All stories by Anne Valentino on BroadwayStars

Tuesday, April 1, 2025

Theatre Review: ‘It’s a Motherf**king Pleasure” presented by FlawBored at Woolly Mammoth Theatre by Anne Valentino

A meta-theatrical farce that searingly pokes fun at the things people do in the name of trying to quell their mistakes and their anxiety, “It’s a Motherf**king Pleasure” hits some trul…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 10:08AM
Friday, March 28, 2025

Theater Review: ‘Your Name Means Dream’ at Theater J in association with TheaterWorks Hartford by Anne Valentino

Playwright José Rivera’s resume is certainly an impressive one. The Obie Award-winning “Marisol” sticks out in my mind as representative of a body of work that brilliantly brings toge…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 10:34AM
Tuesday, March 25, 2025

Theatre Review: ‘Blood at the Root’ at Fells Point Corner Theater (FPCT) by Anne Valentino

Though written in 2014, Dominique Morisseau’s “Blood at The Root” proves an incredibly timely play. Dealing with themes of racial equality, homophobia, and the crackdown on student pro…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 04:55PM
Thursday, March 20, 2025

Event Review: 36th Annual Mock Trial presented by the Shakespeare Theatre Company by Anne Valentino

TEACHING THE CREATURE’S BRAIN—WHO IS THE REAL MONSTER?Elizabeth Frankenstein v. Victor Frankenstein Originally conceived in 1994, Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Mock Trial event this ye…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 04:10PM
Tuesday, March 18, 2025

Concert Review: ‘Passports’ presented by The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC at The Lincoln Theatre by Anne Valentino

For some, resistance is protesting, for others it’s making their voices heard through whatever channel possible during times of strife, and still for others resistance might be as simple a…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 11:45AM
Sunday, March 16, 2025

Theatre Review: ‘Wombat Drool’ presented by Nu Sass Productions and Uncle Funsy Productions at the Dance Loft on 14th by Anne Valentino

Wombats, who knew? Former small mammal, zoo biologist David S. Kessler happens to be a pretty ardent supporter of the wombat—of all small mammals really, but perhaps most fondly, the womba…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 05:21PM
Friday, March 14, 2025

Theatre Review: ‘The Magriad; or, The Tragedy of Queen Margaret’ presented by Avant Bard Theatre at the Gunston Arts Center by Anne Valentino

Boundlessly creative is the only way I can think to describe Avant Barde Theatre’s production of “The Margriad.” A complex assemblage of four of Shakespeare’s history plays—the thr…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 06:05PM
Tuesday, March 11, 2025

Theatre Review: ‘The Dumb Waiter’ presented by Theatre Du Jour at the DC Arts Center by Anne Valentino

Characters in Harold Pinter’s plays tend to have a shorthand when it comes to their conversations. That is, the words they say to one another are generally packed with a lot more meaning t…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 04:41PM
Wednesday, February 26, 2025

Theatre Review: ‘Art’ at Vagabond Players by Anne Valentino

What is “art?” This is the question that Tony award-winning, French playwright Yasmine Reza puts front and center in her quirky drama, “Art” (translated by Christopher Hampton). The …

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 06:06PM
Tuesday, February 25, 2025

Theatre Review: ‘Got it Good’ presented by Bethesda Little Theatre at The Writer’s Center by Anne Valentino

Getting a new musical on its feet is notoriously difficult. Generally speaking, this is why smaller regional theatres don’t often try it. In the case of Bethesda Little Theatre’s mountin…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 12:34PM
Saturday, February 22, 2025

Theatre Review: ‘Kunene and The King’ presented by Shakespeare Theatre Company at Klein Hall by Anne Valentino

Often, we have difficulty seeing beyond the challenges and barriers specific to our own situation or to our own country. Plays like Shakespeare Theatre Company’s production of “Kunene an…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 07:29PM
Tuesday, February 18, 2025

Theatre Review: ‘The Lake Effect’ at 1st Stage by Anne Valentino

Perhaps best known for his Pulitzer-finalist “Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo,” playwright Rajiv Joseph walks a different artistic path with “The Lake Effect” now playing at 1st Stag…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 06:02PM
Monday, February 17, 2025

Theatre Review: ‘Love and Vinyl’ presented by Bob Bartlett at Byrdland Records by Anne Valentino

Immersive theatre can take a number of shapes and occur in any number of venues. Bob Bartlett’s “Love and Vinyl” is immersive, record-store theatre with a quirky, highly entertaining e…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 05:43PM
Saturday, February 15, 2025

Theatre Review: ‘Hand to God’ at Keegan Theatre by Anne Valentino

Given this incredibly challenging artistic and national moment, it is so good to see that DC theatres aren’t afraid to embrace material that may be considered on the more controversial sid…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 05:24PM
Wednesday, February 5, 2025

Theatre Review: ‘Native Gardens’ at NextStop Theatre by Anne Valentino

Acclaimed DC playwright Karen Zacarias’s “Native Gardens” has been well produced in regional and community theatres across the country—with good reason. While on its surface, this is…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 04:02PM
Sunday, February 2, 2025

Theatre News: The Reading Room Festival at The Folger Theatre: Day 1 by Anne Valentino

The Reading Room Festival at the Folger Theatre kicked off Thursday with a deep dive into the historic-minded Shakespeare. Artistic Director Karen Ann Daniels invited a few friends to help h…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 08:48AM
Wednesday, January 15, 2025

