2015

‘The Phantom of the Opera’ at Anne Arundel Community College

Anne Arundel Community College’s Spring production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera opens at an auction within the dilapidated Paris Opera House, in the year 1911. Among the items up...

Spine: ‘Murder Ballad: Liquor and Love, with Child’ by Robert Michael Oliver

There’s nothing like hot sex to get the blood pumping. There’s nothing like lasting love to swoon the heart. There’s nothing like a child to turn the world upside down. And there’s nothing like a...

Magic Time! ‘Murder Ballad’ at The Studio Theatre by John Stoltenberg

The fourth-floor black box at Studio Theatre has housed some extraordinary original storytelling. Recent productions of Terminus and Moth leap to mind. The space, called Stage 4, seems like a magnet...

‘Sinbad: The Untold Tale’ at Imagination Stage

Imagination Stage presents Sinbad: The Untold Tale, written by Charles Way and directed by Janet Stanford. Over the years, Imagination Stage has built up a reputation for exquisite children’s...

A Report on ‘A Prude’s Guide to Good Sex’ at DC Women’s Theatre Group

Previous positive experiences with the DC Women’s Theatre Group primed me for a touching performance. A Prude’s Guide to Good Sex needs some fine-tuning before it lives up to the expectations set by...

‘Mariela in the Desert’ at GALA Hispanic Theatre

“There’s always something beautiful in the truth, even when it’s ugly.” After a standing ovation, many of us in the audience at Sunday’s showing of Mariela en el Desierto sat right back down to take a...

The Soul Crackers at The Bethesda Blues and Jazz Supper Club

33 years after they began, The Soul Crackers deliver tight, in-the-pocket covers from all-star soul, Motown and 70’s Funk bands. For over three hours, the band drove from one song directly to the...

‘Side by Side by Sondheim’ at Vagabond Players

Some of Broadway’s biggest hits have merged into one show and found their way to Baltimore, occupying our own South Broadway in Fells Point. Side by Side by Sondheim is a musical revue featuring the...

The National Theatre Announces its ‘Broadway at the National’ 2015-2016 Lineup

Broadway At The National 2015-16 Features Washington Premieres Of Motown The Musical, Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella, And The Wizard Of Oz, Featuring New Songs By Tim Rice & Andrew Lloyd Webber...

‘Crime and Punishment’ at Maryland Opera Studio at The Clarice

The many faces of “Crime and Punishment”at Maryland Opera Studio Part of the beauty of performing opera is having the opportunity to make a role one’s own. To make sure the nine second-year students...

‘Murder Ballad’ at The Studio Theatre (Review) by David Siegel

Let yourself be seduced into a dark reverie as a love triangle, or perhaps a rectangle, goes way wrong. Musical pulp-fiction has come to 14th and P Streets pushed forward by electric guitar power...

‘Carousel’ at Olney Theatre Center

Celebrating the 70th Anniversary of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel (to the day: April 19, 2015), Olney Theatre Center exquisitely reimagines and reinvigorates the classic epic musical, audaciously...

‘From Moscow to Hollywood: Songs from the Movies” at Russian Chamber Art Society

Even today, a trip from Moscow to Hollywood is not one to be taken on the spur of the moment. What must it have meant for those in the early years of the last century, artists and musicians seeking...

‘We Wait in the Darkness by Rosy Simas Danse at Dance Place

As a long-time dance observer, I like to say the language of dance is universal and that in performance specificity on stage can imbue a work with universality. Saturday evening at Dance Place in...

‘Doctor Faustus’ at Gallaudet University Theatre and Dance Program

A steampunk staging of Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus without any spoken or signed language? Just movement and mime and lighting and scenic effects? Sounds crazy, right? Well, depending on the...

‘Eat The Runt’ at Arts Collective at Howard Community College

College theaters have always been forerunners in experimental theater, and Arts Collective at Howard Community College’s zany production of Avery Crozier’s Eat the Runt is no exception. The play is a...

‘Lettice and Lovage’ at the Quotidian Theatre Company

Tea and Entropy: Lettice and Lovage at the Quotidian Theatre Company Lettice and Lovage is crafted with love, a fitting tribute to a playwright, Peter Shaffer, whose passion for words makes this play...

