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The real Ma Rainey. Will the Netflix movie do her justice?
Introducing the real Ma Rainey. Ahead of the premiere on December 18, 2020 of August Wilson’s play Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, it is important for audiences to realize that Ma Rainey is not a fictional...
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Review: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Never will you see anything like it again.
All hail Ma Rainey. The real-life Mother of the Blues gets star power treatment of such high wattage it can scarcely be measured. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2020): (l-r) Chadwick Boseman (“Levee”),...
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Review: “Intimo”– Moody, Masterful Flamenco From GALA Hispanic Theatre
An old-fashioned black-draped dressing mirror is the only prop in the moody, elemental, but by no means elementary “Fuego Flamenco XVI: Intimo,” presented by GALA Hispanic Theatre. The mirror’s...
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Review: From Feinstein’s/54 Below, the return of Sondheim Unplugged
“Being Alive”and “Losing My Mind” – are there any better Sondheim songs to sing at the close of a year full of loss, unrequited yearning and obsession? That they are sung by performers who have moved...
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Close reading of the $15 Billion for Save our Stages shows relief for area...
Congress has included a $15 billion grant package for performance and related arts, including theaters, in the $900 billion coronavirus relief package it passed on Monday. The program, called “Grants...
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Since Bob Brown Puppets arrived, DC has become a welcoming home for puppets
Puppet theater has long enjoyed popularity in Washington. The region has often generated a vibrant children’s theater scene offering a multiplicity of styles for a variety of audiences. One...
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Review: The Snow Queen from Imagination Stage
Aimed at young audiences, but appropriate for children of all ages, The Snow Queen is a magical first for Imagination Stage – the theatre’s first foray into online production. Billed as an “at-home...
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Reflections of a critic on the closing days of DC Theatre Scene
Theater is at its best when it teaches us something. When it makes us think, and reconsider our stance on an issue, or when it carries us away into another land and time, where characters, fantastical...
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Review: An Irish Carol 2020 with original Keegan cast members
No, this isn’t just A Christmas Carol with an accent; it is a riff on the familiar Dickens structure, transported to the equally familiar stage world of an old Irish bar. The ghosts and visitations are...
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Memorable New York stage moments I covered for DC Theatre Scene
Were there magical moments on New York stages in 2020? The question is debatable – just like the definition of “theater” is being debated – since nobody has been performing on any actual stages on...
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Tim Treanor reviews his life as a theatre critic
After death, two professionals spring into action. The undertaker applies makeup, and puts formaldehyde in the veins, so that the forgetting may begin after a celebration. If the undertaker is...
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Lorraine Treanor – These are the plays that won’t let go
These are the plays that won’t let go. They are there as I drift off to sleep, or, unbidden, come to me during the day. This happens more often now, as work here slows to a close. You probably have...
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As DC Theatre Scene ends – resources and expressions of gratitude
DC Theatre Scene ends its 15 year run today. But we won’t be disappearing any time soon. Thanks to a generous donation, we will be able to remain online for the next 3 years. I know many of you have...
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Free Valentine E-cards for theatre lovers
We hope you enjoy these lyrics and lines on love. To share simply copy and email them, or let us do it for you. Just click the radial button to choose any card and click the ‘Next’ button below the...
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Keegan’s about to go live (stream) with Trans Am and Gumbo to Mumbo
Live theater is a dangerous place. We know it as a place where audacious ideas and forms – The Seagull, Death of a Salesman, Angels in America, A Strange Loop – saunter their risky walks across the...
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Tom Prewitt, Avant Bard’s leader, memorial service announced
Update: A memorial service for Tom Prewitt will be held Sunday, Nov 29, 2020 at 1 pm ET. Tom’s family invites you to join them in remembering Tom’s life and celebrating his memory. For a link to the...
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Review: El Perro del Hortelano (The Dog in the Manger) from GALA Hispanic...
February 8, 2020 I sat in GALA’s historic entertainment “palace” to review Nilo Cruz’ Exquisita Agonia. It was the last time (pre-Covid) I enjoyed live theater. Nine months later, Managing Director...
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Review: A fresh version of From Gumbo to Mumbo playing now
The tangy DC streets or a soulful bowl of NOLA. From Gumbo to Mumbo celebrates each from its first notes—for what writers and performers Drew Anderson and Dwayne Lawson-Brown do is something just shy...
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Review: Trans rock star Lisa Stephen Friday debuts her personal story in...
At its heart, Trans Am is an autobiographical ode in the style of a rock opera, that draws inspiration from the folk-rock like stereotype of the singer-storyteller. Lisa Stephen Friday, in her...
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