Reviews

Review: ‘A Moon for the Misbegotten’ at Walnut Street Theatre Independence Studio on 3 in Philadelphia

There’s no moon in the newest version of A Moon for the Misbegotten. The set, designed by Andrew Thompson, looks great, but because the ceiling of the Independence Studio on the Walnut Street...

Review: ‘The Complete Deaths of William Shakespeare’ at Cohesion Theatre Company and Baltimore Shakespeare Factory

A Killer Play, Four Centuries in the Making In commemoration of the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death, the Baltimore Shakespeare Factory and Cohesion Theatre Company have joined forces...

Review: ‘The History Boys’ at Dominion Stage

At the first press night of The History Boys by Alan Bennett, the cast and creative team were laughing and joking as the audience began to arrive. A fire had started in the flies of the theater, and...

Review: ‘Exit the King’ by 4615 Theatre Company at the Classroom at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

From what I can gather, 4615 Theatre Company consists of actors, directors, and designers who are, by their own declaration, under 25 years old. They select a play, find a space (basement, rehearsal...

Review: ‘Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street’ at St. Mark’s Players

What better place could there possibly be to mount Sweeney Todd than the magnificent late-Victorian St. Mark’s Church on Capitol Hill? And what more capable or inventive local company could we seek to...

Review: ‘All’s Well That Ends Well’ at The Rude Mechanicals

This Rude Mechanicals’ production of one of Shakespeare’s ‘problem’ plays – All’s Well That Ends Well – is an example of the fact that if you have great writing and a great cast, you don’t need much...

Review: ‘Holy Holy’ at The Birchmere

The best way to celebrate artist David Bowie’s life is to attend a Holy Holy concert. Even David Bowie would have approved. The show played The Man Who Sold the World album with the drumhead featuring...

Review: ‘A Raisin in the Sun’ at Castaways Repertory Theatre

Is a man, especially a black man’s ego and position diminished when he, his wife and son, live in cramped quarters with his mother and sister? Castaways Repertory Theatre explores this as well as...

Review: ‘Once’ at The Academy of Music in Philadelphia

Once is not your usual Broadway musical. From the moment you enter the theater, the inventive staging immediately breaks through the proverbial fourth wall, as you are physically drawn into the...

Nibbles and Sips Around Town: ‘Destination Del Ray for Cozy New Italian Spot;Bethesda Offers Theatre-goers and Cast Members Two Great Dining Options with Silver and Urban Heights;National Geographic Live! Presents “The Science of Delicious”; and Zengo Celebrates 10th Anniversary

Lena’s Wood-Fired Pizza & Tap Alexandria locals have been eagerly anticipating the opening of Lena’s, the splashy new Neapolitan-style restaurant recently opened in the Del Ray neighborhood. All eyes...

Review: ‘Flatland’ at Annex Theater

As originally conceived by Edwin Abbot in the late 19th century, the novella Flatland is a biting satire about Victorian social hierarchies, played out in a two-dimensional world where women are...

Review: ‘The Hard Problem’ at The Wilma Theater in Philadelphia, PA

The head and the heart endeavor to coexist in the Wilma Theater’s latest production of Tom Stoppard’s newest work, The Hard Problem. Rich with provocative questions and challenging to the notions of...

Review: ‘A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder’ at The Kennedy Center

With a wealthy aristocratic family that refuses to acknowledge him, and a money-hungry girlfriend who refuses to marry him, what’s an impoverished young man to do? The unfortunate relatives of Monty...

DCMetroTheaterArts’ Best of 2015 #22: High School and Training Programs

The staff of DCMetroTheaterArts is honored to announce that their 2014 Best Performances in High School and Training Programs go to: HIGH SCHOOL PRODUCTIONS: The Addams Family at West Potomac High...

Meet the Cast of Reston Communty Players’ ‘Master Class’: Part 4: Molly Pinson Simoneau

Here is Part 4 of a series of interviews with the director, producer, and cast of Reston Community Players’ production of Terrence McNally’s Master Class. Meet Molly Pinson Simoneau. Maria Callas, one...

Magic Time! ‘The Critic & The Real Inspector Hound’ at Shakespeare Theatre Company

I just love it when theater laughs at itself. Who can forget the clockwork guffaws of Michael Frayn’s Noises Off, or Shakespeare’s enchanting send-up of theatrical conceits in the “Pyramus and Thisbe”...

Review: ‘The Critic’ & ‘The Real Inspector Hound’ at Shakespeare Theatre Company

The theatre critic might well be the focus of the satiric lampoon, now on stage at Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Lansburgh Theatre, but it is the entire Theatrical Industry that gets speared. Witty...

