2016

Review: ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ at Gallaudet University’s Theater and Dance Program

Like a gift that keeps on giving, Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream keeps on rekindling. Dreamer after dreamer reconceives it as if anew. And last night that classic spark reignited at Gallaudet...

Review: ‘Radiant Vermin’ at Inis Nua Theatre Company in Philadelphia

To what lengths would you be willing to go to get what you want? That’s the moralizing question posed by English playwright Philip Ridley, in Inis Nua Theatre Company’s Philadelphia premiere of his...

Review: ‘The Philly POPS: ‘Elvis: The King’s Songbook’ at The Kimmel Center

The music and performance style of Elvis Presley lives on and is part of the American psyche. Although the “King” of rock-n-roll is dead, he will never be forgotten. This was evident in The Philly...

Review: ’43 1/2: The Greatest Deaths of Shakespeare’s Tragedies’ at the Logan Fringe Arts Space

Five actors, a stage manager, an audience, and a lot of blood. Nu Sass Productions has remounted its 2013 Capital Fringe hit, complete with gags and cornball and puppets. The pace might not be up to...

Review: ‘Avenue Q’ at Vagabond Players

Vagabond Players’ Avenue Q, expertly directed by Eric C. Stein, is a “Triple Crown”-winning musical (Tony for Best Musical, Best Score and Best Book) with a spectacular cast. The show is another big...

Review: ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?’ at the Colonial Players of Annapolis

The Colonial Players of Annapolis’ Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, directed by Craig Allen Mummey and written by the late Edward Albee, brings the audience on a journey through the breakdown of two...

Review: ‘Hamlet’ at Whiskey-Shine & Pantomime in Shepherdstown, WV

The recently opened Whiskey-Shine & Pantomime theater organization in Shepherdstown makes a stunning debut with an updated, modern day, and outdoor adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Directed...

Review: Rosanne Cash at The Merriam Theater

Rosanne Cash admitted on Thursday night that she looks at the world through a “peculiar prism.” In one of the songs she performed that night, “Modern Blue,” she sang of visiting Barcelona and Paris...

Review: ‘night, Mother’ at Dominion Stage

Depression can be a tricky state; while it entails some sadness, the marker of depression goes beyond sadness. Indeed, it is a mental state that involves many other elements such as hopelessness,...

Review: ‘Stupid Fucking Bird’ at Silver Spring Stage

Stupid Fucking Bird is Aaron Posner’s inspired and irreverent takeoff on Anton Chekhov’s 19th Century play The Seagull. Stupid Fucking Bird follows the plotline of its predecessor, while...

City of Gaithersburg’s ‘Singer Songwriter Series’ Presents ‘Cruz Contreras’ Tomorrow, Saturday, October 22nd at 7:30pm

Gaithersburg, Maryland’s Arts on the Green invites you to experience the music of Cruz Contreras on Saturday, October 22, 2016, as part of the City of Gaithersburg Singer Songwriter Concert Series...

Review: ‘An Evening with Chris Botti’ at Strathmore

Chris Botti and his Band know how to rock a house. “There are a few things that make us different from other bands,” announced popular trumpeter Chris Botti from the stage in the concert hall at The...

‘Dancing for Divas: A Labor of Love’ Benefit at Howard Community College TONIGHT, Saturday, October 22nd at 8pm

The Bald Ballerina stages a dance in the name of Love Her many Howard County supporters would probably be pleased if Maggie Kurdirka, The Bald Ballerina, merely walked on stage and posed in her...

Review: ‘A New Brain’ at Theatre Horizon

I definitely would not “rather be sailing…”, I would rather be at Theatre Horizon’s production of A New Brain! The hilarious and touching show follows Gordon Schwinn, a songwriter for a children’s...

Arena Stage Holds an Open Reading of Zelda Fichandler’s Words This Sunday, October 23th from 2:00-7:00 p.m. and a Public Memorial Service This Monday, October 24th at 2:00 p.m.

Open reading of her words on Sunday, October 23 from 2:00-7:00 p.m. Public Memorial Service on Monday, October 24 at 2:00 p.m. Arena Stage’s Co-Founder and Founding Artistic Director Zelda Fichandler...

Review: ‘The Legend of Georgia McBride’ at Arden Theatre Company in Philadelphia

It’s drag to the rescue in playwright Matthew Lopez’s camp comedy The Legend of Georgia McBride, now in production at Arden Theatre Company. Filled with caustic humor, glitz, and music, and witty...

