2019

The Old Vic’s new immersive adaptation of ‘A Christmas Carol’ brings holiday magic to Broadway’s Lyceum Theatre

Charles Dickens’ beloved holiday classic of 1843 comes alive like never before in London’s acclaimed Old Vic production of A Christmas Carol, now on Broadway for a strictly limited eight-week...

1st Stage launches free Youth Engagement Subscription (YES) pass for Fairfax County high school students

Now in its 12th season, the professional 1st Stage Theatre located in Tysons, Virginia, serves as a cultural hub for the community. Beyond producing award-winning theatrical productions, 1st Stage...

John Leguizamo takes audiences to school in ‘Latin History for Morons’ at the National Theatre

John Leguizamo is a famously Latino, American, Tony and Emmy Award-winning comedian, known for numerous roles that defy pigeonholing on the character-genre spectrum. Yet despite the vast range of...

Preserving the legacy of gay history and community with ‘The Inheritance’ at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre

Drawing its inspiration from E.M. Forster’s 1910 masterpiece Howards End, playwright Matthew Lopez re-envisions the story of social conventions and heritage in turn-of-the-century England through the...

‘A Christmas Story: The Musical’ comes to life at Toby’s Dinner Theatre

A Christmas Story: The Musical at Toby’s celebrates the classic charm, innocence and nostalgia of a child’s Christmas in the 1940s with plenty of high energy production numbers from the adult and...

Taking to the stage to turn out the vote with ‘CONFIDENCE (and The Speech)’ at Theatre Row

President Jimmy Carter’s farsighted and cautionary “malaise speech” on the disastrous effects of unchecked climate change on the future of our planet, and the concurrent movement to ratify the Equal...

BSO performs US premiere of Lera Auerbach’s ‘Eve’s Lament – O Flowers, That Never Will Grow’ this week in Baltimore and Bethesda

Now that this summer’s drama surrounding the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s financial woes has quieted, at least for now, we can focus on the significant contributions our home state orchestra and its...

Reflections on a terrifying role: Susan Rome talks about ‘becoming’ Louise Nevelson in Edward Albee’s ‘Occupant’ at Theater J

When Susan Rome bats her eyelashes—as she often does in Edward Albee’s Occupant, now at Theater J—she becomes Louise Nevelson, the iconic sculptor whose life and work were inseparable. The lashes,...

Priyanka Shetty’s one-woman ‘The Elephant in the Room’ comes to The Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage

Called by critics “incisive,” “timely,” and “brave,” Priyanka Shetty’s one-woman show The Elephant in the Room performs Saturday, November 23, 2019, at 6 pm on the Millennium Stage at The Kennedy...

The bad romance at the heart of Studio Theatre’s ‘White Pearl’

Anchuli Felicia King’s White Pearl is a hilarious, fast-paced satire set in the Singapore office of a cosmetics startup called Clearday that sells skin-whitening cream to Asian women. As the play...

‘The Velveteen Rabbit’ at Adventure Theatre is charming holiday fare

We all want to feel loved, right? And there are times we feel forgotten. Unseen. Disposable. The classic children’s story The Velveteen Rabbit is a sentimental reminder that a child’s love can turn...

Washington Stage Guild delivers skillful production of Dickens’ ‘Hard Times’

Like many of Charles Dickens’s sprawling novels, Hard Times chronicles the lives and times of multiple characters dwelling in England’s mid-19th-century industrial chaos. But unlike the elaborate...

Virginia Opera’s ‘Il Postino’: no “scary modern music” here

Virginia Opera’s artistic director Adam Turner, in his program note for contemporary composer Daniel Catán’s Il Postino, hastens to assure audiences that the company is working to dispel myths about...

15 Questions in 15 Minutes with Actor and Comic Remy Germinario

New York-based actor and comedian Remy Germinario is gearing up for his fourth appearance with drag sensation Paige Turner (host and co-creator/producer of NYC’s live drag reality show So You Think...

Live Garra Theatre connects Sartre’s ‘No Exit’ to present day

The Silver Spring Black Box Theatre, situated in the same block as the Fillmore and AFI, has a lot to offer us. Live entertainment, yes, but more importantly entertainment that is personal, and can...

An expressive revival of a ground-breaking work: ‘For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf’ at The Public Theater

First presented at The Public Theater in 1976, the Obie Award-winning For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf, by playwright/poet Ntozake Shange – a pioneering voice in...

