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A former college English professor, technical writer, and policy analyst, Terry Ponick started writing on theater in 1987, first for northern Virginia’s Connection newspapers and currently for the Times Community newspaper chain. Along with his wife Fran, he created a series of Siskel and Ebert-style dueling review columns that won the couple a 1993 Washington Dateline Award for theater criticism. In 1994, he moved to the Washington Times to become that paper’s classical music and culture critic.

Billy Elliot the Musical

December 19, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The touring production of Billy Elliot, the Musical, now ensconsed at the Kennedy Center Opera House,  is a driving, energetic, and oddly appropriate holiday feast for thoughtful theatergoers. Spun off from the eponymous film version, the stage musical has a less oppressive feel than the original. But it still packs an emotional and political punch, particularly in the context of our current economic doldrums. [Read more...]

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Holland Taylor on bringing Ann Richards to Washington

December 13, 2011 By Leave a Comment

When the call is for a smart, elegant, sophisticated woman who knows how to slip in a punch line, the answer is Holland Taylor. The star of stage, film and television found her match in the feisty star of Texas politics,  Governor Ann Richards. [Read more...]

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The Madman and the Nun

December 9, 2011 By Leave a Comment

You know things are going to be a little weird when you enter a theater and receive—in lieu of a program—a confidential psychiatric patient file clipped into an official-looking manila folder.  Things got even stranger on opening night when cast members, wandering about outside the stage area, encouraged audience members to sample some of the asylum’s “drugs” (it’s actually wine.) [Read more...]

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White Christmas

December 5, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Politically and economically speaking, 2011 has been a pretty depressing year. That’s making it pretty tough for many folks to really get into the holiday spirit this Christmas season. But not to worry. Toby’s Dinner Theatre in Columbia has the perfect antidote for those holiday blues with their sprightly, toe-tapping new production of  White Christmas. [Read more...]

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Quidam

November 19, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Now playing in the capacious Verizon Center, Quidam is the current iteration of the Montréal-based Cirque du Soleil, the amazing French-Canadian entertainment combine that has, in many ways, redefined the good old-fashioned circus as a uniquely theatrical performance art form. Its current show — surprisingly dark and introspective — is an auditorium-based revival of its ninth tent show which first appeared in 1996. [Read more...]

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Jersey Boys

November 15, 2011 By 1 Comment

The latest traveling road-show version of Jersey Boys, now playing in a limited engagement at the National Theatre, is loaded with energy and as stuffed with fab Four Seasons classics as any Boomer on a nostalgia trip could ever want. That said, Saturday evening’s opening night performance of the show drew a demographic that actually skewed considerably younger—proof positive that a show full of irresistible tunes characterized by actual, intelligible lyrics can still attract a capacity crowd. [Read more...]

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Othello

October 26, 2011 By 1 Comment

With earsplitting audio effects rivaling those of the latest Michael Bay films movie sequel “Transformers”  , the Folger Theatre’s new production of William Shakespeare’s Othello is geared toward attracting a new generation to the brilliance of the Bard. And it just may succeed. [Read more...]

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Can’t Scare Me: The Story of Mother Jones

October 19, 2011 By 2 Comments

“the best one-person show we’ve seen in many a year.”

The Theater of the First Amendment’s latest offering—Can’t Scare Me: The Story of Mother Jones—is a virtual blast from the past with a few lessons for the present. This vigorous, one-woman one-act drama was conceived, written, and directed by its star, OBIE Award-winning actress Kaiulani Lee. Wuite a tour-de-force,it attracted a large and diverse opening night audience, which numbered among its members Ralph Nader, perhaps the most prominent robber-baron opponent of our own time. [Read more...]

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Dream Big – the Big Apple Circus

September 29, 2011 By Leave a Comment

It’s tremendous! It’s stupendous! It’s packed with thrills, chills, and magical fun for boys and girls of all ages! It’s none other than The Big Apple Circus, now camped out on miraculously vacant land adjacent to the Dulles Town Center mall in Sterling, Virginia. [Read more...]

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Tosca free at Nationals Park this Thursday

September 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Looking to stretch your family entertainment dollar during yet another period of economic uncertainty? Well, here’s some good news. The Washington National Opera is coming to your rescue with its fourth annual installment of “Opera in the Outfield” this Thursday evening at Washington Nationals Park. This year’s operatic offering is Giacomo Puccini’s romantic thriller, Tosca. And the price is right. It’s free. [Read more...]

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