Play-within-a-play story lines are a common literary device in theater (say, Shakespeare’s Hamlet) and film (The Producers or Moulin Rouge). The meta-plays both advance the plot and highlight important themes or messages in the story. Or, they can totally scramble your brain and leave you wondering “Wait,… Read More
There’s much to wrestle with in the scant 105-minute run time of Indecent— religion, sexuality, immigration, anti-Semitism, and the power of art, to name just a few themes– but what stands in such sharp relief is simply that it’s based on a true story. The play… Read More
For the first time in nearly 30 years of staging free Shakespearean productions every summer as part of its Free For All series, Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) has brought Romeo and Juliet to Sydney Harmon Hall. And if the word “FREE” hasn’t piqued your interest,… Read More
If Mr. Rogers could have been president, his tenure might have looked a lot like Dave’s—the titular character of a new musical, now debuting at Arena Stage, based on the 1993 Academy Award-nominated film of the same name. A nerdy, passionate teacher of American history… Read More
If you’ve spent this past week ooh-ing and ahh-ing at the Olympic figure skaters gliding across your television screen, consider grabbing tickets to Disney Presents Frozen on Ice. It’s not exactly PyeongChang, but spins, jumps, and lifts abound during the two-hour performance; and there really is… Read More
To refresh an epic theatrical classic like Les Miserables is no small undertaking. From more than 30 years of Broadway performances to two star-studded (and one Academy Award-winning) film adaptations (not to mention an unforgettable “Britain’s Got Talent” audition that went viral in between), audience expectations are… Read More
Two decades after the Tony Award-winning musical RENT premiered on Broadway, the show has kicked off a year-long anniversary tour — and that tour brings it right here to Washington at the National Theatre! Based on the traveling performance of the show, the “RENT-head” community stands strong… Read More
The shrewd marketers pushing the Tony Award-winning musical “Fun Home,” now playing at the National Theatre through May 13, insist on calling it “life-affirming.” That may not be the right word, exactly. Watching forty-something-year-old protagonist Alison Bechdel grapple with painful, long-buried childhood memories to understand… Read More
The iconic Ringling Brothers & Barnum & Bailey Circus is closing up shop this May after nearly 150 years on the road (or, rails, actually). But they are not going quietly, and DC-area residents were given one last chance to experience the Greatest Show on… Read More
Aptly, given the energetic, even fitful nature of ragtime music (Wikipedia calls it “syncopated”), Ragtime the musical– now playing at Ford’s Theatre— offers an energetic, fitful snapshot of New York at the turn of the century. There’s the wealthy white suburban family, where “Mother” suffers… Read More
