There are plenty of ways to celebrate New Year’s Eve; you could watch the ball drop on TV with family, you could be packed in a bar drinking champagne with strangers or you could be partying with friends, making resolutions about the year ahead. Knowing that not everyone has exciting plans and sometimes people like […]
Archives for December 2013
Applause, applause, a little applause
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Flashdance – the Musical
I promised myself before seeing the Kennedy Center’s current production of Flashdance: The Musical that I would stay away from any obvious “What a Feeling” puns with the review, but that doesn’t mean I can’t kick out some other ’80s gems to describe this nostalgic treasure-trove of all things ’80s. “Let’s Dance,” “Everybody Have Fun […]
The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess
“Summertime and the livin’ is easy.” Those familiar with Porgy and Bess’s story of unlikely love, drug addiction and brutality amidst the slums of Charleston, S.C., know life for these characters is anything but easy. But the dignity and hope that radiates from the fictional community of Catfish Row brought a Washington, DC audience to […]
Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did for Love on PBS tonight
Composer and conductor Marvin Hamlisch is profiled in the newest episode of the PBS series American Masters. Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did For Love premieres tonight, Friday, December 27, 2013, 9 -10:30 p.m. ET on PBS, with new interviews his family, Barbra Streisand, Quincy Jones, Woody Allen, John Lithgow, Lucie Arnaz, Ann-Margret, and many others.
Gypsy
Resistance is futile. Not succumbing to the cheeky charms of Gypsy at Signature Theatre is like planting a raspberry on the pugnacious puss of Mama Rose herself. Not a good idea if you value your life. Far better to sit back and let director Joe Calarco’s emotive love letter to stage moms and the vaudeville-burlesque […]
Welcome home, Porgy and Bess and Duke Ellington star Sumayya Ali
“Summertime and the living is easy…” That is, of course, the beginning of “Summertime,” the song which is the most recorded in Broadway history, Sumayya Ali told me. Porgy and Bess, the show it comes from, is stopping at the National Theatre as part of the tour of the recent Tony-winning (Best Revival of a […]
Our Suburb
Our Suburb is the decidedly nonfictional town of Skokie, Illinois, where playwright Darrah Cloud’s version of the Webbs and the Gibbs are the Majors, a relentlessly right-thinking gentile family on the verge of dissolution, and the Edelmans, Holocaust survivors who have come to America and won safety and prosperity. They live, love and die against […]
Elf The Musical
It’s the most wonderful time of the year. The silent night is broken only by silver bells, little drummer boys and millions more rockin’ around the Christmas tree. Yes, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, perhaps even a white one, and Santa Claus is coming to town. But go and tell it on […]
Wasn’t That a Mighty Day?
“Preach the Gospel,” St. Francis of Assisi is reputed to have said. “If necessary, use words.” There are plenty of words in Wasn’t that a Mighty Day?, now at the Anacostia Playhouse, but they aren’t the point. The business of this production, and of gospel music in general, is to show the otherworldly power of […]
August: Osage County pulled from Christmas release. Here’s the new date
The release date for the highly anticipated film adaptation of August: Osage County has been changed. The dark comedy about the highly dysfunctional Weston clan assembling in rural Oklahoma was due to be released nationwide on Christmas Day. The update plan calls for the film to be released in New York and Los Angeles on […]
A free Christmas Carol from American Century, listen from home
On Sunday, December 22nd, audiences and actors alike will be gathered around their phones for the live one hour telecast of A Christmas Carol Radio Drama, brought to you free of charge, thanks to American Century Theater.