WASHINGTON, DC THEATER REVIEWS

Summer theater offerings in D.C. tend to pull out all the stops to draw Washingtonians off of the streets and into their venues. This shouldn't be a difficult sell if there is air conditioning: after all, escaping the humidity is a high priority for people surviving summer in the District. Nonethele...

Round House Theatre's The Legend of Georgia McBride will leave you amped-up and ready to take on the outside world....

Talk about 'Freaky Friday.' Brett Abelman's new play 'Switch,' at Fringe Logan Arts Space, is more like 'Freaky Pride Weekend.' A straight D.C. couple matched up by their mutual genderqueer friend find themselves in the afterglow of intimacy having switched bodies and hence gender. The bala...

Throughout theatrical history there have been many cases where the acting and physical elements of a show have hidden the woes of a bland script. Playwright Laura Schellhardt needs to thank Northwestern University's Virginia Wadsworth Wirtz Center for the Performing Arts profusely for taking Ever in...

A cast of Broadway and television actors with vocal, dance, and comedy chops to spare join with a much-loved featured local theater star to deliver a must-see, entertaining semi-staged performance of the Pulitzer Prize-winning (1962) musical comedy....

At Trayf's core is the search for two universal desires, purpose and identity, and the play does not require one to be overly religious or familiar with Orthodox Judaism to enjoy it....

I've seen a lot of Shakespeare lately. It's a staple of the theater scene because it's relevant to nearly every time and place. In this spirit, WSC Avant Bard calls forth an enthusiastic, semi-contemporary version of THE TEMPEST, Shakespeare's New World piece predicting the drama of the American mel...

Featuring one of the most eclectic set lists I've encountered in recent years, Lea Michele and Darren Criss' - of 'Glee' and Broadway fame - one-night-only concert at the Kennedy Center was nothing short of entertaining and delightful....

Swimming with Whales is joyful, funny, and surprising in all the ways that life everyday can be....

An Iliad is not the epic poem you remember from your freshman Western lit class. This Iliad, written by Lisa Peterson and Denis O'Hare and directed by Tony Award®-nominated producer Conor Bagley, is an urgent reminder that war, violence, and especially rage are ever present in our world....

Featuring a compelling script, some of the best acting you're bound to see anywhere locally (most notably from Jon Hudson Odom) under the swift and inspired direction by Marti Lyons, and strong production elements (even music!), this is an unpredictable "only at Woolly" experience you won't want to ...

It was 40 years ago this week that the Ballet Nacional de Cuba made its historic U.S. debut at the Kennedy Center. There, the remarkable Alicia Alonso was not only artistic director but star performer, who became a ballet force at the American Ballet Theatre and elsewhere despite an eye condition sh...

The topics of the distinguished Broadway writing team of John Kander and Fred Ebb's musicals have never been light and frothy. Their first musical Flora the Red Menace deals with the red scare. Cabaret uses Nazi Germany as a backdrop. The Rink deals with family dysfunction in a dilapidated roller ri...

Director Alan Paul is bringing Lerner and Loewe's CAMELOT to a new generation, and his efforts couldn't be timelier. This stunning Shakespeare Theatre Company production at Sidney Harman Hall is a beacon of light in a city besieged by political unrest and uncertainty. Lerner and Loewe's enduring ...

As both a celebration of the Washington National Opera and a culmination of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts' Leonard Bernstein at 100 celebration, last weekend's Opera Gala definitely found success. While the evening had its share of disappointments (Titus Burgess of Unbreakable K...

The first five minutes of Theater Alliance's new production of Flood City are some of the most gripping that have graced a D.C. stage in the past year. As two women wrestle the torrential disaster which laid waste to Johnstown, Pennsylvania in 1889, the ensemble creates an immensely satisfying flood...

The older I get, the more ornery and unforgiving I become. When the American Pops Orchestra (APO), under the direction of Luke S. Frazier, played the opening bars of their Let's Misbehave: Cole Porter after Dark concert in the Fichandler at Arena Stage this past Saturday evening I was concerned....

Spooky Action Theater is good about seeking out interesting works from unusual sources. Their latest is from Carole Frechette, an award-winning Canadian playwright whose work has only sporadically been produced in the states....

In The Remains, husband and husband Kevin (Maulik Pancholy) and Theo (Glenn Fitzgerald) throw a dinner party for their family on their 10th wedding anniversary. One of the first gay couples to be married in the US, they are preparing to make a mysterious announcement. Initially, the audience is kept...

As acknowledged by Director Kiernan McGowan's program note, Pericles is a hot mess of a show. It was only half-written by Shakespeare, completed later by George Wilkins (who isn't remembered for good reason). The incoherence of the plot reveals the fractured nature of the play's creation. It's under...

When defining theatrical productions, people like to break down the categories into two basic camps: plays and musicals. Anyone believing those two monikers are the only labels for modern theatrical productions have never witnessed a show like that put on by Synetic Theater in Arlington, VA. As the ...

The musical adaptation of Adrienne Shelly's screenplay WAITRESS made history on Broadway when it came in with the first all-female creative team led by Director Diane Paulus. However, it's noteworthy for another reason - Sara Bareilles' varied, character-driven music and lyrics that would, in any o...

Watching Saint Joan, something seems missing in Bedlam's informal and intimate production. Maybe it is the grandeur of Europe's royal and religious court or the dazzling array of characters being brought vividly to life. Whatever it is, this production seems under produced, and that, when involving ...

Teatro El Publico's production of Petra von Kant, which regrettably only saw two performances at the Kennedy Center's Family Theatre, is both a thoughtful exploration of humanity and a classic actor's vehicle. Featuring leggy poseurs, lavish costumes, wild hairstyles (thanks to a small vault's worth...

A musical like Priscilla is a big endeavor for any theatre company to take on due to its well-known songs and extravagant costumes. Kensington Arts Theatre's (KAT) production, directed by John Nunemaker, fell short of reaching diva status due to its poor production quality. Despite all of this, KAT ...