2019

Review: ‘An Evening Of Mozart: The Da Ponte Operas’ by Maryland Lyric Opera’s Young Artist Institute

The Maryland Lyric Opera (MDLO) presented an evening of an assortment of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s musical excerpts from three of his most esteemed operas–The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, and...

Review: ‘Faust’ by Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center

It’s been a quarter of a century since Satan came to call on the Kennedy Center, but the Washington National Opera’s production of Faust (with music by Charles Gounod and libretto by Jules Barbier and...

The 2019 WATCH AWARDS Ceremony Takes Place Tonight

The 19th Annual WATCH Awards winners will be announced tonight at a ceremony at the Birchmere in Alexandria Virginia. DC Theater Arts will be at the ceremony to bring you updates on social media...

Review: ‘JQA’ at Arena Stage

Leaving Arena Stage’s world premiere of JQA, the fictionalized account of John Quincy Adams as imagined by playwright/director Aaron Posner, I’m feeling this: Adams was a sour, stiff-necked, rigid man...

Review: ‘Hexagon 2019: Romp in the Swamp’

Hexagon has been around for 64 years and never seems to age. Since 1956 the musical comedy theater group has been turning out original political satire that’s as of-the-moment as the news. Its latest...

Magic Time!: ‘Limits’ by Cirkus Cirkör at The Kennedy Center

The circus I fell in love with as a kid is gone. It was touted at the time as the greatest show on earth: a three-ring tented extravaganza that smelled of roasted peanuts, sawdust, and manure and...

Review: ‘The Seagull’ at The Wheel Theatre Company

An aspiring playwright and son loves an aspiring actress and ingenue. A famous actress and mother loves a famous writer and inconstant. Life doesn’t often provide neat parallels between generations...

Review: ‘Be More Chill’ at the Lyceum Theatre

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any better, Be More Chill has. Following its sold-out extended run at The Pershing Square Signature Center, the sensational high-school musical that defines teen...

Arena Stage Voices of Now Artists Return from Trip to Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina

(Washington, D.C.) Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater, in partnership with the U.S. Embassy in Zagreb, Croatia and the U.S. Embassy in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, sent four Arena...

Rep Stage Announces 2019-2020 Season Productions

Rep Stage has announced its 2019-2020 Season: Souvenir By Stephen Temperley Directed by Joseph W. Ritsch September 5-22, 2019 E2 By Bob Bartlett WORLD PREMIERE Directed by Joseph W. Ritsch October...

Baltimore Center Stage Announces 2019-2020 Season

Baltimore Center Stage today announce its upcoming season of mainstage plays to mark the debut programming under Artistic Director Stephanie Ybarra: Miss You Like Hell Book and lyrics by Quiara...

Review: ‘A Jewish Joke’ at Theatre Row

One of the darkest periods in modern American politics was the McCarthy Era of the mid-20th century. Fueled by the anti-Communist sentiment of the Cold War, the government issued a list of suspected...

Review: ‘Surely Goodness and Mercy’ at Theatre Row

Making its New York premiere in the Clurman Theatre at Theatre Row, Keen Company’s resonant production of Surely Goodness and Mercy by playwright Chisa Hutchinson is an uplifting present-day parable...

Review: ‘Hands on a Hardbody’ at the Keegan Theatre

The title of this show, if you have never heard of it, doesn’t mean what you might think. It’s not about fitness. It’s not about sex. It’s a country-western musical about ten hard-up Texans trying to...

Studio Acting Conservatory Announces Location for 2019-2020 Classes

The newly formed Studio Acting Conservatory has secured temporary space for its next season of classes. 2019-2020 Classes will take place in Washington, DC, at the Garnet Patterson School, directly...

Magic Time!: ‘Crying Hands’ by Teater Manu at George Washington University

We like to think that the Holocaust could never happen here. We want to believe that it shouldn’t so it couldn’t. And then comes along a work of theater like Crying Hands that screams out how...

Review: ‘Eugene Onegin’ at Washington National Opera

Of all the grand tear-jerkers, those epic romances that make you want to tear your heart out and roast it on the barbecue, Tchaikovsky’s masterpiece Eugene Onegin stands out. Packed with beautiful...

