2017

Review: ‘Aida’ at Reston Community Players

Aida bursts onto the Reston Community Players’ stage in an explosion of color and sound. With music by Elton John and lyrics by Tim Rice, this show, directed here by Andrew JM Regiec, seems almost too...

In the Moment: Interview with Lighting Designer Andrew F. Griffin

Folger’s production of Antony and Cleopatra directed by Robert Richmond has garnered its rightful share of critical acclaim. Its lighting design is a critical component of the production’s striking...

Review: ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ at Laurel Mill Playhouse

To Kill a Mockingbird, written by the enigmatic Harper Lee and dramatized by Christopher Sergel, opened at the Laurel Mill Playhouse, directed by Jen Sizer and produced by Maureen Rogers. A great...

Review: ‘God of Carnage’ at George Washington University

The big laughs in Yasmina Reza’s God of Carnage come from watching grownups behaving badly, and the big joke is that four parents end up acting more like petulant, belligerent children than their own...

Review: ‘Into the Woods, Jr.’ at Kensington Arts Theatre’s 2nd Stage

Kensington Arts Theatre 2nd Stage’s Into the Woods, Jr. is a delightful romp through the forest. Perfect for a fall afternoon or evening with your kids. Into the Woods, Jr. takes the first half of...

Review: ‘Little Women’ at American Univeristy

Louisa May Alcott’s evergreen tale of female fortitude and family virtues beams its inspiring message once again at American University’s lovely new production of Little Women, the musical. A talented...

Dangereuse: ‘Emilie’ by Lauren Gunderson at WSC Avant Bard

Emilie Our Contemporary Emilie du Châtelet, scientist, mathematician, lover of Voltaire, genius, is a perfect example of the power of women in the 18th century and today. Many of the challenges to...

In the Moment: ‘Jazz4Justice’ at Center for the Arts

Hardy, inspiring community engagement is vital for the continuing health of the performing arts. That is a given. With challenging times for arts funding; the changes in the acceptance of the...

Review: ‘Norma’ at The Metropolitan Opera and Live in HD

The new Metropolitan Opera production of Norma, which opened the company’s season, is the most intimate presentation of Vincenzo Bellini’s classic that I’ve ever seen. Norma is an impressive monument...

Review: ‘A Night with Janis Joplin’ at McCarter Theatre Center

Janis Joplin was a true original. But as the musical/tribute concert A Night with Janis Joplin proves, she didn’t just come out of nowhere. Joplin became a top star during the psychedelic rock era of...

Review: ‘Ideation’ at Theatre Exile

Ethics, morality, self-interest, and accountability are the big issues addressed in Theatre Exile’s smashing production of Aaron Loeb’s Ideation, in a sardonic send-up of over-the-top ambition, greed,...

Magic Time!: ‘Judge Me Not’ at DC Arts Center

Strong writing, passionate acting, and a meaningful purpose combined to make Judge Me Not a gem of a show. An assemblage of monologues around a common theme, the show came with a message: Do not pass...

Review: ‘West Side Story’ staged by The Philadelphia Orchestra

West Side Story has never sounded as good as in last weekend’s performances by Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Philadelphia Orchestra. It even surpassed Leonard Bernstein’s own recording, which sounds...

Review of the Mariinsky Ballet in ‘La Bayadère’ at The Kennedy Center

If you’ve never seen the Mariinsky Ballet dance a full-length classic (or missed its previous 2008 production of La Bayadère,) rush to buy tickets for this current engagement at The Kennedy Center...

Review: ‘Wilderness’ at The Kennedy Center’s Family Theater

The Kennedy Center recently presented En Garde Arts’ touring production of Wilderness, a multimedia show that discusses the real-life accounts of young teens who struggle with mental health. The piece...

Review: ‘Pippin’ at The Arlington Players

The Arlington Players are entering the last weekend of their production of Pippin, a show that promises magic and fantastic feats, with book by Roger Hirson and music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz....

Review: ‘Fire’ by Chatillion Stage Company at Theatre 54 at Shetler Studios and Theatres

On March 25, 1911, fire raged through the 8th to 10th floors of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory by Washington Square Park. In less than 20 minutes, it claimed the lives of 146 people, mostly teenaged...

