2014

Capital Fringe 2014 Review: ‘Capital Showcase Performance’ – July 18, 2014

(Best of the Capital Fringe) This is a review of the July 18, 2014 performance. DC Institution, The Capital City Showcase will make five stops at Fringe this year, all organized and emceed by the man...

Capital Fringe 2014 Review: ‘DATELINE: Macbeth’

The Quattro Gatti Theatre Company is down from Brooklyn for DC Fringe this year. Andy Hopper writes, directs and stars in DATELINE: Macbeth, a fast-paced, funny, genre-defying reimagining of...

Capital Fringe 2014 Review: ‘The Human Algorithm’

The Human Algorithm is a solo performance piece that resembles less of a play and more of a standup comedy routine performed by your drunk aunt at Thanksgiving. While writer and performer CJ claims to...

Capital Fringe 2014 Review: ‘Ligature Marks’

(Best of the Capital Fringe) Ligature Marks presented by Gideon Productions playing at Redrum – Fort Fringe as a part of Capital Fringe 2014 is a bit tricky to describe without giving it away. The 75...

Christine Pedi at Signature Theatre’s ‘Sizzlin’ Summer Cabaret Series’

Christine Pedi: Great Dame There ain’t nothing like a dame, and there is truly ain’t nothing like a dame that can sing about the best of them. Christine Pedi is one of those gifted singers. Ms. Pedi’s...

Capital Fringe 2014 Review RagnaPOP (or She’s Got the Bomb)

(Best of the Capital Fringe) Your Pal Pete is here to present RagnaPOP (or She’s Got the Bomb), the concert to end all concerts… And all time. He’s here with his band to perform a final review of his...

Contemporary American Theater Festival (CATF) Review: ‘North of the Boulevard’

North of the Boulevard is not for the faint of heart; neither is it for the prudish or the overly sensitive; nor is it for those who require anything close to political correctness. North of the...

Contemporary American Theater Festival (CATF) Review: ‘The Ashes Under Gait City’

How does one create a social movement? How does one create a community? How does one create a mecca for a movement and a community? New play The Ashes Under Gait City by Christina Anderson concerns...

Capital Fringe 2014 Review ‘Love Letter Lost’

(Best of the Capital Fringe) Love Letter Lost, presented by Tut’Zanni Theatre Company, is everything a Fringe show should be: fast paced, highly entertaining, and a wonderfully comic way to spend an...

Capital Fringe 2014 Review: ‘Wistaria’

(Best of the Capital Fringe) I must confess, when I was picked up as a reviewer here at DC MetroTheaterArts for this year’s Fringe I got in a little late to the game. Joel and Brett were already well...

Capital Fringe 2014 Review: ‘Killer Quack’

(Best of the Capital Fringe) James Judd’s Killer Quack is one of those rare moments in the theatre that moves the audience along the spectrum of emotion. For fifty-five minutes, Judd walks an...

Capital Fringe Scene Stealers #1-July 18, 2014

Here are our first list of honorees for DCMetroTheaterArts ‘Best Scene Stealers of the 2014 Capital Fringe Festival’ ______ Devin Gaither, as Joey, in Rock Bottom [A Rock Opus] Reacting to Blood...

Wildwood Summer Theatre Presents ‘Into the Woods’ Tonight Through July 26th by Kristina Moyer

From Brigadoon to Chicago to Pippin, Wildwood Summer Theatre has spent many summers producing a variety of musicals in the D.C. metro area. But what makes this summer special is that Wildwood Summer...

‘Marquis de Sade’ at Baltimore Annex Theater

My Lords and Ladies of Baltimore: You are most cordially invited by Director Coulmier, and his wife Lady Coulmier, to attend a fine performance presented at the Asylum of Charenton (The Baltimore...

‘I Do! I Do!’ at Infinity Theatre Company

Marriage is a very good thing, though it is far from easy. Rounding out their fifth season in Annapolis, the Infinity Theatre Company presents a timeless musical classic with a bit of a revamped twist...

Capital Fringe 2014 Review: ‘Feisty Jew’

(Best of the Capital Fringe) There are story tellers. There are actors. There is a difference between the two. In one we find a desire to live the character. To be a new person on stage so that the...

