Don Pippin on Jerry Herman

He’s just past seventy-seven now: an icon, a Broadway fixture since his debut at the Imperial in 1962 in Oliver. He’s known for his music, of course (Mame, 110 in the Shade, A Chorus Line, La Cage aux Folles, among others), but his career is full of delightful odds and ends - two plays, The Contrast and Fashion, and even a brief turn playing Beethoven in a TV commercial for Scotch Recording Tape. When the Kennedy Center honors the accomplishments of Jerry Herman this week (March 12 - 14) in Jerry Herman’s Broadway, he will naturally be there. Read more

Financial Crisis Brings Offer of Help from Kennedy Center

Kennedy Center Offers Guidance to Struggling Arts Organizations

The Kennedy Center has agreed to make the services of its senior staff available to any tax-exempt American performing arts organization which needs specialized expertise to endure our current difficult economic times, the Center has announced. The Center will offer guidance in fundraising, budgeting, marketing, building a more effective Board of Trustees and other relevant areas to such organizations as they face both depressed endowments and diminished contributions. Read more

Legally Blonde

Legally Blonde
Adapted for the stage by Heather Hach from the MGM film, based on the novel by Amanda Brown
Music and lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin
Directed and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell
Presented by The Kennedy Center
Reviewed by Debbie Minter Jackson

Legally Blonde is a big splashy musical with heart.  Sure it’s got enough pink and fluff to overdose a sugary Disney cartoon, but the engaging story line, interesting character development, fun lyrics, and bouncy musical numbers are all surprisingly effective, even to the most pink-averse skeptic.  Believe me, I know.  It’s the last thing I thought I would enjoy Read more

Frost/Nixon

Frost/Nixon
By Peter Morgan
Directed by Michael Grandage
A touring production presented by The Kennedy Center
Reviewed by Tim Treanor

Richard M. Nixon, the disgraced former President who resigned thirty-four years ago, was well known as an equivocator and a liar, so let us not compound his felonies with anything but complete honesty. This show is a disappointment.

Peter Morgan’s play is given over to an incident on the outskirts of history: David Frost’s four-part interview with Nixon after his resignation and pardon. Read more

The Playboy of the Western World

The Shadow of the Glen &The Playboy of the Western World
by John Millington Synge
directed by Garry Hynes
A DRUID Theatre Company production, presented by The Kennedy Center
reviewed by Steven McKnight

If you think the work of early 20th century Irish playwright John Millington Synge is merely broad comedies about Irish peasants, The Druid Theatre Company of Galway, Ireland will likely change your mind.  Their superlative performances in The Shadow of the Glen and particularly The Playboy of the Western World capture the voice of a playwright that was both authentic and modern, and demonstrate a depth of character found only in the finest theatre. Read more

Blanche and Beyond

Blanche and Beyond
from Selected Letters of Tennessee Williams
adapted and Directed Steve Lawson
presented by The Kennedy Center in the Terrace Theater
reviewed by Debbie Minter Jackso

Richard Thomas has come a long way from playing John Boy Walton (early 1970’s) with over 40 films and countless stage productions since those early years.  Although the familiar visage is recognizable as soon as he steps on the set, all flashbacks to his antics growing up in that homespun version of early Americana disappear as Thomas anchors himself firmly in the flamboyant boisterous, boozing personae of Tennessee Williams Read more

the break/s

the break/s: a mixtape for stage

performance work by Marc Bamuthi Joseph

presented by the Kennedy Center

reviewed by Debbie Minter Jackson

Performer and personal narrative poet Marc Bamuthi Joseph is getting well earned, rave reviews for his latest expression, the break/s which infuses hip hop culture into his personal stories of identity, filled with whispers of history and whiffs of political insights, all while breaking down the boundaries of theater, dance, and film. Read more

Welcome Home, Jenny Sutter

• Welcome Home, Jenny Sutter
• by Julie Marie Myatt
  Directed by Jessica Thebus
• Produced by Oregon Shakespeare Festival Production at the Kennedy Center
• Reviewed by Debbie Minter Jackson

The basic story about a soldier carrying physical and emotional wounds trying to return to society, is as current and timeless as it gets. Read more

The Lion King

• The Lion King
• Music & Lyrics by Elton John and Tim Rice . Additional Music & Lyrics by Lebo M, Mark Mancina, Jay Rifkin, Julie Taymor and Hans Zimmer
• Book by Roger Allers and Irene Mecchi
• Directed by Julie Taymor
• A Disney production presented by The Kennedy Center
• Reviewed by Ted Ying

When Disneyland first opened, guests had to purchase tickets for the rides and attractions.  Tickets ranged from “A” to “E” with the “E” tickets reserved for the best, most thrilling and amazing rides and attractions.  Well, in true Disney fashion, the current production of The Lion King is definitely an “E” ticket. Read more

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