2017

Review: ‘The Ugly One’ at Nu Sass Productions

The gutsy woman-centric theater company Nu Sass is notable for producing works that feature women in major roles, onstage and off, typically in a tiny second-floor space on F Street that seats only 30...

Review: ‘Annie’ at Olney Theatre Center

The musical Annie is 40 years old this year, and thanks to the Olney Theatre Center’s cheerful new production, a whole new generation of theater goers will get the chance to travel back in time to...

Review: ‘Nina Simone: Four Women’ at Arena Stage

After the Birmingham 16th Street Baptist Church bombing of 1963, Nina Simone turned her singing career toward the Civil Rights’ struggle. After a decade of singing mostly popular music, and building a...

Review: ‘The Love of the Nightingale’ at The Catholic University of America

A play from the 1980s about revenge for a rape, based on an ancient story from Greek mythology, comes alive in a student production as though it was about now. As though everything in it about how...

Review: ‘The Pillowman’ at George Mason University

Last night, the Mason Players opened another excellent student-directed play at George Mason University. Following strong performances of Deadman’s Cell Phone and 1984 earlier this semester, The...

Review: ‘Every Brilliant Thing’ at Arden Theatre Company

The list began after her first attempt. A list of everything brilliant about the world. Everything worth fighting for. If I were to make a list of every brilliant thing about the world, audience...

In the Moment: ‘Crazy for You’ at Signature Theatre

What a giddy, joyful afterimage of mouthwatering kinetic alchemy. Under the confident direction of chemistry-setter Mathew Gardiner, Signature Theatre has produced an irresistible Crazy for You. It is...

Magic Time!: ‘Republic For Which We Stand’ at United States Capitol Visitor Center

For anyone who is more than a little unnerved that President Trump might go off half-cocked and trigger a war—which he could do with as little thought as he puts into a tweet—this civic-minded play...

Interview: Submersive Productions Co-Artistic Directors GLENN RICCI and URSULA MARCUM on ‘H.T. Darling’s Incredible Musaeum presents: The Treasures of New Galapagos, Astonishing Acquisitions from the Perisphere.’

In April of this year, I wrote: Submersive Productions has outdone itself with its new production, H.T. Darling’s Incredible Musaeum presents: The Treasures of New Galapagos, Astonishing Acquisitions...

Review: ‘The Fight’ at The Storm Theatre Company in New York

Reviewed by Steve Weinstein Stephen Sondheim had it nearly right in his lyrics to “I’m Still Here.” First, you’re a legend, then you’re camp, then you become an icon. As the Founding Mothers of the...

Review: ‘Annie’ at the Walnut Street Theatre

The sun’ll come out tomorrow Bet your bottom dollar that Tomorrow there’ll be sun…. Those familiar lyrics seem fresher than ever in Walnut Street Theatre’s new production of Annie. With its book by...

Review: ‘Nothing to Lose (But our Chains)’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

When the Born Again have the opportunity to witness, they do it before their congregation, and everyone shouts “Hallelujah!” When the Stand Up Comics have that same opportunity, they do it before...

Report: ‘The Mousetrap,’ ‘A Woman of No Importance,’ ’42nd Street,’ and ‘Ink’ in London

A few weeks ago I found myself hankering to have a look at the London theater season, so I spent a day in the friendly skies of United Airlines to spend a week in which our own NY scene was fairly...

Review: ‘The Craftsman’ at Lantern Theater Company

Guilty or not guilty? And of what crime? An intriguing real-life episode from 20th-century Art History provides the basis for The Craftsman, Bruce Graham’s latest world-premiere play commissioned and...

Review: ‘Junk’ at Lincoln Center Theater

A junk bond is a high-yield, high-risk maturity in the financial markets, and a greedy group of investors bought them and enjoyed the 10-12 percent interest that was sent out semi-annually, in most...

News: Capital Fringe Announces Venue Change and Application Details for the 2018 Capital Fringe Festival

Registration is now open for the 13th Annual Capital Fringe Festival. Those wishing to participate in the festival can apply from now through January 16th, 2018. The 2018 Capital Fringe Festival will...

