DC

The National Philharmonic’s ‘Messiah’ at Strathmore

There is a legend about the London premiere of George Frideric Handel’s Messiah involving King George II. The story says that he was so moved by the ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ in Part Two that he stood and...

‘Javon Jackson and Sax Appeal’ at the KC Jazz Club at the Kennedy Center

With Sax Appeal, no other “appeal” is necessary. The soul is satisfied. What happens when you bring four world-class saxophone players, a phenomenal pianist, a fingers-flying bass player, and a young...

‘Matilda the Musical’ at The Kennedy Center

Matilda the Musical, now at the Kennedy Center Opera House, is for all the disrupters and agitators out there in the world no matter what age. It is an insurrection fueled by children who are once...

‘The Season Bids Us’ at The Folger Consort

The Folger Consort — this splendid, and lapidary jewel in the crown of the Greater Washington area, and indeed, “all the world’s a stage” when it comes to the Folger — opened its Christmas-season...

National Symphony Orchestra: Handel’s Messiah at The Kennedy Center

There is a reason Handel’s Messiah has been performed for hundreds of years. It’s a masterpiece and its intricacies, depth, and sheer mass make continually new interpretations both possible and, for...

‘Bright Star’ at The Kennedy Center

Bright Star officially opened last night in its pre-Broadway engagement at The Kennedy Center. And there is plenty for audiences to like and enjoy. Let’s start with that banjo. Steve Martin co-wrote...

‘A Broadway Christmas’ with Elaine Paige, Matt Doyle, and Julia Goodwin’ at The American Pops

What a gorgeous, festive evening The American Pops, under the direction and the quietly flowing baton of Luke S. Frazier, gave the Lisner audience last night with their entertaining and joyful A...

‘Higher: Renée Fleming and Patricia Barber Perform The Music of Patricia Barber’ at The Kennedy Center

Musicians are not meant to be confined to one facet of their craft. Renée Fleming, one of the foremost voices in opera today, is not shy about her love for jazz and the mastery that goes into the...

DCMetroTheaterArts’ Best of 2015 #2: Best Musicals in Professional Theatres

The staff of DCMetroTheaterArts is honored to announce that their 2015 Best Musicals at Professional Theatres honors go to: The Addams Family at Shenandoah Summer Music Theatre. The Addams Family at...

A Chat With Douglas Sills on Appearing in ‘Kiss Me Kate’ at Shakespeare Theatre Company

It was wunderbar having an opportunity to schmooze with Douglas Sills, who is having a blast appearing in Shakespeare Theatre Company’s fabulously entertaining production of Kiss Me Kate. Joel: Why...

‘All Kids Out of the Pool’ at Ottobar This Friday, 12/18 and Sat 12/19 at Bier Baron

You know at this time of year, so much is centered on kids and entertainment for kids. Personally … blecch! I say it’s time to take that shiz back from the kids! I like my kids entertainment to be...

Spine: Mosaic’s ‘The Gospel of Lovingkindness’ and a Call for a Better World

Mosaic Theatre Company’s second offering in its inaugural season is the emotionally rich The Gospel of Lovingkindness by Marcus Gardley. In it Gardley tackles the loss of innocence by the gun and with...

DCMetroTheaterArts’ Best of 2015 #3: Best Musicals in Community Theatres

The staff of DCMetroTheaterArts is honored to announce that their 2015 Best Musicals at Community Theatres honorees are: Altar Boyz at Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre. Avenue Q at Other Voices...

‘An Irish Carol’ at The Keegan Theatre

An Irish Carol is an Irish twist on the holiday classic A Christmas Carol, written by one of Keegan’s own company members, Irish-born Matthew Keenan, and directed by Mark Rhea. The play premiered in...

DCMetroTheaterArts’ ‘Best of 2015 Honors’ Begins Tomorrow-A Look Back at the 2014 Honorees

We will be begin announcing announcing our ‘Best of 2015 DCMTA Honors’ tomorrow. Because we will have reviewed over 1,450 shows/concerts/dance in 2015, there is a lot to choose from and to honor. But...

Buy 1 Get 1 Free Ticket to Wolf Pack Theatre Company’s ‘A Christmas Carol’ This Thurs-Sat To Benefit the ‘Warm Nights Hypothermia Shelter Program’

BUY ONE TICKET AND GET ONE TICKET FREE: Thursday-8pm Friday-8pm Saturday-3 pm matinee and 8 pm performance Purchase your tickets at https://wolfpacktheatrecompany.webconnex.com/ACC Call 301-864-7095...

