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January 2012
Zora Neale Hurston - Dreamcatcher The nice
thing about a theater adaptation is that it gets you to consider or revisit the original work, often a classic. Zora
Neale Hurston's novel Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937) is certainly that and Center Stage's dramatization
entitled Gleam gives the tale of Janie Crawford new life... (more)
Time Stands Still - Uncertainty Principle With a Donald Margulies play you can count on intelligent dialogue, a consideration
of the artistic process, and unresolvable relationship issues. Time Stands Still (2009), now receiving a stellar
showing at the Studio Theatre (to 2/12), delivers on all these and ... more Little Murders - Locked and Loaded The
American Century Theater has dusted off Jules Feiffer's late 1960s cult classic and it's alive and kicking.
Whether you are revisiting Little Murders from the past or know it from the 1971 movie, the cartoonish characters
of Mr. Feiffer's world still have plenty to say ... (more) Missing the Big Picture: False Negative
Can you criticize a movie adaptation because
it doesn't conform to your appreciation of a play, which was itself adapted from a book, a children's novel? That
in essence is the logic behind a recent review on the internet of Stephen Spielberg's War Horse ... (more)
December 2011 Becky's New Car - Trading
Up Ladies who are feeling a bit jaded in their relationships
or love lives will warm to the soft growl of Steven Dietz's gentle allegory on mid-life crisis in Becky's New
Car (2008), now moving into the pole position at the Bay Theatre Company (to 1/8/12) ... (more)
Best (and Worst) Reads of 2011 - Recommended, Somewhat
Recommended (and Not) The world's an interesting
place made even more so with a book. These helped me to better understand why ... (more) DRAMAURGE AWARDS 2011 - Best in Shows! Put 2011 down as a year of dichotomies. The plays were shorter, the casts smaller,
and offerings more predictable, but there seemed to be more to choose from and the production values were quite high (more)
November 2011
How Publicity Becomes a Review - Hype
Reality When a show is revived, there's got to be a basis for bringing it back. And if it's a new work, there
are even more reasons to tout your product. More often than not of late, I'm seeing a big disconnect between advertising
and the production end of the theater, the spin versus the reality of a show ... (more) American Buffalo - Liar's Poker
Philosophers are the bad conscience of their age according to Friedrich
Nietzsche, thinking of himself, but, had he lived in these times he might have substituted playwrights and one in particular,
David Mamet. American Buffalo, now playing at Center Stage in Baltimore (to 12/11) locates him at the beginning
of his career and formidable project. (more)
Barrymore - Black Jack It's magic time at the Rep Stage in Columbia, MD where a first-rate production
of Barrymore is now on the boards for the final week of its run (closing 11/13). The 1996 play, which was conceived
as a star vehicle for Christopher Plummer ... has certainly found new life with the accomplished Nigel Reed who delivers a
mesmerizing performance ... (more)Rating Theater Review Websites - A Taste Test
With the demise of print media - commercially operated ones at least - people are increasingly going online to get
their news about the performing arts, especially the theater. Your chances of finding a show you'd like to see are
better on the internet, and there are a number of sites to choose from. So how good are they? (more)
New Play Development - The 1 Percent
Solution It's ironic that a press release would
be the means to announce a meeting that would be closed to the press as well as the public ... (more)
Boutique Theaters - What's Your Price Point?