Review: We Happy Few’s ‘Macbeth’ at Capitol Hill Arts Workshop

Taking their seats in the black box theater, the audience is confronted with three immobile figures cloaked in chiaroscuro, as small, gold-leafed picture frames faintly reflect tiny boxes of light. A...

Review: ‘Time Stands Still’ at Reston Community Players

Many plays try to capture the complexity of the human spirit and the Reston Community Players production of Donald Margulies’, Time Stands Still, does just that. The poignant tale examines an...

Renowned Organist Dr. Lonnie Smith To Bring His Signature Sound to Sixth & I

These days, it is rare to hear an organ in a jazz ensemble. The exception is Dr. Lonnie Smith who not only remains the master of the Hammond B-3 organ but also has had a career that spans more than...

Review: ‘Queen of Basel’ at Studio Theatre

Warning: Spoilers Ahead Christy Escobar’s mesmerizing, compelling, utterly brilliant, performance is the centerpiece of Studio Theatre’s world premiere production of Hilary Bettis’ Queen of Basel. In...

Review: ‘Noises Off’ by the British Players

Noises Off is the Mount Everest of farce. Numerous critics have called Michael Frayn’s 1982 masterwork the greatest farce ever written, and its second act may well be the most difficult to perform...

Review: ‘Crimes of the Heart’ at Vagabond Players

Infusing some eccentric Southern charm into their 103rd season, Baltimore’s Vagabond Players segue into spring with their revival of Beth Henley’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Crimes of the Heart....

Riverside Center for the Performing Arts To Stage ‘The Color Purple’

Riverside Center for the Performing Arts is excited to present The Color Purple opening Wednesday, March 13 and running until Sunday, May 5. The Color Purple opened at The Broadway Theatre in 2005,...

Review: ‘Daddy Long Legs’ by Monumental Theatre Company

Sometimes you find a gem in an unlikely place. That happened to me recently at a small state-of-the-art black-box theatre on the campus of a boarding school on a quiet street in Alexandria, Virginia,...

Review: ‘Disgraced’ at Greenbelt Arts Center

Your mother no doubt told you not to discuss religion or politics over dinner. In Ayad Akhtar’s Disgraced, now playing at the Greenbelt Arts Center, the exchanges among the characters during the...

Review: ‘Anything Goes’ at Silhouette Stages

Silhouette Stages’ production of Anything Goes with music and lyrics by Cole Porter, and book by Guy Bolton, P.G. Wodehouse, Howard Lindsay, and Russel Crouse is presently playing at Slayton House...

Review: ‘Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity’ at Signature Theatre

Arresting and compelling are two words that describe Signature Theatre’s fiery production about survival in a society racked by long-term natural disasters and deadly human-made upheavals. Playwright...

Review: ‘The National Symphony Orchestra with Cellist Kian Soltani’ at the Kennedy Center

The National Symphony Orchestra delighted with a superb program on Thursday night at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. Acclaimed cellist Kian Soltani performed with panache as he joined forces with...

Review: ‘Oleanna’ by Providence Players of Fairfax

By Rob Cuevas The current production of Oleanna by Providence Players of Fairfax, hosted at Italian Café in Falls Church, VA, is the perfect night out for both delicious Italian cuisine and hearty...

Review: ‘Heathers’ at Rockville Musical Theatre

Heathers: the Musical is an intense roller-coaster of a show, careening from biting satire and dark comedy to touching and intense emotion to hope. In the 2013 Off-Broadway debut, based on the 1989...

Review: ‘Indecent’ at Baltimore Center Stage

As presented at Baltimore Center Stage, Indecent is a timely, timeless story, about a sexuality, about a religion, about a people, about all people. Audiences will leave this production emotionally...

Avant Bard Announces Sudden Casting Change for ‘Topdog/Underdog’

Avant Bard regrets to report that Khalil Kain has had to withdraw from the cast of Topdog/Underdog due to unforeseen personal circumstances. But Avant Bard is happy to announce that Jeremy Keith...