Discovery Artist in the KC Jazz Club: Fresh Cut Orchestra

On December 12th, 2015, The Kennedy Center Jazz Club showcased a ten-piece jazz ensemble from Philadelphia: the Fresh Cut Orchestra. The show, located in a private room in the Terrace Gallery, brought...

‘The Gospel of Lovingkindness’ at Mosaic Theater Company of DC

There is a shibboleth shared by liberals and conservatives alike that when a young black man shoots to death another young black man in the inner city, the fault lies in themselves. Something about...

The Washington Chorus’ ‘A Candlelight Christmas’ at The Kennedy Center

No stranger to world-class performances, the Concert Hall of The John F. Kennedy Center of the Performing Arts makes itself home to an annual musical favorite this month, The Washington Chorus’...

‘How to Catch a Leprechaun’ at The Keegan Theatre

This being a show meant for kids, I defer to a critical opinion I overheard right afterward, voiced by a child not yet 5: “That was really cool! Really funny too!” Coauthored by Mario Baldessari and...

‘Hansel and Gretel’ by the Washington National Opera at The Kennedy Center

Once upon a time, dozens of children streamed into the elegant Terrace Theater at The Kennedy Center, all of them paragons of excitement and curiosity. Were these holiday tots rushing in to see the...

China National Traditional Orchestra’s ‘Rediscover Chinese Music’ at The Kennedy Center

Having just returned from China—where one of the highlights of the trip was hearing traditional music performed casually in teahouses and parks—I was curious to see how these simple melodies would...

‘Seasonal Disorder’ at Washington Improv Theater

‘Tis the season for jolly laughter, and if you like humor that’s loopy, irreverent, quick-witted, and fresh, you’ll fit right in at Washington Improv Theater’s annual Seasonal Disorder. It’s all made...

BSO: ‘Tis the Season with Brian Stokes Mitchell’ at Strathmore

The Music Center at Strathmore was filled with the holiday spirit as the Tony Award-winning Broadway superstar Brian Stokes Mitchell joined Conductor Damon Gupton and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra...

NSO Pops: ‘The von Trapps and Stephanie J. Block Family Holiday’ at The Kennedy Center

With their annual holiday concert at The Kennedy Center on Thursday, December 10, 2016, the NSO Pops, joined by special guests Stephanie J. Block and The von Trapps, as well as the Washington Chorus,...

‘Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind’ by the Neo-Futurist at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

I’m blind. No, actually, during a merciless chanting of “God, God, God, God, God…” in a piece entitled “Two Minutes of Organized Religion,” I put my head between my legs and held a silent scream while...

Scene Stealers/Showstoppers of the Week-December 10, 2015

Congrats to our new Scene Stealer/Showstoppers honorees. ______ Sandy Bainum, as Mame, Singing “If He Walked Into My Life’ in Mame at Riverside Center Dinner Theater “The cast here is stellar, with...

Act Two at Levine Students Perform Excerpts From ‘American Idiot’ for Broadway Performer Tony Vincent

Musician and Broadway actor Tony Vincent visited the students of Act Two at Levine’s Pre-Professional Program for a master class on their upcoming production of American Idiot that will run from...

Brave Collective Soul Collective’s 9th Anniversary’s ‘More Plot Twists.’

“We are all one. We are of the human race.” I hear and read this statement all the time, especially when we see and hear news reports of people being treated unfairly (discriminated against) or killed...

‘George is Dead’ at The Klunch (Review #2)

Elaine May’s George is Dead is a brutally funny, wincingly and wickedly unsympathetic depiction of life among the social classes in our Late Capitalist era, and could equally well have been titled...

‘A Very Pointless Holiday Spectacular’ at Pointless Theatre Company

I don’t usually go in for all of that holiday crap. If you ask me, ’tis the season for saccharine platitudes and interminable carols that all serve to mask the consumerist orgy that is the month of...

‘Tribute to Dmitri Shostakovich’ at the Russian Chamber Art Society

The thematic music of Dmitri Shostakovich echoed the halls of the Embassy of Austria from the multi-talented artists of the Russian Chamber Art Society. Seven classically trained musicians and...

‘Bad Jews’ at The Studio Theatre

When I first saw Joshua Harmon’s brilliant play Bad Jews at The Studio Theatre about this time last year, I could not contain my enthusiasm. I praised it to the skies: Bad Jews is so over-the-top...

