2019

Variations on villainy in the Folger Theatre’s ‘Amadeus’

Villainy takes many forms. And Ian Merrill Peakes – now plotting revenge against a gifted rival in the Folger Shakespeare Theatre’s production of Amadeus – has played more than a few. His most recent...

The New Group’s ‘Cyrano’ at the Daryl Roth Theatre has the unrequited love but not the panache

Making its Off-Broadway debut at the Daryl Roth Theatre, following a developmental presentation by Goodspeed Musicals in August 2018, is The New Group’s production of Cyrano – Erica Schmidt’s musical...

‘Blue Camp,’ an affecting play about men surviving enlistment in the Vietnam War

Dispatch from the front. “Greetings: You are hereby ordered for induction in the Armed Forces of the United States.” For those in the audience of the Boomer generation, Rainbow Theatre’s Blue Camp...

1st Stage to host musical group All 4 Bass on November 16th

Another unique cabaret evening is arriving at 1st Stage in Tysons. It is a musical performance by the quartet All 4 Bass. The event is entitled Play it LOW…Play it COOL. The All 4 Bass group is a...

Shakespeare Theatre Company renames the Lansburgh Theatre

At its annual Gala, Shakespeare Theatre Company announced to a surprised audience that the Lansburgh Theatre at 450 7th St. NW would be rechristened as the Michael R. Klein Theatre. In addition to the...

Signature Theatre’s “A Chorus Line” is a singular sensation

In the theater world, a performer who is a true triple threat – one with the ability to perform at the highest levels as an actor, singer, and dancer all at the same time – is rare. Luckily, Signature...

A powerhouse ‘Protest’ and a vague ‘Vaněk Unleashed’ from Alliance for New Music-Theatre

In honor of the Czech dissident, political prisoner, and playwright Václav Havel, Alliance for New Music-Theatre has served up a two-course theatrical repast in DC’s most outré new arts venue, Dupont...

“All I had to do was listen”: Playwright Norman Yeung rethinks his ‘Theory’

By Norman Yeung That Theory has gained urgency and relevance since I wrote the first draft in 2009 is uncanny and alarming. Over ten years of innumerable workshops, readings, and productions, the...

The music lives forever in ‘Ain’t Too Proud:  The Life and Times of the Temptations’ at The Imperial Theatre

The most successful singing group in the history of R&B proudly lives on in the Tony-award winning jukebox musical Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations. Now onstage at Broadway’s...

Jeremy O. Harris’ ‘Slave Play’ is a raw and ribald examination of race

An antebellum plantation is a hotbed of erotica in the raw, ribald and at times ridiculously funny examination of race in Jeremy O. Harris’s Slave Play. Three interracial couples run wild, in body and...

‘Flyin’ West’ Soars to the Clarice UMD’s School of Theatre, Dance, & Performance Studies

By Kyle Starling The School of Theatre, Dance, & Performance Studies (TDPS) and The Clarice at the University of Maryland, College Park will be premiering their main stage production of Flyin’ West by...

Jaime Lozano is heating up November with a brand new album and a concert at The Green Room 42!

Mexican composer, arranger, orchestrator, and director Jaime Lozano – a native of Monterrey and a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of Arts, with a Master of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre Writing – has a...

‘The Willard Suitcases’ unpacks the re-imagined voices of psychiatric patients at American Shakespeare Center

First, dear reader, a confession—for which I fully expect to be pilloried, drawn and quartered, then maybe burned at the stake: I’m not a huge fan of musicals these days. Yeah, I know, there was a...

A ridiculously funny and revelatory vision of East meets West in ‘Soft Power’ at The Public Theater

On November 29, 2015, Tony Award-winning playwright David Henry Hwang (M Butterfly) survived a potentially fatal knife attack to his neck on the street near his home in Brooklyn. That unprovoked (and...

Cleopatra rules the stage in American Shakespeare Center’s ‘Antony and Cleopatra’

Of all of Shakespeare’s history plays, Antony and Cleopatra is the most complicated and thankless to stage. You’ve got shifting alliances, battles won then lost, and then you’ve got the bizarre...

American Shakespeare Center delivers a fresh take on ‘Julius Caesar’

You know you’re in for a new take on Julius Caesar when the famous Soothsayer (“Beware the Ides of March!”) doesn’t enter upstage right or left, as usual, to make his warning. In Ethan McSweeny’s...

Call for proposals for the 2020-2021 theater season at the Arts Barn

Arts on the Green, the City of Gaithersburg’s home for the performing and visual arts which includes the Kentland’s Mansion and Arts Barn, is now soliciting production proposals for the theater season...

‘Sweat’ at Silver Spring Stage: a precise portrayal of workers caught in a rip tide

I’ve never been to Reading, PA, the location of Lynn Nottage’s searing 2015 Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Sweat, now playing at Silver Spring Stage, but my life has been bracketed by living in or near...

Local Playwright Audrey Cefaly’s ‘Alabaster’ to receive record breaking ten-city rolling world premiere

National New Play Network, the country’s alliance of nonprofit theaters that collaborate in innovative ways to develop, produce, and extend the life of new plays, announces its 91st Rolling World...

Rainbow Theatre Project’s ‘Blue Camp’ shows its lavender heart

This world premiere comic drama about gays in the military takes us back to July and August of 1964 when LBJ was ordering American ground troops into Vietnam in response to the Gulf of Tonkin incident...

A seamless ‘Magic Flute’ at Washington National Opera

The opening night performance of Washington National Opera’s production of Wolfgang A. Mozart’s The Magic Flute was perfectly pleasing, even if the show as written is just too long. Tradition holds...

A thrilling ‘Tosca’ by Annapolis Opera at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts

Annapolis Opera’s production of Tosca, performed at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts, is a thrilling work of theater, combining beautiful music, singing, and acting with creative set and lighting...

‘E2’ – Whipping up a royal froth of glitz and tragedy at Rep Stage

At Rep Stage in Howard County, Bob Bartlett’s new play E2 certainly proves it can make a head-turning entrance. This bold and sensuous take on the oft-told tale of King Edward II unfolds against a...

Haunting world premiere by Ally Theatre Company of ‘Dhana and the Rosebuds’

The email popped into my box from my editor. To paraphrase: “Is it too far for you to go cover Ally Theatre’s new theatre piece in Mt. Rainer about Syrian refugees?” The irony was not lost on me: Too...

Signature Theatre to present ‘Mamma Mia!’ at DC’s Anthem

Signature Theatre announced today that it will produce Mamma Mia! this summer at The Wharf, Washington, DC’s newest concert venue. Mamma Mia! will run for two weeks from June 25 to July 5, 2020. With...

Keen Company brings profound empathy and true vision to ‘Molly Sweeney’ at Theatre Row

Acclaimed Irish playwright Brian Friel is a master wordsmith, captivating storyteller, and consummate observer of the human condition, and that is nowhere more evident than in the Keen Company’s...

‘The American Soldier’ to illuminate the impact of military service at the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage

Next week, The Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage will present a performance keyed to Veteran’s Day–The American Soldier, conceived, written and performed by Douglas Taurel. The November 13 performance...

From these ‘Rags,’ riches at George Mason University

Congratulations DC-area theatergoers! A new version of a major musical is being performed at George Mason University this weekend. It has legs and there are still tickets available. Rags is the...

Bottomless Broadway Brunch to Launch Monumental Theatre Company’s Season

Monumental Theatre Company will be hosting a Bottomless Broadway Brunch on November 30, 2019. This event will feature performers from Monumental Theatre Company’s upcoming 2020 season, as well as a...

Wolf Pack’s ‘Rocky Horror Show’ seduces Brentwood

If you are into corsets, fishnets, glitter, high heels, bold makeup, sexual innuendo and cussing as art, Wolf Pack Theatre Company’s (WPTC) rendition of Richard O’Brien’s cult classic Rocky Horror...

‘Port Authority,’ Conor McPherson’s tale of lust and loss, returns to Quotidian

Storytelling is a gift. And Conor McPherson—the Irish playwright, screenwriter and long-time ‘bad boy’ of the British stage–is one of the most gifted tale-tellers ever known. His Port Authority, now...

A tragic ‘Otello’ at Washington National Opera

The crowd cheered. We were on the Kennedy Center jitney to the Foggy Bottom Metro stop. I had just read aloud a text from my husband that said Howie Kendrick had hit a two-run homer to put the Nats up...

Harvey Fierstein pays homage to trailblazing Congresswoman Bella Abzug in ‘Bella Bella’ at New York City Center

Part biography, part history lesson, and part turn-out-the-vote rally, Manhattan Theatre Club’s world premiere of Bella Bella, written and performed by Tony Awards favorite Harvey Fierstein, pays...

