2016

DCMetroTheaterArts’ Best of 2016 #8: Best Performances and Ensembles in Musicals in Community Theaters in DC/MD/VA

DCMetroTheaterArts’ Best of 2016 #8: Best Performances in Musicals in Community Theaters in DC/MD/VA Area: Lauren Alberg as Lucille Frank and Tommy Eyes as Leo Frank in Parade at Drama Learning...

DCMetroTheaterArts’ Best of 2016 #7: Best Performances and Ensembles in Musicals in Professional Theaters in DC/MD/VA

Here is the staff of DCMetroTheaterArts’ Best of 2016 #7: Best Performances in Musicals in Professional Theaters in DC/MD/VA: Scean Aaron as Riff Raff in The Rocky Horror Show at Iron Crow Theatre....

Review: ‘A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder’ at The Hippodrome Theatre

From time to time in the mock-Edwardian musical farce A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder you may be reminded of the inspired antics of an old “Carol Burnett Show.” When actor John Rapson cavorts on...

‘Alfred Jarry and Ubu: An Opening Night to Remember’

“Merdre!” This elaboration on the French word “Merde!” caused a sensation in 1896, at the premiere of Ubu Roi (King Ubu) in Paris. Half the audience was revolted, half enthusiastic. Several people...

Review: ‘Mamma Mia!’ The Farewell Tour at the Merriam Theatre

With shows like Green Day’s American Idiot and Carole King’s Beautiful, musicals based off of pop hits have become more popular in recent years. However, there is one show that is the mother of...

A Tribute to Tricia Lynn McCauley

Everyone’s worst nightmare has occurred-missing local actress Tricia Lynn McCauley and Yoga Instructor had been found and she has passed away. Brian McCauley announced the sad news: Tricia is gone,...

In the Moment: The Barter Players’ Touring Productions of ‘The Ugly Duckling’ and ‘The Giver at The Alden’

The Barter Theatre, the state theatre of Virginia, might not be as well known in the DC metro area as it once was. The Barter Theatre has had a long and continuing production history that began in...

DCMetroTheaterArts’ Best of 2016 #6: Best Plays in Professional Theaters in Philadelphia, New York, Delaware, and New Jersey

Here are the DCMetroTheaterArts Staff’s honorees for Best Plays in Professional Theaters in 2016 in Philadelphia, NYC, New Jersey, and Delaware. Congrats to all our honorees! A Moon for the...

DCMetroTheaterArts’ Best of 2016 #5: Best Plays In Community Theaters in DC/MD/VA

DCMetroTheaterArts’ Best of 2016 #5: Best Plays In Community Theaters. And the honorees are: Almost Maine at Providence Players of Fairfax. All My Sons at Vagabond Players. Amadeus at Providence...

Review: ‘We Three Kings’ at Restoration Praise Center

We Three Kings is a brilliant Biblical story with many teachable moments. Written and directed by local playwright Solon Phillips and with songs sung by Phil Simmons and Angela Bryant-Brown, We Three...

Review: ‘Ride the Cyclone’ at The Lucille Lortel Theatre

In 1964 Bob Dylan wrote that ‘the times they are a-changin’, and he might just as well have been referring to the musical theatre in America as he was to the war in Vietnam. Ever since Galt McDermott...

DCMetroTheaterArts’ Best of 2016 #4: Best Plays in Professional Theaters in DC/MD/VA

Here are the DCMetroTheaterArts Staff’s honorees for Best Plays in Professional Theaters in 2016. Congrats to all our honorees! A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas at Olney Theatre Center. A...

In the Moment: Signature Theatre’s Epic ‘Titanic’ and its Backstage Unsung Heroes

Epic refined splendor comes to mind after seeing and hearing Signature Theatre’s production of the Tony Award-winning musical Titanic. Director Eric Schaeffer’s vision and implement of such a...

DCMetroTheaterArts’ Best of 2016 #3: Best Musicals in Professional Theaters in Philadelphia, New York, Delaware, and New Jersey

BEST MUSICALS IN PROFESSIONAL THEATRES IN PHILADELPHIA, NEW YORK, NEW JERSEY, AND DELAWARE: A Bronx Tale at The Longacre Theatre. A Christmas Story: The Musical at The Media Theatre. A Taste of Things...

‘Wilde Tales’: An Interview with Director Jeremy Bloom, on the Quintessence Production

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), famous and controversial Irish playwright, novelist, essayist, and poet, also authored thought provoking fairy stories for children that appeared in various magazines. Married...

Review: ‘Oy Vey in a Manger’ at Theater J

Just in time for a soon-to-be new U.S. Presidential administration, and growing political and racial division, the all-male drag queen comedy troupe quartet The Kinsey Sicks returned to Theater J...

