2016

Review: Buddy Guy and The Damn Right Blues Band at The State Theatre

Buddy Guy is a man who does not act his age of 79 years young! He is a cool cat and an American blues legend. He played to an enthusiastic capacity crowd Wednesday night at the State Theatre and the...

Review: ‘Peter Pan’ at Toby’s Dinner Theatre

Toby’s Dinner Theatre has every right to crow about its new staging of Peter Pan. The classic Broadway musical based on James M. Barrie’s 1904 evergreen is deceptively simple — after all, at heart...

‘Elevate’ Takes The Stage to Benefit the Mattie Miracle Foundation on Sunday, April 24th at 3 PM

It’s an encore performance benefiting a great cause. Take The Stage Performance Company is doing what they do best–taking the stage– to raise money for The Mattie Miracle Cancer Foundation. Their...

‘Come to The Silhouette Stages Cabaret’ on 4/23@8pm @Slayton House

The Silhouette Players – more known for their wonderful musicals – will be presenting a evening of entertainment and fun at Cabaret Night on April 23, 2016 at 8PM at Slayton House – 10400 Cross Fox...

Review: ‘The Color Purple’ at The Bernard Jacobs Theatre in NYC

This revival of The Color Purple opened at the Bernard Jacobs Theatre on Broadway in December of 2015 but I wasn’t able to get to it until tonight, in the fourth month of its successful run. It had...

Review: ‘Translations’ at Villanova University in Villanova, PA

One hundred years ago a group of Irish poets, musicians and classical scholars rebelled against English rule. The “Easter Uprising” was cruelly subdued by the occupying British, but this being...

Playwright Walt Vail on The Beacon Theatre Productions’ Production of his Play ‘Young Frederick Douglass’

In Part Two of his interview with Playwright Walt Vail, Henrik Eger asks Walt to take him on his journey of writing Young Frederick Douglass. Henrik: How long did it take you to write Young Frederick...

Review: ‘Seussical the Musical’ at Charm City Players

Seussical The Musical opened on March 12, 2016, in the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Auditorium at Mercy High School for 6 performances only. If you are not kicking yourself for not finding the time to...

Review: ‘Legally Blonde’ at Thomas S. Wootton High School

Looking for and evening non-stop fun? Well look no further than the Wootton High School’s performance of Legally Blonde: The Musical. Based on the novel by Amanda Brown and movie adaptation of 2001,...

Review: ‘Oedipus ROX!’ at Maryland Ensemble Theatre

Take one-part glam rock, one-part Mad Max: Beyond Thunder Dome, and one-part A Clockwork Orange, and you have Oedipus ROX! at the Maryland Ensemble Theatre. Oedipus ROX! is a modern Rock musical...

‘My Queer Body’ at The Rainbow Theatre Project

Inside the beltway bubble of local theater making, it’s easy to forget how many U.S. citizens are indifferent, if not antipathetic, to live theater. Mainly they express this by voting with their...

“This is Spinal Tap” Tribute: An Interview with Anna Steasya and Phil Lander

I’m a big fan of Christopher Guest, master of the mockumentary, and yet had shamefully never seen the movie that started it all, This is Spinal Tap, until my friends at Black Market Burlesque decided...

Review: ‘Chronicle of a Death Foretold’ at GALA Hispanic Theatre

On the day they were going to kill him, Santiago Nasar got up at five thirty in the morning… So begins one of the most powerful works of literature ever written. Chronicle of a Death Foretold was...

In the Moment: ‘The Nether’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

The seeds of Jennifer Haley’s award-winning The Nether now at DC’s Woolly Mammoth and Philly’s InterAct were planted long, long ago. Twenty years ago in fact, The War of Desire and Technology at the...

Review: ‘Enchanted April’ at Greenbelt Arts Center

Are you ready to ditch this cold, rainy weather we’ve had and enjoy an Enchanted April? Vicariously escape to Italy to appreciate wisteria and sunshine in the Greenbelt Art Center’s charming rendition...

Review: The Cult at The Fillmore

The real rock stars and rock band of our time is The Cult. While Guns ‘N Roses is gearing up for their reunion tour, The Cult has been going strong for 20+ years even employing Guns ‘N Roses drummer...

