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by Larry Shue

Produced by Olney Theatre Center

Reviewed by Tim Treanor

Olney Stage is one of the best theaters in Washington. During this year, I’ve been to three outstanding productions there. So let me come right to the point. After seeing The Foreigner last night at Olney, I’ve still only seen three outstanding productions there.

It’s not that the Foreigner is a bad show. Part of it, in fact, is quite good. Olney’s production values remain high. There is a thunderstorm at the play’s outset which is so palpable you can smell as well as see the rain. Jarett Pisani once again proves himself one of the best young sound designers in Washington. Scenic designer James Kronzer creates a beautiful and convincing set. The performances are generally good, and one of them is outstanding. More on that later.

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by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse

Produced by Ford’s Theatre
Reviewed by Tim Treanor

“Democracy,” H.L. Mencken once wrote, “is the theory that the people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard.”

In Ford Theatre’s handsome, amiable, absolutely charming State of the Union, the people want spontaneity, high principle, and independence from party bosses. And the party bosses are prepared to give it to them.

Imagine a supremely accomplished industrialist who seeks to awaken the better angels in the American people - to appeal to their sense of pride and self-sacrifice; to encourage them to work with each other, and, even more radically, to work with other peoples to assure peace and prosperity. Everywhere he goes he is mobbed by men and women who have been revitalized by his message. He is received less as a politician and more as a movie star - or a prophet. What do we make of such a person?

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Produced by Rep Stage

By: Debbie Minter Jackson

If you have put off making that trek up to Rep Stage in Howard County, smiling sweetly yet looking the other way each time they are recognized for excellence and achievements over the years, because, well, it’s just too damn far away, then grab your Mapquest navigator, bum a ride if necessary, just find a way to get there any way you can. Don’t let a few miles and tricky campus turns cause you to miss the outstanding Stones in His Pockets, playfully directed by Lee Mikeska Gardner and featuring the inimitable Bruce Nelson and Michael Stebbins in roles they were born to play. With lightening quick precision, these two versatile actors portray a cast of characters in this humorous yet poignant tale by Irish story teller Marie Johns. With subtle changes in mannerisms and a prop or two, Nelson and Stebbins stretch and bend imagination into believing you’ve actually seen the entire village of extras, cast and crew on the misty Irish countryside, witnessed the Hollywood machine churning out celluloid reality and felt the anguish of those trampled in its path. They’re a sight to behold and well worth the trek to the nether regions of Howard County.

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Produced by - African Continuum Theater

By: Debbie Minter Jackson

The breakup of a marriage is always hard to watch. The nastier the better only works to sell tabloids sporting celebrities shot in unflattering, compromised positions accompanied by exposes and come-uppance storylines. There is no vicarious thrill while catching the death rattle of the sad couple in Lanford Wilson’s, Gingham Dog, the season opener at the African Continuum Theater, and therein lies the crux of the problem with the script. At least the tabloids are enticing, appealing in their own sick way, and stir up enough interest to secure a purchase and a surreptitious peek among the pages. The sad leavings of Wilson’s couple offer nothing of the kind, nor do the characters go kindly and gently onto the next stages of their lives. No, they are stuck in a thrashing battle of wills divvying up the pitiful remains of their three-year marriage, and we are hapless witnesses to the unpleasant results.

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By Ronnie Ruff Podcast: Joel Markowitz

Girl In A Goldfish Bowl — MetroStage

Written with a pop sensibility that brings out the dimples during a smile, Girl In A Goldfish Bowl is the sugar in your tea, the cherry on your sundae. But lest you think that sweetness is its only attribute I beg you to think again. This play’s underpinnings are the day to day troubles of a broken family as remembered by a young girl. Sadness, loneliness, alcoholism, and falling out of love all play roles in this Canadian family that must discover the origin and plans of the mysterious stranger in their home and answer the real question…. is this man my dead goldfish?

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by Renee Calarco

Produced by Charter Theatre

by Tim Treanor

I recommend that you interrupt your reading of this review, call Charter Theatre or go to their website, and make reservations to see Short Order Stories right away. Now. I’ll explain later.

The theater critic, in his wisdom and dignity, is commissioned to explain the playwright’s purpose, whether the production achieves it, and, if not, why not. This, in turn, helps the discerning reader determine whether she wishes to spend an evening at the theater in question. But one need not fully understand the laws of gravity to observe an apple fall from a tree. Every so often a play is so good that lovers of quality theater will love it; further explanation is unnecessary. Olney’s magnificent The Heiress was like that last year; this play, while without Olney’s fabulous production values, gives similar satisfaction.

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by Cynthia Cooper

Presented by Venus Theatre at the Venus Theatre Play Shack

by Tim Treanor

The professional athlete, in his triumph and glory, generally has very little story in him. With rare exception, his protean gifts appear early, insulating him from pain, loss or even normal criticism. You and I, stumbling through childhood, receive our fair ration of humiliation - bad grades, romantic failure, chastisement for our sins - but to our athletically gifted brethren, life is a ride on a moving sidewalk. By the time adversity comes to him, he is so accustomed to success he barely recognizes it.

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Frankenstein by Synetic Theater
By Juliet Moser

Yes, the monster lurches awkwardly and his skin emits a yellowish glow. No, he doesn’t have bolts in his neck. Dr. Frankenstein’s monster can be seen in the flesh (and the blood, though it be caked on a rather nasty gash circumnavigating his cranium), in Synetic Theater’s “Frankenstein” at the Kennedy Center. The new play, written by Artistic Director Paata Tsikurishvili and Nathan Weinberger and choreographed by Irina Tsikurishvili, bears Synetic’s signature style of re-telling familiar stories through intense physicality that forces audiences to reexamine their notions of what theatre is and ought to be.

A Synetic show has several tell-tale signs, most notably the choice of dark, preferably macabre stories portrayed with gruesome gusto. “Frankenstein” is no exception, the stark set and sharp lighting thrusting characters clad almost exclusively in black, white, or grey to the forefront of this cautionary tale.

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By Joel Markowitz

Photo by Chris Christiansen

Husband and wife team Janine Gulisano-Sunday and her husband Russell Sunday spank, scream, dance, fight, throw things and sing their way through a thoroughly entertaining production of Cole Porter’s Tony Award Winning Musical-Within-A Musical Kiss Me Kate-The Taming Of The Shrew meets backstage theatre life-at Toby’s-The Dinner Theatre of Columbia.

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Podcast By Joel Markowitz

I love the musical Ragtime. I saw it in Toronto in its pre-Broadway run. I saw it on the opening night on Broadway and then returned 5 more times to see it again. In 2003, Toby’s-The Dinner Theatre of Columbia mounted a stupendous Helen Hayes Award winning production, and I saw it 5 times. The score by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, to me, is the best score written for a musical in the last 15 years. The melodies are gorgeous, the lyrics are poetry.

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