‘You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown’ at Liberty Showcase Theatre

It’s suppertime! And the Liberty Showcase Theatre is serving up a scrumptious dish of musical theatre this summer with their production of the original You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown. Directed by...

Straight No Chaser at Wolf Trap

There’s something magical that happens when you take ten talented male vocalists, put them in matching slim-fitting blazers, and get them to sing out loud in perfect harmony and a synchronous...

Capital Fringe 2014 Preview: ‘Contrafact of Freedom’ by Jordan Kaplan

Disillusionment in the capability of the US government to make things happen, our country in a war that few approve of or even understand the reasons for, people honestly questioning whether America...

Capital Fringe 2014 Preview: ‘Rock the Warehouse’: Interviews with the Writer/Directors of CapFringe’s ‘Rock Bottom [A Rock Opus]’ and ‘The 27 Club’

The Warehouse Theater seems to be the performance space that won’t die. A main venue for the Capital Fringe Festival since its inception, it’s also been home to countless performances for a variety of...

Capital Fringe 2014 Review: ‘Cabaret XXX: Everybody F*cking Dies’

(Best of the Capital Fringe) Lets start off with a little history: Pinky Swear productions has had one of the best productions at the Fringe three years running, with their Cabaret XXX series. Their...

The Fray, Barcelona, and Oh Honey at Wolf Trap

Wolf Trap bills them as a “piano-driven pop rock quartet with impassioned smash hits.” Blurt magazine praises them for “the way they seek out views of the world—and not just about their own lives—and...

Capital Fringe 2014 Review: ‘You, or Whatever I Can Get’

(Best of the Capital Fringe) On Wednesday, July 16, 2014, the magic of live theatre was alive at the opening night performance of You, or Whatever I Can Get at the Baldacchino Tent Bar at Fort Fringe,...

Shall We Dance? Meet Russell Rinker: Shenandoah Summer Music Theatre’s King in ‘The King and I,’ Now Playing Through Sunday

Rodgers and Hammerstein’s timeless classic, The King and I, boasts one of the most luscious scores of all time. Shenandoah Summer Music Theatre (SSMT) plays through this Sunday. In the third and final...

Capital Fringe 2014 Review ‘Empress of the Moon: The Lives of Aphra Behn’

Without tragedy we would all just be living in a play. The characters existing inside of Empress of the Moon: The Lives of Aphra Behn, a production being mounted by Forearmed Productions (based in...

An Interview with Moses Kamai Director of The Northern Virginia Ukulele Society

Moses Kamai is the Director and Organizer of the Northern Virginia Ukulele Society, for the past 5 and a half years in Reston, Virginia. He organizes, plans, teaches, and performs with members of the...

Capital Fringe 2014 Review: ‘Contrafact of Freedom’

History Made Interesting: Contrafact of Freedom We’ve all heard “The Star Spangled Banner” sung at sporting events. Most of us know that the national anthem was written by Francis Scott Key? But who...

Capital Fringe Review 2014: ‘Medea’s Got Some Issues’

In this one woman show the character of Medea is ripped right off the classic Greek pages of Euripides’ play and plunked down straight into the warehouse theatre. Make no mistake, Medea is completely...

Capital Fringe 2014 Review: ‘Relationsh!t’

There is something to be said for idiosyncratic behavior contributing to the spice in any relationship (there is something else, entirely, to he said for the same behavior wrecking any and all...

The Playwright’s Playground: The Playmakers CATF 2014: Ed Herendeen & Peggy McKowen Discuss the Development of CATF Plays

This Special Edition of The Playwright’s Playground introduces The Playmaker Series: CATF 2014. In a series of in depth conversations, I speak with the artistic teams associated with the the plays at...

Capital Fringe 2014 Review: ‘Martin, Love, Sex & Rhythm’

(Best of the Capital Fringe for the riveting and steamy dancing and for an important message) Martin, Love, Sex & Rhythm puts the positive in HIV-positive! It takes a look at love and sex between men...

Jennifer Nettles From Sugarland and Special Guest Brandy Clark at Wolf Trap

On a Hot Scorching July night, Jennifer Nettles, one half of the Grammy-award winning duo, Sugarland, set the stage on fire! While the night temperature did lower significantly, due to the arrival of...

