DC Theatre Scene

Artomatic 2012 opens this Friday, May 18, in Crystal City

Lorraine Treanor — Wed, 16 May 2012 15:50:17 +0000

Artomatic is the arts festival which, each year, moves into a vacant commercial building and invites the public in, without charge, to meet and celebrate the work of local artists. This year’s festival is the biggest ever, with 1300 artists – performers, musicians, filmmakers, fashions designers and creatives of all types – occupying the 380,000 [...]

Hum

Scott Meslow — Wed, 16 May 2012 14:25:00 +0000

“Do u no wot the hum is?” ask the cryptic ads for Hum, which had its world premiere on Monday night at the Atlas. Having seen the play, I now know what “the hum” is. But I’m still figuring out what Hum is – and that’s a point in the play’s favor. In promotional materials, [...]

The impact of funding cuts on DC theaters

Chad Bauman — Wed, 16 May 2012 13:38:49 +0000

It’s been an exciting few weeks for us. For the second time in four years, a DC metro company has been honored with the coveted Regional Theater Tony Award, this time going to The Shakespeare Theatre Company, which in my opinion was long overdue. The Kennedy Center’s remarkable production of Follies garnered 8 Tony Award [...]

The Bacchae

Tim Treanor — Wed, 16 May 2012 12:21:14 +0000

What would a religion which celebrated lust, music, dancing, and the drinking of wine be like? Hah! Need I even ask! The party would last until we were asked to leave the Eurozone, I suppose. Still – it would be hard to go. Frank Britton and chorus (Photo: Kristina Sherk) We watch Euripides’ 2400-year-old The [...]

Woolly seeks 10 to tweet up Mr. Burns, a post-electric play

Lorraine Treanor — Tue, 15 May 2012 16:39:13 +0000

Continuing its experiment with social media engagement through Tweet Ups, Woolly Mammoth is inviting ten participants to tweet the final dress rehearsal for their next production, a play which questions “how you’d make sense of the world if all your gizmos were gone.” This Tweet Up for Mr. Burns, a post-electric play is a one time [...]

Newsies – Original Broadway Cast Recording

Brad Hathaway — Tue, 15 May 2012 15:41:57 +0000

Alan Menken is on something of a roller coaster ride. He has just pulled off that exceedingly rare feat of having three musicals with his scores playing on Broadway at the same time and, what is more, all three were nominated for the Tony Award for Best Musical. Still, it was a brief trifecta. With [...]

Werther

Susan Galbraith — Tue, 15 May 2012 11:12:44 +0000

Werther, the final production of Washington National Opera’s 2011-2012 season, features some wonderful music in Jules Massenet’s lyrical score. It is beautifully supported by the strong dynamics of the orchestra under the baton of Emmanuel Villaume and the tempered singing of the cast. However, I am still trying to figure out how certain layers of [...]

Las Quiero a las Dos (I Want Them Both)

Rosalind Lacy — Tue, 15 May 2012 10:18:03 +0000

Ricardo Talesnik is the Neil Simon of Hispanic Theatre. But look out, Talesnik’s humor can throw you off-guard. A multi-award-winner for Argentine television comedies and for Las Quero a las Dos, which has been staged in New York and adapted as a movie, Talesnik explores conflict and pain in human relationships in a matchless way. He provokes [...]

Flora’s first opening night

Richard Seff — Mon, 14 May 2012 17:29:38 +0000

May 11th marked the 47th anniversary of the opening of a Broadway musical by a new songwriting partnership, brought together by a Broadway agent working on his first big show, and introducing an unknown 19 year old as its star. And as if on cue, that musical is getting ready to be reborn when it [...]

Studio announces its 2012-2013 megaseason

Tim Treanor — Mon, 14 May 2012 15:28:22 +0000

The return of Joy Zinoman directing a production of the Broadway hit 4,000 Miles will highlight a monster 12-production 2012-2013 season for Studio Theatre, the company announced this weekend. 4,000 Miles, Amy Herzog’s story of a rootless young man who crashes with his 91-year-old grandmother in Greenwich Village after a cross-country bike journey, will star [...]

