2016

Review: ‘The Nutcracker’ at Ballet Theatre of Maryland at Bowie Center for the Performing Arts

Visions of sugar plum fairies quite literally danced in my head and into my heart last night at the Ballet Theatre of Maryland’s first performance of The Nutcracker this season, on November 23, 2016,...

Review: ‘A Christmas Carol’ at Hedgerow Theatre

A Christmas Carol, written as a novella by Charles Dickens in 1843, has been widely adapted in many forms for television, radio, the big screen, opera and theater. It remains a powerful parable that...

Review: ‘It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play’ at Washington Stage Guild

It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play Shares Timeless Message Adapted by playwright Joe Landry, Washington Stage Guild’s It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play is a retelling of the classic tale...

Review: Junie B. Jones in ‘Jingle Bells, Batman Smells!’ at Maryland Ensemble Theatre

Junie B Jones in Jingle Bells Batman Smells! is a charming piece of family comedy playing at Maryland Ensemble Theatre through January 1, 2017. The Fun Company takes on Allison Gregory’s adaptation of...

Spine: ‘Moby Dick’ Inside Jonah’s Whale at Arena Stage

“Jonah,” I said to myself as soon as I laid eyes upon the set of Lookingglass Theatre Company’s Moby Dick. Large, curved rib-bones thrusting upward, form a cradle: “It’s happening inside the whale.”...

Review: ‘Clybourne Park’ at The Stagecrafters Theater

Every city has a Clybourne Park. “It starts one house at a time,” as one of the characters states. In act one (1959) it is a neighborhood that will soon have its first “colored” family moving in. Act...

Review: ‘Shades’ at Cherry Lane Theatre in NYC

“I tell you, War is Hell.” So declared Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman in his 1879 address to the graduating class of the Michigan Military Academy. In Shades, a New York premiere presented...

Meet the Cast of ‘Spring Awakening’ at Ovations Theatre: Part 3: Chloe Friedman and Meghan Carey

In part three of a series of interviews with the cast of Ovations Theatre’s Spring Awakening, meet Chloe Friedman and Meghan Carey who share the role of Martha Bessel. Joel: What is your names, ages,...

Meet the Cast ‘Spring Awakening’ at Ovations Theatre: Part 2: Ethan Miller

In part 2 of a series of interviews with the cast of Ovations Theatre’s Spring Awakening, meet Ethan Miller. Joel: What is your name, age, high school, and role in Spring Awakening? Ethan: My name is...

Judyisms: ‘Careful What You Wish For’: The Journey of My New Play

This play was an inspired action. A few years ago I happened to turn on a FRONTLINE program which documented the progression of several patients who were suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease. One man’s...

Review #2: Chocolate City Burlesque’s Third Annual ‘Black Friday’

There ain’t nothin’ wrong with a little bump and grind and Chocolate City’s Burlesque & Cabaret (CCBC) had a whole lotta shakin’ going on. G strings and pasties and a skin show with feathers galore...

Dangereuse: “That Burnett Woman: The Magical ‘Secret Garden’ at the Shakespeare Theatre Company”

The Shakespeare Theatre’s production of The Secret Garden is like a dream in which miraculous things happen, old grudges are swept away, and children rediscover childhood. The book, a revered classic,...

Review #1: Chocolate City Burlesque’s Third Annual ‘Black Friday’

Chocolate City Burlesque and Cabaret (CCBC) is a troupe that excels at putting on the most sensational burlesque shows it can on D.C. stages. The troupe did just that in their third annual Black...

Review: ‘Once’ at National Theatre

From the moment one enters the National Theatre, it becomes clear that Once is not your typical Broadway fare. Rather than seeing closed drapes and hearing piped-in pre-show music, the first view of...

Review: The NSO Pops: ‘E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial’: Film with Live Music at The Kennedy Center

The most significant difference between entering your neighborhood cinema to catch the latest PG film offering and traversing the Hall of Nations to enter the Grand Foyer at The Kennedy Center in...

Review: ‘Moby Dick’: A Co-Production with the Alliance Theatre and Southcoast Repertory at Arena Stage

A complex rigging of interlocking cables, ropes and steel clamps is harnessed by a skeletal steel structure. The structure is at once minimal and abstract, intricate and unambiguous, to suggest the...

