Washington DC

Review: ‘Johnny Mathis –The 60th Anniversary Concert Tour’ at Strathmore

Johnny Mathis, iconic and legendary vocalist of love songs, jazz, tin pan alley, Brazilian music, holiday music and the Great American Songbook, celebrated his 60th Anniversary in Show Business...

Enter to Win 2 Free Tickets to ‘Sister Act’ at Walnut Street Theatre

Get in on the act – the SISTER ACT – with DCMetroTheaterArts! DC Theater Arts invites you to enter-to-win tickets to Broadway’s divine musical comedy, SISTER ACT at Walnut Street Theatre. Sing out...

Theater J Announces its 2016-2017 Season: 1st Chosen by Theater J’s Artistic Director Adam Immerwahr

Theater J, the nation’s largest and most prominent Jewish theater, announces its 2016-2017 season, the first season chosen by new Theater J Artistic Director Adam Immerwahr. This lineup of seven...

Review: ‘Proof’ at 1st Stage

At one point in David Auburn’s multiple award-winning drama Proof, which is currently being given an exceptionally gripping treatment at 1st Stage in Tysons, Hal Dobbs gushes to Catherine about her...

Aaron De Jesus on Playing Frankie Valli in ‘Jersey Boys’ at The National Theatre

Aaron De Jesus is wowing audiences on the road with his vocal acrobatics as the legendary Frankie Valli in The National Tour of Jersey Boys. Aaron takes us on his journey of playing the role of a...

‘The Naked Magic Show’ Magicians Christopher Wayne and Mike Tyler Bare it All with Lucrezia

Sometimes I hear a concept and I find it hard to envision – Shakespeare with no words for example. Having seen it, I’m now a huge fan and never miss a show. On the other hand, buff Australian dudes...

In the Moment: Creative Cauldron Awarded Grants for its Technical Theater Training Project

Theater has a great deal to offer well beyond acting before an enthralled audience. Not only is theater a source of inspiration and entertainment, but it can be a wonderful opportunity to learn and...

Review: ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’ at Round House Theatre

Southern jazz fills the theatre as the warm lights come up on a bedroom. A mix of yellow and pink shines through the windows at the back of the stage, transporting us to sunset on a hot, summer...

Review: ‘After Life’ | ‘Josephine’ by UrbanArias

Say “operatic double bill” and two duos spring to mind, for aficionados and amateurs alike. From the mid-20th century, Gian Carlo Menotti’s The Medium and The Telephone; from the late-19th century,...

Review: ‘The Good Person of Setzuan’ at The Towson University Department of Theatre Arts

Bertolt Brecht’s tale of the struggle to be good under the weight of capitalism is brought to the streets of Baltimore in Director Stephen Nunns’ lively and profound production of Bertolt Brecht’s The...

Review: ‘in a word’ at The Hub Theatre

By the time you realize that you’ve been emotionally captured by in a word, the breathtaking drama now playing at The Hub Theatre in Fairfax, it is too late to escape. Not that you would want to....

Review: ‘The Gospel According to Thomas Jefferson, Charles Dickens, and Count Leo Tolstoy: Discord’ at Washington Stage Guild

In the beginning was the Word–In the beginning was Reason–In the beginning was the Spirit. In the beginning was… Thomas Jefferson, Charles Dickens and Leo Tolstoy (he renounced his “Count” status)...

Review: ‘Almost, Maine’ at Providence Players of Fairfax

Almost, Maine is a series of short scenes reflecting love stories of characters in the same small town which never quite got organized enough to become official, so remains “almost.” The actors are an...

Review: ‘The Boys in the Band’ at Dominion Stage

Mart Crowley’s groundbreaking play The Boys in The Band, now being given a superlative production by Dominion Stage at the Gunston Arts Theatre, is perfectly “on-target” as a study of psychological...

Review: ‘The Winter’s Tale’ at Baltimore Shakespeare Factory

Shakespeare presents a language barrier for actors and audience alike. Typically, companies affect British accents (“received pronunciation” – not everyone is a fan), though many companies choose not...

“Creating An American Citizen”: An Interview with Pianist Bruce Levingston

On Wednesday, April 6, 2016, Georgetown University will welcome acclaimed pianist Bruce Levingston, one of the country’s leading figures in contemporary classical music, for the Washington, D.C....

Review: ‘Superman 2050’ at The Kennedy Center’s Family Theater

The Kennedy Center Theatre for Young Audiences is currently presenting an imaginative theatrical experience, Superman 2050, produced by Theater Unspeakable. Founded in 2010 by Marc Frost, Theater...

