2018

Review: ‘TSVETAEVA’ by the Russian Chamber Art Society

The Russian Chamber Art Society (RCAS) has been bringing Russian chamber music of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to Washington audiences for more than a decade, so its decision to expand...

‘Perhaps He’s a Prodigy.’ How Walter ‘Bobby’ McCoy Went from High School to the Heights of DC Theater

Many students use their high school musical to dip their toes into the theater world. Walter “Bobby” McCoy, used it to launch himself into the deep end. When McCoy was a freshman, the new theater...

Review: ‘New Guidelines for Peaceful Times’ at Spooky Action Theater

It is mid-April, 1945. The war in Europe is nearly over. However, neither a proper armistice nor formal surrender has been signed by the Allies with the former Nazi regime. It is an unsettled time...

Review: ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’ at The Arlington Players

By Gloria DuGan As one who had reservations about enjoying a musical about The Hunchback of Notre Dame, I was pleasantly surprised viewing the production at The Arlington Players. It had passion,...

Photo Feature: ‘The Jonathan Larson Project’ at Feinstein’s/54 Below

The Jonathan Larson Project, performed at Feinstein’s /54 Below, was a fitting tribute to composer Jonathan Larson, who tragically passed away in 1996 just as his hit musical Rent arrived on Broadway....

Review: ‘Spider’s Web’ at the Laurel Mill Playhouse

Agatha Christie’s suspense story, Spider’s Web, opened this weekend at the Laurel Mill Playhouse located on Main Street in historic Laurel, Maryland. This show is produced by Maureen Rogers and...

Review: ‘Your Invisible Corset’ at The Clemente

Playwright Patricia Lynn, Artistic Director of Hunger & Thirst Theatre, began her series of present-day gynocentric adaptations of classic Gothic horror stories with the company’s 2016 production of...

Review: ‘Dracula’ at The Little Theatre of Alexandria

Local theatre gems exist everywhere and The Little Theatre of Alexandria is definitely one of the DC area’s theatrical treasures. An exceptional cast brought Halloween to Old Town Alexandria with its...

Review: ‘A Shayna Maidel’ by Peace Mountain Theatre Company

By Julie Janson Peace Mountain Theatre Company’s production of Barbara Lebow’s A Shayna Maidel is a piercing, unabashed look at life before and after the Holocaust through the eyes of two separated...

Review: ‘The Addams Family’ by Silhouette Stages

It’s all together ooky, The Addams Family. That’s a good thing, of course. Save for one flaw, Silhouette Stages’ production of the show is a comic delight, well sung and danced by a talented cast. The...

Review: ‘Anon(ymous)’ by Theatre Prometheus at the Silver Spring Black Box

Countless migrant children have been separated from home and family in war-torn parts of the world, and there is no way all their stories will be told. But Naomi Iizuka’s Anon(ymous)—just opened in a...

Review: ‘Sleepy Hollow’ at Synetic Theater

It is officially Fall and nothing says Halloween season like Washington Irving’s Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Synetic Theater has taken this American horror classic and adapted the story into their own...

Review: ‘Hedda Gabbler’ at Britches and Hose Theatre Company

By Jen Lofquist Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler is almost a master class in restrained theatre. His words, like the Nordic landscape, are stark and carved. Ibsen will tolerate no over-acting and no scene...

In the Moment: ‘Sleepy Hollow’ at Synetic Theater

As if inspired by Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness or even Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now, Synetic’s highly original production of Sleepy Hollow, performed without dialogue, is an adult...

Review: ‘Midnight at The Never Get’ at The York Theatre Company

Making its Off-Broadway premiere with The York Theatre Company, Midnight at The Never Get, with book, music, and lyrics by Mark Sonnenblick (winner of the 2018 Jonathan Larson Award), has already...

Review: ‘The Jonathan Larson Project’ at Feinstein’s/54 Below

Before his untimely death in 1996 at the age of 35, composer and playwright Jonathan Larson created groundbreaking work that would become the touchstone of a generation and a watershed moment for new...

Review: ‘Les Misérables’ at the Hippodrome Theatre

The Hippodrome Theatre has bookended its 2018 season with a pair of heavy-lifting musicals about democracy and revolution. For openers, it has that 30th-anniversary touring production of Les...

