Hylton Performing Arts Center

Rooftop Productions takes a stab at Sondheim’s ‘Sweeney Todd’

A worthwhile engagement with the glories and complexities of the “dark operetta.”

‘Broadway Princess Party’ cast shares the joy and magic behind the show

By Kirstin Franko (guest author) and David Siegel Nothing can stop the Broadway Princess Party with its celebration of empowerment for who you are or want to be. It’s a performance that aims to kick...

The Mason Cabaret is in splendid voice with ‘The Great American Songbook!’ at GMU

With personality galore and voices full of pizzazz and warmth, The Mason Cabaret in Concert delivered a wonderful evening of Celebrating the Great American Songbook! Under the direction of James...

Aquila Theatre’s ‘The Odyssey’ tackles modern warfare and its impact

Aquila Theatre’s adaptation of Homer’s Greek epic The Odyssey, translated by Emily Wilson and directed by Desiree Sanchez, provides a sobering picture of the impact of warfare on the psyche. It’s...

In the Moment: ‘Jazz4Justice’ at Center for the Arts

Hardy, inspiring community engagement is vital for the continuing health of the performing arts. That is a given. With challenging times for arts funding; the changes in the acceptance of the...

Review: ‘Night Witches’ at Ground Rush Productions

“We all had things we had to let go of,” says the woman flanked by her six sisters-in-arms in Night Witches, directed by Kathleen Anne Hefferon, and created by the seven women who comprise the...

Night Witches – A New Play About WWII Soviet Female Fighter Pilots To Workshop at Local Airports and the Hylton Performing Arts Center

Night Witches, a new play following the true story of the first all-female Soviet combat pilots of the 46th Guards Night Bomber Regiment, will be performed at The Hylton Performing Arts Center on...

Review: ‘No Solemn Silence: A Gilbert & Sullivan Review’ at George Mason University’s Center For the Arts

George Mason University (GMU) launched its Year of Gilbert and Sullivan Celebration with a clever, bright, joyfully sung musical homage to the masterful Gilbert and Sullivan team and its invented...

Review: ‘The Complete History of America (abridged) Special Election Edition! by The Reduced Shakespeare Company at Hylton Performing Arts Center

Paul Revere may or may not have ridden through the countryside yelling, “The Redcoats are coming,” but given a quick horse and a heavily padded saddle, this reviewer is writing to announce, “The...

In the Moment: ‘The 100th Meridian Project’ at George Mason University

Climate change is a sharp pointed object in the current 2016 political season. The language strewn about is often hot and more often than not, ad hominem to say the least But climatic issues are not...

In the Moment: ‘Technical Theater Boot Camp’ at Hylton Performing Arts Center.

This summer Hylton Performing Art Center is offering a unique opportunity for “hands-on” learning about what happens backstage during a live theater performance. The Hylton is offering a...

In the Moment: George Mason’s Center for the Arts Announces its Upcoming 2016-2017 Season

Next season’s Great Performances series at the Center for the Arts was recently announced to hearty applause at a lovely evening event on the George Mason University campus in Fairfax, Virginia....

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: 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: ‘Ladybug Girl & Bumblebee Boy: The Musical’ at Hylton Performing Arts Center

Hylton Performing Arts Center’s Hylton Family Series presented a one-day showing of Ladybug Girl and Bumblebee Boy, the Musical. The musical, produced by Bay Area Children’s Theatre, was a high-energy...

Review: ‘An Evening with Groucho’ at Hylton Performing Arts Center

“Groucho, please don’t die!” a woman is said to have begged the great comedian near the end of his seventy or so years in show business. She had grabbed on to him, clutching his arm. Frank Ferrante –...

Review: ‘for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf’ at Creative and Performing Arts Center

Ntozake Shange’s music-drama, for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf [“for colored girls”] (1976), comprises a seminal work of poetry, music, and improvisational dance....

‘The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes’ at Aquila Theatre at Hylton Performing Arts Center

As I walked into the bustling lobby of the Hylton Performing Arts Center to see the professional touring company Aquila Theatre’s fantastic new production of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, I...

