Three times the charm for solo performer Kate Robards, back for another outing at Capital Fringe, using her life as the very funny inspiration for her third solo show. After 2014’s amusing monologue about her time as an expatriate living in China (Mandarin Orange), and her life with a trust-funded husband (Ain’t That Rich), this […]
Review: Mamma Mia! at Toby’s, the feel-good show of the summer
After a decade on Broadway and a prolonged national tour, Mamma Mia! has come to Toby’s Dinner Theatre of Columbia for what promises to continue the winning streak for this feel-good and tune-filled show. Cast to perfection, Toby’s Mamma Mia! is a show to which you can – to quote one of the songs – say […]
Review: Synetic’s Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Imaginative, kinetic, engaging, and bold – those are just a few words to describe The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by Synetic Theater. For the young and young at heart, this fanciful and faithful adaptation of L. Frank Baum’s most famous tale will tickle funny bones and captivate hearts while dazzling with the lyrical dance and movement […]
Review: #poolparty by Jennifer Mendenhall
Many citizens have been welcome at community pools and swim clubs their entire lives. This is not true of African-Americans. Here we have the story of the African American Bowlding family which was denied membership to a private, Maryland swimming pool by its all-white membership in 1974.
Review: Avant Bard’s The Tempest, theatrical magic
Shakespeare’s brave new world – a desolate island miles aways from Europe – is the fantastical setting where The Tempest offers up a blend of danger, romance, intrigue, family strife and, ultimately, joy. All these qualities are handled with panache and delicious theatrical magic by WSC Avant Bard for their closing production of their 28th […]
Review: Bob Bartlett’s Swimming with Whales outstanding debut at 1st Stage
Personal, funny, poetic, rough around the edges – Bob Bartlett’s Swimming with Whales is well worth checking out while it’s at 1st Stage as I predict it will have life beyond its northern Virginia run.
Review: Max McLean’s return visit with C. S. Lewis Onstage: The Most Reluctant Convert
Wit and intelligence are under attack in today. So is faith. And the idea of intelligence working in tandem with religious convictions are often at odds with one another. The argument could be that a great thinker with a worldview informed by science or reason could not possibly believe in an skyward invisible being that […]
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.
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 […]
New version of Chess proves its next move should be Broadway (review)
Chess at the Kennedy Center is a checkmate. In other words, this formerly troubled musical with a beloved score, is taking the Eisenhower Theatre stage by storm in a staged, semi-concert format that may prove to be the definitive version of this rock-tinged, Cold War love story. Does this mean the cult musical has finally […]
Iyona Blake in Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill (review)
Heartache, pain, regrets, joys, and a fair share of personal demons might fell a weaker person. But not even time in prison could stop the musical force of nature known to fans as Lady Day. If singing was her life, she lived most radiantly in her heyday and even in her twilight years while taking […]