2014

‘A Candlelight Christmas’ at The Washington Chorus at The Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center Hall is decked in evergreen, but The Washington Chorus brings the candles as they file into to the solemn song of “Once in Royal David’s City” to begin A Candlelight Christmas. They...

‘Black Nativity’ at Theater Alliance

Theater Alliance’s production of Black Nativity at the Anacostia Playhouse is a gloriously joyful noise indeed. An Afrocentric celebration of the Christmas story rooted in the strength and power of...

‘Megan Hilty’s A Kennedy Center Christmas’

“You know, today is a special day: 12/13/14,” Megan Hilty nonchalantly announces with her contagiously winning smile, reminding everyone that it was the very last sequential day of the century....

‘Mannheim Steamroller Christmas by Chip Davis’ at the Music Center at Strathmore

Saturday, Mannheim Steamroller performed at Bethesda’s Music Center at Strathmore. The soldout crowd was enraptured at the matinee and Mannheim Steamroller received a standing ovation at the end. For...

‘Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge’ at Silver Spring Stage

Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge is an alternative to the usual uplifting Christmas stories playing during the holiday season, and Silver Spring Stage has staged an outrageous production....

‘Holiday Follies’ at Signature Theatre

Many of the greatest things in life just better with time, and Signature Theatre’s annual celebration of the holidays—Holiday Follies—is certainly no exception. Under the direction of Walter Ware III,...

‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ at Pumpkin Theatre

During its 47th season, The Pumpkin Theatre presented Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, written by Jimi Kinstle, and with music directed and composed by Mandee Ferrier Roberts. Raine Bode directed this...

‘An Evening with Natalie Merchant’ at The Lincoln Theatre

Singer-songwriter superstar Natalie Merchant sparkled, performing a career-spanning set in front of a sold-out crowd last Wednesday night at DC’s Lincoln Theatre. The show was originally scheduled for...

‘A Year With Frog and Toad’ at Red Branch Theatre Company

You know you’re in for a special evening of theater when half the audience arrives in pajamas. But the comfy-cozy opening night of A Year With Frog and Toad at the Red Branch Theatre Company keeps the...

‘NPR’s A Jazz Piano Christmas’ at The Kennedy Center

There are many types of applause one hears in a concert hall—polite clapping, raucous applause, the awkward slow clap. Felix Contreras, the host of last night’s cheerful NPR’s A Jazz Piano Christmas,...

‘Filichia on Friday’ ‘The New Recording of Roberta’

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: The New Recording of ROBERTA Peter Filichia is the...

‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ at NextStop Theatre Company

Director Jennifer Lambert has coached two casts of 13 talented youngsters—plus a baby who plays Woodstock–to their natural best and the simplicity of A Charlie Brown Christmas’ lets their true spirits...

Top Scene Stealers of the Week Ending 12/12/14-Part 1

Her are our new list of Scene Stealers honorees for the week ending 12/12/14. Congrats to all our honorees! ______ Noah Bird as George Bailey Shares A First Kiss with Rachel Bailey as Mary Hatch in...

NSO Pops: ‘Happy Holidays! Cirque de la Symphonie’ at The Kennedy Center

It seems DC is on the nice list this year. From classics (See: Olney) to new inventions (See: Pointless), there really is something for everyone on local stages this season. Not to be outdone, the...

Spine: ‘Famous Puppet Death Scenes’

Gordon Craig, one of the early giants of modern theatre, provocatively wrote: “There is only one actor – nay one man – who has the soul of the dramatic poet, and who has ever served as the true and...

Ballet West’s ‘The Nutcracker’ at The Kennedy Center

Ballet West blends old & new in holiday classic Remember the way the holiday season used to make you feel? Remember walking around full of expectation, certain that wonderful, impossible, magical...

‘Famous Puppet Death Scenes’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

Ready for some comic puppet anarchy? Ready for some situational, very visual humor within nearly two dozen short puppet-driven skits? Ready to indulge into, of all things, existential takes on death?...

‘A Christmas Carol – A Ghost Story of Christmas’ at Olney Theatre Center

A cold, winter night… a charming theatre housing the town’s lovers of The Arts… and America’s favorite Christmas story – it felt like a storybook evening. It was if Charles Dickens was there-right...

