The National Theatre

It’s been a hot summer for triple threat Jesse Corbin, with lots more to come!

In addition to his ongoing appearances at City Winery NYC and around the country as one of the long-time fan-favorite members of The Boy Band Project and its popular Boy Band Brunch, Pittsburgh-born...

Mixing then and now in ‘Mozart’s Don Giovanni – A Rock Opera’ at NYC’s The Cutting Room

Long regarded as one of the greatest operas of all time, Don Giovanni, with music by Austrian prodigy Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, made its debut at the...

Recent and upcoming book releases for theater-lovers

If you love reading about the works and stars of the theater almost as much as seeing them, check out the variety of offerings in these four new and soon-to-be-released books of plays and biographies....

There’s a new ‘Pretty Woman’ in town: Q&A with Olivia Valli

The rising star who plays Vivian tells how the musical has been revised since its Broadway run and how her character will be different from the movie.

‘Tootsie’ on tour at the National Theatre is a triumph

The comedy musical based on the famous movie shines with romantic insanity.

A funtastic ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas!’ is in town at the National

The wonderful visual experience mimics the original so well it’s like being immersed in the cartoon.

An epic history of the rise and demise of one family’s American Dream and financial empire in ‘The Lehman Trilogy’ on Broadway

If you’re concerned about the potential discomfort or waning attention precipitated by sitting through a three-part production with a running time of more than three hours and two intermissions, don’t...

Ford’s Announces casting for free ‘Come From Away’ concert at Lincoln Memorial

Stars from Broadway and national touring companies to perform September 10 in honor of 9/11 anniversary.

National Theatre announces inaugural Brandon Victor Dixon awards for excellence in high school musical theater

The newest regional partner of ‘The Jimmy Awards’ (the National High School Musical Theatre Awards).

Special shows to stream this week

As the holidays approach, the internet is lighting up with a selection of special shows to stream this week. Among them are a medievalizing experimental Off-Off-Broadway mainstay, a naughty...

‘Bandstand’ at the National Theatre is a musical love letter to veterans and their families

Bandstand, a heart-wrenching musical about a group of veterans returning home from World War II, with music by Richard Oberacker, and book and lyrics by Rob Taylor and Oberacker, is at The National...

A fascinating rendering of ‘The King’s Speech’ at the National Theatre

Given that so many plays and films these days are based on, drawn from or inspired by each other, it is worth examining the differences between these media and the treatments they require. The King’s...

‘The Simon and Garfunkel Story’: beautiful sounds and rapt silence at the National Theatre

Success strikes like a cobra. It mesmerizes, then it strikes. It paralyzes its target, freezes it in the moment. Simon and Garfunkel found that cobra, that success, in 1966 as “Sounds of Silence”...

‘Jersey Boys’ rides the highs and lows of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons in melodious style

There’s a scene in the mind-blowingly good musical Jersey Boys in which erstwhile hoodlum and fast-talker Tommy DeVito, founder of the internationally known singing group The Four Seasons, tells...

The appeal of ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ endures at The National Theatre

Fiddler on the Roof, the quintessentially Jewish musical about keeping one’s balance in changing times, remains ebullient and undiminished in its eternal appeal. At the opening night performance for...

‘A dream for me’: Ashley Bruce on playing Mary Delgado in ‘Jersey Boys’

While the Tony Award-winning musical is called Jersey Boys, let’s not forget that so many of the Billboard chart-toppers performed in the show are about the real-life Frankie Valli and the Four...

Not your father’s ‘Fiddler’ – The latest Broadway tour of ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ comes alive at the National Theatre

When Fiddler on the Roof opens at the National Theatre next week, the village of Anatevka—the fictional setting for one of the most successful Broadway musicals in history—will not be the same...

John Leguizamo takes audiences to school in ‘Latin History for Morons’ at the National Theatre

John Leguizamo is a famously Latino, American, Tony and Emmy Award-winning comedian, known for numerous roles that defy pigeonholing on the character-genre spectrum. Yet despite the vast range of...

