DCMetroTheaterArts
Your source for theater news, reviews, and interviews in DC, MD, Northern VA, and New York
For fifteen years, a California theater company has been presenting the drama The Manor in the Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills — an appropriate spot because the play is based on a true murder and suicide of rich and famous men in that home. Now the Colonial Playhouse, a community theater company in Aldan, Delaware […]
The British statesman Winston Churchill coined the expression, “It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.” He was speaking of the Soviet Union. The quotation, however, also could be applied to Elizabeth Cree, the murder-mystery opera which had its world premiere Thursday night, launching Opera Philadelphia’s O17 Festival of five productions within […]
Six days do not a week make. These famous words of nonsense, uttered by the young wife Cory, will tell all serious theatergoers that they are in the domain of Neil Simon and his oft-performed blockbuster Barefoot in the Park. Written in 1963, Barefoot established Simon as the go-to playwright for Broadway comedy. Nowadays we […]
Billed as “The Second City’s Completely Unbiased Political Revue,” Unelectable You—now in the middle of a four month pre-election national tour—paused in Washington, DC last weekend for a stop at The Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater. More than a thousand people—mostly Hillary supporters—filled the orchestra and both balconies for a two-night stand in which improv morphed […]
In a political season where talk of building walls sometimes trumps the optimism of building bridges, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, named in honor of a President whose civil rights advances built bridges to freedom, joined in celebrating the opening of the National Museum for African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) […]
What is Shakespeare without his words? Answer: a rollicking good time! Synetic Theater, known for its dynamic and often wordless productions of Shakespeare and other classics, have another hit on their hands with their revival of Twelfth Night, set in the of the 1920s. This jewel of a production is full of heart, laughter, and […]
The Object Lesson—a highly acclaimed one-man performance piece, set in a warehouse of the mind that is stacked with memories and the objects that evoke them—has finally arrived in DC, where it is having a limited run at Studio Theatre’s Stage 4. Billed as “part installation and part magic show,” this startlingly original presentation—which took […]
Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theatre has reassurance for anyone out there asking where the magic went. Its “direct from Broadway” engagement of The Illusionists is packed full of caped conjurers, sleight-of-hand wonderment, gravity-defying wizardry and what may be the greatest feat of sorcery of all these days — the transformation of skeptical, straight-laced audience resistance into a […]
God: The One-Man Show is a comedic hurricane that leaves audiences pondering the mysteries of the universe between laughs. Written and performed by Rich Potter, the show takes the audience from the beginning of Creation to “everlasting” entertainment in the space of a humor-filled hour. Potter, who was once a clown for Ringling Bros. and […]
Twyla Tharp’s 50th Anniversary Tour came to the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theatre last night. Four pieces: two short “Fanfares,” a Preludes and Fugues, and a Yowzie. And the stage was aflutter with bodies in a state of grace. Twyla Tharp is, of course, a legend. She has won too many awards to mention, including a […]
“Hi. Yes. Okay. Sorry.” For the first three “movements” of the actor symphony SONATA: The Naked Theatre Project, written and directed by Solomon Haileselassie, these are the only words uttered by the ensemble cast. But hold on to your seats because as the show progresses the actors cease to talk at all. Okay? Sorry. The show […]
In 1949, Pulitzer Prize winning author and film critic James Agee wrote a screenplay treatment for Charlie Chaplin, that has since been titled Tramp’s New World. Four years following the horrific mass destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which followed the even more horrific mass destruction of Europe and Asia (65 to 80 million dead), Agee […]
A short drive on Greenspring Avenue through the autumn trees that leads to the Hannah More Arts Center on the campus of St. Timothy’s School is a hidden gem: Charm City Players. Founded in 2011 as a 501(c)(3), Stephen and Chrissy Napp are celebrating Charm City Players’ 1st birthday with three successful shows – Annie, Legally […]
Montgomery College’s Cultural Arts Center made a very astute choice in hosting the production of Drew the Dramatic Fool. On Saturday, September 6, 2014 Silver Spring saw a wonderfully complex amalgamation of slapstick comedy and good-old-fashioned circus clown foolery. For both the four year-old and the ninety-four year-old there was just the right tempo between utter […]
Will Work For is a fearless, farcical, huge wake-up call! It’s a rollercoaster ride through the dangers of today’s job market: dodging through booby-trapped interviews, facing demons of employment past, and holding tight to a dream, while surviving the economic crash, told through storytelling, satire, a United-Nations’-gaggle of 21 characters and a clown! The whirlwind […]
The World Stages: International Theater Festival takes the center stage at The Kennedy Center, March 10-30, 2014 bringing together some of today’s most exciting theatrical visionaries presenting an unprecedented focus on theatre from around the globe. Twenty-two theatrical offerings from nineteen countries, and every continent except Antarctica, are represented in this theater Festival of dynamic […]
The delicious aroma of bread fills the Terrace Theater at The Kennedy Center World Stage Festival as a talented ensemble of deaf-blind actors from Israel bakes bread and dishes up ten short sketches. All of the actors in the ensemble are deaf and blind to varying degrees, mostly as a result of Usher Syndrome, a […]
There’s nothing particularly innovative about setting Shakespeare in the 20’s. Look around town and you’ll find a number of companies hauling out the flapper dresses. There’s also nothing new about Synetic presenting silent Shakespeare, they’ve done several to varied degrees of success. So when it’s comes to pulling off a well-known classic like Twelfth Night, […]
At the top of the show, Maurice Hines said, “DC is fierce!” After experiencing Maurice Hines is Tappin’ Thru Life tonight at Arena Stage, I must say that it is Hines himself that is fierce! From his magnificent storytelling, to his smooth vocal stylings, to his crisp and rhythmic tap steps, Hines is pouring his […]
Get ready for a wacky wild ride through our nation’s timeline with the St. George’s Players ‘wonderfully zany presentation of The Complete History of America (abridged) currently playing at St. George’s Episcopal Church. If you weren’t so sure about knowing your history before seeing this show, you won’t be any more sure when you leave, but […]