TONIGHT AT 8 PM AT GALA HISPANIC THEATRE: Chocolate City Burlesque and Cabaret Presents the Third Annual ‘Black Friday’ Burlesque

Chocolate City Burlesque and Cabaret (CCBC) likes to do things a little differently. The troupe is known for its spectacular semiannual burlesque shows housed at the GALA Hispanic Theatre. Chocolate...

Review: ‘Sleeping Beauty: A Musical Panto’ at People’s Light

The latest world-premiere offering at People’s Light, in its annual homage to the British holiday tradition of family-friendly musical-comedy entertainment, is a side-splitting reimagining of Sleeping...

Anya Rothman on Playing Mary Lennox in ‘The Secret Garden’ at Shakespeare Theatre Company

Anya Rothman is playing the spunky Mary Lennox in Shakespeare Theatre Company’s The Secret Garden. She takes is on her journey. Joel: Please introduce yourself and tell us how old you are and tell our...

Review: ‘The Nutcracker’ by the Cincinnati Ballet at The Kennedy Center

We know the holiday season is upon us when theaters around the country begin to put on Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s classic The Nutcracker. The Cincinnati Ballet’s production at The Kennedy Center,...

Meet the Cast of Providence Players’ ‘Best Christmas Pageant Ever’ Part 1: Michelle Shader 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: ‘An American in Paris’ at the Academy of Music

If you “love a Gershwin tune” (and who doesn’t?), An American in Paris, presented by Broadway Philadelphia for a limited run this Thanksgiving week at the Academy of Music, is the show for you! Based...

Review: ‘The Game’s Afoot (Holmes for the Holidays)’ at Spotlighters Theatre

This weekend I had the pleasure of attending an opening weekend performance of The Game’s Afoot (Holmes for the Holidays), by Ken Ludwig at Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre (“Spotlighters”)....

Review: ‘Sly & The Family Stone’ Celebrate Their 50th Anniversary

Legendary soul group Sly & The Family Stone grooved and moved the audience with unfiltered funky beats and unparalleled energy at Montgomery College’s Robert E. Parilla Performing Arts Center in a...

Review: ‘DanceWorks Fall 2016’ at The George Washington University’s Department of Theatre and Dance

This past weekend, The George Washington University’s Department of Theatre and Dance presented DanceWorks Fall 2016. The program consisted of nine separate dance pieces, each by a different...

Review #2: ‘The Secret Garden’ at Shakespeare Theatre Company by PJ McMahon

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett is a story that has fascinated and moved people for the last hundred years, from the original novel, to the various film adaptations, and a Broadway...

Review #2: ‘A View From the Bridge’ at The Kennedy Center

The stripped-down, minimalist and auteur-driven interpretation of Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge delivers a tragic, elemental, and mythic dimension to this stirring play that delineates the...

Review #1: ‘A View From the Bridge’ at The Kennedy Center

Act fast: Director Ivo van Hove’s visionary production of Arthur Miller’s A View From the Bridge, which won plaudits on both Broadway and the West End since it opened in 2014, is only playing at The...

In the Moment: ‘A View From the Bridge’ at The Kennedy Center

Even having inklings of what to expect, there was no protecting myself from the shattering production of Arthur Miller’s A View From the Bridge at the Kennedy Center. I don’t think even wearing a...

Magic Time!: ‘The Christians’ at Theater J

A debate about the existence of hell is combusting in the nation’s preeminent Jewish theater. And that particular drama in that particular venue could not be more anomalous. There is in Judaism no...

Review #1: ‘The Secret Garden’ at Shakespeare Theatre Company

While most are familiar with The Secret Garden either from reading the book or watching the movie, the latest musical production by the Shakespeare Theatre Company raises the bar with a wonderful cast...

Review: ‘A Christmas Story, The Musical’ at Riverside Center for the Performing Arts

Riverside Center for the Performing Arts presents A Christmas Story, The Musical, with Book by Joseph Robinette and Music and Lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. Based on the 1983 Warner Bros....

Review: ‘The Rape of Lucretia’ by the Maryland Opera Studio at The Clarice

There’s a saying that says, “Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.” Benjamin Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia most definitely fulfills that second requirement. Based on the myth...

Review: ‘A Name for a Ghost to Mutter’ at Urban Stages

In the summer of 2008 a group of artists, business people and supporters gathered to talk theatre, which led to the formation of Theatre East and an inaugural benefit in July 2009. Its core belief was...

