REVIEWS
The King and I
Now on stage at Toby’s Dinner Theatre in Columbia, the company’s production of Rodger’s and Hammerstein’s classic 1951 musical The King and I is a remarkably effective revival of this exotic, … [Read More]
The Gallerist
“When Jane Goodall Goes Bad!” could be the banner headline for The Gallerist, a delectably lurid tale about demonic possession and soul survival by playwright Fengar Gael that is staged with … [Read More]
The Snowy Day
Adventure Theater takes the classic story by Ezra Jack Keats to a new fun-filled level in this world premiere musical The Snowy Day. From the opening moments when the mistress of Snow … [Read More]
Laughter on the 23rd Floor
You want funny? Keegan Theatre has funny. Laughter on the 23rd Floor. They killed it, nailed it, knocked it out of the park. … [Read More]
Two Gentlemen of Verona
The Shakespeare Theatre Company’s hormone-drunk Two Gentlemen of Verona is a story of mad children at play in the house of their own hearts, adrift and rudderless in a storm of their passions, … [Read More]
Peter and the Wolf
Combine the majestic music of Seigei Prokofiev with a master puppeteer and a timeless story for a winning combination of Peter and the Wolf currently playing at The Puppet Company. … [Read More]
Le Roi et le Fermier
Opera Lafayette will be playing the Palace. Having had one performance at the Kennedy Center, Opera Lafayette next moves its production of this 18th century opera to NYC and then to the palace of … [Read More]
NEWS
DC theatre community mourns the passing of Lance Hayden Kump, artist and Studio Theatre staff member
The theatre community has lost another member. We are sad to report that Lance Hayden Kump, Marketing Manager for Studio Theatre and a gifted visual artist, died suddenly January 20, 2012. As … [Read More...]
Marcia Gardner, Signature superwoman (1945 – 2012)
Marcia Murdock Gardner, an actor, educator, dramaturg, casting director and literary manager most frequently associated with Signature Theatre, died January 20 at her Alexandria home after a battle … [Read More...]
Amelia gets a 2 week extension
Amelia, A Story of Abiding Love, the two actor Civil War drama by Alex Webb enjoying a critically acclaimed run at Washington Stage Guild, has added 8 performances, and will now close February 12, … [Read More...]
DC BACKSTAGE
Adventure Theatre auditioning child actors this Sunday for Big, the Musical
Adventure Theatre is casting child actors for the world premiere Theatre for Young Audience version of Big, the Musical. The company is seeking young musical theatre singing and dancing performers who look 9-17 years old. Actors should prepare two contrasting songs. Accompanist will be provided. And come prepared to dance.
Playwright seeks 50+ male actor to round out the cast of new play
Looking for an actor, 50 or older who could convincingly play a retired person, for a new, darkly comic stage drama – The Waiter. Character description: MR. PERPETUALLY UNDECIDED: A retired rancher and frequent patron at a diner. Seems perpetually undecided but really has early onset dementia. This is a paid, non-union role. Rehearsals begin [...]
Registration for Monologue Madness auditions opens at 10am today
The DC area’s best theatre & film actors battle for over $1000 in cash & prizes Basketball has it March Madness Tournament, and, thanks to DC actor/producer/athlete Edward Daniels, performers have Monologue Madness, a showdown to the finish where actors, using audition monologues, battle head-to-head for prizes and a grand prize of $1,000.
BALTIMORE BACKSTAGE
Come for the gumbo. Stay for the plays
On Thursday night, January 12th, Preston Street in Baltimore was packed with cars. That was thanks to Itzhak Perlman, an out-of-town violin player who had decided to drop by the Baltimore Symphony and … [Read More...]
New year, big deal for Baltimore
I started writing this article as a retrospective of Baltimore theatre in 2011. But I couldn’t help thinking a little bit about what Baltimore is looking at in 2012. In Baltimore, thanks to the … [Read More...]