Lonely, I’m Not

Richard Seff — Mon, 14 May 2012 14:08:02 +0000

The Second Stage Theatre has brought New York a charming light soufflé of a play to remind us that spring is here and that balmy spring weather is just around the corner. Olivia Thirlby and Topher Grace (Photo: Joan Marcus) It’s called Lonely, I’m Not, and they’ve offered Topher Grace, free of a seven year run [...]

Choreographer Parker Esse teaches Music Man Master class

Lorraine Treanor — Mon, 14 May 2012 13:33:38 +0000

Last year, he won the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Choreography for Oklahoma! He’s Parker Esse, and he’s back at Arena Stage creating dance moves for The Music Man. Parker Esse On Sunday, May 20th, Esse will teach a Master Class for dancers 16 and up, sharing his Music Man choreography, from the rousing and robust [...]

Oxygen

Steve Hallex — Fri, 11 May 2012 15:50:32 +0000

Russian playwright Ivan Vyrypaev, whose play Oxygen is being produced by Taffety Punk, is a proponent of the experimental school of New Drama where plot and character are no longer the basis of drama. New Drama playwrights often interview subjects and use their words verbatim as dialogue, attempting to knit a semblance of character from [...]

The many faces of Baltimore actor Bruce R. Nelson

John Barry — Thu, 10 May 2012 16:40:46 +0000

If you’ve watched professional theatre in Baltimore, you’ve probably seen Bruce R. Nelson. But it may have taken you a little while to realize it. When I walked into the Boehmian Café in Baltimore’s Northern Arts district, I thought I’d missed him. But he was there, in the shadows, complete with a graying beard, which [...]

Punk Rock Mom

Jayne Blanchard — Thu, 10 May 2012 09:58:03 +0000

What do you do when the black eyeliner fades, the safety pins tarnish, and everyone—not just Johnny Rotten—is pretty vacant? That’s the dilemma for Jamie (Deborah Randall), a former punk rock girl now staring down the barrel at 50. Sid Vicious’ dead, so is Joey Ramone and Malcolm McLaren and to make matter’s worse, Jamie—a [...]

2012 DC Queer Festival kicks off tonight, Wed May 9th

Lorraine Treanor — Wed, 09 May 2012 14:37:34 +0000

“The DC Queer Theatre Festival unleashes and celebrates the underrepresented voices and diversity of our artists, audiences, and community.” So say the organizers of Queer Festival’s first annual event, director Matt Ripa, playwright Rebecca Gingrich-Jones and producer Alan Balch. This year’s DC Queer Festival, which consists of readings of plays with GLBT themes by local [...]

Alliance Francaise launches French-American hip-hop festival

Lorraine Treanor — Wed, 09 May 2012 13:51:05 +0000

The Alliance Francaise de Washington, D.C. presents Urban Corps May 17 – 25 throughout DC. Hip-Hop is an international phenomenon, and Alliance Francaise is bringing together hip-hop dance crews from France, the U.S. and Senegal in a cross-city celebration that ranges from the Mexican Cultural Institute, Howard University, Kalorama Park, the Kennedy Center, Dance Place and Atlas [...]

Bonnie & Clyde – Original Broadway Cast Recording

Brad Hathaway — Tue, 08 May 2012 15:43:41 +0000

In defense of Broadway composer Frank Wildhorn OK – Now you can be the judge. I think Frank Wildhorn and Don Black wrote a great score for Bonnie & Clyde. Some of the most influential critics don’t. Listen and make up your own mind. The critics savaged it when the show opened last December and [...]

Master acting class with Brooks Ashmankas, Sat, May 12

Lorraine Treanor — Tue, 08 May 2012 14:52:36 +0000

Interested in what goes on in the mind of a Broadway actor? Here’s your chance for a sneak peak at the inner workings of theatrical performance—how an actor goes from good to great. Brooks Ashmanskas (John Adams in 1776 at Ford’s Theatre) will present a special master class on Saturday, May 12 from 11am to [...]

With its 20th season, Rep Stage time travels back to the 20th century

Tim Treanor — Tue, 08 May 2012 14:18:37 +0000

Howard County’s Rep Stage will celebrate its 20th year by exploring the 20th century, manipulating time through a four-play season which takes us from somber ghost story to high-octane farce. The company will open its season with The Tempermentals, a historical docudrama about the founding of the Mattachine Society in 1950, and the two men [...]

