Washington, DC Theater Reviews

BWW Review: Spooky Action Theater Rewrites History with COLLABORATORS

by Barbara Johnson — February 15, 2016

From the first darkly comic scene, Spooky Action Theater's COLLABORATORS plunges its audience into a tension between hilarity and terror.

BWW Review: Washington National Opera Takes On A Bit of Broadway With LOST IN THE STARS

by Jennifer Perry — February 15, 2016

Although the production doesn't quite soar, LOST IN THE STARS is a welcome addition to the WNO season simply because it's not performed very frequently - at least in comparison to other more familiar works that transcend the opera-musical divide.

BWW Review: JACK AND PHIL, SLAYERS OF GIANTS-INC at Imagination Stage

by Heather Nadolny — February 9, 2016

'Jack in the Beanstalk' gets a modern twist at Imagination Stage as two friends embark on a giant adventure to save Jack's house, all the while learning lessons about being friends and knowing what matters.

BWW Review: WHEN THE RAIN STOPS FALLING at 1st Stage

by Hannah Menchhoff — February 9, 2016

BWW Review: Bristling A CITY OF CONVERSATION at Arena

by Roger Catlin — February 8, 2016

When Anthony Giardina's The City of Conversation opened at New York's Lincoln Center Theater in 2014, the depiction of a Georgetown political salon seemed so perfectly reflective of Washington, Arena Stage's Molly Smith rushed to get it staged here, and even succeeded in obtaining the same director,

BWW Reviews: Idealism Meets Reality in Woolly Mammoth's GUARDS AT THE TAJ

by Benjamin Tomchik — February 8, 2016

Watching Guards at the Taj, you can't help but notice that the philosophical debate between the two guards is still ongoing in various facets of society - that of the idealist versus the realist, struggling to find common ground.

BWW Review: Electrifying MONSTERS OF THE VILLA DIODATI Premieres at Creative Cauldron

by Barbara Johnson — February 8, 2016

The second installment in Creative Cauldron's 'Bold New Works for Intimate Stages' initiative, the new musical MONSTERS OF THE VILLA DIODATI transports audiences to a famous gathering of 19th-century writers on Lake Geneva during a dark and stormy summer.

BWW Review: FATHER COMES HOME FROM THE WARS at Round House

by Roger Catlin — February 8, 2016

Suzan-Lori Parks has made her name updating Civil War lore in striking modernist terms in Topdog/Underdog, the Pulitzer Prize winner from 2001, the same year she won a MacArthur 'genius' grant.

BWW Review: Folger's Delightful MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM

by Roger Catlin — February 3, 2016

Nobody's quite sure of the birthdate of the greatest writer in the English language, but everyone is pretty sure William Shakespeare died in 1616, making this the 400th anniversary of his death, or as Michael Witmore, director of the Folger Shakespeare Library calls it, 'the fifth century of his aft

BWW Review: THE GLASS MENAGERIE Makes Welcome Return at Ford's Theatre

by Jeffrey Walker — February 2, 2016

Memories painful and poignant intermingle through a smoky haze in the sharp and vivid production of Tennessee Williams THE GLASS MENAGERIE now onstage at Ford's Theatre.

BWW Review: SHAKE LOOSE at MetroStage

by Hannah Menchhoff — February 2, 2016

It is certainly isn't a bad sign when the two-year old in the front row gets up to dance with the music.

BWW Review: Washington Stage Guild vs. Critics in ST. NICHOLAS

by Roger Catlin — February 1, 2016

I was all ready and looking forward to the final installment of Back to Methuselah, the George Bernard Shaw epic that the Washington Stage Guild has been staging in chapters since 2014.

BWW Review: American Ballet's SLEEPING BEAUTY Draws on Ballet's Legacy

by Frances Steiner — February 1, 2016

Having spawned a Disney movie, The Sleeping Beauty is likely the most well known of ballet's "big three.

BWW Review: Kennedy Center's OLIVERio: A BRAZILIAN TWIST Takes Audience on Trip to Rio

by Jennifer Perry — February 1, 2016

Over the past season or two, we've seen our fair share of professional productions of OLIVER in the DC area.

BWW Review: Powerful I SHALL NOT HATE at Mosaic

by Roger Catlin — February 1, 2016

Artistic director Ari Roth's dream of a vibrant and important theater group addressing the most vexing problems of the world, is coming to full flower this year at the Mosaic Theater Company, where he has revived the Voices from a Changing Middle East Festival that he developed at Jewish Community C

BWW Review: KRISTIN CHENOWETH Wows in Strathmore Debut

by Jennifer Perry — January 30, 2016

Whether belting out musical hits, showcasing her classically trained coloratura soprano, or taking on songs with a country sort of flair, the versatile performer had the audience in the palm of her hands and for good reason.

BWW Review: UNDER THE SKIN at Everyman Theatre - A Poignant and Powerful Play

by Charles Shubow — January 28, 2016

Playwright Michael Hollinger's play is about love, family, and forgiveness.

SWEAT at Arena Stage - World Premiere Co-Production with Oregon Shakespeare Festival is Riveting Theater

by Charles Shubow — January 25, 2016

Playwright Lynn Nottage notches another feather in her cap of outstanding work.

BWW Review: Magical A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM at WSC Avant Bard

by Andrew White — January 25, 2016

WSC Avant-Bard's magical production of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream offers is an absolute delight.

BWW Reviews: PICASSO AT THE LAPIN AGILE at Keegan Theatre

by Pamela Roberts — January 22, 2016

BWW Review: Exceptional Acting Fills Theater J's THE SISTERS ROSENSWEIG

by Benjamin Tomchik — January 20, 2016

While aspects of Wendy Wasserstein's play come off as dated, it nevertheless brings comfort to those wrestling with societal expectations and struggling to discover their true identity and purpose.

BWW Review: EQUUS Chills as Constellation Theatre

by Emma Kouguell — January 19, 2016

As a society, we often view extreme acts of 'passion,' whether it be motivated by anger, lust, or sadness, as negative, resulting in pain, or as something to be 'fixed.

BWW Review: MIDDLETOWN Explores Life at NextStop Theatre

by Keith Tittermary — January 19, 2016

We spend a lot of time thinking about the end and the beginning, in kind of self-aggrandizing ways.

BWW Review: Kennedy Center's A GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE TO LOVE AND MURDER is Great Fun

by Benjamin Tomchik — January 18, 2016

There are few musicals I can say I enjoyed more on tour then when I saw the original cast on Broadway, but A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder is an exception.

BWW Review: BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY Makes Strong DC Premiere at Studio

by Jennifer Perry — January 18, 2016

It's a family and friends-based drama of the best sort.