Virginia

Review: ‘The Four Seasons of Vivaldi and Piazzolla’ at The National Chamber Ensemble

Before a sold-out house Saturday, March 25, 2017, at the Rosslyn Spectrum Theatre, the National Chamber Ensemble wowed the audience with its creative revival of Antonio Vivaldi’s famous Four Seasons,...

In the Moment: An Interview with Peter Meineck, Founder of Aquila Theatre, On Their Production of ‘Our Trojan War’

Let me not then die ingloriously and without a struggle, but let me first do some great thing that shall be told among men hereafter. ― Homer, The Iliad, ‘Book 22’ (Tr. R. Fagles) Do ancient plays...

Review: ‘Midwestern Gothic’ at Signature Theatre

A native Midwesterner myself, I was eager to see Midwestern Gothic, Signature Theatre’s new show that is being touted as Misery meets Fargo, a thriller musical in the vein of Sweeney Todd set “in the...

In the Moment: A Talk with the Pipeline Playwrights: Part Two: Patricia Connelly and Jean Koppen

This is the second installment of In the Moment columns focusing on the Pipeline Playwrights. Pipeline Playwrights is a small collective of accomplished Northern Virginia women playwrights. Pipeline’s...

Review: ‘The Wizard of Oz’ at Mount Vernon Community Children’s Theatre

I don’t think this is Virginia anymore, Mount Vernon Community Children’s Theatre’s production of The Wizard of Oz transported the audience from Munchkin Land to the Emerald City all down a yellow...

Meet the Cast of Providence Players’ ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ Part 2: Mihara India, playing Calpurnia – by Julie Janson

The Providence Players of Fairfax will soon premiere the third production of its 19th season, To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Christopher Sergel, directed by Beth Gilles-Whitehead. Tickets for this...

Riverside Center For The Performing Arts’ ‘Saturday Night Fever’ Plays Through May 7th

The Riverside Center for the Performing Arts in Fredericksburg, Virginia is excited to present the disco musical, Saturday Night Fever starring Michael Notardonato as Tony Manero. Located at 95...

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...

Interview: Michael Bloom, Director of Lisa Kron’s ‘Well’ at 1st Stage

Amy Kotkin recently had a chance to interview Michael Bloom about his upcoming production of Lisa Kron’s Well at 1st Stage. Amy: What initially attracted you to this play? Have you directed it...

Meet the Cast of Providence Players’ ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ Part 1: Sophia Manicone, playing Scout – by Julie Janson

The Providence Players of Fairfax will soon premiere the third production of its 19th season, To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Christopher Sergel, directed by Beth Gilles-Whitehead. Tickets for this...

In The Moment: An Interview With Playwright D. L. Coburn on The MetroStage Production of ‘The Gin Game’

At a comfortable table at Alexandria’s Extra Perks Coffee Shop and Café, I had the happy opportunity to spend some delightful one-on-one time with The Gin Game‘s playwright D. L. Coburn. Coburn had...

In the Moment: Q&A with Minister Becky May Jenkins, Leader of the Women’s Ecumenical Choir Performing ‘The Gospel of Colonus’ at Avant Bard

An ensemble is very key to the success of a theatrical production. Whenever I go to a theater performance, I make sure to take in those who, while not in the spotlight, still pack a visual and aural...

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: ‘Mrs. Miller Does Her Thing’ at Signature Theatre

With gentleness and clear affection for an unexpected heroine, Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winner James Lapine has written and directed with a disarming touch an endearing new play “with music”;...

In the Moment: Q&A With Bob Telson, Composer of ‘The Gospel at Colonus’ – Now Playing at Avant Bard

Avant Bard’s The Gospel of Colonus is a gorgeous, rapturous musical. Taking a phrase from the Bible, specifically Psalm 100, I found The Gospel of Colonus a “joyful noise” to witness and highly...

Review: ‘The Giver’ at NextStop Theatre Company

I loved the book and hated the movie, so I was really curious to see how The Giver, Lois Lowry’s Newbery award-winning story about a dystopian society where everything has gone to “sameness”, would...

WATCH Award Winners To Be Announced Tonight Beginning at 7 PM. Here Are This Year’s WATCH AWARD Nominations

HERE ARE THE 16TH ANNUAL WATCH AWARD 2017 NOMINATIONS Nominations for outstanding technical achievements. ____ Outstanding Set Design in a Musical (5) Jared Davis – Man of La Mancha – Arlington...

