– in which we suggest a holiday trip to American Shakespeare Center in the lovely town of Staunton, VA nestled in the Shenendoah valley – I don’t much see myself in Ebenezer Scrooge. He’s British, I’m American. He’s stingy, I’m profligate. He cultivates bitterness, and I cultivate mechanisms for keeping bitterness out of my mouth […]
Archives for December 2013
Slings and Arrows: Season 3:04 “Every Inch a King”
“At the end of it all, you’ve got to have some spectacular cock-ups, because THEN, you’ll have stories…and you’ll have had a life.” – Cyril It’s a long way to rock-bottom, isn’t it?
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner is the story of unexpected and uncomfortable reactions to love between a black man and a white woman. It brings up the issue of racism from all fronts: the African American maid, the progressive white newspaper publisher, and the elderly African American man. “You still think of yourself as a […]
Pippin star Patina Miller makes her cabaret debut at The Kennedy Center
Holy crap, I’m seeing Patina Miller in here?! This was my first thought walking into the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theatre Friday night. Though still large enough to devour many of DC’s venues whole, the Terrace is shockingly small in scope. At 513 seats, this was going to be a very up-close-and-personal visit from the rising […]
Man in a Case
Watching Mikhail Baryshnikov in Man in a Case is everything that so much American Chekhov in adaptation is not; there’s nothing languid about this performance, but rather we watch his character with fascination, an emotional minimalist encasing the antics of a pent-up animal – passionate, furious, terrified, and tortured all at once. One arm shoots […]
Composer Jeanine Tesori on her new family opera for Washington National Opera
Composer Jeanine Tesori has a new work opening December 14th at the John F. Kennedy Center, with its special Christmas theme making it a suitable holiday treat for the whole family. Commissioned and produced by the Washington National Opera, The Lion, the Unicorn, and Me features singers from the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artists Program and a […]
Macbeth at Lincoln Center
The Lincoln Center Theatre has assembled a vast company of more than 20 actors, and allotted an equally vast budget to its spectacular production of the perennial favorite Macbeth. Our most recent view of the piece was earlier this season when Alan Cumming brought us his version of the nefarious ways of the Thane of […]
And Away We Go
Terrence McNally is one fortunate fellow. He was quoted in an interview on Playbill.com as having said that he’s been blessed with a happy home life, and the privilege of working at a job he loves for over 50 years. That job is playwright, and to mix a metaphor, he is one shoe maker who […]
Win a pair of tickets to see the Royal Shakespeare Theatre screening of Richard II
DCTS has partnered with Angelika Mosaic Film Center in Fairfax, Virginia to offer you free tickets to the latest screenings of opera, ballet and theatre from around the world. If you missed the U. S. debut screening of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Richard II starring David Tennant (of Dr. Who fame) at Folger earlier this […]
Sunday snow cancellations
Before heading out to the theatre today, best check for cancellations. The first notice came in from NextStop Theater. Both shows are cancelled for Sunday, January 8th. More notices are trickling in our DCTS’s Facebook page. So far, we’ve been told 1st Stage and Theater Alliance have canceled today’s shows.
Waiting for Godot and No Man’s Land
I was fortunate enough to catch Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne in the final years of their long running tandem Broadway careers. They were able to elevate lesser plays like O Mistress Mine, I Know My Love, Quadrille and The Great Sebastians with their magical teamwork, and illuminate more substantial works like Taming of the […]
Reviewing The Sound of Music LIVE! and those hate Tweets
Last night, I watched something awful. And it wasn’t on TV. We’ll get to that later. Reviewing the broadcast of Sound of Music LIVE! is actually pretty simple for me, so we’ll address that first. From top to bottom, we were treated to a gorgeously sung affair. Robust choruses, talented kids, dynamo supporting actors, and […]