‘The Home’ by Nubia Filmworks at Bowie Center for the Performing Arts

As the Gospel stage play The Home opens, it is clear that the Thompson family must soon face a challenge shared by 43.5 million Americans—caring for a family member over 50. Nubia Filmworks’ Director...

Set and staging steal the show at 2nd Star’s ‘A Christmas Carol’

The set and staging steal the show at 2nd Star Productions’ A Christmas Carol: The Musical. That is almost a shame because the acting, singing, and dancing are also first-rate; however, the special...

Mark Morris Dance Group boldly re-imagines ‘Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ in ‘Pepperland’ at the Kennedy Center

Mark Morris dances are emphatically watchable, easily digestible, eccentric, and smartly witty. He so proficiently pairs music and dance, costume and set – with a cadre of collaborators – that it’s...

Blockbuster performances pay tribute to a living legend in the jukebox bio ‘Tina: The Tina Turner Musical’ at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre

Following in the footsteps of SUMMER: The Donna Summer Musical, The Cher Show, and the rash of jukebox bios that have permeated Broadway over the past several years, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical pays...

Virginia Opera opens “From Screen to Stage” series with ‘Il Postino’ at George Mason University

The sensuality and passion of Nobel Prize-winning Chilean poet, diplomat, and politician, Pablo Neruda has become the bones for a contemporary opera, Il Postino by Daniel Catán. Il Postino (The...

Olney Theatre Center’s ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ entertains from start to finish

Once again, Olney Theatre Center (OTC) has put on a tap-happy show. This time it’s Singin’ in the Rain, where the audience hums the familiar tunes as they ratta-ta-tap back to their cars. That was the...

Disney’s ‘Newsies’ at Arena Stage is the good news DC needs right now

From the moment you enter Arena Stage’s Fichandler Stage, an intimate theater-in-the-round where everyone has a seat close to the action, you’ll be transported to turn-of-the-19th-century New York,...

‘Aladdin’ lights up the skies over Baltimore

On stage, Aladdin starts out as the perfect musical for nine-year-olds. But by the time its two swooning lovers have hopped aboard a flying carpet for a trip to the moon, all moms and dads in the...

Cantus’s ‘Alone Together’ at the Kennedy Center puts form over function

Attending Cantus’s Alone Together at the Kennedy Center made me realize that meaningful interaction relies as much upon solitude and mystery as it does connection and revelation. The vocal octet’s...

BSU Theatre reenvisions ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ with artists of color

What does it mean to re-vision a popular musical with theatre artists of color? Students at Bowie State University have set out to do just that with their latest production of Little Shop of Horrors....

A blizzard of imagination and delights in ‘Slava’s Snowshow’ at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre

Just in time for the winter weather, the international touring production of Slava’s Snowshow, created and staged by world-renowned Russian clown and mime Slava Polunin, has arrived at the Stephen...

Creative Cauldron’s Learning Theater shines a fresh light on ‘The Jungle Book’

Creative Cauldron’s Learning Theater presents its own adaptation of the popular tale, The Jungle Book. Based on Rudyard Kipling’s book of the same name, the show centers around the man-cub, Mowgli,...

The Welders’ Annalisa Dias on ‘HEARTSPACE’ and responding to impending and present climate disasters

The Welders, a self-described artists’ collective, burst upon the DMV theatrical landscape in the summer of 2013 with a mission to establish an evolving, alternative platform for play development and...

Expect the unexpected in Washington Improv Theater’s ‘Life and Death with WIT: Hellcat and iMusical’

Improvisational theater is comprised of different aspects of live performance genres, like stand-up comedy or fully scripted plays. But what defines improv, is how the actors use comments from the...

Artistry, rivalry, madness, and genius in Folger Theatre’s ‘Amadeus’

What a great lively yarn about a musical disruptor as a stand-in for the volcanic eruptions of out-and-out revolution in the air throughout Europe and America. Amadeus at Folger Theatre is a triumph....

A whirlwind history lesson on the legacy of LBJ in ‘The Great Society’ at the Vivian Beaumont Theater

With campaigning for the 2020 US election in full swing and impeachment inquiries dominating the news, the theme of presidential politics is a timely one. The Great Society – the second of playwright...

A teen of many talents: Ethan Van Slyke of Arena Stage’s ‘Newsies’

Think back to when you were in high school. You went to classes all day and came home and did homework, right? And maybe you took piano lessons once a week or played a sport. Seventeen-year-old Ethan...

