Opera Review: Poulenc’s Beheadings
The climactic horror at the end of the Washington National Opera’s production of Poulenc’s “Dialogues of the Carmelites” has an added jolt — it echoes too closely the recent beheadings…
Theatre Review: ‘King Hedley II’ at Arena
Black lives matter. That’s the succinct message that’s arisen from protests of the past several months. It’s a rallying cry, too, from August Wilson’s powerful "King Hedley II" — one that comes…
Stage Review: ‘Last of the Whyos’
Back in the 1980s, playwright Barbara Wiechmann used to marvel at the bombed out surroundings of New York’s Coney Island. Caught between the ruins of the past and promise of…
Theatre Review: ‘The Widow Lincoln’
Humans have a regrettable instinct oftentimes to avoid a recent widow – what can one say to the grieiving? How to act? This apparently worked against both Mary Todd Lincoln…
Theatre Review: ‘Bessie’s Blues’
Bessie Smith is having something of a moment in 2015, 121 years after her birth. The celebrated “Empress of the Blues” is not only the subject of a big HBO…
Two Recent Plays: ‘Beast’ and ‘T’
The renaissance of timeless animated Disney musicals occurred during the time of “Beauty and the Beast” more than 20 years ago. There followed the golden age of Disney stage musicals…
‘Idol’ Couple in ‘Technicolor Dreamcoat’
“Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” was the musical Bible story Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber put together before they did “Jesus Christ Superstar” (and “Evita” and all the…
More of John Waters’ Christmas Thoughts
Got to talk to the director, kitsch maven and raconteur John Waters for an article in the Washington Post today, regarding his presentation of "A John Waters Christmas" at the…
Review: ‘Famous Puppet Death Scenes’
“Please endeavor to care as much as possible,” the program for the Old Trout Puppet Workshop’s “Famous Puppet Death Scenes” at D.C.'s Woolly Mammoth Theatre implores. And so we shall.…
Theater Review: ‘Nutcracker’ Minus Music
It’s the music and the dancing of “The Nutcracker” that have made it an annual tradition in cities across America for half a century. The new production of “The Nutcracker”…