2016

Review: ‘The Second Shepherds’ Play’ at The Folger Theatre

Well beyond just comfort and joy, The Folger’s production of The Second Shepherds’ Play, a medieval English mystery about the ultimate power of faith to redeem and liberate, is the right play at the...

‘Magic Time!’ ‘The Second Shepherds’ Play’ at The Folger Theatre

Watching the Folger Consort’s robust and warmhearted staging of this medieval mystery play, I was struck by how curiously it connects us today to the audiences who first saw it performed. Here we were...

Review: ‘Spring Awakening’ by Ovations Theatre

The cast of Ovations Theatre’s production of Spring Awakening could sing the phone book and still be entrancing. Director Darnell Patrick Morris brought a fresh approach to the Tony Award-winning...

Review: ‘Christmas Inn’ at Westchester Broadway Theatre

Christmas time, as it says in the famous song, “is the most wonderful time of the year.” So during the month of December, Westchester Broadway Theatre is taking a break from its scheduled lineup and...

Review: ‘Merlin: A Traditional British Panto’ at The British Players

If your kids squirm through The Nutcracker, it might be time to consider a new Christmas theater tradition: the annual British Pantomime produced by The British Players. Pantomimes are traditionally...

Review: ‘Foxfire’ at Bowie Community Theatre

Foxfire is a heartwarming and poignant story that will have audience members laughing and teary-eyed in the same moment. Currently in production at Bowie Community Theatre, Foxfire is a drama by Susan...

Review: ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ at Adventure Theatre

Once again I was faced with the question: “How are they going to pull this off?” I mean a two person cast with easily a dozen significant characters in the original text – somethings gotta give! Well...

Review: ‘Les Liaisons Dangereuses’ at Center Stage

“Love and revenge, two of your favorites.” It’s the eve of the French Revolution and the crème of the French aristocracy – the “original one percent” so aptly described by Artistic Director Kwame...

Review: The Capital Hearings at AMP by Strathmore

I came to review the venue as well as the performance so I need to share a bit about both. First of all AMP by Strathmore is a swanky nightclub nestled at the corner of Montrose Road and Rockville...

Review: ‘Mary Poppins’ at the Players Club of Swarthmore

The Players Club of Swarthmore’s new production of Mary Poppins may surprise some devoted fans of the movie. This stage adaptation, which had a successful run on Broadway a decade ago, isn’t a slavish...

Review: ‘Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka’ at NextStop Theatre

Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka opened at NextStop Theatre in Herndon to a sold-out house this past weekend. The cast included professional actors, alongside local students, which made for a very personal...

Review: ‘The Dancing Princesses’ at Pumpkin Theatre

My wee littles stopped being wee little some time ago so, until yesterday, it’d been a number of years since I’d been to see children’s theatre. I’ve been hearing a lot of positive things about...

Review: ‘A Year with Frog and Toad’ at Arden Theatre Company

A smash hit for Arden Theatre Company in 2004 and 2009, A Year with Frog and Toad is back for its third run and it’s guaranteed to be as popular as it was the first two times around! Philadelphia...

Review: ‘The Comedy of Errors…at Colonus’ at Lumina Studio Theatre (Blue Cast)

The Comedy of Errors at Colonus: Uauthorized by William Shakespeare and Sophocles, adapted and directed by David Minton on December 3, 2016, at 7 PM, performed by the blue cast. I wonder if there’s...

Review: ‘The Magi’ at The Hub Theatre

“A simple tale of love and hope,” is the way local playwright Helen Murray Pafumi describes her new work, The Magi. That is an understatement. In its premiere at Fairfax’s The Hub Theatre, The Magi is...

Review: ‘A Philly Pops Christmas’ at The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts

A Philly Pops Christmas is a delightful concert of Christmas Carols, humor and lights, which rings in holiday cheer. The POPS orchestra, conducted by Michael Krajewski, was joined by guest artists,...

Review: ‘Antagonyms’ at Curio Theatre Company

An antagonym is a word with two opposite meanings, such as “left” which can mean “remaining” or “departed.” Rachel Gluck’s world premiere Antagonyms at Curio Theatre Company (“Curio”) centers around...

Review: ‘A Christmas Carol’ at Rooftop Productions

It’s been said that Charles Dickens invented Christmas. He didn’t, but A Christmas Carol, published in 1843, certainly transformed people’s attitudes about the celebration. The author William...