Review: Margaret Cho: ‘Fresh Off the Bloat’ at Warner Theatre

Aptly named this year as one of the “50 Best Stand-Up Comics of All Time” by Rolling Stone magazine, five-time Grammy and Emmy nominated comedian, actress, and activist Margaret Cho returned to Warner...

Review: ‘The Color Purple: The Musical’ at Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theatre

Timing could not be better for a professionally mounted, national tour of The Color Purple: The Musical. Call this a reminder-on-wheels that sexual exploitation is not a Hollywood invention. Judging...

Review: ‘Antony and Cleopatra’ at the Folger Theatre

All for Love Noted critic Harold Bloom once said, “We certainly can say that Cleopatra and Antony do not bore each other, and they are bored, erotically and otherwise, by everyone else in their...

Fringe Encore Series 2017 Review: ‘Turbulence!’ at SoHo Playhouse

Musical-comedy improv troupe Robot Teammate has landed in New York with an energetic hour of silly sci-fi fun in Turbulence!, now performing at SoHo Playhouse for the final week of this year’s...

Review: ‘Lear’ at Single Carrot Theatre

Go call your dad. I’m not even kidding. By the time Young Jean Lee published Lear, in 2010, she was already le dernier cri in New York theater. The New York Times called her “A rising star of the...

Review: ‘Carrie: The Musical’ at Cumberland Theatre

Excellently directed by Kimberli Rowley with crisp musical direction from Daniel Chambers, Carrie: The Musical is an intensely emotional show not to be missed at Cumberland Theatre this Halloween...

Review: ‘Duck’ by Tom Block at the Highwood Theatre

What difference does 1% make? In the case of Duck, a new play by Tom Block currently playing at the Highwood Theatre in Silver Spring, 1% can be the difference between life and death. Duck follows the...

Review: NEA Jazz Master Lee Konitz’s Birthday Celebration at The Kennedy Center

Nonagenarian jazz–what is it? It’s Lee Konitz leading a quartet that includes George Schuller on drums, Jeremy Stratton on bass, and Dan Tepfer on piano. And in his Kennedy Center’s Birthday...

Review: ‘The Home Place’ at Irish Repertory Theatre

Brian Friel’s play, The Home Place, has taken its time to find its way to New York, where it arrived in good hands at the newly renovated Irish Repertory Theatre off Broadway. The play premiered in...

Interview: ‘Electra’ Director Stevie Zimmerman

Stevie Zimmerman has a reputation in DC as a “must-see” director. She received her bachelors from Oxford and her masters from the University of Leeds in England. She directed The Pitmen Painters and...

Magic Time!: ‘Sotto Voce’ at Theater J

Among the revelatory dimensions of this lyrical play is one that caught my attention by surprise. I knew going in that Sotto Voce, by Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright Nilo Cruz, would resonate with...

Review: ‘Hamlet’ at Port City Playhouse

An actor of illustrious talent shone bright recently on the D.C. area stage of Port City Playhouse. Rebekah Raze, in a performance that progressed from great to astounding, not only enthralled her...

Review: ‘The Woman in Black’ at Fells Point Corner Theatre

I’ve seen one ghost in my life – a woman in a 1980s housecoat on the veranda of a beach house in North Carolina. She stood with her hands on the rail, looking out at the ocean. There was a terrible...

Review: ‘Cry Baby’ at Silhouette Stages at Slayton House

Cry Baby opened at Slayton House in Columbia, MD this week. The play is based on a 1990s movie by John Waters of Hairspray fame and directed and choreographed by Tommy Malek. The play was turned into...

Review: ‘Shining Brow’ at UrbanArias

Can an artist be true to his art as well as to his promises? Is destruction the price of creation? These are the questions at the heart of Shining Brow—music by Daron Hagen; liberetto by Paul...

Review: National Symphony Orchestra with Guest Conductor Juanjo Mena and Pianist Garrick Ohlsson at The Kennedy Center Concert Hall (Final Performance TODAY, 10-15-17 at 3:00 p.m.)

It’s not unusual for concertgoers to be greeted by the sounds of orchestra members tuning their instruments, so commencing Thursday night’s concert with Kennedy Center Composer-in-Residence Mason...

