2016

Reston Community Players Presents ‘Our Town’ April 22-May 7th

Reston Community Players Presents: OUR TOWN By Thornton Wilder To close their 49th season, Reston Community Players presents the classic drama, OUR TOWN, recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, by...

HCC’s “W.I.G.nition: Actors and Writers Fire It Up” on Friday, April 8th at 8:00pm

Howard Community College’s Arts Collective’s “What Improv Group?!?!” (W.I.G.) partners with HCC’s Creative Writers and HoCoPoLitSo for an intense, innovative celebration of language and imagination...

Magic Time! ‘After the War’ at Mosaic Theater Company of DC

“A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house,” said a certain prophet of Nazareth long ago. Subtract the word “prophet,” swap in...

Inside the Numbers: Behind the Scenes Of Bethesda Little Theatre’s ‘Broadway Bios’: Part 2: ‘Bienvenidos a Buenos Aires!’

The Bethesda Little Theatre Presents: Broadway Bios, an Original Musical Revue! Celebrating its 36th year, the Bethesda Little Theatre will perform the original musical revue, Broadway Bios at The...

Review: ‘After the War’ at Mosaic Theater Company of DC

When you decide to be a dissident artist–think Paul Robeson–you’d better be willing to suffer the consequences. When you challenge a nation’s founding mythology, an emotional backlash is guaranteed....

Arts on the Green Announces 2016-2017 Schedule: Partnerships with Landless, Wildwood, Montgomery Playhouse, RMT, and More…

Arts on the Green has unveiled it’s exciting 2016-2017 season at: The Arts Barn-Arts Barn 311 Kent Square Road Gaithersburg, Maryland 20878-5727 ____ Here it the 2016-2017 schedule: GREASE—July 15-23,...

Review: ‘The Secret Garden’ at The Candlelight Theatre in Wilmington, Delaware

If there’s a show that fits the definition of a “cult musical,” it’s probably The Secret Garden. The show was a hit with families on Broadway in the early nineties, winning three Tony Awards and...

Preview: A Unique Partnership for ‘He Who Gets Slapped’ by the Philadelphia Artists’ Collective with the Philadelphia School of Circus Arts

When the Philadelphia Artists’ Collective (PAC) decided to schedule He Who Gets Slapped for its mainstage production of spring 2016, the all-classics company recognized the opportunity it offered to...

Review: ‘My Fair Lady’ at Riverside Center for the Performing Arts

The Riverside Center for the Performing Arts presents My Fair Lady, with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. Director Patrick A’Hearn assembles a superb ensemble for this...

The Cultural Arts Center Presents ‘Cirque Zuma Zuma’: An African Cirque-Style Spectacle Sunday, April 10, 2016 @2PM & 6PM & Monday, April 11, 2016 @11AM

The Cultural Arts Center Presents: Cirque Zuma Zuma: An African Cirque-Style Spectacle Sunday, April 10, 2016, 2 PM and 6 PM and Monday, April 11, 2016 at 11 AM Fresh from selling out shows in Europe...

Magic Time! The Cathartic Comedy of Martin McDonagh: A Q&A with Yury Urnov, Director of Forum Theatre’s ‘The Pillowman’

Martin McDonagh is one my favorite living English-language playwrights and I’m not really sure why. His plays are hilarious and horrific at the same time. And I experienced that counterintuitive combo...

Review: ‘The Mysterious Affair at Styles’ at Hedgerow Theatre in Rose Valley, PA

Among the many traditions at Hedgerow Theatre is a fondness for cozy English mysteries, especially Agatha Christie’s. The Mysterious Affair at Styles is their newest production, and it has everything...

Review: ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ at James Hubert Blake High School

James Hubert Blake High School reached new heights with their electrifying production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. From a performing arts high school you would expect no less, but in this engaging...

Review: ‘Dry Bones’ at The Portraits of Faith

Dry Bones is philosophically and emotionally challenging Are there really “no second acts in American lives,” as the great writer F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote? The stage play Dry Bones tends to...

Review: Aquila Theatre’s ‘The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes’ at GMU’s Center for the Arts

Audiences can’t get enough of Sherlock Holmes. Television has two productions currently, the movie industry adds another version every year or two, and stage versions abound. I know of 4 versions...

In the Moment: Hylton Performing Arts Center Announces Their 2016-2017 Schedule

Dance, Music, & Theater Comes to Manassas, VA The Hylton Performing Arts Center announces its 2016-2017 season, a fantastic line-up of music, dance, theater and performing arts. Now entering its...

