Washington DC

Review: ‘Miss Bennet Christmas at Pemberley’ at Round House Theatre

Love is in the air for Miss (Mary) Bennet this Christmas in the imagined, holiday-themed sequel to Jane Austen’s literary masterpiece Pride and Prejudice – Miss Bennet Christmas at Pemberley – now...

In the Moment: Interviews with the Cast, Composer, Director, and Artistic Director of The Hub Theatre’s ‘The Magi’ Opening This Weekend

The Hub Theatre will present a premiere musical, The Magi by local playwright Helen Murray Pafumi with music by singer/songwriter Eli Pafumi. This is a unique collaboration between them. The Magiis a...

Review: Estampas Porteñas Tango Company’s ‘Deseos’ at the Music Center at Strathmore

Images of the people of Buenos Aires, estampas porteñas, created nostalgic dreams of longing and desire in distant lands and rich cultures as the Estampas Porteñas Tango Company presented Deseos, a...

Meet the Cast of ‘Spring Awakening’ at Ovations Theatre: Part 4: Yasmin Ranz-Lind and Heather Kirschner

In part four of a series of interviews with the cast of Ovations Theatre’s Spring Awakening, meet Yasmin Ranz-Lind and Heather Kirschner who share the role of Wendla Bergman. Joel: What is your name,...

Review: ‘Black Nativity’ at Theater Alliance

I saw Black Nativity last year at Anacostia Playhouse and was so thrilled by it (as I wrote in my rave review), I had to go again this year. I went expecting to see a reproduction of a splendid show...

Meet the Cast of Providence Players’ ‘Best Christmas Pageant Ever’ Part 2: Sally Ann Flores by Julie Janson

The Providence Players of Fairfax, will soon premiere the second production of its 19th season, Best Christmas Pageant Ever, written by Barbara Robinson and directed by award-winning director Liz...

Review: ‘Silver Belles’ at Signature Theatre

I needed it. A lot. A musical that reminded me that “life is a gift.” A new holiday musical with heart, humor, and great new tunes. A most-welcomed and pleasant swift sleigh ride during these dark...

Review: ‘It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play’ at Washington Stage Guild

It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play Shares Timeless Message Adapted by playwright Joe Landry, Washington Stage Guild’s It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play is a retelling of the classic tale...

Review: Junie B. Jones in ‘Jingle Bells, Batman Smells!’ at Maryland Ensemble Theatre

Junie B Jones in Jingle Bells Batman Smells! is a charming piece of family comedy playing at Maryland Ensemble Theatre through January 1, 2017. The Fun Company takes on Allison Gregory’s adaptation of...

Spine: ‘Moby Dick’ Inside Jonah’s Whale at Arena Stage

“Jonah,” I said to myself as soon as I laid eyes upon the set of Lookingglass Theatre Company’s Moby Dick. Large, curved rib-bones thrusting upward, form a cradle: “It’s happening inside the whale.”...

Meet the Cast of ‘Spring Awakening’ at Ovations Theatre: Part 3: Chloe Friedman and Meghan Carey

In part three of a series of interviews with the cast of Ovations Theatre’s Spring Awakening, meet Chloe Friedman and Meghan Carey who share the role of Martha Bessel. Joel: What is your names, ages,...

Meet the Cast ‘Spring Awakening’ at Ovations Theatre: Part 2: Ethan Miller

In part 2 of a series of interviews with the cast of Ovations Theatre’s Spring Awakening, meet Ethan Miller. Joel: What is your name, age, high school, and role in Spring Awakening? Ethan: My name is...

Review #2: Chocolate City Burlesque’s Third Annual ‘Black Friday’

There ain’t nothin’ wrong with a little bump and grind and Chocolate City’s Burlesque & Cabaret (CCBC) had a whole lotta shakin’ going on. G strings and pasties and a skin show with feathers galore...

Dangereuse: “That Burnett Woman: The Magical ‘Secret Garden’ at the Shakespeare Theatre Company”

The Shakespeare Theatre’s production of The Secret Garden is like a dream in which miraculous things happen, old grudges are swept away, and children rediscover childhood. The book, a revered classic,...

Review #1: Chocolate City Burlesque’s Third Annual ‘Black Friday’

Chocolate City Burlesque and Cabaret (CCBC) is a troupe that excels at putting on the most sensational burlesque shows it can on D.C. stages. The troupe did just that in their third annual Black...