Fun, frenetic ‘RENT’ at The National still satisfies

The 20th Anniversary Tour of RENT touched down at the National Theatre this week, much to the delight of area RENTheads. This modern take on Puccini’s La Boheme, with music, lyrics and book by the...

‘Mystery Science Theater 3000 Live: The Great Cheesy Movie Circus Tour’ Makes One-Weekend Stop at The National Theatre

A cult favorite TV show created in the ’80s, Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3) has left your screens and found its way to the DC stage for one weekend and one weekend only. The weird (I mean that as...

Tickets for ‘The Last Ship’ starring Sting at the National Theatre go on sale this Friday

Tickets for Sting’s acclaimed musical THE LAST SHIP, starring and featuring original music and lyrics by 17-time Grammy Award®-winner Sting, will go on sale Friday, October 18 at 10am for its...

Review: Jimmy Buffett’s ‘Escape to Margaritaville’ at The National Theatre

Four years ago, I walked into what was then the Barnes & Noble in downtown Bethesda and asked for a sales clerk’s assistance locating one of Jimmy Buffett’s greatest hits CDs. She was stymied. Would...

Review: ‘Mike Birbiglia’s The New One’ at The National Theatre

Mike Birbiglia’s The New One is at The National Theatre in DC for just a few nights so let’s cut to the chase: go see it. Those not wildly familiar with Birbiglia’s work might be confused. Am I going...

National Theatre Announces 2019-2020 Broadway Season

The National Theatre’s 2019-2020 “Broadway at the National” season continues its history as the nation’s oldest touring theatre with a lineup of a dozen shows. Notably, eight productions will make...

Review: ‘Pride & Joy: The Marvin Gaye Musical’ at The National Theatre

Spectacular. Amazing. Unforgettable. Pride & Joy is a musical that tells the little known love story of Anna Gordy Gaye (January 28, 1922 – January 31, 2014) and the legendary and iconic R&B singer,...

Review: ‘STOMP’ at the National Theatre

Started by Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas at the Edinburgh Fringe in 1991, STOMP is a cacophony of sounds produced by common objects in lieu of musical instruments. An amalgam of music, dance,...

Review: ‘A Bronx Tale’ at the National Theatre

Chazz Palminteri is one cool dude. Imagine having your own life story play to sold-out houses on and off Broadway, and be made into a classic film directed by none other than Robert De Niro. And De...

Review: ‘Finding Neverland’ at the National Theatre

The touring company of Finding Neverland (book by James Graham, music and lyrics by Gary Barlow and Elliot Kennedy) is making a mercifully brief stop at Washington’s National Theatre. Spinning a...

Review: ‘School of Rock: The Musical’ at National Theatre

Kicked out of the band and facing eviction from “his” apartment, Dewey Finn questionably intercepts a substitute teacher assignment at a prestigious local academy to pay the rent. With no teaching...

Review: ‘Beautiful – The Carole King Musical’ at the National Theatre

Beautiful – The Carole King Musical is a delightful, heavenly-sounding, Tony and Grammy Award-winning musical about Carole King, who “wrote the soundtrack to a generation.” With a hit parade of King’s...

Review: ‘Beetlejuice’ at the National Theatre

You can’t miss Betelgeuse. A star in the constellation Orion, this supergiant is red as flame and one of the 10 brightest stars in the night sky. At approximately 10 million years old, Betelgeuse...

Is ‘Beetlejuice’ a ‘Perfect’ Musical?

Beetlejuice opens at the National Theatre this month, featuring the work of a tightknit team of American theater professionals – and one Australian that none of them had ever heard of. The show’s...

Review: ‘Waitress’ at The National Theatre

Waitress at the National Theatre is sweet as “Sugar.” The word resonates during scene shifts, as an immensely talented piemaker, Jenna (Desi Oakley), lists the ingredients for the new pie she is...

Someone’s Got To Be the Bad Guy: An Interview with Waitress’ Nick Bailey

To be honest, and I know this may sound strange, my favorite characters are usually the bad guys. The antagonists. The seemingly irredeemably flawed. I’ve always thought that they were the most...

