No one ever built a statue to a critic, it was once famously said, but in 2013 two critics received OBE’s in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours list. Michael Billington and Philip French, theatre and film critics for The Guardian and The Observer, were honoured after writing reviews in their particular disciplines for a 100 […]
Archives for April 2015
Wolf Hall Broadway Review: Henry VIII, heresy and adultery made dull
It’ll be another three months before the American Revolution arrives on Broadway, with the hip-hop musical Hamilton. In the meantime, the Great White Way has been pledging allegiance to the British Crown, first with The Audience, a play in which Helen Mirren portrays Queen Elizabeth II over 60 years, and now with Wolf Hall, Parts […]
Theatre is like a cheeseburger: Brian Hemmingsen and Nanna Ingvarsson on The Norwegians and more
“We were trying to figure it out the other day,” Nanna Ingvarsson said after I asked her how many times she and her husband Brian Hemmingsen have worked together. I was talking to them in the dressing room at Anacostia Playhouse before a rehearsal of The Norwegians, their latest project. The SCENA Theatre production runs […]
Q2Q comics artist makes theatre’s backstage his front page
The drive to Frederick was long, but the destination was worth it. Not just because Frederick may be the most adorable town in driving distance of DC, but also because that town is home to Maryland Ensemble Theater and their go-to sound guy Steve Younkins.
MetroStage cancels Fugard’s The Island, reschedules for the summer
MetroStage’s production of The Island, Athol Fugard’s drama about two prisoners in a South African jail, has closed after three performances. Starring Michael Anthony Williams and Doug Brown, the Sunday night press opening drew rave reviews. DCTS’ Alan Katz considered seeing the play a “moral necessity.”
Gigi Broadway Review: Vanessa Hudgens in visually stunning, emotionally threadbare production
Gigi, an imitation French confection of a musical starring High School Musical sweetheart Vanessa Hudgens, is based on a novella by Colette about two aging prostitutes grooming their illegitimate relative, a child of 15, to attach herself to a rich older man. Colette added a twist to this sordid story, which she set in high-toned […]
Simply Sondheim at Signature is simply spectacular
Simply Sondheim is a match made in musical heaven. The pedigree alone is promising. Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, the famed composer known as Signature Theatre’s signature, has provided fodder for numerous musical revues, including the bio-revue Sondheim on Sondheim that played Broadway several seasons back, and Side By Side By Sondheim which has been around since the 1970s […]
The Margins from Molotov – long on ambition, but short on scares
Ghost stories need a few key elements to truly scare: constantly building tension, atmospheric lighting and music, a cast that knows when to get out of the way, and just enough backstory to set audiences’ imaginations ablaze. Molotov Theater’s creepshow The Margins aspires to the hair-raising heights of The Conjuring, but ultimately falls short by […]
2015 Helen Hayes Awards celebration, reflections on legacy
There is something mysteriously wonderful about Theater Alliance’s Black Nativity sweeping the Helen’s Outstanding Musical, Musical Direction and Ensemble Awards with the cast standing on the stage that meant so much in our cultural history.
2015 Helen Hayes Awards: the after party caught on camera
Everyone’s looking good and having a great time at the 2015 Helen Hayes Awards after party at the Howard Theatre. Photo essay by Ryan Maxwell Photography Recognize anyone? Help us with photo captions. Just right click the image, copy it and paste into an email with the caption. Then email us here. Recognize anyone? Help […]
2015 Helen Hayes Awards: Thoughts on the Helen recipients
Last night’s thirty-first annual Helen Hayes Award ceremony was also the first annual Helen Awards ceremony. With so many more companies, so many more productions, so much more theatre in town now than when the awards were created three decades ago, theatreWashington (the support organization that administers the awards) split eligible productions by size and, […]
2015 Helen Hayes Awards: thoughts on the Hayes recipients
This year’s Helen Hayes Awards didn’t seek to dazzle. It was enough to attempt the daunting — if not altogether impossible—task of presenting awards for both Helens and Hayeses in a ceremony that didn’t last as long as Forum’s Passion Play. Where last year’s 30th Anniversary bash was, by all counts, a glamorous spectacle – […]