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The Lieutenant of Inishmore

by Martin McDonagh
directed by Jeremy Skidmore
produced by Signature Theatre 
reviewed by Steven McKnight 

Halloween has arrived early at Signature, where Martin McDonagh’s The Lieutenant of Inishmore offers an abundance of gruesome fun.  This witty mix of black comedy, farce, and satire receives a gleeful production that will delight anyone who can handle its realistic violence and shocking humor. The story revolves around the dilemma faced by the Donny (John Lescault) and Davey (Matthew McGloin), temporary caretakers of Wee Thomas, a cat that is killed on a country road. (more…)

This winter, Washington audiences will be able to see the mega-hit Les Misérables up close in Signature’s MAX Theatre. Signature’s Artistic Director Eric Schaeffer explained in a Playbill interview: (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…)

• The Happy Time and The Visit
• By NY Theatre Buzz columnist Richard Seff

I pop out from New York  every so often. This time I came to Washington, and, though I’m certain you’ve already read a lot about the Signature Theatre in Arlington, VA here is my take on it.

I start with what I call an Event. Over the last weekend in May, I toured the Signature complex, recorded a podcast with Chita Rivera, (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 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…)

• Kiss of the Spider Woman
• Music by John Kander . Lyrics by Fred Ebb
• Book by Terrence McNally based on the novel by Manuel Puig
• Directed by Eric Schaeffer
• Produced by Signature Theatre
• Reviewed by Gary McMillan

Seductive. Intense. Breathtaking. Kiss of the Spider Woman, Signature’s opening salvo in its Kander and Ebb Celebration, is a triumph from the opening note to the touchingly bittersweet end. The stars must have been aligned just so when director Eric Shaeffer assembled this cast and creative team - there is not a weak element here.

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• Glory Days
• Music and Lyrics by Nick Blaemire
• Book by James Gardiner
• Directed by Eric Schaeffer
• Produced by Signature Theatre
• Reviewed by Gary McMillan

Glory Days, the latest gemstone on Signature’s string of world premiere musicals, is a diamond in the rough. It is 85 high-energy minutes of song with some of the smartest dialog and lyrics you’re likely to hear in any musical, let alone a pop-rock musical. (more…)

• My Fair Lady
• Book and Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner
• Music by Frederick Loewe
• Directed by Trevor Nunn and Choreographed by Matthew Bourne
• Produced by Cameron Mackintosh/National Theatre of Great Britain at The Kennedy Center
• Reviewed by Steven McKnight

In an era when plastic surgery is routinely used to sculpt face and body, it seems positively quaint that a young woman’s primary dream of self-improvement would involve elocution lessons.  Yet the plight of the flower girl Eliza Doolittle at the hands of her mentor/tormentor Henry Higgins possesses timeless charms that are beautifully displayed by the current My Fair Lady revival now playing at the Kennedy Center. (more…)

• The Studio
• Written, directed and choreographed by Christopher d’Amboise
• Produced by Signature Theatre                                                             
• Reviewed by Debbie Minter Jackson
• The Studio is one of the most gorgeously enticing productions I’ve seen in ages.  In true tour-de-force fashion, Christopher d’Amboise, yes, son of renowned dancer, Jacques, wrote, choreographed, and directed the production that explores the interior creative process of dance.  What 33 Variations at Arena did for music, this one uses dance to illustrate the creative process, including all the emotional baggage that goes with it, showing how dancers submit their hearts and bodies to the cause.  It is sheer delight and breathtaking magic.

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