Review: Pinchas Zukerman Performs Bach at The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra

We learned, shortly after 8 p.m., that half the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra was stuck on 495. Traffic unites people with weak social bonds; it gives us something communal to commiserate about....

Review: ‘You Don’t Know Jack’ at Charm City Fringe Festival

MAP Underground, the 14 Karat Cabaret performance space in the basement of the Bromo Arts District’s Maryland Art Place, was the perfect venue to meet “philosopher clown,” Jack Golden. Before taking...

Review: ‘Crazy for You’ at Signature Theatre

I have a perpetual soft spot for Crazy for You, which was the first show I ever saw on Broadway. What with George and Ira Gershwin songs, Tony-winning choreography by Susan Stroman, and the wonderful...

Review: ‘Hamlet’ at Aquila Theatre Company

Straight Outta Denmark Hamlet has a storied history, and the title role is one of the greatest in Shakespeare. It is also universally parodied: the BBC’s 60 Second Shakespeare tabloid reports:...

Review: ‘M. Butterfly’ at The Cort Theatre

The characters Song Lilig and her consort René Gallinard are back on Broadway. Their play is M.Butterfly and its tale of a romance between a French diplomat (Gallinard, played by Clive Owen in the...

In the Moment: Arena Stage and USO “Annual Military Thanksgiving”

It is a season of thanksgiving and spending time with family and friends. But, untold numbers of D.C. and Baltimore area military families spend the Thanksgiving holiday away from loved ones serving...

Review: ‘Follies’ at the National Theatre in London

I was most anxious to see Follies in its current production at the National Theatre in London. Somehow news of it had escaped me, but Imelda Staunton is a great favorite of mine, and she’s in it, so I...

Review: ‘It Takes Two…’ at Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington D.C.

The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC has just offered the DC Metro Theatre Region an alternately wistful, romantic, and humorous cabaret review entitled It Takes Two…. Presented at the Atlas...

Report: ‘Springsteen on Broadway’ Rocks the Theater World at the Walter Kerr Theatre in New York City

To call New York City’s 975-seat Walter Kerr Theatre intimate may seem a bit hyperbolic, but when the artist on stage is Bruce Springsteen, that is exactly how it feels. “The Boss” can sell out...

Review: ‘The Fantasticks’ at The Eagle Theatre

What’s not to like about The Fantasticks? It’s always been a modest, gentle show that goes down easy. The Eagle Theatre’s new production adds a few new wrinkles, putting its own stamp on this...

Review: ‘The Real Americans’ at Mosaic Theater Company

“Why am I a stranger in my own land?” the preternaturally talented actor-writer Dan Hoyle asks during his solo excursion into the heartland of America. Having set forth several years ago by van from...

In the Moment: Interview with Theater Photographer Teresa Castracane

Often, images of a theatrical production help establish the initial interest and expectations for a potential audience. Photographs can draw an audience into a production even before reviews or...

Review: ‘All My Sons’ at The Potomac Playmakers

All My Sons, the post-WWII Arthur Miller drama presented by the Potomac Playmakers, tells the story of how one man’s greed and dishonesty can have far greater consequences than originally meets the...

Review: ‘The New World’ at Bucks County Playhouse

A Thanksgiving musical? We can think of musicals that sometimes involve that observance, but an entire show about how the holiday evolved? Bucks County Playhouse’s The New World may be onto something...

Review: ‘Binomio’ at GALA Hispanic Theatre

Binomio, a flamenco show making its U.S. premiere at the GALA Hispanic Theatre, begins with two solo dances by Francisco Hidalgo and Anabel Moreno. The two dancers command the stage as they beat a...

Review: ‘Childish Things’ at Charm City Fringe Festival

Hamlet Cooper is an archaeologist. In Childish Things, they use real artifacts from their childhood to recreate scenes which take the audience back to ages six, twelve, thirteen. Cooper always wanted...

Review: ‘The Little Mermaid’ at Damascus Theatre Company

Both “Under the Sea” and in “The World Above,” Damascus Theatre Company brings us a truly charming production of Disney’s The Little Mermaid. Based on the Hans Cristian Andersen story and the Disney...

Review: ‘Pioneers of Avant-Garde Piano’ at The Barnes Foundation

The Barnes Foundation presented an unusual recital of avant-garde music composed by Henry Cowell, John Cage and George Crumb. These three giants of experimentation remind us of Albert Barnes’s...

