Washington DC

Magic Time! ‘Falling Out of Time’ at Theater J in Verse

There is so much sorrow in this show Nine fine actors playing nine parents All mourning dead children Searching to see them again Seeking to be with them one more time Speaking words of unspeakable...

Review: ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’ at Compass Rose Theater

Compass Rose Theater’s production of The Diary of Anne Frank, directed by Steve Tobin, is a powerful piece of theater, recounting one of the saddest stories of World War II. Strong acting and...

Review: ‘Moment’ at The Studio Theatre

Family dramas are not rare; in fact, they are abundant; in fact, they dominate the theatrical landscape. Quality family dramas are rare, however: those that resound beyond their domesticity to signify...

Magic Time! “Moment’ at The Studio Theatre

“All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way,” as Leo Tolstoy famously said. Had Tolstoy seen Studio Theatre’s penetrating production of Deirdre Kinahan’s lacerating...

Review #2: ‘Boots, Class & Sass’ at Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC

Having reviewed the outstanding Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC (GMCW) many times in the past, it was a delightful diversion to review an evening of country music escapism entitled Boots, Class &...

Review: The Oak Ridge Boys at The Barns at Wolf Trap

The The Oak Ridge Boys along with their Mighty Oaks Band performed a dazzling mix of Country and Gospel tunes before a highly appreciative audience on March 20, 2016, Palm Sunday, at The Barns at Wolf...

Review: ‘Twenty Years with Love’ at Bowen McCauley Dance

Lucy Bowen McCauley celebrates 20 years as a choreographer and artistic director of her own company, with Twenty Years with Love, Bowen McCauley Dance, an evening of three pieces including one world...

Performances Today at Noon & 4 PM for ‘Becoming Sugar Plum’ at Metropolitan Ballet Theatre at Montgomery College

I am so proud and grateful for my students. They are such hardworking, dedicated, and talented individuals. I have witnessed some of my youngest dancers execute movements with such elegance and...

Review: ‘La Serva Padrona’ and ‘Gianni Schicchi’ at Catholic University’s Benjamin T. Rome School of Music

The Catholic University of America presents an operatic double bill La Serva Padrona and Gianni Schicchi for their Spring 2016 production. La Serva Padrona composed by Giovanni Pergolesi was...

Magic Time! ‘1984’ at Shakespeare Theatre Company

Shakespeare Theatre Company has missed no opportunity to issue advisories to audiences about to attend the spectacularly intense Headlong production of George Orwell’s 1984, now on stage at the...

Review: Academy of St Martin in the Fields with Violinist Joshua Bell at Strathmore

All eyes were on Joshua Bell during the Academy of St Martin in the Fields performance, although only one of the three pieces played by the world-renowned chamber orchestra featured him. Although the...

Review #2: ‘110 in the Shade’ at Ford’s Theatre

As the opening song exclaims, “Gonna Be Another Hot Day”- and like a refreshing breeze, the lilting lyrics and melodious music of the prolific theatre songwriting team of Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt...

In the Moment: ‘The Flick’ at Signature Theatre

Several years ago I read Annie Baker’s The Flick. For the life of me, I wondered how such a beautifully written, gutsy play about working-class heroes in their own ways could be turned into a living...

Meet the Cast of Laurel Mill Playhouse’s ‘Man of La Mancha’: Part 4: John Brown, Tracy Davidson, Richard Greenslit, Joseph Mariano, Kel McClanahan, and Christine Thomas-O’Meally

In Part 4 of a series of interviews with the cast of Man of La Mancha at Laurel Mill Playhouse meet John Brown, Tracy Davidson, Richard Greenslit, Joseph Mariano, Kel McClanahan, and Christine...

Spine: One ‘American Idiot’ to Another, at The Keegan Theatre

Let me admit this right from the start. I’m 60 years old. I don’t go to concerts much. I had heard of Green Day (I’ve worked with teenagers for decades), but had not listened intentionally to their...

Review: ‘110 in the Shade’ at Ford’s Theatre

Glorious vocals and a strong cast heat up Ford’s Theatre with the musical gem 110 in the Shade. With music and lyrics by The Fantasticks creators Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones, this rollicking musical,...

A Master Class with Renée Fleming at The Catholic University of America

The Catholic University of America’s (CUA) Benjamin T. Rome School of Music presented a master class by Renée Fleming on Sunday, March 13, 2016. Dr. Grayson Wagstaff, Dean of the School of Music, gave...

