The glimpses we get into God of Vengeance, the real-life play-within-a-play that’s at the heart of Paula Vogel’s thrilling, stirring Indecent, are audacious, provocative, tender, challenging. And that’s right here in 2018.
Review: Anything Goes. stylish, silly musical serves up Cole Porter’s de-lightful music
The revival of Cole Porter’s 1934 madcap romp Anything Goes at Arena Stage manages to be everything that it can be—an anachronism, tiresomely silly and outright dumb in places, but also the vehicle for a fantastic score, great dance numbers, and truly committed, attention-demanding performances by its leads. Anything Goes is about as vintage a […]
Review: Turn Me Loose, a play about comic genius Dick Gregory
Dick Gregory was never afraid to speak truth to those who most needed to hear it. Even when it fell like acid rain. Gregory—the rebel comedian who paved the way for provocative, black funny men—ended his comedy career in the 1970s, yet, old and young alike know his face. It appears besides MLK and other […]
Edwin Lee Gibson on playing Dick Gregory in Turn Me Loose
As Edwin Lee Gibson prepares for the first performance of Turn Me Loose, a look into the life of comedian Dick Gregory, September 6th at Arena Stage, his dressing room is full of photos from Gregory’s long and noteworthy career.
Review: Debut musical Dave, a good guy becomes an accidental president
Dave is a musical for our times. A snapshot of our current political climate swathed in red, white and blue, the world premiere musical with music by Tom Kitt (Next to Normal), a book by the late great Thomas Meehan (Hairspray, The Producers) and Nell Benjamin (Legally Blonde) and lyrics by Benjamin is a call […]
Cast member Rachel Flynn from the cast of new musical Dave, staged version of the popular movie
Musicals based on movies are all the rage these days with titles like Mean Girls, Pretty Woman, Bronx Tale and King Kong dominating Broadway marquees and the ads in Times Square. Arena Stage is adding another ’90s favorite to the mix, presenting the world premiere of Dave, a musical based on the 1993 light-hearted political […]
Review: new musical Snow Child at Arena Stage
Arena Stage’s world-premiere musical Snow Child tries to be many things at once—the personal story of a married couple struggling to cope with the loss of a child; a fairy tale incorporating elements of magic; a musical homage to the Alaskan wilderness and its local traditions; and a snapshot of a particular time in Alaskan […]
Meet the puppets and their creators from Snow Child at Arena Stage
As we speak, Emily DeCola (Puppet Designer) is in New York City, directing a puppet, bookcases, and fish for a new Puppet Kitchen production, The Little Red Fish, with New York City Children’s Theater. Eric Wright (Puppet Director) is rehearsing with the cast of Snow Child in Washington, D.C., looking out on a rare March […]
Powerful ‘wake up’ energy in Washington, DC: August Wilson, Peggy Cafritz and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr
This past week brought a powerful confluence of “wake up” energy to Washington, DC. Sunday, people gathered at Washington’s National Cathedral to remember Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who gave his last sermon there fifty years ago a few short days before he was gunned down in Memphis. Last Friday, Duke Ellington School held a […]
Review: August Wilson’s Two Trains Running at Arena Stage
Seeing Two Trains Running at Arena Stage marks the halfway point of my consummation of playwright August Wilson’s decalogue of dramas expressing the 20th century black experience in America. Viewing Wilson’s Century Cycle—each play is assigned a decade from the 1900s to 1990s—has been one of the great pleasures of my theatergoing life. In past […]
Review: Hold These Truths, a bright spirit from a dark era in American history
“’Deru kugi wa utareru.’ Dad first said it to me. ‘The nail that sticks out is the one that gets hit.’ It’s an old Japanese proverb. To stay out of danger or harm’s way, one must conform. One must obey. One must be … inconspicuous.”
Arena Stage announces its next season, starting with Broadway hopeful Dave
A fantasy about a high school teacher who becomes a Presidential double and then the de facto President when the real President suffers from a scandalous illness will open a season for Arena Stage which is otherwise mostly about some of the most dramatic — and real — events of world history.