Review: ‘Something Rotten!’ at the National Theatre

Something Rotten! at the National Theatre reminds us of why we loved theater in the first place. The Broadway show received ten Tony nominations, and this national tour is pure joy. The cast sent out...

Who’s in Town? Adam Pascal Brings Rock Star Shakespeare to ‘Something Rotten!’ at the National Theatre

Adam Pascal is no stranger to iconic roles, having originated roles in Rent and Aida on Broadway, and stepped the role of the Emcee in Cabaret. He is now portraying an icon of a different sort:...

Review: ‘Les Misérables’ at the National Theatre

One does not simply review Les Mis—at least, not when it’s this stunning revival of the epic that took the world by storm when the novel debuted in 1862 and again when the musical premiered in London...

Who’s in Town?: ‘The Piano Guys’ Performing at The National Theatre December 13th through 16th

The Piano Guys might just be one of the 21st century’s most notable social media success stories. Now a successful musical group known for their lush videos of classical and contemporary compositions...

Review: Broadway-Bound ‘Mean Girls’ at the National Theatre

It’s fun, it’s pink, it’s very Tina Fey. The pre-Broadway world premiere of Mean Girls officially opened at the National Theatre last night. Judging from the excitement in the theater (care to wait in...

Report: ‘The Mousetrap,’ ‘A Woman of No Importance,’ ’42nd Street,’ and ‘Ink’ in London

A few weeks ago I found myself hankering to have a look at the London theater season, so I spent a day in the friendly skies of United Airlines to spend a week in which our own NY scene was fairly...

Review: ‘Follies’ at the National Theatre in London

I was most anxious to see Follies in its current production at the National Theatre in London. Somehow news of it had escaped me, but Imelda Staunton is a great favorite of mine, and she’s in it, so I...

Interview: ‘Mean Girls’ Star Kyle Selig Discusses Playing Aaron Samuels in the Broadway-Bound National Theatre Premiere

Broadway veteran Kyle Selig is no stranger to the role of teen heartthrob. “I was Prom King in high school,” he sheepishly admits, “but it is very important to us in Mean Girls that my character be...

Review: National Theatre Live: ‘Angels in America’ Part Two in HD

Tony Kushner divided his epic play, Angels in America, into two parts. The second half, subtitled Perestroika, was beamed live to cinemas worldwide on July 27 from London’s National Theatre where it’s...

Review: National Theatre Live: ‘Angels in America’ Part One in HD

Angels in America remains a sad, hilarious, hallucinogenic theatrical achievement. The juxtaposition of those seemingly-opposite qualities is what makes the play memorable. It has even greater impact...

Review: ‘Rent’ at the National Theatre

Okay, twenty years ago I was more concerned with raising kids than living rough on the street, but that’s what the current tour of Rent celebrates. Where to live, how to love, finding work, survival,...

Review: ‘Fun Home’ at The National Theatre

I never made it up to New York to see Fun Home. I did the same thing with The Ramones; it just always seemed like there’d be time to do it later. Fortunately for me – and unlike my gaffe with Joey,...

Review: ‘Jonah and Otto’ at The Lion Theatre

Robert Holman is a British playwright whose plays have been done under the auspices of the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company, he’s had productions of his many plays at half a dozen...

Review: ‘Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas’ at the National Theatre

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…but you’d better not finish that sentence within earshot of the Grinch. Because as we all know, the Grinch hates Christmas, as this touring production of...

Review: ‘Once’ at National Theatre

From the moment one enters the National Theatre, it becomes clear that Once is not your typical Broadway fare. Rather than seeing closed drapes and hearing piped-in pre-show music, the first view of...

Review: ‘Love Jones: The Musical’ at The National Theatre

Nearly 20 years after the cult classic, romantic comedy Love Jones made its big screen release, a celebratory musical reinterpretation takes stage at the National Theatre, showcasing award-winning...