2014

‘Game Show’ at Spotlighters Theatre

The hilarious and thrilling Game Show at Spotlighters Theatre (The Comedy YOU Play), by Jeffrey Finn and Bob Walton,- offers an intimate look and feel of an ever-popular television trivia game show....

Jackson Browne at The Kennedy Center

Performing before a sold-out crowd in the acoustically perfect Concert Hall at the Kennedy Center, Jackson Browne and his crackerjack band led the aging hipster audience through a mix of his older...

‘Venus and Adonis (U-Venas No Adonisi)’ by the Isango Ensemble’ at Shakespeare Theatre Company

Playing in repertory with Mozart’s The Magic Flute – Impempe Yomlingo at Shakespeare Theatre Company is the season opener of their STC: Presentation Series – the passionate and innovative William...

‘Metamorphosis’ at Alliance for New Music-Theatre

How does one begin a review about a boy turned into a dung beetle? I suppose, just like that. And, no, I’m not giving anything away, unless you have never had even a cursory acquaintance with foreign...

“Four Weddings and a Surprise Fifth Wedding”

The Unitarian Universalist Church of Annapolis’ sanctuary was packed Monday, September 8, for the highly anticipated “Wine & Words” evening hosted by Bay Theatre. The evening was free, as was the...

‘The Complete History of America (abridged)’ at Reduced Shakespeare Company at Reston Community Center

Is it possible that the bullet that killed JFK was also the one fired from the Lexington and Concord book depository, and took off in a white Ford Bronco? Or that the Bill of Rights was supposed to be...

Joe Calarco Named New Resident Director and Director of New Works at Signature Theatre

There is great news from Signature Theatre! Multiple Helen Hayes Award-winning director/playwright Joe Calarco, who has directed 14 productions at Signature, has been named Resident Director and...

‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ at Little Theatre of Alexandria

“I don’t want realism, I want magic!” exclaims Blanche DuBois in the distinguished Tennessee Williams play A Streetcar Named Desire. Well, Director Kristina Friedgen and The Little Theatre of...

‘Cancun’ at GALA Hispanic Theatre

Last night, I attended the U.S. premiere of the play Cancun at GALA Hispanic Theatre. Written by internationally renowned Spanish-Catalan playwright Jordi Galceran and directed by Jose Zayas, this...

‘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...

‘The Magic Flute – Impempe Yomlingo’ by the Isango Ensemble at Shakespeare Theatre Company

The South African Isango Ensemble makes a joyful noise with soaring, full of life signature flair performing catchy rhythms, and singing beautiful melodies fusing classical arias and ethnic ululations...

‘Seven Guitars’ at No Rules Theatre Company

Under the affecting direction of Michele Shay, No Rules Theatre Company’s production of August Wilson‘s Seven Guitars raises an intimate, open-eyed awareness of lives without long-term satisfaction,...

‘Black Hole’ at Port City Playhouse

Black Hole is a show about people with emotional baggage. Not the cute little carryon kind of baggage but the its-going-to-cost-you-money-because-it’s-over-fifty-pounds kind of baggage. It’s a...

‘Memphis-The Musical’ at Toby’s Dinner Theatre

Memphis—The Musical may have won the 2010 Tony on Broadway but it seems made-to-order for Toby’s Dinner Theatre. Here is a show that dazzles with performers rather than spectacle, and reaches across...

‘The Devil in His Own Words’ at Taffety Punk Theatre Company

The Devil Made Me Do It: An Evening with the Antichrist A dying man, said to be, among others, Voltaire, Machiavelli, or an anonymous Irishman, is exhorted by a priest to renounce Satan. “Now, now, my...

‘Breast in Show’ at The Gaithersburg Arts Barn

Poignant. Sophisticated. Elevating. Witty. These are just some of the adjectives to describe Breast in Show, now appearing at the Gaithersburg Arts Barn. First conceived in 2009 by Executive Producer...

Filichia on Friday: This Musn’t Be The Place by Peter Filichia

It’s an honor to bring Peter Filichia’s column every week on Kritzerland called ‘Filichia on Friday’ to our readers on DCMetroTheaterArts. THIS WEEK: This Musn’t Be The Place Peter Filichia is the New...

Pink Martini and The von Trapps With NSO Pops at The Kennedy Center

The NSO Pops season kicked off with a bang last night as conductor Steven Reineke and his musicians welcomed Pops-favorite Pink Martini featuring vocalist China Forbes to The Kennedy Center stage....

Magic Time! ‘Metamorphosis’ at Alliance for New Music-Theatre

As a short story by Franz Kafka awoke one morning from uneasy dreams, it found itself onstage transformed into a live action graphic novel. Wait, what? Translation: The adventurous Alliance for New...

‘Breast in Show’ Begins Run at Arts Barn in Gaithersburg, MD Tonight and Runs Through September 27th

Breast in Show opens tonight at Arts on the Green at the Gaithersburg Arts Barn with the critically acclaimed cast from this year’s Capital Fringe Festival. The show was honored as ‘Best of the...

Nichole Canuso Dance Company’s ‘The Garden’ at The NextNOW Fest at The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center

The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, an incubator for arts of all kinds on the University of Maryland campus, is bustling with the NextNOW Fest, running through this Sunday, September 14, 2014. A...

‘NextDANCE’ at The NextNOW Fest at The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center

The NextNOW Festival at The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center has a wonderful line-up of performances running through this Sunday, September 14th at the gorgeous arts space on the University of...

Washington National Opera Presents: An Evening with Ailyn Pérez

Amore! Amour! Amor! The eagerly anticipated concert by the couple memorably dubbed by a leading British newspaper “the Jay-Z and Beyoncé of opera,” tenor Stephen Costello and soprano Ailyn Pérez,...

‘Nevermore’ Opens Tomorrow at Pandemonium Theatrical Productions Performing at Workhouse Arts Center in Lorton, VA

Ah, September has come; with it the nights grow longer. Soon enough a cooler nip in the evening air. And then, could it be, really be, Halloween with all its fun and frolic. But there is also the...

‘Fatal Song: The Great Opera Murders’ at The In Series

The In Series continues the launch of the 2014-2015 season with the hilarious Fatal Song: The Great Opera Murders. Kathleen Cahill wrote a comic English language libretto and stitched together the...

Scene Stealers-Week Ending 9/11/14

Here are this week’s Scene Stealers. Congrats to all our honorees. ______ Shayna Blass as Anshul Getting Tipsy in Yentl at Theater J “As Yentl— the Jewish girl who dresses as a Yeshiva boy (Anshul) in...

Civility Gets Smacked in the Mouth: ‘God of Carnage’ Opens September 19th at Silver Spring Stage by Lennie Magida

If you’re looking for a laid-back get-together with easy-going friends, the foursome of Veronica, Michael, Annette, and Alan might not be your first choice. But if you’re eager for a couple of hours...

Spine: Who’s the Fool in ‘Fool for Love’?

Round House Theatre has opened its 2014 season with Sam Shepard’s Fool for Love (1983), one of his many scripts–Curse of the Starving Class (1976), Buried Child (1979), True West (1980) and A Lie of...

‘Once’ at Hippodrome Theatre at the France-Merrick Performing Arts Center

Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theatre unfurls a fresh season with a rowdy millennial musical about star-crossed lovers set in the big, blue-collar heart of Ireland. Once is the 2012 Tony Award-winning Best...

Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center’s ‘NextNOW Fest’ is Tomorrow Through Sunday by Emily Schweich

Given the inherent separation between performer and audience, it’s easy for the performing arts to become a passive experience. Not anymore. The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center (The Clarice) is...

‘Rocket Man’ at Colonial Players

The Colonial Players of Annapolis open their 66th season with Rocket Man, their 344th season production. Rocket Man, the 21st play written by the prolific Steven Dietz, was first produced in 1998. It...

‘Fool for Love’ at Round House Theatre

Burnished to an earthy golden, Director Ryan Rilette’s absorbing, sensually deep, measured take on Sam Shepard’s Fool for Love(1983) is full of the stickiness of love and repulsion. There are...

Colbie Caillat at Wolf Trap

Three is a Charm for Colbie Caillat at Wolf Trap Wolf Trap got a dazzling bolt of California sunshine last night from Grammy Award-winning, multi-platinum songstress Colbie Caillat, as she returned...