Review: ‘Confection’ by Third Rail Projects at the Folger Shakespeare Library

Note before you begin: Confection is a unique, multimedia, multisensory, ambulatory, audience-interactive, site-specific theatrical experience — “a rollicking rumination on teeny-tiny desserts.” If...

Review: ‘Chick Flick the Musical’ at the Westside Theatre

Making its debut at Off-Broadway’s Westside Theatre, Chick Flick the Musical – a new work “written by a woman about women for women” (but directed by a man) – unapologetically employs the pejorative...

BSO’s Marin Alsop Defines, Delivers “New Normal” in Classical Music

Marin Alsop thinks we’re ready for a “new normal” in classical music. That is why the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s music director has commissioned a work by a renowned composer who happens to be a...

Applications Now Being Accepted for 2019 Charm City Fringe Festival

The Charm City Fringe Festival has opened applications for its 8th annual theatre festival in Baltimore’s Bromo Arts District. Once again, application fees for Baltimore artists are waived in an...

Preview and Commentary: ‘Eugene Onegin’ at Washington National Opera

Opening night in any form of theater is a big deal, but this Saturday’s opening of Eugene Onegin at Washington National Opera carries extra meaning at several levels. It’s the first appearance in...

Review: ‘Vanity Fair’ at Shakespeare Theatre Company

“I think I could be a good woman if I had five thousand a year.” –Becky Sharp William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863) is considered a great writer. Vanity Fair, despite its flaws, is his finest novel....

Review: ‘Man of La Mancha’ by Compass Rose Theater

Compass Rose Theater’s production of Man of La Mancha is an entertaining, colorful show in an unusual location. While the theater is looking for a permanent home, they are performing the classic 1965...

Arena Stage Announces 2019-2020 Season

Arena Stage announced its 2019-2020 season this morning. The season will include the following: Ann By Holland Taylor In the Kreeger Theater | July 11 – August 11, 2019 Jitney By August Wilson...

Olney Theatre Center Announces 2019-2020 Season

Olney Theatre Center has announced the lineup for its 2019-2020 season: Mainstage Productions: Cabaret (August 28 – October 6, 2019) Singin’ in the Rain (November 8, 2019 – January 5, 2020) Miss You...

Keegan Theatre To Offer Regional Premiere of ‘Hands on a Hardbody,’ In Which Only the Strong Survive.

The musical Hands on a Hardbody opens at the Keegan Theatre on March 9. Based on a contest held in small-town Texas in 1995, Hands on a Hardbody chronicles a group of people participating in a...

Shakespeare Theatre Company Announces ‘Michael Kahn and Friends: Off the Record’

Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Artistic Director Michael Kahn invites theatre-lovers to a series of intimate conversations about life in the D.C. theatre scene as he prepares to retire from the STC...

Review: ‘Puffs: Or Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic and Magic’ by Landless Theatre Company

Ask just about anyone Gen-X and younger and they can (and will, gladly) tell you which House they would be sorted into, if we had the chance to attend a certain school of magic. For those of us who...

Embracing Arlington Arts Fights Proposed Arlington Budget Cuts

Over the weekend, County Manager Mark Schwartz submitted his recommended 2020 budget to the Arlington County Board. If implemented, it will prove to be devastating to the Arlington arts community. He...

Review: ‘Oil’ at Olney Theatre Center

There are a few shows – very few – which on first viewing have left me breathless. The original productions of Sweeney Todd and Copenhagen come quickly to mind. To this small list add the American...

Review: ‘Blood at the Root’ at Theater Alliance

Raymond O. Caldwell kicks off his new Producing Artistic Directorship at Theater Alliance with a production of Dominque Morisseau’s Blood at the Root that is bursting with youthful exuberance,...

Intoxicated Revelry with a Taste of the Classics: ‘ShakesBEER’ at New York Shakespeare Exchange

Before the advent of purpose-built theaters in Elizabethan England, the coach yards, covered balconies, and galleries of inns and taverns – historical forerunners of the British pub – had served as...

Review: ‘The Philadelphia Story’ by Sterling Playmakers

By Pamela O’Reilly The weather in Northern Virginia is miserable again; thank goodness for the Sterling Playmakers’ rendition of The Philadelphia Story, Philip Barry’s humorous look at the glamorous...