No, this isn’t just A Christmas Carol with an accent; it is a riff on the familiar Dickens structure, transported to the equally familiar stage world of an old Irish bar. The ghosts and visitations are traded for recriminations and memories; the supreme miser Scrooge for the grumpy old owner David; the near-penniless Cratchit for […]
Review: Trans rock star Lisa Stephen Friday debuts her personal story in Trans Am
At its heart, Trans Am is an autobiographical ode in the style of a rock opera, that draws inspiration from the folk-rock like stereotype of the singer-storyteller. Lisa Stephen Friday, in her one-woman autobiographical show receiving its world premiere at Keegan Theatre, brings us on a hybrid journey of traditional coming out stories and traditional […]
Review: A fresh version of From Gumbo to Mumbo playing now
The tangy DC streets or a soulful bowl of NOLA. From Gumbo to Mumbo celebrates each from its first notes—for what writers and performers Drew Anderson and Dwayne Lawson-Brown do is something just shy of sing. This show is about their roots and life routes. Which, predictably, also include a lot of pain. From being […]
Keegan’s about to go live (stream) with Trans Am and Gumbo to Mumbo
Live theater is a dangerous place. We know it as a place where audacious ideas and forms – The Seagull, Death of a Salesman, Angels in America, A Strange Loop – saunter their risky walks across the stage. But it’s also a high-wire act, where a catastrophic misstep by an actor or by technical support […]
Guide to Halloween specials from DC area theatres
If there’s one holiday that screams ‘theatre’ it’s Halloween, and we’ve found some spooky spectacular events from our local theatre producers. Available now Master of horror Alex Zavistovich produces spine-tingling Edgar Allan Poe dramas on Poe on the Air heard over NPR. Part 1 of Never Bet the Devil Your Head is online now.Part 2 […]
DC theatres open lobbies as safe spaces for Black Lives Matter protestors
Update: Source and The 9:30 Club become the latest venues to open their doors to protestors. With thousands of people planned to gather in DC this weekend to protest police brutality, a number of theaters have joined the #OpenYourLobby movement and announced that they will open their lobbies and bathrooms to allow protestors to rest […]
Review: Anna Ziegler’s Boy at Keegan Theatre
As I was watching the DC premiere of Anna Ziegler’s inspired-by-a-true-story play, Boy, now playing at Keegan Theatre, there was an Oscar Wilde quote rattling around in the back of my brain (because isn’t there always?): “Children begin by loving their parents; after a time they judge them; rarely, if ever, do they forgive them.” […]
Our 22 most memorable performances of 2019
One last standing ovation for these performers whose work quite simply blew us away this year. Ian Merill Peakes, Amadeus, Folger Theatre In Amadeus, Ian Merill Peakes brought Peter Shaffer’s Salieri to brilliant, anguished life. He was a childishly sweet-scarfing confidant explaining to future generations the way his young court-rival genius, Mozart, curdled Salieri’s heart and activated […]
Review: An Irish Carol at Keegan Theatre
No holiday season would be complete without a viewing of Charles Dickens’ 176-year-old classic, A Christmas Carol. And while my heart will forever hold true to the George C. Scott movie-version of my youth, audiences around the world will suffer no shortage of options: from Scrooge McDuck, to Bill Murray, to a mostly-Muppet cast, there […]
Review: Airness. An air guitar comedy whose wildly talented cast strikes a comedy chord
“The whole impetus of air guitar is world peace,” earnestly intones a grown man who goes by the name Golden Thunder right before he goes out on stage in a dingy bar to play a pretend instrument. This one moment, perhaps more than any other, perfectly encapsulates Chelsea Marcantel’s hit air guitar play, Airness, currently […]
Home is where the art is. West by God playwright Brandon McCoy
Playwright Brandon McCoy’s world premiere West by God, which he admits is semi-autobiographical, is onstage now at Keegan Theatre through October 20th. We caught up with him to chat about the play, and his first career in stand-up comedy. Care to tell us about yourself? I grew up in Lavalette, West Virginia, just outside of […]
Review: Legally Blonde, a delightfully funny, sweet summer musical
“Oh. My. God. Oh my god, you guys!” Keegan Theatre’s production of Legally Blonde is so over-the-top, fabulously fun – the perfect sweet treat on a sweltering DC summer evening. For those who are wondering – how do you take a beloved 20-year-old movie and translate it to the stage in a way that both […]
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