It’s true. Lee Mikeska Gardner, area arts administrator, director and actor – you may remember that Terry Teachout of the Wall Street Journal compared her memorable performance as “Crazy Terry”, alcoholic wife of jazz musician Gene in Side Man at 1st Stage to Edie Falco’s on Broadway – will become the artistic head of the […]
Archives for November 2013
Lyle the Crocodile
Lyle’s a class-act. He cleans, serves and can save the day—that is, if you are willing to look beyond his reptilian snout and sharp incisors. He may be green, but he’s an extraordinary crocodile with a performance past.
American Voices all star Concert at the Kennedy Center
American music, such as it is, is so diverse and far-reaching that there are rarely opportunities for artists representing one genre of music to engage with their fellow artists in other genres and share a commonality – the love of music and how it can be leveraged to tell a story with conviction. Thanks to […]
Pre-Broadway tryout of If/Then
As a self-professed musical theatre geek, there are few things that give me greater joy than being able to witness the seeds of a new, completely original musical begin to grow. Local theatregoers have such a chance right now as Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey’s anticipated musical If/Then premieres at Washington, DC’s historic, yet until […]
Miracle on 34th Street
Turning a beloved film into a musical isn’t easy – certain themes are hard to translate into song, and people notice when lines and entire scenes are cut to make room for these songs.
American Voices at The Kennedy Center: Classical Singing
Dispatches from American Voices: Renee Fleming & Friends Opera singer Renee Fleming contacted Michael Kaiser of the Kennedy Center over a year ago with the idea to gather together singers, songwriters, teachers, managers and producers from across the spectrum of music genres and styles. What could these artists learn from each other? And what could […]
Maurice Hines is Tappin’ Thru Life
When Maurice Hines walks out on the Kreeger stage, he is home. He glows happiness. He blows kisses and loves his audience up. He tells stories and sings standard after standard with a delicious syncopated style with plenty of scat, branding everything his own. He catches himself striking a pose or finding that certain physical […]
Protest
The Mead Theatre Lab has rarely felt as inviting as it did for Wednesday night’s performance of Protest, the thoughtful political two-hander currently being produced by the internationally-minded Ambassador Theater. Snacks, drinks, and colorful tablecloths cover the small tables arranged nicely throughout the room, creating an evening café environment suited to some nice pre-show conversation […]
Slings and Arrows: Season 3:03 “That Way Madness Lies”
“Charles has run raving into the storm. The irony is breathtaking!” – Oliver Every week, Slings and Arrows pulls a quote from the play it’s focusing on that season to reflect the themes of that episode. Here, at the episode 3 “tipping point” of the six-episode, “That Way Madness Lies” proves to be more on-the-nose literal […]
The Twelve Days of Christmas
The image of presents, presents everywhere as far as the eye can see, a treasure trove of Christmas cheer awaits all who enter Adventure Stage.In the midst of the bounty, a little hapless somewhat fledging partridge named Shirley must carry on the time-honored tradition of orchestrating the Twelve Days of Christmas song when absolutely Nothing […]
The King and I
Oscar Hammerstein II’s minor accomplishment was that he was the greatest lyricist in the history of Broadway, the principal author of a half-dozen of the most revolutionary and seminal musicals in the canon, and a man who by merely associating himself with a production could assure that it would attract a fortune in investment.
carried away on the crest of a wave
How can you tell the story of the massive 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that killed over 200,000 people in fourteen countries, one of the deadliest disasters in history? Playwright David Yee tackles the it by giving pieces of the story using different characters in different countries over a period of years. These scenes are united […]