You know this girl, this woman, this ghost. You met her in Galway, or in a small town in the Slieve Mish Mountains in County Kerry, or in Peoria — or in Bowie, or in Rwanda, or any place in which she exists — which is to say, all places. She is Irish; she is […]
Archives for March 2018
Review: Brooklyn the Musical from Monumental Theatre
Essentially Rent, but half as long and without everything that makes Rent unlikeable to modern sensibilities. Monumental Theatre Company’s top-notch production of Brooklyn the Musical, which ran for a few months on Broadway a decade ago, offers plenty of pleasures for the eyes and ears despite a lackluster underlying story.
Review: Nat Turner in Jerusalem at Forum Theatre
Nat Turner in Jerusalem is a journey into the fervent religious belief behind the leader of a slave rebellion in Southampton County, VA, armed with a sword and spirit. You may have seen Theater Alliance’s The Raid, based on John Brown and the rebellion at Harper’s Ferry, which just closed in Anacostia. Nat Turner in Jerusalem […]
Next season, Round House Theatre offers a slate of 5 dramas, and a mid-season move to make way for renovations
Bethesda’s Round House Theatre will kick off its 41st Season with a $14-million capital campaign — designed to raise money to improve both the company’s physical plant and what it can offer its artists and audiences. Round House will move out of its present space and into DC’s Lansburgh Theatre in Penn Quarter for the […]
The Winter’s Tale at Folger (review)
There’s no getting around it — The Winter’s Tale, as far as Shakespearean romances go, is a weird play. One King’s jealous rage springs into action for seemingly unfounded reasons. Huge chunks of action during the play’s conclusion happen offstage, and are summarized hurriedly in an aside. Oh, and there’s a bear.
Review: The Washington Ballet presents three impressive world premieres
“With any new endeavor,” said Washington Ballet’s Artistic Director Julie Kent before Friday night’s performance, “there is an element of risk – and excitement.”
Review: Escape to Margaritaville. Jimmy Buffett songs in a breezy musical
Escape to Margaritaville, the new Broadway musical with songs by Jimmy Buffett, promises much the same experience as the week long tropical resort vacation that it depicts — fun, relaxation, even romance. As with such resorts, the musical, opening at the Marquis, has its disappointments, but it largely delivers; all it asks of you in […]
Review: Chicago at Keegan Theatre’s got that razzle dazzle
“Razzle dazzle ‘em!” Silver-tongue shyster lawyer Billy Flynn melodically opines that if you do that, you’ll have an audience eating out of your hand. If you can snag a ticket to the Keegan Theatre’s new production of Chicago, prepared to be razzled, dazzled and blown away.
Aaron Posner and Katie deBuys talk of magic and music in Folger’s Winter’s Tale
Susan Galbraith speaks with director Aaron Posner and actor Katie deBuys during rehearsals for The Winter’s Tale which opens at Folger Theatre this week. ———————— Susan Galbraith: Aaron, we’re talking about your direction of one of Shakespeare’s most complex plays, The Winter’s Tale. What for you feels like the centrifugal force that could hold the play […]
Baltimore Center Stage announces its 6 play 2018/2019 season
The first post-Kwame Kwei-Armah season at Baltimore Center Stage will feature the classics: established, new and aspiring. It will start off with one of the most celebrated plays in the American canon and close with a world premiere by a Lorraine Hansberry award recipient, and feature two recent Tony laureates.
The Gospel at Colonus gets a glorious revival from Avant Bard (review)
The ancient Greeks took to the stage with joyous dancing and choral singing thousands of years ago, even before they created the timeless tragedies of Euripides and Sophocles. So why not a black gospel choir and spirited liturgical dance from the African-American tradition?
George – Don’t Do That!, Catherine Flye at MetroStage (review)
To a world of Instagram, YouTube, reality television, and other forms of hyped up, electrified media for the short attention span-addled populace, MetroStage offers something different. Catherine Flye, a veteran actor and theatre maker, transports audiences back to a time of gentle humor, delivered not with bells and whistles, projections, and digital sound production but by […]