Reviews

Eddie’s Travel Picks: Carmine’s in Atlantic City

It didn’t take long for Carmine’s to become one of my favorite restaurants, even though it isn’t in Baltimore. It was a trip to the Tropicana Hotel in Atlantic City about five years ago that started...

An Embarrassment of Riches at the Tuesday Evening Concert Series at UVA in Charlottesville

A huge profusion of classical trios, quartets and quintets is now hunting for audiences around the country. I’ll bet all of them would kill to get on one concert series in particular, and I don’t mean...

Review: ‘Freaky Friday’ at Signature Theatre

In its world premiere at Signature Theatre, the musical Freaky Friday is a warm, sweet, accomplished family-friendly confection with a progressive message. It is a contemporary musical about...

Review: ‘Cinderella’ With the San Francisco Ballet at The Kennedy Center

There are no pumpkins to be found in this Cinderella. The San Francisco Ballet’s version, created by Choreographer Christopher Wheeldon and librettist Craig Lucas, departs from the Perrault story most...

Fringe Encore Series Review:‘The Radicalization of Rolfe’ at SoHo Playhouse in NYC

A deserving winner of the FringeNYC Overall Excellence Award for a play, The Radicalization of Rolfe, produced by Glenn Krutoff, is a uniquely witty original take-off on The Sound of Music. Instead of...

Meet the Cast of ‘School of Rock’ at West Potomac High School: Part 1: Josh Turner

In Part 1 of a series of interviews of the cast of West Potomac High School’s School of Rock, meet Josh Turner. Introduce yourself to our readers. Josh: My name is Josh Turner and I have been doing...

Magic Time! ‘Rameau’s Nephew’ at Spooky Action Theater

There comes a scene in Rameau’s Nephew at Spooky Action Theater when Robert Bowen Smith playing He (the titular character) coughs an aria. Literally. Just like an opera singer except without music or...

Review: The National Chamber Ensemble’s ‘A Night In Vienna’

The National Chamber Ensemble opened it’s 10th season last Saturday at the Rosslyn Spectrum Theatre. The concert called, A Night In Vienna was a collaboration with the Austrian Cultural Forum. The...

Review: ‘Gypsy’ at Reston Community Players by Caroline Griswold Short

The Reston Community Players (RCP) opened their 50th Anniversary season on Friday with Gypsy, known as one of the great American musicals. With music by Jule Styne, lyrics by a young Stephen Sondheim,...

Review: ‘The Trump Card’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

The Trump Card, an original solo performance by monologist extraordinaire Mike Daisey, is a searing punch in the gut to rival any leaked Access Hollywood tape. The current production, which only runs...

Review: Lindsey Stirling ‘Brave Enough’ Tour at DAR Constitution Hall

Promoting her third studio album Brave Enough in a tour of the same name, Lindsey Stirling has come a long way from her days competing in the fifth season of America’s Got Talent. The violinist, known...

Review: ‘H.M.S. Pinafore’ at 2nd Star Productions

A merriment of song and dance from stunning cast, 2nd Star Productions’ H.M.S. Pinafore, is a toe-tapping delight. The Music is by Arthur Sullivan and Book & Lyrics by W. S. Gilbert. Director Jane B....

Review: ‘A Party To Murder’ at The Little Theatre of Alexandria

A Party to Murder, which opened last night at Little Theatre of Alexandria, is in the style of many Agatha Christie mysteries. Early on in the first act, one of the characters in the play even makes a...

Review: The Romantics III: ‘Schumann & Heine’ at The In series at Source

Close your eyes for just a moment. Imagine that you are comfortably seated in an elegant, yet commodious room, filled with people who have come to share—no, not the latest election scuttlebutt; but...

Here are the 2016 Barrymore Award Winners

Here are the 2016 Barrymore Award Winners (IN RED): F. Otto Haas Award for an Emerging Philadelphia Theatre Artist Alex Bechtel Emma Goidel Justin Jain Bi Jean Ngo Mary Tuomanen * The winner will...

Review: ‘The Rocky Horror Show’ at Bucks County Playhouse

When you take your seat at Bucks County Playhouse and find a paper bag on your seat filled with props – including a baggie full of rice to throw at the stage during a wedding scene – you may realize...

