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Altar Boyz
book by Kevin Del Aguila
music/lyrics by Gary Adler and Michael Patrick Walker
choreographed by Christopher Gattelli
directed by Stafford Arima
produced by Nederlander of Bethesda, L.L.C. at Bethesda Theatre
reviewed by Gary McMillan

Get thee to this concert musical for 90 minutes of nonstop laughter! Altar Boyz is a freshly scrubbed, squeaky clean Windex to the … er, window to the soul, as delivered by the latter day Herman’s Hermeneutics or Dave Cleric Five. (more…)

Wishful Drinking
created and performed by Carrie Fisher
directed by Tony Taccone
produced by Arena Stage
a Jonathan Reinis Production in association with Berkeley Repertory Theatre
reviewed by Gary McMillan

Carrie Fisher has a subtly smoky, whiskey voice (more on the Brenda Vaccaro or Lauren Bacall end of the Whiskey Voice Scale spectrum than Elaine Stritch or Patricia Neal) (more…)

ACE
Book and Lyrics by Robert Taylor and Richard Oberacker
Music by Richard Oberacker
Directed by Eric Schaeffer
Produced by Signature Theatre
Reviewed by Gary McMillan

ACE, Signature’s latest premiere (East Coast) musical directed by Eric Shaeffer, is a rambling mix of multigenerational, dysfunctional family saga and Captain Billy’s Whiz Bang heroic fighter pilot flash and dazzle. The production boasts an impressive cast and design team, so rich in performing talent that it must be difficult to identify and make the cuts and changes necessary to keep ACE airborne (more…)

• Jerry Springer: The Opera
• Music by Richard Thomas . Book and lyrics by Stewart Lee and Richard Thomas
• Directed by Keith Alan Baker
• Co-director/Choreography by Matthew Gardiner
• Produced by Studio 2ndStage
•  Reviewed by Gary McMillan

Jerry Springer, television personality: inane, profane, insane.  Studio Theatre’s Jerry Springer: The Opera: audacious, outrageous, stupendous. (more…)

• Man of La Mancha
• By Dale Wasserman;
• Music by Mitch Leigh; Lyrics by Joe Darion
• Directed by Mark A. Rhea
• Produced by Keegan Theatre
• By Gary McMillan

Mark Rhea is the man and David Jourdan is his Man. What a duo. Keegan Theatre is in summer reruns (having presented Man of La Mancha in 2001) and DC is the finer for this reprise. (more…)

• Mamma Mia!
• Music and lyrics by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus and some songs with Stig Anderson
• Book by Catherine Johnson
• Directed by Phyllida Lloyd
• Produced by Judy Craymer, Richard East and Björn Ulvaeus for Littlestar, Universal at the National Theatre
• Reviewed by Gary McMillan

If we could harvest the energy on stage at the National Theatre, the nation’s dependence on fossil fuels would be a thing of the past. (more…)

• Goodnight Moon
• Musical Adaptation by Chad Henry
• Based on the book by Margaret Wise Brown
• Directed by Mary Hall Surface
• Music Direction by Jay Crowder
• Co-produced by Adventure Theatre and Tribute Productions
• Reviewed by Gary McMillan

I thought I was wandering into a theatre to find a general admission seat for an evening performance, only to find that I had actually crossed a threshold into a Great Green Room. Oh, my!  (more…)

• The Visit
• Book by Terrence McNally, based on the play by Friedrich Dürrenmatt (adapted by Maurice Valency)
• Music by John Kander . Lyrics by Fred Ebb
• Produced by Signature Theatre
• Reviewed by Gary McMillan

Signature’s The Visit is compulsory attendance for musical theatre fans. While the score is quite uneven (sometimes disconcertingly harkening back to the era of operetta, however appropriate that style is to the story line), how could one pass on an opportunity to see two leads who both are two-time Tony winners and undisputed Broadway legends? (more…)

• The Stephen Schwartz Project
• Conceived by Michael J. Bobbitt
• Music and Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz
• Musical arrangements by John L. Cornelius II
• Directed and Choreographed by Michael J. Bobbitt
• Produced by MetroStage
• Reviewed by Gary McMillan

PBS has its seemingly ubiquitous “Three Tenors.” Musical theatre fans have the three Stephens (Flaherty, Sondheim and Schwartz) who have been delighting theatre and film audiences with their music for decades. While Schwartz personally has not brought home the brass ring, the Tony Award, for his music, he’s racked up an impressive array of national and regional awards, achieved astounding commercial success, and remains a far more popular favorite among many musical theatre buffs and, undoubtedly, the general public for his pleasing, highly-memorable melodies and intelligent lyrics. (more…)

• The Happy Time
• Story & Book by N. Richard Nash, based on the play by Samuel Taylor
• Music by John Kander .  Lyrics by Fred Ebb
• Produced by Signature Theatre
• Reviewed by Gary McMillan

Signature Theatre’s The Happy Time is a splendidly cast and well-crafted production of a fair-to-middling musical. This show was my introduction to Signature’s Ark performance space, a superb environment for intimate works, both new and forgotten, much like Signature’s former digs on Four Mile Run Road. (more…)