MUSIC THEATER REVIEWS

At this festive time of year, everyone has a favorite tradition. One of mine is attending YOUR National Symphony Orchestra’s (NSO) annual A Holiday Pops! concert. It is always guaranteed to showcase a top notch singer and a superb choir, while giving the audience one audible pleasure after another...

Bravo to the Seattle Symphony for offering these holiday feasts for all the senses as much-welcomed gifts of love and cheer....

Charles Gounod took Shakespeare’s tale of the star-crossed lovers and adapted it to create the 1867 opera, Roméo et Juliette, with an overture and Shakespeare’s explanatory prologue, delivered by the chorus, followed by a five-act opera, with a libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré. ...

The ever popular and hardy perennial of the operatic canon, composer Georges Bizet’s Carmen, was given a unique yet solid interpretation by the Wolf Trap Opera under the direction of John de los Santos. (Originally directed by Anne Bogart, according to the program). This opera is so well-known (an...

Marisha Wallace, Broadway’s current Sally Bowles, has had a career in New York and London marked by starring roles in musicals about women surviving tough circumstances. As we find out in her debut live recording, Live in London, her own life hasn’t been much different....

I first came to know the talents of Ellie Holcomb when my wife and I were on vacation in Nashville and saw her blow a hole in the roof at Ryman Auditorium. Her pixie like quality, superb vocals and true musicianship introduced me to a true talent in contemporary Christian music and beyond. Her singe...

The holiday season is in full swing and this past weekend the holidays got a touch of the Irish as the international singing sensations Celtic Woman graced the stage of Kennedy Center’s Concert Hall with YOUR National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) for an evening of traditional holiday tunes with a spri...

Mazz Murray delivers a classy spectacular, but do we need all those phones in the front two rows?...

As it is with the Dead, watching the interactions among the audience was almost as interesting as watching the show...

Maestro Steven Reineke never ceases to amaze me with the wide range of artists he brings to DC to play with YOUR National Symphony Orchestra (NSO). In the past he’s featured everything from such Broadway stars as Norm Lewis and Megan Hilty to Grammy winning Latin performers Ozomatli. He always int...

The Four Seasons had a hit song many years ago with a lyric that went “Oh! What a Night!” That is how I can best describe watching singer/songwriter/actress Sara Bareilles with YOUR National Symphony Orchestra (NSO), under the always stellar direction of Maestro Steven Reineke in Kennedy Center�...

The National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) began their classical season this past Saturday evening in a very satisfying manner. The program was entitled Echoes of America and was conducted by the Artistic Director of The Washington Chorus Eugene Rogers....

When summer ends many people get depressed. Let’s face it, you can’t go to the beach or your private summer home for another year. However, you can look on the bright side of things knowing that the end of summer brings a new season of audible brilliance from the mighty National Symphony Orchest...

The latest Righteous Brothers farewell tour pulled into the Strathmore in Bethesda Thursday, entertaining an elderly crowd who enjoyed hearing their hits from the 1960s....

What did our critic think of BARRY MANILOW THE LAST SAINT PAUL CONCERT at Xcel Energy Center?...

Singing to a completely packed house (if there had been any more patrons, they would have had to hang them from the ceiling, my lambs!), La Henry stayed on the older jazz back roads with a set list to please any American Songbook aficionado....

What did our critic think of THE SHOW - LIVE ON TOUR - NIALL HORAN at Xcel Energy Center?...

What did our critic think of BEN RECTOR AND CODY FRY WITH THE MINNESOTA ORCHESTRA at Minnesota Orchestra Hall?...

What did our critic think of SHANE THORNTON at Picklefest?...

What did our critic think of JESSE MCCARTNEY ALL’S WELL TOUR at The Fillmore Minneapolis?...

What did our critic think of IM MCGRAW: STANDING ROOM ONLY TOUR 2024 at Xcel Energy Center?...

What did our critic think of PINKPANTHERESS AT BROOKLYN PARAMOUNT at Brooklyn Paramount?...

What did our critic think of PAUL COLE THE TOUR 2024 at The Parkway Theater?...

What did our critic think of THE HEARTBREAK ON THE MAP TOUR WITH DAN + SHAY at Xcel Energy Center?...

It is as visually rich as it is aurally....