Review: ‘Titanic The Musical’ at Signature Theatre

There’s something fundamentally spiritual about the legend of RMS Titanic. Just as there are no atheists in a foxhole there are few to be found aboard an ocean liner going down fast in icy waters but...

DCMetroTheaterArts’ Best of 2016 #2: Best Musicals In Community Theaters in DC/MD/VA

Here are The staff of DCMetroTheaterArts’ Best Plays of 2016 in Community Theaters. Congrats to all the honorees. A Grand Night for Singing at Montgomery Playhouse and Arts on the Green. Anything Goes...

Review: ‘Happy Holidays’ With the National Chamber Ensemble

The National Chamber Ensemble’s joyful annual Happy Holidays concert was the perfect way to spread the wonderful sounds of Christmas and Chanukah. There were performances from talented musicians of...

Review: The Choral Arts Society of Washington’s ‘A Choral Arts Christmas’ at The Kennedy Center

I love choral music. I love the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. I’ve been looking forward to this performance. Everything musical was wonderful during the evening. Even as the doors opened, a small brass...

Review: ‘An Irish Carol’ at The Keegan Theatre

For the 6th year in a row, The Keegan Theatre is paying tribute to the Dickens classic A Christmas Carol, with their production of An Irish Carol. Reimagined by Keegan company member, Matthew Keenan,...

Review: ‘Broadway Up Close: Matthew Morrison’ at the Kimmel Center

Beginning a new season of Broadway Up Close concerts on Saturday at the The Kimmel Center, Seth Rudetsky hosted Broadway leading man and television’s favorite choir teacher, Matthew Morrison, for an...

Meet the Cast of ‘The Second Shepherds’ Play’ at Folger Theatre: Part 5: Louis E. Davis

n Part 5 of a series of interviews with the cast of Folger Theatre’s The Second Shepherds’ Play, meet Louis E. Davis. Sophia: Please introduce yourself to our readers. Where have we seen you recently...

DCMetroTheaterArts’ Best of 2016 #1: Best Musicals in Professional Theaters in DC/MD/VA

Here are the DCMetroTheaterArts Staff’s honorees for Best Musicals in Professional Theaters in 2016. Congrats to all our honorees! A Christmas Carol at Toby’s The Dinner Theatre of Columbia. A...

Review: ‘Every Christmas Story Ever Told (And Then Some)’ at Casabeuna Cultural Productions

Who doesn’t love a good Christmas story? In fact, who doesn’t love every good Christmas story? A quartet of rambunctious performers tries to cover all bases, and lovingly satirize all – well, most –...

Review: Handel’s ‘Messiah’ by NSO at The Kennedy Center

Messiah is perhaps the best known of the German-born but London-settled composer George Frideric Handel. Profoundly religious, the three-part Oratorio moves from the prophecy of Christ to his death...

Spine: Pointless Theatre’s ‘King Ubu’—No, That’s Not Donald Trump You See Sitting on That Crapper

Ironically, and full of unintended consequences, while watching Pointless Theatre’s production of Alfred Jarry’s King Ubu (yes, that’s who wrote this play, translated afresh by Google), I couldn’t...

Meet the Cast of ‘The Second Shepherds’ Play’ at Folger Theatre: Part 4: Tonya Beckman

In Part 4 of a series of interviews with the cast of Folger Theatre’s The Second Shepherds’ Play, meet Tonya Beckman. Sophia: Please introduce yourself to our readers. Where have our audiences seen...

Review: Step Afrika!’s Magical Musical Holiday Step Show

With the audience seated in the round on a floor shared by the playing space, you could feel the whole place shaking and quaking. It was no subterranean tremor; it was the ebullient Step Afrika!...

Review #2: The Christmas Revels’ ‘A Nordic Celebration of the Winter Solstice in Music, Dance, and Drama’ at Lisner Auditorium by Morgan Hoover

This Christmas Revels’ 2016 spectacle A Nordic Celebration of the Winter Solstice in Music, Dance, and Drama revisits the wonderful culture, myths, songs, dances, regional costumes of Iceland, Norway,...

Review: The Twelve Dancing Princesses’ at Camden Repertory Theatre

The Twelve Dancing Princesses, an original musical being presented by Camden Rep, teaches its young audience lessons about love, strength, forgiveness, and family ties. It also has a peppy score and a...

Meet the Cast and Director of Providence Players’ ‘Best Christmas Pageant Ever’ Part 5: Director Liz Mykietyn by Julie Janson

In the final part of interviews with the cast and director of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, meet Director Liz Mykietyn. Julie: Please tell our readers about your work in the local theater...

Review: ‘Wicked’ at The Kennedy Center

Green seems to be the everlasting black for the blockbuster Broadway musical Wicked, as its national tour returns to The Kennedy Center’s Opera House this holiday season to tell The Untold Story of...