Review: ‘When the Rain Stops Falling’ at The Wilma Theater in Philadelphia

The Wilma Theater’s production of When the Rain Stops Falling, directed by Blanka Zizka, begins in complete darkness. Then comes the deluge of a rainfall, and one is immediately whisked into the...

An Interview with Martha Stuckey: A Debut Album Launch for Red 40 & the Last Groovement in Philadelphia

Fresh out of the recording studio, Red 40 & the Last Groovement is getting ready for the release of their debut album, She’s Keen to Feed, with a launch party concert at FringeArts on Saturday,...

Come to KAT’s ‘Cabaret’: Part 5: Meet Liz Weber

In Part 5 of a series of interviews with the cast of Kensington Arts Theatre’s (KAT) Cabaret, meet Liz Weber. Where have local theatergoers seen you perform before on our local stages? What roles have...

Come to KAT’s ‘Cabaret’: Part 4: Meet Jonathan M. Rizzardi

In Part 4 of a series of interviews with the cast of Kensington Arts Theatre’s (KAT) Cabaret, meet Jonathan M. Rizzardi. Joel: Where have local theatergoers seen you perform before on our local...

Review: ‘Mother Courage and Her Children’ at Quintessence Theatre

Janis Dardaris is a force to be reckoned with. As Mother Courage, standing firm with her hands on her hips and wearing a white, shapeless frock covered by a blue sweater, she is a tower of strength...

‘Black Diamond’ by Danish Dance Theatre at The Kennedy Center

The choreographic universe Tim Rushton created for his evening-length contemporary ballet Black Diamond is made up of an engaging accretion of enticing, quirky, and oddball moments in movement. The...

Come to KAT’s ‘Cabaret’: Part 3: Meet Matt Trollinger

In Part 3 of a series of interviews with the cast of Kensington Arts Theatre’s (KAT) Cabaret, meet Matt Trollinger. Joel: Where have local theatergoers seen you perform before on our local stages?...

A Report on ‘No Word in Guyanese For Me’ at Rainbow Theatre Project

The dual intersections of tradition and the authenticity of the individual, autonomous human being compartmentalize, collide and—then —slowly merge in the Rainbow Theatre Project’s thought-provoking...

Review: Peter Frampton Raw: An Acoustic Tour at the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater

It was a packed house for Peter Frampton Raw: An Acoustic Tour last night at The Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater. With excitement in the air, the crowd could not sit still ahead of the show, and...

Meet the Cast of ‘Postmortem’ at Montgomery Playhouse: Part 1: Gemma Davimes

In Part 1 of a series of interviews with the cast of The Mongomery Playhouse’s Postmortem, meet Gemma Davimes. Joel: Please introduce yourself and tell our readers where they may have seen you perform...

Review: ‘Shadowlands’ at North Bethesda United Methodist Church by Natalie McManus

North Bethesda United Methodist Church’s’ (NBUMC) presentation of William Nicholson’s Shadowlands, directed by Janet Van Albert Replogle, is a delightful and touching real life story of the...

Why ‘TAME.’ Enraged Me—And Why We Need Its New Shrew by Angela Kay Pirko

The first time I read through TAME., I had to walk away from my computer. TAME. had been described to me not as a reinterpretation but rather as a reimagining of The Taming of the Shrew—a play I have...

‘An Evening with Edgar Allan Poe’ This Thursday, October 20th at 1 PM and 8 PM at Gaithersburg Arts Barn

AN EVENING WITH EDGAR ALLAN POE Adapted by Robert Mason and Lindsay Price AN EVENING WITH EDGAR ALLAN POE ONE DAY ONLY! TWO PERFORMANCES! THURSDAY OCTOBER 20, 2016, at 1 and 8 PM Just in time for...

Review: ‘Radio Golf’ at Arena Players

On Friday, I got to do two things I’ve been wanting to do for a while: catch a show at Arena Players and see the play Radio Golf. I’m happy to have had the opportunity to do both. It was a particular...

Review: ‘Witch’ at Convergence Theatre at Mead Theatre Lab at Flashpoint

Whatever your choice in Hallowe’en fare, Witch—an adaptation of a Jacobean melodrama now having its world premiere at The Mead Theatre Lab—has it all. There’s murder, mayhem, and blood on the...

Review: The Second City’s ‘Unelectable You’ at The Kennedy Center

Billed as “The Second City’s Completely Unbiased Political Revue,” Unelectable You—now in the middle of a four month pre-election national tour—paused in Washington, DC last weekend for a stop at The...

Review: ‘The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat’ at UrbanArias

Oliver Sacks’ non-fiction book, The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat, consists of a series of neurological case studies. Each study examines one of Sacks’ patients, each of whom is suffering from...

