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Hairspray Live! Between commercials and cutaways, NBC proves they CAN stop...
Now that we’re mired in Trump America, there’s unexpected profundity to the pop confection Hairspray Live!, the live TV version of the 2002 musical that aired Wednesday night on NBC. If Trump and his...
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At Washington Stage Guild, It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play (review)
A play like this, where actors play fictional actors who play roles in an entirely different play, gives you a sort of double vision. You see not Joe Brack playing George Bailey, but Jake Laurents — a...
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Magic abounds in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe at Adventure Theatre...
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe stars two excessively talented actors, a marvelous script, inventive technical design and a clever director, all waiting for you at Adventure Theatre MTC. This...
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In Transit Review: Broadway’s First All-Voice Orchestra
In Transit is the first a cappella musical on Broadway, and the rich harmonies and rhythmic beatboxing of a cappella evangelist Deke Sharon’s arrangements reveal the human voice as the most flexible of...
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Wheel Company debuts with At Sea, Staring Up (review)
Playwright Finegan Kruckemeyer is having something a breakout year here in the District. The Kennedy Center recently premiered his new piece for young audiences Where Words Once Were, which I...
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Les Liaisons Dangereuses at Center Stage (review)
Les Liaisons Dangereuses is like any play by Oscar Wilde, except when it isn’t. Wilde punctured the piety and pomposity of 19th-century England, to show us the underbelly of lust and greed. In the...
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Fiasco Theater’s Into the Woods: A delightful, inventive re-imagining (review)
Stephen Sondheim’s musical Into the Woods has been the subject of numerous stage productions since its debut in 1986 and even a critically acclaimed film. As a result, the discerning theatergoer with a...
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A Christmas Carol: The Musical, pure gold at Toby’s (review)
“There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humor.” – Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol A Christmas Carol: The Musical is to the Dickensian tale what Spamalot was to...
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Pointless Theatre’s absurd – or is it? King Ubu (review)
The time may have come around when we need anti-art bombs like Ubu again. Regardless of your political leanings, you must admit that reality has once again become too strange and ridiculous for serious...
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Funny, pungent, fierce. Dot at Everyman Theatre (review)
A holiday comedy about a family matriarch’s failing brain—what could be merrier? In truth, Coleman Domingo’s Dot is an absolute delight no matter what time of year. Funny, pungent and fierce, Dot is a...
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Fully Committed at MetroStage. (review)
Tom Story provides a comedic tour-de-force as the frenetic and frazzled Sam and forty other characters in the hilarious Fully Committed at MetroStage. Pity poor Sam, the out-of-work actor forced to...
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Goyescas from The In Series (review)
Hats in the air and “Olé!” for the In Series team that has delivered an inspired staging of an extremely challenging one-act opera, Goyescas. Written in 1915 by Enrique Granados, it that will confront...
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The family friendly Goyesquitas from In Series (review)
Goyescas is a term used to represent the revival and preservation of Spanish nationalism in music, a movement popular in the early 1900’s and the title of the opera now being staged by In Series....
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Synetic’s silent Sleeping Beauty (review)
Arlington’s Synetic Theater transports audiences to the fairy tale realm of enchanted forests and love at first sight in its latest wordless adaptation. Sleeping Beauty gets the visceral performance...
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Titanic sails in to Signature on its soaring orchestral score: James Moore...
In an adventurous production, Signature Theatre brings the musical Titanic to life in its Max theatre with a robust orchestra, new orchestrations, and exciting staging. Sarah Scafidi sat down with...
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How producer Stacey Mindich and Arena audiences helped guide Dear Evan Hansen...
A caring, open-minded producer and perceptive, engaged audience members played crucial roles in the success story of the original new Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen’s journey from page to stage....
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Othello Review with David Oyelowo and Daniel Craig
While the Othello at the New York Theatre Workshop can be uncomfortable and even annoying, it is impossible for me to dismiss Sam Gold’s often startlingly effective production, even when David Oyelowo...
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Second City’s Twist Your Dickens at The Kennedy Center (review)
Dickens—that stuffy purveyor of eternally drab tales—gets a refreshing and quirky upgrade in The Second City’s Twist Your Dickens, the Kennedy Center’s merry holiday fare that will help you end this...
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Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas – The Musical. A Seuss-like review
In the spirit of whimsy, my small gift to you, I have wrapped up my thoughts in a Seuss-like review. I arrived at the National in a whirlwind of traffic And was greeted forthwith by a colorful graphic:...
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Wicked. Popular and deservedly so. At the Kennedy Center (review)
Wicked is one of the most loved musicals in history, regularly selling out Broadway’s largest theatre since 2003 and spawning several national tours, the most recent now in an outstanding production at...
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