Kennedy Center

Review: ‘Cinderella’ at The Kennedy Center Opera House

Don’t walk into the Kennedy Center Opera House expecting a Disney-esque, happily-ever-after retelling of the evergreen fairytale Cinderella. British director/choreographer Matthew Bourne has spent his...

Review: ‘Cartography’ at The Kennedy Center

With its premiere of Cartography, The Kennedy Center continues to be a welcoming venue for theatrically devised civic discourse on often fraught issues. Cartography is a unique live documentary about...

American Opera Is Becoming Its Own Genre and It’s Happening Here in DC

Opera in America has had the stink of death upon it for some time now. Lavish productions of period piece love stories and power struggles set largely during the time of kings and courtesans in Europe...

News: Ford’s and Kennedy Center Shows to Go On During Federal Shutdown

DC’s two major federally funded theater venues have both announced that performances will be uninterrupted by the federal shutdown. According to the website of Ford’s Theatre, where A Christmas Carol...

Review: ‘The Play That Goes Wrong’ at the Kennedy Center

Even before the curtain officially goes up on The Play That Goes Wrong, you can tell you are in for a laugh riot. The show’s “Director” Chris Bean (played by Evan Alexander Smith), “Stage Manager”...

‘Miss Saigon’: Time To Say Goodbye?

A blunt assessment: It’s time to move on. It is time to retire Miss Saigon as the seductive, out-of-touch, museum piece that it is. Miss Saigon has little to say about the sorrows of the Vietnam War....

Review: ‘Miss Saigon’ at The Kennedy Center

Miss Saigon is all grown up. Sort of. It’s been almost 30 years since Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg’s blockbuster opened in London’s West End and took the world by storm. But times have...

Soloman Howard: Southeast’s Operatic Superstar Reprises ‘The Lion, the Unicorn, and Me’ at the Kennedy Center

Growing up in Southeast DC, Soloman Howard had a godfather who saw to it that the young singer’s obvious basso gift did not languish for lack of training and opportunity. “My godfather, Thomas Dixon...

Review: The Second City’s ‘Love, Factually’ at the Kennedy Center

The Second City lights up the Kennedy Center’s holiday season again this year with their new production, Love, Factually. Featuring a top-rate cast directed by Frank Caeti, The Second City delivers a...

Review: ‘The Nutcracker’ by Ballet West at The Kennedy Center

Ballet West’s Nutcracker, conducted by Jared Oaks, is one of the most unique productions to hit the stage this season at the Kennedy Center. Steeped in lush colors, with a gorgeous set design and...

‘Hamilton’ Front and Center at 2018 Kennedy Center Honors

A mini Hamilton reunion took place at the Kennedy Center last night as actors from Hamilton’s original Broadway cast took part in the 41st Kennedy Center Honors Awards that recognized the co-creators...

DCMTA Partners with Kennedy Center on ‘Hamilton’ Sing-Along

Don’t throw away your shot! Sing Hamilton songs with some of DC’s favorite musical theater performers this Friday, November 30th on the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage. The Kennedy Center and DC...

Review: ‘Barber Shop Chronicles’ at The Kennedy Center

“To let one’s hair down” is to open up, be freer than usual, be willing to share. The idiom is apt for what transpires in Barber Shop Chronicles, an extraordinary exploration of black masculinity, in...

Review: ‘The Choir of Man’ at The Kennedy Center

If you’re in a mood for some boisterous joy this holiday weekend—some soul-rousing solos and heartbreaking harmonies in the tenor/bass range—nab a ticket to The Choir of Man. The touring concert show,...

Commemorate Armistice Day with The Washington Chorus This Sunday

This November, as Americans prepare for Thanksgiving and the start of the holiday season, arts organizations across the Washington area will commemorate a more somber occasion: the 100th anniversary...

Review: ‘Silent Night’ at the Kennedy Center Washington National Opera

The Washington National Opera’s current production of the opera Silent Night is a shattering indictment of the futility and waste of war set during the historical truce that occurred during World War...

Review: ‘Anastasia’ at The Kennedy Center

Will you be swept up into the legend of Anastasia, the youngest daughter of Nicholas II, the last Emperor of Russia? When her family was executed during the Russian Revolution, the rumor spread that...

