“It’s a rock concert for people who don’t go to rock concerts anymore.” Kevin Casey is the Music Director of the touring production of Mamma Mia!, currently ensconced at the National Theatre for a week-long engagement which will end on Sunday. Casey spoke to me last week from Philadelphia, where I was expecting that he […]
The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess
“Summertime and the livin’ is easy.” Those familiar with Porgy and Bess’s story of unlikely love, drug addiction and brutality amidst the slums of Charleston, S.C., know life for these characters is anything but easy. But the dignity and hope that radiates from the fictional community of Catfish Row brought a Washington, DC audience to […]
Eight productions headed for The National Theatre next season. Subscription series opens today
With eight productions just announced, the National Theatre will have its busiest season in years, thanks to its new booking team, The National Theatre Group. Five musicals will be among the shows keeping those Pennsylvania Avenue marquee lights lit throughout the season.
Monty Python’s Spamalot
Monty Python’s Spamalot now at The National Theatre for its brief and final visit to DC, is a musical romp through a favorite film that shouldn’t be missed. A delight we’re lucky to have back in town after its visit to The Warner last spring, this production puts a new spin on a classic in more […]
If/Then starring Idina Menzel coming to the National Theatre for a pre-Broadway try-out
We’re beginning to see signs that the new booking agents for the National Theatre are living up to their promise to keep the lights on at that historic theatre. Their first announcement is a big one: a world premiere, pre-Broadway tryout of the musical If/Then starring Tony Award-winner Idina Menzel.
Les Misérables
Leading the charge in this season of Les Misérables-mania, (the movie opens Christmas day), the National Theatre plays host to Cameron Mackintosh’s celebrated 25th anniversary tour of the global musical sensation. Thanks to several standout performances and cutting edge visuals, the production delivers a stirring, revitalized journey through Victor Hugo’s revolutionary France.
Disney’s Beauty and the Beast
It’s official—I’ve been smitten. Disney’s Beauty and the Beast is simply the one of the most enchanting love stories of all time, and this touring production rocked my world.
Jersey Boys star sings national anthem on tonight’s GOP debates in DC
Audiences tuning in for tonight’s scheduled GOP debate will see Wolf Blitzer introduce the candidates, and then Mauricio Pérez, one of four Frankie Valli’s from the national tour of Jersey Boys now at the National, will join them onstage and sing the national anthem for the candidates, the audiences gathered at DAR Constitution Hall and […]
Jersey Boys
The latest traveling road-show version of Jersey Boys, now playing in a limited engagement at the National Theatre, is loaded with energy and as stuffed with fab Four Seasons classics as any Boomer on a nostalgia trip could ever want. That said, Saturday evening’s opening night performance of the show drew a demographic that actually […]
Rock of Ages
When you are at Rock of Ages, the question is out: are you ready to rock? Well, you’d better be: you are expected to.
Chicago’s Charlotte d’Amboise
He’s seen her twist and slither across the stage as Roxie Hart five times in NYC, and now Joel Markowitz interviews his favorite Roxie – Charlotte d’Amboise, who is playing the publicity-seeking murderess in Chicago, now on The National Theatre stage.
Chicago
Perhaps you remember the wonderful scene in the 1979 Bob Fosse film All That Jazz in which Ann Reinking and Erzsebet Foldi-playing the Fosse stand-in Joe Gideon’s girlfriend and teenage daughter, respectively-perform a little living-room jazz-dance number for Roy Scheider, who plays Gideon. The performance is a lovely, homey respite from Gideon’s hectic speed-and-booze-fueled preparation […]
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