Review: ‘Quilters’ at Rockville Musical Theatre and Arts on the Green

The musical Quilters is being presented by Rockville Musical Theatre in partnership with the City of Gaithersburg at The Arts Barn. The show’s book is by Molly Newman and Barbara Damashek with Music...

Review: ‘I Hate Hamlet’ at Laurel Mill Playhouse

Laurel Mill Playhouse’s most recent production is Paul Rudnick’s comedic drama, I Hate Hamlet. Having never seen this production, I wasn’t quite sure what I was getting into but I was ready and...

Review: ‘Much Ado about Nothing’ at Silver Spring Stage

William Shakespeare’s great comedy, Much Ado about Nothing, is playing at Silver Spring Stage. The show is directed by Andrew Greenleaf and produced by Greenleaf and Katherine Offutt. One of the...

Mosaic Theater Company of DC Announces its 2016-2017 Season Schedule

“It’s absolutely amazing to talk about a second season for Mosaic and look at the unfolding of expanded horizons. We’re a start-up that started big and with a bang that now moves forward, broadening...

Review: ‘A Little Night Music’ at GWU

A Little Night Music might be classified as a gateway drug to Stephen Sondheim. Whether a fan or a skeptic, once you get a whiff of this vigorous (and tuneful!) exposé on humankind’s mating follies,...

Review: An Evening with Art Garfunkel at The Hylton Performing Arts Center

In his 70s, Art Garfunkel still has control of a gorgeous, light counter-tenor, and an ability to tell the story of a song while connecting with his audience. The Hylton Center for the Arts at George...

In the Moment: ‘Voices From the High School’ at NextStop Theatre Company-Cast Members Chime In

“Dark Nights” You remember that theatre term for when a venue has no shows playing to an audience. Well, NextStop Theatre, located in Herndon is having its April Theatre for Young Audiences production...

‘Almost, Maine’ Opens Tomorrow Night at Providence Players of Fairfax

Almost, Maine Opens Tomorrow, April 1st at 7:30 PM and Plays though April 16th! Nine Stories One Magical Night In Almost, Maine The Providence Players present John Cariani’s sweet, poignant, and witty...

Review: ‘Black Violin’ at The Barns at Wolf Trap

Black Violin performed a genre-shattering fusion of classical and hip hop in an unforgettable concert last night at The Barns at Wolf Trap. Black Violin is composed of Kev Marcus (aka Kevin Sylvester)...

Howard University’s Spring Dance Concert ‘DRIFT’ on April 8 & 9

We close our season through movement with DRIFT~ Spring Dance Concert! This production will surely take you on a journey through time, generations, emotions and movement. Dance Coordinators Royce...

Contemporary American Theater Festival (CATF) Announces Its 2016 Line-Up of Plays

CATF ANNOUNCES ITS 2016 LINE-UP OF PLAYS To take place in rotating repertory July 8 – 31, 2016 Featuring new plays from Christina Anderson, Allison Gregory, Chisa Hutchinson, Susan Miller, and Ronan...

Review: ‘The Illusionists’ at Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theatre

Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theatre has reassurance for anyone out there asking where the magic went. Its “direct from Broadway” engagement of The Illusionists is packed full of caped conjurers,...

Review: The Kennedy Center and Pro Musica Hebraica Present ‘Wandering Stars: Two Centuries of European Jewish Song’

I left The Kennedy Center Terrace Theater last night walking about in that peaceful sort of glow one gets after an experience of great beauty; a kind of encounter that seems to refocus the world in...

Reston Community Players Presents ‘Our Town’ April 22-May 7th

Reston Community Players Presents: OUR TOWN By Thornton Wilder To close their 49th season, Reston Community Players presents the classic drama, OUR TOWN, recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, by...

HCC’s “W.I.G.nition: Actors and Writers Fire It Up” on Friday, April 8th at 8:00pm

Howard Community College’s Arts Collective’s “What Improv Group?!?!” (W.I.G.) partners with HCC’s Creative Writers and HoCoPoLitSo for an intense, innovative celebration of language and imagination...

Magic Time! ‘After the War’ at Mosaic Theater Company of DC

“A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house,” said a certain prophet of Nazareth long ago. Subtract the word “prophet,” swap in...

Review: ‘After the War’ at Mosaic Theater Company of DC

When you decide to be a dissident artist–think Paul Robeson–you’d better be willing to suffer the consequences. When you challenge a nation’s founding mythology, an emotional backlash is guaranteed....

