WASHINGTON, DC THEATER REVIEWS

There are very few times in a reviewer’s career where he/she can honestly say they saw a perfect performance. This past weekend at The Music Center at Strathmore international star of stage, screen, and the concert stage Lea Salonga gave a perfect performance. Her Dream Again Tour has a song list...

The world premiere of Charly Evon Simpson's new play 'It's Not a Trip It's a Journey' has opened at Round House Theatre in Bethesda, MD in collaboration with the theater's first annual National Capital New Play Festival. Simpson's play, directed skillfully by Nicole A. Watson, invites audiences alon...

Earnest, funny, and full of life, Lisa B. Thompson's The Mamalogues is an intimate piece about navigating the world and looking for a fulfilling way of life (and in particular America) as a single Black mother. ...

There’s certainly something timely about 'We declare you a terrorist. . .' premiering now, as Russia, once again under Putin’s control, lays siege on neighboring Ukraine, but Lord’s script also makes it clear that the show’s relevance goes far beyond the current war....

Read our critic's review - The National Tour of Come From Away is playing this week at The National Theatre, bringing all of the joy and magic of the Broadway production with it....

Last night, the Sidney Harman Theatre was just sitting there, minding its own business. Who knew it would be invaded by a small squadron of lawyers, hell-bent on mayhem, in a full-frontal assault on the integrity of one of Shakespeare's most innocent (if naïve) characters?...

BEASTGIRL, a captivating new musical centered around three first-generation Dominican-American sisters, begins its world premiere at the Kennedy Center’s Studio K this month. Don’t miss your chance to see it....

For Keegan Theatre's regional première of Yoga Play by Dipika Guha, Set Designer Matthew J. Keenan provides a sleek, beige unit set onto which Jeremy Bennett's projections shine, pop, narrate, move, and comment. (Be sure to read the changing smoothie descriptions in the Jojomon canteen.) Cindy Land...

Read our critic's take as they write about how Tina Fey's well-known teen comedy fares in a new medium, made modern and on stage....

See what our critic had to think. This ain't your mama's Oklahoma! It ain't Rodgers and Hammerstein's, either. It's what you'd get if Andy Warhol and Robert Mapplethorpe dropped acid and decided to re-write a classic of musical theatre....

If there were any doubt in your mind that theatre is back, as thrilling and death-defying as ever, make your plans now to see Synetic Theatre’s take on the old Italian classic “Servant of Two Masters.”  Fasten your seat belts, you’ll be on a roller-coaster of virtuosity, wordless and breath...

A story of love and war set in Egypt, where the Nubian princess and her people are captured, sets the scene for a thrilling and captivating show....

One may never know what to expect on April Fool's Day, but a one-night-only performance by a Venezuelan-American artist at the GALA Hispanic theatre was certainly one of them....

It's a new day in Shepherdstown, indeed; after a 2-year hiatus from live theatre, the Contemporary American Theater Festival is returning with a panoply of performances to choose from: six fascinating plays, workshops and coffees with the artists, and a cabaret or two to complement the mainstage eve...

Nat Turner in Jerusalem is inspiring, and enlightening. It will make you look at the story of this painful moment in our history in a new light....

Couples planning intricate surprise dance moves at their upcoming wedding receptions might as well give up now. Nothing will ever top the astounding artistry and athleticism that is highlighted in the back and forth between the wedded pair in American Ballet Theatre's performance of 'Don Quixote' th...

Billed as the “New Musical”, the musical Grace is a soulful and heart-filled affirmation of a family hanging on to hope and love as their community changes and as the future propels them onwards. This new musical now playing at Ford’s Theatre is also about letting go of the past yet still hono...

Hi, Are You Single? is a one-man show that explores intimacy, hypocrisy, sex, and slow dancing with strangers. Written and performed by Ryan J. Haddad, the show exists at the intersection between queerness and living with a disability....

The Kennedy Center's 50th anniversary (whose celebrations have largely been pushed back a year due to the pandemic) coincides with the golden anniversary of the annual residency there of New York's American Ballet Theatre, whose first performance there came the day after the venerable Washington Per...

The question of privacy and personal autonomy is a vital theme especially in these stress-filled and autocratic times but, the current offering at the Mosaic Theater Company of DC the play Private misses the mark.  Though it is commendable that this play’s themes are explored, the dramatic impact...

The Merchant of Venice is traditionally categorized as a comedy, but the character of Shylock anchors one of Shakespeare’s most maddening tragic arcs. Here, Shylock is played by the magnificent John Douglas Thompson, whose powerful interpretations of the character's frank yet contorted appeals for...

Hailstork and Martin’s requiem is a grand, troubling, rich, and worthy work for an America still struggling to rise from its sometimes sordid history and violent predilections toward its lofty goals and promise. ...

RENT's 25th Anniversary Farewell Tour, directed by Evan Ensign, is a reminder of the decades of love that this musical has brought to so many people, especially the LGBTQIA+ community....

Climate change and theatre..unlikely? Absolutely. Effective? Absolutely. This week I had the privilege of attending the US premiere of Alanna Mitchell's adaptation of a book she wrote titled Seasick. The performance was held in the REACH tent at the Kennedy Center and is a prolific piece documenting...

The combination of the music, dancing, acting, and exquisite colors displayed by attire of the company brought the show to life, telling the many different stories of Okinawa....