Last time I was here in 2013 I was swept into the flurry of opening celebrations, including the noontime grandstand with mayoral speeches and brass band and the late night garden party for sponsors, complete with celebrity gawking and southern finery sightings.
Archives for May 2016
Oliver Thornton, playing Bianca. What Taming of the Shrew says about love
“It was as if the audience was holding its breath” I said. “It’s like that every night” he answered. I was talking with Oliver Thornton who plays Bianca in Shakespeare Theatre Company’s all male The Taming of the Shrew. He had found a quiet room at the National Gallery of Art and was happily ensconced […]
Source Festival opens June 8: “Dive in and don’t be afraid”
Two dozen new works will be on display as part of Washington D.C.’s Ninth Annual Source Festival, running June 8 through July 3, and theater fans will surely be intrigued by what’s being staged.
The Little Match Girl (review) at Spoleto Festival USA
Have you ever sat beside a lake at night and listened to the sounds? Or stood on an urban street corner in inky blackness or more exactly in a snowstorm where the world becomes unfamiliar in the swirling blur and the sounds become mysterious slushes and whooshes?
Ed Sylvanus Iskandar tackles and conquers Taming of the Shrew (review)
Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Taming of the Shrew is an extraordinary production, one of the most original and well thought out presentations of Shakespeare I’ve seen in years. Director Ed Sylvanus Iskandar has been generating revolutionary theatre in New York, and you can clearly see what all the buzz is about with this all-male production.
Brent Barrett, bringing his razzle-dazzle to Signature’s La Cage
“I have a long history with the show,” Brent Barrett told me. The extremely busy musical theatre actor, with an impressive (and international) resumé, begins previews next week playing Georges in La Cage aux Folles at Signature Theatre.
Elliott Bales, dramatic actor, turns song and dance man in 60s musical
We know Elliott Bales from his leadership at Theater Alliance and from his stage roles. The name Elliott Bales on a casting list usually signifies a drama – the retired Army Colonel mentioned in our interview his satisfaction in playing the bad guy – and in a remarkable turn as a romantic lead in Romeo and Juliet: […]
Paul Taylor Company (review), elegant, genteel, pretty and fun to watch
When Jerry Garcia died I remember thinking, “I wish I’d seen the Grateful Dead live.” Everyone talks about how amazing they were in concert and even though I was never a Dead Head I wish I had experienced it firsthand.
Backstage at the 2016 Helen Hayes Awards, the compilation video
DC Theatre Scene was invited to interview Helen Hayes Award recipients backstage at the Lincoln Theatre on Monday, May 23, 2016. Before heading there, Jill Kyle-Keith caught up with Helen Hayes judge Natalie Tucker.
riverrun, Finnegans Wake interpreted, part of Ireland 100
Olwen Fouéré stands quietly in the front left corner of the stage. Without saying a word, she exudes a sense of peace, patience, mindfulness and awareness as she watches the audience enter. When the lights go down, she slowly and deliberately begins to move, takes off her shoes and settles to the front of the […]
The Merry Death of Robin Hood (review) played at DC Reynolds bar
Some of the oldest stories still extant of the adventures of legendary outlaw Robin Hood are songs about his untimely demise, a metaphor-rich ballad about honor and being laid back in English soil. The newest yarn about old Robin is about his death as well, though LiveArtDC’s production The Merry Death of Robin Hood eschews […]
HBO’s All the Way starring Bryan Cranston (review)
So — all right, you missed All the Way at Arena Stage and you are forced to your TV as a consolation prize. I’m here to tell you that as consolation prizes go, this is a pretty good one. In the HBO version of the play, to which they are giving non-subscribers free access for a […]