The 2009-2010 ends awash in melancholy, with the death of a great Washington theater leader following (by mere days!) the death of a promising young actor and singer. These tragic events serve as punctuation for a season we will remember with some sorrow.
Archives for August 2010
Which shows do you most regret missing from this past season?
To get ready for the opening of the polls to choose the DCTS Audience Choice Awards, we thought we would ask a series of questions to help us all think back over the season.
Wonderland – the concept album
Frank Wildhorn has a habit of releasing recordings of the songs for his musicals long before the shows open on Broadway. His next foray onto the Great White Way is Wonderland, slated for an April, 2011 opening, but you can hear some of the songs now.
The Importance of Being Earnest
“The truth is rarely pure and never simple. Modern life would be very tedious if it were either, and modern literature a complete impossibility!” So says Algernon Moncrief, chief idler and ne’er-do-well in Oscar Wilde’s classic drawing room comedy, The Importance of Being Earnest, now running at the H St. Playhouse in a new production […]
Favorite New Plays debuted this season
In describing the DC theatre scene to friends around the country, I emphasize the depth and diversity of the offerings here. That point is brought home each year when I look back on the season, particularly the new and original works which debuted in the DC area.
Gavin Lee on playing Bert in Mary Poppins
Kennedy Center audiences love Gavin Lee’s heart-warming, lovable performance as Bert, the chimney sweep in the national tour of Mary Poppins. Gavin originated the role in London, performed it on Broadway, and has been playing Bert all around the country on this tour.
Jane Pesci-Townsend 1959 – 2010
Jane Pesci-Townsend, an old-school musical belter who won accolades as an actor, singer, director and teacher, lost her six-year battle with cancer on August 6, 2010. She passed away peacefully at home, surrounded by her family, close friends and nearly a thousand Facebook messages, which her companions read to her during her intermittent periods of […]
New Audience Choice Awards voted by invitation
DC Theatre Scene’s Audience Choice Awards, now in its fourth year, are the only awards to cover the Washington area’s professional theatrical season – which begins and ends in August – and which allows audiences to make the final decision as to who receives the final awards, based on nominations by the DCTS writers and […]
For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf
Staging a revival of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf during the inaugural DC Black Theatre Festival was a smart move on festival director’s Glenn Alan’s part. Ntozake Shange’s powerfully lyrical poems depicting the loves, joys, betrayals, tragedies and the ultimate rising from the ashes of black women as […]
Jane Pesci-Townsend, beloved teacher and performer, succumbs to cancer
Last evening, August 6th, Jane Pesci-Townsend passed away, surrounded by family and by a boundless community of students and friends gathered on Facebook. This weekend, we are conducting interviews for a retrospective of her remarkable life which we hope to publish on Monday. Our condolences to all who were touched by this gifted teacher and […]
The Women of the national tour of Avenue Q
An interview with members of the Avenue Q national tour: Kerri Bracken, Julianna Lee and Jacqueline Grabois It was an hour before their call for the evening performance of Avenue Q when cast members Jacqueline Grabois (Kate Monster and Lucy the Slut), Kerri Bracken (Mrs. T. and one of the two Bad Idea Bears), and […]
Stella Morgan
Stella is your average Belfast Catholic working class woman. She worries about her son, Thomas, takes care of her two cats, and listens to dead people for a living. While that makes her the more interesting of the two characters performing interlocking monologues in a bare bones setting at Church Street Theatre, this one act […]