Category Archives: Review

True Crime and a Whole Lot More

By Roger Catlin | Published: June 28, 2020

The documentarian Liz Garbus must have felt an intense kinship to Michelle McNamara, a true crime blogger who kept amassing information on a topic in order to fashion it into compelling art. For her latest film, she tackles McNamara’s obsession with a prolific rapist and killer in California in the 1970s and 80s that became […]

Also posted in Television, What's On TV | Comments closed

The Last New Play in Washington for Now

By Roger Catlin | Published: March 18, 2020

It may have been unrealistic to open a new play amid the coronavirus pandemic, but “The Realistic Joneses” did just that on Saturday at Spooky Action Theatre, a group whose name inspires no further confidence (it’s named after Einstein’s term for quantum entanglement – the ability of separate objects to share a condition at a […]

Also posted in Theatre | Comments closed

When the Riches Ran Out for ‘Timon’

By Roger Catlin | Published: February 29, 2020

The week the stock market erases its year’s gains may be just the right time to open a not-often produced play about swift changes in fortune. “Timon of Athens” has a home at the Shakespeare Theatre Company if only because it’s one of his lesser-known plays. Long suspected to have been co-written, the splashy production imported […]

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The Touring ‘Simon & Garfunkel Story’

By Roger Catlin | Published: February 2, 2020

There is certainly a dramatic story to be told behind the highly successful 60s duo Simon & Garfunkel from a brief high school success that got them on “American Bandstand” to their later 1960s stardom, love/hate relationship and mutual artistic dependence. All of that is barely mentioned, though, in the nationally touring “The Simon & […]

Also posted in Music, Theatre | Comments closed

A New Year’s Eve Tribute to Aretha Franklin

By Roger Catlin | Published: January 3, 2020

Some of Aretha Franklin’s greatest performances happened at the Kennedy Center — chief of which may have been a 2015 performance of “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” at the Kennedy Center Honors that made Barack Obama shed a tear in the Presidential box. Clips of some of Franklin’s performances in the fabled […]

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She & Him Throw a Christmas Party

By Roger Catlin | Published: December 7, 2019

The first time Zooey Deschanel sang a Christmas song for huge audiences was 16 years ago in the movie “Elf,” crooning “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” in the shower, eventually dueting with an unwelcome Will Ferrell. It was that moment that showed M. Ward that the actress could actually sing, and they eventually got together to form […]

Also posted in Holidays, Music | Comments closed

A Soulful ‘Motown Christmas’ at Signature

By Roger Catlin | Published: December 6, 2019

Because Christmas is mandatory on entertainment stages all month, it’s no surprise that a cabaret at Signature Theatre is again devoted to the Yuletide songbook. But in a clever and very welcome variation, they’ve approached the holiday through the classic interpretations of one of America’s favorite labels. “A Motown Christmas” brings together enduring holiday originals […]

Also posted in Holidays, Music, Theatre | Comments closed

Marshall Crenshaw’s Timeless Tunefulness

By Roger Catlin | Published: November 19, 2019

Marshall Crenshaw tours these days take different forms. Sometimes he goes solo, other times he shares the stage with the Bottle Rockets. He was the lead voice for a Smithereens tribute tour earlier this year as well. But Saturday for a show at City Winery in Washington D.C., he fronted a trio that gave both […]

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Mark Morris’ Non-Spicy ‘Pepperland’

By Roger Catlin | Published: November 16, 2019

“Pepperland” is the name of a suite that longtime Beatles producer George Martin wrote for their animated “Yellow Submarine” in 1968. Martin, who had devised the stirring string arrangements  behind “Yesterday” and “Eleanor Rigby” turned in a sprightly, propulsive ditty that may have been his best composition in the Beatles canon not related to anything  […]

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Kinky Friedman: A Resurrection at 75

By Roger Catlin | Published: November 12, 2019

He’s been a popular detective novelist, a singer, a columnist, Peace Corps volunteer, animal rescuer, and a politician. He played at the Grand Ole Opry, “Saturday Night Live” and the Rolling Thunder Revue. He’s the only performer in 45 years to record an episode of “Austin City Limits” that was never aired. And he won […]

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