In the Moment: American Theatre Critics Association Stops in Philly

In the past 25 years or so the theater scene in nearby Philadelphia, the nation’s 5th largest city, has blossomed into 50-plus stage companies that pay their actors, designers, and creative teams....

Review: ‘The Secret Garden’ at The Colonial Players of Annapolis

The children’s timeless classic, The Secret Garden, comes alive on stage at The Colonial Players of Annapolis, in the musical version written by Lucy Simon and Marsha Norman. Director Lois Evans and...

Eddie’s Travel Picks: Scottsdale, Arizona

When writing about a destination like Scottsdale, Arizona a writer could easily take up reams of paper. But since I neither have the time or space for that I just might write this feature in two...

Review: ‘A Wedding To Die For’ at Kentland’s Mansion and Arts Barn

Murder at the Mansion Dessert Theater’s A Wedding to Die For featuring the talents of A Taste For Murder Productions was an entertaining and intimate production about a wedding gone terribly wrong. It...

Review: ‘Thoroughly Modern Millie’ at The Heritage Players

Thoroughly Modern Millie, a tale of a “modern” gal from small-town America who takes on the business and social world of big-city New York, is a popular choice for community theatre seasons. The score...

Review: ‘The Country Girl’ at The Stagecrafters in Philadelphia

Bravo to the Stagecrafters of Chestnut Hill. Their production of Clifford Odets’ The Country Girl captures all the hidden complexity of this powerful and difficult to achieve drama. Odets tells the...

Review: ‘Daddy Long Legs’ at The Davenport Theatre in NYC

Jean Webster’s novel, on which Daddy Long Legs is based, was written in 1911 in a farmhouse in Massachusetts. and much of its New England common sense, dry humor, and old fashioned virtues have been...

Review: ‘Regina’ by The Maryland Opera Studio at The Clarice

Marc Blitzstein’s Regina is a hard show to characterize. Some call it an opera; others might call it a musical. After a paltry 56-show run on Broadway in 1949, the show finally succeeded in a 1953...

Review: ‘Dogfight’ at the Apollo Civic Theatre

The cast of Dogfight at the Apollo Civic Theatre tackles an unusually difficult subject, especially for a musical, with great aplomb, assisted by excellent direction and unique technical effects. With...

Review: ‘Cirque Zuma Zuma’ at The Montgomery College Cultural Arts Center

As scientists continue to seek out new forms of alternative energy I would suggest they check out Cirque Zuma Zuma. From the time the troupe hits the stage they are dancing and don’t stop until their...

Review ‘Nice Work If You Can Get It’ at The Arlington Players

The Arlington Players (TAP) is taking on the feel good musical, Nice Work If You Can Get It. The book is written by Joe DiPietro with music and lyrics by George and Ira Gershwin. The musical is based...

Quotidian Theatre Company’s ‘A Lesson from Aloes’ Opens on April 29th

Quotidian Theatre Company Presents Athol Fugard’s Compelling Drama, A Lesson From Aloes, Opening April 29, 2016. Quotidian Theatre Company continues its dynamic 2016 season with the moving...

Review: Arts Collective @ HCC’s ‘W.I.G.nition: Actors and Writers Fire It Up’

On Friday, April 8, 2016, the fourth and final performance this season of W.I.G., (“What Improv Group?!”) – the improvisational group that is part of Howard Community College’s Arts Collective –...

‘The Long View’: A Look at Motti Lerner’s ‘After the War’ at Mosaic Theater Company of DC

It’s a lot like Ibsen’s play, A Doll’s House, when Nora sounded the door-slam heard round the world. A similar shocking noise punctuates the end of Motti Lerner‘s new play, After The War, with the...

Review: ‘Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella’ at TheatreMcLean

The rumbling of drums, the chiming of bells, and the sweet notes of violins drifting up into the air all create an enchanting tune for a beloved fairytale. Then, the curtain opens, and the audience is...

Review: ‘Snow White’ at NextStop Theatre Company

Adapted from the Brothers Grimm classic, originally published in 1812, NextStop Theatre’s current family-friendly production of Snow White is by no means an untold story. Yet, this version by Kyle...

Review: ‘The Lion in Winter’ at Vagabond Players

The Lion in Winter’ reaches the pinnacle of high entertainment Vagabond Players’ The Lion in Winter, expertly directed by Steve Goldklang is a show any theater lover, nay any lover of art must see....

