A roundup of some of this week’s theatrical news and notes from Capital Fringe Festival, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Kennedy Center, The Welders, Molotov Theatre, DC Hip-Hop Festival, Wolf Trap, and National Theatre.
Review: TETRISplus, Netherland’s dance troupe perform at The Kennedy Center
I yelled “bravo” during a round of applause yesterday. I’ve never done that before. And it wasn’t even at the end of a show. It was during the act break. Of a children’s dance piece. Color me delightfully surprised.
Entremeses at Iberian Suite festivel
A lone tree trunk, with spiky, bare branches, is the minimalist set. Immediately, I felt thrust into a landscape for Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, uninviting for Spanish hospitality. Yet that tree serves as a perfect symbol for what we see.
Kennedy Center’s Iberian Suite festival debuts performers from around the world
Continuing its acclaimed winter celebrations of international arts, (recently World Stages in 2014 and Nordic Cool in 2013), the Kennedy Center is presenting “Iberian Suite: Global Arts Remix,” which opened March 3rd and closes March 24.
An opulent production of Broadway-bound Gigi, reviewed
Vanessa Hudgens is a brief breath of spring amid this harsh winter as the spirited gamine Gigi in a new, Broadway-bound production of the Lerner and Loewe musical Gigi now underway at the Kennedy Center under the direction of Eric Schaeffer.
The Illusionists: Witness the Impossible
I have to admit I am something of a magic geek. I love seeing the impossible and having magicians do things that my mind just can’t fathom. It’s one of the reasons I was so excited about seeing The Illusionists at the Kennedy Center’s Opera House; after all, the stage was going to be shared […]
Megan Hilty spreads holiday cheer at The Kennedy Center
Holiday concerts…what do we want? My expectations for a holiday gig are certainly quite different than the usual fare in the Barbara Cook Spotlight Series. If a Broadway star is going to be singing “Jingle Bells”, I don’t guess I’ll be commenting, “wow, look at that emotional connection” or “S/he really landed all the jokes […]
Side Show on Broadway posts closing notice.
The reinvented version of Side Show, the Bill Russell, Bill Comden/Henry Krieger musical won critical and audience approval when it was seen here at the Kennedy Center last summer. New York critics agreed when it opened on Broadway November 17, after 21 previews. Yet, on Friday, the show’s producers announced the production will close January […]
Little Dancer at The Kennedy Center
The long-anticipated musical, The Little Dancer, made its official world premiere at the Kennedy Center last week, and its star dazzled the opening night audience whose applause, at several points, nearly stopped the show.
The Gift of Nothing, a great child’s gift at the Kennedy Center
We’re truly blessed to have such sharp talents right here in D.C., who can take a comic strip and whip it up into a classy, pleasant children’s musical seemingly effortlessly. While The Gift of Nothing, commissioned by and having its world premiere at The Kennedy Center, will probably not enter the canon of classic children’s […]
What makes an opera sing?
Two different casts, two different audiences, two different experiences for La bohème What makes an opera sing? There are so many elements that must come together in this art form. Even within a single production, with different casts, (often the case at Washington National Opera as other opera companies) or even on different evenings with […]
Washington National Opera’s La bohème
Giacomo Puccini’s abiding tale of tragic love proved its unassailable endurance as the Washington National Opera’s restrained, ashen La bohème received an enthusiastic standing ovation at the Kennedy Center on opening night.