2019

DCMTA 2019 Staff Favorites: Outstanding Performance in a Professional Production

As the year draws to a close, we asked DCMTA writers to think back on the performances that left an indelible impression on them in 2019. Here are the professional performances that made the biggest...

Playwright Jonathan Spector on the shadows that lurk behind the laughter in ‘Eureka Day.’

There’s no doubt about it. Eureka Day is a very funny play. The show, now having its DC debut at Mosaic Theater, features five perfectly-attuned actors, a director who understands comedy, a script...

Family friendly ‘Tiny Tim’s Christmas Carol’ at Silver Spring Stage

Silver Spring Stage’s production of Tiny Tim’s Christmas Carol is a fun, family-friendly take on Charles Dickens’ classic tale. Written by Ken and Jack Ludwig, this 2015 play has Tiny Tim and his...

A Powerhouse Performance of Handel’s Messiah by NSO at The Kennedy Center

At the outset, I will confess a bias: I much prefer listening to baroque pieces played in the style, and on the scale, of the time in which they were composed. Handel’s 1741 oratorio Messiah was...

‘A Christmas Carol’ comes to life at Museum of the Bible

Charles Dickens’ classic holiday tale A Christmas Carol comes to life in a unique living history experience at Museum of the Bible in the aptly named A Christmas Carol Experience. This charming...

A ‘My Fair Lady’ for today at the Kennedy Center

The character arc that carries Lerner and Loewe’s classic My Fair Lady belongs to Eliza Doolittle, as she rises from flower girl at Covent Garden to the belle of the embassy ball, from feral street...

‘Not just a field trip’: Strathmore partners with Montgomery County Public Schools to engage children in the arts

Schools play a pivotal role in cultivating the next generations, and the arts have a key role. Research suggests that arts educational experiences can produce significant positive impacts on academic...

DCMTA 2019 Staff Favorites: Outstanding Professional Theater Productions

As the year draws to a close, we asked DCMTA writers to think back on the shows that left an indelible impression on them in 2019. In this category, outstanding overall production, we recognize:...

‘The Magical Piñata’ at the Keegan Theatre celebrates Mexican culture and teaches about sharing

The concept of gratitude and sharing can be one of the hardest things for a child to learn. But in a world full of greed, these principles are vital to maintaining a semblance of peace and prosperity....

‘Jersey Boys’ rides the highs and lows of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons in melodious style

There’s a scene in the mind-blowingly good musical Jersey Boys in which erstwhile hoodlum and fast-talker Tommy DeVito, founder of the internationally known singing group The Four Seasons, tells...

The Claremont Trio triumphs with concert of female composers at the Phillips Collection

Concerts in private salons rather than formal concert halls dot the history of music-making. But they can give the impression of being secondary events where no real music history took place. That...

The ‘Long View’ glimpses inner life of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

There has been plenty of backlash during this administration against what some critics have called “the cult” of RBG, aka, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Some are critical of the...

Step Afrika!’s ‘Magical Musical Holiday Step Show’ is a winter wonderland of joy

Now in its eighth year, Step Afrika!’s Magical Musical Holiday Step Show has established itself as the season’s most joyful and lovable family festivity in DC. Exuberant music, adorable humor, and...

Ken Ludwig on ‘Dear Jack, Dear Louise,’ a long-awaited stage celebration of his parents’ long-distance romance

There’s a lovely new play at Arena Stage, but you’ll have to rush if you want to see it. That’s because the play—Ken Ludwig’s Dear Jack, Dear Louise—will be off and running before the year ends,...

‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ hits the road to 50

Jesus wears his hair in a man-bun and Mary Magdalene appears a bit like a millennial caught outside her “safe space”—but there’s still plenty of power and glory on display in the new 50th Anniversary...

Top five theater ghosts…before ‘The Woman in Black’ arrived at Shakespeare Theatre Company

The Woman in Black, the long-playing London ghost story now perturbing a Shakespeare Theatre Company stage, reminds us that spine-chilling horror can be the most delightful of sensations. To put us in...

‘Black Nativity’ inspires and uplifts at Anacostia Playhouse

There are many joyous traditions this time of year, but to my mind the most indispensable has become Black Nativity. With its spiritual values on its finely-woven sleeve, it’s a show that inspires...

Get your bells jingling with ‘The Boy Band Project Holiday Edition’ at The Green Room 42

It may be cold outside, but The Green Room 42 keeps on sizzling with The Boy Band Project Holiday Edition, a new seasonal version of the group’s super-popular Sunday afternoon cabaret The Boy Band...

