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Driving Miss Daisy and the Pinter plays

December 20, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Driving Miss Daisy is a holiday gift from some seventeen producers (imagine, for a play with 3 actors, 3 costumes and a few set pieces!). It’s a gift because, although the play is a pleasant visit with 3 interesting characters, its primary virtue is it offers two roles with which to lure the best we’ve got going among this generation of actors, and in Vanessa Redgrave and James Earl Jones we could not ask for more.  [Read more...]

Filed Under: New York City, NY Theatre Buzz

Merry, Happy … What?

December 19, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Since the fine dramatic actor Helen Pafumi has written the Hub Theatre’s current offering, Merry, Happy…What? you may be fooled into thinking it is a heavy drama, full of Christmasy angst. It is not!  The company has inaugurated its residency in the John Swayze Theare in Fairfax with something that is every cubic inch a kid’s play, full of kid characters doing things that make sense to kids. And it’s a good one, too. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Our Reviews Tagged With:

When only the main course will do for holiday gift giving

December 18, 2010 By Leave a Comment

All right, so you’ve just stepped out of Arena’s jaw-dropping Oklahoma!, or the fabulous Mary Zimmerman Candide at the Shakespeare Theatre, or some equally astonishing Washington production and you have one thought: my son ought to see this! (or my daughter, or my good friend Gustav.) And, as you reflect on the last year (or last five years) of Washington Theatre, you realize that the odds that Gustav will have a great time are pretty good no matter what show he sees.

That’s when you realize that your holiday gift-giving dilemmas have been solved. [Read more...]

Filed Under: News

The New Yorker names Oklahoma! cast among 10 best performers of the year

December 18, 2010 By 2 Comments

Hilton Als, the esteemed theatre critic for The New Yorker magazine, just released his list of 10 best performances of the year.  The list – which includes stage, television and cabaret performances – includes Cherry Jones for Mrs. Warren’s Profession, cabaret performer Meow Meow, and Khandi Alexander in her role as LaDonna Batiste-Williams in HBO’s series “Treme”. [Read more...]

Filed Under: News

The Foreigner

December 17, 2010 By 1 Comment

Blazny blit hitski.  Oh sorry, don’t understand?  Well, translated that means “The Foreigner is a hit!”  Bay Theater’s second show of the season is Larry Shue’s hilarious comedy, The Foreigner, and all you need is a sense of humor, not a linguistic degree, to appreciate it.  Bay Theatre has invited Vincent Lancisi, Artistic Director of Baltimore’s Everyman Theatre, to direct this welcome heart-warming respite from the cold. [Read more...]

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Backstage with The Nutcracker

December 17, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Backstage after their performance, the actors, still exhilarated and buzzed, talk about the show, and the children in the audience. The puppets, for a few hours, are once again still and waiting.

Veronica del Cerro, who plays Clara, the young girl who goes on a magical journey in The Puppet Company’s production of The Nutcracker laughed, remembering a child’s reaction from a previous performance. “This one little girl was just shocked to find out I wasn’t really Clara,” she said. “When I took off the mask, they were so startled. She said Clara was prettier.” [Read more...]

Filed Under: Features, Two Hands Clapping Tagged With:

Junie B. in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells!

December 15, 2010 By 2 Comments

The holidays have descended upon first-grade Room One and Junie B. Jones (Casie Platt) is of two minds.

On the one hand, she is giddier than Scrooge on Christmas morning with the prospect of the school’s holiday gift shop, which contains such delights as unsullied crayons and the ultimate embodiment of the true meaning of Christmas, the Squeeze-A-Burp toy. [Read more...]

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The Mousetrap

December 15, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Can an Agatha Christie mystery still be interesting if you already know who did it?  Thanks to a talented cast and a polished production from 1st Stage, the answer is a solid “Yes.” [Read more...]

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Black Nativity

December 15, 2010 By 1 Comment

As the doors were shut in her face again and again, the virgin Mary searched desperately for a warm place to bring her beloved child into the world. A blackbox theater is darker and quieter than most mangers – smells less like sheep, too – but fortunately the one at H Street Playhouse proves itself once again to be a bright, welcoming space, thanks to the fervent efforts these twelve singers and performers bring to Black Nativity. [Read more...]

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Evening Primrose

December 14, 2010 By 1 Comment

Not every Stephen Sondheim musical was written for the stage. One was written for television. Now, at long last, a kinescope has surfaced, showing the entire original one-hour program with four songs by Sondheim and it is available in a nearly pristine conversion to digital on DVD with a few extras as well. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Theatre Shelf
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