Many women of a certain age can recall when their mothers pulled down a volume of The Secret Garden, usually illustrated, from the book shelf and said “Here, I think you will like this. I know I did when I was your age.”
Archives for November 2015
Edward Gero talks about McPherson’s The Night Alive
Before donning Victorian garb once again as Ebenezer Scrooge for the annual “ghost story of Christmas,” A Christmas Carol at Ford’s Theatre, Edward Gero has unfinished business in Dublin. The Irish city is the setting for Conor McPherson’s The Night Alive, currently wrapping up a run at Round House Theatre in Bethesda.
Allegiance Review: George Takei, Lea Salonga in Musical about Japanese-American internment
Some 120,000 Japanese-Americans were incarcerated a few months after Pearl Harbor, by order of President Roosevelt. George Takei and his family were among them. The actor, best known as Sulu in Star Trek, is the reason why the musical Allegiance is finally bringing this shameful chapter of American history to life on Broadway.
No Exit, a closeup of Sartre’s Hell from Nu Sass (review)
Jean-Paul Sartre’s No Exit is one of those canonic icons that most theater-literate folks are familiar with but probably haven’t seen. When intellectuals of Sartre’s type attempt to market their philosophical arguments in the form of drama, it usually does not yield well. But even after 70-plus years, No Exit remains a fascinating and provocative […]
Cabaret Noir from Happenstance Theater (review)
It was a Dark and Stormy Night. (insert sound of typewriter keys clacking here). Actually, the evening I saw Happenstance Theater’s Cabaret Noir in Baltimore, we had springlike temperatures and only a light drizzle. But it seems only fair to change the weather to suit the dark 1940s film noir atmosphere the company provided.
Kyle Coffman gets his dream role in Arena Stage’s new take on Oliver!
When Kyle Coffman sings “Consider Yourself” as the Artful Dodger in Oliver at Arena Stage, the words “part of the family” hits close to home.
Nick Blaemire in free concert at the Kennedy Center this Saturday
This Saturday night, November 7th on The Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage, musical theatre fans will get the chance to catch up with writer Nick Blaemire, whose career was launched at Signature Theatre with Glory Days in 2008.
The Comedy of Errors review: Shakespeare in prison, now at the Public
Kwame Kwei-Armah, the artistic director of Center Stage, has been leaving Baltimore over the past few weeks to go to prison in New York. He’s also been busy in homeless shelters and recreation centers in all five boroughs. Kwei-Armah is directing an exuberantly playful Comedy of Errors for the Public Theater’s Mobile Shakespeare Unit.
On Your Feet Review: Emilio and Gloria Estefan’s Story in Song and Dance
From the first moments of On Your Feet, the Broadway musical celebrating the life and music of Emilio and Gloria Estefan, I thought: This show is sure to be a hit despite what any critics say. But it was the bar mitzvah scene that clinched my prediction.
World Builders, a love story from Forum Theatre (review)
It would have been easy for Johnna Adams, whose World Builders at Forum Theatre focuses on two drug trials participants being treated for Schizoid Personality Disorder (SPD), to write a play about a misunderstood disease.
Landless lands in Frederick
For those wondering what ever happened to Landless Theatre Company, the answer arrived this morning. Landless Theatre Company, headed by Producing Artistic Director Andrew Baughman, is busy working on two fronts: a breakthrough new musical adaptation and the opening of an arts incubator space in Frederick, Md.
Henry is Henrietta in Henri IV, Part 1 from Brave Spirits
One of the hardest things about producing a Shakespeare play is making it feel up to date. Paraphrasing Jack Crew when contemplating playing Hamlet in Slings and Arrows, “Every time the audience hears ‘To be or not to be,’ they won’t be hearing my voice; they’ll be hearing the voices of all of the famous […]