‘The Midtown Men’ at Hylton Performing Arts Center

Ah, what a night! It was 1963 again, or there abouts. It was a carefree concert to recall a certain period in the ‘60’s full of happy days. A time of AM radio hits, high school and perhaps college...

George Mason University’s Center for the Arts Announces 25th Anniversary Season of Great Performances at Mason by Jill Graziano Laiacona

Celebrating 25 years of bringing outstanding performing arts to George Mason University and audiences in the greater Washington, DC area, George Mason University’s Center for the Arts in Fairfax...

‘Cinderella’ at The Russian National Ballet Theatre at Hylton Performing Arts Center

I attended the Russian National Ballet Theatre’s enchanting Cinderella on Friday night at the Hylton Performing Arts Center. Cinderella moves to George Mason University’s Center for the Arts on April...

Hylton Performing Arts Center Announces 2015-2016 Performance Season by Jill Graziano

The Hylton Performing Arts Center announces a superb collection of performances coming to Northern Virginia in 2015-2016. Now entering its sixth season, this outstanding community arts center on...

‘Arlo Guthrie: Alice’s Restaurant 50th Anniversary Tour’ at Hylton Performing Arts Center

Fifty years ago this coming Thanksgiving, Arlo Guthrie and company take a truck load of garbage out of a friend’s house near Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Finding the local dump closed for the holiday,...

‘Menopause The Musical’ at Hylton Performing Arts Center

Menopause The Musical is still hysterical and fresh after 15 years and multiple thousands of performances. I use the word ‘hysterical’ on purpose: for many women who have gone through the mood swings...

In the Moment: George Mason University Gets STEAMED

What is the arts role as a means to spark creativity for the American workforce in the post-recession world? Much is being said about keeping the competitive edge of the United States through what is...

‘The Mystery of Edwin Drood’ at George Mason University’s School of Theater and School of Music

Charles Dickens left his novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood unfinished when he died in 1870. Over a hundred years later, Rupert Holmes took advantage of that ambiguity to create a unique musical, where...

In the Moment: A Chat with the Director and Cast Members of George Mason University’s ‘The Mystery of Edwin Drood’ Which Opens This Friday Night

Ah, theatrical heaven! Being in the midst of the usually unseen controlled chaos of a rehearsal, especially with a large cast. Such a delight, so much infectious, intense energy pervading a large,...

Aquila Theatre Brings ‘Wuthering Heights’ to George Mason University’s Center for the Arts on October 5th and ‘The Tempest’ to Hylton Performing Arts Center on October 11th

Enduring works of live theater continue to be performed; even in this fast-changing digital age, with disruption to so much long-held, accepted wisdom. Classic works of literature and theater keep on...

‘Broadway’s Next Hit Musical’ at Hylton Performing Arts Center

Cue the bright lights. Quick witted, theatrically smart, and skillful improv artistry took to the stage of the gleaming Hylton Performing Arts Center in Manassas bringing good cheer to the full-house...

‘Dailey & Vincent LIVE: A Live Recording Event’ at Hylton Performing Arts Center

Award-winning bluegrass duo Dailey & Vincent explained onstage at the Hylton Performing Arts Center Saturday night that they usually model themselves after The Statler Brothers (a member of whom, Don...

‘High School Musical Jr.’ at The Lopez Conservatory Program

It is difficult to overstate the impact that Disney’s 2006 original movie, High School Musical had on the drama geeks of the day. As a fourteen year old theatre kid, the tale of an entire school...

‘The Wiz’ at The Creative and Performing Arts Center at The Hylton Performing Arts Center

Since Judy Garland first went over the technicolor rainbow in 1939, audiences across America have been captivated by the story of Dorothy, Munchinland, and the Wicked Witch of the West. The story of...

‘The Wizard of Oz’ at Pied Piper Theatre at Hylton Performing Arts Center by Audrey Thornton

Veteran director Vincent Worthington, who also serves as Set Designer and Lighing Designer of Pied Piper Theatre, masterfully lead Piped Piper Theatre’s first musical production at the Hylton...