Review: ‘Handel’s Messiah; with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra at Strathmore

George Frideric Handel’s Messiah was first performed during Easter in Dublin close to 275 years ago, and I saw why it has become an annual Christmas tradition. The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra with...

Review: ‘Black Nativity’ at ANKH Repertory Theatre and The Finest! Performance Foundation

Productions of Langston Hughes’ holiday classic Black Nativity are numerous in the DC area this holiday season, but the joint production by ANKH Repertory Theatre and The Finest! Performance...

Review: ‘Seuls’ at The Wilma Theater

In the opening moments of Seuls, Wajdi Mouawad takes to the stage wearing only black briefs and eyeglasses. The purpose of the show we’re about to see, he informs the audience, is to examine “our...

Review: ‘All’s Well That Ends Well’ at the Philadelphia Artists’ Collective

Director Dan Hodge strikes a fine balance between comedy and drama in the Philadelphia Artists’ Collective’s presentation of All’s Well That Ends Well. In keeping with the sardonic tone of...

Review: ‘A Christmas Carol’ at The Little Theatre of Alexandria

A Christmas Carol at Little Theatre of Alexandria is a great way to get in the holiday spirit and reflect on Charles Dickens’ timeless themes of repentance and generosity. There is good reason that A...

Review: ‘The Zero Hour’ at Iron Crow Theatre

Madeleine George asks a lot of questions in her award-winning 2011 play, The Zero Hour at The Baltimore’s Theatre Project through the weekend. How do you tell the truth about yourself when that truth...

‘Take A Bow’ Part 1 in Philadelphia: The Staff of DCMetroTheaterArts’ Favorite Fall 2016 Performances/Directors/Designers

Here is the staff of DCMetroTheaterArts’ first series of ‘Take A Bow!’ Fall 2016 honorees in Philadelphia: ____ Almanac Dance Circus Theatre and Chickabiddy, creators and performers of Exile 2588 at...

Review: ‘Uncle Nick’ at Wolf Pack Theatre Company

Uncle Nick brings a merry good time to the Holidays Who hasn’t heard the line: “Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house…” during the Christmas Holiday Season? That line, from the...

Review #2: ‘Copenhagen’ at Perisphere Theater

Three intersecting rings stand out in a circle of white, blindingly clear. The intersection reminds of other triumvirates, three powerful individuals, in an arrangement both formal and informal, equal...

Review: ‘Avenue Q-School Edition’ at Fairfax High School

Avenue Q is not your mother’s musical. Sure, the muppets might seem cute, but once they start singing you’ll see that they’re just as messed up as most people. Fairfax High School’s FX Players...

Review: ‘Diana Ross – All the Best of Times’ with the National Symphony Orchestra at The Kennedy Center

Singer extraordinaire Diana Ross is a musical legend and she proved it last night in a concert at The Kennedy Center’s Concert Hall. Presenting a showcase full of golden oldies as well as some classic...

Review: ‘Black Nativity’ at New Freedom Theatre

Fifty years is a very long time for an arts group to exist in this changing world and economy, but Freedom Theatre is celebrating its golden anniversary with a reconceived production of its...

Review #1:’Copenhagen’ at Perisphere Theater

The storytelling in Michael Frayn’s Copenhagen—which won the 2000 Tony Award for Best Play—is ingeniously done. The play’s three characters are deceased. They are actual historical figures whom Frayn...

Review: ‘The Outer Space’ at SEI Innovation Studio at The Kimmel Center

The Outer Space, is a new musical by Ethan Lipton. This production, at SEI Innovation Studio at the Kimmel Center, is like a cabaret with a narrative, weaving humor, storytelling and music together....

Review: ‘SYBARITE5 and Jakub Ciupinski’ at LiveConnection at World Cafe

LiveConnection Presents’ evening of Sybarite5 + Jakub Ciupinski treated its World Cafe audience to two exciting young exemplars of new music. Sybarite5 is a string quintet that is rapidly gaining...

Review: Larry Graham and Graham Central Station at Strathmore

Review: Larry Graham and Graham Central Station funnels the funky at Strathmore He’s a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member of Sly & the Family Stone, he was a mentor and “best friend” of Prince, he is...

Meet the Cast of Avant Bard’s ‘TAME.’ Part 5: Karen Lange

In part five of a series of interviews with the cast of Avant Bard’s production of TAME., meet Karen Lange. Joel: Where have local audiences seen you perform recently on stage? Karen: Most recently, I...

