The long history of Cabaret makes it extremely difficult to produce something refreshing and new for the seasoned theatre audience here in Washington, DC. I think, even more difficult, is the task of pleasing the critics who all have their favorite production. It was only a week or so ago that at least one major critical […]
Archives for September 2006
Review: In the Mood at Olney Theatre Center
About twenty years ago, a James Caan-Mandy Patinkin movie called Alien Nation imagined the existence of a drug which enabled – indeed, compelled – users to work endless hours under subhuman conditions, cheerfully. It was addictive, both to the users and to those who took advantage of their supernal efforts. In the movie, decent men […]
Red Light Winter
Produced by Studio Theatre by Debbie Minter Jackson The Studio Theater’s production of Red Light Winter takes cold to a new dimension with the blustery drafts, howling winds, and frosted windowpanes. For talented playwright Adam Rapp, not even freezing temperatures can match the cold of unrequited love involving two friends straddling between Amsterdam and New […]
MacBird
Is this a dagger which I see before me? MacBird, by Barbara Garson, Performed by the American Century Theater Reviewed by Tim Treanor MacBird is agitprop. It cannot be usefully reviewed as though it was a piece of conventional theater, since its objectives are different. Moreover, in keeping with the American Century Theater’s mission of […]
Review: Rebecca Gilman’s Spinning into Butter
The opening sequence of Spinning Into Butter feels cozy, comfortable and familiar – a student is called into a typical dean’s office, not too cluttered or pristine. Maura McGinn plays Dean Sarah Daniels with accuracy and precision, pulling bifocals in place when necessary, trying to find a way to help a struggling yet promising college […]
Ronnie’s Audience Choice nominations, 2006
The Top 5 Plays I Saw This Season As our website and coverage of the local theatre scene has evolved I find myself drawn to two kinds of theatre. First off I love musicals – I love them mostly because I also have a love of all genres music and that obsession tends to fuel […]
Joel Picks Best Musicals from the 2005-06 Season
Nubians, Pissers, Cheating Queens, A Puffing Maid, A Lot of Heart, Deerlick, Bli-Blip, Marilyn Monroe, and Bosom Buddies: I saw 36 musicals locally and on Broadway this year, and boy are we blessed in the DC/MD/VA area!! Here are my favorite musical experiences of the 2005-2006 (from August to August). 1 BLOOD BROTHERS AT THE ELDEN STREET […]
Tim’s Audience Choice nominations 2006
IN A YEAR WHEN THEATRICAL GRACE FELL FROM HEAVEN, THIS MANNA TASTED BEST Sometimes, when I go to the theater I get more than I deserve. I don’t mean more than the cost of the ticket (which is generally free, thanks to this swell reviewing gig I have). I mean more than I deserve as […]
Recent Tragic Events
Recent Tragic Events Produced by Indian Head Center for the Arts By: Ronnie Ruff I am reminded once in a while just how important the role of director is in any play no matter how great the acting talents or how wonderful the playwright and script. How many times have I been looking forward to a […]
The Top 5 Plays I Saw This Season
By Ronnie Ruff As our website and coverage of the local theatre scene has evolved I find myself drawn to two kinds of theatre. First off I love musicals – I love them mostly because I also have a love of all genres music and that obsession tends to fuel a love of old fashioned […]
What’s in the oven, Page to Stage Monday
It is easy to think now, nearly a half-century after his time, that Jack Kennedy was a patron of the arts. This big building bears his name, and carries an enormous Robert Berks sculpture of his head in its Millennium Foyer. The gift shop is full of his biographies, and of accounts of his short […]
What’s in the oven, Page to Stage Festival Sunday
We yoke celebrity to money, as easily as we match athletic accomplishment to endorsement contracts, or to designer steroids. Thus it is hard to imagine a celebrated person who is not rich. But in the land of theater our instincts play us false. Our instincts, as we tread the marbled halls of the Kennedy Center, […]