Reviews

Review: ‘They Don’t Pay? We Won’t Pay!’ at Ambassador Theater

How fortunate we are in the DC area, a locale that seeks status as a world class city, to have the Ambassador Theater in our midst. The Ambassador Theater has a mission to build international cultural...

Review: ‘Driving Miss Daisy’ at Act II Playhouse in Ambler, PA

An enchanting version of the familiar tale, Act II Playhouse’s Driving Miss Daisy serves up a delightful cast and a pleasant story that both challenges and charms. Originally written in 1987, Alfred...

The 2015/16th Annual WATCH AWARD WINNERS

Announcement of Nominations 16th Annual Washington Area Theatre Community Honors THE WATCH AWARDS Winners Were Announced on Sunday, March 6. 2016 at The Birchmere, in Alexandria, VA WINNERS ARE IN...

Review #2: ‘Sarafina!’ at Howard University

“Freedom is coming tomorrow!” exclaims the students of Howard University’s Department of Theatre Arts in Sarafina! a musical written by Mbongeni Ngema and directed by Eric Ruffin that explores the...

Review: ‘The Women’ at EgoPo Classic Theater in Philadelphia

If your best friends’ husbands were cheating on them, would you tell them? Or would you tell everyone else? The second installment of EgoPo Classic Theater’s 2015-16 “Season of American Giants II” is...

Review: ‘Something Like Jazz Music’ at Single Carrot Theatre

Something Like Jazz Music, at Single Carrot Theatre in Baltimore, is something like a montage time traveling piece, with challenging parts that engaged me and the audience to rethink the way local...

Review: ‘Wild Oats’ at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company

Comedies trading on the mistaken identity theme have been around a long time. Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night comes to mind. And more than two hundred years after that, a fellow named John O’Keeffe penned...

Here Are The 16th Annual/2015/WATCH AWARD WINNERS

Announcement of Nominations 16th Annual Washington Area Theatre Community Honors THE WATCH AWARDS Winners Were Announced on Sunday, March 6. 2016 at The Birchmere, in Alexandria, VA WINNERS ARE IN...

Review: ‘Hamlet’ at Cohesion Theatre Company

Anemic Royalty: Come as You Are to Elsinore I have a new favorite production of Hamlet and I saw it right here in Charm City. I’ve seen Hamlet done very well before, but I’ve never seen anything like...

Review: ‘One Night Only’: Sutton Foster at the Merriam Theater in Philadelphia

Though she may boast two Tony Awards, a resume full of magnificent leading ladies, and starring roles on two recent television series, Sutton Foster becomes refreshingly low-key in her acclaimed solo...

Review: ‘Defending the Caveman’ at Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope, PA

Ever since Rob Becker started performing a one-man comedy show called Defending the Caveman back in the 1980s, its popularity has grown steadily. And in the time since the show played a two-year run...

Review: ‘Noises Off’ at Silhouette Stages

Silhouette Stages’ play-within-a-play Noises Off by Noises Off, produced by Jeremy Goldman and directed by Conni Ross is playing at Slayton House in Columbia, MD. If you have never seen a production...

Review: Laurie Anderson’s ‘Language of the Future: Letters to Jack’ at The Kennedy Center

Cellist Rubin Kodheli joins the legendary performance artist Laurie Anderson on stage at The Terrace Theater for a presentation of her new multimedia work, the memory-haunting Language of the Future:...

Review: ‘Fool for Love’ at Port City Playhouse

Sam Shepard’s 1983 one-act play, Fool for Love, is now playing at Port City Playhouse. This talented four-person cast, directed by Jon Townson, lights up the intimate space in the Lab at Convergence....

Review: ‘Too Much Sun’ at ISIS Productions in Philadelphia

Philadelphia’s own Nicky Silver delivers once again with Too Much Sun, a modern play focusing on a family and the drama that comes with a summer house in Cape Cody. The framing, shape, and journey of...

Review: ‘Bad Jews’ at Greenbelt Arts Center

“All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way,” wrote Leo Tolstoy in his classic novel Anna Karenina. Bad Jews, by Joshua Harmon, playing at Greenbelt Arts Center, and...

Review: ‘Little Women’ at Aldersgate Church Community Theater

Aldersgate Church Community Theater brings the timeless tale of Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy to life in the classic Louisa May Alcott tale Little Women, adapted by Roger Wheeler. Director Ashley Amidon and...