The Taming of the Shrew

Susan Galbraith — Tue, 08 May 2012 12:14:25 +0000

Who says you can’t make The Shrew work? I did. And I’ll eat my hat. The last time I had seen a truly stunning production of The Taming of the Shrew was in New York’s Central Park, a Joe Papp production, with Meryl Streep and Raul Julia in the leads. Theirs was a true match. And [...]

Metamorphoses

Jayne Blanchard — Mon, 07 May 2012 21:39:49 +0000

Everybody in the pool! It’s a pool party of a sublimely archetypal sort in Constellation Theatre’s entrancing staging of Mary Zimmerman’s Metamorphoses, directed with flair and a fanciful air by Allison Arkell Stockman. Eros/Psyche - Jade Wheeler and Michael Kevin Darnall (Photo: Scott Suchman) Miss Zimmerman’s movement, music and water-based take on Ovid’s tales of [...]

Nice Work If You Can Get It

Richard Seff — Mon, 07 May 2012 16:19:12 +0000

They might have called this show A LITTLE BITTA THIS, A LITTLE BITTA THAT. I don’t know the way in which it was formed, but there is a vague connection to Oh, Kay! a hit from 1926 when everybody was very young and George Gershwin a little bit in love with Kay Swift who was [...]

Commedia at Gallaudet: the impact of Faction of Fools

Ryan Taylor — Fri, 04 May 2012 12:33:26 +0000

- When we asked Matthew R. Wilson, founder of Faction of Fools how the students at Gallaudet were responding to his company’s presence on campus, his answer was a quick invitation to stop by and found out. Ryan Taylor, Artistic Director of Washington Rogues, did just that. - ————- Hamlet’s being kind of a jerk. [...]

Director Johanna Gruenhut on directing Studio’s Big Meal

Joe Brack — Thu, 03 May 2012 16:05:43 +0000

April 26, 2012 – The third floor atrium at Studio Theatre is a buzz with carpenters and interns, designers and directors, marketing folks and performing professionals, all putting the final touches on Studio’s newest production, The Big Meal by Dan LeFranc. Amidst the hurried tweaks and polishes, the play’s quietly collected director, Johanna Gruenhut, takes [...]

Synetic’s 2012-2013 season, to the moon and back

Lorraine Treanor — Thu, 03 May 2012 11:56:50 +0000

Arlington’s movement-based Synetic Theater, firmly rooted in their South Bell Street digs, will be conjuring up playing surfaces on the Moon, on Prospero’s wind-tossed island, in the forests of Athens, the palaces and drinking halls of Europe, and on the streets of modern-day America in next year’s 5-play season, the company announced yesterday. Synetic will [...]

Once

Richard Seff — Thu, 03 May 2012 11:00:23 +0000

The New York Theatre Workshop in the East Village is known for its eclectic taste. Recently it housed the one – man play An Iliad by Dennis O’Hare.In the fall of 2010 I witnessed a very bizarre take on Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes there, and recently a musical based on the low budget Irish [...]

Five Little Monkeys

Debbie Jackson — Wed, 02 May 2012 14:44:28 +0000

Helen Hayes nominee Valerie Leonard has likely not had to jump and pounce and cajole and herd a troupe of monkeys for a role before, but as Mama, she ratchets up the loving energy and keeps up with all five in this lively and adorable production. Leonard definitely has her hands full as the five [...]

Confessions of a one time Helen Hayes judge

Chad Bauman — Wed, 02 May 2012 14:05:22 +0000

When I first moved to Washington, DC to accept a position as the Director of Marketing and Communications at Americans for the Arts, I applied to be a Helen Hayes Judge to help learn about my new home city and to remain connected to the theater world. I served as a judge for two years—one [...]

Supremes give Hero zero

Tim Treanor — Wed, 02 May 2012 12:51:38 +0000

Messina High Bench Knocks Out Alimony Award, but Returns Dowry; Declares Subpoena “Much Ado About Nothing” The Supreme Court of Messina rarely hears a domestic relations case, but when it does, anything can happen. In the matter of Count Claudio of Florence v. Lady Hero of Messina, 2011 DRB 65471, heard at the Shakespeare Theatre’s [...]