Dark Horse Theatre Company, theatreWashington’s newest member, kicks off 2020 with ‘The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later’

Dark Horse Theatre Company is the newest member of theatreWashington. As readers of DCMTA are aware, theatreWashington is the organization dedicated to supporting and representing the Washington, DC...

Isabella Star LaBlanc, who plays Tiger Lily in ‘Peter Pan and Wendy’ at Shakespeare Theatre Company, on why Native stories matter

When Playwright Lauren Gunderson took on the challenge of adapting J. M. Barrie’s 1904 Peter Pan, she knew she had to fix what she has called the “deeply harmful misrepresentation of Indigenous people...

Choral Arts Society Holiday Concert: sing along and hear expert musicians celebrate the season

If singing along to the Hallelujah Chorus or Hark, the Herald Angels Sing are requisite to bolstering your holiday spirit, then Songs of the Season: Christmas with Choral Arts at the Kennedy Center...

Annapolis Shakespeare Company’s ‘A Broadway Holiday’ is a delightful tribute to Christmas classics

Annapolis Shakespeare Company’s production of A Broadway Holiday is a fun, sweet tribute to classic Christmas shows. With an original book and directed by Sally Boyett, and musical direction and...

Scena Theatre’s ‘The Dead’ presents quiet desperation at Christmastime

Based on a renowned short story by James Joyce, The Dead, now being presented by Scena Theatre, is a slice of the lives of polite, quiet desperation lived by genteel middle-class Dubliners in the...

At Mosaic’s ‘Eureka Day,’ a class in laughs and spats is in session

The five adults seated onstage in a children’s classroom each have a kid enrolled in this private day school, which like the play we’re watching is named Eureka Day. These earnest parents are all...

‘A Holiday Pops! with Leslie Odom, Jr.’ brings holiday cheer to the Kennedy Center

The NSO Pops helped to make our spirits bright with its annual Christmas concert featuring Tony and Grammy Award-winning Leslie Odom, Jr. and a parcel of musical gifts from his Simply Christmas album....

DCMTA 2019 Staff Favorites: Outstanding Design Elements in Community Theater Productions

As the year draws to a close, we asked DCMTA writers to think back on the shows that left an indelible impression on them in 2019. In this category, outstanding community theater design, we recognize:...

Enter the fantasy world of the land inside the poem with Cirque du Soleil’s ‘‘Twas the Night Before . . .’ at Madison Square Garden

Cirque du Soleil’s first-ever Christmas show ‘Twas the Night Before . . . , making its debut at Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theater, presents a sparkling contemporary spin on the beloved 19th-century...

The British Players’ ‘Alice in Wonderland: A Traditional British Panto’ delivers sublime silliness

Ah, yes, it’s that most wonderful time of the year: The tingle of frozen breath on the air, the sparkle of lights on the trees, the warmth of spiced cider, and the sublime silliness of Panto. “Panto?...

DCMTA 2019 Staff Favorites: Outstanding Performance in a Community Theater Production

As the year draws to a close, we asked DCMTA writers to think back on the shows that left an indelible impression on them in 2019. Here are the community theater performances that made the biggest...

‘Come from Away’ emphasizes joy: Canadian musical lights up Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater

Every September 11, America mourns the tragic events that astonished and saddened people around the globe in 2001: the attack on New York’s Twin Towers and Washington, D.C.’s Pentagon. Each year, at...

Christmastime is here (in Manassas) with Prince William Little Theatre’s ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’

Prince William Little Theatre’s A Charlie Brown Christmas feels as comfortable and warm as snuggling up on the couch and watching classic Christmas movies with a mug of cocoa. Supported by the hard...

DCMTA 2019 Staff Favorites: Outstanding Community Theater Productions

As the year draws to a close, we asked DCMTA writers to think back on the productions that left an indelible impression on them in 2019. Here are the community theater productions that left the...

The appeal of ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ endures at The National Theatre

Fiddler on the Roof, the quintessentially Jewish musical about keeping one’s balance in changing times, remains ebullient and undiminished in its eternal appeal. At the opening night performance for...

4615 Theatre Company presents ambitious adaptation of Irish legend in ‘Infinite Tales’

If the notion of compressing 900 years of Irish mythology into a single two-hour show sounds like a lot to take on, that’s because it is. In fact, tackling the entire pantheon of Irish legend—which is...

