Kennedy Center

Review: ‘¡Viva Cesar, Viva Kennedy!’ Featuring Eugenia León and La Santa Cecilia at The Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater

It is Hispanic Heritage Month at The Kennedy Center; as soon as you enter you can feel there is something different in the air. As soon as you enter you are greeted with some powerful artwork...

Review: ‘DEMO by Damian Woetzel: Heroes’ at The Kennedy Center

The New York City Ballet’s “main man” for 25 years, Damian Woetzel is a hero to many, certainly one of my favorite dancers. Dressed in stylish jeans and midnight blue t-shirt, his dark curly hair...

Review #2: ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time’

Now and then there comes a production of a play that is so spectacularly original it confounds one’s every expectation of what can be achieved in theater. The story—a marvel in itself—could not be...

An Interview with Playwright Larissa FastHorse

Larissa FastHorse is one of the playwrights participating in Center Stage’s Wright Now Play Later project, which kicks off today. I had a chance to chat with FastHorse last month, when she was in town...

Review: ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time’ at The Kennedy Center

The national tour of the critically-acclaimed, five-time Tony Award-winning production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time made its sojourn to The Kennedy Center’s Opera House this...

Review: The Gary Bartz Quartet at The Kennedy Center Jazz Club

The KC Jazz Club opened its 14th season last Friday with a soul-tossing river of jazz. Gary Bartz starts the evening with a prayer: “Sadness must leave this room,” as Paul Bollenback’s guitar, James...

Review: The Gary Bartz Quartet at The Kennedy Center Jazz Club

The KC Jazz Club opened its 14th season last Friday with a soul-tossing river of jazz. Gary Bartz starts the evening with a prayer: “Sadness must leave this room,” as Paul Bollenback’s guitar, James...

Review: ‘The Blues Project’ by Dorrance Dance with Toshi Reagon and BIG Lovely at The Kennedy Center

If you want to know how America dances, don’t tune in to those kitschy television competition shows So You Think You Can Dance? and Dancing With the Stars. Check out Dorrance Dance in The Blues...

Ayana Reed on Playing Carrie in ‘Blackberry Daze’ at MetroStage

Ayana Reed is a native Washingtonian who is appearing in Blackberry Daze at MetroStage. Here’s her journey… Please introduce yourself and tell our readers about your theater and vocal training and...

Review: National Symphony Orchestra: ‘Shakespeare at the Symphony: From Tchaikovsky to Elgar’

It may be a little known, but hardly surprising, fact that the works of William Shakespeare have inspired more music than any other work of literature perhaps except for the Bible. The Bard’s most...

Duane Richards II on Playing Willie and Simon in ‘Blackberry Daze’ at MetroStage

Duane Richards II is a native Washingtonian who is appearing in Blackberry Daze at MetroStage. Here’s his journey… Joel: Please introduce yourself and tell our readers about your theater and vocal...

Review: ‘National Symphony Orchestra: Season Opening Gala Concert’ at the Kennedy Center

In a political season where talk of building walls sometimes trumps the optimism of building bridges, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, named in honor of a President whose civil...

Review: Yusuf/Cat Stevens’ “A Cat’s Attic” Concert at The Kennedy Center

Cat Stevens (as he was known then) last performed at The Kennedy Center back in November 1971 just months after it opened. Much has changed since then, including his name (which became Yusuf after he...

Review: ‘The Marriage of Figaro’ at Washington National Opera

“Perdono no merita chi agli altri non da.” So say the words carved into the wall above the stage in the Washington National Opera’s stunning production of The Marriage of Figaro (Le Nozze de Figaro)...

Review: NSO Pops: The Second City Guide to the Symphony Starring Colin Mochrie

What happens when you put together famous improv comedian Colin Mochrie, Canadian comedy troupe The Second City, and the National Symphony Orchestra? A night of music and sketch comedy at the John F....

The Riverside Center for the Performing Arts Presents ‘Driving Miss Daisy’ 9/28-11/6 With Karen Grassle, Bill Grimmette, and Alan Hoffman-Directed by Rick Hammerly

The Riverside Center for the Performing Arts in Fredericksburg, Virginia is proud to present Alfred Uhry’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Driving Miss Daisy, starring Karen Grassle. Located at 95...

Review: Amos Lee with Lauren Talese at The Kennedy Center

American music at its best is alive and well as showcased by last night’s Amos Lee concert at The Kennedy Center’s Concert Hall. The evening was off to a good start with an opening performance by...

