2016

Review: BSO: All-Beethoven at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall

Showcasing Beethoven’s pioneering range and imaginative ingenuity, Conductor Markus Stenz led the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in the Romantic and triumphant incidental music to Egmont last night,...

Review: ‘Sherlock Holmes and the West End Horror’ at Prince William Little Theatre

“Yet another Sherlock Holmes play?” you might say. Yes, but with a twist – Prince William Little Theatre’s production of Sherlock Holmes and the West End Horror is anything but same-old, same-old....

Review #2: ‘House.’ at Arts Collective @HCC

For the last 21 years, the Arts Collective at Columbia’s Howard Community College has been an incubator for developing talent and nurturing new and interesting stage productions. With House., an...

Review #1: ‘House.’ at Arts Collective@HCC

House., an original comedy written and directed by Daniel Johnston, opened last night at Howard Community College’s Arts Collective at the Horowitz Center in the Studio Theatre. This is Johnston’s...

Looking Back at ‘Elevate’ at Take the Stage Performance Company

I can’t stop thinking about the best time I had in the theatre so far this year-spending it with 26 of the most talented singers and dancers, and some terrific musicians, at Elevate at Take the Stage...

Playwright Jennifer Barclay on the March 21st Reading of “Danny” at Centerstage’s Playwrights Collective Showcase

The Playwrights Collective at Centerstage, in Baltimore, gives playwrights an opportunity to workshop and share professional mentorship under the guidance of a resident regional theater. Jennifer...

Magic Time! OpenStage New Works Showcase

The theater term “packed house” took on all new meaning for me the night I caught this month’s OpenStage New Works Showcase. Not only was there no empty folding chair; the show went on stage in what...

Review: Monica Bill Barnes & Company: ‘Happy Hour’ at The Kennedy Center

Monica Bill Barnes & Company Serving Up Food for Thought … and Cake In life some things that are easy look hard and others that are hard look easy. That’s also the case for choreographer and dancer...

Filichia on Friday: ‘Growing up Gershwin’ by Peter Filichia

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: Growing up Gershwin Purchase Peter Filichia’s New...

Review: ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ at National Players

National Players is presently in their 67th season, and they are currently performing Julius Ceasar, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and A Tale of Two Cities, as they travel around the country. The Players...

In the Moment: The Costumes of Synetic Theater’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’

Ah, the importance of the costumes actors wear to set the scene for any stage production: the shapes, colors, textures. How the fabric flows, drapes, curves or hugs fast to an actor’s frame. Does the...

Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC’s Executive Director Chase Maggiano To Become Executive Director of The Washington Chorus

Chase Maggiano, Executive Director of The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC, is on his way to The Washington Chorus in June. He will be sorely missed. Yesterday, he sent this announcement and...

Meet the Cast of Laurel Mill Playhouse’s ‘Man of La Mancha’: Part 3: Mary Wakefield

In Part 3 of a series of interviews with the cast of Laurel Mill Playhouse’s Man of La Mancha, meet Mary Wakefield. Joel: Please introduce yourself and tell our readers where they may have seen you...

Behind the Scenes of Arts Collective @HCC’s Workshop Production of ‘House’: Part 5: Cast Members Colin Riley, Iris Shih, and Sierra Young

In Part 5 of 5 interviews with the Playwright/Director and cast members of House at Arts Collective @ HCC, meet cast members Colin Riley, Iris Shih, and Sierra Young Joel: Please introduce yourself...

Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company Announces its 2016-2017 Season

A WORLD PREMIERE, ACCLAIMED NEW PLAYS, AND THE RETURN OF BOTH NILAJA SUN AND THE SECOND CITY Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company is pleased to announce its 2016-2017 season, beginning with a world premiere...

Review: ‘Motown: The Musical’ at Hippodrome Theatre at The France-Merrick Performing Arts Center

The music of Motown is a gift that keeps on giving. In 2013, Motown: The Musical wrapped up big chunks of that songbook and armfuls of personal charisma in rainbows of light tied with wide swaths of...

Prokofiev Spring in Washington: A Preview of Seven Musical Events

When Andrew Lloyd Webber recently told a group of teenage rock musicians on Broadway that he wanted to talk about the music of Sergei Prokofiev rather than his own musicals, he was the latest in a...

Review: Fortas Chamber Music Concerts: eighth blackbird at The Kennedy Center

eighth blackbird‘s performance on Monday night at The Kennedy Center was introduced with the theme of murder and mayhem, which explained the state of the set. Rickety looking ladders, dead clocks,...