On tour in DC with ‘What to Send Up When It Goes Down’ by Aleshea Harris

Editor’s note: Woolly Mammoth Theatre, in conjunction with its staging of Jackie Sibblies Drury’s Fairview, has brought to DC a show produced by the Harlem-based Movement Theatre Company that is...

Let your imagination run wild with ‘The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical’ at the Longacre Theatre

Adapted from the best-selling young adult novel by Rick Riordan, The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical, now in its Broadway debut at the Longacre Theatre (following a blockbuster Off-Broadway...

Spektral Quartet lets audiences explore the space ‘in-between’

There was a time when I needed the cash, so I substitute taught high school. Turns out I had a knack for helping resistant young minds to focus. The key to getting my students where they needed to go...

Mosaic’s brazenly brainy ‘Theory’ is both a treatise and a treat (Magic Time!)

Academia has inspired several thematically penetrating plays featuring female protagonists—the two teachers falsely accused of being lesbian lovers, for instance, in Lillian Hellman’s 1934 The...

Local stars to shine in Mo Willems world premiere at Kennedy Center

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announces the full cast and creative team for Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! (The Musical!), a Kennedy Center-commissioned world premiere from...

Mosaic’s ‘Theory:’ an embodiment of ‘wokeness’ besieged

Canadian playwright Norman Yeung’s Theory, in its American premiere at Mosaic Theater, seeks to be, in the words of Mosaic’s press release, “a hot button play for our digital moment.” Yeung packs a...

‘Stirring the Waters Across America’ at The REACH is a powerful musical exploration of resistance to racism

Electrifying. Awakening. These are words to describe the heart-rending workshop presentation of Stirring the Waters Across America performed at Studio K at The REACH. To call it anything less would be...

Hometown hero Dave Chappelle honored with the Mark Twain Prize for American humor

On Sunday night Dave Chappelle experienced the most epic of homecomings as the DC native received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The...

‘Little Red’s Most Unusual Day’ entertains at Kentlands Arts Barn

Offenbach and Rossini are not names that roll easily off most children’s tongues. Luckily for parents who are looking for a fun way to introduce their children to classical music, the work of these...

Tony-nominated actor Rob McClure introduces ‘Harmony Helper’ – a new digital app for singers

Promoted as “a singer’s best friend,” Harmony Helper is a brand new app designed to provide musical theater performers and vocalists of all genres with the convenience and control of a digital...

Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Simon Godwin on conscience in ‘Everybody’ and himself

On the day after opening night of Everybody, the first show in Simon Godwin’s much-heralded first season as artistic director of Shakespeare Theatre Company, I visited him in his office to ask him...

Building dreams, not walls, in ‘Sueños: Our American Musical’ at The Green Room 42

Writing duo Jesse Sanchez (book, music, and lyrics) and Jeff Chambers (additional music and orchestrations) brought down the house and lifted our spirits at The Green Room 42 on Saturday evening...

A colorful ‘Seussical’ at Rockville Musical Theatre

Imagine how excited I was. For the first time in my life, the baseball World Series was being played in Washington DC. On top of that, it is rookie left fielder Juan Soto’s 21st birthday. But, best of...

Michael Burgos’s ‘Tiramisù’ is one hilarious trip

Tiramisù—the caffeinated confection from Italy—translates as “pick me up” or “cheer me up,” which makes it the perfect name for the hilarious new solo show Michael Burgos brought to DC Arts Center...

Murder most melodic in Reston’s ‘Gentleman’s Guide’

Getting killed multiple times in a single production can be great fun (my personal best is three). In Reston Community Players’ (RCP) A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, Patrick Graham – playing...

Solas Nua’s ‘The Smuggler’ by Ronán Noone is Moving to Round House Theatre November 1-13

Following a completely sold-out run at Allegory/Eaton DC, Solas Nua’s immersive cocktail theatre production will move to the dramatically renovated bar at award-winning Round House Theatre in...

A personal view of the lingering devastation of rape in ‘When It Happens to You’ at The Sheen Center

In The Sheen Center’s world-premiere Off-Broadway production of When It Happens to You, best-selling author Tawni O’Dell shares her personal story of the ongoing effects that the brutal rape of her...