Washington DC

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: ‘The Producers’ at the Washington County Playhouse Dinner Theater and Children’s Theater

Excellently directed by Laura J. Martin with crisp musical direction from Mat Levine, Mel Brooks’ The Producers at the Washington County Playhouse Dinner Theater is an exceptional evening of musical...

Review: ‘LEAR’ at Lumina Studio Theatre

On the night of the J20 Art Strike, a protest movement asking that “business . . . not proceed as usual in any realm” of the creative arts on Inauguration Day, I felt a little guilty attending a play....

Review: ‘Constellations’ at The Wilma Theater

In Constellations, what happens is just as important as what might have happened. Nick Payne’s play concerns two young people who meet, fall in love, quarrel, break up, reunite, get engaged, and deal...

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...

Interview: Meet the Cast of ‘Loves and Hours’ at Laurel Mill Playhouse. Part 5: Heather Warren

In part five of a series of interviews with the cast of Loves and Hours, meet Heather Warren. Please introduce yourself and tell our readers where they may have seen you perform on the stage before....

Spine: Consciousness, Conscience, and ‘The Hard Problem’ at The Studio Theatre

Tom Stoppard’s The Hard Problem isn’t so much about consciousness and the existence of subjectivity, “the hard problem” elucidated by contemporary Australian philosopher David Chalmers, as it is about...

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: ‘An Acoustic Evening with Lyle Lovett & John Hiatt’ at Strathmore

There are very few things that could get me to uproot and move to Texas. Actually, there is just one thing, and his name is Lyle Lovett. Luckily, this long tall Texan graced the stage of Maryland’s...

Review: ‘A Visit From Scarface’ at Greenbelt Arts Center

e’ve all been between the proverbial “rock and a hard place.” That’s exactly where fictional famous Hollywood writer Ben Hecht found himself in, in the comedy A Visit from Scarface, now playing at...

Interview: Meet the Cast of ‘Loves and Hours’ at Laurel Mill Playhouse. Part 4: Taylor Duvall

In part four of a series of interviews with the cast of Loves and Hours, meet Taylor Duvall. Please introduce yourself and tell our readers where they may have seen you perform on the stage before....

Review: ‘Bo Dacious and Liz Russo’ at AMP Powered by Strathmore

There’s this hot little night club right across from some swanky automobile dealerships in a neighborhood calling itself Pike & Rose. The venue hosts a wide variety of arts and entertainment and makes...

Review: ‘Roe’ at Arena Stage

The title of Lisa Loomer’s riveting play Roe refers to both the pivotal Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade and the person known as Jane Roe who was the plaintiff in it. Loomer dramatizes both stories—why...

Review and Article: The Dover Quartet at the Kennedy Center Family Theater

Lord knows there are a lot of young string quartets out there trying to make an impact on both classical music and the cultural scene generally. They even have their own competitions to try to sort...

Review: ‘The City of Conversation’ at The Colonial Players of Annapolis

The Colonial Players of Annapolis’ production of The City of Conversation is a powerful, timely play. Written by Anthony Giardina and directed by Ruben Vellekoop, it is about families and politics,...

Interview: Meet the Cast of ‘Loves and Hours’ at Laurel Mill Playhouse. Part 3: John Dignam

In Part 3 of a series of interviews with the cast of Loves and Hours, meet John Dignam. Joel: Please introduce yourself and tell our readers where they may have seen you perform on the stage before....

Magic Time! ‘The Hard Problem’ at The Studio Theatre

I love when a play starts out as a fascinating head trip—a smart, high-concept exhilaration of ideas—then propels me headlong into an overwhelming flood of emotion. It’s like being transported along a...

Interview: Meet the Cast of ‘Loves and Hours’ at Laurel Mill Playhouse. Part 2: Terri Laurino

In Part Two of a series of interviews with the cast of Loves and Hours at Laurel Mill Playhouse, meet Terri Laurino. Joel: Please introduce yourself and tell our readers where they may have seen you...

Review: Pianist Lise de la Salle at the Phillips Collection

Picking through bombastic music to extract the musical message and leave a lingering impression of something other than bombast is a skill to be cherished among pianists on the international stage....

Meet the Three Young Actors in ‘Watch on the Rhine’ at Arena Stage: #3 Lucy Breedlove

Lucy Breedlove makes her professional debut playing the middle of three siblings in Lillian Hellman’s 1941 play Watch on the Rhine. In the childhood they are having, the bogeyman is all too real. Set...

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...

In the Moment: The Studio Theatre’s ‘The Hard Problem’

Studio Theatre’s production of The Hard Problem by Tom Stoppard charmed me with its intellectual and ideological turmoil fueled by verbal fierceness. With a shiny, contemporary veneer and Stoppard’s...

A Chat with Singer Carla Cooke: Performing a Tribute to her Father Sam Cooke at Bethesda Blues & Jazz Supper Club This Sunday, January 22nd @7:30pm

I recently had the great privilege to have an engaging interview with the dynamic artist Carla Cooke, a wondrous singer in her own right and daughter of the singing legend Sam Cooke. Ms. Cooke will...

Interview: Meet the Cast of ‘Loves and Hours’ at Laurel Mill Playhouse. Part 1: Alan Barnett

In part one of a series of interviews with the cast of Loves and Hours at Laurel Mill Playhouse, meet Alan Barnett. Please introduce yourself and tell our readers where they may have seen you perform...