21 best bets for holiday entertainment in and around DC!

The winter holidays are a great time to see a live performance, so here is our list of best bets in holiday entertainment in and around DC. Whether you are looking for a show to enjoy with your kids,...

Fun, frenetic ‘RENT’ at The National still satisfies

The 20th Anniversary Tour of RENT touched down at the National Theatre this week, much to the delight of area RENTheads. This modern take on Puccini’s La Boheme, with music, lyrics and book by the...

We Happy Few brings ‘Lovers’ Vows’ into the twenty-first century

Elizabeth Inchbald’s Lovers’ Vows, first produced in 1798, is every bit as amusing as the unfortunately named Schitt’s Creek, The Good Place, or any other contemporary comedy. Inchbald, an actress and...

In Edward Albee’s first-rate ‘Occupant’ at Theater J, a gutsy woman sculptor creates herself

“True if interesting” is Louise Nevelson’s byword in Occupant, Edward Albee’s witty and wise bioplay about the famous sculptor. She was quite the character. For Nevelson, in the hagiography according...

Ten top Christmastime picks in New York City to put you in the holiday spirit!

Celebrate the season in New York City this year with a wide array of Christmas-themed shows that offers something to delight everyone. From time-honored traditions and classic works to eye-popping...

‘Taj Express: The Bollywood Musical Revue’ offers dazzling dancing and majestic music

Taj Express: The Bollywood Musical Revue is a treat for the eyes and an ocean-tide of extravagance for the senses. This is a musical with dance moves that make you feel as if you are burning calories...

Vocal ensemble Cantus explores human connection in the Digital Age with ‘Alone Together’ at the Kennedy Center

“I realized the thing I missed most in my process was people,” American composer Libby Larsen told me recently. She was speaking about her commissioned work YOU, which the vocal ensemble Cantus will...

Studio Theatre’s ‘White Pearl’ tackles globalization and intra-Asian racism with acerbic wit

If you attend Studio Theatre’s current production of the brilliantly acerbic White Pearl and feel in the first ten minutes that you’re not sure you know what’s happening, don’t worry. Playwright...

American Shakespeare Center mines the humor in Shaw’s ‘Caesar and Cleopatra’

The plays of George Bernard Shaw are, to be honest, an acquired taste. Erudite in the extreme, filled with Shaw’s unique sense of his own intellectual superiority—which is expressed with paper-thin...

Signature’s ‘A Chorus Line’ proves musicals can evolve in the right creative hands

“A Chorus Line is still one of those musicals you will sing about to your grandchildren,” wrote theater and dance critic Clive Barnes in his 1975 New York Times review for A Chorus Line. Barnes had an...

‘Last Summer at Bluefish Cove’ is a heart-wrenching glimpse into lesbian lives

Life has never been easy for women who love other women. Last Summer at Bluefish Cove—written by Jane Chambers and widely regarded as the first production to portray lesbians in a positive light—takes...

‘Agnes of God’ at Factory 449 glories in a trinity of divine performances

Following on Factory 449’s electrifying production two years ago of Lela & Co.—which earned Helen Hayes Awards for both its director (Rick Hammerly) and star (Felicia Curry)—the company now presents...

Audience-pleasing revival of ‘Guys and Dolls’ by Kensington Arts Theatre

You promise me this. You promise me that. You promise me anything under the sun… belts out a swell Elizabeth Hester as Miss Adelaide, the cherry on top of a high-energy revival of Frank Loesser’s...

What’s Beneath the ‘Sea’ at Scena Theatre?

“It feels unknown. This is nowhere somehow,” says a character in this intriguingly cryptic poetic play by the acclaimed Norwegian playwright Jon Fosse. Indeed, where are we? And what is going on?...

Stage managers work long hours for rich rewards

Being a stage manager of a theater production brings challenging, yet too often unheralded responsibilities that begin long before an audience steps into a theater to take a seat. As the production...

Exploding the canon: Inside the IN Series opera company’s “radical” practice

Now into his second year leading IN Series, the itinerant company based at the Source Theater, artistic director Timothy Nelson has not been shy about challenging opera’s status quo. “I believe that...

A nostalgic journey in ‘An Enchanted April’ at Theatre Row

Elizabeth von Arnim’s 1922 novel The Enchanted April, set during the devastating aftermath of World War I and a severe epidemic of the influenza that ravaged England at the time, has been the source...