Review: ‘In Transit’ at Circle in the Square Theatre

I first ran into this musical which deals with the lives of several New York subway commuters in 2010 when it first bounced into town onstage at the 59 East 59th Street Theatre off/Broadway. It was a...

Review: ‘King Ubu’ at Pointless Theatre Company

The season of giving? Joy to the world, peace on earth, and goodwill towards men? By the time the first snowflake actually falls, the holiday schmaltz can be as cloying as the Macy’s fragrance...

Interview: Jennifer Childs and Monica Stephenson Bring Holiday Cheer to Philadelphia with ‘The Carols’ at 1812 Productions

1812 Productions’ Producing Artistic Director and Co-Founder Jennifer Childs teamed up again with musician Monica Stephenson, a long-time friend and former colleague at the company, for this year’s...

‘Take A Bow!’ Part 3: The Staff of DCMetroTheaterArts’ Favorite DC/MD/VA Fall 2016 Performances/Directors/Designers by DCMetroTheaterArts Staff: DC/MD/VA/PHILLY/NYC AREAS

Here is the staff of DCMetroTheaterArts’ 3rd series of ‘Take A Bow!’ Fall 2016 honorees: Caroline Clay as Florynce Kennedy in (Re)Acts: Where Do We Go From Here? at Forum Theatre. It was a...

Review: ‘A Christmas Carol’ at Wolf Pack Theatre Company

Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is arguably the definitive Christmas story, beating out such classics as It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, Miracle on 34th Street and The Nutcracker. Wolf...

Review: Second City’s ‘Twist Your Dickens’ at The Kennedy Center

If you’re looking for something to laugh at in this wintry political season, then you’d better move fast. That’s because tickets for Twist Your Dickens, Second City’s parody of A Christmas Carol—now...

The Philadelphia Chorus’ ‘The Voice of Peace’

German philosopher Theodor W. Adorno (1903-1969), in his 1949 essay, “Cultural Criticism and Society,” claimed, “To write poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric” (transl. by Samuel and Shierry Weber)....

Review: The Christmas Revels’ ‘A Nordic Celebration of the Winter Solstice in Music, Dance, and Drama’ at Lisner Auditorium

The Winter Solstice is still several days away, but that shortest and often darkest day of the year will be a great treat for anyone observing it, with the crowds who headed last weekend to a packed...

Meet the Cast of ‘The Second Shepherds’ Play’ at Folger Theatre: Part 3: Matthew R. Wilson

In Part 3 of a series of interviews with the cast of Folger Theatre’s The Second Shepherds’ Play, meet Matthew R. Wilson. Sophia: Please introduce yourself to our readers. Where have we seen you...

Meet the Cast of ‘The Second Shepherds’ Play’ at Folger Theatre: Part 2: Megan Graves

In Part 2 of a series of interviews with the cast of Folger Theatre’s The Second Shepherds’ Play, meet Megan Graves. Sophia: Please introduce yourself to our readers. Where have we seen you recently...

Review: ‘Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas’ at the National Theatre

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…but you’d better not finish that sentence within earshot of the Grinch. Because as we all know, the Grinch hates Christmas, as this touring production of...

Post-Play Palaver: ‘Soft Revolution: Shafana and Aunt Sarrinah’ at Venus Theatre

Post-Play Palaver is an occasional series of conversations between DCMetroTheaterArts writers who saw the same performance, got really into talking about it, and decided to continue their exchange in...

Vote for Your Favorite Center Stage Write Now, Play Later Play TODAY!

In October, after several seasons of success with their Wright-Right-Now (“WRN”) program – the micro-commissioning series in which playwrights produce patron-prompted short plays on demand, Center...

Meet the Cast of Providence Players’ ‘Best Christmas Pageant Ever’ Part 4: Nora Rice by Julie Janson

This past weekend, over 500 theater goers, young, old, families, singles and couples fell in love with the Providence Players production of the Barbara Robinson holiday classic Best Christmas Pageant...

Magic Time! ‘The DOMA Diaries’ at The Rainbow Theatre Project

The year 2013, when the Supreme Court narrowly struck down the Defense of Marriage Act as unconstitutional, has already faded from America’s short-term memory but not so much as has 1996, the year...

Review: ‘The Greatest Holiday Special (N)ever’ at Silver Spring Stage

The Greatest Holiday Special (N)ever, by Silver Spring Stage in collaboration with The Coil Project (a local company that writes and produces original work), is the perfect Christmas show for those...

Review: ‘Mannheim Steamroller Christmas’ By Chip Davis at Strathmore

A large, stylish Christmas crowd was on hand Sunday night as Mannheim Steamroller “steamrolled” into Bethesda’s Music Center at Strathmore to perform Mannheim Steamroller Christmas By Chip Davis,...