Review: ‘The Island of Dr. Moreau’ at The Theatre Lab School of the Dramatic Arts

The Island of Dr. Moreau is kind of like a 19th century Jurassic Park. In fact, it’s more grisly than the latter – Moreau involves the forcible creation of human/animal hybrids – but the message is...

Review: ‘Dial M for Murder’ at Olney Theatre Center

If Frederick Knott had only written the classic thriller, Dial M for Murder, it would have been enough. Knott actually went on to write only two great mystery dramas – Write Me a Murder and Wait until...

Review: ‘Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street’ at Red Branch Theatre Company

Red Branch Theatre Company has dubbed its new season “Paint It Red” with an eye toward the blood and mayhem in its selected slate of musicals. Up and running now is Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of...

Review: ‘Into the Woods’ at Reisterstown Theatre Project

Back in November of 1987, Into the Woods twinkled onto the Broadway stage for the first time. With music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and book and direction by James Lapine, it would run for 765...

Review: The Great American Rep: ‘Death of a Salesman’ at Everyman Theatre

In celebration of the 25th anniversary of its founding, Everyman Theatre is closing out its 2015-2016 season by doing something really special. After an already-impressive season of weighty pieces...

Review: ‘Cocktail Hour: The Show’ at Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope, PA

Traditional ballet gets the “shaken, not stirred” treatment in Cocktail Hour: The Show, a unique piece produced and performed by New York company Ballets with a Twist, and presented by Bucks County...

Spine: ‘The Nether’ and its Virtual Revolution at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

In the middle of Jennifer Haley’s beautifully poetic The Nether, now playing at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, the detective quotes Theodore Roethke’s “In a Dark Time:” Dark, dark my light, and...

Magic Time! ‘The Nether’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

Playwright Jennifer Haley has seen the future and it’s The Nether, her cerebrally chilling thriller about future tech and future sex. Just opened at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in a fantastical...

Review: ‘Jersey Boys’ at National Theatre

Jersey Boys, the 2005 Broadway smash hit and preeminent “jukebox musical”, is now bringing its signature blend of tough guy brashness and doo-wop dazzle to the National Theatre for a brief run through...

Review: ‘The Nether’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

Imagine a place where you could be anything you ever dreamed of and do anything you desired in total anonymity and without fear of reprisal or consequence. Imagine the retreat you crave, that you...

Review: ‘Drift’ at Howard University

Howard University’s annual spring dance concert, held this weekend at the Ira Aldridge Theater, brings forth emerging artists. In collaboration with The Washington Ballet’s Studio Company, the concert...

Review: ‘Hunting and Gathering’ at Rep Stage

Nostalgia for the rigors of big-city apartment hopping is the last thing one expects to find out in the suburbs of Howard County. But Rep Stage offers up that and more with its D.C.-area premiere of...

‘Review: ‘Love, Sex and the I.R.S.’ at Wolf Pack Theatre Company

Love, Sex and the I.R.S. is a live-action 70s sitcom with standout performances Love, Sex and the I.R.S. features many manic rib-tickling moments. Its 70s feel will have you feeling funky vibes...

Meet the Cast of 1st Stage’s ‘Proof’: Part 2: Liz Osborn

In Part Two of a series of interviews with the cast of Proof at 1st Stage, meet Liz Osborn. Joel: Please introduce yourself and tell our readers where they may have seen you perform before on our...

Review: Pianist Bruce Levingston Presents ‘Creating An American Citizen’ at Georgetown University

Bruce Levingston, Pianist – True Southern Gentleman and Cosmopolitan Musician On Wednesday, April 6, 2016, a captive audience was treated to a performance by acclaimed pianist Bruce Levingston, in...

Review: ‘Always…Patsy Cline’ at Walnut Street Theatre – Independence Studio on 3 in Philadelphia

As one of the most iconic country singers of all time, Patsy Cline was taken away from us too quickly. At age 30, she left us with classics as “Walkin’ After Midnight,” “Stupid Cupid,” “Crazy,” and “I...

Review: ‘Macbeth’ at The Philadelphia Shakespeare Theatre

When you go to see Macbeth, you probably take a few things for granted. You might expect to be impressed by the splendor and beauty of Shakespeare’s language, and you might expect to be drawn into a...