Page-to-Stage Festival: ‘Wendy: The Girl Who Grew Up’ at Monumental Theatre Company

The Kennedy Center’s 15th Annual Page-to-Stage Festival took place on Labor Day weekend, with over 50 D.C. area theaters participating. Through free readings and open rehearsals, the Festival offers a...

Page-to-Stage New Play Festival: Brave Soul Collective and African-American Collective Theater

Two of DC’s most important independent theater collectives bearing witness as black artists to #BlackLivesMatter are Brave Soul Collective and African-American Collective Theater (ACT). Both...

A Report on ‘Handsome Hound’ at Millennium Stage at The Kennedy Center

Handsome Hound, a local band piloted by twenty-somethings Claire Daviss and Cuchulain Kelly, gives millennials a better name. Self-described as having “roots in folk, rock, pop, Americana, country and...

Review: ‘Fear’ at Longacre Lea

Let’s say a wealthy patron approaches an ensemble theatre company with a proposition: “Shakespeare? Why so much Shakespeare? Why so revered? Surely, other playwrights deserve having theatre companies...

Dangereuse: Globe Theatre’s ‘The Merchant of Venice’ at The Kennedy Center

W.H. Auden once said ,“Shylock is the outsider because he is the only serious person in the play.” Jonathan Pryce’s Shylock is a deeply serious person, and Pryce’s magnificent portrayal of Shylock’s...

Review #2: ‘The Merchant of Venice’ at The Kennedy Center

The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose. An evil soul producing holy witness Is like a villain with a smiling cheek, A goodly apple rotten at the heart.” – William Shakespeare, The Merchant of...

Review #1: ‘The Merchant of Venice’ at The Kennedy Center

The appropriately psychologically penetrating and vivid production of The Merchant of Venice (now playing at The Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater) embraces all the conundrums of William...

Review: ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ at The Kennedy Center Opera House

In fact, a perfect opera! Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera dazzled the Kennedy Center’s Opera House this Friday, bringing the beloved and longest running Broadway musical to the delight...

Review: ‘The Bridges of Madison County’ at The Kennedy Center

The Bridges of Madison County is a romantic, sexy, and unapologetically sentimental musical. Most likely you know The Bridges of Madison County from either Robert James Waller’s 1992 novel and/or the...

Review: Dick Gregory: An Evening of Comedy & Jazz at The Kennedy Center

Internationally known comedian and civil rights activist, Dick Gregory, closed out the last of a series of five District of Comedy Festival performances along with a young all white jazz trio who...

Capital Fringe Preview #23: ‘Glacier’ at MOVEIUS Contemporary Ballet

DANCING CLIMATE CHANGE: Merging Ballet, Science, and Film in MOVEIUS Contemporary Ballet’s “GLACIER” at the 2016 Capital Fringe Festival This groundbreaking, multimedia production puts an immersive,...

Review: ‘See Jane Sing’ at The Kennedy Center

It’s hard to imagine what to expect at a cabaret debut from a television actor turned Broadway performer turned television game host. Jane Lynch—who some know as Sue Sylvester from the hit-television...

Review: The District of Comedy Roast of James Carville at The Kennedy Center

How do you make fun of someone who always makes fun of himself? Well, last night, Roastmaster Bob Saget and The Kennedy Center’s District of Comedy Festival managed to do just that, roasting Chester...

Review: “Celebrating Joan: A Tribute to Joan Rivers” at The Kennedy Center

Celebrating Joan: A Tribute to Joan Rivers, which left the audience of admirers howling last night at The Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater, was an evening for “mature audiences” and fans of the...

Review: Musicians of National Orchestral Institute Perform Two Dances and a Titan

The lobby is packed. The line for ticket pick-up is a few dozen deep. The lobby is filled with plush lounge furniture and lit with low-hanging, contemporary chandeliers. While this could be a scene...

Review: ‘Kinky Boots’ at The Kennedy Center

In The Kennedy Center’s current production of the Tony Award-winning musical Kinky Boots, a cornucopia of vibrant color runs riot through this exuberant and defiant celebration of diversity and...

2016 Capital Fringe Preview #10:’The DOMA Diaries’ by Kevin Michael West

On June 26, 2013, when the Supreme Court announced its decision on the constitutionality of “The Defense of Marriage Act” (or “DOMA”), it was a unique moment for LGBT Playwright Kevin Michael West. A...

