Despite theater’s origins in religious ritual, dramatists for the most part these days present religion as a foil for criticism or mockery .. That’s especially true in regards to Christianity, the choice faith of the Western world, with 2 billion adherents strong.
Archives for December 2012
Hansel and Gretel
If you haven’t heard that Washington has become a great music-theatre center, you haven’t been paying attention. Offerings across the spectrum of styles keep on increasing in breadth and depth, and new audiences are being developed all over town. Now Washington National Opera broadens its scope by launching a “new annual tradition” of holiday fare […]
Million Dollar Quartet
There’s an early moment in Million Dollar Quartet when Jerry Lee Lewis is pumping his downstage leg which seems attached to a perpetual spring while he paws the piano – more like a bear than a young musician – then hacks away at his instrument like a Benihana chef chopping steak.
Apples from the Desert
Sticks and stones may break our bones, but words can hurt far more. The sparring characters in Savyon Liebrecht’s play — a heartfelt look at the rifts in orthodox Jewish life in 1980s Jerusalem — sense this instinctively, eschewing the bluntness of physical blows for the far more searing, and intimate, power of language.
An Irish Carol
An Irish Carol , now in its second of hopefully many annual appearances at Keegan Theatre, is not your father’s Christmas Carol. Unless you father is a drunken, aging Irishman hanging about in a near-deserted pub on the eve of Christmas.
Marissa Molnar returns to DC as Screwtape’s assistant in Hell
Some acting teachers ask their students to imagine: What kind of animal are you? The truer question for Marissa Molnar might be: What kind of animal aren’t you?
It’s a Wonderful Life, A Radio Play
Adapting a classic movie for the stage is normally a reversal of sorts. To adapt a beloved Christmas classic, It’s a Wonderful Life, as a “radio play” is unique and presents fascinating possibilities. The setting is a radio studio complete with sound effects, live microphones and a real piano player for the background music.
Les Misérables
Leading the charge in this season of Les Misérables-mania, (the movie opens Christmas day), the National Theatre plays host to Cameron Mackintosh’s celebrated 25th anniversary tour of the global musical sensation. Thanks to several standout performances and cutting edge visuals, the production delivers a stirring, revitalized journey through Victor Hugo’s revolutionary France.
CenterStage Artistic Director receives high British honor at Buckingham Palace
CenterStage Artistic Director Kwame Kwei-Armah was last week named an Officer in the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, one of the highest honors the British monarchy can bestow upon a subject, the company announced today.
Leap of Faith
We have Ghostlight Records to thank for capturing a moment in Broadway’s history. Their release today of the original Broadway cast recording of Leap of Faith is not only a first class documentation of a first class score, it commemorates something that has never happened before.
Irving Berlin’s White Christmas
Irving Berlin’s White Christmas, now at the Kennedy Center Opera House through January 6, is an irresistibly toe-tapping song-and-dance confection which rolls a selection of Irving Berlin hits into a warm, nostalgic, and energetic entertainment package, wrapping it all up with a bright red Christmas bow.
Golden Age
Every now and then Terrence McNally, one of America’s prized and prolific playwrights, having been off the boards for a season or two, sits down to write a play that isn’t about very much, sort of an exercise by which he keeps his typing fingers nimble.