Scott Suchman News

Today's subject Aaron Posner is what I call a GOD of DC theatre. He is arguably one of the best interpreters of Shakespeare, Chekov, and so much more. His current production of The Tempest (co-director and co-adapter with Teller, yes, of Penn and Teller) is onstage at Round House Theatre through January 15th. The show is a co-production with Aaron's frequent DC theatre home Folger Theatre.

It’s clear that a tremendous amount of talent, effort, and care has gone into this telling of The Tempest, and those affiliated certainly deserve high praise. Do yourself a favor and go see this production.

What did our critic think of THE NOTEBOOKS OF LEONARDO DA VINCI at Shakespeare Theatre Company?

The Trip to Bountiful at Ford's Theatre is an incredible showcase for Nancy Robinette, one of Washington’s foremost actors, who skillfully drives the production as Mrs. Carrie Watts who yearns to leave the small Houston apartment of her son and daughter-in-law to return to her Texas homeland, Bountiful.

Ford's Theatre Society is presenting Horton Foote's The Trip to Bountiful through October 16, 2022. Directed by Michael Wilson, this classic American drama is a compelling portrait of family, what we hold onto and what we leave behind. Get a first look at photos here!

Bernstein's hugely ambitious ecclesiastical fever dream is a beautiful mess well worth experiencing.

What did our critic think of THE SECOND CITY'S THE REVOLUTION WILL BE IMPROVISED at Theater Lab/Kennedy Center? While we await Saturday Night Live's 48th season, Washingtonians can bounce on over to the Kennedy Center for comic relief by The Second City's the Revolution Will Be Improvised. The troupe reminds us that the End may be near because there's a TV show called 'Is it cake?'

109 film scores, lots of symphonic music, and the music you hear during the Olympics doesn't even begin to properly describe a true living musical legend like John Williams. His 50 years and 29 film association with Steven Spielberg is the longest relationship in film between a director and a composer.

Washington National Opera's take on Mozart's 1790 rom-com, 'Cosí fan tutte' is a delightful escape.

Today’s subject Bobby Smith is a prime example of someone living his theatre life to the fullest. Currently he is performing in Signature Theatre’s excellent production of She Loves Me as parfumerie clerk Ladislav Sipos. The production runs through April 24th in Signature's MAX space.

The Washington National Opera has gathered a company of first rate singers for a portmanteau of four, one-act operas called Written in Stone. Unfortunately, their fine skills and exceptional voices cannot make silk purses out of scores, libretti, and orchestrations that evade aesthetics, emphasize negatives, and ignore the connection implicit in musical theatre between the notes and the text. This world première requires an orchestra to seem to be playing a piece of music that is not the same piece of music as the singers are singing. The last time this many groups of unfriendly instruments had a gig in a first run house was probably PDQ Bach's last show in Carnegie Hall. Gesamtkunstwerk this isn't, and it lasts for two and a half hours.

Broadway fervor reignited as major Broadway musical talents converged at the Kennedy Center for an evening of musical pleasure and panache in the concert 50 Years of Broadway at the Kennedy Center. Musical selections from such Broadway staples such as Cabaret, West Side Story, Wicked, Follies, Funny Girl, Pippin, Les Misérables, Sunday in the Park with George, Annie, The Book of Mormon and other memorable musicals were performed with style and Broadway brio by a cast of accomplished musical theater professionals.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts presents a star-studded lineup of Broadway and Kennedy Center favorites coming together in the Kennedy Center Opera House to celebrate 50 Years of Broadway at the Kennedy Center. Last night, February 11, saw the first of two sold-out performances, with the second performance taking place this evening, February 12 at 7:30 p.m.

MY LORD, WHAT A NIGHT at Ford's Theatre is a fascinating story of a surprising friendship developing at a critical time in history. We don’t see the characters as mythological beings in this production, thanks to the expert cast we are drawn to the approachable – very human – personal stakes, strong bonds and real concerns that compel action.

The Kennedy Center's 50th Anniversary Celebration Concert, which was taped in the Concert Hall on Tuesday, September 14, is being broadcast across the nation on Friday, October 1 at 9:00 p.m. ET on PBS, PBS.org and the PBS Video App.

Watch Dianne Reeves perform 'It Don't Mean a Thing' from the upcoming Kennedy Center at 50 concert, airing on PBS Friday, October 1 at 9:00 p.m. ET.

Returning to Shakespeare Theatre Company for a limited pre-season engagement after its original run was cut short in March 2020, Whitney White’s stunning production of James Baldwin’s The Amen Corner offers a resounding “welcome home” to theater lovers set hopelessly adrift over the past eighteen months.

While Labor Day weekend marked the unofficial end of summer it also marked Signature Theatre’s return to presenting LIVE entertainment. In this case, it was not in the cozy confines of their home in Shirlington but at the Filene Center at Wolf Trap. The concert entitled Broadway in the Park marked the first of what we hope to be many collaborations between these two giants of the arts organizations.

On the eve of the 20th anniversary of 9/11, the Reflecting Pool on the National Mall was lined with lawn chairs and picnic blankets, and the surrounding lawns were packed with thousands of people eagerly awaiting a performance on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. These outdoor theatergoers were gathered to see a free one-night-only concert production of the Tony-winning musical Come From Away, a work that invites us to process unthinkable tragedy through storytelling and song.

Ford's Theatre Society presented Come From Away: In Concert at the Lincoln Memorial, a free one-night-only concert presentation of the Tony and Olivier Award-winning musical Come From Away on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, September 10, 2021, at 6:00 p.m.