I was thinking about Zelda Fichandler's recent remarks - the
one about theaters "operating like US Airlines" in particular - when I received my Goldstar listing of discounted
tickets via e-mail. I see I can attend Karen Zacarías's The Book Club Play at the Arena Stage
for a mere $50.75 plus an $8.00 fee. That's almost 60 dollars for a half-price ticket! ... (more)
Loose Ends - And Random Threads Some of the thoughts and observations that didn't make their way into recent
reviews and posts ... (more)October 2011 BSO:Vasily
Petrenko, conductor & Barry Douglas, piano A
Romantic program, featuring Russian composers at the outset and conclusion, was given an energetic reading at Strathmore (10/29)
by BSO guest conductor Vasily Petrenko who was joined by soloist Barry Douglas for a rousing rendition of Liszt's Piano
Concerto No 1 tucked within ... (more) A Bright New Boise - Apocalypse Now
Matters of faith and economics intersect in the Gem State in Samuel
D. Hunter's A Bright New Boise, a dark comedy where everyone's hunkered down in some sort of survival mode
in Woolly Mammoth's season opener ... (more)BSO À La Mode - French Ingredients Guest conductor Louis Langrée delighted a full house at Strathmore Music
Center last night with an imaginative pairing of two masters of the classical repertoire - Mozart and Debussy. Joined
by soloist James Ehnes in the first part of the program in Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 3 ... before turning
to that of his countryman in La Mer ... (more)
Lungs Update - Histrionic Affects
The Studio Lab's production of Lungs
comes across pretty much as billed .... Under Aaron Posner's direction, the rapidly paced show flies past you like time-lapse
photography and is a combination both of scene study and stand-up comedy ... (more)
Wit - A Teachable Moment Margaret Edson's
Pulitzer Prize-winning play (1999) Wit, now receiving a powerful revival at The Bay Theater Company (to 11/6), is
as much an examination of two belief systems as it is two different approaches to life and death ... (more)
The Ides of March - Character
Assassination Playwrights everywhere should be thrilled
with Hollywood's transformation of Farragut North into a blockbuster release now playing at your neighborhood
movie theater. Certainly Beau Willimon, who's got his name on the credits, in part as screenwriter and source, must
be pinching himself for his good fortune with this all-star cast ... (more)Lungs - Take a Deep Breath
Thinking about going to a play, but can't make up your mind?
When it's late in a run and I've missed the opening, I'm just like you, trying to decide with the clock ticking.
David Macmillan's world premiere of Lungs playing at the Studio Theatre (extended to 10/23) was getting ready
to close. What to do? ... (more) Fees - A Four Letter Word You're undoubtedly aware of the add-on costs of banking and airline travel,
not to mention the use of your phone (where it seems like a piling-on of your bill), but another player of late has been the
entertainment industry. If you've purchased theater tickets online, whether full-price or at a discount, you've
seen your purchase price transformed ... (more) Show Blindness - A Critical Loss
of Vision Some of the reviews I've read of
late say more about the writers than the performances under consideration. Certainly they did not reflect the shows
I saw; neither were they the ones that moved those appreciative audiences. If we critics can't attempt to render
an objective opinion of a particular art form or artist, perhaps we should recuse ourselves or move on to other things. I
considered this topic in an earlier blog.
The Rivals
- Fools for Love David Schweizer's fantasyland
production of The Rivals (to 10/30) by Richard Brinsley Sheridan pulls all the right strings in Center Stage's
season opener which began with a splash last night (10/5) for new Artistic Director Kwame Kwei-Armah and the City of Baltimore.
With Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake drawing back the curtain on the 2011-2012 season... (more)
National Philharmonic with Conductor
JoAnn Falletta Strathmore Music Center's other orchestra,
the area's best kept secret, kicked off what looks to be another exciting season with John Corigliano's Red Violin
Concerto (2003), played by soloist Michael Ludwig, and Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, featuring Esther Heideman,
soprano, Patricia Miller, mezzo-soprano, John Aler, tenor, Kevin Deas, bass, and the NP Chorale ... (more)
Everyone's a Critic- And You Should Be Too!
I had a professor years ago who said we were free to look at the criticism for any book we read in class but half
of it was junk and our views were probably better. I found that good advice at the time, though today I'd revise
that figure upward ... (more)
September 2011
theatreWashington - Failure to Launch? As a retired federal employee I have witnessed numerous reorganizations over the decades which all shared the same
fate: they ultimately failed and wasted a lot of money ...This latest
"chapter" in the Helen Hayes Awards (HHA) saga is being touted as a "Re-Branding Process" and that designation
does not bode well ... (more)
BSO & Marin Alsop at Strathmore - Triple
Delight Though they billed it as Tchaikovsky's "Pathétique,"
the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's trio of programmatic works looked like an emerging artists series for much of the evening.
