2015

National Symphony Orchestra: ‘The Music of John Williams’ at Wolf Trap

It was as good as it gets. A glorious DC area midsummer, low-humidity evening. There was a full house at the Filene Center; with demographically and generationally diverse picnickers filling the lawn...

‘One in the Chamber’ at The Mead Theatre Lab

The authenticity and specificity of Katie Sullivan’s scenic and properties design for One in the Chamber could qualify it as a character in this engrossing new play by Marja-Lewis Ryan. Even before we...

‘Spamalot’ at Port Tobacco Players

Summer Silliness: Port Tobacco Players Frolic in Spamalot What happens in Camelot stays in Camelot…and the Port Tobacco Players gamely give it their all in a sparkling and entertaining performance of...

‘Emily Skinner: Broadway Her Way’ at AMP

At the Strathmore’s new AMP venue last night, musical theater star and singer extraordinaire Emily Skinner, dazzled the crowd-with her always winning combination of a soaring purity of tone and the...

‘My Fair Lady’ at Zemfira Stage

Northern Virginia’s non-equity, professional theater company, Zemfira Stage, continues to strive to provide ambitious, motivated entertainment with its current production of the much beloved musical,...

‘Mary Poppins’ at September Song Musical Theatre

The sure remedy for domestic dysfunction (or boredom on a summer evening) is a spoonful of sugar, a pinch of magic, and a practically perfect nanny, all of which can be acquired with a ticket to...

Filichia on Friday: ‘The Wiz That the Wiz Was and Is’

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 Wiz That the Wiz Was and Is August 7, 2015:...

‘The Addams Family’ at Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre

Yes, they’re creepy and they’re kooky, mysterious and spooky, but they’re altogether ooky – and that’s just the “normal” members of the dynamic cast of The Addams Family, directed by Debbie...

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

The Theatre Lab lived up to its reputation as one of the most beloved and well-respected acting training grounds in the DC metro area with its teen production of Cabaret, directed by Caroline Angell...

‘Bat Boy: The Musical’ at Stillpointe Theatre Initiative

When I announced to my coworkers that I was reviewing a musical entitled Bat Boy, it raised a flurry of questions. What is Bat Boy? Is it about baseball? Is it a Batman prequel? After seeing this show...

‘The Piano Guys’ at Wolf Trap

The Piano Guys blew into Wolf Trap at 8 pm on Thursday, August 6, 2015 with their originality, humor, and sheer musical skill like the refreshing cool air after the heat wave of the past few days,...

Meet the Playwright, Director, and Cast of ‘Tying the Knot’ Part 4: J. Hargrove by Daniel Douek

In Part 4 of a series of interviews with The Playwright, Director, and cast of Tying the Knot at the Baltimore Playwright’s Festival, playing at Fells Point Corner Theatre, meet J. Hargrove. Tell our...

25% Discount for ‘Emily Skinner: Broadway Her Way’ at Strathmore’s AMP THIS FRIDAY on 8/7

Strathmore is offering a 25% discount for tickets to: Emily Skinner: Broadway Her Way THIS FRIDAY, August 7th at 8 PMUse the code “tryamp” to receive THE 25% discount for Emily Skinner’s show.

Boz Scaggs at Strathmore

Blue-Eyed Soul Singer Boz Scaggs Seduces a Sold out Strathmore Audience Call Boz Scagg’s music blue-eyed soul, rock, blues rock, soft rock, jazz rock, whatever – he rocked the house. Despite a wild...

In the Moment: Pocket Change Theatre Company Presents ‘Midsummer on a Playground’ 8/28-29 at Workhouse Arts Center

So where does a new theater company head after a successful introduction at the recent Capital Fringe Festival with its production of War and Peas? In the case of Pocket Change Theatre, the answer is...

Meet the Playwright, Director, and Cast of ‘Tying the Knot’ Part 3: Nancy Blum by Daniel Douek

In Part 3 of a series of interviews with The Playwright, Director, and cast of Tying the Knot’at the Baltimore Playwright’s Festival, playing at Fells Point Corner Theatre, meet Nancy Blum. Tell our...

‘Bootleg Shakespeare: The Two Gentlemen of Verona’ at Taffety Punk Theatre Company

You know that nightmare where it’s opening night of a play and you realize you don’t know any of your lines and you’ve barely had any rehearsal but the curtain is about to go up to a packed house? Now...