Review: The NSO Pops: ‘E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial’: Film with Live Music at The Kennedy Center

The most significant difference between entering your neighborhood cinema to catch the latest PG film offering and traversing the Hall of Nations to enter the Grand Foyer at The Kennedy Center in...

Review: ‘Moby Dick’: A Co-Production with the Alliance Theatre and Southcoast Repertory at Arena Stage

A complex rigging of interlocking cables, ropes and steel clamps is harnessed by a skeletal steel structure. The structure is at once minimal and abstract, intricate and unambiguous, to suggest the...

TONIGHT AT 8 PM AT GALA HISPANIC THEATRE: Chocolate City Burlesque and Cabaret Presents the Third Annual ‘Black Friday’ Burlesque

Chocolate City Burlesque and Cabaret (CCBC) likes to do things a little differently. The troupe is known for its spectacular semiannual burlesque shows housed at the GALA Hispanic Theatre. Chocolate...

Anya Rothman on Playing Mary Lennox in ‘The Secret Garden’ at Shakespeare Theatre Company

Anya Rothman is playing the spunky Mary Lennox in Shakespeare Theatre Company’s The Secret Garden. She takes is on her journey. Joel: Please introduce yourself and tell us how old you are and tell our...

Review: ‘The Nutcracker’ by the Cincinnati Ballet at The Kennedy Center

We know the holiday season is upon us when theaters around the country begin to put on Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s classic The Nutcracker. The Cincinnati Ballet’s production at The Kennedy Center,...

Meet the Cast of Providence Players’ ‘Best Christmas Pageant Ever’ Part 1: Michelle Shader by Julie Janson

The Providence Players of Fairfax, will soon premiere the second production of its 19th season, Best Christmas Pageant Ever, written by Barbara Robinson and directed by award-winning Director Liz...

Review: ‘DanceWorks Fall 2016’ at The George Washington University’s Department of Theatre and Dance

This past weekend, The George Washington University’s Department of Theatre and Dance presented DanceWorks Fall 2016. The program consisted of nine separate dance pieces, each by a different...

Review #2: ‘The Secret Garden’ at Shakespeare Theatre Company by PJ McMahon

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett is a story that has fascinated and moved people for the last hundred years, from the original novel, to the various film adaptations, and a Broadway...

Review #2: ‘A View From the Bridge’ at The Kennedy Center

The stripped-down, minimalist and auteur-driven interpretation of Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge delivers a tragic, elemental, and mythic dimension to this stirring play that delineates the...

Review #1: ‘A View From the Bridge’ at The Kennedy Center

Act fast: Director Ivo van Hove’s visionary production of Arthur Miller’s A View From the Bridge, which won plaudits on both Broadway and the West End since it opened in 2014, is only playing at The...

In the Moment: ‘A View From the Bridge’ at The Kennedy Center

Even having inklings of what to expect, there was no protecting myself from the shattering production of Arthur Miller’s A View From the Bridge at the Kennedy Center. I don’t think even wearing a...

Magic Time!: ‘The Christians’ at Theater J

A debate about the existence of hell is combusting in the nation’s preeminent Jewish theater. And that particular drama in that particular venue could not be more anomalous. There is in Judaism no...

Review #1: ‘The Secret Garden’ at Shakespeare Theatre Company

While most are familiar with The Secret Garden either from reading the book or watching the movie, the latest musical production by the Shakespeare Theatre Company raises the bar with a wonderful cast...

Review: ‘A Christmas Story, The Musical’ at Riverside Center for the Performing Arts

Riverside Center for the Performing Arts presents A Christmas Story, The Musical, with Book by Joseph Robinette and Music and Lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. Based on the 1983 Warner Bros....

Review: ‘The Rape of Lucretia’ by the Maryland Opera Studio at The Clarice

There’s a saying that says, “Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.” Benjamin Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia most definitely fulfills that second requirement. Based on the myth...

Review: ‘The Christians’ at Theater J

Yes, the rumors are true. The Christians—now making its DC debut at Theater J—is amazing. It’s amazing for its sheer audacity—first, in turning the nation’s leading Jewish theater into a...

Review: The Choral Arts Society of Washington Presents ‘Berlioz: Requiem, Op. 5’ at The Kennedy Center’s Concert Hall

It was a chilly night, fitting for a change of pace, when the Choral Arts Society of Washington performed Hector Berlioz: Requiem, Op. 5 Grande Messe des Morts to a buoyant crowd at The Kennedy Center...

In the Moment: ‘The Christians’ at Theater J

‘Inspired’ is the word that comes to mind for Adam Immerwahr’s selection of The Christians by Lucas Hnath for this, his first full season as Artistic Director for DC’s Theater J. What an exceptional...

