David Friscic

The myriad music, moods, and motifs of the “king of pop” (not to mention generic mastery of soul, rhythm and blues, funk, rock, disco, and dance-pop) Michael Jackson, are electrifyingly on display in the ingeniously cutting -edge musical MJ: The Musical now playing at the National Theatre. Not at all the expected “jukebox musical”, I was surprised to witness the finesse and craftsmanship of an extremely ambitious theatrical offering that was truly intelligent.

Steeped in a European existential sensibility, with healthy doses of theatre of the absurd, and an eerie ambience, --performance artist Julia Masli alternately entrances and provokes the audience with her finely honed comedic skills in the deliciously interactive production entitled ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

The complications of culture, career and conscience cut through fierce nationalistic pride in the heart and mind of the complex and committed Nobel -Prize winner Fritz Haber in the variegated one-person performance of David Kaye in The Haber Conundrum.

Funny Girl is a solidly entertaining vehicle for a high-profile performance by Katerina McCrimmon as beloved vaudeville performer Fanny Brice. Now playing at the Kennedy Center, this popular musical (from the original stage version starring Barbra Streisand and her Oscar-winning performance in the 1968 hit film –and the recent hit on Broadway starring Lea Michele) is a lively, sassy, and brassy summer musical treat. 

Rose: You Are Who You Eat is an irreverent (yet, concurrently, affectionate) look at a performer/cabaret artist’s autobiographical impulse and gender identity questions/affirmations set against the metaphor of cannibalism as a “who gets devoured?”/”feasting/ingestion”  metaphor ---that plays into “double entendres” on family, the role of the mother and the individual evolving in the womb. This extremely quixotic and subversive play by ultra-creative performer and writer John Jarboe celebrates queerness while “riffing -off” on themes of memory, trying to connect to identity and breaking through dissonance into a celebration of the autonomous self.

The triple -threat talent of the charismatic performer Patti LuPone was on full display at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall on Friday evening---and, oh! What a night it was! A capacity crowd of what was obviously a devoted (and almost fanatical fan base) tuned out to see a glorious two hours of songs ---which were sung with sheer show -biz brio by the resonant mezzo-soprano of Ms. LuPone.

The visionary eye of Choreographer Alonzo King creates such complex choreographic movement from his gifted ensemble of twelve contemporary ballet dancers, that you will miss a tantalizing moment if you avert your eyes for even a nano-second. Billed as the Alonzo King LINES Ballet: Deep River ---the audience at the Kennedy Center was treated not only to the choreographic ebb and flow of the Deep River contemporary ballet work but was also treated to no less than twelve other contemporary ballet dance works that preceded this primary work (except for one achingly languorous, reflective, and sensual work entitled Epilogue Pas which was a stunning pas de deux that was the final work of the evening –danced beautifully by Adji Cissoko and Shuaib (Elhassan).

The submerged and, often, long-sublimated divisions and resentments and life motifs of two estranged sisters come to the fore in the visceral and joltingly immersive play entitled Problems Between Sisters. The domestic squabbles of siblings have long been given ample space in plays, films, and novels but, in this fine Studio Theatre production, the playwright Julia May Jonas delves into a feminist mirroring and elucidation of themes from playwright Sam Shepard’s well-known play True West. In this intriguing play, the battling brothers become two sisters, California becomes Vermont and screenwriting becomes visual and performance art.

Incredibly rich in detail --from staging to technical aspects-- and emboldened with Puccini’s soaring music and meticulous, intelligent direction by Francesca Zambello, Washington National Opera’s production of Turandot is a production for the ages. The entire creative team, the cast, the Washington National Opera Orchestra, the Washington National Opera Chorus, the Washington National Opera Children’s chorus and the Washington National Opera Corps Dancers have given us a Turandot that respects the glorious bones of this beloved Italian opera while adding a new ending that gives the opera a more mature and modern appeal.

