2014

Josh Groban at Wolf Trap

Last night, Grammy-nominated, Billboard chart-topper, and actor Josh Groban dazzled a sold out audience with selections from his newest album, All That Echoes, and oldies but goodies from earlier...

Nibbles And Sips Around Town – A Conversation With Pastry Chef Joseluis Flores

You may have noted that I only occasionally report on desserts. Often they can be so cloyingly sweet, targeted to a juvenile palate, or just something to bump up the check total. And unless there is a...

‘She Kills Monsters’ at Rorschach Theatre

I knew that Qui Nguyen’s fantastical comedy She Kills Monsters had something to do with the famous (or infamous) role-playing game, Dungeons & Dragons. But when I was confronted by the gigantic,...

‘Shining City’ at Scena Theatre

Conor McPherson loves the supernatural. His plays exude an otherworldliness that seeps into the dialogue and infects the players. But, his plays aren’t about the supernatural. They seem to highlight...

John Philip Sousa’s ‘The Charlatan’ Comes to Victorian Lyric Opera Company at F. Scott Fitzgerald Theatre From September 5th-7th

TOE-TAPPING SOUSA MARCHES AND ENTERTAINING ANTICS IN VLOC’s THE CHARLATAN A rarely-heard gem of American operetta, John Philip Sousa’s The Charlatan, will be presented in a semi-staged concert...

A Report on ‘Summer Hummer: Ménage à Trois’ at Signature Theatre

Summer Hummer: Ménage à Trois at Signature Theatre Benefits theatreWashington’s Taking Care of Our Own Summer Hummer: Ménage à Trois at Signature Theatre on Monday evening made Cabaret and Chicago...

Meet the Director and Cast of PGLT’s ‘Brighton Beach Memoirs’: Part 2: Annalie Ellis (Laurie)

In Part Two of a series of interviews with the director and cast of Prince George’s Little Theatre’s Brighton Beach Memoirs, meet Annalie Ellis (Laurie). Joel: Where have local theatregoers seen you...

Meet the Cast of Wolf Pack Theatre Company’s ‘Masquerade’ Part 2: Alie Kamara (Kyle)

In Part Two of a series of interviews with the cast of Wolf Pack Theatre Company’s production of Masquerade, meet Alie Kamara (Kyle). Joel: Where have theatregoers seen you perform on the stage? Alie:...

Cheap Trick at Ram’s Head Live!

My first time to Ram’s Head Live! in Baltimore last night evening certainly delivered a magical evening, thanks to four guys I’ve been listening to for a lot of years. If you could take a walk down...

Jonny Lang at The State Theatre

Jonny Lang Rocks The Historic State Theatre Before we delve into Jonny Lang though, the talented, opening band Runaway Saints from Nashville, Tennessee via Rhode Island did a great job warming up the...

‘Sunday in the Park with George’ at Signature Theatre

Like the pointillist dots that fill the canvas of Georges Seurat’s masterful painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, each element of Signature Theatre’s stunning production of...

‘Godspell’ at Pasadena Theatre Company

Theatre lovers can hearken back to the days when “psychedelic” and “flower power” were prevalent in the American vocabulary at the Pasadena Theatre Company’s tuneful and energetic production of...

Scene Stealers-Week Ending August 17, 2014

Here are this week’s Scene Stealers. Congrats to our honorees! _______ Stacy Crickmer as Lady of the Lake singing ‘Diva’s Lament’ and “Find Your Grail’ in Monty Python’s Spamalot at Zemfira Stage...

Jim Van Slyke: ‘The Sedaka Show’ at NextStop Theatre Company

Paying tribute to Neil Sedaka’s career that spans almost 60 years and has generated more than 500 songs is a daunting task. Grammy nominee Jim Van Slyke, however, has found a way to do just that....

‘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...

‘Monty Python’s Spamalot’ at Zemfira Stage

The inner friskiness of the 20-member cast, many making their Zemfira Stage debuts, took over after intermission, to make the opening night of Monty Python’s Spamalot ultimately a lively evening of...

Interview with Jonny Lang Who is Performing Tonight at The State Theatre

Blues guitarist and singer Jonny Lang has had a blessed life. He was a musical child prodigy. He gets to make a living playing music, has a loving wife and four kids, and gets to travel the world. He...

‘Macbeth: The Instruments of Darkness’ at The Rude Mechanicals

Macbeth, a classic Shakespearean tale of one man’s quest for Scotland’s reign and the lengths he is willing to go for it, is often performed melodramatically with flawed characters that passionately...

Final 2 Performances Today at 2:30 & 8 PM for ‘An Evening with Danny Kaye’ at The American Century Theater

You have two more chances today at 2:30 PM and 8 PM to see the critically acclaimed An Evening with Danny Kaye starring Helen Hayes Award winner Brian Childers. David Friscic, in his review for...

TrueTheatergoer: ‘No Plays on Broadway’ & You Can Win $100 Worth of Tickets! by John and Stephen Hauge

Every week we will be sharing John and Stephen Hauge’s TheaterThoughts from their popular site TrueTheatergoer. “From John Hauge: “My brother Stephen and I created the TrueTheatergoer.com website in...

Signature Theatre’s ‘Sunday in the Park with George’ Has its Press Opening Tomorrow: Watch 2 Sneak Videos

Signature Theatre’s new production of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Sunday in the Park with George, directed by Matthew Gardiner, has its press opening tomorrow. Here are some sneak peak videos:...

MetroStage’s 2014-15 Season Announced: ‘Celebrating 30 Years at MetroStage’

Producing Artistic Director Carolyn Griffin is pleased to announce MetroStage’s 2014-15 season which will reprise some of the favorites from years past and welcome back many of the artists who have...

Filichia On Friday: Take ‘The 2014 Broadway University Entrance Exam’

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: I challenge you to take: The 2014 Broadway...

Meet the Cast of ‘Wolf Pack Theatre Company’s ‘Masquerade’: Part 1: Kelly Richards (Diana)

In Part One of a series of interviews with the cast of Wolf Pack Theatre Company’s Masquerade, by William Leary, meet Kelly Richards. Joel: Where have theatregoers seen you perform on the stage?...

Meet the Director and Cast of PGLT’s ‘Brighton Beach Memoirs’: Part 1: Director Ken Kienas

I have been involved with community theater for a long time. My bio says that I’ve been doing theater productions over 30 years, but it’s not so easy count the years. I was in the cast of two musicals...

In the Moment: ‘Gidion’s Knot’ Moves From Forum Theatre to NextStop Theatre Company: Interviews with Artistic Directors Michael Dove and Evan Hoffman and Director Cristina Alicea

I have been intrigued by the partnerships and reaching-out that the one-year old NextStop Theatre company has been developing. The company, performing in Herndon, Virginia and drawing audiences from...

Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC Announces its 2014-2015 Season By Craig Cipollini

We are thrilled to announce the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC’s 2014-2015 concert season, and share with you some new traditions! You won’t have to wait until the holidays to see the Gay Men’s...

Silver Spring Stage Continues its One Act Festival Tonight Through Sunday

Silver Spring Stage continues its One Act Festival It’s Weekend 2 of Silver Spring Stage’s 2014 One-Act Festival! Performances are TONIGHT Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 8:00 pm and Sunday at 2:00...

Quotidian Theatre Company Unveils Its 2014-2015 Season

Quotidian Theatre Company Announces its 17th season! QTC’s 2014-2015 season includes a fresh take on an international classic, a modern comedy from a Tony Award-winning playwright, and an early work...

Monday, August 18th at 7:30 PM: Free Preview of Prince George’s Little Theatre’s ‘Brighton Beach Memoirs’ at New Carollton Library

Prince George’s Little Theatre (PGLT) is proud to announce that cast members of Brighton Beach Memoirs (playing at the Bowie Playhouse from 8/29 – 9/13) will perform scenes from the show as a “Play...

On Monday, 8/18@8 at Synetic Theater: ‘Dark Night Showcase,’ Presented by KG Dance, in Memory of Freeman Carden Fletcher by Philip Fletcher

Dark Night Showcase, Presented by KG Dance, in Memory of Freeman Carden Fletcher!! What’s with the name? The term “Dark Night” is a theatrical colloquialism used to describe times when a theatre venue...

This Sat 8/16@8 and Sun 8/17@3: Two Free Readings of Christine Evans’ ‘Can’t Complain’ at Spooky Action Theater by Roberta Alves

New Works Completes Its First Year in Action 18 Readings and 5 Workshops under our belt and counting Created by Kristy Simmons to give Washington area authors the opportunity to show and test their...

‘Summer Hummer 2014: Ménage à Trois’ on Monday, August 18th at 8 PM at Signature Theatre

Summer just got sexy again! Over 60 actors from the Washington area will sing, dance, and strip to support Taking Care of Our Own. For the past two years, the Summer Hummer has sold out before the...

‘The Laramie Project’ at Front & Center Stage

For Front & Center Stage’s first production, Director Steve Einhorn took on the Tectonic Theater Project’s The Laramie Project. Although they are a new theater company, this ensemble piece of...

‘The Elden Street Musical Experience’ at NextStop Theatre Company

For over 25 years the Elden Street Players were a successful community theater with a love for performing lesser known musicals. In January of 2013 they became the NextStop Theater Company and...

‘Pol Pot & Associates, LLP’ at Longacre Lea

This is a cunning conundrum of a play. It moves back and forth in time, sudden lighting changes signal shifts from realistic to magical, the characters speak like superliterate savants, one-line...

Matt Nathanson and Gavin DeGraw at Wolf Trap

Matt Nathanson made it very clear Sunday night at The Filene Center at the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts that he was not the opening act for Gavin DeGraw. Telling a story about he and...

‘All in the Timing’ at The Heritage Players

David Ives’ All in the Timing, a collection of six one act plays first performed in 1993, focuses on human love, life, and death (and even manages to dive in to a primate’s view of the world) all...

Is ‘The Laramie Project’ a Convenient Untruth?

A new book about the Matthew Shepard murder challenges the theater community to reevaluate a cherished play. By JOHN STOLTENBERG

‘Doc Scantlin and His Imperial Palms Orchestra’ at Bethesda Blues and Jazz Supper Club

In 1998, Forbes magazine declared Doc Scantlin and His Imperial Palms Orchestra the “best band in America.” And that was before they attained a huge following for their entertainment value and focus...

‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ at Pallas Theatre Collective

A Gothic horror story that’s dense with symbolism, light on plot, and written in 1839 may not seem like ideal source material for a contemporary musical. But then again, few people saw Carrie or Night...

‘Twelve Angry Men’ at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab Drama Club (APL)

Twelve Angry Men was written 60 years as a television movie by Reginald Rose, and one year later it was adapted for the stage by Sherman L. Sergel, and it remains relevant today. In what seems like an...

‘Les Misérables’ at The Glyndon Area Players

Few musicals are as universally loved as Les Misérables. With epic music, tragic characters, and a unique theatrical magnificence, it’s no surprise that Les Mis has been successfully produced on a...

Scene Stealers-Week Ending August 9, 2014

Here are this week’s Scene Stealers. Congrats to our honorees! _______ Spencer Boyd as Farquaad Singing and Dancing “What’s Up Duloc?” and “The Battle of Farquaad” at Shrek at The Alliance Theatre....

Classic Albums Live Presents: ‘Pink Floyd—Dark Side of the Moon’ at Wolf Trap

I was first introduced to Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd’s psychedelic masterpiece, some three decades after the album’s initial release. But the passage of time has done nothing to diminish the...

Filichia on Friday: ‘A True Marx Brothers Rediscovery’

It’s an honor to bring Peter’s column every week on Kritzerland called ‘Filichia on Friday’ to our readers on DCMetroTheaterArts. THIS WEEK: A True Marx Brothers Rediscovery Peter Filichia is the New...

‘The Reel Deal’: Watch Kyle Osborne’s Movie Video of ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’

Kyle Osborne reviews Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Here are the Washington, DC area showtimes. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles website. LINKS Kyle Osborne’s Video Movie Review of Guardians of the Galaxy....

‘Evita’ at The Theatre Lab School of the Dramatic Arts

In 1980, Evita took home seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Original Score, Best Book of a Musical, and Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Tony Award winner Patti...

Glyndon Area Players’ ‘Les Misérables’: An Interview with Dawn O’Croinin (Fantine), Tom Zepp (Jean Valjean), and Cameron Casey (Javert)

Glyndon Area Players prides itself providing its community with the gift of high-quality musicals while on a community theater budget, and utilizing a cast of volunteers from the surrounding...

Auditions on August 18th from 2-4 PM & 6:30-8 PM in the Horowitz Center Dance Studio for Arts Collective @ HCC’s 9/26 ‘Coffee House – Under the Stars’ by Susan G. Kramer

HCC’s Arts Collective kicks off 20th Season with 2 Open Auditions ON Monday, August 18th from 2:00 pm-4:00 pm AND 6:30 pm-8:30 pm in the Horowitz Center Dance Studio, HVPA 115 10901 Little Patuxent...