Glassheart is an offbeat, mature riff on the classic “Beauty and the Beast” fairy tale. The Beast must not only conquer the ancient curse that has given him a combined human-animal appearance until he finds love, he must also deal with doubt, depression, and dating in a contemporary American setting. Reina Hardy’s updating of the […]
Archives for January 2014
Helen Hayes Awards – watch the nominations tonight!
Nominees for this year’s 30th Anniversary Helen Hayes Awards will be announced tonight, Monday, January 27th, from the stage of the National Theatre, and, as they did last year, theatreWashington will host a live webcast of the event, starting at 7:20 pm. The nominations are for professional productions staged in our area during calendar year […]
Craving for Travel
A leading luxury travel consultant named Jim Strong has put together and produced a 75 minute sparkling commercial about his field of expertise. It’s called Craving For Travel, which happens to be the name of the app he’s invented for the iPhone and iPad. It’s not a play, it’s an out and out entertainment, and […]
Kathleen Turner and Molly Smith on Mother Courage and Her Children
“It’s the greatest anti-war play of all time,” Molly Smith said about Bertolt Brecht’s Mother Courage and Her Children. Smith, Artistic Director of Arena Stage, is directing a cast led by film and stage star Kathleen Turner in what she described as Brecht’s “greatest play,” to open at Arena this month. About her part in […]
Suddenly Violet. Ford’s Theatre stars talk about the once-overlooked musical
Since graduating from Oakton High School in 1998, Erin Driscoll has made quite the name for herself in theater circles around the DC area. She won the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Actress for Signature’s Urinetown and has delighted audiences in productions ranging from Into the Woods to Our Town to Cinderella. Coming off a […]
Scapin
There is more swishing than swashbuckling in the latest Constellation Theatre Company production of Scapin, but all is delivered with such juicy enthusiasm and at such daredevil speed that the whole proved a riotous good evening of fun.
Miss Nelson is Missing
I remember Miss Nelson. I remember the kindly young teacher driven batty by the especially naughty students of Room 207. And I, of course, remember nasty, mean, odorous Viola Swamp. Those are prime recollections for a child of the ‘80s, and it was high nostalgia-seeking mode that I attended Adventure Theatre’s musical adaptation of this […]
The Consultant
The Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven has long been the home of world and regional premieres of new plays by interesting authors, carefully screened and considered to be on the brink of major exposure, and in some cases major acceptance by critics and public alike. One such is Heidi Schreck who has been produced […]
La Vie en Rose
La Vie en Rose, a collaboration between the In Series and the Washington Ballet Studio Company, is an intriguing production: ballet dancers interpret famous French songs in subdued black and white costumes in front of French street lights and newspaper clippings.
Live recordings from NY nightclub, 54 Below
Two years ago, when I was preparing the 2012 holiday gift guide, I received a press release from a new well-named label: Broadway Records. It announced the launch of a series of live recordings of cabaret-style performances at the then-brand-new supper-club downstairs from the Studio 54 Theater on 54th Street in New York – – […]
Crimes of the Heart
Everybody needs a sister. Whether by blood or a sister from another mister, we need someone who drives us crazy, who knows us better than we know ourselves, who criticizes us but will cut the first person who dares to insult her fellow sibling.
Earnest director Keith Baxter on Wilde, Welles, Gielgud and others from his life in theatre
We’ve all heard about the actor’s nightmare, a dream during which the actor is about to go on stage without having learned the lines. At the opposite end of the spectrum, what might the actor’s dream be? How about this: you are a young actor, supporting yourself with menial work. You go to an open […]