2016

Meet Cast Members, The Director, and Designers of Prince William Little Theatre’s ‘Sherlock Holmes and the West End Horror’ Playing 3/11-20 at Hylton

Meet the designers, some cast members, and the director of Prince William Little Theatre’s Sherlock Holmes and the West End Horror, playing 3/11-20 at Hylton Performing Arts Center. ______ THE...

In the Moment: Gin Dance Company at Atlas’ INTERSECTIONS Festival on March 5th at 5 PM

Gin Dance Company (GDC) is a Metropolitan DC/Northern Virginia based performing arts modern dance company. Founded in Reston, Virginia in 2011 by Artistic Director Shu-Chen Cuff, GDC performs works...

Review: The Mariinsky Ballet’s ‘Raymonda’ at The Kennedy Center

Marius Petipa’s, Raymonda, still continues in ballet for the 118th year since its world premiere on January 7th, 1898. This week, the romantic ballet, set in three acts, is brought to the Opera House...

Review: ‘Pippin’ at The Academy of Music in Philadelphia

When walking into the house of Philadelphia’s historic Academy of Music for Pippin, what could, at first, be the theatre’s fire curtain, or possibly the outer edge of a circus tent conceals the stage....

Report on: ‘Suddenly Last Summmer’ and ‘Justice Disordered’ Readings at Rainbow Theatre Project

One of Tennessee Williams’ bleaker, darker plays,– the one-act dramatic cry of despair, Suddenly Last Summer (which was expanded beyond its more compressed scope in the famous Elizabeth Taylor film of...

Review: ‘Kabarett & Cabaret’ at The In Series

Like Liza Minnelli’s in Cabaret, the unforgettable image of Marlene Dietrich hovers over Kabarett & Cabaret, a production of the 2015-16 In Series at the Source Theatre. Kabarett & Cabaret: An Evening...

Review: ‘Boeing Boeing’ at The Colonial Players of Annapolis

Boeing Boeing is a real trip back to the swinging 60s, when men dressed in jackets and ties around the house, flight attendants (only women) were called stewardesses, and were hired more for their...

Enter by Tomorrow at 11 AM to Win a Free Pair of Tickets to Dakshina Dance 2/27 or 3/5 Performance

Enter to win a pair of tickets to Dakshina’s performances Dakshina is giving away 5 pairs of tickets to the performances at the Atlas Performing Arts Center on: Saturday February 27th at 9 pm OR...

Review: ‘Road Show’ at Signature Theatre

First things first. One should not miss a chance to discover, or for some re-discover, a rarely produced Stephen Sondheim work. This is especially true for an appealing musical production called Road...

Review: ‘Into the Woods’ at Catholic University’s Benjamin T. Rome School of Music

Decades before Angelina Jolie played Maleficent or Idina Menzel defied gravity in Wicked, lyricist and composer Stephen Sondheim was fracturing a whole slew of fairy tales for his witty and Tony...

Review: ‘Spine’ at Inis Nua Theatre Company in Philadelphia

When we meet Amy in the opening moments of Clara Brennan’s Spine, she’s homeless, bewildered, and defensive. She’s a London teenager with a violent temper and a surly attitude. Over the course of a...

Review: ‘God: The One-Man Show’ at Greenbelt Arts Center

God: The One-Man Show is a comedic hurricane that leaves audiences pondering the mysteries of the universe between laughs. Written and performed by Rich Potter, the show takes the audience from the...

Review: ‘Valentine’s Day Concert: Armenian Musical Treasures’ at National Chamber Ensemble

Whenever I need a ‘pick-me-up’ I head down to the Rosslyn Spectrum to see a National Chamber Ensemble (‘NCE’) concert. This year’s Valentine’s Day Concert filled the air with L-O-V-E and wonderful...

Review: ‘Ghostchasers’ at Mount Vernon Community Children’s Theatre

Mount Vernon Community Children’s Theatre presents Tim Kelly’s Ghostchasers. Directed by Kaitlin Kemp, this play is full of surprises– the first and biggest being that despite popular belief, this...

Review: ‘The Maid’s Tragedy’ at Brave Spirits Theatre

Death abounds in The Maid’s Tragedy. Be prepared for an avenging angel with a message and actions against the vicious power of a King and lascivious misogynist cultural values in Brave Spirits...

A Report on ‘Black Lives Black Words’ at The Columbia Festival of the Arts

The Columbia Festival of the Arts stretched its more traditional boundaries to bring Black Lives Black Words on Saturday, February 20, 2016. This was a dramatic reading of Black playwrights’ works...

Review: ‘Mary Poppins’ at Reston Community Players

Mary Poppins Flies Into Reston CenterStage For A Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Treat Reston Community Players’ production of Mary Poppins is a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious treat for the...

Review: Washington Performing Arts Presents Chris Botti at The Kennedy Center

Washington Performing Arts Produces an Eclectic and Entertaining Musical Evening with Chris Botti I went to a Chris Botti concert and Cirque du Soleil and Led Zepplin broke out. Saturday night’s...

Review: ‘Prodigal Son’ at Manhattan Theatre Club

John Patrick Shanley is a prolific and gifted playwright who’s had a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony for his hugely successful play Doubt. He also wrote its screenplay and directed the film which was...

Review: ‘Animals Out of Paper’ at Silver Spring Stage

Animals Out of Paper by Rajiv Joseph, produced by Star Johnson and directed by Brandon Rashad Butts, is now playing at Silver Spring Stage, the perfect venue for this intimate drama which also...

Review: ‘Antigone Project : A Play in 5 Parts’ at Rep Stage

The fabulously theatrical set for Rep Stage’s Antigone Project: A Play in 5 Parts is so overwhelming you might not realize for a time that the play itself belongs to a more recent tradition — the...

Review: Il Volo at The Kennedy Center

I’ve always known that the mix of pop music and classical singing is one of the most popular music styles in Italy. What I didn’t know until last night’s Il Volo concert was that it is “Fan Girl” (Fan...

Review: ‘Let’s Get Personal’ at Baltimore Theatre Project

Let’s Get Personal, the new one-woman show playing this weekend at Baltimore Theatre Project, takes two things that typically get a bad rap – self-help workshops and audience participation – and turns...

Review: ‘Sleeping Beauty’ at Ballet Theatre of Maryland

So you think ballet is boring. Or maybe you’re a ballet fan but would rather see something “new” and “innovative” instead of one of the old classic standards. Perhaps you just feel like the story of...

Review: ‘RIOT’ at The Highwood Theatre

Last night in a small, tucked-away space in Silver Spring, I watched a “real time” drama so exciting and original, so drop-dead funny and knock-out suspenseful, that I left the theater dazed and...

Review: ‘Romeo and Juliet’ at Synetic Theater

Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet opens with a chorus announcing the fate that will befall the title characters in just two hours’ time. Synetic Theatre’s wordless Romeo and Juliet, distills that...

Magic Time! ‘Promised Land’ at Mosaic Theater Company of DC

At a point in Mosaic Theater’s Promised Land—a powerhouse of a play performed inside an intimate space that’s more like a concrete bunker than a black box—we see the searing image of people fenced...

Review: ‘Promised Land’ at Mosaic Theater Company of DC

On rare occasions the world of theatre and the world in which we live converge: the subject of the theatre we witness on the stage and the subjects we hear on the streets and on the news harmonize,...

Review: ‘Clybourne Park’ at George Washington University’s Department of Theatre and Dance

There are good reasons why Bruce Norris’ 2010 Pulitzer Prize-winning play Clybourne Park has been staged no less than five times in the past four years by local companies.First, it is a superbly...

Review: ‘Cyrano’ at Mask and Bauble Dramatic Society at Georgetown University

Long before singles misrepresented themselves in their Tinder profiles or cribbed others’ memes online, there was Cyrano de Bergerac— the man who would be Romeo, if not for that monstrous appendage....

Meet the Cast of The Montgomery Playhouse’s ‘A Grand Night for Singing’: Part 5: Rachel Weisenthal

In Part 5 of a series of interviews with the cast of A Grand Night for Singing at Montgomery Playhouse, meet Rachel Weisenthal. Joel: Please introduce yourself and tell us where we may have seen your...

Review: ‘BSO: An Evening with Sutton Foster’ at The Music Center at Strathmore

It may be chilly outside, but Sutton Foster was most warmly welcomed as she performed tonight, Thursday, February 18, 2016 at the Music Center at Strathmore with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra under...

In the Moment: Reston Community Center Presents ‘If Music Be the Food of Love’ on 2/24 & Washington Chorus Presents ‘New Music for a New Age’ on 2/28 at National Presbyterian Church

Adventurous? Looking for something fresh, uplifting, and yes, even heavenly in contemporary classical music with ethereal, hypnotic voices? There are two upcoming musical events in close-by venues to...

Review: ‘Beauty and the Beast’ at The Academy of Music in Philadelphia

The new touring production of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, now playing at the Academy of Music, doesn’t offer many surprises. But for the show’s devoted fans – and judging from the throng of old and...

Review: ‘James and the Giant Peach’ at Adventure Theatre MTC

The world of Roald Dahl is a fantastical place that stretches the boundaries of imagination. One of his best known works, next to Charlie and Chocolate Factory, is James and the Giant Peach. Adventure...

‘RIOT’ at The Highwood Theatre Takes Social Media by Storm February 19-28th

It’s common knowledge that the internet is the quickest and easiest way to communicate ideas. It’s accurately been named the information superhighway ­ a place where every question has an answer found...

Review: ‘Troilus and Cressida’ at the University of Maryland School of Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies

Most of Shakespeare’s plays can be classified as comedies or tragedies, where everyone gets married or everybody dies, but Troilus and Cressida toes the line. It has its moments of levity, but it also...

Reviews: ‘All the Way’ and ‘Ah, Wilderness!’ at the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, Florida

As a way of plugging in to the national conversation addressing issues of change in the United States, this highly regarded regional not-for-profit theatre has put several plays in to its current...

An Interview with Singer Jen Creed-Performing ‘A Night at the Oscars’ This Friday, 2/19@7:30 PM at L’Etage in Philadelphia

Jen Creed, once a mathematician and former recruiter in the investment management industry, now sits on the Board of Directors of The Voice Foundation, and teaches voice, and serves as the head of...

Review: The Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour at the The Columbia Festival of the Arts

The Columbia Festival of the Arts under Executive Director, Todd Olson, continues to bring the Howard County Area some of the greatest performers of our time. Since the Festival started 30 years ago...

Nick Wyman: Character Actor in a Star Role as LBJ in ‘All the Way’

I talked with Nick Wyman only minutes after his performance as President Lyndon Johnson in All the Way at a matinee on February 13th. We met in the lobby of the stunning Asolo Repertory Theatre in...

Review: ‘You, Or Whatever I Can Get’ at Flying V and National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts

You don’t have to work very hard to find your way from the box office to the theater in Flying V Theatre and the National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts’ new co-production of You, or Whatever I Can...

HCC’s Arts Collective Premieres Local Playwright’s Original Comedy, ‘House’ on March 11 and 12, 2016

Howard Community College’s (HCC) Arts Collective proudly announces its premiere of House by presenting a two-night-only workshop production of the original comedy written and directed by Daniel...

‘Elevate’ Broadway Revue at Take the Stage at Rockville JCC This Friday-Sunday 2/19-21/16

One of DC’s hottest ensemble groups is back to wow audiences in this year’s Broadway Revue showcase, Elevate. Elevate features the best of Broadway and movie musical numbers choreographed by special...

Review: ‘Cabin in the Sky’ at Encores! at City Center in New York City

I’d seen the film, but never the musical on which it was based. The original, with a score by Vernon Duke and John LaTouche, opened at the Martin Beck Theatre on Broadway in 1940 and only managed a...

Review: ‘Finian’s Rainbow’ at Live Arts Maryland

When Finian’s Rainbow opened on Broadway in 1947, it was a scandal. White and black performers shared the same stage, it argued that blacks were full citizens (with rights!), and that whites and...

‘Mary Poppins’ Flies Into Reston CenterStage This Friday, February 19th through March 12th

Mary Poppins will be flying into Reston CenterStage February 19-March 12, 2016 as the Reston Community Players present the seven-time Tony Award nominated musical. Mary Poppins combines the charm of...

Review: ‘Alan Cumming Sings Sappy Songs’ at Strathmore

The sign in the Strathmore ticket booth said a lot about Alan Cumming’s appeal. “SHOW SOLD OUT!” it blared. An hour before the show, the place was filling up with people eager for the doors to open....

Magic Time! A Conversation with Manu Kumasi About ‘Lost in the Stars’

“The situation in 1940s apartheid South Africa is very similar to what was seen in 1940’s America, 1960’s America, 1980’s America, and even what we see in the present day.” I was talking with Manu...

Review: ‘Constellations’ at The Studio Theatre

Nick Payne’s Constellations embraces String Theory and its multiverses as it takes its intimate, in-the-round, Stage 4 audience on an emotional rollercoaster ride through the courtship, breakup,...