Review: ‘Opera Magic: Highlights from Eugene Onegin’ at the Russian Chamber Art Society

Weaving together the strands of a full opera in a concert setting has to be one of the biggest challenges around for presenters and audiences. Over the past year the Washington area has seen such...

Review: ‘Beertown’ at dog & pony dc at Thurgood Marshall Center for Service & Heritage

I’d never been to Beertown, though I knew it by reputation as a must-visit burg. Folks had told me of this storied hamlet in the heartland where the local citizenry gather every five years to remember...

Review: ‘Rameau’s Nephew’ at Spooky Action Theater

An intellectually manic world, propelled by a charming, whimsical disrupter with an abundance of prickly opinions aimed at the cultural elite, awaits audiences at Spooky Action Theater. It is Rameau’s...

Review: ‘Anne of the Thousand Days’ at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company

Chesapeake Shakespeare Company’s (“CSC”) production of Anne of the Thousand Days, by Maxwell Anderson, hit the stage this weekend. I had the pleasure of attending opening night and enjoying a...

Review: ‘Hamlet’ at Compass Rose Theater

Compass Rose Theater’s production of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, directed by Lucinda Merry-Browne, is subtle and restrained, yet powerful. Wonderful acting and directing meet creative use of...

Review: ‘Bat Boy: The Musical’ at Prince William Little Theatre

I was elated after watching Prince William Little Theatre’s Bat Boy: The Musical at Hylton Performing Arts Center. With story and book written by Keythe Farley and Brian Flemming, music and lyrics by...

Review: ‘The Best Haunted House Ever’ at Encore Stage & Studio

The Best Haunted House Ever, written by Houston playwright Pat Cook, depicts two groups of high school students, one from Jenkins High and the other from Hoover High, who visit the former residence of...

Review #2: ‘An Evening with Chris Botti’ at Strathmore

World-renowned, Grammy Award-winning trumpet superstar Chris Botti returned to Bethesda’s Strathmore Music Center Thursday night to serenade a packed crowd to an elegantly enlivening evening of...

Review: ‘Pride and Prejudice’ at Laurel Mill Playhouse

If you want to see a thoroughly charming romantic comedy, visit the Laurel Mill Playhouse for their lovely production of Pride and Prejudice. Based on the legendary Jane Austen’s 1813 novel, Pride and...

Review: ‘Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play’ at Pulley and Buttonhole Theatre Company in Jenkintown, PA

Aficionados of the TV hit The Simpsons, in particular, won’t want to miss the Philadelphia area premiere of Anne Washburn’s Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play, directed by Bridget Reilly Beauchamp, at...

The Suzanne Farrell Ballet: All-Balanchine Program at The Kennedy Center

Original works of George Balanchine drift onto The John F. Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower stage by The Suzanne Farrell Ballet. Under the direction of Suzanne Farrell, who was once the protégé of George...

Review: ‘A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum’ at American University

A funny thing happens on the way out of American University’s fabulous new production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. You find yourself humming along to “Comedy Tonight” or tapping...

Review: ‘Mystery in the House of Usher: A Poe Tale’ at Ebenezer Maxwell Mansion in Philadelphia

An immersive site-specific mash-up of the stories of Edgar Allan Poe and the game of “Clue,” Edward G. Pettit’s Mystery in the House of Usher: A Poe Tale, staged at the historic Ebenezer Maxwell...

Review: ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ at Gallaudet University’s Theater and Dance Program

Like a gift that keeps on giving, Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream keeps on rekindling. Dreamer after dreamer reconceives it as if anew. And last night that classic spark reignited at Gallaudet...

Review: ‘Radiant Vermin’ at Inis Nua Theatre Company in Philadelphia

To what lengths would you be willing to go to get what you want? That’s the moralizing question posed by English playwright Philip Ridley, in Inis Nua Theatre Company’s Philadelphia premiere of his...

Review: ‘The Philly POPS: ‘Elvis: The King’s Songbook’ at The Kimmel Center

The music and performance style of Elvis Presley lives on and is part of the American psyche. Although the “King” of rock-n-roll is dead, he will never be forgotten. This was evident in The Philly...

Review: ’43 1/2: The Greatest Deaths of Shakespeare’s Tragedies’ at the Logan Fringe Arts Space

Five actors, a stage manager, an audience, and a lot of blood. Nu Sass Productions has remounted its 2013 Capital Fringe hit, complete with gags and cornball and puppets. The pace might not be up to...