Filichia on Friday: “November’s Leftovers and December’s Brainteaser’

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: November’s Leftovers and December’s Brainteaser...

Nibbles And Sips Around Town: Meet the 2014 StarChefs Washington DC Area Rising Stars And 12/16 Gala at Union Market

Mark your calendars now for one of DC’s best dining events. On December 16, 2014 the 2014 StarChefs Washington DC area Rising Stars Gala will be at Dock 5 at Union Market. There’s even a special VIP...

‘5 Minutes with Leo Sushansky’ and National Chamber Ensemble’s Holiday Concert is This Sunday, December 14th at 4:30 PM at Artisphere Spectrum Theatre

Leonid (“Leo”) Sushansky is a critically acclaimed violinist and the Artistic Director of the National Chamber Ensemble, Artisphere’s ensemble-in-residence, was interviewed by The Rosslyn Bulletin....

Arts Collective @ HCC’s ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ Interviews Part 3: ‘Leaps in Time With Noah Bird, Rachel Bailey, and Emma McDonnell’

If George and Mary Bailey, the main couple in It’s a Wonderful Life, time traveled from the 1940s to the 2010s, they might have trouble identifying with the young actors cast in three of the pivotal...

‘Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge’ Opens Friday, December 12th at Silver Spring Stage by Lennie Magida

A Holiday Show with a Twist… And a Chance to Help Manna Food Center by Lennie Magida This year, why not take the traditional holiday theatrical cocktail…and add a twist? If A Christmas Carol is the...

‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ at Providence Players of Fairfax Opens Friday, December 12th by Chip Gertzog

Something different on stage for the holidays. The Providence Players open The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe This Friday, December 12th. Great theater – Great entertainment for the whole family and...

‘The Tempest’ at Shakespeare Theatre Company

“We work in the dark – we do what we can – we give what we have. Our doubt is our passion, and our passion is our task. The rest is the madness of art.” ― Henry James, The Middle Years Henry James’...

‘Twelfth Night’ at Lumina Studio Theatre

All the world’s a stage, and much of life’s a circus. Shakespeare may not have said the second part, but his whirlwind, identity-switching, gender-bending, who’s-on-first 1602 comedy Twelfth Night,...

‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ at Riverside Center Dinner Theater

Riverside Center Dinner Theater presents a nostalgic twist on Frank Capra’s beloved holiday classic It’s A Wonderful Life, adapted by Joe Landry, with original music and arrangements by Kevin Connors....

Win 2 FREE ‘Earthling’ Tickets to WSC Avant Bard’s ‘A Klingon Christmas’ on December 15th at 8 PM at Theater J

WC Avant Bard is giving away TWO Earthling Tickets to their holiday benefit performance of A Klingon Christmas Carol These tickets will get you into the show and to the reception afterwards!! ENTER...

Pianist Einav Yarden at The Phillips Collection

A packed house at the Phillips Collection could have been forgiven if they thought that pianist Einav Yarden had magically switched out Steinway grand pianos between numbers. The Israeli pianist,...

‘Twelve Angry Men’ at 2nd Star Productions

Sixty years after Reginald Rose wrote the script for a television film version (Watch it at the bottom of this review) and 59 years after it was adapted for the stage by Sherman L. Sergel, Twelve...

‘A Revolutionary Christmas’ at the Maryland Ensemble Theatre

A Revolutionary Christmas, directed by Suzanne Beal, is a hilarious and heartwarming original Christmas play. Written by Reiner Prochaska, the show is a Maryland Ensemble Theatre original production...

‘It’s a Wonderful Life: Live from WVL Radio Theatre’ at Black Rock Center for the Arts

On Saturday night Germantown’s Black Rock Center for the Arts presented a straight shot of Christmas joy – the touring production of Immediate Theatre Project‘s Live From WVL Radio Theatre: It’s a...

‘The Odyssey’ at Theatre Project With Charlie Bethel

Following the success of his one-man show of Beowulf at the Theatre Project last winter, acclaimed solo artist Charlie Bethel returns to Baltimore with the area’s debut of his uniquely re-imagined...

‘Beauty and the Beast’ at Synetic Theater

Synetic Theater has brought forth an earthy, musically rich, sophisticated retelling of the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast. At its heart, this appealing production harks back to the darker roots of...