‘Choking Out the Kudzu’ at The Greenbelt Arts Center

In the program notes for Choking Out the Kudzu: The Musical, Director Billie Colombaro says that this show began its journey into being back in 1992. Interestingly, this was just one year after the...

Rosanne Cash: The River & The Thread at Strathmore

The smoky, soulful singer knows how to make an entrance and how to keep an audience mesmerized. Rosanne Cash played at The Music Center at Strathmore on Friday, April 17, 2015. Her two-hour set...

‘The Romantics Wagner & Liszt’ at The In Series

The In Series self-described salon-style concert tribute is a celebration of musical mastery – from the two composers featured to the pianists and singers – The Romantics Wagner & Liszt is an...

‘Romeo and Juliet’ at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company

Director Ian Gallanar, and his cast and crew have thoroughly delivered on the promise of a “lusty, fiery production” of the classic tale of woe, that of Juliet and her Romeo. In fact, what makes the...

‘Spring Awakening’ at Red Branch Theatre Company

Spring Awakening always makes a strong impression on audiences. But it is a particularly bold choice for the season-opener at Red Branch Theatre Company. The 2007 Tony-winning musical, adapted from a...

‘Tyger’ at banished? Productions at Mead Theatre Lab

Check your pre-conceived notions of a theater experience at the sidewalk at this week’s innovative Tyger at Mead Theatre Lab by banished? Productions. The interactive experience begins before you...

‘Ernest in Love’ at The Colonial Players

The sharp jab at the crusty, Victorian era British upper crust in Ernest in Love, with Book and Lyrics by Anne Croswell, Music by Lee Pockriss, and directed by Rick Wade, is not too farfetched from...

Eileen Ivers at Wolf Trap

Eileen Ivers returned to the Barns at Wolf Trap for a rollicking good show filled with her unique brand of Celtic fiddle and traditional roots music like bluegrass, Cajun, French Canadian, and...

‘Other Desert Cities’ at Vienna Theatre Company

In an upscale California house in Palm Springs, the Wyeth family is gathering to celebrate the Christmas season. What is supposed to be a joyous occasion turns out, on this particular Christmas in...

In the Moment: An Interview with 1st Stage’s ‘Old Wicked Songs’ Musical Director Walter “Bobby” McCoy and Artistic/Managing Director Alex Levy

1st Stage’s production of Old Wicked Songs by Jon Marans has opened to high praise from reviewers and audiences alike. After seeing the show I wanted to learn more about something very specific; the...

Pianist Martin Kasik with the Embassy Series at the Czech Embassy

Czech pianist Martin Kasik has an important historic connection with Washington despite relatively infrequent visits here. He was a 1999 winner of the Young Concert Artists series, which launches...

Vienna Theatre Company’s ‘Other Desert Cities’ Opens Tonight-Interviews with the Director and 3 Cast Members

Vienna Theatre Company opens its production of Other Desert Cities tonight at The Vienna Community Center. Meet the Director and three cast members. Here is Richard Durkin’s interview with Director...

‘DanceWorks Spring 2015’ at the Department of Theatre & Dance at The George Washington University

This dance variety show featuring undergraduate choreography and dancers unfolds with a consistent contemporary theme, but some pieces achieve more variety of movement than others. These Five Women,...

Montgomery Playhouse Spotlight Series Continues This Sunday With ‘Tales of Wonder’ at 7:30 PM at The Arts Barn by Bruce Hirsch

Join us THIS SUNDAY NIGHT April 19TH for the second presentation in The Montgomery Playhouse Spotlight Series: Tales of Wonder Staged readings presented in partnership with Arts on the Green at the...

Take The Stage Performance Company Presents Broadway Revue Showcase ‘Loud and Clear’ May 1-3 at Rockville JCC by Elizabeth Gensler

Take The Stage Performance Company is proud to announce their second annual Broadway Revue Showcase Loud and Clear. Last year’s inaugural season was such a success that this coveted group of...

Filichia on Friday: ‘Gigi’s New Gig’

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: Gigi’s New Gig ______ Recent ‘Filichia on Friday’...

Meet the Cast of Reston Community Players’ ‘The Fox on the Fairway’: Part 1: Stephanie Walsh, Kelly Thompson, & Bradley Dresser

The award-winning Reston Community Players are proud to bring Ken Ludwig’s The Fox on the Fairway back to the DC Metro area April 24-May 3, 2015. The stuffy atmosphere of a private golf club is the...

