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Director Matt August on Liberty Smith

March 31, 2011 By 1 Comment

Matt August returns to direct Ford’s Theatre’s world premiere of the musical Liberty Smith following up on the popular run of his direction of A Christmas Carol, that played at Ford’s from 2004 through 2008.  His previous directorial credits include the Broadway production of How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2006, 2007) and subsequent national tours (2008-2010).  Off-Broadway credits include Sixteen Wounded, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Judith and Meet John Doe.  August has served as a Killian Fellow for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, a Robert Wilson Watermill Directing Fellow, and was a recipient of a Drama League Fellowship. [Read more...]

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Photograph 51

March 31, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The theme for Theater J’s recently announced 2011-2012 season,“Brilliant Fictions/Shattering Facts”, could also apply to its current production of Photograph 51, Anna Ziegler’s fascinating drama of scientist Rosalind Franklin’s role in the race to decipher the DNA molecule, an accomlishment that made James Watson & Francis Crick household names.

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UrbanArias opens with two Ricky Ian Gordon short operas

March 31, 2011 By Leave a Comment

UrbanArias, a new opera company dedicated to producing short, contemporary operas, presents its Inaugural Festival of Contemporary Opera from March 31 – April 10, 2011 at Artisphere’s Black Box Theater in Arlington, VA. Three operas will be presented: Glory Denied by Tom Cipullo and Ricky Ian Gordon’s Orpheus and Euridice, and Green Sneakers. [Read more...]

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The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs

March 30, 2011 By 1 Comment

In the Southern Chinese Province of Guangdong there is a City called Shenzhen. A generation ago it had seven hundred inhabitants, most of whom were fishermen. Now it has fourteen million. They make our electronic stuff…our iPhones, our Macs, our iPads. There are millions of workers, making them by hand. Why, one company – Foxconn – employs 430,000 people. That’s more than live in Atlanta! Foxconn has them thread, wire, and wind our fancy machines, repetitively, for ten hours a day or more, and then marches them off to their tiny dormitories, where they sleep as many as fifteen to a room. And sometimes, they climb up to the top of the building, and jump off. [Read more...]

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And the Curtain Rises

March 30, 2011 By 3 Comments

Signature Theatre and The Shen Family Foundation have made a commitment to develop new works representing the American Musical Theatre through its groundbreaking American Musical Voice Project (AMVP), and for this they should be applauded.  The ambitious scope of this partnership, the largest commission program for new works in the country, has enabled them to deliver the flawed but capacious and memorable Giant by John La Chiusa and Ricky Ian Gordon’s Sycamore Tree. This, their third work in the series, has, like the others, helped its artistic creators realize a fully orchestrated and staged production.  Mounting new works is always a noble experiment, and like all authentic experiments, not all will succeed.  Signature tried in many ways to get it right, but, sadly, And the Curtain Rises failed in several ways this first test. [Read more...]

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The Weir

March 30, 2011 By 5 Comments

The Washington area’s unofficial Totally Irish Theater March Madness continues unabated this week, aided and abetted by Scena’s new production of Conor McPherson’s problem comedy The Weir. Now playing at the H Street Playhouse DC’s increasingly trendy Atlas Theater District, Scena’s current offering is the second iteration of McPherson’s play to hit the boards here over the last month or so, with the Keegan Theatre’s highly-regarded production opening first. In the immortal words of “Cheech” Marin, both productions are “the same, only different.” [Read more...]

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King Lear

March 30, 2011 By 1 Comment

Synetic Theater’s silent King Lear is one of the most hauntingly beautiful things I’ve ever seen—and that’s saying something since clowns normally give me the creeps.

Director Paata Tsikurushvili sets Shakespeare’s tragedy in an absurdist landscape of European clowns and acrobats that recalls Federico Fellini films with a dash of the grotesqueries of American movie director Tim Burton. The result is visual poetry, a melancholy sonnet to madness and abuses of power. [Read more...]

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Anything Goes – the 1954 television version

March 29, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Many fine recordings come with an interesting booklet. This time it is the other way around. A fabulous booklet featuring a fascinating thirteen page essay is accompanied by an interesting recording.

Oh, sure – it is the DVD which is listed for sale. But it is the booklet that makes the purchase more than just a lark. [Read more...]

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Boeing-Boeing

March 29, 2011 By 1 Comment

Boeing-Boeing at the Maryland Ensemble Theatre in Frederick is a charming, entertaining, manic merry-go-round of dizzying departures, landings and slamming doors set in the day-glo tangerine décor of a British playboy’s lair in Paris, circa mid-1960s.  Director Tad Janes does a wonderful job of embellishing playwright Marc Camoletti’s classic French farce with playful sparkle that’s even a bit edgy at times. Despite some dated themes, the play—whose 2008 Broadway revival earned it a Tony Award – still serves up a lot of funny lines and some interesting sight gags delivered by an exceptional cast. [Read more...]

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Mike Daisey takes on Apple and Steve Jobs

March 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Armed only with a glass of water, a skeletal outline, and perhaps a rush of adrenaline, monologist Mike Daisey delivers unscripted, hours-long meditations on life, theater, and politics. Embellishing his astute grasp of trade politics and technology with personal stories and gonzo journalism, Daisey weaves intricate yarns that are at once moving, informative, and darkly comic. [Read more...]

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