Featuring a world premiere by 35-year old composer James Lee III honoring Harriet Tubman and Dvořák's Cello
Concerto played by newly minted MacArthur fellow Alisa Weilerstein who is all of 29 ,,, (more) Tosca - Fall Classic I had a music teacher who was fond of saying everyone goes to the opera for a
few famous numbers ... on which they then pass judgment. Well, Puccini's Tosca contains about a half-dozen
of them and they all sounded great last night at Washington Nationals Ballpark ... (more)
Fahrenheit 451 - Burn Before Reading If you've had your fill of costume dramas, backstage comedies, and farces
- which seem to be everywhere today - head out to Round House Theatre in the hinterlands of Bethesda for some corrective theater
programming. The most provocative play of the season, where issues of censorship are addressed factually and metaphorically,
Fahrenheit 451 is a devastating commentary on the impact of technology, mass media, and political correctness ,,,
(more) The Habit of Art - Can
We Know the Dancer from the Dance? Alan
Bennett's homage to theater The Habit of Art (2009), now at the Studio Theatre (to 10/16), is a privileged and
comical look at the rehearsal process from the unique to the mundane. Constructed around not one but two plays, this
backstage comedy shows us the many small, petty steps required to transform an inspiration into a work of art ... (more) OR, - Both Sides, Now Liz
Duffy Adams' imaginative OR, playing at the Rep Stage (to 9/18), is alternative history in the best sense,
where figures from the past come to life today in tabloid ways. Think of it as News of the World in the land
of Charles II circa 1660s, simultaneously played out in London's Swinging Sixties ... (more) I Like a Slow Show - With
an Easy Touch For a well-written
play, pacing is probably the most crucial decision confronting a director. Yet in these 24/7 days of multi-tasking and
short attention spans - when fingers are itching to fire off the next text message - you can be certain pacing will be the
least of his or her concerns in rehearsal ... (more)
August
2011 This is Your Life - Summer Repeat? You've seen this perennial Academy Award nominee and two-time Oscar winner on the silver screen, on television
(winning two Emmys), and, if you were lucky, on stage (one Tony Award nomination), in a career spanning five decades.
Yet critics for our esteemed local newspaper, did not list this individual, a frequent high-level presenter, as among the
possible Kennedy Center Honorees, whose selections are to be announced in September. Who is this actor? (more) Shakespeare Under the
Knife - Outrageous Fortune Nelson Pressley's
feature in this Sunday's (8/14/2011) Washington Post - now closed for comment
on the internet - about the pleasures of cutting the Bard for the sake of audience understanding and appreciation is a stunning
testament to group hubris and a sign of the times. (more)Pop!
- Musical Mystery Tour What's in a name?
Pop! would suggest an artistic movement, the discharge of a small caliber gun, a drug route of administration, a father-figure,
or the rupture of an air-filled paper bag, i.e., nothing at all. The Studio Theatre has the layout on Andy Warhol's
life, now being promoted in a most entertaining musical Pop! (until 8/28), written by Maggie-Kate
Coleman and composed by Anna K. Jacobs (more)
Porgy
& Bess,The Musical-Dumbing Down Audiences Fans will want to take note of a controversy brewing which looks to eclipse
August Wilson versus Robert Brustein in scope and stature over the direction of American theater. Stephen Sondheim has
thrown down the gauntlet in a scathing letter to the New York Times for Diane Paulus's reworking of Gershwin's opera
Porgy and Bess
into a Broadway musical... (more)
Vanya
at Foggy Bottom - Method in the Madness
For those whose Russian sensibilities were formed with Dr. Zhivago or set in an age of Reality TV (say, Slavs
Gone Wild), there's a new adaptation of Chekhov's masterpiece, Uncle
Vanya, at the Kennedy Center (to 8/27). You may ask yourself
why an easily accessible, naturalistic play, only a hundred or so years old, would need a new interpretation... (more) Clybourne
Park - House Arrest Will Self's "Quantity Theory of Insanity" - where
a mental health improvement in one place, leads to a decrease somewhere else - might best explain the evil that is passed
down generationally in Clybourne Park, the 2011 Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Bruce Norris, a diptych on racism and sin now at the
Woolly Mammoth ... (more) Theater
Delights - When World Premieres Deliver New
plays are an acquired taste. You are asked to go to places you may be unfamiliar if not uncomfortable with, often by a playwright
who is an unknown. I was fortunate to see a couple of world premieres that did very well for all who were involved ...(more) July
2011 Visit
to a Small Planet - Stranger in a Strange Land
If you're looking for a high tech show, featuring a character with superhuman powers, travel to Arlington instead of
NYC and save yourself some money. The American Century Theater's latest offering of twentieth-century classics, Gore Vidal's
Visit to a Small Planet
(1955), once again gives this company an opportunity to match their consistent design and interpretive skills with a literate
script ... (more)
Chicago's Arts
Scene - Hot Time in the City
To paraphrase
Samuel Johnson: When a man is tired of Chicago, he's tired of life and we might add the same holds true for the ladies.