In the Moment: ‘1984’: A Loud Flash-Bang Grenade of a Theater Experience

Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) has a loud flash-bang grenade of a theater experience for audiences. It comes with a chilling take on gloomy lives lived in a world of law and order under total...

Review: ‘American Idiot’ at The Keegan Theatre

The Keegan Theatre’s American Idiot speaks to collective genius. Hardly a no-brainer to mount this explosive, war-weary work, weaned in the Bush II era, at the height of today’s media-hijacked,...

An Interview with Gigi Holliday on ‘La Boum’ at The L’Enfant Café

Gigi Holliday is one busy lady! From running a burlesque academy, to producing a regular show for performers of color to running three different shows at L’Enfant Café the only chance we had to chat...

An Interview with Maki Roll on ‘Bump & Grimes II: A Burlesque Tribute to the Walking Dead’ at The Black Cat This Friday, at 10 PM

DC hearts its nerdlesque! Do a Doctor Who-, Game of Thrones-, or Walking Dead-themed show and the fanboys and girls are sure to show up. I got a chance to chat with Maki Roll recently who has made a...

Round House Theatre Announces its 2016-2017 Season: A Celebration of Tony Kushner

NEW SEASON INCLUDES A CELEBRATION OF TONY KUSHNER, THE LARGEST MUSICAL IN ROUND HOUSE’S HISTORY, THE REGIONAL PREMIERE OF A SOLO SHOW BY AUGUST WILSON ROUND HOUSE THEATRE AND OLNEY THEATRE CENTER...

Review: The Montreal Symphony Orchestra with Washington Performing Arts at the Kennedy Center

Who needs to skip around musical history in a concert? A hundred years ago the musical world was in ferment, with shocking new developments right before and after World War I. The Montreal Symphony...

‘Shylock Agonistes’: Howard Jacobson and Aaron Posner at Folger Theatre

On the stage of the Folger Theatre, with the vestiges of the set of Aaron Posner’s just-closed Midsummer Night’s Dream in the background, well-known director and playwright Aaron Posner and Man Booker...

Review: ‘1984’ at Shakespeare Theatre Company

Prepare to be assaulted! Head-on by Headlong Theatre’s 1984, now on stage at STC’s Lansburgh Theatre. George Orwell’s novel has become the iconic symbol of the totalitarian surveillance State. Big...

Review: ‘The Pillowman’ at Forum Theatre

Martin McDonagh, the erstwhile enfant terrible of millennial European drama who is now a staple of contemporary theatres across the globe, is the sort of playwright whose words need little massaging...

Review: ‘Marjorie Prime’ at Olney Theatre Center

Question: What does it take to get an award-winning New York-based actor to perform in a tiny suburban outpost, 20 miles from Washington, DC? Answer: If the actor is Kathleen Butler—now starring in...

Review: ‘Hexagon 2016: Red, White, & Voters’ Blues’

America’s fascination with mobile phones, drones, and Fitbits were all parodied in the 2016 Hexagon show, but in this year of unprecedented political rancor, the group’s new revue, adeptly titled Red,...

Olney Theatre Center Unveils its 17-Show 2016-2017 Season Schedule: Co-Production with Round House Theatre of ‘Angels in America’ Announced

OLNEY THEATRE CENTER ANNOUNCES RECORD-BREAKING 17 SHOWS IN 2016-17 World Premieres from Hinderaker and Miroshnik, Multi-Year Co-Production Agreement with Round House Theatre, and Expanded Family...

Review: ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ at Annapolis Shakespeare Company

Annapolis Shakespeare Company’s production of The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde is a delightful period piece (late 19th Century) and a sentimental comedy that revolves around marriage,...

Review #1: Boots, Class & Sass at The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC

Yee-Haw! Saddle up and come see the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC’s (GMCW) ‘Boots, Class & Sass at the Lincoln Theatre. Fortunately there are three performance left next weekend, so you’ll have...

Review: Vân-Ánh Võ’s ‘The Odyssey: From Vietnam to America’ at The Kennedy Center

Vân-Ánh Võ’s The Odyssey: from Vietnam to America conjures, to a Western audience, images of Odysseus, returning from victory at Troy, being punished by the gods, losing his army, his loot, his...

Review: Fairfax Symphony Orchestra: ‘An Enchanted Evening’

It really was quite “An Enchanted Evening” at GMU’s Center for the Arts on March 12, 2016 as Mary Michael Patterson and Hayley Travers, accompanied by the Fairfax Orchestra under the baton of Luke...

