parents and kids laughing and clapping and having a great time together....

Review: ‘Viva la Zarzuela! The Music of Spain’ at Concert Operetta Theater

Concert Operetta Theater was founded in 2008 to revive and preserve the type of musical theater that’s more lighthearted and accessible than opera, but a bit grander than Broadway. These tuneful...

Review: ‘Ragtime’ at Ford’s Theatre

Glorious! Dazzling! Verve! Bursting at the seams with voices and stories of America’s humanity and originating dreams. These are the words I felt as Ragtime, now at Ford’s Theatre, unfolded before me....

Review: ‘Dad Jokes: A Stand Up Tragedy by Emily Hall’ at Annex Theater

Dad jokes are an odd construct. As likely to make you cringe as to laugh, they are both funny and not funny at the same time. You may laugh at a dad joke, but you almost feel bad that you did. On...

Review: ‘The Price’ at Roundabout Theatre Company at The American Airlines Theatre

This is one of Arthur Miller’s successes, and though it’s been revived three times on Broadway since it first appeared in 1968, it has never attracted the audiences that flocked to Death of a...

Review: ‘The Gravedigger’s Lullaby’ at TACT

Jeff Talbott established himself as a writer of great promise with the MCC Theater production of his first play The Submission in 2011. This excellent actor/playwright joined The Actors Company...

Review #1: ‘Parade’ at The Keegan Theatre

An intriguing musical piece of consequential historical value, The Keegan Theatre’s production of the Award-winning musical Parade is unapologetically dark and honest. Based on actual events, the...

Review: The Philadelphia Orchestra Performs Seeger, Berg & Beethoven with Guest Conductor Michael Tilson Thomas

Contrast was stark in the concert which Michael Tilson Thomas led with The Philadelphia Orchestra. The first half displayed two radically dissonant pieces from the 1930s — Ruth Crawford Seeger’s...

Review: ‘John & Jen’ at The Eagle Theatre

Welcome to the world It’s such a funny place The people who you love the most Are also the ones Who make you cry I’m not sure why A girl sings these lines to her newborn brother in the opening moments...

Review: ‘The Miss Firecracker Contest’ at South Camden Theatre Company

Beth Henley stocks her plays with characters that are distinctive and outlandish, right down to their names. The Miss Firecracker Contest, her wily and witty comedy now being revived at South Camden...

Review: ‘Henry V’ at Cohesion Theatre Company

I was a bit skeptical when I first heard about Cohesion Theatre Company (“Cohesion”) setting its production of Shakespeare’s Henry V in Appalachia, smack dab in the middle of the feud between the...

Bethesda Little Theatre’s ‘Let’s Not Talk About Love’ Plays March 24-26th: ‘Inside The Numbers’ Part 1

We’re not going to be talking about love, but I bet you can guess what we will be doing…singing about it…a LOT! So strap in, because you’re going to get two solid hours of some fantastic musical...

Review: ‘Coolatully’ at Solas Nua

In the fictional village of Coolatully, a quartet of characters grapple with the effects of Ireland’s newest mass emigration. The brief and heady era of the Celtic Tiger was over; a mass exodus was...

Review: ‘Evening at the Talk House’ at Pershing Square Signature Center

With the spate of openings in March, I wasn’t able to get to Wallace Shawn’s new play, the New Group’s production which played a strictly limited engagement through March 12, 2017, only until the day...

Review: ‘Night Watch’ at Bowie Community Theatre

The setting is mysterious, the music is strange, and the lighting is ominous. This is what one will experience when attending Bowie Community Theatre’ Night Watch, a murder mystery by Lucille...

Review: ‘Night at the Wax Museum’ at Encore Stage & Studio

Encore Stage and Studio presents Night at the Wax Museum, a play by Craig Sodaro. A company known for theater “by kids, for kids!,” Encore leads and encourages children who show interest and promise...

Review: ‘The Circle of Life: The Songs of Tim Rice’ at Young Artists of America

When you have over 100 talented musicians and singers filling the Strathmore stage, you know you are in for some great singing and playing from Young Artists of America. In a world premiere concert,...

Review: ‘Paper Dreams’ at Imagination Stage

One of the wonders of children is their capacity to take the simplest object and create a whole new world filled with curiosity and excitement. Paper Dreams, a new children’s dance theatre production...

Review: ‘Dogfight’ at Rockville Musical Theatre and Arts on the Green

War, friendship, and love are serious elements in a man or woman’s life. Rockville Musical Theatre’s production of Dog Fight explores those elements through the music and lyrics of Benj Pasek and...

Review: ‘Rock of Ages’ at Reston Community Players

Here’s something I bet you never wanted to think about again: the ‘80s and your hairstyle. Good. Now that I’ve unlocked a horror all too unimaginable, let’s revisit a sexier time in our history. A...

Review: ‘Marx in Soho’ at Nu Sass Productions

Nu Sass’ latest Small Batch production is Howard Zinn’s one-actor Marx in Soho. It is another highly successfully, nervy production by Nu Sass with it mantra, “strong women, great theatre.” It is...

Review: ‘How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying’ at The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC

Last night, I had the pleasure to see the the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying as performed by the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC....

Review: ‘Mom Baby God’ at Single Carrot Theatre

Sinister things are lurking just below the surface at the “2018 Students for Life Conference” in Washington, DC, which is where Madeline Burrows’ disturbing solo show Mom Baby God, about the youth...

Review: ‘The Lyons’ at Isis Productions

Expletives, insults, and accusations fly, when an unhappy wife, alcoholic daughter, and gay son gather in the hospital room of their dying husband and father for a farewell verbal slug-fest. Isis...

Review: ‘Lucky Stiff’ at Silhouette Stages at Slayton House

The musical Lucky Stiff with book and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens and music by Stephen Flaherty opened March 10, 2017, at Silhouette Stages and performed at Slayton House in Columbia, MD, under the...

Review: ‘From the Mouths of Monsters’ at The Kennedy Center

From the Mouths of Monsters, a world premiere Kennedy Center commission by award-winning playwright Idris Goodwin, directed by Dougie Irvine, is a gripping, intense glimpse into the mind of...