With 72 hours to fill on our arts card, the choices were many and varied ... (more)Contemporary American
Theater Festival - Almost Heaven That rite
of summer is upon us when one of this country's premier new play festivals reveals what is on the horizon for the theatergoing
public. CATF in Shepherdstown, WV, has a five-play program (to 7/31) in various stages of development featuring some very
big names and some soon to be heard from... (more)
A Dangerous
Woman:The Life of Adah Issacs Menken
The world stage at any given moment is and remains brightly lit for some, for others it goes dark. Such was the case
with Adah Issacs Menken who was one of the nineteenth century's most famous and notorious performing artists ... (more) House & Garden - Darkness Risible There are some geniuses who reinvent themselves with every effort and there are others who recycle their unique vision
with each creative work. Alan Ayckbourn seems to fall into the latter category. House &
Garden (1999) now running simultaneously - yes, that is the word - at the Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre
to July 17 ... (more) Even in Arcadia, I
Am - Memoirs of a Theater Fan Some
recent current events got me to thinking again about Arena Stage's production of Arcadia by Tom Stoppard back in December
1996 - January 1997. I was able to see the process in its entirety - from first read-through and the 6-week rehearsal to opening night
and beyond... (more)
June 2011
Old Times - That Obscure Object of Desire Imagine hearing a work by your favorite composer conducted not only in a
different key but a different tempo. That's something like the experience you'll get while attending Shakespeare
Theatre Company's production of Harold Pinter's Old Times
(running to July 3),
directed by Michael Kahn ... (more) God of Carnage - Civilization
and Its Discontents Pittsburgh Public Theater serves up Yasmina Reza's juicy God
of Carnage rare, but for director Ted
Pappas and cast it's all in the presentation. This stellar production, now in its final week (to 6/26), is a must
see for all theater fans; for those who have already gone, it's worth seeing again. Mr. Pappas's brisk
and fluid staging is a marvel in its physicality... (more) Helen Hayes Awards© Recommended-Caveat Emptor
As I write
this, there are 17 Helen Hayes Awards © Recommended shows in the DC area. Should you be rushing to the box office?
(more) Q & A with Director Ted Pappas- Razing
the House
DC-area theater lovers, who missed the Broadway production of Yasmina Reza's God of Carnage, get their first opportunity
to see the 2009 Tony-award winner about a half-day's drive away at the Pittsburgh Public Theater (to 6/26)... (more)
Why
Go To the Theater? Speaking Across the Aisle
There's
an internet site that posts the occasional testimonial from theatergoers describing what theater means to them ... These
folks are looking for the reverential and mystical - they're looking for religion when they walk though the doors.
While I wouldn't discount this reaction as invalid it doesn't describe my experience and maybe not yours ...(more)
May 2011
The Barnes Heist - The Whole World's
Watching There' a cultural train wreck
heading for the City of Brotherly Love, whose significance and history is nicely summed up by Philadelphia Inquirer's Art Critic Edward Sozanski. The Barnes Foundation is scheduled to move the collection to the Parkway in the next 6 weeks and they've chosen
the Independence Day Weekend to slink out of their historic home in Merion, PA...(more)
Follies
- Not Ready for Primetime? It'll be two weeks
tomorrow since the 40th anniversary production of Stephen Sondheim's Follies opened at the Kennedy Center and
still no review of the show is out there. Will this version be DC's equivalent of Spiderman?... (more) Chesapeake - Bay
Watch This is your last chance to see
Matthew Vaky in a performance of Lee Blessing's 1999 play Chesapeake, a one-man show about the vicissitudes of politics and the arts now running
at the Bay Theatre Company to Sunday (5/22)... (more) Antony and Cleopatra
- Death on the Nile It's not for nothing that Antony and Cleopatra is referred to by some as one of Shakespeare's problem
plays. Happily, director James Christy's production now playing at Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre until May 22 is a model of clarity, economy, and style ... (more) The Apple Cart
- State of Equilibrium Shaw's rumination
on government, The Apple Cart
(1929), is getting a very entertaining showing at the Washington Stage Guild (to 5/22)... (more)
Audience Building
- Washington Post Productions The curtain is barely
up on the Kennedy Center's revival of Follies and there have been, what, eight
feature articles on the show by the Washington Post? The paper is no stranger to conflict of interest issues ... (more) April 2011 Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? - Strindberg
Reloaded Edward Albee's 1962 American classic
has been given a satisfying revival in the Steppenwolf-originated "co-production" now being performed at Arena Stage
(to 4/10). I had a number of random thoughts as I reread the script and saw the play again last week ... (more)
The Worthys - Theater at Its Finest DramaUrge & Associates Ltd is
pleased to announce the presentation of a new award to recognize theater excellence in the Washington DC-area. The prize
is named in honor of the Washington Nationals newest acquisition, Bayson Worth... (more)
March 2011 Juan de Marcos & Co. - They've Got
the Beat! Juan de Marcos & the Afro-Cuban
All Stars kicked off their 17-city U.S. tour last night (3/23) before a fairly full and definitely enthusiastic crowd at Strathmore
in North Bethesda ... (more)
Snow Falling on
Cedars - Bend Don't Break David Guterson's
PEN/Faulkner Award-winning novel of 1995 gets a rigorous adaptation in Center Stage's latest offering (to 4/3).
