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Carol Chastang is a fan of the arts. She’s a film buff, enjoys and dances to all styles of music, has been escorted out of many art galleries at closing time, and marvels at people who write, produce and act in live theatre. She’s never written a play, but her work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the AARP Magazine, and several online sites. By day, she does public affairs for a federal agency in Washington, D.C.

The Color Purple

April 18, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The musical version of Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize winning “The Color Purple” is the story of Celie’s odyssey from utter despair to triumph. It is the story of discovery and the power of love. The touring production of musical version is back for a brief stop at The National Theatre and it assaults the senses with warm, affecting yet raw performances. [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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24, 7, 365

February 17, 2011 By 1 Comment

What will it take to make us happy?  And why are we confused by the letdown when the dream we wished for on the silvery moon comes true?  The two couples in Jennifer L. Nelson’s sweetly woven and funny 24, 7, 365 at the Atlas Performing Arts Center grapple with those questions in a way that’s refreshingly light and fun. [Read more...]

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I Left My Heart – a Salute to the Music of Tony Bennett

February 8, 2011 By 4 Comments

“I don’t follow the latest fashion,” Tony Bennett said of his artistic instincts in a 2010 interview with the Winston-Salem Journal.  “I never sing a song that’s badly written. Cole Porter, Johnny Mercer and others just created the best songs that had ever been written.  These are classics, and finally they’re not being treated as light entertainment.   This is classical music.” [Read more...]

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Dreamgirls keeps dreams alive for students and teachers at Duke Ellington

December 13, 2010 By 1 Comment

Threatened with teacher layoffs due to funding cutbacks, Duke Ellington School of the Arts decides to risk it all on a Broadway-style production of Dreamgirls.

On a chilly Friday night an hour before showtime, O’Thame Teeter strolls into the theatre at The Duke Ellington School of the Arts carrying with him a calm, confident energy.  He has a starring role, playing Curtis Taylor, Jr., the somewhat oily yet charismatic Svengali to the girl singers who end up fighting over him in the school’s  production of Dreamgirls.  When asked about that night’s performance, the 19-year-old  says “I have to kill tonight.”  He smiles, his handsome face lights up, and he explains that doing well tonight will give him the momentum to “really kill” on Saturday night. [Read more...]

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Venus at the crossroads

November 13, 2010 By 2 Comments

Deb Randall is at a personal and artistic crossroads. As founder and artistic director of Venus Theatre, she has kept the company alive, pretty much on her own, for ten years.  Staging plays written, produced and directed by women in a small space at 21 C Street in Laurel’s historic downtown area—where she’s been since 2006 after relocating from Washington—is in itself an accomplishment.  The fact that Venus has survived this long is a testament to Randall’s passion, tenacity and vision. [Read more...]

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Looking for the Pony

November 3, 2010 By Leave a Comment

The Venus Theatre production of Looking for the Pony made me cry.  And I was amazed as I looked around and saw the audience—men and women—wiping their eyes.   Playwright Andrea Lepcio took a personal experience—her sister’s pragmatic fight with breast cancer—and created a beautifully written, humorous, moving work.   If you’re looking for a night of good theatre complete with a marvelous story and fine acting, go see this play. [Read more...]

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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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Women Beware Women

October 20, 2010 By 10 Comments

Constellation Theatre Company’s staging of Women Beware Women, while described by its 15th century playwright Thomas Middleton as a tragedy, is a wonderfully entertaining farce as boldly adapted by Jesse Berger. It’s a crazy, wild ride of a play where the terrific cast of morally depraved characters and their sly, knowing winks to the audience keep the laughs coming as friends and lovers become haters and co-conspirators, ultimately plotting each others’ demise.  Shades of Sweeney Todd—only not as dark. [Read more...]

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OVO

September 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Suspended some 45 feet in the air, under the Grand Chapiteau (Big Top) at National Harbor, a silky, cream-colored cocoon is undulating gracefully. The butterfly (aerialist Inna Mayorova) is making her escape.  [Read more...]

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