At a pivotal point in Bachelorette, one character offers her take on the state of contemporary womanhood: “Age 12 is when you start to hate yourself.” It’s the closest the play ever comes to providing an origin story for the three miserable women at its center, and it manages to distill the key theme of […]
Archives for May 2012
DC theatre companies compete and collaborate with each other
Several months ago, local playwright Stephen Spotswood and Washington Post theater critic Peter Marks asked me how much DC theater companies feel like they are in competition with each other, which led me to author this post on my arts marketing blog.
The Illusion
What is real, imaginary, wishful thinking, dreaming and fantasy when it comes to the mental gyrations of making life choices and dealing with reality? Tony Kushner tackles such heady topics via a 17th century French farce, mixes in love, philosophical musings, and deception, more like self-delusion.
The joy of doing Lonely Planet . Conversations with Michael Russotto and Eric Sutton
– Michael Russotto and Eric Sutton are sharing the stage in Steve Dietz’ Lonely Planet at MetroStage. Both actors surprised and delighted me with their thoughtfulness and insights into the play. Due to schedules, I interviewed them separately and have joined our dialogues here to capture their feelings about why this play is so special. […]
The Irving Berlin Reader
This book is almost a fantasy fulfilled for me. I’ve always thought it would be wonderful to just take a few days off, go to the reading room of some huge library like the Library of Congress, settle in with the card catalog, bibliographies and reference data bases in search of books and magazine and […]
With 100 productions to its credit, Lumina is ready for more
For those for whom Shakespeare is not enough, there is always Lumina. The Silver Spring-based not-just-for-kids troupe just finished celebrating its one hundredth production in fifteen years – a version of Midsummer Night’s Dream which manages to tie in Fritz Lang’s classic movie “Metropolis” and also the story of Dr. Faustus, all in slightly less […]
The Music Man
You can tell, in the occasional serendipitous gesture, the brilliant telling smile, why this oddball musical, this syncopated torrent of Americana, was chosen over West Side Story by the Tony Award voters of 1958. Sondheim, Laurents, Bernstein et al, showed their brilliance with West Side Story, which became an American classic, but Meredith Willson showed […]
Imagination Stage announces a season of peaches, ogres and whos
Bethesda’s Imagination Stage takes dead aim at the 4 to 12 set in a six-production season which will feature a world premiere of a Roald Dahl play, the company announced yesterday.
Naoko Maeshiba, dancing on the edge of theatre
Dancer/Choreographer/Director Naoko Maeshiba, at least to me, was one of Baltimore’s hidden artistic treasures until I had the chance to see in 2009. Her journey began in Japan, where she was born and trained, before she headed to Hawaii, DC, and, ultimately, Charm City, where she is now in the Department of Theatre Arts at […]
The Tooth of Crime
In the well-known Greek creation myth, the Titan Cronus desperately seeks to prevent the prophecy that one of his offspring will overthrow him, as he did to his own father, Uranus. Cronus’ mighty power and desperate attempts to avoid his fate prove useless, and soon his enraged son, Zeus, appears to wage a climactic battle […]
Tracie Bennett Sings Judy Garland
Songs from End of the Rainbow and other Garland classics This isn’t exactly a cast recording of a show’s score, but it may be of interest in the days before the Tony Awards are announced on June 10.
Flora the Red Menace
The first big production number from Flora the Red Menace, “One Good Break,” a paean to young seekers everywhere, couldn’t be more apt as the theme behind the show’s creation.