Review: ‘Long Way Down’ at The Kennedy Center

Long Way Down, adapted from the renowned young adult novel in verse by Jason Reynolds, is told in the voice of a 15-year-old named Will and performed by the prodigiously talented Justin Weaks. He is...

Review: ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ at the Kennedy Center

It has taken more than 35 years for Alan Menken and Howard Ashman’s iconic musical Little Shop of Horrors to reach the Kennedy Center. But it’s been worth the wait! The Kennedy Center’s Broadway...

A Conversation with Playwright Naomi Iizuka and Director Jon Jon Johnson

By Sophie Herreid, Caitlin Partridge, Lauren Patton I had so many hopes. I had so many dreams. But I died I died I died along the way. – Chorus of Refugees, ‘Anon[ymous]’ Playwright Naomi Iizuka...

Choreographer Cathy Marston Talks Kennedy Center Debut With San Francisco Ballet

In San Francisco, the Unbound Festival included twelve choreographers and was a massive undertaking filled with phenomenal risks, tremendous creative freedom and the excitement of new territory. For...

Interview: San Francisco Ballet Artistic Director Helgi Tomasson Brings ‘Unbound’ to The Kennedy Center

In San Francisco, the Unbound Festival included 12 choreographers and was a massive undertaking filled with phenomenal risks, tremendous creative freedom and the excitement of new territory. For their...

Halloween Best Bets for DC Theatre Lovers

Looking to have a spoooooky good

Review: ‘Les Misérables’ at the Hippodrome Theatre

The Hippodrome Theatre has bookended its 2018 season with a pair of heavy-lifting musicals about democracy and revolution. For openers, it has that 30th-anniversary touring production of Les...

Review: ‘La traviata’ by the Washington National Opera

Washington National Opera’s current production of Giuseppe Verdi’s La traviata is a moving and heart-wrenching view of tragic romantic love in all its variations. Under the taut and astute direction...

Review: ‘2018 Marian Anderson Vocal Award Winner: Ryan Speedo Green in Concert’ at the Kennedy Center

Ryan Speedo Green is a man with a story. Many opera fans first learned his name through Daniel Bergner’s 2016 book Sing for Your Life: A Story of Race, Music, and Family. The New York Times journalist...

Page to Stage 2018: Tastings from a Buffet (Part Two)

Kennedy Center’s annual Page to Stage Festival is always chock full of tempting offerings, and the challenge of deciding what to see is daunting. It’s like an all-you-can-eat buffet…except you really...

Page to Stage 2018: Tastings from a Buffet (Part One)

Kennedy Center’s annual Page to Stage Festival is always chock full of tempting offerings, and the challenge of deciding what to see is daunting. It’s like an all-you-can-eat buffet…except you really...

Page to Stage Festival 2018: A Complete Listing of Shows

UPDATE: Click here for an interactive guide to the Page-to-Stage Festival. A very helpful tool in planning your visit. The Kennedy Center’s 17th annual Page to Stage Festival offers theatergoers the...

Playwright Neil Simon Dies at 91

Neil Simon, the Pulitzer Prize-winning American playwright, died last night at New York-Presbyterian Hospital in New York City. The cause was complications from pneumonia. He was 91 years old. His...

How ‘Hamilton’ Is Remaking American History

By Renee C. Romano and Claire Bond Potter America has gone Hamilton crazy. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical about Alexander Hamilton, “the forgotten founding father,” has become a turning point in...

Interview With Tom Sweitzer About ‘Coming of Age’ Cabaret

Entertainment and enlightenment are only two of the expectations for the upcoming performance of Coming of Age at the Creative Cauldron as a group of talented teens perform a cabaret with compelling...

Review: ‘The Color Purple’ at the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater

“I think it pisses God off when you walk by the color purple in a field and don’t notice it,” said the character Shug Avery in novelist Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning The Color Purple, which...

Three Truths I Took Away From Second City’s ‘Generation Gap’

Are we brave enough to laugh at ourselves? That’s a question The Second City explores in it’s latest comedy show Generation Gap, playing now through August 12th at the Kennedy Center. The show blends...