Review: ‘The Dog in the Manger’ at We Happy Few Productions

Lope de Vega, the author of We Happy Few Productions’ current offering at The Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, was one of the most prolific writers in world history. Hundreds of plays and thousands of...

Interview: ‘Dandy Darkly’s Myth Mouth!’ Creator and Performance Artist Neil Arthur James at Charm City Fringe Festival

It’s a bit of an understatement that Fringe festivals lead you to encounter some very interesting people. Every now and then you run into a kindred spirit, as I did when I was getting ready to see...

Review: ‘The Band’s Visit’ at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre

David Yazbek has been one of the less publicized composer/lyricists from the generation of writers who followed those who wrote musicals in the “Golden Age” of Broadway. Yazbek has earned nominations...

Review: ‘The Structure of Us’ at Charm City Fringe Festival

The last time I was in NYC, I visited the Rubin Museum; there was an that exhibit allowed you to listen to different Buddhist chants representing performances of ceremonies marking various transitions...

Review: ‘NDE’ at Charm City Fringe Festival

NDE, directed by Nikoo Mamdoohi and produced by the Vahee Art Collective, is an immersive theatre experience about near death experiences, which are described here as, “an unusual and personal...

Review: ‘The Infinite Wrench USNA Style’ at the United States Naval Academy

The United States Naval Academy Masqueraders’ production of The Infinite Wrench USNA Style is an unusual show, with lots of humor and some thought-provoking observations. Composed of 30 two-minute...

Review: ‘Fruit of the Sea’ at Charm City Fringe Festival

FLORIDA MAN DRESSES UP 13-FT ALLIGATOR IN NOVELTY HAT AND SUNGLASSES FOR HALLOWEEN. News stories about the tragic exploits of Florida Man and Florida Woman are the first thing to greet you when you...

Review: ‘Smack ‘Em in the Snout’ at Charm City Fringe Festival

Confession: I saw the audition notices for Smack ‘Em in the Snout, written and directed by Rufus Drawlings, a few months ago and I thought to myself, “Wow, what a strange concept for a show!” Now,...

Review: ‘You’re in Danger’ at Charm City Fringe Festival

You’re in Danger, written and performed by Lucius Robinson, is an absolute delight for those who enjoy creepy tales. Lucius commits fully to the role of middle-aged Mitchell Barnes, telling his...

Review: ‘The Manor’ by Colonial Playhouse

For fifteen years, a California theater company has been presenting the drama The Manor in the Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills — an appropriate spot because the play is based on a true murder and...

Review: ‘A Little Princess’ at Creative Cauldron’s Learning Theatre

Creative Cauldron’s Learning Theatre has put on an original version of Francis Hodgson Burnett’s A Little Princess. Ellen Selby, who co-directed the show, wrote the book, with music by Matt Conner and...

Magic Time!: ‘A Short Series of Disagreements Presented Here in Chronological Order’ at Studio Theatre

He might have had an interesting idea for a solo show. He hadn’t written it yet. but he told Studio Theatre, which had booked him, that its title would be A Short Series of Disagreements Presented...

Review: ‘Intimate Apparel’ at Villanova Theatre

Villanova Theatre’s final production for 2017 is Intimate Apparel, directed by Valerie Joyce. The play, penned by Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage, tells the story of Esther Mills (played by Sisi...

Review: ‘Miracle on 34th Street’ at Sandy Spring Theatre Group

I heard Kris Kringle (played by Harley Venton) tell little Susan Walker (Leah Packer): “…Imagination is a place all by itself. Now, you’ve heard of the French nation? … And the British nation? … Well,...

Review: Mike Daisey’s ‘This Is Not Normal’ at Philadelphia Theatre Company

It has been exactly one year since Donald Trump was elected President of the United States. In that year, countless artists, performers, actors, and professionals have found various forms of...

Review: Verdi’s ‘Il Trovatore’ by the Academy of Vocal Arts

Verdi’s Il Trovatore was revived at the Academy of Vocal Arts for the first time in 20 years this week, and it’s a revelation. Filial love inspired Verdi, and that intense emotion is passed on to a...