Review: Barbara Cook’s Spotlight: Frances Ruffelle at The Kennedy Center

Totally “lopping –the –top” off conventional cabaret concert conventions, Broadway star and musical artist Frances Ruffelle presented a radically deconstructed, immersive and jazz-infused “tone poem”...

WAPAVA Presents Excerpts from Shakespeare Theatre Company’s 2008 Production of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ on Monday, 4/4@7:30 pm at The Clarice

WAPAVA Presents: Excerpts from Shakespeare Theatre Company’s 2008 Production of Romeo & Juliet Public Viewing of Archived Production & Discussion The Washington Area Performing Arts Video Archive...

Inside the Numbers: Behind the Scenes Of Bethesda Little Theatre’s ‘Broadway Bios’ Part 1: Rehearsing “But Mr. Adams”

The Bethesda Little Theatre Presents: Broadway Bios, an Original Musical Revue! Celebrating its 36th year, the Bethesda Little Theatre will perform the original musical revue, Broadway Bios at The...

Filichia on Friday: ‘March’s Leftovers and April’s Brainteaser’

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: March’s Leftovers and April’s Brainteaser Purchase...

‘ShakesBEER: A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ at Manayunk Theatre Company in Philadelphia

Sir John Falstaff would be proud! Manayunk Theatre Company’s one-night script-in-hand-and-beer-in-the-other-hand staged reading of A Midsummer Night’s Dream was the sixth in its quarterly ShakesBEER...

Review #2: ‘No, No, Nanette’ at American University

A Frothy Revival of No, No, Nanette at American University After a week in which corpses—remembered and actual—have littered just about every stage I’ve visited this week (beginning with Falling Out...

Review: ‘Hamlet’ at The Washington Ballet

Hamlet, a modern, dramatic contemporary ballet based on William Shakespeare’s original, The Tragedie of Hamlet, published in 1603 premieres in The Kennedy Center. An “ongoing dialogue between...

Review: ‘Rumors’ at Bristol Riverside Theatre in Bristol, PA

There’s nothing like a door-slammer farce for pure escapist fun and Bristol Riverside Theatre’s production of Neil Simon’s Rumors provides just that. When the show premiered in 1988, the playwright...

Review: ‘An Evening with Jim Lehrer’ at The Writer’s Center

The Writer’s Center in Bethesda is celebrating its 40th Anniversary this year, and what better way could there be to mark the occasion than a program with the premier journalist, author, and...

Review #1: ‘No, No, Nanette’ at American University

“I want to be happy / But I won’t be happy / Till I make you happy too.” So sings Uncle Jimmy to the show’s titular character. These are also the last lines, sung by the ensemble, of No, No, Nanette,...

Review: The Peking Acrobats 30th Anniversary National Tour at Strathmore

Cirque du Soleil meets the East is an apt description of the The Peking Acrobats, which even features a clown/comedian like Cirque du Soleil’s shows. The Peking Acrobats pushed the human capacity...

Review: ‘An Octoroon’ at Wilma Theater in Philadelphia

Great plays ask great questions. Sometimes, if we are lucky enough, a production finds the inherent questions in a play and interrogates them in ways only theatre can. The Wilma Theater’s production...

Review: ‘Beautiful: The Carole King Musical’ at The Academy of Music in Philadelphia

Packed with unforgettable music and a flashy presentation, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, now playing at the Academy of Music presented by Kimmel Center’s Broadway Philadelphia, crafts the...

Review: ‘Peter and the Starcatcher’ At Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia

Walnut Street Theatre rocked with laughter tonight. The Pirate King, Black Stache, was arguing with his mate, Smee, concerning a severed. . .oh well you have to see it. It was like old time vaudeville...

Review: ‘She Loves Me’ at Studio 54 in NYC

I once heard the late director Moss Hart say that when a show is a great hit, there were omens that predicted its future. “For example,” he said, “when we were fine tuning My Fair Lady in Philadelphia...

Review: Teen Angel Project’s ‘CenterStage: Come Fly With Me’

Last weekend, hundreds of residents of the DMV were taken on a joyful journey with the student performers of Teen Angel Project (TAP). CenterStage: Come Fly With Me delighted an audience of all ages...

Signature Theatre Announces its 2016-2017 Season-3 World Premiere Musicals and 2 World Premiere Plays

Signature Theatre Announces 2016/17 Season Three World Premiere Musicals: Freaky Friday by Tom Kitt, Brian Yorkey, and Bridget Carpenter Silver Belles by Matt Conner, Allyson Currin and Stephen...