Review: ‘Evil Dead: The Musical’ at Dominion Stage

I don’t even know how to describe what took place at Theatre on the Run last night. All I know is that it was one of the most fun nights I had in the theatre in a very long time. Evil Dead: The...

Review: The Escher String Quartet Chamber Music at The Barns at Wolf Trap

While quartets abound, that quality of coming together and making four musicians truly come together through music is still a difficult task to achieve. This is where The Escher String Quartet stands...

DCMetroTheaterArts: Best of 2016 #17: Special Awards/Best High School and University Performances/Best Community and Professional Theaters of 2016

Here Are DCMetroTheaterArts Staff’s Best of 2016 Honorees: BEST PERFORMANCES IN HIGH SCHOOL PRODUCTIONS: Katie Abramowitz as Molly in Peter and the Starcatcher at Georgetown Day School. Gabby...

Review: ‘The Gospel at Colonus’ at Avant Bard

In 1983, experimental theatre director Lee Breuer wrote and directed a musical that became a worldwide sensation. Blending Black church gospel music and Motown with a story of Greek tragedy, Breuer’s...

Review: ‘The Taming of the Shrew’ at Synetic Theater

Synetic’s The Taming of the Shrew is disarming, decadent, and a great visual rush. It is also great, dialogue-free storytelling with its own edge and outlook. The Synetic production simply cast a...

In the Moment: A Talk with the Pipeline Playwrights: Part One: Ann Timmons and Soo-Jin Lee

Northern Virginia is very much alive and supporting original play development by local playwrights. The diversity of the Northern Virginia demographic provides for fresh experiences to base a play on....

Review: ‘Vive la France: The Magic of Saint-Saens’ at The National Chamber Ensemble

Love was in the air as The National Chamber Ensemble presented their Valentine’s Day performance called Vive la France: The Magic of Saint-Saens. The concert was described as: Celebrate Valentine’s...

Review: ‘No Solemn Silence: A Gilbert & Sullivan Review’ at George Mason University’s Center For the Arts

George Mason University (GMU) launched its Year of Gilbert and Sullivan Celebration with a clever, bright, joyfully sung musical homage to the masterful Gilbert and Sullivan team and its invented...

Interview: Meet ‘The Duskwhales’

I first ran across the Duskwhales when they performed at the 9:30 Club on the Circus Life Podcast 3rd Anniversary Show in the Fall of 2016. I was mesmerized by their psychedelic dress, sound and...

Review: ‘Last of the Red Hot Lovers’ at George Mason University’s Center for the Arts

Neil Simon writes terrific comedy. Tonight, Last of the Red Hot Lovers, directed by Theater J’s Artistic Director Adam Immerwahr, performed by Walnut Street Theatre at George Mason University’s Center...

Review: ‘Blues in the Night’ at Creative Cauldron

Ready for top-notch singing talent that brings the “blues” to vibrant, spicy full life? Then high tail-it to Creative Cauldron (Falls Church) to take-in a cabaret-like revue called Blues in the Night....

Interview: Musician Rachel Levitin

Musician Rachel Levitin embodies passion. She is passionate about her music, life, and friends and is grateful for everything. When she sings, her whole body is enraptured in the music. It is a...

In the Moment: ‘What’s Going On: The Marvin Gaye Project’ at Reston’s CenterStage

As DC area performing arts companies continue to grapple with advancing issues of social justice into the public realm in these stressful days, DC is certainly not alone. In 2015 the Ford Foundation...

In the Moment: ‘Trevor’ at 1st Stage

Under the crafty direction of Alex Levy, 1st Stage’s production of Trevor, penned by Nick Jones, had me in agreement with a recent American Theatre headline calling Jones the “Deadpan Puppet Master of...

Review: ‘Company’ at McLean Community Players

Stephen Sondheim’s gloriously urbane, stylistic and sophisticated musical Company was groundbreaking when it first arrived on Broadway in the Seventies and it still remains relevant today. McLean...

The 2017 Helen Hayes Award Nominations To Be Announced Tonight/A Look Back at The 2016 Recipients

The 2017 Helen Hayes Awards nominations will be announced TONIGHT during a festive gathering beginning at 7 pm on Monday, February 6, 2017, in the Helen Hayes Gallery of Washington’s historic National...