Director David Schweizer's handsome, through frenetic, production provides the closest experience to seeing a complete
book come to life without ever having to crack the cover... (more)
Pianist Brian Ganz
& NP at Strathmore- I Don't Believe What I Just Saw (Or Heard)! The National Philharmonic's Scandinavian program at Strathmore looked very good on paper - a classic from the
Romantic repertoire by the Norwegian Edvard Grieg Finnish Jean Sibelius - but the realization in the concert hall went
beyond expectation: It was magnificent ... (more)
Beyond Therapy - That 80s Show The Bay Theatre Company is entering the last 2 weeks of an extended run of Christopher Durang's dark comedy (to 3/20). How to describe it? Imagine "Date
Lab" instigated not by a newspaper but by members of the mental health profession... (more)
Helen Hayes
Awards Process - Reign of Error There's
been a lot of discussion in cyberspace following the Helen Hayes Awards nominations which were announced last Monday.
I've seen the same outcome in the awards process occur every year since 1991, when I started actively attending theater
in the area... (more)
Cymbeline - Poetry
in Motion There are a number of good reasons to see the Shakespeare Theatre Company production of Cymbeline,
closing March 6. Chief among them are the performances of Gretchen Hall as Imogen and Leo Marks as the loutish Cloten,
but there is some beautiful language that issues from the Bard in this seldom performed play... (more)
Helen Hayes
Nominations - You Make the Call
I just
finished reading Scorecasting by Tobias J. Moskowitz and L. Jon Wertheim. The book examines ... why home teams consistently
fare better than their visiting opponents. Crowds affect the outcome of the game in one specific way: they influence
the referees, umpires, and officials. Calls go the home teams' way across all sports. Substitute big name
theaters for home teams and you can close your eyes and pick the nominations, each and every year... (more) February 2011
The Magic Flute - Three's Company A scaled-down version of the BSO and the Baltimore Choral Arts Society got together with
about a dozen performers to deliver a stellar production of Mozart's The Magic Flute last night before a packed
house at Strathmore ... The semi-staged event allowed the composer's delightful and multifaceted score to shine through
... (more)
Academy Awards
2011 – And the Winner Is … There's
been the usual finger-pointing about overlooked pictures this year. However, the nominations indicate that it's
business as usual in Tinseltown. A breakdown of selections reveal the following preferences: "Biopics,"
"Mean Moms," "Crime Pays," "Family Values," and "Fantasy" ... (more)
Janet Luby Interview
- Analyze This! Bay Theatre Company's
Artistic Director Janet Luby steps back out on the boards in Christopher Durang's madcap comedy Beyond Therapy
(running to 3/20), which skewers modern relationships and psychiatry. Playing the aphasic shrink (Charlotte), Ms. Luby and
her stage nemesis, the talented Nigel Reed (Stuart), square off to violate every professional standard for their respective
clients... (more) The Homecoming - Calling All Pinter Fans Harold Pinter's absurdist
comedy The Homecoming
is heading into its final week (to 2/20) at Center Stage, which also signals the beginning of the end of Irene Lewis's
tenure as artistic director, concluding this June. Ms. Lewis could not have picked a more striking exclamation point
for her impressive directorial career than this sinister rumination on family life... (more) An Almost Holy Picture - Mystic Chords of Memory In a wired, 24/7 world, where the clock is always ticking on our lives, it is a
welcome relief to spend time with a character who is fixated on the spiritual. Sitting through Heather McDonald's
one-man play now at the Rep Stage (to 2/20) seems more an act of a quiet communion than a thought provoking engagement with
matters of the moment ... (more) How DC is Killing Business and the Arts You've already fought the nation's worst