Arena adds to its next season: Kathleen Turner in Molly Ivins play

Lorraine Treanor — Wed, 02 May 2012 11:19:23 +0000

Arena Stage has elected to turn up the heat in the late-summer/early-fall portion of its 2012-2013 season by presenting Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins, starring Kathleen Turner from August 23 to October 28, 2012. Kathleen Turner Ivins was an unashamedly populist Texas journalist who called herself a “left-libertarian”, and who relentlessly skewered local [...]

Leap of Faith

Richard Seff — Wed, 02 May 2012 10:52:28 +0000

This poor show was treated badly by most of the New York critics, and the Tony committee favored it with only one nomination — but that was for Best Musical! Now how can you be considered a contender for ”best”when none of the creators of the show are mentioned? Raul Esparza (Photo: Joan Marcus) I [...]

Once, Original Broadway Cast Recording

Brad Hathaway — Tue, 01 May 2012 14:59:21 +0000

My friends and many of my fellow critics/reviewers tell me that Once is a great show. Obviously, the Tony Award nominators agree, having included it in no less than eleven of the categories including Musical, Book for a Musical, Direction, Orchestrations, Choreography, Leading Actor in a Musical and Leading Actress in a Musical. Not having [...]

Shakespeare Theatre to receive the Regional Theatre Tony Award

Tim Treanor — Tue, 01 May 2012 13:47:18 +0000

Washington’s Shakespeare Theatre Company, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, got some extra sparklers when The Tony Awards selected it to receive the 2012 Regional Theatre Award. It was the first such award for the Shakespeare Theatre Company and the second in the last four years for theaters in the Washington Region (Arlington’s Signature [...]

Tony Award nominees include Follies, Clybourne Park and Venus in Fur

Lorraine Treanor — Tue, 01 May 2012 13:22:38 +0000

Nominations for the 2012 Tony Awards, announced at 8:30am this morning, included three productions of special interest to Washington theatregoers. In the Best Revival of a Musical category, Follies, the Eric Schaeffer directed musical, has 8 nominations. Performers seen in that production when it premiered at The Kennedy Center, who are now vying for Tonys, are [...]

The Big Meal

Tim Treanor — Tue, 01 May 2012 12:30:04 +0000

The Big Meal is the big deal: the moments in life that really matter – birth, love, and death – chopped up into digestible bits and soaked in a vinegar-ish marinade for eighty minutes or so. It is also the big feel, in that its only subject is what we feel in our hearts as [...]

Wives & Wits

Debbie Jackson — Tue, 01 May 2012 11:54:45 +0000

Two one acts by Shaw at Washington Stage Guild open with the master playwright’s own words, not about romantic coquetry or love and devotion, but about sex. What he’s talking about is upfront and out there, it’s scandalous sex, which he explores to the max in the first adorable of two one acts presented. (l-r) [...]

Nabucco

Susan Galbraith — Tue, 01 May 2012 11:26:46 +0000

Verdi’s first major operatic hit, Nabucco, opened this weekend at the Kennedy Center in a sumptuous new Washington National Opera production by American director and designer Thaddeus Strassberger. The visual spectacle of the first two acts carried both story and directorial concept, evoking Biblical spectacles painted on great canvases, in static yet strikingly heroic composition. [...]

Ghost The Musical

Richard Seff — Tue, 01 May 2012 10:52:11 +0000

In 1990, the screenplay of “Ghost” earned an Oscar for its author, Bruce Joel Rubin. The film was a crowd pleaser, and that made it instantly eligible for the “let’s make a musical of it” crowd. So Mr. Rubin joined up with Dave Stewart, a British musician, producer, author and entrepreneur, and together they’ve come [...]

Washington crosses the Danube: an American playwright’s experiences in Vienna

John Morogiello — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 16:26:26 +0000

- Local playwright John Morogiello (most famous in DC for Irish Authors Held Hostage) is one of three American playwrights being produced this month in Vienna, Austria. The other two are Tennessee Williams, and Eugene O’Neill. Here’s his account of the European premiere of Engaging Shaw. - The request came out of the blue via e-mail. I had [...]