The versatile and mega-talented performer Nathan Lane was awarded the Signature Theatre's Sondheim Award on Monday, April 29th and the unique sardonic humor and sophisticated sensibility was evident throughout the performances of those who paid tribute to his remarkable career. Lane’s authenticity and natural charisma bounced off the walls of the Anthem building ---where the Gala was held.

The semantics and silence that delineate love and disclosure are operating at full throttle in the probing personal story of playwright and performer Adil Mansoor in the theatrical experience that is entitled Amm(i)gone. As the uber-talented Mansoor invites his very traditional Pakistani mother to translate Sophocles’ Antigone into Urdu, one soon realizes that this is just the starting point of a very interactive theatrical exploration that soon unspools into a multi -layered explication of the issues of culture, faith, family, history and, most especially, the special bond between a mother and a son.

An exploration of what constitutes the writer’s role and ownership of material, issues of representation in the arts, racial politics and the messiness of friendship and caring are all threshed out in Inda Craig -Galván’s play A Jumping-Off Point. Now being presented at the Round House Theatre, this 90-minute play is provocative, topical, and moves briskly. The various issues it explores, however, cannot be fully explored too well in a play that tries to be too many things at once.

The shattering of the world that took place during World War I propelled humanity into a fight for survival amidst the onslaught of enemy forces. The cacophony and horror of that war was fought in the trenches and on the open fields as portrayed in the poem “In Flanders Fields”, and in the many films including All Quiet on the Western Front and 1917, etc. Right now, however, this war is being fought theatrically (and with an emotional gut punch) on the stage of the Max at Signature Theatre.

What an odd thing the human mind is! –for it can make false assumptions, construct facile rationalizations, and rely on preconceived notions---as the audience soon finds out through the alternately clever, character-driven, and coiling convolutions of Theater J’s east coast premiere of the play This Much I Know. This is a play that asks questions more than it supplies answers and in that the audience can find sufficient satisfaction.

The painful slow journey for understanding as to what normalcy or perceived sanity is --when a family member is suffering from bipolar illness--- is explored with heartbreaking poignancy, almost brutal honesty and with deadpan caustic humor in the musical Next to Normal. Now playing at Bethesda’s Round House Theatre, this almost totally sung-through musical caught me up in its oddly satisfying emotional pulse. I fell into its compelling pull as the trauma of a family experiencing the highs and lows of bipolar illness unfolded.

Liz Callaway embodies and breathes the essence of Stephen Sondheim. In the very personal and professional tribute concert To Steve With Love: Liz Callaway Celebrates Sondheim, there is an utter fusion of the performer’s love and respect for her musical mentor and the choice and intimate presentation of the Sondheim songs that Ms. Callaway interprets.

Nova Y. Payton breathed fresh air, sassy jazz elements and sublime, variegated vocals into the world of the legendary composer Burt Bacharach in an innovative and musically invigorating evening of cabaret. Entitled That’s What Friends Are For:  Nova Y. Payton Sings Burt Bacharach, this cabaret was yet another fine evening of cabaret from Signature Theatre.

The transcendent and poetic music and lyrics of legendary and influential musicians Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen are showcased with sensitivity and professional panache by two terrific artists ----Danielle Wertz and Robbie Schaefer –in Signature Theatre’s Both Sides Now: Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen.  It was indeed a very intimate, sophisticated, and remarkably enlightening evening that encompassed the earlier songs and milieu of Mitchell and Cohen.

The oft-told tale of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet which has been beloved throughout the ages and been interpreted and showcased in so many films, stage productions and even a ballet ---has been mounted by the Washington National Opera in an odd sort of manner. In composer Charles Gounod’s opera, the music is bewitching and should be the glory of the opera, but it should be paired with a text that is respected.

The beautiful blue skies that Jess, an F-16 fighter pilot in the U.S. Air Force, soars through from the mighty heights above soon become mottled with dismal greys ---as she plummets into mental despair and confusion after being Grounded. In the paradigm-changing opera which is a World Premiere by the Washington National Opera, Jess continues to work (after pregnancy, marriage, and having a daughter) as a professional who pilots drones remotely from a trailer park in Las Vegas.