Innovative, real and highly emotional, Dear Evan Hansen is a musical for today— relatable to Millennials with a message that will span the generations. Connor, a high school student, perhaps confused and feeling alone, takes his own life, an all-too familiar news story. But what happens next in this world premiere musical is what makes […]
Archives for July 2015
Fringe Binge says – remember the music
Reminder – there’s still more Capital Fringe 2015. Catch the last shows in Extension Week this weekend. Here, Fringe Binge remembers hanging out in the bar (which Fringe Bing names “the Best in DC”) and catching the music. This closing weekend, DJ’s will be spinning sounds at Fringe. Aug 1 — Saturday I tried to […]
Saving Myself For Steve Martin at Strand Theater Company
Playwright Ann V. Wixon sets before us the well-worn topic of a middle aged woman’s journey through divorce in this one character play. Eve is 45, newly divorced, and comes to a meeting of SWASS, Single Women Actively Seeking Sex. Sex, folks, not love or companionship or even any joined interests are what the lady’s […]
Nancy Robinette and Andrew Long join Broadway cast of Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Nancy Robinette, among Washington’s most honored and in-demand actresses, departs for Broadway to appear in one of Broadway’s biggest hits, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Robinette will be playing the role of Mrs. Alexander, replacing Helen Carey, who has been in the Broadway cast since its 2014 New York opening.
Opera singer Eric Owens, from Glimmerglass Festival to Washington National Opera
I interviewed Eric Owens, the world-renowned bass-baritone, in the beautiful surroundings of Glimmerglass Festival. He had just come off a performance of Verdi’s Macbeth two nights before and was preparing to work with singers from the Young Artists Program. Soon he would be appearing alongside Artistic Director Francesca Zambello pre-show to greet audiences and encourage […]
Capital Fringe extensions and Pick of the Fringe Awards announced
July 26, 2015 — At tonight’s closing celebration for the 2015 Capital Fringe, results were announced for the Pick of the Fringe Audience Awards and the Special Director Award. This is the first year for the Capital Fringe Extension Week (July 29 to August 6) during which 12 shows received a total of 31 additional […]
DanceEthos with The West Shore Piano Trio at Capital Fringe
Imaginative choreography collides with extraordinary emotions in Dance Ethos with The West Shore Piano Trio. Artistic director Tiffany Haughn’s collaboration with several local, innovative dance visionaries, allowed her to curate an enlightening, riveting, touching contemporary dance show. Elaborately crafted movements connected the audience to each ensemble member as the body of work explored a wide […]
To life! Theodore Bikel (1924 – 2015)
Theodore Bikel, the famed folk singer, social activist, stage actor, died of natural causes on Tuesday, July 21 at the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles. He was 91. Mark Kennedy of AP provides details of his life which began in Vienna, Austria, took him to Palestine and Tel Aviv and finally to the United […]
Silence! The Musical at Studio Theatre 2ndStage
Every so often, a show comes along that makes me wish I had been more sensitive with the hyperboles about productions I’ve seen. “Suchandsuch was GENIUS,” “A brilliant production,” “Expert timing/skill/concept.” Such a show is Silence! The Musical, currently running at Studio Theatre 2ndstage.
Twelve Angry Men, American Century Theater’s closing show
What a way for a theatre company to say farewell. Returning, twenty years later, to the play that first brought them into the world, American Century Theater sets the example for bowing out with grace and passion with Reginald Rose’s Twelve Angry Men.
Glimmerglass Festival: no better place for The Magic Flute and Candide
On this the fortieth anniversary of the Glimmerglass Festival, Artistic Director Francesca Zambello has delivered to us two big valentines of shows: Mozart’s much beloved work The Magic Flute and Leonard Bernstein’s Candide.
A haunting Macbeth at Glimmerglass Festival
The general understanding in theatre is that there is a curse on Shakespeare’s Scottish play. I wonder in Anne Bogart’s new operatic production at Glimmerglass Festival, despite some wonderful singing, whether some of that curse didn’t leak over to create a bit of a soggy mash of an interpretation of Verdi’s opera.