The Stadium glows in the embrace of the fading afternoon Sun. The infield is as smooth and manicured as a billiard table. A cooling breeze floats in from the Potomac, wafting over the gorgeous green grasses of left field. Slowly, the massive light towers flicker ablaze. The fans, thrilled by what has gone on so […]
Archives for September 2016
Bad Jews at MET (review)
Maryland Ensemble Theatre’s production of Bad Jews is drop-your-eyes, shake-your-head, rub-your-forehead funny. Because your family, though maybe not Jewish, is most probably just as messy.
YOU HAVE MADE A STORY ON MY SKIN (review)
For a show about scars, YOU HAVE MADE A STORY ON MY SKIN is surprisingly comforting. It embodies a beautiful acceptance and even love for the wounded past and scarred present that make us who we are.
Washington Ballet looks to past to begin future with Julie Kent
When new leadership takes the reins of an arts institution, the focus tends to be on where the company is going in the future. For the new Artistic Director of The Washington Ballet, Julie Kent, however, her first season will open with a celebration of the company’s past.
Edward Albee personal tribute: he forgave me (and didn’t have to)
The legendary, indispensable (and greatly lamented by me) Circle Theatre was a movie house famous for its double features. The program changed every two or three days. As an adolescent, I spent more hours at the Circle than I did, say, doing sports, which may explain a lot about me, but that’s another story.
Collective Rage: A Play in Five Boops at Woolly Mammoth Theatre (review)
The wide-eyed, baby-faced babe with a bod known as Betty Boop is an icon—a 1930s cartoon character based on singer and dancer Helen Kane (and influenced by other ladies of the day) who became a sex symbol in the same era that a couple of mice took to the screen. A tweak here, some changes there […]
I Call My Brothers at Forum Theatre (review)
Washington, DC, 2:16 AM, a car bomb goes off in a supposed terrorist attack. The suspect is a Middle Eastern-looking man with a beard. Amor is a Washingtonian of Middle Eastern descent with a beard and a large backpack who just needs to run a few errands the day after the bombing. In the middle […]
Antony and Cleopatra from Brave Spirits (review)
You might be forgiven for wondering how Brave Spirits will pull off a sea battle, given the extremely minimalist aesthetic they’ve assembled for Antony and Cleopatra. The play begins with the beat of a martial drum, and that drum, a few pieces of cloth, and some painted poles are all that accompany the Bard’s words […]
In Series’ double bill: La Serva Padrona and Trial by Jury (review)
I can’t say enough about the creative minds (and hearts) that plucked these two very different pieces from out of the operatic stratosphere and orchestrated such a satisfyingly delightful experience.
What Did You Expect? Review: Election year continues for the Gabriel family
What Did You Expect?, the second installment of Richard Nelson’s trilogy at the Public subtitled The Gabriels: Election Year In The Life Of One Family, is literate (the characters tell a story about Melville; read from Edith Wharton and Euripides), aromatic (they cook a meal), and, arguably, misleading: The name “Trump” is uttered only once. […]
Playwright Edward Albee dead at 88
Edward Albee, the seminal American playwright and three-time Pulitzer winner who is generally considered the greatest playwright of the latter half of the twentieth century, died yesterday afternoon at his home in Montauk, New York. He was 88.
Derek Goldman on directing The Diary of Anne Frank in Olney’s intimate space
When Olney Theatre Center decided to stage Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett’s Tony-winning The Diary of Anne Frank this season, Derek Goldman seemed like the perfect choice to direct. “It’s a story that has been with me for most of my adult life,” Goldman says.