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The Tooth of Crime

May 24, 2012 By Leave a Comment

In the well-known Greek creation myth, the Titan Cronus desperately seeks to prevent the prophecy that one of his offspring will overthrow him, as he did to his own father, Uranus. Cronus’ mighty power and desperate attempts to avoid his fate prove useless, and soon his enraged son, Zeus, appears to wage a climactic battle for the throne of the world.  [Read more...]

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Flora the Red Menace

May 23, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The first big production number from Flora the Red Menace, “One Good Break,” a paean to young seekers everywhere, couldn’t be more apt as the theme behind the show’s creation. [Read more...]

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The Servant of Two Masters

May 23, 2012 By 1 Comment

Right around grade school we’re reminded that kids are intelligent in different ways. Some will grow up to be great mathematicians, others great diplomats or chefs. And the few hanging out by the costume chest banging on pots and pans just might show up onstage at The Shakespeare Theatre. [Read more...]

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You Can’t Take It With You

May 22, 2012 By Leave a Comment

You think your family’s crazy? Compared to the purposefully pixilated Sycamore-Vanderhof clan — the characters, and I mean characters, populating George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart’s exuberant comedy You Can’t Take It With You — your relatives probably err on the side of prosaic. You get to hang out with these eccentric lovelies for nearly three, fast-moving hours in Everyman Theatre’s rosy and ebullient staging of the 1936 chestnut. [Read more...]

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The Ice Child

May 22, 2012 By 1 Comment

Whatever there is to say about The Ice Child (and there’s a fair amount to say), no one can claim the play is spinning its wheels. To realize the tale of a girl captured and imprisoned in a basement freezer by her psychopath professor, the creative team has brought out as many bells and whistles as it can fit inside the rather small Mead Theatre Lab. [Read more...]

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Xanadu

May 21, 2012 By 1 Comment

“It was a brave man,” Jonathan Swift once observed, “who first et an oyster.”

Douglas Carter Beane is a brave man, and for much the same reason. He took Xanadu, a 1980’s flop-o movie musical – the one which ended the brief movie-star career of Australian songbird Olivia Newton-John—and audaciously turned it into a play. A hit play. A big, freaking, Broadway-style hit play, that ran for a year and a half. [Read more...]

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Lonely Planet

May 17, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Many plays dealing with the heart of the AIDS crisis feature justifiable anger and fury. Yet Steven Dietz’s 1994 play Lonely Planet demonstrates that a gentle approach can be just as powerful and touching, as it is in the excellent production now playing at MetroStage. [Read more...]

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Hum

May 16, 2012 By Leave a Comment

“Do u no wot the hum is?” ask the cryptic ads for Hum, which had its world premiere on Monday night at the Atlas. Having seen the play, I now know what “the hum” is. But I’m still figuring out what Hum is – and that’s a point in the play’s favor. [Read more...]

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The Bacchae

May 16, 2012 By 2 Comments

What would a religion which celebrated lust, music, dancing, and the drinking of wine be like? Hah! Need I even ask! The party would last until we were asked to leave the Eurozone, I suppose. Still – it would be hard to go. [Read more...]

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Werther

May 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Werther, the final production of Washington National Opera’s 2011-2012 season, features some wonderful music in Jules Massenet’s lyrical score. It is beautifully supported by the strong dynamics of the orchestra under the baton of Emmanuel Villaume and the tempered singing of the cast. However, I am still trying to figure out how certain layers of production laid on top of this quintessential romantic work served the story. [Read more...]

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