Mike Faist on Playing Connor in ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ at Arena Stage

Mike Faist is playing Connor in the critically acclaimed production of Pasek and Paul’s Dear Evan Hansen at Arena Stage. Here we talk about his journey with the show. Joel: When did you first get the...

‘The Music Man’ at The Sterling Playmakers

“Seventy-six trombones led the big parade, with a hundred and ten cornets close at hand”!!! From the orchestra conductor’s starting whistle and the first strains of “76 Trombones” in the overture of...

Meet the Playwright, Director, and Cast of ‘Tying the Knot’ Part 2: Brian S. Kraszewski by Daniel Douek

In Part 2 of a series of interviews with The Playwright, Director, and cast of Tying the Knot at the Baltimore Playwright’s Festival, playing at Fells Point Corner Theatre, meet Brian S. Kraszewski....

‘The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged! Revised!)’ at Off the Quill

With our calendars getting increasingly crowded and revisiting the plays we read (were supposed to read/wanted to read/never thought of reading) in high school probably not high on our to-do list, it...

National Symphony Orchestra–‘Star Trek’ at Wolf Trap

On August 1st 2015, the National Symphony Orchestra presented Star Trek, the 2009 epic film drama by Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Entertainment at Wolf Trap. Conductor Emil de Cou lead a 96-piece...

Magic Time!: A Love Letter to ‘Dear Evan Hansen’

Dear Dear Evan Hansen, I know it might sound odd, but this is a love letter to a musical. I saw you for the first time in my life last night, and I knew right away I had to write you to tell you it...

Indigo Girls at Wolf Trap With Michelle Malone

Infusing introspective folk rock with progressive political persuasions, the genre-defying, Grammy Award-winning Indigo Girls returned to Wolf Trap last Tuesday night for a cerebral celebration of...

‘Family Portrait’ at DC Music Theatre Workshop

What do you do when home isn’t what it appears to be or even what you remember it to be? For the family of five at the heart of Family Portrait, with music and lyrics by Theo Jamieson, it’s a struggle...

‘code name: Cynthia’ at Pallas Theatre Collective

Stephen Sondheim would do well to watch his back. Pallas Theatre Collective has just mounted a new musical, code name: Cynthia, that is just as smart and pointed in its book and lyrics and just as...

‘Avenue Q’ at Red Branch Theatre Company

Good news, theatergoers. Your favorite sassy surrogate love puppets are back at Red Branch Theatre Company performing at Columbia’s Drama Learning Center. Now through August 8th the neighborhood...

In the Moment: A Personal ‘Good Luck and Thank You’ to The American Century Theater and Their Ghost Light

Ghost light. Very soon the 20-year run of the The American Century Theater (TACT) will fade into a ghost light -a light that we theater folk know is left lit onstage to protect us from misbehaving...

‘Murder at the Howard Johnson’s’ at the Washington County Playhouse Dinner Theater and Children’s Theater

Murder at the Howard Johnson’s, written by Ron Clark and Sam Bobrick, is a laugh-out-loud riot featuring a woman, her husband and her lover hatching hilarious murder schemes in the classic chain hotel...

Spine: Review of ‘On Clover Road’ at Contemporary American Theater Festival

A mother has lost her child to a cult; its leader has taken her as his divine bride. A de-programmer, whose own child died mysteriously, has come to the mother’s aid, for a kidnapping and breaking of...

‘RENT’ at Metropolitan Youth Theatre

Metropolitan Youth Theatre’s production of RENT is a 100% student-run show from the director to the 17 actors who are making this flashback to the turn-of-the-century HIV/AIDS epidemic a moving...

‘Disney’s High School Musical’ at Laurel Mill Playhouse

Disney’s High School the Musical, at Laurel Mill Playhouse, is directed by TJ Lukacsina, and is produced by Maureen Rogers and Laila Riaz. This is the 12th year that LMP has given youth, this time...

25% Discount for ‘Emily Skinner: Broadway Her Way’ at Strathmore’s AMP on 8/7

Strathmore is offering a 25% discount for tickets to: Emily Skinner: Broadway Her Way on Fri August 7th at 8 PMUse the code “tryamp” to receive a 25% discount for all 3 of these performances.

Spine: Review of ‘We Are Pussy Riot’ at Contemporary American Theater Festival

Pussy Riot, punk truth tellers and guitar playing agitators and feminist rabble rousers who stood up to the Russian State and its Church affiliates under Vladimir Putin. They went into Moscow’s...