‘Carrie: The Musical’ at The Studio Theatre

There are horrific and spellbinding moments aplenty to savor in Studio Theatre’s SecondStage current production of the alternately beloved and reviled camp, cult classic musical Carrie. Based on the...

Capital Fringe 2014 Review: ‘La Llorona’

La Llorona is a Hispanic folktale about a woman who is spurned by her lover and goes on to murder her children. She then wanders the land as a ghost called the wailing woman and hearing her cries...

Capital Fringe 2014 Review: ‘The Duchess of Malfi’

(Best of the Capital Fringe) Setting aside certain things about this performance is difficult. They are greedy, selfish, and cruel. Greedy for deciding they should hoard such a mountain of talent in...

Capital Fringe 2014 Review: ‘The Mutualistic Melody’

In a show who’s concept is so interesting I was surprised to find so many flaws in both script and execution.The script was unwieldy and suffered from many freshman mistakes. For instance, the three...

Capital Fringe Review: ‘The Big A: Scenes From a Vanishing Landscape’

Grown children often have to care for aging parents. This is hard enough when the parents retain the mental faculties, but can be gut-wrenching when parents can no longer recognize their own children....

Capital Fringe 2014 ‘Saving Private Poo’

(Best of the Capital Fringe) “As soon as I saw you, I knew a grand adventure was about to happen.” – A.A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh. A mashup of Saving Private Ryan and Winnie the Pooh may not seem like...

Capital Fringe 2014 Review: ‘The Other Day’

About an hour into The Other Day as performed at The Shop, a Dutch airport clerk named Steven (played by a very dashing Dash King), shows a young American named Mark (a puppy-dog-sweet Matthew...

Capital Fringe 2014 Review: ‘Porch’

(Best of the Capital Fringe) What a pleasure to happen upon this gem of a show. Featuring three exceptionally truthful and touching performances on a plain platform with next-to-no production values...

Capital Fringe 2014 Review: ‘Breast in Show’

(Best of the Capital Fringe) At last. A show that has taken the Capital Fringe Festival 2014 theme to heart: Move Me. Breast in Show, conceived and produced by Eileen Mitchard, is arguably the best...

‘Gruesome Playground Injuries’ at The Flying Muskrat Theatre Company

You mustn’t miss The Flying Muskrat Theatre Company’s production of Gruesome Playground Injuries. The play debuted with Alley Theatre (Houston) in 2009, then migrated east to Woolly Mammoth (2010) and...

Dana Carvey and Dennis Miller at The Kennedy Center

Dana Carvey and Dennis Miller performed at the Kennedy Center on Saturday night, and what I expected to hear and see was right on! These guys are on top of their game, relevant, and funny as hell! No...

Karen Mason at NextStop Theatre Company

They say a truly great performer has the power to transform a song that you might have heard a million times before into a new experience—to take a classic and make it his or her own while still doing...

Capital Fringe Review: ‘Luv, American Style’

Are there any fans of the sitcom Love, American Style out there? If you count yourself as one, then you should certainly see Infinite Jest’s Luv, American Style, which is essentially a modernized and...

Capital Fringe 2014 Review: ‘Waiting for Armageddon’

In DC Trash’s Waiting for Armageddon, Ron Litman and Composer Tom Pile string together a series of songs and stand-up comedy, all producing the same message: The end of days is upon us. The question...

Capital Fringe 2014 Review: ‘Tango, Cabaret, Love!’

Tango, Cabaret, Love! is not for the faint of heart nor lack of appetite. Conceived, directed by and starring Cecilia De Feo, Laura Quiroga and Lorena Sabogal, the show is a bilingual escapade mixing...

Capital Fringe 2014 Review: ‘The Tumbling’

Stephen Notes’s expressionistic play The Tumbling takes the classic Jack and Jill nursery rhyme to new heights (and lows) with sci-fi spies, murderous mothers, and lots and lots of adult material....

Capital Fringe 2014 Review: ‘Ten Principles )'(‘

(Best of the Capital Fringe) “There are so much worse things to be greeted with than warm silliness.” TD Smith grins as he utters this mantra. In AWoL Productions’ 10 Principles )'(, TD recounts the...

Capital Fringe 2014 Review: ‘The Interpersonal Underworld’

This review will be in two parts. One part about the dance (yes, this is a dance show) and one about the spoken aspects of the show (which, due to a proclivity for answering any question asked in my...