traffic in an effort to pump up the local economy. And how are you thanked? With the highly restrictive and costly
parking of our nation's capital that is being enforced until 10 PM weekly and all day Saturday ... (more) Aaron Posner Interview
- Fully Committed Director and playwright Aaron Posner is a fixture of the Washington, DC-area
theater scene, who not only served as the artistic director of the Arden Theatre Company, which he co-founded, and Two River
Theater Company, but has an active schedule with repertory companies across the country. Mr. Posner is currently directing
The Comedy of Errors
at the Folger Theatre (to 3/6) and I was able to interview him just after the play opened ... (more)
January
2011
Cody Nickell Interview
- Body Double The Wilma Theater's current production of Theresa Rebeck's play The Understudy, a backstage theater
romp where Hollywood meets Broadway, includes Cody Nickell as the hapless stand-in Harry... (more) Tough Love - A Twelve Step Program for the Theater Community January is the cruelest month for the arts - except for Cats,
Old T.S. got it wrong.
Box office admissions take a nosedive and the grim realities of the coming fiscal year present themselves once again to artistic
directors and their staffs... I offer the following suggestions for boosting attendance and decreasing the dependency on donors,
some of which were discussed previously ... (more)
Superior Donuts – Just Desserts End of the run performances are often the best time to see a show. The
critics are gone, the actors are locked into their roles, and getting ready for their next ones ...The enthusiam's
infectious and ... word-of-mouth has the audiences primed. Such was true with Superior Donuts
at Studio Theatre ... (more) The Barnes Debacle - Follow the Money As we pause to celebrate the birthday of Albert
C. Barnes, M.D., who came into the world on January 2, 1872, let's consider today how much the twenty-first century resembles
the nineteenth, in terms of public or private instances of cronyism, malfeasance, and greed... (more)
Best and Worst Reads for 2010 If life is a journey, then reading
is one of the more pleasant trips, outside of the performing arts. This year was no different for me, though it did
offer a few surprises, for this fairly inexpensive, but rewarding, pastime... (more)
Salute to Vienna: New Year's Concert 2011- Prost! If
you've always wondered what it would be like to attend the famed New Year's Concert in Vienna, you've got a chance
to see the next best thing, without the need to clear customs ... January 1 at 2 PM at Strathmore Music Center (repeated at Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, January 2, at 3 PM) ... (more)
Sunset Boulevard - Twilight of the Idol Washington DC- area theatergoers: Are You Ready for Your Closeup of Sunset
Boulevard? You will never see a show of this caliber in so intimate a setting or experience the music of Andrew
Lloyd Webber and book & lyrics of Don Black & Christopher Hampton with such emotional impact and clarity as you will
at Signature (to 2/13) in Arlington ... (more) DRAMAURGE AWARDS
2010 - Best in Shows! Everybody in the media from broadcasting to blogosphere has put forth a list
of the best something or other, so I would be remiss if I failed to follow suit. While I didn't get to as many plays
as some, I was able to see 50 over the course of the year. Most of them were entertaining, many were very good, and
some were great theater experiences... (more)
Hobson's Choice - Out with the Old, In with the New Pittsburgh
Irish & Classical Theatre has concluded another enterprising season with a stellar production of Hobson's Choice by Harold Brighouse. The play is a send-up of the Victorian era through largely Edwardian eyes
... (more) The
Foreigner - You Just Don't Understand A number of conversational styles emerge in Larry Shue's
deceptively simple yet profound comedy The Foreigner, but the strongest one comes after hitting the mute button. Now receiving
a delightful revival at the Bay Theatre Company (to 1/8), it still delivers its timeless message on the fine art of listening...