Season 3 of ‘Shakespeare Uncovered’ Launches October 12 on WETA-26

Washington, DC has had a long love affair with Shakespeare. In our midst are institutions like the world-renowned Folger Shakespeare Library, and many DC-area theater companies that celebrate The...

William L. Hopkins And The Estate Of Richard B. Anderson Announce The 2018 Anderson-Hopkins Award For Excellence In Theatre

Washington, DC: The Anderson-Hopkins Award for Excellence in the Theater Arts presented six awards Monday night at Signature Theatre, October 8. The award was presented to actors Will Gartshore, Ted...

Review: ‘Venus in Fur’ at Compass Rose Theater

It is hard to describe Compass Rose Theater’s production of Venus in Fur except as awesome in the original sense of inspiring awe. Written by David Ives and first appearing off-Broadway in 2010, then...

Review: ‘La traviata’ by the Washington National Opera

Washington National Opera’s current production of Giuseppe Verdi’s La traviata is a moving and heart-wrenching view of tragic romantic love in all its variations. Under the taut and astute direction...

Review: ‘Nevermore’ at Creative Cauldron

Creative Cauldron’s production of the musical Nevermore places the work of 19th-century writer, poet and literary critic Edgar Allan Poe at your feet. With music by Matt Connor, and Book by Grace...

Interview: Composer and Lyricist Michael Dansicker on ‘The Comedy of Errors’

With the addition of original music from composer/lyricist Michael Dansicker, Shakespeare Theatre Company’s (STC) The Comedy of Errors is abandonment into farce. Whatever may be outside the walls of...

Review: The Coil Project’s ‘Strange Tales: Paradise Motel’ at Capitol Hill Arts Workshop

Seasonally-themed evenings of short plays are a staple for smaller theater companies – and with Halloween just weeks away, The Coil Project offers up a quartet of violent and supernatural one-acts in...

Review: ‘Spring Awakening’ by StillPointe Theatre

Ryan Haase, the wunderkind behind StillPointe Theatre Initiative, ends the pre-show announcement for his current production of the musical Spring Awakening by urging us to “forget the craziness...

Review: ‘Street Scene’ by Virginia Opera

Kurt Weill’s varied score, Langston Hughes’ eloquent lyrics, a powerful book by playwright Elmer Rice, and a quality ensemble cast combine in Virginia Opera’s production of Street Scene, to create the...

Review: ‘Ghostchasers’ by Encore Stage

By Andy Arnold You know you’ll have a bad day at work when the guests at the Hangtown Asylum for Extremely Tense People lock up the staff and take over the business. As it happens, the asylum is built...

Review: ‘A Tuna Christmas’ by McLean Community Players

Some people believe that the Christmas season should begin the Friday after Thanksgiving. Other people start celebrating Christmas earlier, in some cases, much earlier. If the turning of the leaves...

Review: ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center

It’s the heartwarming story of a hapless boy and his exotic plant. No, wait, it’s a cautionary sci-fi allegory about human desire. Correction: it’s a fun doo-wop musical packed with archetypical...

Baltimore Concert Opera Delivers Glamour, Grandeur and Stunning Performances at Unique Historic Venue

From the time you enter the historic Garrett-Jacobs Mansion, also known as the Engineers Club, you feel as though you have taken a step back in time. Chandeliers, English Oak, Tiffany glass windows,...

Review: ‘The Philadelphia Story’ at St. Mark’s Players

Philadelphia 1939. The Great Depression is nearly over and the United States is on the brink of war. Sent out by a gossip weekly to cover the wedding of socialite Tracy Lord (Lauren Devoll), reporter...

Review: ‘2018 Marian Anderson Vocal Award Winner: Ryan Speedo Green in Concert’ at the Kennedy Center

Ryan Speedo Green is a man with a story. Many opera fans first learned his name through Daniel Bergner’s 2016 book Sing for Your Life: A Story of Race, Music, and Family. The New York Times journalist...

In the Moment: ‘Heisenberg’ at Signature Theatre

With notes at the top of his work Heisenberg, playwright Simon Stephens gives undecorated, clear direction to theater companies for his expectations when producing the play: The present day. The stage...

