Harold Prince died this morning at 91 years of age after a brief illness, in Reykjavik, Iceland. There will be no funeral, but a celebration of his life is planned. The lights of all Broadway theaters in New York will dim for one minute today at 7:45 p.m. His memoir of his life was recently […]
Archives for July 2019
Review: Skip the long rehearsals. Taffety Punk actors jump right into the action with Richard III
The best theater reveals moments of high emotion built on the intersection of intense preparation and the chaos of live performance. By that measure, the best theater experience in DC is Taffety Punk’s Bootleg Shakespeare. This year, the Punks took on Richard III, and unequivocally showed their mastery of Shakespeare’s historical masterpiece. Here’s how the […]
The toughest skills these BMX competition riders learned for Cirque du Soleil’s Volta
The top of the Cirque du Soleil tent, stretching across one of the parking lots next to the Tyson’s II mall, peaks over the collection of roadways as I drive into the neighborhood. The tent itself is a massive spectacle, looming among the collection of hotels and buildings. Touring Cirque du Soleil’s Volta is a […]
Review: New Jeanine Tesori/Tazewell Thompson opera Blue at Glimmerglass Festival
The Glimmerglass Festival offers a unique opportunity to singers and audiences alike to be around living composers. The “live relationship” creates a work that breathes and where new discoveries in the process can bring about further growth and development. This has happened with having composer John Corigliano as artist-in-residence all summer serving as mentor to […]
Review: Cirque du Soleil’s high-flying, death-defying Volta under the Big Top in Tysons, VA
There are plenty of oohs and ahhs to be heard under the big top in Tysons, VA as Volta, one of Cirque du Soleil’s most daring shows to date, brings plenty of imaginative and original acts to the stage. As with any Cirque show, Volta offers a collection of high-flying acrobatics and death-defying stunts, and […]
Review: Tiger Style! at Olney Theatre Center
Blame their parents. Albert and Jennifer Chen are failing at life. Sure, they both graduated top of their class from Harvard. And, yes, Jen went on to get a medical degree and PhD (both from Harvard) before starting her career as an oncologist. Albert took the “lazy Asian” way out, “only” becoming a software programmer. […]
Capital Fringe 2019 Audience Awards winners and Julianne Brienza reveals some early measures of the festival’s success
Update: Shows presented at this year’s Capital Fringe received some of the highest ratings in the history of our reporting. Audiences got the chance to vote their favorites in the Capital Fringe Audience Awards survey and the winners were announced on closing night, July 28, 2019: Best Comedy: Codependent presented by J&em Productions Best Drama: […]
Review: The Ghosts of Versailles at Glimmerglass Festival 2019
Glimmerglass Festival has made a bold choice in re-mounting The Ghosts of Versailles, a complicated, multi-layered late 20th-century opera, as part of its 2019 season. Contemporary opera tends to suffer through an unusually difficult and long gestation before it is brought into this world. The Ghosts of Versailles is no exception. Commissioned with the team […]
Review: Synetic Theater’s adaptation of Treasure Island
Once again, Arlington, VA has been invaded by bloodthirsty pirates. Earlier this summer, Signature Theatre premiered the rollicking musical Blackbeard in Shirlington Village. Now, over in Crystal City, the Hispaniola has set sail in Treasure Island, a Synetic show you won’t want to miss. Synetic Theater’s newest adventure has something for everyone in this adaptation […]
Capital Fringe review: From Divorce to Restoration
It is part poem, part prayer service, and part therapy session, but the first thing that will strike you about From Divorce to Restoration is its name. Restoration? Really? Aside from death, divorce is the human event least likely to result in a return to the status quo ante. The best we can hope for […]
Broadway Bounty Hunter Review: Annie Golden as Actress Turned Badass by Be More Chill’s Joe Iconis.
The actress Annie Golden (mute Norma in Orange Is the New Black) stars as the actress Annie Golden, who exchanges the humiliations of auditions for the thrills of a career kick-boxing dangerous criminals in this Off-Broadway musical. Well-meaning, cleverly designed and terrifically sung, Broadway Bounty Hunter has a game and talented cast, a funky pastiche R&B […]
Review: Disney’s Aladdin. It’s all about the spectacle and Major Attaway as Genie
“It’s the plot that you knew/ with a small twist or two/ but the changes we made were slight,” croons Major Attaway as the Genie in the finale of Aladdin national tour, now at the Kennedy Center. This not-quite-apology acknowledgment of the awkward tension between the nostalgia that drives a ticket purchase (in this case […]
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