Washington DC

Magic Time!: ‘Or,’ at Round House Theatre

As play titles go, Or, is one of the most ungoogleable. It is a search engine dead end. And as an original mashup of past and present, prose and poetry, and performative purposes, Liz Duffy Adams’s...

Review: ‘Fun Home’ at The National Theatre

I never made it up to New York to see Fun Home. I did the same thing with The Ramones; it just always seemed like there’d be time to do it later. Fortunately for me – and unlike my gaffe with Joey,...

Spine: ‘Or,’ not as in Either, at Round House Theatre

First of all, for theatre lovers, there is nothing as delightful as watching three top notch actors have fun on stage, and with Holly Twyford, Gregory Linington, and Erin Weaver you’ll see three of...

Review: ‘OR,’ at Round House Theatre

The revolution will not be televised. Nope, it is on stage at Round House Theatre with a playful, headlong charge of a wild comedy. The comedy is called OR, a fictionalized account of free-spirited,...

Review: Ballet Across America Showcases a New Day in Dance at The Kennedy Center

Since its debut in 2008, The Kennedy Center’s Ballet Across America series continues to showcase the best of ballet from regional companies across the nation. This fourth time around, there are the...

Review: ‘Pygmalion’ at Compass Rose Theater

Compass Rose Theater’s production of the George Bernard Shaw classic Pygmalion is an entertaining, thought-provoking show. Directed by Jim Knipple, it combines great acting with a clever set and...

Who’s in Town?: Alan Cumming Discusses His Upcoming Cabaret Show ‘Alan Cumming Sings Sappy Songs’ at The Kennedy Center on April 29th

If you are like me, you would have given your right arm for an invitation to “Club Cumming,” the nightly party Alan Cumming held in his dressing room at Studio 54 after performances of Cabaret, the...

Review: Geoffrey Keezer Trio with Special Guest Gillian Margot at the KC Jazz Club

As soon as the Trio finished Thelonius Monk’s “Brilliant Corners, the KC Jazz Club exploded in applause. Some music is not listened to: it is experienced, your body vibrating like a window to the...

Review: ‘She Loves Me’ at The Arlington Players

The Arlington Players have put on a delicious production of the musical She Loves Me. The 1964 musical by Fiddler on the Roof Composer Jerry Bock and Lyricist Sheldon Harnick and book writer Joe...

Review: ‘Peter and the Starcatcher’ at Maryland Ensemble Theatre

If you’ve thought to yourself “I will never see another rip-off of the Peter Pan story ever again”, I totally understand where you are coming from. And I definitely urge you to reconsider and see the...

Review: ‘The Magic Play’ at Olney Theatre Center

In the art of magic, Andrew Hinderaker has found a vivid metaphor for the dynamics of honesty, trust and control that underpin our most important relationships. His immensely entertaining and profound...

Review: ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ at McLean Community Players

Spring has sprung, the dogwoods are in full flower, and there’s a truly delicious cat-fight to be had in McLean—take my word for it. Now that the solemnities of the season have been properly observed...

Review: ‘The Late Wedding’ at The Hub Theatre

Once again, Artistic Director Helen Murray and The Hub Theatre are producing a seductive play meant to kindle sparks for adventurous theater-goers. The Hub is constantly on the hunt for small gems...

Review: ‘Henry V’ at We Happy Few Productions

What’s the impact of war on the common man? Do the sins of leaders trickle down to their soldiers? Is patriotism dead? What does it mean to be a leader? These are just some of the themes explored in...

DCMetroTheaterArts’ Publisher and Editor Joel Markowitz To Receive The Gary Maker Award From DCTheatreScene At A Benefit Cabaret at MetroStage TONIGHT Monday, May 1st at 7 PM

DCMetroTheatreArts’ Pubisher and Editor Joel Markowitz has received the Gary Maker Award from DCTheatreScene. In her announcement Publisher and Editor of DCTheatreScene Lorraine Treanor wrote: Joel...

Magic Time!: ‘Off the Leash: A Journey Into Reality One Black Life at a Time’ at Woolly Mammoth Rehearsal Hall

After I watched eleven B.F.A. candidates in Howard University’s Class of 2017 perform a program of self-scripted audition pieces—character-rich monodramas, actually—I had one overwhelming urge: I...