‘Rockin’ the Holidays’ at The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC

Rockin’ the Holidays, the current Christmas holiday offering from the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC (GMCW), is a winner on all levels: vocally, technically and artistically. The joyous and...

‘Tchaikovsky is Forever: Operatic Arias and Romances’ at The Embassy of Austria

Say “Tchaikovsky,” and as Christmas creeps ever closer, be it excitingly or inexorably, visions of sugar plums, graceful ballerinas in sparkles and white tulle, and softly falling faux snow begin,...

The Christmas Revels: ‘An Irish Celebration of the Winter Solstice’

The Washington Revels takes to the sea for their 2014 production and explores the music, dance, and stories of Irish immigrants. It is a rollicking good time and a poignant exploration at the...

‘White Christmas’ at Laurel Mill Playhouse

On Main Street in Laurel, in a cozy stage space, Laurel Mill Playhouse is presenting TJ Lukacsina’s directorial debut in their joyous production of Irving Berlin’s White Christmas, The Musical. Also...

‘BSO: Duke Ellington’s Nutcracker’ with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Step Afrika! at Strathmore

“There are two kinds of music, good music and the other kind,” big band leader, composer and D.C. native son Duke Ellington famously said. In 1960 he turned to Russian powerhouse Peter Ilych...

‘Madeline’s Christmas’ at Creative Cauldron

“In an old house in Paris that was covered with vines lived twelve little girls in two straight lines.” With that familiar phrase, Creative Cauldron’s cast of Madeline’s Christmas musically brings to...

‘Sherlock Holmes and the Christmas Goose’ at The Montgomery Playhouse

The game is afoot in Montgomery Playhouse’s light and entertaining holiday mystery, Sherlock Holmes and the Christmas Goose. Virginia Cate and Duke Ernsberger adapted the narrative from Sir Arthur...

‘H.M.S. Pinafore’ at Virginia Opera Company

Strictly speaking, I really shouldn’t like Gilbert and Sullivan’s H.M.S. Pinafore. I like theatre that is dark, shocking, provocative… I’m more comfortable at Capital Fringe than Disney on Ice. So no...

‘Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol’ at Little Theatre of Alexandria

The Little Theatre of Alexandria sticks close to Charles Dickens’ classic text in their charming production of this holiday favorite filled with opulent costumes, cute children, and real puppies – and...

‘A Christmas Carol’ at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company

A Good Old Baltimore Christmas Carol Chesapeake Shakespeare Company (CSC) brings great joy to the holiday season with an original adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol. Founding...

Barbara Cook’s Spotlight: Andrea McArdle at The Kennedy Center

The original star of the Broadway smash hit Annie, Andrea McArdle, has grown into a mature and super-talented singer who can belt with the best of them. At The Kennedy Center’s Barbara Cook’s...

‘Two from Galilee’ at Apollo Civic Theatre

Two from Galilee is a Dramatic Musical version of the Biblical story of the birth of Jesus Christ. It’s based on the book by Marjorie Holmes, and is created and written by Robert Sterling and Karla...

‘A Christmas Carol’ at Wolf Pack Theatre Company

It’s easy to get sucked into the mad frenzy of American consumerism during the holidays. Black Friday creeps ever earlier, and the Hydra of long lines, long lists, traffic lights, and clearance sales...

GMCW Presents ‘Rockin’ The Holidays’ Tomorrow Night at 8 PM at The Lincoln Theatre By Craig Cipollini

We’re getting’ ready to take the stage… We’re putting the final touches on our holiday concert and you won’t want to miss it! If you haven’t purchased your tickets already, don’t miss out on our...

‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ at Arts Collective @HCC

The legendary classic story of nice guy George Bailey in It’s a Wonderful Life, comes to life on stage at Arts Collective at Howard Community College (AC) this holiday season. Very much like his...

Montgomery Playhouse and Arts on the Green Present ‘Sherlock Holmes And the Snow Goose’ Opening Tonight thru 12/21/14 by Bruce Hirsch

Montgomery Playhouse in Partnership with Arts on the Green Presents Sherlock Holmes and the Christmas Goose by Duke Ernsberger and Virginia Cole Based on The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle by Arthur...