Baltimore and Bulgarian theatremakers meet
Nathan Cooper, the artistic director and actor for Baltimore’s Single Carrot Theatre, recently returned from the Festival for Independent Performing Arts in Sofia, where he spent four days with Lola … [Read More...]
NY THEATRE BUZZ
Wit
Margaret Edson is that rare bird, a playwright whose first play, Wit, earned a Pulitzer Prize for Drama. That alone makes her unique, but she becomes more so when we realize that she has never had … [Read More...]
Porgy and Bess
The battle has begun. I've been reading followup columns from the critics of the New York Times and other prominent commentators admitting that some of their nitpicking reviews of the current … [Read More...]
The Road to Mecca
Athol Fugard, South African playwright, had been writing plays for 20 years when The Road to Mecca was first mounted in 1988. Clearly a personal diatribe against the platitudes inherent in so much of … [Read More...]
THEATRE SHELF
The Burnt Part Boys – Original Off-Broadway cast recording
Few scores establish their "voice" quite as rapidly as does the score for this poorly titled but highly intriguing one-act musical that had its Off-Broadway premiere in 2010. … [Read More...]
Death Takes a Holiday
Do you look for ravishing romantic beauty in your musicals? If so, Maury Yeston is probably on your list of favorite composers. Think of "Only With You" (Nine), "We'll Meet Tomorrow" (Titanic) or … [Read More...]
Broadway Musical MVPs
Filichia has done it again What is a reviewer to do when a book shows up for review that has a pull quote from him praising the author to high heaven? Is it a conflict of interest to praise the new … [Read More...]
UP CLOSE WITH THE MOST FASCINATING PEOPLE WE KNOW
Up close with the magic of Elephant Room
We talk with Louie Magic, Dennis Diamond, and Daryl Hannah, if that be their real names. The Elephant Room isn’t really a play and it isn’t really a magic show. In fact, it’s a little hard to … [Read More...]
Chris Sieber – he’s played Georges on Broadway and now is Zaza on La Cage tour
The fabulous Zaza, as portrayed by singer/actor Christopher Sieber, is the heart and soul of La Cage aux Folles, the current revival of the smash Broadway musical now playing to packed houses at the … [Read More...]
Ray Ficca returns to DC for Keegan’s Neil Simon hit Laughter on the 23rd Floor
Actor Ray Ficca has been well-known and well-loved in DC for many years. After an extended hiatus from our stages, he’s back in the limelight as hotheaded TV personality Max Prince in Keegan … [Read More...]
FEATURES
Romeo and Juliet through the eyes of the Fools
A man walks on to the stage, accompanied by friends. It is night, and he is a decade older than he was that morning. He has buried his young daughter today – dead, suddenly and inexplicably, less … [Read More...]
Listen in on Mike Daisey’s New Years Eve monologue
"Let's face it", he says, "we are all living in a play that isn't working." - Mike Daisey Monologist Mike Daisey, considered one of the finest storytellers in America, has a ready home on Woolly … [Read More...]
Joe Brack is the last elf standing
Performers in holiday shows have lots to be merry about this season as box office sales have earned extensions for their shows. Synetic's Romeo and Juliet added a week, closing today, STC's Much Ado … [Read More...]
STAGE TO SCREEN – We go to the movies
War Horse
The London stage version won 2 Olivier Awards; it picked up 6 Tony Awards in New York. But will you like the movie? “War Horse” finds director Steven Spielberg melding together the two genres … [Read More...]
Carnage
Yasmina Reza's God of Carnage takes to the screen There’s a scene late in “Carnage” in which Penelope – the type-A, upper-middle class mother played by Jodie Foster – asks “why is … [Read More...]
A Dangerous Method
It’s one of history’s greatest ironies: The pioneering psychologists, those men and women who first stepped foot onto the vast expanses of our subconscious minds, were themselves not exactly the … [Read More...]
Recent Comments