Review: ‘A Conversation with Alec Baldwin’ at Smithsonian Associates

A sold out crowd Wednesday night enthusiastically enjoyed the Emmy, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild Award-winning actor, writer, producer, comedian, and political activist Alec Baldwin’s...

Review: ‘.d0t:: a RotoPlastic Ballet’ at Pointless Theatre Company

When you hear the phrase “futuristic dystopia where the human race has almost died out, leaving a single human and a civilization of robots,” you probably don’t think “puppets.” But Pointless Theatre...

Magic Time!: Homoeroticism and the Mother in ‘Blood Knot’: A Q&A with Director Joy Zinoman

Until I saw Blood Knot at Mosaic Theater Company, I knew the work of Director Joy Zinoman only by reputation. I had come to her legend late. And the production blew me away. Set in apartheid South...

Review: Smithsonian Associates in Collaboration with the Creativity Foundation presents the 15th Annual Benjamin Franklin Creativity Laureate Prize to Tim Robbins

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this event, but it was unlike any Smithsonian Associates’ event I’ve ever attended. It involved a laugh exercise, talks about prison reform through art, and how art...

Review: ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore’ at Brave Spirits Theatre

Brave Spirits Theatre (BST) has recently opened two productions, performing in tandem, to present what they refer to in their press release as “Theatre for the Game of Thrones fan.” Calling this combo...

Review: The Rainbow Theatre Project Presents ‘Historias’

The Rainbow Theatre Project premiered a new work, Historias, on Monday night, a show crafted from the experiences of its remarkably talented cast members. Director Tony Koehler led his actors – Skye...

Review: ‘Brighton Beach Memoirs’ at Theater J

Though it was well-established since the 1950s that Neil Simon was a master humorist and gifted comic writer, it wasn’t quite revealed until 1983 when Brighton Beach Memoirs premiered on Broadway that...

Review: Howard University’s Spring Dance Concert: ‘Unjust’

Every time I send a reviewer to Howard University to review a show they always have this reaction: “Oh My God!!” And there were many divine moments when I saw the final perfomance of Howard...

Spine: ‘A Human Being Died That Night’ at Mosaic Theater Company

About midway through Mosaic Theater’s A Human Being Died That Night, Eugene de Kock, serving two life sentences for murder and assassination, turns to his interviewer, Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela, and...

Review: ‘A Human Being Died That Night’ at Mosaic Theater Company of DC

There are moments in this gripping, challenging, and deeply thought-provoking drama when the smallest of gestures by the two actors say what the play is about more than words can. A Human Being Died...

Review: ‘Boeing Boeing’ at NextStop Theatre Company

Oh, what fine comic talent and an attuned director can do to bring pleasure. Under the sure hands of NextStop’s Evan Hoffmann and a talented six-member ensemble, there is enjoyable life to an old...

Review: “Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp” at Adventure Theatre

Americans don’t know much about the details of the myths and folklore of the Middle and Far East. Many of those stories, which can be found in Sir Richard Burton’s translation of “One Thousand and One...

Review: ‘Selections From: The Methuen Drama Books of Suffrage Plays’ at Venus Theatre Company

This review comes after I saw the final performance of Venus Theatre’s remarkable, inspiring, supremely artistic vision: Selections From: The Methuen Drama Books of Suffrage Plays. But in my view, a...

Review: ‘Doubt: A Parable’ at Quotidian Theatre Company

Voltaire once said, “Doubt is not a comfortable position, but certainty is an absurd one.” Playwright John Patrick Shanley notes that “Certainty is a closed door.” His play Doubt is in one sense about...

Review: ‘Godspell’ at Encore Stage & Studio by Emma Kiely

The message of Easter came early this year as Encore Stage & Studio’s (Encore) Musical Theatre Intensive presented John-Michael Tebelak and Stephen Schwartz’s Godspell. Performed in the sparsely set...

Review: The American Pops Orchestra Presents ‘You Spin Me ‘Round: An ’80s Dance Party’ at Lisner Auditorium

There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with being formulaic when the formula mixes crowd-pleasing song selections, fresh and stylish musical arrangements, and knock-out performances. That pretty much...

