There is a brilliant bit of dialogue in Lee Blessing’s arms-control drama A Walk in the Woods which encapsulates the heartbreak at the core of the play. Now that the American Ensemble Theater’s production has come to an end I can tell it to you.
Archives for July 2010
Widespread voting irregularities cause DCTS to rescind 2010 Fringe awards
DC Theatre Scene announced this morning that it was rescinding its 2010 Fringe Awards after a canvas of the votes revealed widespread voting irregularities. DCTS will be giving no Fringe Awards in 2010.
Twelfth Night is Shakespeare Theatre’s Free for All
It will be Christmas in August and September as the Shakespeare Theatre Company offers a reprise of its 2008 hit Twelfth Night – so named because it is set on the twelfth night after Christmas – for free at Sidney Harman Hall in the company’s annual Free For All production.
Promises, Promises – CD
One of the chipper-est and most enjoyable revival recordings of recent days makes you happy just listening to its up-tempo, uniquely pop sound. No Broadway musical ever sounded like this before Burt Bacharach and his song writing partner Hal David took a crack at musical comedy. Too bad they didn’t keep at it! It would […]
Serenading Louie
Two attractive couples, conversation, alcohol, deep-seated unhappiness and betrayal abounding … nope, it isn’t Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf? It’s Serenading Louie, being presented with quiet style at The American Century Theater. The sniping here is less vicious, the tension thick without the muffle…but there’s still a lot of Albee seen in playwright Lanford Wilson’s […]
Noises Off
Noises Off approaches perfect nonsense, and Keegan Theatre plays the heck out of it. It is a joyous adventure, watching a good play about the production of a very bad one.
DCTS announces Fringe poll winners
Congratulations to those Capital Fringe productions which received a rating of 4 or 5 from our reviewers. They became the nominees for the DCTS Best of Fringe awards and, on Sunday, July 25 we opened the polls so that our readers could select the final winners. We deeply regret that voting irregularities seriously impacted the […]
Personal reflections on this year’s Fringe musicals
It wasn’t hard to select my favorite musicals of this year’s Capital Fringe Festival ( I’ll get to them in just a minute) because so many of this year’s so-called musicals sucked. The majority of them had poorly written scores, books, and lyrics, and casts that couldn’t sing in key if their lives depended on […]
Avenue Q
They’re back and furrier than ever. If anyone still wonders how and why these puppets could have beaten the popular musical Wicked for Best Musical at the Tony Awards in 2004, then run to the Landsburgh Theatre and see for yourself. You’ll have so much fun that you’ll forget all about witches and broomsticks and […]
Some personal reflections on the Fringe
While there are numerous awards for Fringe productions, I would like to honor some individual and group performances that made the 2010 Capital Fringe Festival a memorable experience for me. However, I only saw 27 productions (i.e., only 20% of the 132 total) so please chip in with your own comments on who should receive […]
Three Fringe shows extend their runs
If you think Capital Fringe ended on Sunday, you are only partially right. You still have a chance to see three productions: one is continuing its run and two are making the jump from Fringe stage to new venues. Super Claudio Bros, the new musical about video game superheroes starring Matthew Anderson, played to sold-out […]
The MacCloskey and Myers Complete Do-It-Yourself Comedy Hour
The Board of Directors of an international dog-food company once held a meeting, with legendary results. They had just released a new product which represented the cutting edge in canine nutrition. It came, moreover, with the endorsement of leading celebrities, and it was the beneficiary of a smart, well-financed advertising campaign.