Joss Whedon, a man whose name is synonymous with some of the most feverishly obsessed-over fantasy and science-fiction franchises of the last 20 years, is also a hardcore Shakespeare fan. In-between helming cult TV shows like “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and blockbuster epics like “The Avengers,” the writer-director frequently hosts actor friends at his house […]
About Andrew Lapin
In the House, adaptation of Spanish play, comes to FilmfestDC
Movies arriving from overseas are the bread and butter of Filmfest DC, the annual tour of cinematic works Washingtonians would otherwise have little chance to see. The French drama “In the House,” one of the 80-plus features screening over the next ten days, is a prime example of the way this festival tries to stretch […]
The 2013 Oscars – a theaterlover’s guide
Normally the Academy Award nominations are an annual opportunity for film fans to gripe about how out-of-touch the Hollywood establishment is with quality filmmaking. But something strange happened on the way to the red carpet this year: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences actually produced a decent and diverse crop of contenders. And […]
Race
Can you feel that white-hot bubbling of Conservatism in your gut? Can you smell that unmistakable, pungent aroma of angry men? It’s David Mamet season in Washington, and the air is thick with chunky dialogue, whizzing through the Beltway like bullets from an unregulated firearm.
Bachelorette
At one point late in “Bachelorette,” Kirsten Dunst’s fiery yet weak-kneed creation inadvertently reveals an ugly old habit of hers to a near-total stranger. “I wanted to be beautiful,” she offers, by way of explanation.
Rock of Ages
The modern jukebox musical is here to stay. Broadway purists can either fight this continued re-appropriation of fizzy, carbonated songs and their respective eras like some kind of theatre plague, or they can embrace the Jersey Boy Within as a necessary evil of a medium that thrives on pre-stamped mass appeal. And heck, there’s always […]
Suicide, Incorporated
Comedian Bill Hicks had a famous routine about people who work in marketing and advertising. Well, maybe “routine” isn’t the right word: Hicks would stand on stage, address the marketers in his audience and then implore them, over and over, to kill themselves.
The Ice Child
Whatever there is to say about The Ice Child (and there’s a fair amount to say), no one can claim the play is spinning its wheels. To realize the tale of a girl captured and imprisoned in a basement freezer by her psychopath professor, the creative team has brought out as many bells and whistles […]
The Oscars: your Stage to Screen Cheat Sheet
The Academy Awards are almost upon us once again, and this Sunday night, the entire film industry will hold its breath while a bunch of old, white men tell us what they liked this year. Here, for the discerning theatergoer, is a stage-to-screen-to-Oscar guide to the most notable nominations (from our point of view, anyway).
Peter Pan: The Boy Who Hated Mothers
Peter Pan always did seem like a rather difficult creature, as far as immortals go. Anyone with such a steadfast refusal to mature or learn anything useful can’t be entirely pleasant to be around for that long – and remember that, unlike most eternal beings, Pan is this way because he chooses to be, because […]
Next Fall
A faith compromised is an odd beast indeed. Take Luke, the young, beguiling object of affection in Round House Theatre’s new production of Geoffrey Nauffts’ Tony-nominated Next Fall, as performed by the exuberant Chris Dinolfo. Luke, a Tallahassee native and a struggling actor in New York, is both gay and a devout Christian.
Pina
One of the few concrete tidbits we learn about German dance choreographer Pina Bausch over the course of the new 3-D documentary “Pina” is that she was a woman of few words. As should rightfully be expected from someone whose preferred mode of expression is bodily motion, she was of the opinion that dance expresses […]