DC Theatre Scene readers who have enjoyed shows at Signature Theatre in Shirlington will wish this slender volume was thicker. At 123 pages of large type, it only skims the surface of the story of Signature Theatre — but what is here is fascinating.
Archives for May 2011
Old Times cast on playing Pinter
Shakespeare Theatre Company shifts the tone of their season this spring with Harold Pinter’s Old Times, directed by Artistic Director Michael Kahn. Pinter’s play, first produced in 1971, explores a love triangle between Anna (Holly Twyford), Kate (Tracy Lynn Middledorf), and Deeley (Steven Culp) under the stark white focus of a living room during one […]
By Jeeves
How light is the Andrew Lloyd Webber/Alan Ayckbourn musical now playing at 1st Stage? Imagine a chiffon pie, covered with whipped cream and meringue. It is lighter than that. Imagine a field of chipmunks floating on helium balloons. It is lighter than that. Imagine The Unbearable Lightness of Being, made not only bearable but turned […]
New guide to theatre ticket deals just published
With so much good theatre being offered in the Washington area, the question becomes, not should we go, but how often can we possibly manage it? And with food and gas prices on the rise, how can we stretch our entertainment budget to catch that new show that sounds interesting.
Amadeus the latest of 4 Spring shows to add performances
Critics and audiences alike are declaring Edward Gero and Sasha Olinick a triumph in Amadeus at Round House Theatre, which just added three performances, now closing June 12th. Washington loves all things Stoppard, as the MetroStage production of The Real Inspector Hound is proving. With strong ensemble acting, the hysterical locked room mystery has been […]
The Tennessee Continuum
Playwright Tennessee Williams wrote the truth as he saw it. By having the courage to share his own troubled personal life, he revolutionized American theater.
A Time to Kill
Arena Stage’s world premiere production of Rupert Holmes’ A Time to Kill is, in turn, funny, shocking, witty, and sly. It’s based on John Grisham’s breakthrough law-and-order novel and clearly conscious of its well-received 1996 film version starring Matthew McConaughey, Sandra Bullock, and Samuel L. Jackson.
D.C. City Council rejects 6% theatre tax
Thursday, May 26, 2011 – The D.C. City Council yesterday passed a 2011-2012 budget for the City – without the 6% tax on live arts performances that Mayor Vincent Gray had proposed.
Jerusalem
I have no argument with the general consensus among the critics I’ve read about Jerusalem, the well intended and occasionally powerful play by Jez Butterworth, which has crossed the Atlantic after a very successful run in London’s West End. I have no argument, but I cannot agree. I’ve now read five reviews from respected colleagues, […]
Old Times
Is there anything more delicious than Harold Pinter done well? When the show’s funny and weird and a polite sense of dread hangs over everything like a sinister odor?
Follies recordings
So. You’ve just seen the revival of Follies at the Kennedy Center and you say “I must have this score on my theatre shelf.” Or you are planning to see it and you say “I must get a recording to familiarize myself with the score before I see the show.” Which of the many recordings […]
Follies
It’s not the air-conditioning causing goose bumps at the Eisenhower Theater. Instead, chills of pleasure are induced by director Eric Schaeffer’s deluxe, star-packed production of Follies, Stephen Sondheim and James Goldman’s milestone 1971 musical about spectacle and specters from a distant past—a past that may not have been entirely real.