‘An American in Paris’ at The Palace Theatre in New York City

“Fresh as paint” kept buzzing through my head as I sat, enthralled, as this latest “new musical based on a famous film” sang and danced its way across the boards of the famous Palace Theatre. Soon I...

Meet the Cast of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ at Rockville Little Theatre: Part 8: Grant Williams

In Part 8 of a series of interviews with the cast and director of To Kill a Mockingbird at Rockville Little Theatre, meet Grant Williams. Please introduce yourself and tell our readers where they may...

Meet the Cast of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ at Rockville Little Theatre: Part 7: Jill Goodrich

In Part 7 of a series of interviews with the cast and director of To Kill a Mockingbird at Rockville Little Theatre, meet Jill Goodrich. Please introduce yourself and tell our readers where they may...

‘Flyin’ West’ at Bowie Community Theatre

An exceptional and powerful production of Pearl Cleage‘s Flyin’ West, is being presented by Bowie Community Theatre. Director Estelle Miller receives top-notch performances from each of her cast...

‘Uncle Vanya’ at Round House Theatre

In a funky, fresh interpretation of what Irish Theatre Magazine has called “[Anton] Chekhov’s greatest play” and hailed as one of the top 10 shows of 2012 by both The New York Times and New York...

‘The Frog Prince’ at Pumpkin Theatre

There’s a whole lot of hopping going on at Pumpkin Theatre this month. The Frog Prince is the penultimate show of Pumpkin Theatre’s 47th season. Written by Donald J. Leonard Jr. with music and lyrics...

‘Candice Bergen In Conversation with Madhulika Sikka’ at Sixth and I Synagogue

Candice Bergen is strongly linked to her famous character Murphy Brown. After Madhulika Sikka, the Executive Editor for NPR News, interviewed her Monday night, the similarities between the character...

‘Don’t Die in the Dark’ at Studio 1469

Last night, on the 150th anniversary of the assassination of President Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre, I was in a DC theater venue of a very different sort: a tiny white-box art-gallery space down an...

In The Moment: Dakshina/Daniel Phoenix Singh Dance Company Presents ‘Persistent Voices’ at Dance Place 5/2-3 & Reston CenterStage 5/6

In early May, Daniel Phoenix Singh and the Dakshina/Daniel Phoenix Singh Dance Company will be premiering a dance theater work at Dance Place and at Reston’s CenterStage. The new work is inspired by...

In the Moment: ‘Pilobolus Dance’ Comes to The Alden Theatre This Friday

The world renowned Pilobolus will be bringing their “stunning, evocative and visceral” dance theater to the Alden Theatre, said Sarah N. Schallern, director, performing arts, McLean Community Center....

Bawdy Shop Burlesque’s ‘Don’t Knock the Block’ Burlesque Hall of Fame Fundraiser This Friday at Ottobar at 7 PM

That bevy of Baltimore beauties known as Bawdy Shop Burlesque have a busy next few months. I recently got a chance to catch up with them and chat about their next show, Don’t Knock the Block and...

Meet the Director and Cast of Vienna Theatre Company’s ‘Other Desert Cities’ Part 3: Kathy Ohlhaber

Meet the cast and director of Vienna Theatre Company’s Other Desert Cities. In Part 3: Meet Kathy Ohlhaber. Joel: Please introduce yourself and tell us where our readers may have seen you perform on...

‘It Shoulda Been You’ at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre in New York City

If you leave your sense of disbelief checked in the cloak room at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre on Broadway, you might just have a fun time as you watch this marriage romp unwind, filled with twists and...

‘Very Still & Hard to See’ at Rorschach Theatre Company

Very Still & Hard to See is neither quiet nor a challenge to perceive. Its aural and optical pleasures are bountiful. For this production of Steve Yockey’s cycle of supernatural short plays, directed...

‘The King and I’ at Washington County Playhouse Dinner Theater and Children’s Theater

The King and I at Washington County Playhouse really is “Something Wonderful,” as the classic musical receives a visually stunning reinterpretation from a very gifted cast. Splendidly directed by...

‘The Elephant Man’ at Maryland Ensemble Theatre

The Elephant Man, fantastically directed by Julie Herber, poses some interesting morality questions for a modern audience, though it is set in Victorian-era England. Based on a real-life story, The...