Review: ‘Dogfight’ at The Media Theatre in Media, PA

“Semper Fi; Do or Die.” The Media Theatre has taken on the marine’s motto this month with the 2012 Dogfight: The Musical, with Music and Lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, and Book by Peter Duchan....

Review: Patti LaBelle Headlines Greater Washington Urban League “Unsung Heroes” Awards Fundraiser Gala

Recipes for the Good Life. That’s actually the title of a cookbook written by the legendary Godmother of Soul, Patti LaBelle. It’s also a metaphor for a music career spanning more than half a century;...

Review: ‘Advance Always: A Celebration of Frank Battisti and Garwood Whaley’ at The Kennedy Center

The Baldwin Wallace University Symphonic Wind Ensemble (BWUSWE), conducted by Dr. Brendan Caldwell, and the Bishop Ireton Symphonic Wind Ensemble, conducted by Dr. Randall Eyles, performed the concert...

Review: BSO: All-Beethoven at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall

Showcasing Beethoven’s pioneering range and imaginative ingenuity, Conductor Markus Stenz led the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in the Romantic and triumphant incidental music to Egmont last night,...

Review: ‘Sherlock Holmes and the West End Horror’ at Prince William Little Theatre

“Yet another Sherlock Holmes play?” you might say. Yes, but with a twist – Prince William Little Theatre’s production of Sherlock Holmes and the West End Horror is anything but same-old, same-old....

Review #2: ‘House.’ at Arts Collective @HCC

For the last 21 years, the Arts Collective at Columbia’s Howard Community College has been an incubator for developing talent and nurturing new and interesting stage productions. With House., an...

Review #1: ‘House.’ at Arts Collective@HCC

House., an original comedy written and directed by Daniel Johnston, opened last night at Howard Community College’s Arts Collective at the Horowitz Center in the Studio Theatre. This is Johnston’s...

Looking Back at ‘Elevate’ at Take the Stage Performance Company

I can’t stop thinking about the best time I had in the theatre so far this year-spending it with 26 of the most talented singers and dancers, and some terrific musicians, at Elevate at Take the Stage...

Magic Time! OpenStage New Works Showcase

The theater term “packed house” took on all new meaning for me the night I caught this month’s OpenStage New Works Showcase. Not only was there no empty folding chair; the show went on stage in what...

Review: Monica Bill Barnes & Company: ‘Happy Hour’ at The Kennedy Center

Monica Bill Barnes & Company Serving Up Food for Thought … and Cake In life some things that are easy look hard and others that are hard look easy. That’s also the case for choreographer and dancer...

Review: ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ at National Players

National Players is presently in their 67th season, and they are currently performing Julius Ceasar, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and A Tale of Two Cities, as they travel around the country. The Players...

In the Moment: The Costumes of Synetic Theater’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’

Ah, the importance of the costumes actors wear to set the scene for any stage production: the shapes, colors, textures. How the fabric flows, drapes, curves or hugs fast to an actor’s frame. Does the...

Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC’s Executive Director Chase Maggiano To Become Executive Director of The Washington Chorus

Chase Maggiano, Executive Director of The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC, is on his way to The Washington Chorus in June. He will be sorely missed. Yesterday, he sent this announcement and...

Meet the Cast of Laurel Mill Playhouse’s ‘Man of La Mancha’: Part 3: Mary Wakefield

In Part 3 of a series of interviews with the cast of Laurel Mill Playhouse’s Man of La Mancha, meet Mary Wakefield. Joel: Please introduce yourself and tell our readers where they may have seen you...

Behind the Scenes of Arts Collective @HCC’s Workshop Production of ‘House’: Part 5: Cast Members Colin Riley, Iris Shih, and Sierra Young

In Part 5 of 5 interviews with the Playwright/Director and cast members of House at Arts Collective @ HCC, meet cast members Colin Riley, Iris Shih, and Sierra Young Joel: Please introduce yourself...

Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company Announces its 2016-2017 Season

A WORLD PREMIERE, ACCLAIMED NEW PLAYS, AND THE RETURN OF BOTH NILAJA SUN AND THE SECOND CITY Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company is pleased to announce its 2016-2017 season, beginning with a world premiere...

Prokofiev Spring in Washington: A Preview of Seven Musical Events

When Andrew Lloyd Webber recently told a group of teenage rock musicians on Broadway that he wanted to talk about the music of Sergei Prokofiev rather than his own musicals, he was the latest in a...