Review: ‘Avenue Q’ at Vagabond Players

Vagabond Players’ Avenue Q, expertly directed by Eric C. Stein, is a “Triple Crown”-winning musical (Tony for Best Musical, Best Score and Best Book) with a spectacular cast. The show is another big...

Review: ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?’ at the Colonial Players of Annapolis

The Colonial Players of Annapolis’ Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, directed by Craig Allen Mummey and written by the late Edward Albee, brings the audience on a journey through the breakdown of two...

Review: ‘Hamlet’ at Whiskey-Shine & Pantomime in Shepherdstown, WV

The recently opened Whiskey-Shine & Pantomime theater organization in Shepherdstown makes a stunning debut with an updated, modern day, and outdoor adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Directed...

Review: Rosanne Cash at The Merriam Theater

Rosanne Cash admitted on Thursday night that she looks at the world through a “peculiar prism.” In one of the songs she performed that night, “Modern Blue,” she sang of visiting Barcelona and Paris...

Review: ‘night, Mother’ at Dominion Stage

Depression can be a tricky state; while it entails some sadness, the marker of depression goes beyond sadness. Indeed, it is a mental state that involves many other elements such as hopelessness,...

Review: ‘Stupid Fucking Bird’ at Silver Spring Stage

Stupid Fucking Bird is Aaron Posner’s inspired and irreverent takeoff on Anton Chekhov’s 19th Century play The Seagull. Stupid Fucking Bird follows the plotline of its predecessor, while...

Review: ‘An Evening with Chris Botti’ at Strathmore

Chris Botti and his Band know how to rock a house. “There are a few things that make us different from other bands,” announced popular trumpeter Chris Botti from the stage in the concert hall at The...

Review: ‘A New Brain’ at Theatre Horizon

I definitely would not “rather be sailing…”, I would rather be at Theatre Horizon’s production of A New Brain! The hilarious and touching show follows Gordon Schwinn, a songwriter for a children’s...

Review: ‘The Legend of Georgia McBride’ at Arden Theatre Company in Philadelphia

It’s drag to the rescue in playwright Matthew Lopez’s camp comedy The Legend of Georgia McBride, now in production at Arden Theatre Company. Filled with caustic humor, glitz, and music, and witty...

Review: ‘When the Rain Stops Falling’ at The Wilma Theater in Philadelphia

The Wilma Theater’s production of When the Rain Stops Falling, directed by Blanka Zizka, begins in complete darkness. Then comes the deluge of a rainfall, and one is immediately whisked into the...

An Interview with Martha Stuckey: A Debut Album Launch for Red 40 & the Last Groovement in Philadelphia

Fresh out of the recording studio, Red 40 & the Last Groovement is getting ready for the release of their debut album, She’s Keen to Feed, with a launch party concert at FringeArts on Saturday,...

Review: ‘Mother Courage and Her Children’ at Quintessence Theatre

Janis Dardaris is a force to be reckoned with. As Mother Courage, standing firm with her hands on her hips and wearing a white, shapeless frock covered by a blue sweater, she is a tower of strength...

‘Black Diamond’ by Danish Dance Theatre at The Kennedy Center

The choreographic universe Tim Rushton created for his evening-length contemporary ballet Black Diamond is made up of an engaging accretion of enticing, quirky, and oddball moments in movement. The...

A Report on ‘No Word in Guyanese For Me’ at Rainbow Theatre Project

The dual intersections of tradition and the authenticity of the individual, autonomous human being compartmentalize, collide and—then —slowly merge in the Rainbow Theatre Project’s thought-provoking...

Review: Peter Frampton Raw: An Acoustic Tour at the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater

It was a packed house for Peter Frampton Raw: An Acoustic Tour last night at The Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater. With excitement in the air, the crowd could not sit still ahead of the show, and...

Review: ‘Shadowlands’ at North Bethesda United Methodist Church by Natalie McManus

North Bethesda United Methodist Church’s’ (NBUMC) presentation of William Nicholson’s Shadowlands, directed by Janet Van Albert Replogle, is a delightful and touching real life story of the...

Review: ‘Radio Golf’ at Arena Players

On Friday, I got to do two things I’ve been wanting to do for a while: catch a show at Arena Players and see the play Radio Golf. I’m happy to have had the opportunity to do both. It was a particular...