Review: ‘Elf The Musical JR.’ at Aldersgate Church Community Theater

We all know a person (or two, or twelve) who still have their Christmas lights up as we head into February. If you’re not quite ready to let go of the Christmas glow, then Aldersgate Church Community...

Review: ‘The Tin Woman’ at Prince George’s Little Theatre

The Tin Woman, written by Sean Grennan, is based on a true story, and is Prince George’s Little Theatre’s winter production. The show is directed by Estelle Miller, who also designed the set, and is...

Review: ‘The Hard Problem’ at The Studio Theatre

No shrinking violet when it comes to exploring humanity’s most complex questions, playwright Tom Stoppard takes a deep dive into the frontiers of neuroscience, human nature, and the existence of God...

Review #2: The American Pops Orchestra Presents ‘Don’t Rain On My Parade: 75 Years Of Streisand’ at Lisner Auditorium

8-track tape: It’s the only medium of Barbra Streisand recordings that I do not own. LP, cassette, VHS, CD, DVD, mp3, mp4 … I have purchased some of Streisand’s work in two or three (for some movie...

Spine: ‘Silent Sky’ at Silver Spring Stage

On occasion, a play comes along with a bit of history, a bit of uncovered history, and that history changes the nature of the universe. Silent Sky is that sort of play. Lauren Gunderson’s biography...

Review: ‘LIZZIE: The Musical’ at Pinky Swear Productions

Fresh off their Capital Fringe Best Overall Show and Best Musical Theatre or Opera wins for 2016’s Over Her Dead Body, Pinky Swear Productions (PSP) rips onto the stage of Anacostia Playhouse 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...

Review: National Symphony Orchestra: Stravinsky’s ‘The Firebird’ and Ravel’s ‘Left Hand’ Concerto

With a program packed with masterpieces from Russian and French composers, Sir Mark Elder conducted the National Symphony Orchestra. Sir Mark Elder opened the night sharing some words on the program...

Review: ‘Pippin’ at Act Two at Levine performing at Arena Stage

I have often heard Pippin described as a frivolous musical with silly little songs and a thin plot, but to me, Pippin has always told a remarkable and universal story: the story of the hero’s journey....

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....

Review: ‘[gay] Cymbeline’ at Theatre Prometheus

Queering Shakespeare may be gilding the lily. And if so DC these days has seen quite a few such embellished flowers. Like, golden nosegays for days. One of the best and freshest in the bunch is...

Review: ‘Loves and Hours’ at Laurel Mill Playhouse

Laurel Mill Playhouse offers up an ideal evening of theatre in Loves and Hours by Stephen Metcalfe and directed by Daniel Douek. This intriguing play looks at love and aging through the perspective of...

Review: ‘The Dictator’s Wife’ at Washington National Opera

A one-hour World Premiere opera is reason enough for the imagination to run rampant with artistic anticipation. So what a veritable array of riches it was to indulge the senses and challenge the mind...

Review: ‘Silent Sky’ at Silver Spring Stage

Friday marked the opening at Silver Spring Stage of a very timely drama, Silent Sky, by Laura Gunderson. Produced by Seth Ghitelman and directed by Bill Hurlbut, Silent Sky is the fascinating story of...

Review: ‘Image China: Confucius’ at The Kennedy Center

It seemed fitting somehow during a full moon, on Friday the thirteenth, to be attending Confucius on the eve of the Chinese Lunar New Year. Kong Dexin, a 77th-generation direct descendent of Confucius...

Review: ‘Bud, Not Buddy’ at The Kennedy Center

Last night, The Kennedy Center presented an inspiring world premiere commission of Bud, Not Buddy. Kirsten Greenidge created the fast-paced and touchingly funny script, based on the book from...

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...

Magic Time! ‘Someone Is Going to Come’ at Scena Theatre

Someone Is Going to Come is a comedy of menace with a roiling undercurrent of sexual tension. It evokes ominous noirish goings-on in a scary remote locale told in stark idiosyncratic dialogue. And...

Meet the Three Young Actors in ‘Watch on the Rhine’ at Arena Stage: #2 Tyler Bowman

Tyler Bowman makes his Arena Stage debut playing the youngest of three siblings in Lillian Hellman’s 1941 play Watch on the Rhine. The children have traveled with their mother and father to Georgetown...

‘Charm’ at Mosaic Theater Company of DC

Just opened at Mosaic Theater Company in a thrilling and vibrant production directed by Natsu Onoda Power is a play that puts on stage some of what National Geographic just called the gender...

Meet the Three Young Actors in ‘Watch on the Rhine’ at Arena Stage: #1 Ethan Miller

Ethan Miller makes his Arena Stage debut playing one of the three children in Lillian Hellman’s 1941 drama Watch on the Rhine. It’s not what you’d call a kid’s show. Set in 1940, the play echoes with...

Review: ‘The Gabriels’ at the Kennedy Center

For those who are familiar with Richard Nelson’s 4-play cycle, The Apple Family Plays, his The Gabriels: Election Year in the Life of One Family, now on stage at the Kennedy Center’s Lab Theatre, will...

Spine: ‘Charm’ at the Mosaic Theater Company of DC

Philip Dawkins’ Charm takes on a high order: it wants to charm you. And to do that its lead character, Mama, has to be more than charming. She has to charm your disbelief, your cynical 21st century...

Review: ‘Someone Is Going to Come’ at Scena Theatre

Scena Theatre’s Someone Is Going to Come is a tightly wound riddle about danger; the lightly concealed danger lurking in a couple’s push-pull of a relationship that is further inflamed with an...