Arts on the Green Announces 2016-2017 Schedule: Partnerships with Landless, Wildwood, Montgomery Playhouse, RMT, and More…

Arts on the Green has unveiled it’s exciting 2016-2017 season at: The Arts Barn-Arts Barn 311 Kent Square Road Gaithersburg, Maryland 20878-5727 ____ Here it the 2016-2017 schedule: GREASE—July 15-23,...

Review: ‘My Fair Lady’ at Riverside Center for the Performing Arts

The Riverside Center for the Performing Arts presents My Fair Lady, with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. Director Patrick A’Hearn assembles a superb ensemble for this...

Magic Time! The Cathartic Comedy of Martin McDonagh: A Q&A with Yury Urnov, Director of Forum Theatre’s ‘The Pillowman’

Martin McDonagh is one my favorite living English-language playwrights and I’m not really sure why. His plays are hilarious and horrific at the same time. And I experienced that counterintuitive combo...

Review: ‘Dry Bones’ at The Portraits of Faith

Dry Bones is philosophically and emotionally challenging Are there really “no second acts in American lives,” as the great writer F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote? The stage play Dry Bones tends to...

In the Moment: Hylton Performing Arts Center Announces Their 2016-2017 Schedule

Dance, Music, & Theater Comes to Manassas, VA The Hylton Performing Arts Center announces its 2016-2017 season, a fantastic line-up of music, dance, theater and performing arts. Now entering its...

Review: Barbara Cook’s Spotlight: Frances Ruffelle at The Kennedy Center

Totally “lopping –the –top” off conventional cabaret concert conventions, Broadway star and musical artist Frances Ruffelle presented a radically deconstructed, immersive and jazz-infused “tone poem”...

WAPAVA Presents Excerpts from Shakespeare Theatre Company’s 2008 Production of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ on Monday, 4/4@7:30 pm at The Clarice

WAPAVA Presents: Excerpts from Shakespeare Theatre Company’s 2008 Production of Romeo & Juliet Public Viewing of Archived Production & Discussion The Washington Area Performing Arts Video Archive...

Review #2: ‘No, No, Nanette’ at American University

A Frothy Revival of No, No, Nanette at American University After a week in which corpses—remembered and actual—have littered just about every stage I’ve visited this week (beginning with Falling Out...

Review: ‘Hamlet’ at The Washington Ballet

Hamlet, a modern, dramatic contemporary ballet based on William Shakespeare’s original, The Tragedie of Hamlet, published in 1603 premieres in The Kennedy Center. An “ongoing dialogue between...

Review: ‘An Evening with Jim Lehrer’ at The Writer’s Center

The Writer’s Center in Bethesda is celebrating its 40th Anniversary this year, and what better way could there be to mark the occasion than a program with the premier journalist, author, and...

Review #1: ‘No, No, Nanette’ at American University

“I want to be happy / But I won’t be happy / Till I make you happy too.” So sings Uncle Jimmy to the show’s titular character. These are also the last lines, sung by the ensemble, of No, No, Nanette,...

Review: The Peking Acrobats 30th Anniversary National Tour at Strathmore

Cirque du Soleil meets the East is an apt description of the The Peking Acrobats, which even features a clown/comedian like Cirque du Soleil’s shows. The Peking Acrobats pushed the human capacity...

Signature Theatre Announces its 2016-2017 Season-3 World Premiere Musicals and 2 World Premiere Plays

Signature Theatre Announces 2016/17 Season Three World Premiere Musicals: Freaky Friday by Tom Kitt, Brian Yorkey, and Bridget Carpenter Silver Belles by Matt Conner, Allyson Currin and Stephen...

In the Moment: ‘Falling Out of Time’ at Theatre J

Writing a column about Theater J’s world premiere of Falling Out of Time is difficult. Based upon the book by David Grossman, about a man’s 20 year-old soldier son who was killed during military...

Review: ‘Falling Out of Time’ at Theater J

When I attended the reading of Falling Out of Time at the Page-to-Stage Festival last fall, I wondered how on earth this poetic drama—half fairy tale, half allegory–could ever be mounted on a stage....

Review: ‘Fur’ at Venus Theatre Company

Venus Theatre’s new tour de force production of Migdalia Cruz’s Fur opens with a characteristically jarring scene: Michael, a white-suited animal lover, wheels a giant industrial strength hand cart...