Theatre Review: ‘Downstate’ at Studio Theatre by Anne Valentino

The mood as audience members were leaving Studio Theatre following the production of Bruce Norris’s “Downstate” was somber to say the least. Given the play’s themes and several of th…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 10:36PM
Sunday, December 22, 2024

Theatre Review: ‘Laughs in Spanish’ at 1st Stage by Anne Valentino

Playwright Alexis Scheer seems to possess uncanny insight into what it means to exist with a foot in two different worlds, or more, depending on how many feet you can muster. The characters …

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 01:18PM
Wednesday, December 18, 2024

Concert Review: ‘The Holiday Show’ presented by The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC at The Lincoln Theatre by Anne Valentino

Always putting on a show full of spirit, heart, and an abundance of feel-good vibes, the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington DC (GMCW) delivers yet again with their holiday extravaganza. Presen…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 05:30PM
Monday, December 16, 2024

Theatre Review: ‘Strange Tales VI (The Strangest Holiday Special (N)ever)’ presented by The Coil Project at Capitol Hill Arts Workshop by Anne Valentino

The Coil Project’s newest “Strange Tales” installment brings four new short plays with equally bizarre, sometimes macabre, and definitely unconventional twists to the stage of Capitol …

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 12:20PM
Wednesday, November 13, 2024

Theatre Review: ‘Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street’ presented by Rockville Musical Theatre at the F. Scott Fitzgerald Theatre by Anne Valentino

Musicals don’t get much darker than “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.” Stephen Sondheim’s 1979 show, based on a 19th-century penny dreadful, reveals the secret life an…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 01:47PM
Friday, November 8, 2024

Theatre Review: ‘Prayer for the French Republic’ at Theater J by Anne Valentino

Joshua Harmon’s 2024 Tony-nominated, epically expansive script, “Prayer for the French Republic,” investigates the horrors of the Holocaust, albeit as more of a side note than headline…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 03:03PM
Wednesday, November 6, 2024

Theatre Review: ‘A Bright Room Called Day’ presented by Nu Sass Productions & Pinky Swear Productions at the DC Arts Center by Anne Valentino

The intellectualism of Tony Kushner’s work can sometimes obscure the bigger-picture themes and stories and yet, it is this intellectualism that brands his work as distinctly of its time in…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 06:11PM
Thursday, October 24, 2024

Theatre Review: ‘Covenant’ presented by Theater Alliance by Anne Valentino

Following a sold-out Off-Broadway run in 2023, York Walker’s acclaimed “Covenant” has come to Theater Alliance. Described as “Southern gothic meets the blues,” the show offers some…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 10:05AM
Thursday, October 17, 2024

Theatre Review: ‘Marlene’ presented by ExPats Theatre at Atlas Performing Arts Center by Anne Valentino

Marlene Dietrich is perhaps best known as a symbol of the ever-so distinctive brand of talent and glamour that epitomized the heyday of “Old Hollywood.” German-born, Dietrich came to the…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 05:00PM
Tuesday, October 15, 2024

Theatre Review: ‘MonstӠr (Or, #MeToo Brute)’ presented by The Maryland Theatre Collective at The Chesapeake Arts Center by Anne Valentino

Getting a new play off the ground takes a great deal of work. Playwright Marshall Logan Gibbs and director Maxwell Wolf seemingly hit the ground running with “MonstӠr (Or, #MeToo Brute),�…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 11:41AM
Wednesday, October 2, 2024

Theatre Review: ‘Night Sky’ at Aldersgate Church Community Theater by Anne Valentino

“Night Sky,” a new play by Pipeline Playwright Patricia Connelly at Aldersgate Church Community Theater (ACCT), tells the story of Julia (Patricia Nicklin) who, now in her seventies, mus…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 06:59PM
Wednesday, September 25, 2024

Theatre Review: ‘Exception to the Rule’ at Studio Theatre by Anne Valentino

Dramas about high school students often center on the catastrophic issues that trouble younger generations today. These are generally bigger-picture issues. While certainly incredibly worthw…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 04:44PM
Tuesday, September 24, 2024

Theatre Review: ‘Zora’ presented by The Essential Theatre at Anacostia Arts Center by Anne Valentino

A prominent part of the Harlem Renaissance, Zora Neale Hurston has become an acclaimed artistic figure helping define a literary generation and pave the way for those who would follow. Laure…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 06:04PM
Sunday, September 22, 2024

Theatre Review: ‘Primary Trust’ at Signature Theatre by Anne Valentino

Eboni Booth won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Drama with her play “Primary Trust” and is currently being presented at Signature Theatre. It’s a rather intimate play that investigates the…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 03:25PM
Monday, September 16, 2024

Theatre Review: ‘The Comeuppance’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre, a co-production with The Wilma Theater by Anne Valentino

Two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist and Tony Award-winner Branden Jacobs-Jenkins returns to his DC roots with “The Comeuppance.” This being only the third production of this play, it center…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 05:46PM

All that Chat

2024-2025 BROADWAY SEASON
Jun 05, 2024: Home - Todd Haimes Theatre
Jul 11, 2024: Oh, Mary! - Lyceum Theatre
Jul 30, 2024: Job - Hayes Theater
Sep 12, 2024: The Roommate - Booth Theatre
Nov 14, 2024: Tammy Faye - Palace Theatre
Nov 17, 2024: Elf - Marquis Theatre
Dec 12, 2024: Cult of Love - Hayes Theater
Dec 19, 2024: Gypsy - Majestic Theatre
Mar 17, 2025: Purpose - Hayes Theater
Apr 10, 2025: Smash - Imperial Theatre