In the Moment: ‘Falling Out of Time’ at Theatre J

Writing a column about Theater J’s world premiere of Falling Out of Time is difficult. Based upon the book by David Grossman, about a man’s 20 year-old soldier son who was killed during military...

Nibbles And Sips Around Town Chooses The Lap Of Luxury At The Hay-Adams

There’s something restorative about being coddled and enveloped in the lap of luxury. Doors magically open, dark coffered wood and gleaming marble floors beckon and the soul-soothing hushed tones of a...

Review: ‘Falling Out of Time’ at Theater J

When I attended the reading of Falling Out of Time at the Page-to-Stage Festival last fall, I wondered how on earth this poetic drama—half fairy tale, half allegory–could ever be mounted on a stage....

Review: ‘Becoming Sugar Plum’ at Metropolitan Ballet Theatre & Academy

What a wonderful way to spend an early Sunday afternoon with Dancing Meringues, Petit Fours, Gumdrops and some bot-so-nice goblins, twirling fairies, a prince, a Fairy Queen, poison Thistle Berry...

Review: ‘Fur’ at Venus Theatre Company

Venus Theatre’s new tour de force production of Migdalia Cruz’s Fur opens with a characteristically jarring scene: Michael, a white-suited animal lover, wheels a giant industrial strength hand cart...

Magic Time! ‘Falling Out of Time’ at Theater J in Verse

There is so much sorrow in this show Nine fine actors playing nine parents All mourning dead children Searching to see them again Seeking to be with them one more time Speaking words of unspeakable...

Review: ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’ at Compass Rose Theater

Compass Rose Theater’s production of The Diary of Anne Frank, directed by Steve Tobin, is a powerful piece of theater, recounting one of the saddest stories of World War II. Strong acting and...

‘A Caveman with a Brain and a Heart’: An Interview with Vince Valentine From ‘Defending the Caveman’

Defending the Caveman, an informal study of psychology, sociology, and pre-history, is the longest running one-man-show in Broadway history. Written and originally performed by Rob Becker in 1981, it...

Review: ‘Moment’ at The Studio Theatre

Family dramas are not rare; in fact, they are abundant; in fact, they dominate the theatrical landscape. Quality family dramas are rare, however: those that resound beyond their domesticity to signify...

Review: ‘Noises Off!’ at Way Off Broadway Dinner Theatre & Children’s Theatre

The ferociously funny play Noises Off!, written by Michael Frayn, is being performed at Way Off Broadway Dinner Theatre in Frederick, MD. The show premiered at the Lyric Theatre in London in 1982, and...

Eddie’s Travel Picks: Mother’s North Grille and Sushi YA

MOTHER’S NORTH GRILLE Sometimes it seems if a restaurant owner has one or two successful locations the temptation is great for opening a third. Sometimes that’s a good idea, Sometimes not. After...

Magic Time! “Moment’ at The Studio Theatre

“All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way,” as Leo Tolstoy famously said. Had Tolstoy seen Studio Theatre’s penetrating production of Deirdre Kinahan’s lacerating...

Review #2: ‘Boots, Class & Sass’ at Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC

Having reviewed the outstanding Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC (GMCW) many times in the past, it was a delightful diversion to review an evening of country music escapism entitled Boots, Class &...

Review: The Oak Ridge Boys at The Barns at Wolf Trap

The The Oak Ridge Boys along with their Mighty Oaks Band performed a dazzling mix of Country and Gospel tunes before a highly appreciative audience on March 20, 2016, Palm Sunday, at The Barns at Wolf...

Review: ‘Heathers: The Musical’ at The Eagle Theatre in Hammonton, NJ

How much will you identify with Heathers: The Musical? Well, that may depend on whether you recognize the type of high school students you meet in the opening number. They’re the kind of kids who, on...

Review: ‘Angels in America’ Part One: ‘Millennium Approaches’ at The Players Club of Swarthmore in Swarthmore, PA

Tony Kushner’s Angels in America is one of the most important American plays of recent decades. It’s also one of the most difficult to get right. Consisting of two three-hour parts, it’s a feat of...

Review: ‘Saint Joan’ at Quintessence Theatre Group in Philadelphia

Repertory Theatre has all but vanished in this country today. Fortunately, one can still travel to cities like DC and Philadelphia to see a company of actors enact a group of classic works, with a...