Review: ‘RIOT!: A Celebration of Women in Comedy’ at the Kennedy Center District of Comedy Festival

Riot!: A Celebration of Women in Comedy was part of the District of Comedy Festival at the Kennedy Center, featuring a weekend of comedy including stand-up, improv, sketch, variety, podcasts, and even...

Review: ‘Harry Shearer: Up To Eleven’ at The Kennedy Center

My father first showed me This Is Spinal Tap when I was about fifteen. It was immediately one of my absolute favorite films. I’ve seen it at least a dozen times since then, tried and failed to learn...

Prepare for the Unexpected: An Interview with Christopher Bell, Artistic Director and Conductor of The Washington Chorus

Even in Washington, DC, a town unofficially known as the choral capital of the United States, Christopher Bell stands out as a milestone hire for The Washington Chorus (TWC). Bell, who just finished...

Review: ‘Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations’ at The Kennedy Center

Ain’t too many surprises in Ain’t Too Proud, the new jukebox musical about the supergroup The Temptations and their rise to meteoric heights. Their music defined a generation and gave voice to the...

Review: The Second City’s ‘Generation Gap…Or, How Many Millennials Does It Take to Teach a Baby Boomer to Text Generation X?’

The Second City’s Generation Gap is everything you’ve ever mocked your parents, grandparents, recent grad intern and tween niece for, but wittier and with better lighting. Generation Gap has you...

Review: ‘Portraits’ by Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company at the Kennedy Center

The portraits hang solemnly, unmoving at the Smithsonian’s Portrait Gallery. Choreographer Dana Tai Soon Burgess breathes life and movement into these two-dimensional works of art with a triptych of...

Review: ‘Hamilton’ at the Kennedy Center Lives Up to the Hype

Legacy. It is the central theme of Hamilton. One has to ask—could Lin-Manuel Miranda have known while penning this masterpiece that Hamilton would one day become his legacy? If so, that is quite the...

Kennedy Center to Honor World Refugee Day with Free Performance by Melat

In a special Kennedy Center Millennium Stage performance commemorating World Refugee Day on June 20, 2018, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and The Kennedy Center will present...

Exclusive: ‘Hamilton’ Through the Eyes of Original Broadway Cast Member Betsy Struxness

In part one of our “Summer of Hamilton” series, original cast member Betsy Struxness recalls the show’s earliest days. Hamilton. What’s to be said that hasn’t been said? Phenomenon. Game Changer....

Review: ‘Ever in the Glades’ at the Kennedy Center

Whether we grew up in the heart of DC, Manhattan, Evanston, on a midwestern farm, or in the Everglades, we all seemingly arrive at adulthood after spending years on an isolated island, cut off from...

Review: ‘How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying’ at the Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center advertises its Broadway Center Stage series as presenting shows in a “semi-staged concert format.” For Frank Loesser’s 1961 satire of mid-20th century New York corporate life, How...

Review: ‘Lea Michele & Darren Criss – the LM/DC Tour’ at the Kennedy Center

Cue the dramatic backdrops because the lights of Broadway were sparkling this past Sunday at the Kennedy Center in DC. Crackling with infectious energy, the newly launched LM/DC Tour with Lea Michele...

Breaking News: Kennedy Center Announces ‘Hamilton’ Ticket Lottery in Washington, DC

The Kennedy Center Announces a #HAM4HAM Hamilton ticket lottery in Washington, DC. 40 tickets will be sold for $10 each to every performance at the Kennedy Center Opera House (June 12-September 16)....

Review: ‘Don Quixote’ by Ballet Nacional de Cuba at the Kennedy Center

With apologies to T.S. Elliot, Ballet Nacional de Cuba ends the Kennedy Center Ballet 2017-2018 season not with a whimper but a bang. A big bang! An explosive Don Quixote opened last night and repeats...

Magic Time!: ’10 Million’ and ‘The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant’ at The Kennedy Center

Among the rich offerings in The Kennedy Center’s Artes de Cuba festival were two extraordinary works of theater, each performed but twice: The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, from Teatro El Público,...

Rising Stars: Emily Pogorelc in the Washington National Opera’s ‘Candide’

When Emily Pogorelc bursts onto the stage in the Washington National Opera’s current production of Leonard Bernstein’s Candide, there is a shock of laughter. Pogorelc plays Cunegonde, the spoiled...