Review: ‘A Bright New Boise’ at Silver Spring Stage

A Bright New Boise by Samuel D. Hunter lit up the floorboards at Silver Spring Stage on Friday, April 7, 2017. Produced by Andrea Spitz and directed by Matt Ripa, some will find it a comedy with a...

Review: ‘Pygmalion’ at The British Players

I envy the folks lucky enough to have attended the opening night performance of George Bernard Shaw’s brand new play Pygmalion in 1913. They were afforded an unfiltered observation of class war humor...

Review: ‘In the Next Room or the vibrator play’ at Georgetown University

I lost count of how many orgasms are in this show. They keep, um, coming and coming. And each one is performed stunningly by a student actor with such precisely differentiated paroxysms and vivid...

Review: ‘Back to Methuselah Part 3: As Far as Thought Can Reach’ at Washington Stage Guild

George Bernard Shaw loves words. Even his stage directions are wordy. He also loved ideas, philosophy, aesthetics, politics… In Back to Methuselah Part 3: As Far as Thought Can Reach, Shaw reaches...

Review: ‘Chicago’ at The Kennedy Center

Grammy Award-winning, R & B superstar Brandy Norwood brought her razzle and dazzle to the Kennedy Center’s Opera House, reprising her Broadway debut as “Roxie Hart” in the touring production of...

Review: ‘A Raisin in the Sun’ at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater

“I am a giant surrounded by ants!” exclaimed Walter Lee Younger in a scene from A Raisin in the Sun. Walter is the embodiment of how society, family members, and internal struggle can defer dreams....

Interview: Meet the Cast of ‘Pygmalion’ at The British Players: Part Four: Roger Stone

In a series of interviews with the cast of Pygmalion at The British Players, meet Roger Stone who plays Alfred Doolittle. Please introduce yourself and tell our readers where they may have seen you...

Review: ‘Saturday Night Fever’ at Riverside Center for the Performing Arts

There’s no doubt in my mind that all of the attendees at Riverside Center for the Performing Arts were there because of the 1977 film version of Saturday Night Fever: https://youtu.be/op5FxEs1aR0 and...

Interview: Meet the Cast of ‘Pygmalion’ at The British Players: Part Three: Daniel Owen

In part three of a series of interviews with the cast of Pygmalion at The British Players, meet Daniel Owen who plays Professor Henry Higgins. Please introduce yourself and tell our readers where they...

In the Moment: ‘Midwestern Gothic’ at Signature Theatre

The premise seems full of possibilities. With its moody Twin Peaks-like, arched eyebrow attitude, Midwestern Gothic tackles wasted lives, a randy adolescent woman who is questioning the “why” of her...

Interview: Meet the Cast of ‘Pygmalion’ at The British Players: Part Two: John Allnutt

In part two of a series of interviews with the cast of Pygmalion at The British Players, meet John Allnutt who plays Colonel Pickering. Please introduce yourself and tell our readers where they may...

Review: ‘Blood Knot’ at Mosaic Theater Company of DC

South African playwright Athol Fugard’s early masterpiece, Blood Knot, has finally returned to DC. And, judging by the roaring ovation on opening night, those who can see this production during its...

Review: ‘Nine’ at Colonial Players of Annapolis

Colonial Players of Annapolis’ production of Nine is a musical extravaganza, with lots of marvelous singing and dancing, as well as beautiful costumes. With a book by Arthur Kopit, music and lyrics by...

Review: ‘Lucy’ at UrbanArias

As the PETA-hounded circus left town on its farewell tour, I headed to the Atlas Performing Center to see Lucy, an UrbanArias opera about an actual chimp. I was reassured to learn that no animals were...

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: ‘Diane Rehm in Conversation’ at The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History

Hosted by the Smithsonian Associates, at an event at the National Museum of Natural History, NPR host Tom Gjetlten interviewed former NPR radio host Diane Rehm about her new book, On My Own, her time...

Interview: Meet the Cast of ‘Pygmalion’ at The British Players: Part One: Jenn Robinson

In Part One of a series of interviews with the cast of Pygmalion at The British Players, meet Jenn Robinson. Joel: Please introduce yourself and tell our readers where they may have seen you perform...