‘Belleville’ at The Studio Theatre

Life is Beautiful is more than an Academy Award-winning film title; that savored notion is a mantra generations of Americans are nurtured to hope, dream, and believe. The adventure and escape to the...

‘Drew the Dramatic Fool’ at Montgomery College’s Cultural Arts Center

Montgomery College’s Cultural Arts Center made a very astute choice in hosting the production of Drew the Dramatic Fool. On Saturday, September 6, 2014 Silver Spring saw a wonderfully complex...

‘We Are Samurai’ at Venus Theatre

Experiencing Venus Theatre’s production of Daria Miyeko Marinelli’s We Are Samurai feels something like when your dad threw you into the deep end so you could learn to swim. At first, it is scary and...

Nation Beat and Alma Tropicalia at Bethesda Blues and Jazz Supper Club

The music to celebrate Brazilian Independence Day at Bethesda Blues and Jazz Supper Club Saturday night drove most of the attendees onto the dance floor. Both Alma Tropicalia and Nation Beat amped up...

Globe Theatre’s ‘King Lear’ at Folger Theatre

The power of Shakespeare’s tragedies lies in their ability to speak to both the political and the personal. King Lear is an exemplar in this regard. Not only does the empire collapse and the royal...

‘Spark’ at Theater Alliance

For all who were wondering: there is, in fact, a whole world across the river in Anacostia. In that world sits a lovely little theater called the Anacostia Playhouse. And, if you ever have the...

Magic Time: ‘Belleville’ at The Studio Theatre

I’ve been crazy about Amy Herzog’s writing since I saw 4000 Miles last year at Studio Theatre. When I saw After the Revolution at Theater J last season, I just flipped. Herzog is, as I said then, on...

‘The Charlatan’ Semi-Staged Concert at The Victorian Lyric Opera Company

John Philip Sousa, one of America’s greatest composers, was primarily known for his famous marches. Over the course of his career, however, he also wrote a number of operettas. One of the lesser-known...

‘The Cole Porter Project: It’s Alright With Me’ at the In Series

How am I ridin’? I am ridin’ high after seeing the delightful, delectable The Cole Porter Project: It’s Alright With Me!, a cabaret-style show now playing at The In Series performing at Source. The...

‘The Mousetrap’ at Laurel Mill Playhouse

Crime fiction is a literary genre that has spanned the test of time. First appearing in the early 1800’s, crime novelists and playwrights have gripped audiences for centuries. Agatha Christie is...

‘Colossal’ at Olney Theatre Center

In his curtain speech prior to the opening night performance of Andrew Hinderaker’s Colossal at Olney Theatre Center, Artistic Director Jason Loewith mentioned ‘past, present, and future,’ and that...

‘Gidion’s Knot’ at NextStop Theatre Company

I walked into NextStop Theatre Company’s Industrial Park Theatre (where Johnna Adams’ riveting Gidion’s Knot has recently taken up residence after a critically acclaimed run at Forum Theatre) somewhat...

‘The Nighthawks’ and the ‘Kelly Bell Band’ at Bethesda Blues and Jazz Supper Club

Of course The Nighthawks lived up to their reputation as “the quintessential bar band.”Forty plus years in, DC native Mark Wenner only gets better and a bit funkier. The surprise of the evening was...

‘Art’ at Vagabond Players

To put it bluntly, Art is not about “art.” While the “white painting with diagonal white lines” is the focus of the action, the gravitas below the surface is what makes this new production so...

Filichia on Friday ‘Let Me Hear Your Opinion on This’ by Peter Filichia

It’s an honor to bring Peter Filichia’s column every week on Kritzerland called ‘Filichia on Friday’ to our readers on DCMetroTheaterArts. THIS WEEK: Let Me Hear Your Opinion on This Peter Filichia is...

‘Making Sparks’: Meet the Managing Director, Cast, and Director of Theater Alliance’s ‘Spark’ Part 2: Sarah Strasser

Spark by Caridad Svich opens this weekend at the Anacostia Playhouse and runs through September 28, 2014. This gritty, powerful drama tells the story of a veteran returning from war, and the ongoing...

‘White Suit Science’ at Single Carrot Theatre

Baltimore’s Single Carrot Theatre has a new theatrical home, a new artistic director, and a new season with a brand new series of contemporary plays. Shawn Reddy’s White Suit Science inaugurates...