‘The Christmas Revels: A Medieval Celebration of the Winter Solstice in Music, Dance, and Drama’

A melody of memories whirled through my seat during The Christmas Revels, a collaboration of artistic ventures through A Medieval Celebration of the Winter Solstice in Music, Dance and Drama. Directed...

‘The Nutcracker’ at The Washington Ballet at The Warner Theatre

Resplendent visions of sugarplums danced both on the Warner Theatre stage and in the heads of hundreds of hardy multi-generational audience members Friday evening when the Washington Ballet...

‘ReWrapped’ at the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC

The annual Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC (GMCW) holiday concert entitled ReWrapped was a lively holiday treat that combined cutting-edge musical arrangements with a light, breezy, and...

‘George is Dead’ at The Klunch

The Klunch, a newly formed theater company launched by Ian Allen, former artistic director of Cherry Red Productions, inaugurated its first season with the DC premiere of George is Dead, a mordantly...

‘Bastian & Bastiana’ at The In Series

Bastian & Bastiana is the In Series’ answer to the usual annual holiday traditions — a charming, little opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, written when he was only 12 years-old. Artistic Director Carla...

Meet the Cast of ‘George is Dead’ at The Klunch: Part 3: Kerri Rambow

In Part 3 of a series of interviews with the cast of George is Dead, meet Kerri Rambow: Joel: Please tell our readers where they may have seen you perform on our local stages? Kerri Rambow: I am a...

‘Glory Us’ by Rabble Crew at The Fridge

Conceptual Art: “the notion that the essence of art is an idea, or concept, and may exist distinct from and in the absence of an object as its representation.” Conceptual Theatre: Glory Us, a new play...

‘Declassified: In Motion featuring Ben Folds’ by The National Symphony Orchestra at The Kennedy Center

The National Symphony Orchestra/The Kennedy Center Declassified series, launched on Saturday with its performance of In Motion featuring Ben Folds, is a bold initiative to counter the fundamental...

Scene Stealers/Showstoppers of the Week-Part 2: December 2, 2015

Here’s Part Two of this week’s Scene Stealers/Showstoppers honorees, from productions that played during this Fall season. Read Part One Here. ______ Shayna Blass, as Piggie, Joe Mallon, as Gerald the...

Reading of ‘Noura’ at Georgetown University’s Myriad Voices: A Cross-Cultural Performance Festival

On my explorations into the local universe of university theater, I’ve sighted some terrific stuff. Most of it I’ve written about for DCMetroTheaterArts (see links to my recent faves below). But if I...

Washington National Opera: American Opera Initiative: Three 20-Minute Operas

The fourth annual American Opera Initiative launched this month to sold out performances of three new works. It was a heartening look at the future of the art form – from the librettists and composers...

‘Motown the Musical’ at The National Theatre

Music! Sweet, sweet music. There is music everywhere… While it is town, you should make plans to see Motown the Musical. Plan on a night dancing in your seat to the music you have enjoyed for decades....

‘The Santaland Diaries’ at Logan Fringe Arts Space

I am a huge David Sedaris fan. I love the way he writes, his odd, memorable diction and nasal tenor when he speaks, and especially his jangly, snarky tone that seems to take everything and nothing...

5 Scene Stealers/Showstoppers of the Week-Part 1: December 2, 2015

As we are about to reveal our Best of 2015 honorees, we are introducing our 5 Scene Stealers/Showstoppers of the Week which will appear on Thursdays every week. Here’s Part 1 of this week’s honorees....

Meet the Cast of ‘George is Dead’ at The Klunch: Part 2: Fiona Blackshaw

In Part 2 of a series of interviews with the cast of George is Dead, meet Fiona Blackshaw. Joel: Please tell our readers where they may have seen you perform on our local stages? Fiona: I’ve been a...

‘Billy L’Amour: Gentlemen Prefer Billy: An Evening of Burlesque and Music’ at Rainbow Theatre Project

The whirlwind of an accomplished entertainer who goes by the name of Billy L’Amour is more than just a drag entertainer but, rather, L’Amour is a powerhouse triple-threat talent who can deliver the...

‘Black Nativity’ at Theater Alliance

If it is true that theater originated as worship and ritual—as a healing form of human communion with sacred mystery—then that history is surely raising the rafters of the Anacostia Playhouse these...