Review: ‘Calendar Girls’ at The British Players

This show is outstanding! At its heart, Calendar Girls is about the ability of women “of a certain age” to continue to flex and grow for all of the right reasons. The sensitivity of Co-Directors...

Housewives Get Desperate in Dario Fo’s ‘They Don’t Pay, We Won’t Pay’ at Ambassador Theater

“Our homeland is the whole world. Our law is liberty. We have but one thought, Revolution in our hearts” – Dario Fo If Dario Fo were to cast a vote in the forthcoming US Presidential election his...

National Chamber Ensemble Presents ‘American Landscape’ This Saturday 3/12@7:30 PM at The Rosslyn Spectrum

National Chamber Ensemble Presents ‘American Landscape’ This Saturday 3/12@7:30 PM at The Rosslyn Spectrum, Doors Open for seating at 7:00 PM Join us in Celebrating Great Music of American Composers...

The Kennedy Center Announces Its 2016-2017 Theater Season:’The Curious Incident…’, ‘Into the Woods’, ‘Wicked’, ‘Chicago’, ‘Hedwig…’ ‘The Sound of Music’, ‘Cabaret’, ‘The King and I’ and World Premieres

From The Kennedy Center: 2016–2017 Theater Season: The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts today announced programming for its 2016–2017 theater season, renewing its dedication to bringing...

Review: ‘Vienna Mozart Orchestra’ at Strathmore

Opera-lovers got a chance to travel back to the 18th Century the night of March 7, 2016, at The Music Center at Strathmore’s J. Willard and Alice Marriott Foundation Concert Stage, when the Vienna...

Behind the Scenes of Arts Collective @HCC’s Workshop Production of ‘House’: Part 4: Cast Members Tom Matera, Christian Preziosi, and Taylor Purnell, and Crew Member Chania Hudson

In Part 4 of 5 interviews with the Playwright/Director and cast members of House at Arts Collective @ HCC, meet cast members Tom Matera, Christian Preziosi, and Taylor Purnell, and crew member Chania...

Review: ‘Nureyev’s Eyes’ at Delaware Theatre Company

David Rush’s play Nureyev’s Eyes takes us to the 1970s, when two of America’s greatest artists – Rudolf Nureyev, the Russian-born dancer, and Jamie Wyeth, the Wilmington-born painter – forged an...

In the Moment: A Look at Jack Viertel’s “The Secret Life of the American Musical: How Broadway Shows Are Built”

Revealing the concealed underpinnings and durable structures of American musicals is no easy undertaking. Let alone covering and analyzing the past seven decades of musical theater history. But,...

Review: ‘An Act of the Imagination’ at Bowie Community Theatre

Bowie Community Theatre presents An Act of the Imagination by Bernard Slade, and directed by Patrick Gorirossi. Roger Paradis’ eclectic set design is full of symbolism that ties into the plotline....

Review: ‘Kiss Me Kate’ at Washington County Playhouse Dinner Theater and Children’s Theater

The Washington County Playhouse Dinner Theater and Children’s Theater, in Hagerstown, MD, decided to see what happened when you have a musical within a musical and add a large helping of Shakespeare...

Broadway Producer Donald Trump and DCMetroTheaterArts’ NYC Reviewer/Columnist Richard Seff’s Play ‘Paris is Out!’ by Michael Paul in the NY Times

In yesterday’s NY Times, Michael Paul’s article called For a Young Donald J. Trump, Broadway Held Sway talked about how Donald Trump dabbled in becoming a Broadway Producer when he invested in...

Review: ‘They Don’t Pay? We Won’t Pay!’ at Ambassador Theater

How fortunate we are in the DC area, a locale that seeks status as a world class city, to have the Ambassador Theater in our midst. The Ambassador Theater has a mission to build international cultural...

Magic Time! ‘They Don’t Pay? We Won’t Pay!’ at Ambassador Theater

In politics, the expression “Marxist farce” could well be a slur hurled by some puerile and petulant presidential hopeful (you never know these days). In theater, however, the term “Marxist farce” has...

Review: ‘Driving Miss Daisy’ at Act II Playhouse in Ambler, PA

An enchanting version of the familiar tale, Act II Playhouse’s Driving Miss Daisy serves up a delightful cast and a pleasant story that both challenges and charms. Originally written in 1987, Alfred...

The 2015/16th Annual WATCH AWARD WINNERS

Announcement of Nominations 16th Annual Washington Area Theatre Community Honors THE WATCH AWARDS Winners Were Announced on Sunday, March 6. 2016 at The Birchmere, in Alexandria, VA WINNERS ARE IN...