Review: ‘The Outcasts of Poker Flat’ at The Catholic University of America

The Outcasts of Poker Flat is the story of six uncanny people trapped together as they take shelter during a blizzard. Adapted from Bret Harte’s 1869 story of the same name, the one-act chamber opera...

Review: ‘A Tuna Christmas’ at Washington County Playhouse Dinner Theater and Children’s Theater

Expertly directed by Scott Ruble to evoke every last bit of comedy, A Tuna Christmas, written by Jason Williams, Joe Sears, and Ed Howard, features the charming and often chaotic holiday events...

Meet the Cast of Damascus Theatre Company’s ‘Children of Eden’: Part 4: Kevin James Logan

In part four of a series of interviews with the cast of Damascus Theatre Company’s Children of Eden, meet Kevin James Logan. Joel: Where have local theatergoers seen you perform before on our local...

Review: ‘Disney’s Beauty and the Beast’ at Imagination Stage

Imagination Stage serves up a charming and delightful holiday treat with Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. This timeless 1994 Broadway musical was adapted for the stage from the Academy Award-winning...

Review: ‘Aquarium’ at Imagination Stage

For the newest generation of theatergoers, Imagination Stage’s Early Childhood production of Aquarium is a treasure. Wide-eyed and brimming with excitement, the young audience members are lost in the...

In Context: ‘Six Degrees of Separation’ at The Keegan Theatre

John Guare’s Six Degrees of Separation was widely admired as an ingenious, penetrating look at contemporary society when it premiered in New York back in 1990. Based on a true story, it concerns a...

Review: ‘The Merchant of Venice’ at Faction of Fools

Audiences can usually expect something distinct, and full of chutzpah, from the folk at DC’s scrappy Faction of Fools theater troupe with its Comedia dell’Arte mission. The recipient of the 2012 Helen...

Review: ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ at The George Mason University School of Theater and The Mason Players

A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare has long been among my favorite plays. If it isn’t already yours, the Mason Players production could well change your mind. What kind of comedy do you...

Review: ‘Metropolis’ at Constellation Theatre Company

Percussion and film enthusiasts, listen up! For five nights only, Constellation Theatre Company presents a unique combination of the silent-film Metropolis set to a new score by renowned percussionist...

Review: ‘Love Jones: The Musical’ at The National Theatre

Nearly 20 years after the cult classic, romantic comedy Love Jones made its big screen release, a celebratory musical reinterpretation takes stage at the National Theatre, showcasing award-winning...

Spine: The Second City’s ‘Black Side of the Moon’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

“We are not a monolith! We are not a monolith! We are not a monolith!” chanted the six-member cast at the start of Woolly Mammoth’s Second City’s Black Side of the Moon. And, indeed, that large...

Magic Time! ‘Straight White Men’ at The Studio Theatre

Playwright Young Jean Lee’s audacious title refers to the particular—the white widowed father (Ed) and his three grown sons (Drew, Jake, and Matt) who are on stage for most of this naturalistic...

Review: ‘Doc Severinsen and Friends – The Art of the Big Band’ at Strathmore

Five BRASS Stars! Doc Severinsen may have not appeared on your screen since Johnny Carson turned the keys to The Tonight Show over to Jay Leno in 1992, but he hasn’t slowed down. Hired as a musician...

Henry Baratz on Playing Colin Craven in Shakespeare Theatre Company’s ‘The Secret Garden’

In our second interview with cast members of The Secret Garden at Shakespeare Theatre Company, meet Henry Baratz. Joel: Please introduce yourself and tell us how old you are and tell our readers what...

Meet the Cast of ‘Dinner with Friends’ at Greenbelt Arts Center. Part 5: Brian Lewandowski

In part 5 of a series of interviews with Greenbelt Arts Center’s Dinner with Friends, meet Brian Lewandowski. Joel: Please tell our readers where they may have seen your work on our local stages. Who...

Meet the Cast of Damascus Theatre Company’s ‘Children of Eden’: Part 3: Kendall Sigman

In part three of a series of interviews with the cast of Damascus Theatre Company’s Children of Eden, meet Kendall Sigman. Joel: Where have local theatergoers seen you perform before on our local...

Review: The Second City’s ‘Black Side of the Moon’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

The Second City’s Black Side of the Moon— the Chicago-based comedy troupe’s first foray into post-Obama politics—launched the holiday season this week with an African-American cast and a show that is...