Adventure Theatre’s holiday production, ’’Twas the Night Before Christmas is a star studded event, written by Broadway celebrated Ken Ludwig, featuring well-known D.C. actor Gary Sloan, and directed by Jerry Whiddon.
Archives for November 2011
The Sound of Music
It is 1938, and Europe is settling down to dream the worst nightmare in human history. Georg von Trapp (George Dvorsky), an Austrian hero of the Great War, has lost his wife, and is about to lose his country. He marshals his seven motherless children about in military order, outfitting them in sailor’s costumes (by […]
Jersey Boys star sings national anthem on tonight’s GOP debates in DC
Audiences tuning in for tonight’s scheduled GOP debate will see Wolf Blitzer introduce the candidates, and then Mauricio Pérez, one of four Frankie Valli’s from the national tour of Jersey Boys now at the National, will join them onstage and sing the national anthem for the candidates, the audiences gathered at DAR Constitution Hall and […]
Melissa Errico: Legrand Affair
A Theatre Shelf reader, in a comment to the column on Kate Baldwin’s album of songs by Sheldon Harnick, said she really liked collections devoted to one composer or lyricist. I resolved to include more of them in future columns. This week I got the opportunity when Ghostlight Records released a delicious collection of Michel […]
Carol’s Christmas
The problem with Ebenezer Scrooge is not that he’s selfish or wrong-headed – he’s right about Christmas, and you know it – it’s that he’s lonely. Scrooge is as miserly toward himself as he is toward others; to the bottom of his stingy heart, he is an enemy of pleasure, whether it be the love […]
Two Fall Fringe shows get held over
Capital Fringe Festival’s Fall Fringe, originally scheduled to close Sudayn, Nov 20th, has extended the two most popular productions in the original 11 show lineup. Good Girls Don’t, But Indian Girls Do byVijai Nathan, the stand up comedian who many saw early in her career at Speakeasy DC, and Michael Merino’s Squirrel, the Origin of a […]
Quidam
Now playing in the capacious Verizon Center, Quidam is the current iteration of the Montréal-based Cirque du Soleil, the amazing French-Canadian entertainment combine that has, in many ways, redefined the good old-fashioned circus as a uniquely theatrical performance art form. Its current show — surprisingly dark and introspective — is an auditorium-based revival of its […]
Luisa Fernanda
Think of the present day Arab Spring. In 1868 Spain, public dissent was in the air. The revolutionary fervor, called La Gloriosa (Glorious Revolution) led to the overthrow of Queen Isabella II and outcries for a government that spoke for the people. Real life events inspired composer Federico Moreno-Torroba who collaborated with librettists Federico Romero […]
Performers support Occupy K Street this Saturday
DC’s Puppet Underground has teamed up with Occupy DC for a full afternoon of puppetry, poetry and music titled Occupy Kabaret Street, a roving street performance.
Ken Ludwig writes ‘Twas the Night before Christmas for Adventure Theatre
No worries about writer’s block or evoking the muse for Washington author Ken Ludwig. In addition to penning ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, a world premiere holiday children’s show for Adventure Theatre, the prolific playwright debuts a comedy at a high school in Fairfax designed for younger drama departments and community theaters, premieres a new […]
Standing on Ceremony, the Gay Marriage Plays
The closet is, at last, wide open. No more need for gay characters to parade around pretending to be women, which was the game played up through the mid-twentieth century. When even a hint of the love that dare not speak its name was offered onstage (The Captive, The Green Bay Tree) whispers were heard […]
Jersey Boys benefit concert to feed hungry in DC and fight AIDS
Cast from the national tour of Jersey Boys will stage a benefit concert on November 28th at D.C. Improv to support Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and the local charity Food & Friends. General admission tickets are $50. The concert, tabbed “Rock Like A Man”, will feature cast members singing hits from the fifties and sixties. […]