Review #2: ‘Sarafina!’ at Howard University

“Freedom is coming tomorrow!” exclaims the students of Howard University’s Department of Theatre Arts in Sarafina! a musical written by Mbongeni Ngema and directed by Eric Ruffin that explores the...

Review: ‘The Women’ at EgoPo Classic Theater in Philadelphia

If your best friends’ husbands were cheating on them, would you tell them? Or would you tell everyone else? The second installment of EgoPo Classic Theater’s 2015-16 “Season of American Giants II” is...

Review: ‘Something Like Jazz Music’ at Single Carrot Theatre

Something Like Jazz Music, at Single Carrot Theatre in Baltimore, is something like a montage time traveling piece, with challenging parts that engaged me and the audience to rethink the way local...

Review: ‘Wild Oats’ at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company

Comedies trading on the mistaken identity theme have been around a long time. Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night comes to mind. And more than two hundred years after that, a fellow named John O’Keeffe penned...

Here Are The 16th Annual/2015/WATCH AWARD WINNERS

Announcement of Nominations 16th Annual Washington Area Theatre Community Honors THE WATCH AWARDS Winners Were Announced on Sunday, March 6. 2016 at The Birchmere, in Alexandria, VA WINNERS ARE IN...

Review: ‘Hamlet’ at Cohesion Theatre Company

Anemic Royalty: Come as You Are to Elsinore I have a new favorite production of Hamlet and I saw it right here in Charm City. I’ve seen Hamlet done very well before, but I’ve never seen anything like...

Review: ‘One Night Only’: Sutton Foster at the Merriam Theater in Philadelphia

Though she may boast two Tony Awards, a resume full of magnificent leading ladies, and starring roles on two recent television series, Sutton Foster becomes refreshingly low-key in her acclaimed solo...

Review: ‘Defending the Caveman’ at Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope, PA

Ever since Rob Becker started performing a one-man comedy show called Defending the Caveman back in the 1980s, its popularity has grown steadily. And in the time since the show played a two-year run...

Review: ‘Noises Off’ at Silhouette Stages

Silhouette Stages’ play-within-a-play Noises Off by Noises Off, produced by Jeremy Goldman and directed by Conni Ross is playing at Slayton House in Columbia, MD. If you have never seen a production...

Review: Laurie Anderson’s ‘Language of the Future: Letters to Jack’ at The Kennedy Center

Cellist Rubin Kodheli joins the legendary performance artist Laurie Anderson on stage at The Terrace Theater for a presentation of her new multimedia work, the memory-haunting Language of the Future:...

Review: ‘Fool for Love’ at Port City Playhouse

Sam Shepard’s 1983 one-act play, Fool for Love, is now playing at Port City Playhouse. This talented four-person cast, directed by Jon Townson, lights up the intimate space in the Lab at Convergence....

Review: ‘Too Much Sun’ at ISIS Productions in Philadelphia

Philadelphia’s own Nicky Silver delivers once again with Too Much Sun, a modern play focusing on a family and the drama that comes with a summer house in Cape Cody. The framing, shape, and journey of...

Review: ‘Bad Jews’ at Greenbelt Arts Center

“All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way,” wrote Leo Tolstoy in his classic novel Anna Karenina. Bad Jews, by Joshua Harmon, playing at Greenbelt Arts Center, and...

Review: ‘Little Women’ at Aldersgate Church Community Theater

Aldersgate Church Community Theater brings the timeless tale of Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy to life in the classic Louisa May Alcott tale Little Women, adapted by Roger Wheeler. Director Ashley Amidon and...

John Jiler on 11th Hour Theatre Company’s Next Step Concert Series’ Performance of ‘Big Red Sun’ in Philadelphia

Big Red Sun, the post World War Two-era musical Georgia Stitt and I are developing at the 11th Hour Theatre Company of Philadelphia, began life at the Stephen Schwartz ASCAP workshop ten years ago. We...

Review: ‘Hughie’ at The Booth Theatre in New York City

Jason Robards first played the central character in this Eugene O’Neill one-act mood piece; that was in 1964. That character isn’t “Hughie” — no, he’s gone to his reward just before first curtain. But...

Behind the Scenes of Arts Collective @HCC’s Workshop Production of ‘House’: Part 3: Cast Members Brandon Furr, Chaseedaw Giles, Warren Harris, and Wesley LeRoux

In Part 3 of 5 interviews with the Playwright/Director and cast members of House at Arts Collective @ HCC, meet Brandon Furr, Chaseedaw Giles, Warren Harris, and Wesley LeRoux. Joel: Please introduce...