Few things are more delectable than watching someone get away with murder. Especially if they do so with enviable panache. Tom Ripley, the chameleon-like sociopathic hero of Patricia Highsmith’s novels, is one such reprobate you loathe yourself for loving. Scheming, audacious and just plain lucky, Ripley elegantly defies morality and convention. His homicidal hoodwinks were […]
Archives for September 2010
Circle Mirror Transformation
If you were to see your life played out onstage, would you like what you saw? And if you didn’t, what would you do about it? Studio Theatre’s poignant, arresting production of Circle Mirror Transformation begs this question, among others, as five characters explore the emotional underpinnings of drama, including the concept of acting as […]
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
How do you spell The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee? H-I-L-A-R-I-O-U-S. In 2005, Spelling Bee, beat out blockbusters Spamalot and The Light in the Piazza for the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical. And the Maryland Ensemble Theatre in Frederick does this clever book justice in their wonderfully entertaining production.
All’s Well That Ends Well
It’s awfully nice of Shakespeare to let us know how the play ends before we go into the theatre. Still, I might have traded it back for a chance to feel some sense of surprise. When plays have titles that are this ripe with prognosis, it’s awfully tempting to re-title them, so Michael Kahn’s season-opener […]
Falsettos
Turning thirteen comes with its share of bad luck. The precocious young Jason (Noah Chiet) sees his upcoming bar mitzvah as an entry into adulthood, but the move from point A to point B can prove to be a rocky one. As director Jeffrey Johnson’s modest, intelligent production gently reminds us, our life paths are […]
Take us out to the opera
You’d really like to go to the opera, but you’ve always thought it was too expensive, right? Well, here’s your big chance to try out this wonderful, over-the-top art form for free. The Washington National Opera (WNO) is holding its third annual “Opera in the Outfield” production Sunday, September 19, at 2 p.m. in—where else—Washington […]
Jenny Cartney on conducting Chess
It was definitely the right move when Jenny Cartney was made the conductor of the extraordinary group of musicians that comprise the orchestra of the musical Chess at Signature Theatre. Jenny talks about working with David Holcenberg, who provided the lush orchestrations for the production, her work as both conductor and keyboardist, and her love […]
Billy Elliot: The Musical
The only cast recording of Billy Elliot bears a parental advisory for language. It should also bear the label “No synopsis included – if you haven’t seen the show be prepared for confounding confusion.”
Mauritius
“I’m so glad nobody was killed,” an audience member, walking past me, remarked to a companion. Well, of course, murder was on the table. We’re talking about stamp collecting, aren’t we? Mauritius is a love story – a story about love of stamps, and love of money, and other, mostly doomed, love drifting mysteriously through […]
Play Nice!
The intimate Venus Theatre performance space has been cleverly transformed into an old attic by Joe Musemeci. The seemingly low hanging rafters make you feel like stooping. The space is filled with the castoffs of the Diamond family of Ridgwood, NJ: old books, maps, a wardrobe with clothes, even your seats are their mismatched chairs, […]
OVO
Suspended some 45 feet in the air, under the Grand Chapiteau (Big Top) at National Harbor, a silky, cream-colored cocoon is undulating gracefully. The butterfly (aerialist Inna Mayorova) is making her escape.
Cast changes for Glimpses of the Moon
Natascia Diaz, winner of last year’s Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in Metro Stage’s ROOMS, a rock romance, will be assuming the lead role of Susy Branch when Metro Stage’s new season officially opens Sunday, September 12th with the romantic musical Glimpses of the Moon.