(more)
Golden Boy - Idol Worship When your script comes scored for
violin, boxing, and Schopenhauer, what's a director to do? If you're Lee Mikeska Gardner, you look for
that genre opening in Clifford Odets' 1937 play (and1939 movie) Golden Boy now playing at The Keegan Theatre
(to 12/19), and go for Noir!...(more) Walter Cronkite is Dead - That's the Way It Was If
hell is other people, as Sartre notes, then the two characters in Joe Calarco's play Walter
Cronkite is Dead - thrown together by fate - are about to experience an aspect
of eternity during a weather delay at Reagan International. Now receiving its world premiere at Signature Theatre (to
12/26)... (more) December 2010
Period Pieces - We Need More of Them I
just finished watching The Assassination of Jesse James by the
Coward Robert Ford (Dir. Andrew Dominik, 2007) and while I had
some reservations about the glacial pacing and the conventions of the screenplay in the adaptation of Ron Hansen's historical
fiction novel (1983), I was impressed by the use of authentic language and mannerisms to convey the period, the 1880s... (more)
ReEntry - Listen Up People! How to get at the truth of the
war experience? That's the mission that writers Emily Ackerman and KJ Sanchez sign on for in ReEntry, a play constructed from interviews
of Marine Corps soldiers and their families. Now playing at Center Stage in Baltimore (to 12/19)... (more)
Talley's Folly - Against All Odds Mismatched lovers everywhere,
and those better suited, will find cause for celebration in the lavish production of Talley's
Folly by Lanford Wilson now being offered by Pittsburgh Public Theater (to 12/12)... (more)
Arcimboldo: Nature & Fantasy - Design Scheme The National Gallery of Art
is serving up a repast for the holidays, a moveable feast for the eyes in a splendid series of works by Italian painter Giuseppe
Arcimboldo (1526-1593) now on display in the East Wing (to 1/9/11)...(more) Turnaround King Michael Kaiser - The Emperor's New Clothes I
suppose everyone wants to be the hero of his or her narrative, so it comes as no surprise that Michael Kaiser sees himself
as a white knight in resuscitating failing arts organizations as attested by his latest book The Art of the Turnaround ... (more) Sunday at Strathmore with Stephen Sondheim America's preeminent musical theater lyricist
and composer, Stephen Sondheim, visited Strathmore Music Center on 11/14 for an afternoon of conversation with The Washington Post Theater Critic, Peter Marks... (more)
Gianni Schicchi - Family Feud Puccini's
seldom performed one-act comedy, Gianni Schicchi, which contains one of opera's most famous bel canto arias, is getting a send-up in John
Morogiello's 1993 play at the Randolph Road (i.e, the old Roundhouse) Theatre, in Silver Spring... (more)
Oklahoma! - Raising
the Rafters If ever you were to program
the ideal play for the opening of your stunning new theatrical space, Molly Smith's expansive and energetic production
of Oklahoma!
by Rogers and Hammerstein at the Arena Stage (to 12/26) would be it... (more)
House of Gold - Unstately Mansion There's a rendering plant
quality highlighted in an early bad joke by Gregory S. Moss in the House
of Gold, now receiving a world premiere at the Woolly Mammoth (to 11/28) which succinctly captures the life and times of JonBenét Ramsey and our culture: when it comes to icons,
we harvest everything but the squeal...(more) A Fox on the Fairway - Hole in One If your taste in comedy runs
towards farce, you'll want to schedule a tee time soon for the world premiere of Ken Ludwig's A Fox on the Fairway now playing at
the Signature (to 11/14)...(more) November 2010 Our National Pastime - A Fan's Notes As I sat and watched my Phillies crack under the pressure of
the no-name Giants, whose hair-sliver edge in talent, flawless execution, and boundless luck (where the balls found holes
and the wind was forever blowing in their favor) never failed, I reflected once again on the similarities between baseball
and the theater... (more)
The Royal Family - Lives in the Theater The canvas was always painted wide at the Algonquin
Round Table in New York City. The enterprise of two of their madcap members, George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber, whose delicious
send-up of Broadway's First Family -The Barrymores - is seen to best advantage in their 1927 comedy The Royal Family...