‘Too Marvelous for Words: The Songs of Johnny Mercer’ at AMP

Cabaret singers Linda Purl and Lee Lessack shone on July 31, 2015 in their concert tribute to Johnny Mercer, appropriately titled Too Marvelous for Words. In the delightfully-intimate new venue AMP by...

Spine: Review of ‘World Builders’ at Contemporary American Theater Festival

We are all populated by the images of main stream culture. Whether you’re 80 and still want Sam to play it again, or 50 and still believe in the Force or 30 and still imagine yourself at Hogwarts with...

Spine: Review of ‘Everything You Touch’ at the Contemporary American Theater Festival

Beauty culture is a mess; fashion culture is the messiest, starving the human body, while forcing it into impossibly harsh postures, all in the name of aesthetics: ribs might not be damaged for that...

Spine: Review of ‘The Full Catastrophe’ at the Contemporary American Theater Festival

Michael Weller’s The Full Catastrophe, based on a novel by David Carkeet, is a comedy, a comedy about marriage and those longing for marriage. It is light-hearted and fun, well acted and directed, and...

Meet the Playwright, Director, and Cast of ‘Tying the Knot’ Part 1: Playwright James L. Beller Jr. by Daniel Douek

In Part 1 of a series of interviews with The Playwright, Director, and cast of Tying the Knot at the Baltimore Playwright’s Festival, playing at Fells Point Corner Theatre, meet Playwright James L....

‘Dear Evan Hansen’ at Arena Stage

There are a lot of great shows in town this month. There’s the fan-favorite The Book of Mormon, the charming and captivating Once, the grassroots Capital Fringe Festival (which just ended)—even Lady...

Filichia on Friday: ‘July’s Leftovers and August’s Brainteaser’ 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: July 31, 2015: July’s Leftovers and August’s...

‘The Glass House, A Sideshow, Variety, and Burlesque Tribute to Geek Love’ August 9th at The Bier Baron

Katherine Dunn’s novel, Geek Love, has awakened and inspired many a carny-hearted performer since it was first published in 1989. Come, enter a world of fire-eaters and human pincushions, lizard...

‘The Wiz’ Eases on Down to The Gaithersburg Arts Barn From August 7th-23rd by Laura Andruski

In partnership with ANKH Repertory Theatre and The Finest! Performance Foundation, Inc., Arts on the Green presents The Wiz, a modern musical version of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum....

Meet the Cast of ‘Spamalot’ at The Port Tobacco Players‏: Part 6: Brian Merritt

In Part 6 of a series of interviews with the cast of The Port Tobacco Players’ Spamalot, meet Brian Merritt. Tell our readers where they may have seen you on local stages. Most recently you may have...

Meet the Cast of ‘Spamalot’ at The Port Tobacco Players’: Part 5: Patrick Pruitt

In Part 5 of a series of interviews with the cast of The Port Tobacco Players’ Spamalot, meet Patrick Pruitt. Tell our readers where they may have seen you on local stages. I spend almost all of my...

Elaine Wilson on Co-Founding The Alliance Theatre by Tom Harman

The Alliance Theatre Co-Founder Elaine Wilson remembers the conversation that would prompt her to change the direction of a then-struggling community theatre still in its infancy. Wilson had...

‘Twelfth Night’ at 4615 Theater Company

The title of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night is often considered a reference to “Epiphany,” or the twelfth night of the Christmas Celebration. Around Shakespeare’s time, this night was celebrated with a...

‘Game Show’ Opens on August 2nd at Jewish Theatre Workshop by Ariella McCown

Jewish Theatre Workshop‘s production of Game Show is just a few days away before our opening this Sunday, August 2nd at 2 pm, and we couldn’t be more excited than if we’d won a brand new car! This...

A New Spy Musical Ready to Seduce DC Audiences at Pallas Theatre Collective by Ty Hallmark

Summer 2015 is turning out to be the season of original musicals making their premieres with Washington area theaters. One of the most anticipated and appropriately “local” offerings opens this week...

Magic Time!: DC Theater’s Whopping Wayfinding Problem

When I, a longtime theater buff, moved to DC nearly a dozen years ago, I discovered something weird: The Metro DC theater scene is utterly confusing to anyone who doesn’t already know their way around...