Review: ‘The Evolution of Mann’ at the cell

Panic, desperation, and a ticking clock are not the best motivations for dating or matrimony, as evinced by Henry Mann, the titular character in The Evolution of Mann. The new musical rom-com by...

A Few Questions for Joel Grey on Directing ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ at the Museum of Jewish Heritage

A Broadway legend and award-winning actor who received both a Tony (1967) and an Oscar (1972) for his role as the Emcee in Cabaret, Joel Grey is again garnering critical and popular acclaim with the...

Review: ‘The Comedy of Errors’ at Shakespeare Theatre Company

The Comedy of Errors is one of Shakespeare’s earliest and most popular works, so there is little point recounting the plot. One must only remember that it is the one with two sets of twins: one a pair...

Review: ‘The Comedy of Errors’ at Annapolis Shakespeare Company

Annapolis Shakespeare Company’s production of The Comedy of Errors, directed by Sally Boyett, is a hilariously funny and inventive reimagining of Shakespeare’s early play, combining physical comedy,...

Review: ‘Night, Mother at the Strand Theater

In his classic acting guidebook Audition, Michael Shurtleff observed, “A murderer kills just one. A suicide kills the whole world.” Marsha Norman acknowledges as much in her Pulitzer Prize-winning...

Review: ‘She Stoops To Conquer’ at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company

Hurry to see a vibrant and uproariously funny production of a classic comedy. Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, “at home” in a converted downtown bank building, which, for historic reasons, retains...

Kelsey Hunt Dresses the Stars in Ford’s Frothy Revival of ‘Born Yesterday’

“Born Yesterday is a winner.” Those are the words of my colleague, David Siegel, whose review of the gloriously effervescent comedy that just opened at Ford’s Theatre is full of superlatives....

BlackRock Center for the Arts Presents “Signature Theatre Cabaret: Streisand Songbook”

Barbra comes to BlackRock with Signature Theatre Cabaret’s Streisand Songbook BlackRock Center for the Arts officially kicks off its versatile 2018-19 season with Streisand Songbook, from the...

Review: ‘Labour of Love’ at Olney Theatre Center

Just when Americans think we have a monopoly on political rancor, along comes a show from across the pond to remind us that we aren’t the only ones dealing with extreme political partisanship....

Review: ‘Summerland’ at Washington Stage Guild

What began as a mundane two-hander focused on stiff argumentative males in an investigative procedural play, develops into something pleasingly knotty and intense. All it takes is one new character...

Senator Chris Van Hollen To Cut The Ribbon at ATMTC’s Ceremonial Grand Reopening October 15th

Adventure Theatre MTC (ATMTC) announces its grand reopening on October 15th in Glen Echo Park after seven months of renovations due to an electrical fire. Executives from Adventure Theatre MTC’s...

Magic Time!: ‘Safeguards’ by Brave Soul Collective at Anacostia Arts Center

Brave Soul Collective is a hidden gem of theatrical truthtelling about black men who are LGBTQ. Periodically the collective surfaces with a one-night-only showcase of work by local writing and...

Review: ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’ at Rockville Little Theatre

Anne Frank’s immortal words about love, fear, and hope come alive once again at Rockville Little Theatre’s new production of The Diary of Anne Frank. Based on the words of World War II’s most famous...

Review: ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’ at Aldersgate Church Community Theater

When a story is so well-known and well-loved by many people, audience members tend to have high expectations and Aldersgate Church Community Theater’s production of The Count of Monte Cristo will...

Review: ‘The Nap’ at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre

In the cue game of snooker, the British version of pool, the nap refers to the rough-surface direction of the fabric covering the table, which affects the path of the ball. In Richard Bean’s...

Review: ‘Heisenberg’ at Signature Theatre

Simon Stephens’ Heisenberg, now playing at Signature Theatre, begins with two souls in hiding. Georgie Burns (Rachel Zampelli) hides whatever pains and losses she has suffered behind her frenetic...

Review: ‘The Eleventh Hour’ at Town Stages

A mash-up of romantic comedy, sci-fi parody, and rock musical, The Eleventh Hour, with book, music, and lyrics by David Seamon, is back at Town Stages for a limited engagement presented by Smugbug...