Now playing at the Pittsburgh Public Theater (www.ppt.org to 10/31)... (more)
The Town - Mean Streets If life's fortunes have you down
or your artistic palette craves some major cleansing, check out The
Town, playing at local theaters, a police procedural/war movie/revenge
tragedy that promises (and delivers) two hours of vicarious mayhem... (more) Lips Together, Teeth Apart - Survivor Skills
How
many actors can dance on the head of a pin? Four if the Bay Theatre Company's sublime production of Terrence McNally's Lips Together, Teeth
Apart (1991) is any indication, with each giving a character
wings and the ability to find love, in a very small space... (more)
Superstar Alert- Upcoming & Recommended Event
The face of the American Musical, legendary lyricist
and composer Stephen Sondheim will be present at Strathmore Music Center for an afternoon of conversation with Washington Post theater critic Peter Marks on Sunday
November 14th at 2 PM. Mr. Sondheim is celebrating his eightieth birthday this year. No musical performances are
on the agenda, but there will be plenty to fill out the program as this Broadway giant looks back on a stunning career, well
into its sixth decade. For DC area residents who care about theater, this star is aligned for one rare view. The Social Network
- Revenge of the Nerd Like its heralded progenitor Facebook, The
Social Network comes with great promise which fails to satisfactorily
fulfill your expectations... (more) National Philharmonic: Mahler's Resurrection Symphony - Hearing
the Light A mighty musical force was unleashed last night at Strathmore Music Center as 250 or so musicians
brought Mahler's Second Symphony to life with stunning clarity and soaring emotional intensity... (more)
BSO SuperPops - Gotta Dance! - Happy Feat The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra,
with conductor Jack Everly, and a half-dozen dancers delivered about as entertaining a program as I've ever been privileged
to attend last night at Strathmore Music Center ... (more) A Revolution in Wood:The Bresler Collection-Missing Links If you are smitten with wood
(as I am), you'll want to head out to the Renwick Gallery ASAP and slot some time for a few return trips to fully appreciate
the The Bresler Collection which just opened and runs until January 30, 2011... (more)
It Can't Happen Here - Permanent Collection?
Imagine
a private residence - a mansion - holding priceless art which the public has a hard time getting in to see. It's
located in a fashionable neighborhood, not accessible by public transportation, and is open for a few hours on weekdays, only
by reservation... (more)
Dinner with Friends - Hold the Dessert Menu There's still room at the table to savor David Margulies' 2000 Pulitzer Prize
Winning Drama Dinner with Friends, now extended at the Olney Theatre Center until October 3... (more)
October 2010
When's The
Best Time To See A Show? A number of years ago a Pittsburgh theater critic pondered the tradeoffs between
reviewing a play on opening night versus a week or so into a run... (more)
Circle Mirror Transformation - Group Therapy There's
a belief in medicine that the really troubled specialize in psychiatry to better understand themselves. Well, after
viewing Annie Baker's Circle Mirror Transformation at the Studio Theatre (to 10/24), you'll want to add acting to the healing
arts... (more)
A Room of Their Own - The Bloomsbury Artists in American Collections I
got a chance to view the multifaceted artwork of the celebrated Bloomsbury crowd as it made its last stop of a 6-campus ,
U.S. tour at The Palmer Museum of Art on Penn State's Main Campus... (more) Un Ballo in Maschera - Singing for the Fences It's that time of year when I rediscover the pleasures of opera and what
better way to reconnect than to attend a free concert ... (more) Freedom by Jonathan Franzen - The Agony of Victory You'd
be hard-pressed to top the media frenzy surrounding Jonathan Franzen's new novel Freedom
... (more) Friedrich Nietzsche: A Philosophical Biography
- Behold the Man Julian Young and Cambridge University Press (2010) have delivered a well-written,
well-paced, and well-edited biography of Friedrich Nietzsche (pronounced Nee-cha) which looks like the gold standard for this
philosopher in terms of scholarship and readability... (more)
The Talented Mr. Ripley
- Seeing Double
Roundhouse Theatre has slotted another tantalizing villain play for its season
opener (to 9/26), The Talented Mr. Ripley, an adaptation by Phyllis Nagy based on the 1955 Patricia Highsmith novel... (more) This `N That - A Mixed Litter
Just
The Link Ma'am/Sir - Seems like the critic today is writing copy for theaters.
Why don't we just supply a blurb for them ... (more)
FOR 2009-2010 REVIEWS AND BLOGS SEE ARCHIVES (c) John F. Glass - All rights
reserved
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