Here’s To The Ladies! The Women of Tin Pan Alley, A Dante Rehearsal, Tommy Tune: Steps in Time and Broadway Today. No winter blues here! As the snowflakes fell and the freezing temperatures made us shiver, there was a buffet of song and dance appetizers on our local stages. Here are four shows and special […]
Cody Green from West Side Story
CODY GREEN ON PLAYING RIFF IN WEST SIDE STORY By Joel Markowitz Canadian-born dancer/actor/singer Cody Green is used to taking big risks. He left The Juilliard School to join the ensemble of the Mama Mia! national tour. Playing Eddie in the tour of Movin’ Out led to joining the Broadway cast in its last few […]
Karen Olivo
An Interview with actress Karen Olivo, who plays Anita in West Side Story by Joel Markowitz When I saw Karen Olivo playing Faith in the musical Brooklyn, I knew, by the power and beauty of her voice, that a star had been born. When I saw Karen as Vanessa in the 37 Arts Off-Broadway production […]
Starting the year with some great performances
WHAT A WAY TO WELCOME IN 2009! Serendipity 4, Natalie Joy Johnson, The Wizard of Oz and Alice Ripley at Millennium Stage New Year’s Eve with ‘Serendipity 4′ What’s a better way to welcome in the New Year, than by attending a haymishe (very comfortable and “homey”) Yiddish, Hebrew, Greek, Bosnian, Romanian, Russian Gypsy Bulgarian, […]
Finding Yolanda at Arena Stage’s Casting Call
by Joel Markowitz Jan 3, 2009 – Arena Stage’s open call Finding Yolanda Casting Search was a day long affair, but at the end of nearly 12 hours, we were close to learning which talented local actress/singer/dancer extraordinaire will join the cast of Crowns, having its fourth Arena Stage production at the Lincoln Theatre from […]
Yiddish Theatre’s Gimpel Tam and Kids and Yiddish
by Joel Markowitz In its 94th year, the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, is alive and full of energy and ended 2008 with two productions. It was the last day of Chanukah and Joel Markowitz made sure to see them both on his recent swing through NYC. Here he interviews actor Adam Shapiro from the critically […]
Grey Gardens director and star talk about the show
Barbara Walsh, star of Grey Gardens Interview by Joel Markowitz She’s a hometown girl, and she’s back performing on the Metheny Stage at Studio Theatre as Edie and Edith in Studio Theatre’s production of Grey Gardens. An excerpt from their phone interview is below. Read the entire conversation here. Joel: How difficult is it to […]
Four shows that are gifts from Santa
A Child’s Christmas in Wales, A Christmas Carol, Seasonal Disorder and An iMusical Christmas! A Holiday Labor of Love! It was a difficult week for me and some of my close friends. Many of us were called into to our human resources offices and heard those dreaded words, “I’m so sorry, but we had to […]
Three Who Shone in Beauty and the Beast
A Beauty of a Beauty and the Beast Interviews with actors Josh Simon and Mike Mainwaring and lighting designer Scott Selman I had heard that Winston Churchill High School in Potomac, MD had a terrific drama department, and a huge Broadway size stage, so when Scott Selman – whose work I knew from Act Two […]
Chatting with the creators of Next to Normal
Feeling Electric! Lyricist and book writer Brian Yorkey and composer Tom Kitt on Arena Stage’s new production of Next to Normal By Joel Markowitz There are musicals that have become cult favorites, and one of my favorite Broadway musical performers – Alice Ripley – has starred in four of them: Side Show, Rocky Horror Picture […]
November Gems
Will Gartshore in concert, Joseph’s Amazing Kids, Sarah Brightman’s Symphony and Christopher Imbrosciano by Joel Markowitz Will Gartshore – Oh, That Voice! Two-time Helen Hayes Award winner (Urinetown and Assassins) Will Gartshore – the man with that gorgeous voice – reappeared in a cabaret at Round House Theatre’s Silver Spring stage called Perfect/Finite – A […]
Spotlight on the Scene Stealers
Five Fabulous Scene Stealers and other Kudos Elizabeth Rayca, Richelle Howie, Steven Rigaux, Sonya Lillenstein, Vishal Vaidya, The Cast of PetPourri, Josh Speerstra and Rita Moreno. By Joel Markowitz Local theatregoers were recently treated to many scene stealing performances. Here are my personal favorites: