Arthur Laurents, whose fabled Broadway career as a writer and director began with two short lived productions but who eventually wrote the book for such monumental successes as Gypsy and West Side Story died May 5th of complications from pneumonia. He was ninety-three.
Archives for May 2011
DC Mayor proposes tax on theater tickets
Washington Mayor Vincent Gray has unveiled a 2012 budget which would subject tickets to DC theatres to the City’s 6% sales tax. The tax, Gray predicts, would generate $2,303,000 in FY 2012 and nearly ten million over the next four years.
Matthew Scott and Nancy Anderson sing for Company
They’ve come to Signature Theatre to sing side by side with two-time Helen Hayes Award-winner Sherri L. Edelen in the just opened Side by Side by Sondheim. They are two of my favorite performers, so I asked Matthew Scott and Nancy Anderson to talk about the songs they will be performing, and to tell us about the […]
Snow White and the 7 Dwarves
The Puppet Company has energized the old fairy tale with a fresh original script, solid story-telling, great media projections, and the most adorable prince and princess imaginable.
Interview with playwright Sam Forman
Sam Forman is back in town, and, for a 34-year-old playwright who has spent much of his life writing stories of nervous, young men whose ambitions crash up against their daily insecurities, he’s surprisingly calm. As Forman looks ahead to the opening of The Moscows of Nantucket, premiering at Theater J on Wednesday, he shows […]
11 shows and 1 movie I’m glad I saw
I had to slow down a bit after having heart surgery the end of February, so I carefully selected shows I thought I’d have a great time seeing and for the most part I chose wisely. The critics have spoken (and you can read their reviews here) but here’s my take.
The Book of Mormon
I’m sure you’ve read by now that this original musical by the creators of “South Park” and Avenue Q is the first offering of the New York season to enjoy unanimous raves from the press. I happily join my sibling critics in telling you that it was a most jolly experience for me as well.
The Apple Cart
Do we really need the British monarchy? As if on cue, The Washington Stage Guild’s The Apple Cart: A Political Extravaganza, one of George Bernard Shaw’s most challenging political satires, opened on the weekend of the wedding of William and Catherine, a prince and a commoner. The twinkly-eyed playwright would have loved the fortuitous timing.
Young Artists of America honors area talent this Saturday
Young Artists of America, a new organization based in Montgomery County, has big ambitions: “to provide talented young artists the rare opportunity to learn and perform major works for opera, musical theatre, and dance in concert with full orchestra, performing alongside professional artists.” Their inaugural concert is this Saturday, May 7th at 2pm in the Strathmore Music […]
Farragut North
– just-released “Ides of March” reviewed here – Beau Willimon’s Farragut North is the kind of “built in Washington” drama that DC theater aficionados clearly will enjoy. In addition, for die-hard political junkies, Farragut North, crisply directed by Clay Hopper for Olney Theatre Center, offers a preview of coming attractions in 2012. That’s due in large […]
Cyrano
Cyrano is one of the great male leading roles. Yet the dominant character in the Folger Theatre production of Edmond Rostand’s classic tragic swashbuckler is not Cyrano De Bergerac, but the world premiere adaptation itself, translated by Michael Hollinger (Opus, Red Herring) and co-adapted by Hollinger and director Aaron Posner. This version of Cyrano de Bergerac […]
The Clockmaker
It takes a real master to successfully blend comedy, romance, crime drama, and metaphysical mystery into a single play. Fortunately, talented Canadian playwright Stephen Massicotte is just such a master and his gem of a play, The Clockmaker, receives an equally skillful DC area premiere at The Hub Theatre.