The jukebox musical surged in popularity following the success of Mamma Mia: Movin’ Out, Beautiful, American Idiot, and many more. But none succeeded more or set the bar higher than The Jersey Boys, winner of multiple Tony Awards, including 2006 Best Musical, the 2006 Grammy… Read More
1984, adapted from the original George Orwell novel by Robert Icke and Duncan MacMillan, is a play designed to make the audience extremely uncomfortable, in which it succeeds. Whether an audience thinks the performance is “good” or “bad” may hinge upon its comfort level with… Read More
Some stories are best sung. From The Lion’s first simple chord in G, award-winning songwriter/performer Benjamin Scheuer captivates with the musical story of a life, from boyhood to manhood, from rock ‘n’ roll to broken chords to acoustic crescendo. With raw wit and emotional depth,… Read More
The New York City Ballet’s three act offering at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts this week delivers pretty much everything you could want from a ballet. Under the guidance of Ballet Master-in-Chief Peter Martins, precise and skilled dancers dazzle with clean,… Read More
“Jealousy; It is the green-ey’d monster.” So says Othello’s covetous and ambitious Iago (played like an Evil Captain America by Jonno Roberts). The heft of Shakespeare is this: when you hear an oft-used idiom in one of Will’s plays, it is likely the seminal use.… Read More
I’ll start by saying that this was K Street Magazine’s first invitation to Constellation Theater Company, and we found it to be just what the DC theater scene needed: an intimate space for daring and experimental theater. Constellation’s rougher, elbowy savant is a welcome addition… Read More
Pulitzer Prize winning Lynn Nottage’s ungentle Sweat at the Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater brings a trenchantly written, razor-stark microcosm of the decline of the American union mill following passage of NAFTA. Less political than personal, Nottage doesn’t solely blame the… Read More
Opposites attract, and The Shakespeare Theater’s pairing of equally absurd The Critic (1779) by Richard Brinsley Sheridan (adapted for modern American audiences by Jeffrey Hatcher), and The Real Inspector Hound (1968) by Tom Stoppard, offers the perfect double bill. Both witty one-acts spoof theater itself,… Read More
Motown: The Musical at the National Theater follows in the footsteps of popular jukebox musicals Mamma Mia, Jersey Boys, and Beautiful, telling the story of Motown founder Berry Gordy (played with cornball sincerity by Josh Tower) through a seemingly endless mash-up hit parade from the… Read More
One of my favorite moments of Akeelah and the Bee at the Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater was observing three kids seated in front of me playing scrabble on their devices. The play’s powerful message had taken hold of young minds… Read More
