Cuchullain is inspired by Irish legend and “Cuckoo’s Nest”, its author explains Rosemary Jenkinson’s brand new one-man, one-act play Cuchullain, currently in rep with Keegan Theatre’s musical Spring Awakening, reminds us of the mad Anglo-Irish down-and-outers whose lives she charted in her earlier comic tragedy Johnny Meister and the Stitch. This latter play was mounted by Solas Nua […]
Memphis
The traveling road show edition of Memphis, winner of the 2010 Tony Award for Broadway’s Best Musical, arrived at the Kennedy Center’s Opera House this weekend past. DC is the first stop, launching its national tour. It’s a show that regales its audiences with a hot, evocative score, some smashing song and dance numbers, plenty […]
The Animals and the Children Took to the Streets
Suzanne Andrade’s The Animals and Children Took to the Streets is, as Monty Python once explained, something completely different. It’s not really a play, although it tells a story. It’s not really a musical, although it has music in it. And it’s not really animation or film, even though both elements are crucial to its […]
Home of the Soldier
The always hyperkinetic Synetic Theater company is in action again at its home base in Crystal City. This time, instead of funneling classic theater works through their uniquely visual, dance-centric system, they’ve chosen to unveil an original work entitled Home of the Soldier.
It’s A Grand Night for Singing indeed with Washington Savoyard’s production
If you’re among the many, many Washingtonians who love good vocal and choral music, you can’t do better than to head on down to the Atlas Performing Arts Center to catch the Washington Savoyards’ great current offering, A Grand Night for Singing.
Introducing the new Howard Theatre
a photofeature which takes you inside and behind the scenes of the newly restored Howard It’ll be a hot time in DC’s Shaw neighborhood this week as the venerable, historic Howard Theatre stages its grand re-opening celebration. Once the home to Duke Ellington, Pearl Bailey, Lena Horne and Sammy Davis, Jr, the new Howard is […]
Brother Russia
Sunday evening, Arlington’s Signature Theatre revealed the world premiere of Brother Russia, a new rock musical by the creative team of John Dempsey and Dana Rowe. Chock full of interesting characters and loaded with catchy music, Brother Russia is top-notch musical theater—until its wordy, misconceived final moments bring the show back down to earth with […]
Forty years and still singing, Washington Savoyards throws a gala
From time to time, most performing arts organizations schedule a special evening of entertainment geared toward raising audience awareness as well as attracting much needed donations from well-heeled arts patrons. These sparkling “gala” evenings usually highlight an ensembles’ best or most popular performers singing, playing, or dancing to classical, pop, or Broadway hits. Click here […]
The King and I
Now on stage at Toby’s Dinner Theatre in Columbia, the company’s production of Rodger’s and Hammerstein’s classic 1951 musical The King and I is a remarkably effective revival of this exotic, tune-filled musical. Even in the limited space of a dinner theater, the production’s strong cast, decent choreography, and colorful, surprisingly elaborate costuming combine into […]
Up close with the magic of Elephant Room
We talk with Louie Magic, Dennis Diamond, and Daryl Hannah, if that be their real names. The Elephant Room isn’t really a play and it isn’t really a magic show. In fact, it’s a little hard to define. One of the show’s PR blurbs breathlessly promises that if you combine “the glory of a Styx reunion […]
Chris Sieber – he’s played Georges on Broadway and now is Zaza on La Cage tour
The fabulous Zaza, as portrayed by singer/actor Christopher Sieber, is the heart and soul of La Cage aux Folles, the current revival of the smash Broadway musical now playing to packed houses at the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater. Co-starring longtime Hollywood icon George Hamilton, the show charts the adventures and misadventures of a pair of […]
Director Robert McNamara on SCENA’s Hedda Gabler
SCENA Theatre’s current production of Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler puts some interesting twists on a classic that’s rarely seen on DC stages these days. SCENA’s veteran Artistic Director Robert McNamara has chosen to remedy this problem at least in part by employing an updated adaptation of the original by popular contemporary Irish playwright […]