Review: ‘Snow White’ at Encore Stage & Studio

Encore Stage & Studio presents the beloved childhood tale Snow White, a musical adaption by Tim Kelly, with music and lyrics by Bill Francoeur. A company who produces shows “by kids, for kids,” Encore...

Pianist Brian Ganz and Mezzo-Soprano Magdalena Wór in Their All-Chopin Performance at Strathmore

Songs you’ve never heard of in a foreign language you rarely hear, performed by two artists who started rehearsing them two days earlier. What kind of a formula for success is that? This kind: When it...

Review: ‘A Change Gon’ Come’ by ANKH Repertory Theatre Company, The Finest! Performance Foundation, Inc., and Arts on the Green at The Arts Barn

One concern of many parents and grandparents is that their children will lose sight of family history. A Change Gon’ Come, by Kashi-Tara, dramatically ties together the civil rights issues of today...

Review: ‘Approaching Zanzibar’ at The Players Club of Swarthmore in Swarthmore, PA

Do you know the way to Zanzibar? I’m not sure that any of the characters in Approaching Zanzibar do – even the one character who claims she’s actually been there. But that hardly matters, in because...

Review: ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ at The Broadway Theatre in NYC

I am so glad that Sheldon Harnick, the last surviving member of the creative team of the original production of Fiddler on the Roof, has been able to participate in this glorious revisical. His late...

Review: ‘Venus in Fur’ at The Colonial Players

Like all David Ives plays, Venus in Fur is built on everyday life becoming fantasy, as the primary devices of drama, language, and character, systematically move from ambiguity, to instability, to...

Review: ‘Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike’ at Prince George’s Little Theatre

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike by Christopher Durang, currently showing at Prince George’s Little Theatre in Bowie, is a comedy of zany characters that are caught up in their own personas....

DCMetroTheaterArts’ Best of 2015 #21: Best Design of 2015 in DC Metro Area Theatres

The staff of DCMetroTheaterArts is pleased to honor the following designers for their work in 2015: CHOREOGRAPHY Germaul Barnes for Marley at Centerstage. Michael Bobbitt for Guys and Dolls at Olney...

Review: ‘Twelfth Night’ at Iron Crow Theatre and Cohesion Theatre Company As Part of the Trans Voices Workshop Series

“I say there is no darkness but ignorance.” That’s a direct quote from the Bard himself, good old Willy Shakespeare. It seems appropriate to mention it, because Iron Crow and Cohesion Theatre Company,...

Review: ‘Better Gods’ at The Washington National Opera

Friday night, the Washington National Opera (‘WNO’) premiered a brand new opera, based on the life of the last sovereign in Hawaii, Queen Liliʻuokalani. Better Gods, directed by Ethan McSweeny, was...

Review: ‘Our Town’ at Vagabond Players

Because of technology, our lives move much more quickly than in the past. We can find out information faster, travel places faster, and even have packages arrive at our home faster than we ever could...

Review: ‘Humble Boy’ at Silver Spring Stage

Humble Boy, written by Charlotte Jones, is obviously based on the plot of Shakespeare’s famous Dane, Hamlet. The parallels are purposefully obvious. A young man comes home to his mother. His father...

Review: ‘Moonlight & Magnolias’ at the Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre

What better way to start the new year, but with the delightful comedy Moonlight & Magnolias about the frustratingly funny writing process for the screenplay of the American classic Gone With The Wind....

Review: ‘Wrestling Jerusalem’ at Mosaic Theater Company of DC

Aaron Davidman’s deeply personal solo performance, Wrestling Jerusalem, the opening gambit in Mosaic Theater’s Voices from a Changing Middle East Festival, takes its audience deep into the...

Review: ‘Twelfth Night’ at Laurel Mill Playhouse

William Shakespeare’s delightful comedy Twelfth Night rings in the New Year at Laurel Mill Playhouse. The run of the show cleverly opens on the actual twelfth night, which was the original intention...

DCMetroTheaterArts’ Best of 2015 #19: ‘A Look Back at Dance in 2015’ by Lisa Traiger

For reasons that continue to surprise me, 2015 was a relatively light dance-going year for me. That said, I managed to take in nearly a top ten of memorable, exceptional or challenging performances...

DCMetroTheaterArts’ Best of 2015 #15: Best Directors of Musicals in Professional Theatres

The staff of DCMetroTheaterArts is honored to announce that their 2015 Best Directors of Musicals in Professional Theatres honors go to: Patrick A’Hearn for The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber at...

DCMetroTheaterArts’ Best of 2015 #14: Dance Performances

Here is Rick Westerkamp, Lisa Traiger, Samantha Machar, Madeline Duff, and Yasmeen Enahora’s Best Performances in Dance honors: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater performing Hofesh Schechter’s...

Review: ‘A Jazz New Year’s Eve: Diane Schuur and Strings’ at The Kennedy Center

Having been a fan of Diane Schuur’s since college, I was excited to have the opportunity finally to see her in concert. In fact, the sense of excitement was palpable throughout the audience. I met...

‘Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat’ at the Merriam Theater in Philadelphia

For a musical with such humble beginnings, the recent tour of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat now playing at the Merriam Theater in Philadelphia, shows no signs of its unassuming origins...

DCMetroTheaterArts: Best of 2015 #10: Best Performances in a Musical in Professional Theatres and Special Awards

The staff of DCMetroTheaterArts is honored to announce that their 2015 Best Performances in Musicals in Professional Theatres honors go to: Best Actor in a Musical Andrew Lloyd Baughman as Sweeney...

DCMetroTheaterArts’ Best of 2015 #13 in Theater in The Philadelphia Area

2015 was a great year for theater in Philadelphia and the Philly area reviewers of DCMetroTheaterArts: Tim Dunleavy, Deb Miller, Rachel Beecher, Megan Diehl, and Tori Middleton chime in with their...

DCMetroTheaterArts’ Best of 2015 #9: Best Performances in a Musical in Community Theatres

The staff of DCMetroTheaterArts is honored to announce that their 2015 Best Performances in Musicals in Community Theatres go to: Best Actor in a Musical Rich Amada as Caractacus Potts in Chitty...

An Interview with Virginia Warwick: Aka Olivia the Turtle

I ran into Virginia Warwick, aka Olivia the Turtle, at an arts event a few weeks ago. Virginia frequently assumes the identity of Olivia in an ongoing performance art piece, playing out the story of a...

DCMetroTheaterArts’ Best of 2015 #8: Best Performances in a Play in Professional Theatres

The staff of DCMetroTheaterArts is honored to announce that their Best of 2015: Best Performances in Plays in Professional Theatres go to: BEST ACTOR IN A PLAY Josh Adams as Billy in The Cripple of...

DCMetroTheaterArts’ Best of 2015 #7: Best Performances in a Play in Community Theatres

The staff of DCMetroTheaterArts is honored to announce that their 2015 Best Performances in a Play in Community Theatres go to: Best Actor in a Play Christopher Anderson as Thomas in Venus in Fur at...

DCMetroTheaterArts’ Best of 2015 #6: Best Children’s/Family Productions

Here are the DCMetroTheaterArts Staff’s honorees for Best Children’s Theatre Productions in 2015. Congrats to all our honorees. A Christmas Carol at Hope Garden Children’s Ballet Theatre. A Christmas...

‘Stars of David: Story to Song’ at Theater J

Stars of David: Story to Song—a rapturously beautiful concert musical now in a limited engagement at Theater J—is a unique blend of thrilling singing and insightful biography. Illuminating incidents...

‘The Three Maries – A Philadelphia Phable’ at the Prince Theater in Philadelphia

The Three Maries – A Philadelphia Phable is a Philadelphia musical that wears its civic pride on its sleeve. It’s a celebration of some of the things that make this city like no other, such as the...

DCMetroTheaterArts’ Best of 2015 #5: Best Plays in Community Theatres

The staff of DCMetroTheaterArts is honored to announce that their 2015 Best Plays in Community Theatres honors go to: A Charlie Brown Christmas at Sandy Spring Theatre Group and The City of...

Moscow Ballet’s ‘Great Russian Nutcracker’ at Strathmore

The anticipation before the start of a show is always palpable to friends, family, and performers alike. I sat in the Music Center at the Strathmore, waiting for Moscow Ballet’s Great Russian...

A Report on ‘Photos In The Fire/Fotos En El Fuego’ Performed by The Paso Nuevo Youth Ensemble at GALA Hispanic Theatre

Photos In The Fire/Fotos En El Fuego is the first complete one-act play the Paso Nuevo has created together, a milestone for the GALA Hispanic Theatre‘s community-based performing arts group. By...

New Video Highlights Added: ‘Jekyll & Hyde in Concert’ at Young Artists of America at The Clarice

If ever anyone is in doubt of the future of the arts, go and see a production by the Young Artists of America (YAA). Celebrating its 5th anniversary this coming year, YAA took on the chilling tale of...