Review: Ireland 100: ‘The Gloaming’ at The Kennedy Center

The Ireland 100 closes this weekend with new Irish sensation Ireland 100: The Gloaming who made their Kennedy Center debut with a lovely mix of traditional music, improvisation, and new classics....

Review: Ireland 100: ‘The Hunger’ at The Kennedy Center

The East Coast concert premiere of The Hunger begins with a harsh, discordant note, immediately conveying that this will be a performance about pain. The short opera, from modern Irish composer...

Review: ‘Juliet and Romeo’ by the Royal Swedish Ballet

The Swedes take on an old classic and make it relevant. Mats Ek’s Juliet and Romeo for the Royal Swedish Ballet, at The Kennedy Center for only four more shows, is a bold retelling of Shakespeare’s...

Review: Paul Taylor Dance Company at The Kennedy Center

The last living – and working – link to the founding generation of modern dance choreographers, Paul Taylor remains true to his values as a consummate dancemaker imbuing his works with impeccable...

Review: Ireland 100: ‘riverrun’ at The Kennedy Center

DC audiences last saw Olwen Fouéré in Yaël Farber’s Salomé at the Shakespeare Theatre Company playing the narrator character Nameless Woman. With her striking long white hair, deep vocal register, and...

Review: Ireland 100: ‘Tiny Plays for Ireland and America’ by Fishamble: The New Play Company

Fishamble: The New Play Company opened its “Tiny Plays for Ireland and America” last night as part of Ireland 100. Act I consisted of 20 short, Irish plays in 90 minutes, and each play shed some light...

Review: Ireland 100: ‘The Girl Who Forgot To Sing Badly’ at The Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center is currently presenting IRELAND 100: Celebrating a Century of Irish Arts & Culture, through June 5, 2016. The festival includes a wide range of events focused on Irish Culture, as a...

Review: ‘Boyz II Men’ at The Kennedy Center with the National Symphony Orchestra

Motown Philly came to DC full-blast as the best-selling R&B group of all time, Boyz II Men graced the Concert Hall stage of The Kennedy Center on Friday, May 20, 2016, accompanied by the dynamic...

Review: Ireland 100: ‘All That Fall’ by Pan Pan Theatre

All That Fall is quite the most quite unique, powerful, and delightful experiences I’ve had at the theatre. Director Gavin Quinn, the Co-Artistic Director of Pan Pan Theatre, brings this radio play by...

Review: Ireland 100: ‘The Plough and the Stars’ at The Kennedy Center

Make no mistake about it. World War I kicked the crap out of patriotic idealism. Just ask Wilfred Owen. His “Dulce et Decorum et” is one of the most powerful denunciations of the concept of “the...

Review: ‘Some Enchanted Evening: The Music of Rodgers and Hammerstein and the American Songbook’ with Renée Fleming and Norm Lewis With The Choral Arts Society of Washington

Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II pioneered a flair that was all their own in the golden age of musical theater. From 1940 to Hammerstein’s death in 1960, this musical duo dominated the musical...

A Preview of RebollarDance’s ‘2077’ Premiering on The Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage on May 17th at 6 PM

RebollarDance, described by Erica Rebollar as “a modern dance collaborative where multi-genre artists can make innovative work,” has cooked up a truly unique evening of offerings for their upcoming...

Encore Chorale Gets Ready to Take Another Bow at ‘With a Song in My Heart’

There are always community gems we rarely hear about, but Encore Chorale, which was founded in 2001, has become a treasure chest of talent. They began as a study to see what the impact of...

Review: Washington Performing Arts Presents Itzhak Perlman and Emanuel Ax

You can feel the excitement in a room when witnessing the performance of an icon. With over 100 years of combined experience bringing classical music’s greatest pieces to life, Itzhak Perlman on...

Review: ‘Carmina 35’ at The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC

It was an extremely innovative and conceptually brilliant idea to celebrate 35 wonderful years of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC (GMCW) in a sophisticated, elegant and somewhat serious mode...

Review: ‘The Ring Cycle’: ‘Twilight of the Gods –The Ring of the Nibelung –Part Three’ at Washington National Opera

Mother Earth is crying in despair and degradation in Director Francesca Zambella’s audaciously brilliant interpretation of the final opera of Wagner’s artistically magnificent Ring Cycle—Twilight of...