Your Ticket to Theatre News in MD, DC & VA!
Similar to American vaudeville, British Music Hall entertainment is a mixture of song, comedy, and specialty acts. Though vaudeville ended in America in the 1930s and Music Hall ended in the 1960s, The British Players in Kensington, MD has been keeping this form of entertainment alive since 1965. Now in its 49th year, The British Players [...]
Theater goers do not need to be a country music aficionado to appreciate the deep and rich song styling of Jenny Lee Stern who portrays Patsy Cline in Infinity Theatre’s production of Always…Patsy Cline. From the parking lot to the stage itself, the mood is set by the band with upbeat, toe-tapping instrumentals of Ms. [...]
Anytime you look on the popular website Craigslist you are barraged by job listings and people looking for companionship. Every once in a while you come across a listing that is really ridiculous. If you’ve ever answered one of these ads, you know that it’s always a crapshoot as to what the outcome is going [...]
Community College of Baltimore County’s Cockpit in Court presents Social Security in their Cabaret-style theatre in the round. The café feel, with the audience at tables circling the stage, is a very engaging way to see such a personal family dramedy, and this strong ensemble cast throws open their front door and greets you with [...]
In Medea, now playing at Mobtown Players, an ancient drama is played out amidst the glitz and glamour of 1930s Hollywood. It is the story of a woman driven by rage and indignation, seeking revenge for the destruction of her marriage, who makes a choice no mother should have to make. Directors Melissa O’Brien, Caitlin [...]
If things look a bit funny along Leesburg Pike or Washington Street these days, it may be because Falls Church theatre-goers have been treated to a taste of good, old-fashioned, All-American tomfoolery for upwards of the last two weeks. Mark Twain’s only play, Is He Dead? has finally come to the stage, offering heaping doses of [...]
Baltimore County Community College’s Cockpit in Court production of Gypsy opened to a full house humming with excitement to see what many critics believe is the greatest American musical. With popular toe-tapping songs including, “Everything’s Coming up Roses,” “Together (Wherever We Go),” and “Let Me Entertain You,” chances are you have heard these songs, even [...]
Ladies and gentleman, this is your reviewer speaking. Climb aboard a luxury ocean liner for an evening of hit tunes by Cole Porter and award winning choreography by Kathleen Marshall. Your ship is called the Anything Goes and it departs from Kennedy Center’s Opera House. Once onboard be prepared to find mistaken identities, medaling debutante [...]
A Gothic-novel-turned-musical is good, but a Gothic-novel-turned-rock-opera is better. Landless Theatre Company’s Frankenstein is atmospheric and exciting, a surprisingly faithful adaptation of Mary Shelley’s original novel. Strong vocal performances overshadow a few minor flaws in design. The lyrics are poetic but passive, but the orchestration adds complexity and dimension to a familiar story. If you’re [...]
S.N. Behrman’s Biography, currently enjoying an infrequent revival at The American Century Theater, is a depression-era meditation on love, art, and all the intersections of the two. So go see ‘Biography.’ You won’t be shocked, but you might be moved. The story centers around Marion (Jennifer Hopkins), a Tennessee girl turned bohemian artist, whose scandalous affairs [...]
Here’s a recipe for you: take one intimate performance space, add a set evoking three floors in a Victorian manor home, stir in one marriage on the rocks, spice liberally with eccentric characters who have no idea they’re all in the same house, and voila—you’ve got Colonial Player’s thoroughly enjoyable farce, Alan Ayckbourn’s Taking Steps. [...]
Bethesda Blues and Jazz Club is a new venue that is starting to host some of our best singers in a gorgeous art deco surrounding. This past Saturday they did it in grand style. Ann Hampton Callaway is a singer that reminds me of a time when singers had distinctive traits to their sound. Sarah [...]
Theatre as an artistic medium engages us with a combination of our senses, including our senses of imagination and creativity. Some plays are tuned to the ear–the ebbs and flow of language. Others create visual mosaics scene by scene. With its rich, ideas-laden writing and wonderful visuals, RED–John Logan’s Tony Award-winning drama about artist Mark [...]
Most families are a little bit complicated, dysfunctional even. If we’re lucky, things eventually mellow out and folks manage a certain level of civility with one another. But sometimes resentments linger, jealousies build, and childhood sibling rivalries follow us into adulthood. Sure there are a number of healthy and constructive ways to resolve our conflicts. [...]
