I’d like to say that Philip Ridley’s new play Tender Napalm tells the story of two lovers trying to help each other recover from a traumatic event, possibly the death of their child, perhaps in a terrorist attack; but to say the play tells the story of anything is to ignore what the play suggests […]
It’s their turn: Joe Calarco and Sherri L. Edelen talk about Gypsy at Signature
Stephen Sondheim is the Shakespeare of musical theatre, Joe Calarco told me. To extend the comparison, does that make the role of Mama Rose in Gypsy Sondheim’s Lear?
Chelsea Packard: My Yellow Brick Road
Signature Theatre’s popular Sizzlin’ Summer Cabaret series may have just wrapped up, but the ambitious theatre company is certainly not done with providing DC area music lovers another large dose of cabaret performances. This week, Signature Theatre’s first Autumn Cabaret Festival got underway and over the next three weeks it will include performances from musical […]
Bartram and Hill on their new musical Spin at Signature
When the popular boy-band from the late-90s ‘N Sync broke up in 2002, Justin Timberlake rose to even greater fame as a solo performer and actor. But what if success had not followed Timberlake after leaving the group? Evan is just like Timberlake – he found early fame in a pop group but now his […]
After 20 years, Sondheim’s Company is back at Signature. Eric Schaeffer on his fresh take
One of the signatures of Signature Theatre is Stephen Sondheim. Almost from its inception, works by Sondheim have been a hallmark of the Arlington-based company’s seasonal output. When Signature opened their former theatre space in a converted garage along Four Mile Run, Company was the first production Schaeffer directed.
Michael Kahn to direct world premiere Colaizzo play at Signature Theatre
Shakespeare Theatre Company Artistic Director Michael Kahn returns to Signature this fall for the first time in nearly twenty years to direct the world premiere of Pride in the Falls of Autrey Mill, the new play by Paul Downs Colaizzo.
From the pit: Capturing a new sound for Hello, Dolly!
The New Signature Theatre/Ford’s Theatre Production features new orchestrations Nearly fifty years ago, to the sound of a pit orchestra of 25, Jerry Herman’s musical Hello, Dolly! opened what turned out to be a record breaking seven year run on Broadway in the St. James Theatre with its more than 1,700 seats.
At 62, Robert Aubry Davis makes his debut at Signature in cha-cha heels
“Here. Feel these. I don’t know how women do it,” says Robert Aubry Davis, offering me a squeeze of his size 54 EEE breasts—each one roughly the pendulous shape and heft of a Hubbard squash, but actually fashioned from bags of millet.
Signature Idol Competition calls for audition videos
Attention, all you future Broadway stars. Signature Theatre is ready to discover you. The Tony Award-winning company in Arlington, VA, has just announced that audition slots are now open to find the best non-professional singers in its popular Signature Idol Competition. Audition videos must be submitted by July 11th. The Competition takes place on July […]
Art
What does it mean, this big, bold painting hanging right in the middle of Art? You can try to read between the lines for some hidden message, but you’ll draw a blank. The painting has no lines to read between. No color, form, pattern, or texture either, for that matter, save for some tiny diagonal […]
And the Curtain Rises
Signature Theatre and The Shen Family Foundation have made a commitment to develop new works representing the American Musical Theatre through its groundbreaking American Musical Voice Project (AMVP), and for this they should be applauded. The ambitious scope of this partnership, the largest commission program for new works in the country, has enabled them to […]
Ed Dixon from Sunset Boulevard
The Greatest Star of All: Ed Dixon on playing Max Von Mayerling in Sunset Boulevard. It’s rare when an actor gets a chance to reprise a role he loves, and that’s what happened to Ed Dixon when Eric Schaeffer asked him to play the mysterious Max Von Mayerling in Signature Theatre’s popular production of Andrew […]