Review: ‘The Gin Game’ at MetroStage

You observe a cozy setting, a two story structure slightly suggestive of institutional. There’s a gliding rocker and curtained windows that filter warm amber light, potted plants, scattered chairs, a...

Review: ‘Trevor’ at 1st Stage

Trevor, directed by Alex Levy and written by Nick Jones, at 1st Stage, is equal parts emotional and thought-provoking. With strong performances throughout, this subversive show is dark comedy at its...

In the Moment: Jewish Plays Project at the Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia

We in DC theater community are constantly on the prowl for new voices with diverse mindsets and new plays on emerging issues to be open to the upcoming generation of possible theater-goers. Whether...

Review: ‘The Lion in Winter’ at The Arlington Players

This past weekend, The Arlington Players opened a solid production of the dark comedy, The Lion In Winter, by Playwright James Goldman. For those unfamiliar with the play, it is a work of fiction but...

Review: ‘Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike’ at Castaways Repertory Theatre

Blue Herons and Other Good Omens Come to Roost in the Castaways Repertory Theatre’s Current Comic Delight If you aren’t familiar with Christopher Durang’s popular comedy Vanya and Sonia and Masha and...

Review: ‘Spring Awakening’ at Zemfira Stage

By Leonard Hughes The plucky Falls Church-based Zemfira Stage has taken on the Tony Award-winning Spring Awakening, a far cry from the company’s joyous summer performance of The Wizard of Oz....

Review: Soprano Ailyn Pérez at The Barns at Wolf Trap

There’s no business like show business, but does that include opera? If in a few years people finally agree that opera is genuinely another form of musical theater, it may be because of the current...

Review: ‘Million Dollar Quartet’ at Riverside Center for the Performing Arts

On December 4, 1956, four young performers found themselves participating in an impromptu jam session in the recording studio of Sun Records in Memphis, TN. Enjoying the early stages of their...

Review: ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ at NextStop Theatre Company

Zestful. Savvy. Crafty. Satisfying Director Abigail Isaac Fine’s feisty NextStop production of Shakespeare’s battle-of-wits, romantic-comedy Much Ado About Nothing is a stimulating, adult-depth...

Review: Aaron Tveit at The Barns at Wolf Trap

Aaron Tveit returns to his Broadway roots on Saturday evening during his debut at the Wolf Trap. Tveit (Next to Normal, Grease Live!) has not performed on a Broadway stage since his 2011 starring role...

Review: ‘Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike’ at Reston Community Players

The names might seem familiar, and as you watch the show, some of the references sound like something you may have heard of before. In Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, the Tony Award-winning Best...

Review: ‘Anything Goes’ at The Little Theatre of Alexandria

Cole Porter’s Anything Goes is a show that is equal parts silliness, slapstick, and shenanigans. The Little Theatre of Alexandria opened the old classic this past weekend to a sold-out house. With...

Here Are This Year’s WATCH AWARD Nominations

Announcement of Nominations 16th Annual Washington Area Theatre Community Honors THE WATCH AWARDS Nominations Announced January 15, 2017 – 7:30 pm at The Birchmere, Alexandria, VA Award Ceremony...

Best of 2016 #15: Best Performances in Plays in Community Theatres in DC/MD/VA

DCMetroTheaterArts’ Best of 2016 #15: Best Performances in Plays and Ensembles in Community Theaters in DC/MD/VA Area Area Mark T. Allen as John Barrymore in I Hate Hamlet at Laurel Mill Playhouse....

DCMetroTheaterArts’ Best of 2016 #14: Best Design in Professional and Community Theaters in DC/VA/MD

DCMetroTheaterArts’ Best of 2016 #14: Best Design in Professional and Community Theaters in DC/VA/MD Are: John Alexander for his lighting for Blackberry Winter at Forum Theatre. John Alexander for his...

DCMetroTheaterArts’ Best of 2016 #13: Best Direction and Musical Direction in Musicals and Best Direction of Plays in Community Theatres in DC/MD/VA

The staff of DCMetroTheaterArts Best Direction and Musical Direction in Musicals and Best Direction of Plays of 2016 in Community Theatres in DC/VA/MD Are: BEST DIRECTION AND MUSICAL DIRECTION IN...

Review: ‘A Little Princess’ at Encore Stage & Studio

Growing up, one of my favorite books was Frances Hodgson Burnett’s A Little Princess, the story of an imaginative young heiress whose kindness and grace help navigate her through one of life’s...