‘Take A Bow!’ Part 1: The Staff of DCMetroTheaterArts’ DC/MD/VA Fall 2016 Favorite Performances/Directors/Designers

Here is the staff of DCMetroTheaterArts’ first series of ‘Take A Bow!’ Fall 2016 honorees: ____ Edwin Aparicio, as Choreographer, Flamenco Dancer, and Co-Director of Salvador, at GALA Hispanic...

Meet the Cast of ‘Spring Awakening’ at Ovations Theatre: Part 5: Mentor Actor RJ Pavel

In part five of a series of interviews with the cast of Ovations Theatre’s Spring Awakening, meet mentor actor RJ Pavel. Joel: What is your name, where did you graduate college, and what is your role...

Magic Time! ‘Arguing with God’ at Woman’s National Democratic Club

Always on the lookout for provocative theater in improbable places, I went to the one-night-only DC premiere of a politically edgy and surprisingly funny send-up of Yahweh, the God of the Old...

Review: ‘1-800-MICE’ at The Annex Theater

Birthday Party, Cheesecake, Jelly Bean, Boom On Black Friday, The Annex Theater (“Annex”) invited Baltimore to “celebrate anti-consumerism and new art” by attending the World Premiere of 1-800-MICE,...

Review: ‘Cerebral Sorcery’ with Francis Menotti and David London

I’ve oftentimes heard magic referred to as a universal language in the performance realm, not only capable of transcending linguistic boundaries, but cultural and sensational constructs as well. The...

Review: ‘A Christmas Carol’ at Ford’s Theatre

Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is back at Ford’s Theatre in a production that is guaranteed to fill your heart with Yuletide cheer. Michael Wilson’s adaptation tells the classic tale of Ebeneezer...

‘A Christmas Carol: A Live Radio Play’ Opens Thursday, December 8th at 7:30 PM and Plays Through Sunday, December 11th at Howard Community College’s Arts Collective

HCC’s Arts Collective Presents A Christmas Carol: A Live Radio Play December 8–11, 2016 SHOW DATES AND TIMES: Thursday, December 8 at 7:30 PM Friday, December 9 at 7:30 PM Saturday, December 10 at...

Call for Proposals for the 2017-2018 Theater Season at the Arts Barn

Arts on the Green, the City of Gaithersburg’s home for the performing and visual arts which includes the Kentland’s Mansion and Arts Barn, is now soliciting production proposals for the theater season...

Review: ‘Miss Bennet Christmas at Pemberley’ at Round House Theatre

Love is in the air for Miss (Mary) Bennet this Christmas in the imagined, holiday-themed sequel to Jane Austen’s literary masterpiece Pride and Prejudice – Miss Bennet Christmas at Pemberley – now...

In the Moment: Interviews with the Cast, Composer, Director, and Artistic Director of The Hub Theatre’s ‘The Magi’ Opening This Weekend

The Hub Theatre will present a premiere musical, The Magi by local playwright Helen Murray Pafumi with music by singer/songwriter Eli Pafumi. This is a unique collaboration between them. The Magiis a...

Review: Estampas Porteñas Tango Company’s ‘Deseos’ at the Music Center at Strathmore

Images of the people of Buenos Aires, estampas porteñas, created nostalgic dreams of longing and desire in distant lands and rich cultures as the Estampas Porteñas Tango Company presented Deseos, a...

Meet the Cast of ‘Spring Awakening’ at Ovations Theatre: Part 4: Yasmin Ranz-Lind and Heather Kirschner

In part four of a series of interviews with the cast of Ovations Theatre’s Spring Awakening, meet Yasmin Ranz-Lind and Heather Kirschner who share the role of Wendla Bergman. Joel: What is your name,...

Review: ‘Black Nativity’ at Theater Alliance

I saw Black Nativity last year at Anacostia Playhouse and was so thrilled by it (as I wrote in my rave review), I had to go again this year. I went expecting to see a reproduction of a splendid show...

Meet the Cast of Providence Players’ ‘Best Christmas Pageant Ever’ Part 2: Sally Ann Flores by Julie Janson

The Providence Players of Fairfax, will soon premiere the second production of its 19th season, Best Christmas Pageant Ever, written by Barbara Robinson and directed by award-winning director Liz...

Review: ‘Silver Belles’ at Signature Theatre

I needed it. A lot. A musical that reminded me that “life is a gift.” A new holiday musical with heart, humor, and great new tunes. A most-welcomed and pleasant swift sleigh ride during these dark...