‘A dream for me’: Ashley Bruce on playing Mary Delgado in ‘Jersey Boys’

While the Tony Award-winning musical is called Jersey Boys, let’s not forget that so many of the Billboard chart-toppers performed in the show are about the real-life Frankie Valli and the Four...

Ballet Theatre of Maryland presents a gorgeous ‘Nutcracker’ at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts

Ballet Theatre of Maryland’s production of The Nutcracker at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts is a real treat for the senses. Choreographed by Artistic Director Dianna Cuatto, it brings...

Creative Cauldron presents ‘Madeline’s Christmas’ for some wholesome holiday cheer

In what is becoming a delightful Christmas tradition, Creative Cauldron reprises their holiday production of Madeline’s Christmas. The lighthearted musical is based on the beloved books by Ludwig...

Mosaic Theater’s ‘Eureka Day’ puts immunization in the hot seat

In Samoa, 68 people – mostly children – have died of measles in recent weeks, victims of an abysmally low immunization rate resulting, in significant part, from misinformation spread on social media...

‘I Take Your Hand in Mine’ by Taffety Punk Theatre Company brings Chekhov’s romantic life to the stage

A matchless, hypnotic portrait of love. A seductive vision of two lives tangled up in blues with too many tough nights apart as each knows “I have no will of my own.” Are the two people on stage up...

What it’s like to be ‘one in two’ at The Pershing Square Signature Center

Playwright Donja R. Love, prompted by the tenth anniversary of his own diagnosis, explores what it’s like to be Black, queer, and HIV+ in one in two, now playing at The Pershing Square Signature...

‘Peter Pan and Wendy’ at Shakespeare wows with wonder in a woke dream

J. M. Barrie imagined a lot when he wrote his 1904 play about the boy who wouldn’t grow up, but he could not have imagined how many childhoods have been etched by its enchantment. Now in Peter Pan and...

StageCoach Theatre Company’s ‘Santa’s Funky Hawaiian Christmas Cabaret’ a clever, enjoyable twist on holiday favorites

Mele Kalikimaka all y’all! This lively original musical collaboration between Director Joey Olson and Producer Jerri Wiseman captured the entire audience from the moment we all got “Lei’d” during the...

‘Men on Boats’ rewrites the rules at Baltimore Center Stage

Men On Boats is American history as it needs to be retold: Without a white man in sight. Despite writing a historical play focused on the cisgender white men who comprised the Powell Geographic...

WAPAVA Presents ‘The Ghosts of Christmas Past: The History of Ford’s Theatre’s A Christmas Carol’

The Washington Area Performing Arts Video Archive is holding a free event Monday, December 16th from 7 pm-8 pm at the Chevy Chase neighborhood library. Join WAPAVA’s Executive Director Bridget Grace...

Synetic Theater’s ‘The Snow Queen’ sparkles

The lights reveal a figurine on a pedestal—regal, decked head to foot, shimmering, amid the mist. Slowly, cautiously, with a twitch here and a jerk there, that figurine—the Snow Queen—comes to life....

IN Series’ ‘L’Enfance du Christ’ follows the Holy Family’s journey as refugees

Hector Berlioz’s mid-19th-century L’Enfance du Christ is not quite an oratorio in the most familiar sense of that term. Nor is it quite an opera. Written piecemeal over many years by a composer who...

‘Holiday Singin’ Pops’ kicks off the holiday season at Strathmore

To kickstart the Christmas season, the National Philharmonic and the National Philharmonic Chorale performed Holiday Singin’ Pops at the Music Center at Strathmore with guest performers. The two-act...

‘Murder on the Orient Express’ thrills at Everyman Theatre

All Aboard! Get your ticket for Everyman Theatre’s Murder on the Orient Express and enjoy a visually striking whodunnit that is twisty-turny fun for this holiday season. In attendance opening night...

The Little Theatre of Alexandria’s ‘A Christmas Carol’ is a holiday feast for the eyes

This year, The Little Theatre of Alexandria’s annual performance of A Christmas Carol brings to the stage the Charles Dickens classic using a script adapted by Donna Ferragut. The script is a...

The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington jump-starts the season with ‘The Holiday Show’

The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington DC (GMCW) opens the holidays with humor and beauty, power and reverence – and balloons! Upon entering the Lincoln Theatre, the audience relaxes into a moment stolen...