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Sanctified

October 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

At first glance, members of the East Piney Grove Baptist Church choir from Sanctified seem to be the ones in need of spiritual uplift.  The youngest, a college-aged brother and sister, slouch in their chairs and pick fights with each other.  One of the matrons disrupts the rehearsal with biting, yet hilarious complaints, and the choral director of the small, rural black church in South Carolina plays piano well enough but can’t read music.  She also has a little drinking problem. [Read more...]

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Finding the funny in a Commedia class

October 29, 2010 By 1 Comment

It was mid-October, the air was crisp, the leaves were changing and the people in Sidney Harman Hall were metamorphosing. I was an observer in Matthew Wilson’s Master Class for actors, and the long sequence of “exercises to warm up the neck” was a dead giveaway: this workshop was going to be as physical as it was vocal and mental. Participants were gathered in a rehearsal room in the basement of Sidney Harman Hall for a six-hour immersion in Commedia dell’Arte. [Read more...]

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Richard III

October 28, 2010 By 5 Comments

Loaded with action and intrigue and bursting at the seams with an uncommonly large cast of characters, William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Richard III inspires controversy and discussion whenever and wherever it’s staged. And the Washington Shakespeare Company’s new production of the drama is no exception. [Read more...]

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WAMU airs DC theatre company’s Macbeth on Halloween

October 28, 2010 By 1 Comment

Halloween is the perfect night for a ghost story, and on October 31st from 6pm – 7pm, WAMU-88.5 will air Lean & Hungry Theater’s radio drama of Shakespeare’s tale of suspense, murder and tragedy, MacBeth. The show will be heard on its main broadcast frequency (88.5 MHz) and will be streamed on the WAMU.org web site. [Read more...]

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A Fox on the Fairway

October 28, 2010 By 7 Comments

“Caddyshack” is a great, big, loveable dumb movie, but fans would be hard-pressed to call it one of the more astute studies ever assembled on the art of golf. After witnessing the angry and belligerent mess made by A Fox on the Fairway, however, that movie seems positively penetrating. Ken Ludwig’s new comedy – ostensibly called a farce – is sharp in its own way, but more in the manner of a whittled stick that a five-year-old relative uses to incessantly poke you until you react. One can only assume the expected response is laughter, but more likely you’ll start bruising first. [Read more...]

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The Odd Couple

October 28, 2010 By 1 Comment

The years, and an intervening, long-running TV show, have fuzzed our memories of what Neil Simon’s great comedy was about, but Theater J’s fine production will set us straight. Oscar Madison (Rich Foucheux) and Felix Ungar (J. Fred Shiffman) are not stock comic characters, cranky and neurotic in turn, but unhappy men with deep emotional problems, who are as dependent on each other as partners in a three-legged race. [Read more...]

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The Pirates of Penzance

October 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment

The Washington Savoyards opened their swashbucklingly funny take on Gilbert & Sullivan’s classic Pirates of Penzance last weekend at the Atlas Performing Arts Center. Perhaps a bit overshadowed by the big things going on at Arena Stage’s new Mead Center’s gala opening events—also last weekend—the Savoyards’ sprightly reprise of their 2008 hit production was a bit under-attended Saturday evening. But the audience was more than appreciative of the company’s energetic efforts. [Read more...]

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Dracula

October 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Maryland Ensemble Theatre trumpets its production of Dracula, by the estimable Stephen Dietz (Lonely Planet, Still Life with Iris, a bunch of other stuff), as being “rich with both humor and horror.” It is not. It is instead a bland retelling of the original Stoker story, slenderized and with scenes reshuffled, and with some funny lines given to Renfield (Jeff Keilholtz). Regrettably, the production by and large lives up to the script. [Read more...]

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The Lost Ones

October 27, 2010 By 3 Comments

It’s not uncommon to feel some instinctive concern for an actor’s health and safety, whether they’re brandishing swords or simply stepping too close to the edge of the stage. But The Lost Ones may be the first show in which I’ve feared that the characters are going to be stepped on and crushed. [Read more...]

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Holiday

October 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Hard-working corporate lawyer Johnny Case wants to use an eminent business score to “retire early and work late” so he can experience life.  This plan is a surprise to his heiress fiancée, a delight to her rebellious sister, and an anathema to her wealthy banker father.  Such is the plot behind Philip Barry’s Holiday, a classic theatrical chestnut that receives a pleasant but understated production from 1st Stage. [Read more...]

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