— Feb 18, 2015 – Today, Ford’s Theatre Society announced its play selections for the upcoming season (2015-2016) which hands two dynamic roles to DC actors. Nancy Robinette, whom Chris Henley describes as “the Meryl Streep of Washington theatre”, will lead the cast of Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie and Helen Hayes multiple nominee Tracy […]
Archives for February 2015
NextStop’s instant box office hit: Love, Loss and What I Wore
The late Nora Ephron said in an interview once, “What you wear and what happened to you are indelibly connected.” The writer of such films as “Julie & Julia,” and “When Harry Met Sally.” For this, Ephron worked with her sister and frequent collaborator Delia Ephron (also a novelist in her own right) to fashion […]
Restaurant review: America Eats Tavern near 1st Stage
Tysons, it’s where the stores are, but what about the restaurants? Tysons Corner’s two full-scale malls have turned the unincorporated edge city into one of the most coveted retail spaces in the area though its restaurant scene has not kept pace. Long a culinary backwater, Tysons has recently added some promising establishments that hint at […]
Chris Henley talks with the two queens of Mary Stuart, Holly Twyford and Kate Eastwood Norris
A funny thing happened on the way to the Folger. Outside the front door, I saw a poster for its production of Mary Stuart. I was there to interview the actors playing Mary, Queen of Scots, and her rival monarch, Elizabeth I of England. I had assumed that Holly Twyford was playing Mary and that […]
The Addams Family at Toby’s, kooky and terrific
How fitting to share an evening with the kooky, creepy and lovable Addams Family on one of their cherished holidays, Friday the 13th. The night was as cold as a tomb but Toby’s Dinner Theatre was warmed by the passion shared by Mr. and Mrs. Addams, Gomez and Morticia. Their hot-blooded romance – and how […]
Movie review: The Last Five Years
Once upon a time, in 2001, there was a musical. Beloved by dozens, this teeny-tiny song cycle told the story of an ordinary, five year relationship in a highly unusual way – from the woman’s point of view, we would be traveling backwards through time, from the end to the beginning, while from the man’s, […]
Uncle Vanya at Chesapeake Shakespeare Theatre
I know what you’re thinking: is Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya just like Life Sucks, except with a bunch of Russian guys? Let me turn the question around for you: do you think that Uncle Vanya could be set in Argentina, or in medieval Turkey, or in the Wild West, with a few adjustments? I do, […]
A very scary Wiley and the Hairy Man at Imagination Stage
Imagination stage brings the sights, sounds, and images alive of the backwoods where a young boy must face his biggest fears of life.
August Wilson’s King Hedley II at Arena Stage
Love, honor, revenge, blood sacrifice– these and other seminal elements flow through the inner workings of August Wilson’s King Hedley II. The script is masterful, the themes course through the characters’ lives and play out in full operatic-like orations. Entire passages can transport you to a sense of other- worldliness, sometimes ancient, other times intensely […]
The Pirate Laureate and the King of the Sea
That the pen is mightier than the sword is the dream of every English major, and also the theme of the Zachary Fernebok’s “Pirate Laureate” series, of which this is the second exemplar. It is also the dream of diplomats and lovers of peace everywhere, although its truth remains undetermined.
From Nashville, Jack’s Tale at The Kennedy Center
Using a bit of bluegrass, and evoking the best of Americana, the Nashville Children’s Theatre brings the old Appalachian (and originally Scot-Irish-English) folk hero, Jack, to life—merrily blending his many adventures into a single yarn for the stage.
Metromaniacs. Don’t disburse. This one’s a first review in terse verse
The Shakespeare Theatre has brought back David Ives to instill some archaic French literature in our lives.