Aquila Theatre’s ‘Fahrenheit 451’ at Hylton Performing Arts Center by Keith Tittermary

“It was a pleasure to burn.” The opening line of Ray Bradbury’s 1953 magnum opus, Fahrenheit 451 sets the mood for a dystopian society where firemen set fires and critical thinking is non-existent,...

‘Peter Nero: Classic Connections’ at Hylton Performing Arts Center by Keith Tittermary

When I was about 11 years old, I saw the talented and comedic Victor Borge perform at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia. I wasn’t there to see him, though, I went to see Ann Jillian sing, and he...

‘Dancing in the Wings’ at Hylton Performing Arts Center by Audrey Thornton

Dancing in the Wings, a musical by Debbie Allen, returns again to the Hylton Performing Arts Center on George Mason University’s Manassas Campus. Adapted from the 2000 book by Debbie Allen and Kadir...

Dr. Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys at Hylton Performing Arts Center by Francine Schwartz

On Saturday, May 4, 2013 the Hylton Performing Arts Center of Manassas 3rd Anniversary Gala once again welcomed one of American music’s greatest Bluegrass legends, Dr. Ralph Stanley and the Clinch...

‘Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom Starring Peter Gros’ at Hylton Performing Arts Center by Grace Kim

For an animal lover like me who grew up watching Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom with host Peter Gros, it was a spectacular treat to see him live. Introducing himself and showing a clip of his first...

The Russian National Ballet’s ‘Chopiniana & Romeo & Juliet’ at Hylton Performing Arts Center by Mike Spain

The Russian National Ballet Theatre dropped by the Hylton Performing Arts Center in Manassas on Friday to perform a ballet double-header of classics. First they performed Chopiniana (also known as Les...

Metropolitan Jazz Orchestra: ‘The Gospel Truth’ Review by Audrey Thornton

In keeping with its blues-drenched hand-clapping theme, the Metropolitan Jazz Orchestra (MJO), delivered another festive evening of big band tunes at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 30, 2013, at the...

Arlo Guthrie’s ‘Here Comes the Kid Tour’ at Hylton Performing Arts Center by Mike Spain

Arlo Guthrie brought his Here Comes the Kid Tour to the Hylton Performing Arts Center in Manassas, Virginia Saturday night. The tour celebrated Arlo’s dad – Woody Guthrie’s 100th birthday. If you are...

Metropolitan Jazz Orchestra: ‘Mardi Gras with the MJO’ at George Mason University by Audrey Thornton

There is no annual holiday celebration in Louisiana without Mardi Gras! According to historians, Mardi Gras, a one-day prelude to Lent dates back thousands of years to pagan celebrations of spring and...

Vpstart Crow Productions Takes Final Bow by Shellie Jablonowski

Vpstart Crow Productions Takes Final Bow It was with great sadness that I read this announcement today. Vpstart Crow Productions had produced so many fine productions and we were honored to have seen...

‘Jazz for Justice’ at Hylton Performing Arts Center by Audrey Thornton

Nearly twenty-five years to the day of passage of H.CON. RES 57 (12/4/87) officially designating jazz as a rare and valuable national American treasure and art form, the George Mason University Jazz...

‘Dancing in the Wings’ at Hylton Performing Arts Center by Audrey Thornton

If you have two hours to spare this beautiful Sunday afternoon, and want to enjoy a world-class venue in a beautiful performing arts space, hurry to reserve your family seats at the Hylton Performing...

‘Arsenic and Old Lace’ at Vpstart Crow Productions by Jessica Vaughan

Vpstart Crow Productions puts the laughs in black comedy, opening their 2012 season with Arsenic and Old Lace. You know you shouldn’t be laughing at people murdering each other – but you do. Lisa Anne...

‘Six Degrees of Separation’ at Vpstart Crow Productions by Ashunda Norris

According to an unproven theory, all of us mere mortals are connected to anyone else on the planet through a chain of acquaintances separated by no more than five other people; six degrees of...

Six Degrees of Separation opens May 11th at Vpstart Crow Productions by Rob Batarla

Vpstart Crow Productions’ Artistic Director Rob Batarla tells us about their new production of Six Degrees of Separation which opens this Friday at the Hylton Performing Arts Center. “Vpstart Crow...