Review: ‘The Christians’ at Theater J

Yes, the rumors are true. The Christians—now making its DC debut at Theater J—is amazing. It’s amazing for its sheer audacity—first, in turning the nation’s leading Jewish theater into a...

Review: ‘A Christmas Carol’ at Theatre Three: Broadway on Main Street

Theatre Three: Broadway on Main Street opened its 33rd annual production of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Written in 1843, A Christmas Carol is a story which has endured throughout the years. It...

Review: The Choral Arts Society of Washington Presents ‘Berlioz: Requiem, Op. 5’ at The Kennedy Center’s Concert Hall

It was a chilly night, fitting for a change of pace, when the Choral Arts Society of Washington performed Hector Berlioz: Requiem, Op. 5 Grande Messe des Morts to a buoyant crowd at The Kennedy Center...

In the Moment: ‘The Christians’ at Theater J

‘Inspired’ is the word that comes to mind for Adam Immerwahr’s selection of The Christians by Lucas Hnath for this, his first full season as Artistic Director for DC’s Theater J. What an exceptional...

‘Mary Poppins’ at The John W. Engeman Theater at Northport

Everyone’s favorite high-flying nanny has landed at the John W. Engeman Theater at Northport! Mary Poppins will be playing until the wind changes on December 31, 2016. The script, based on both the...

Review: ‘The Divine Sister’ at Fells Point Corner Theatre

Just in time to ring in the holiday cheer and chuckle with a blaze this bustling season, Fells Point Corner Theatre (FPCT) presents the Baltimore premiere of actor/novelist/playwright/drag legend...

Review: ‘The Outcasts of Poker Flat’ at The Catholic University of America

The Outcasts of Poker Flat is the story of six uncanny people trapped together as they take shelter during a blizzard. Adapted from Bret Harte’s 1869 story of the same name, the one-act chamber opera...

Review: ‘Son of a Dog’ at Walnut Street Theatre

“Tawakalt ala Allah” is Arabic, and in English it means, “I rely on God”. This is the phrase that Gameel Al-Batouti uttered repeatedly as Egypt Air flight 990 went down on October 31, 1999. Everyone...

Review: ‘Andrea Marcovicci: A Gershwin Valentine’ at The RRazz Room

The miraculous Andrea Marcovicci briefly returned to Philadelphia. One of the grandest divas of cabaret, Ms. Marcovicci seemed to own the fabled Oak Room in the Algonquin Hotel for over 25 years. That...

Review: ‘Seussical The Musical’ at Children’s Theatre of Annapolis

This production of Seussical, at the Children’s Theatre of Annapolis, brings the fun, whimsical world of Dr. Seuss to life. With music by Stephen Flaherty and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, who both wrote the...

Review: ‘Schoolgirl Figure’ at Cohesion Theatre

Puberty is the worst thing that ever happened to me. I looked fabulous at age ten. This weekend, Schoolgirl Figure, a play written by Wendy MacLeod, opened at Cohesion Theatre Company (“Cohesion”)....

Review: ‘A Tuna Christmas’ at Washington County Playhouse Dinner Theater and Children’s Theater

Expertly directed by Scott Ruble to evoke every last bit of comedy, A Tuna Christmas, written by Jason Williams, Joe Sears, and Ed Howard, features the charming and often chaotic holiday events...

Meet the Cast of Damascus Theatre Company’s ‘Children of Eden’: Part 4: Kevin James Logan

In part four of a series of interviews with the cast of Damascus Theatre Company’s Children of Eden, meet Kevin James Logan. Joel: Where have local theatergoers seen you perform before on our local...

Review: ‘Disney’s Beauty and the Beast’ at Imagination Stage

Imagination Stage serves up a charming and delightful holiday treat with Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. This timeless 1994 Broadway musical was adapted for the stage from the Academy Award-winning...

‘Found’ at Philadelphia Theatre Company

They say people don’t write letters anymore, but I don’t think that’s true. So says the leading character in the opening moments of Found, an offbeat comic musical that puts as much emphasis on the...

Take the Kids to See ‘James and The Giant Peach, JR.’ at The Alliance Theatre Today at 2 PM at Mountain View High School in Centreville

Join the Alliance Theatre for their final performance today at 2 PM as they present one of Roald Dahl’s most famous characters on a family friendly musical adventure. Featuring a wickedly tuneful...