John Jiler on 11th Hour Theatre Company’s Next Step Concert Series’ Performance of ‘Big Red Sun’ in Philadelphia

Big Red Sun, the post World War Two-era musical Georgia Stitt and I are developing at the 11th Hour Theatre Company of Philadelphia, began life at the Stephen Schwartz ASCAP workshop ten years ago. We...

Review: ‘Hughie’ at The Booth Theatre in New York City

Jason Robards first played the central character in this Eugene O’Neill one-act mood piece; that was in 1964. That character isn’t “Hughie” — no, he’s gone to his reward just before first curtain. But...

Review: ‘The Lion’ at Arena Stage

Award-winning singer-songwriter and guitarist Benjamin Scheuer electrified Arena Stage’s Arlene and Robert Kogod Cradle last night, debuting his one-man musical, The Lion. Affable, handsome and...

Review: ‘The Humans’ at Roundabout Theatre at the Helen Hayes Theatre in New York City

“Suddenly there is God so quickly” is one of those gems in Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire, and it flashed into my mind as I watched Stephen Karam’s play, his first on Broadway. The...

Review: ‘Sarafina!’ at Howard University

Even if you already know how inspiring and moving this show is, from seeing the film or the musical on stage, you are in for a spirit-lifting, heart-leaping, foot-stomping thrill when you experience...

Review: ‘Capriccio’ at The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia

What’s a countess to do? Should the young widow, Countess Madeleine, marry the poet Olivier or the composer Flamand? Such is the dilemma of Richard Strauss’s final opera, Capriccio–a clever allegory...

Liz Filios Takes on Shakespeare in ‘As You Like It’ at Lantern Theater Company in Philadelphia

A multiple Barrymore Award winner, Liz Filios has twice been recognized as Best Actress in a Musical for her lead roles in Midsummer [a play with songs] at Inis Nua Theatre Company in 2014–the same...

Review: ‘New York City Ballet Program A’ at The Kennedy Center

The Yankees of ballet are in top-notch form after a successful winter season in Manhattan. Someone recently asked me why I favored the New York City Ballet above all other American ballet companies. I...

Review: ‘Othello’ at Shakespeare Theatre Company

General Othello breaks up a drunken duel. The crowd of cheering military men disperses, and all that remains are Iago, Othello’s trusted advisor, and Lieutenant Cassio, who was also the instigator of...

Review: ‘Jerry Blavat: Salute to Street Corner Harmony’ at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia

It’s easy to see that Philadelphia native Jerry Blavat loves bringing his favorite music back to town, and in turn the city of Philadelphia loves to welcome back one of its own. Blavat’s Salute to...

Review: ‘The Silver Age in Russian Poetry in Music’ at the Russian Chamber Art Society

The musical imagery of the material presented by Washington’s Russian Chamber Art Society is so distinctive that its substantial audiences actually crave the work that goes into listening to it as...

Review: ‘Ladybug Girl & Bumblebee Boy: The Musical’ at Hylton Performing Arts Center

Hylton Performing Arts Center’s Hylton Family Series presented a one-day showing of Ladybug Girl and Bumblebee Boy, the Musical. The musical, produced by Bay Area Children’s Theatre, was a high-energy...

Review: ‘Baltimore’ at The University of Maryland’s School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies at The Clarice

I saw the whole of Baltimore From May until December Of all the things that happened there That’s all that I remember. — Countee Cullen, “The Incident” It’s interesting how one negative incident can...

Review: Pianist András Schiff with Washington Performing Arts at Strathmore

If there is a spiritual content to music – music by itself, no lyrics, just abstract sound – then many listeners down through history have claimed to hear it in the final works of great composers. The...

Review: Aaron Reeder in ‘Beyond the Lights: Discovering Sammy Davis, Jr.’ at The Anacostia Community Museum

On Saturday, February 27, 2016, a fortunate group of people were treated to Baritone Aaron Reeder’s one-man show Beyond the Lights: Discovering Sammy Davis, Jr., a mixture of show and lecture,...

Review: ‘Word Becomes Flesh’ & ‘for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf’ at Theater Alliance

There is a critical conversation going on in Anacostia right now that may be one of the most urgent and honest exchanges between black women and black men the American theater has ever known. The...

