DCMetroTheaterArts
Your source for theater news, reviews, and interviews in DC, MD, Northern VA, and New York
The Improvised Shakespeare Company is a show that has been performed to sold out, jam-packed houses in its Chicago hometown since 2005, and in New York City, L.A., San Francisco, Montreal and more since it began touring several years ago. And, as in the Windy City, it often sells out as soon as it is announced. This […]
George! Go see this! George – Don’t Do That!: The Music and Magic of Joyce Grenfell is part two of MetroStage’s three-part Spring Solo Series featuring three artists telling stories of the remarkable women who have influenced and touched their lives. The show was devised and performed by comedienne and actor Catherine Flye, a native of […]
Doggone it! This is a fun show! (And, Arf-fully family-friendly). Complete Dogness is about a dog with bad habits, who has the ability to learn new tricks and win hearts. This was a one-time performance by the Jane Franklin Dance Company at The Athenaeum in Alexandria, an historic Greek Revival building constructed alongside the one […]
Five minutes into the start of Every Brilliant Thing, most of the audience had already cried for the first time – and had laughed aloud. By the end of the show, the entire room seemed to be infused with a spirit of camaraderie and hope, tinged with sadness for life’s missed opportunities. Every Brilliant Thing was brilliantly written […]
Gypsy, A Musical Fable, a Broadway classic that debuted in 1959, has become intertwined with the DNA of most Baby Boomers, Gen Xs, Gen Ys, and even Millennials. The book by Arthur Laurents was inspired by the 1957 memoirs of the famous vedette, author and TV personality Gypsy Rose Lee (nee Rose Louise Hovic). Its music is […]
Catch Happenstance Theater’s Slapstick Jukebox before it scoots away. Only five shows were planned for this weekend, so only the fast and the few will get the opportunity to watch this solid ensemble tear their insides up with laughter. This quintet has assembled, over the past few years, a collection of hysterically funny scenes that […]
One of the most amazing things in this eye-popping production happened after the show ended. The audience at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts stood and applauded for more than ten minutes as the curtain fell and ascended repeatedly, revealing the six leads and 38 dancers. In the dark, ignoring the printed […]
The annual productions throughout this region of Charles Dickens’s nearly 175-year-old tale, A Christmas Carol, are as timeless and an integral part of the holiday experience as nativity scenes, nutcrackers, and Santa Claus. Each year at this time, there are at least ten different productions within an hour’s drive in any direction. This one is […]
The Pajama Game is a classic, a Broadway mega-hit with themes and tunes as timely as today’s news. The show is currently a wonderfully realized, dynamic production at the Fichandler Theater in the round at Arena Stage at the Mead Center in D.C. If this show could be bottled, customers would empty the shelves in […]
The timing of Vagabond Players’ production of Little Shop of Horrors is fortuitous, opening Halloween weekend when thoughts turn to the spooky and macabre, and running through November 25, before the mood sweetens for giving thanks and gifts. Outside the historic Vagabond Theatre, young adults strolled the cobblestone streets of Fells Point dressed as superheroes […]
Just as Fiddler On The Roof, Cabaret, Porgy and Bess, and Hello Dolly! defined their generations, The Book of Mormon mirrors the zeitgeist of the Millennial Generation. It is often vulgar, smarmy, snarky and below-the-belt – way below the belt – yet Book of Mormon has a genuine sweetness and innocence about it that sends the audience […]
Native Gardens is a bloomin’ hysterical comedy at Arena Stage Need something to boost you up? Perhaps something to make you, temporarily, forget the current political and social climate? Or, the threat of a wall rising on our southern border? Head to Arena Stage’s Mead Center for American Theater in Washington, D.C. You’ll have a […]
Okay, I’ll say it: the production of August Wilson’s Two Trains Running is so packed with dynamic performances under the direction of the multi-faceted Fuzz Roark, it threatens to explode out of the black box theater in the basement of The Madison. The show was moderately attended on opening night, but there should have been […]
Now in its 58th season, The Nerd is Prince George’s Little Theatre’s 192nd production. Scripted by Larry Shue, the zany comedy is directed by John Degnan, a long-time area director and retired NASA laser physicist. It was produced by PGLT Board President Malia Murray, who deftly handled multiple duties as the sound, properties and set […]
Last night was a miracle of sorts. The heavy rains forecast to wash out the Aretha Franklin concert at The Filene Center of the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts didn’t show up. And, contrary to her checkered record of performances over the years, Franklin did show up – more or less on time […]
This hot, summery production of Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (VSMS), a production of Cockpit in Court Summer Theatre, is a spicy show you definitely want to… Chekhov… your bucket list. This hilarious comedy, written by Christopher Durang and deftly directed by Linda Chambers, with the support of a superb cast and crew, is a […]
A show that’s “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” on every level. There has never been a nanny quite so magical – or musical – as Mary Poppins, a character created by author P.L. Travers in eight books written from 1934 to 1988. But, there was a hint that a magical experience was in store when an usher handed me […]
We all need a good laugh these days – not a snicker or a snarky smile. A series of side-splitting belly laughs that leave you exhausted and smiling. See How They Run aptly named for the nursery rhyme song about the “Three Blind Mice,” is the perfect antidote for a week of deadlines, spreadsheets, IT […]
The glammed-up, black tie crowd began arriving at the historic Lincoln Theatre in U Street, NW, 90 minutes before show time. Most of the men were in tuxedos or dark suits. Some of the suits were brocade, at least two men sported tuxes patterned with shimmery silver threads. Passing through the crowd was a gentleman […]
OMG! OMG! Silhouette Stages’ Legally Blonde is a blast! The closed curtains on the stage at Slayton House Theater gave no clue as to what dynamic show the highly regarded Silhouette Stage’s would be doing this time. Well, maybe offering an autographed poster of actress Reese Witherspoon at the Silent Auction in the lobby was […]