Leslie Odom, Jr. Discusses ‘Hamilton,’ His Career, and the ‘Evening of Unexpected Delights’

You know him as Aaron Burr, Sir, the damned fool who shot Alexander Hamilton. Now get to know Leslie Odom, Jr., the man behind America’s most notorious villain. I spoke with Odom in advance of the 6th...

Review: ‘Bloody Poetry’ at The Catholic University of America

So far as I can tell, The Catholic University of America’s Drama Department turns out a lot of local talent. I keep seeing mentions of it in program bios around town. Must be something good going on...

In the Moment: Ping Chong & Company Comes to Reston’s CenterStage

A non-traditional, very timely theater experience is arriving at Reston’s CenterStage from the creative risk-taking minds of award-winning Ping Chong + Company. What the Ping Chong + Company will be...

United Solo Review: ‘Listen . . . Can You Hear Me Now?’ at Theatre Row in NYC

Growing up as a hearing child of deaf parents, Gloria Rosen faced many challenges, both in interpreting for and communicating with her family, and then struggling to find her own voice in the world....

Review: ‘She Stoops to Conquer’ at The Actors Company Theatre at the Clurman Theatre in NYC

Anglo-Irish Playwright Oliver Goldsmith’s “laughing comedy”- She Stoops to Conquer- was first performed in London in 1773. It’s been a favorite for study in English literature, and theatre classes...

Review: ‘Disgraced’ at McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton, NJ

It is sometimes difficult to imagine what theater might be able to further contribute to an already contentious national conversation about tolerance and devisiveness in America. An unconventional...

Review: ‘Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure’ at the Old Opera House Theatre Company

One of the opening lines to last evening’s performance of Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure, uttered by the world’s most famous detective, was “You see, but you do not observe.” Audiences who...

Fringe Encore Series Review: ‘Homo Sapiens Interruptus’ at The Huron Club at SoHo Playhouse in NYC

Following the trajectory of his career from heavy-metal rocker to student, writer, and theater artist, Carlos Dengler not only recounts his own personal development, but considers it within the...

Review: ‘Wild Lines: Jane Ira Bloom Plays Emily Dickinson’ at the KC Jazz Club

There is nothing quite like “a vast morsel.” When Jane Ira Bloom plays her soprano saxophone, her wiry body jutting and jagging to the notes popping out of her horn, vastness of her petite frame...

Review: ‘HEISENBERG’ at Manhattan Theatre Club at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre in NYC

Let’s get the title out of the way for starters. Simon Stephens, the author of this play, uses it to remind us that the German physicist Werner Heisenberg introduced his Uncertainty Principle in...

Review: ‘The Whipping Man’ at Fells Point Corner Theatre

Fells Point Corner Theatre (“FPCT”) opened its production of Matthew Lopez’s The Whipping Man on Friday. The second show of FPCT’s “Rescue Me” season, The Whipping Man is a smart, poignant, and...

Review: ‘Kiss’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

I go to see live theatre for a lot of reasons. I go to laugh and to be moved, to feel excitement or empathy, to be entertained in a way that just isn’t possible with podcasts or Netflix. I also go...

Magic Time! ‘Kiss’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

Kiss is a work to be reckoned with. Its power and importance, its comedic wit and caustic intelligence, make it a major theatrical event of the season. For anyone who prefers shows to have substance...

Review: ‘The Summit: The Manhattan Transfer Meets Take 6’ at The Music Center at Strathmore

The Summit: The Manhattan Tranfer Meets Take 6 was an explosion, in gale wind proportions, of musical enjoyment, creative genius, vocal excellence and a boatload of fun as these two renowned, Grammy...

Review: ‘The Wizard of Oz: Young Performers’ Edition’ at Kensington Arts Theatre-2nd Stage

Kensington Arts Theatre-2nd Stage’s production of The Wizard of Oz Young Performers’ Edition is up and running at the Kentlands Arts Barn. A great way to while away a few hours with your kids on an...

Review: ‘The Bluest Eye’ at Towson University Department of Theatre Arts

‘The Bluest Eye’ is a moving tale about race, dysfunction, and poverty Director Tavia La Follette, a Towson University professor, in choosing The Bluest Eye to direct, chose to examine how children...

Review: ‘Twelfth Night’ at Annapolis Shakespeare Company

Annapolis Shakespeare Company’s visually and musically stunning production of Twelfth Night is a creative resetting of Shakespeare’s play. Set in 1929 Hollywood, it is a loving tribute to the romantic...