Review: ‘Beauty and the Beast’ at The Puppet Company

The Puppet Company presents Beauty and the Beast, with script by Terry Snyder and adapted for the Puppet Co. by Eric Brooks and Ora Fruchter. This production is a winner of a Citation of Excellence...

Review: ‘The Dancing Princesses’ at Creative Cauldron

Creative Cauldron presents The Dancing Princesses, a Learning Theater production adapted by Ellen Selby and Laura Connors Hull, with music by Matt Conner and lyrics by Matt Conner and Stephen Gregory...

Review: ‘An Evening with Groucho’ at Hylton Performing Arts Center

“Groucho, please don’t die!” a woman is said to have begged the great comedian near the end of his seventy or so years in show business. She had grabbed on to him, clutching his arm. Frank Ferrante –...

Review: ‘Treasure Island’ at Encore Stage & Studio

Encore Stage & Studio first began in 1967 as The Children’s Theatre of Arlington and has produced over 175 shows. Their most recent production is a clever and fun adaption, by Playwright and Composer...

Review: ‘The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)’ at The Little Theatre of Alexandria

It is funny! Building from a witty start to a raucous, hilarious ending, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) at The Little Theatre of Alexandria offers a joyful send-up of all the...

Review: ‘Crimes of the Heart’ at NextStop Theatre Company

Before there was Desperate Housewives, before there was Sex in the City, before there was Thelma and Louise, there was the play, Crimes of the Heart. Beth Henley’s Pulitzer Prize winning play opened...

Review: ‘Smoke’ at Theatre Exile in Philadelphia

For more than a decade, Theatre Exile has made pushing the envelope their specialty. They’ve made themselves the city’s go-to company for sexy – and occasionally sexually explicit – theatre. Last...

Review: ‘Local Girls’ at Azuka Theatre in Philadelphia

Diskit (Anna Zaida Szapiro) is a high-school junior and a wiz at chemistry; Riley (Mary Tuomanen) is a senior in a heavy metal band who is failing her chemistry class. When Diskit (“It’s a family...

Meet the Cast of Laurel Mill Playhouse’s ‘Man of La Mancha’: Part 1: Fred Nelson

In Part 1 of a series of interviews with the cast of Laurel Mill Playhouse’s Man of La Mancha, meet Fred Nelson. Please introduce yourself and tell our readers where they may have seen you perform on...

Review: Ramsey Lewis and John Pizzarelli: ‘Straighten Up and Fly Right-The Nat King Cole Tribute’ at the Merriam Theater

There are few artists who have honored the legacy of Nat King Cole into the modern era the way singer/guitarist John Pizzarelli has. Early in his career he recorded two Cole tribute albums, Dear Mr....

Review: ‘The Normal Heart’ at Vagabond Players

Motivational Speaker David Joseph Schwartz once wrote, “To fight fear, act. To increase fear, wait, put off, postpone.” In their latest production during their 100th year of being America’s Oldest...

Review: ‘Director’s Cut’ at The Washington Ballet at The Kennedy Center

Ballet Elevated Earlier this month, the dance world rumbled a bit upon learning of the resignation of The Washington Ballet’s high-energy, effervescent Artistic Director Septime Webre. Since his...

Review: ‘NSO Pops: Broadway Today with Darren Criss & Betsy Wolfe’ at The Kennedy Center

While most of the week here in Washington, DC has been dreary and rainy, the weekend is off to a bright start as Darren Criss and Betsy Wolfe joined the National Symphony Orchestra, under the...

Review: ‘Man of La Mancha’ at Laurel Mill Playhouse

Laurel Mill Playhouse proves the dream is possible in their powerful production of Man of La Mancha. This 1964 musical with its book by Dale Wasserman and music and lyrics by Mitch Leigh and Joe...

Review: Filter Theatre’s ‘Twelfth Night’ at The Clarice

Everything about Filter Theatre’s Twelfth Night, playing at University of Maryland’s Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, is unconventional. It’s part-musical, part-performance art, part-audience...

Review: ‘Hick: A Love Story’ at Baltimore Theatre Project

Eleanor Roosevelt, beloved First Lady, wife of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, was a surprisingly layered woman. Seems she had a relationship with a (clutch the pearls!) woman! No big surprise that...

Review: ‘Lobby Hero’ at Theatre Horizon in Norristown, PA

A complex new production of Lobby Hero at Theatre Horizon takes an exacting look at just how delicate an instrument a moral compass can be. The setting is a commonplace lobby of a Manhattan apartment...