Review: ‘Buyer & Cellar’ at 1812 Productions

Jonathan Tolins’ captivating one-man play Buyer & Cellar is partly factual (or part truth, or partly true), in that there is indeed a mall of shops in the basement of one of Barbra Streisand’s Malibu...

Review: ‘Belén Maya: Romnia’ at URBN Black Box Theater

The life of a Gypsy is hard. For centuries the Romany people, who are commonly referred to as Gypsies, have been persecuted across Europe. They have been discriminated against and have been subjected...

An Interview with Erik Ransom on the Development of His New Play ‘Civil Blood (The Resurrection of Romeo)’

Just back from a production of his musical GRINDR: The Opera in Florida, Erik Ransom organized a private developmental reading of his latest work Civil Blood (The Resurrection of Romeo) for an...

Review: ‘An Act of God’ at Signature Theatre

I was healed. Aches and pains of the day disappeared. Headaches from paying too close attention to Presidential tweets vanished. I might have been saved too. Not sure of that just yet. Will have to...

Magic Time!: ‘An Act of God’ at Signature Theatre

Rarely have I enjoyed such a perfect union of comic writing, acting, and staging with such non-stop hilarity. Just opened in the intimate Ark theater at Signature. An Act of God, had me doubled over...

Review: ‘2.5 Minute Ride’ at Theatre Horizon

There’s a lot going on in Lisa Kron’s life. There’s her brother’s upcoming marriage, a ceremony that’s being held at a Jewish community center with “a wonderful design out of a 1972 James Bond movie.”...

Review: ‘The Price’ at Arena Stage

Arthur Miller is best known for his two American classics: Death of a Salesman and All My Sons. American high schoolers still know him for his third significant work, The Crucible. Although The Price,...

In the Moment: ‘Are you now or have you ever been…’ at MetroStage

As I took in, with a notably racially diverse audience, MetroStage’s top-notch, tense, musically revealing production, Are you now or have you ever been…, so many questions challenged me. The...

Review: ‘Time and the Conways’ at The Roundabout Theatre Company

The Roundabout Theatre Company has delivered to Broadway an interesting revival of this J.B. Priestley play that intrigued Depression audiences in the mid 1930s when it opened in New York and London....

Movie Review: ‘The Florida Project’

The Florida Project covers part of a summer in the life of the denizens of motels along US 192, a stretch of highway right around the entrance to one of Walt Disney’s places. It is a world whose...

Interview: Cristen Stephansky Discusses Peace Mountain Theatre Company’s ‘Lost in Yonkers’

Please tell us about yourself and your theater background. I’m Cristen Stephansky and I’m playing Gertrude, known as “Gert” for short, in Lost in Yonkers. I’ve performed onstage for many years in...

Review: ‘The Red Shoes’ at Kennedy Center Opera House

Generations of budding ballerinas have lusted after the shiny crimson satin pointe shoes in the classic 1948 film The Red Shoes. Who can resist those shoes, they make the wearer dance, and dance, and...

Review: ‘I’ll Get You Back Again’ at Round House Theatre

There’s a lot going on in Sarah Gancher’s I’ll Get You Back Again, now at the Round House Theatre through October 29: A bitter stand-up comedian and her struggles to reconcile and come to terms with...

Review: ‘Sotto Voce’ at Theater J

In Sotto Voce, Theater J’s first production of the 2017-18 season, the characters don’t actually lower their voices. Instead, they speak in whispers, and not always to each other. However, they do...

Review: ‘Jason Moran & Q-Tip’ at the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater

It started with the basics. Q-Tip took us back to the early days of hip-hop, to 1973 when soldiers were returning from Vietnam and the architects of hip-hop started doing their thing in obscurity....

Fringe Encore Series 2017 Review: ‘Kafka and Son’ at SoHo Playhouse

In November 1919, the 36-year-old Modernist writer Franz Kafka wrote a searing 45-page letter to his domineering father Hermann, dissecting his tyrannical attitude and lifelong emotional abuse. That...

Review: ‘Impressions of Pelléas’ at the Curtis Institute of Music

Claude Debussy’s only opera, Pelléas et Mélisande, is a unique masterpiece. But it’s very long: five acts, around four hours. So director and playwright Peter Brook in 1992 devised an adaptation...