It’s the great story of theatre, isn’t it? A leading lady gets replaced after a production begins performances and with her leading man, they create something unexpected and magical onstage together. Those that witnessed Arena Stage’s enormously successful production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! in 2010 or its return engagement in the summer of 2011 […]
About Jennifer Perry
American Voices all star Concert at the Kennedy Center
American music, such as it is, is so diverse and far-reaching that there are rarely opportunities for artists representing one genre of music to engage with their fellow artists in other genres and share a commonality – the love of music and how it can be leveraged to tell a story with conviction. Thanks to […]
Pre-Broadway tryout of If/Then
As a self-professed musical theatre geek, there are few things that give me greater joy than being able to witness the seeds of a new, completely original musical begin to grow. Local theatregoers have such a chance right now as Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey’s anticipated musical If/Then premieres at Washington, DC’s historic, yet until […]
Barbara Cook’s Spotlight: An Evening with Lucie Arnaz
There’s something to be said about being able to put on a show that seems fresh and unexpected even after one has been in show business for nearly 50 years. Indeed, Lucie Arnaz’s cabaret performance at the Kennedy Center had the mark of someone who clearly has honed her craft throughout the years and finds […]
Sister Act
Ah, the movie-turned-into-musical trend. We’ve seen so many on the Great White Way in recent decades. In some cases, this can result in musical theatre aficionados asking “was that really, really necessary?” In other cases even the stodgiest of the musical theatre elite might admit the stage production of some particular Hollywood blockbuster offers an […]
Sutton Foster at Strathmore
It may not be the first time that two-time Tony Award-winner Sutton Foster has performed in concert in our area, but the crowd at the extraordinary Music Center at Strathmore may have been the largest she’s had yet. Certainly, those who attended her sold out cabaret at the Kennedy Center several years back or her […]
Marry Me a Little
What’s not to like about an evening of lesser known Stephen Sondheim songs? Although the 1980 musical revue Marry Me a Little, conceived and developed by Craig Lucas and Norman Rae, is certainly historically noteworthy for exposing musical theatre aficionados to nearly twenty of the venerable composer’s ‘trunk songs,’ as currently presented at Creative Cauldron, […]
Nadine Zahr and Sharon Kenny: The Love-Junk Chronicles
Closing out Signature Theatre’s first Autumn Cabaret Festival, Nadine Zahr (understudy for Brother Russia and Side by Side by Sondheim) returned to the intimate Ark Theatre along with fellow NYC-based singer-songwriter Sharon Kenny. The duo – with background vocals from Signature favorite Madeline Botteri – explored Nadine’s serial dating tendencies in Los Angeles and New […]
Heidi Blickenstaff in cabaret at Signature
Like any respectable musical theatre nerd, I reveled in seeing Hunter Bell and Jeff Bowen’s ‘little show that could,’ [title of show], make it to Broadway in 2008. The hilarious musical theatre jokes, strong score and book, and more than solid cast, it was all so good that – after seeing the insanely electric first […]
Chelsea Packard: My Yellow Brick Road
Signature Theatre’s popular Sizzlin’ Summer Cabaret series may have just wrapped up, but the ambitious theatre company is certainly not done with providing DC area music lovers another large dose of cabaret performances. This week, Signature Theatre’s first Autumn Cabaret Festival got underway and over the next three weeks it will include performances from musical […]
Miss Saigon
Signature Theatre certainly has had numerous successes with putting new spins on large scale musicals so it perhaps comes as no surprise – particularly for those who saw its production of Les Misérables several years back – that Artistic Director Eric Schaeffer and company have decided to do it again. This time the focal point […]
Colleen McHugh: Wish You Were Here – Songs from Faraway Places
New York City cabaret mainstay Colleen McHugh has returned to Signature Theatre yet again in its annual Sizzlin’ Summer Cabaret series. Rather than resting on her laurels as many do – particularly when they have a regular, captive audience as can be the case with such yearly cabaret festivals – she came in with a […]