All stories by Kelly McCorkendale on BroadwayStars

Monday, March 27, 2017

Donny Hathaway’s life in Twisted Melodies at Baltimore Center Stage (review) by Kelly McCorkendale

The name Donny Hathaway probably doesn’t ring too many bells these days—certainly not as many as Stevie Wonder or Roberta Flack, his contemporaries—but you likely sing him every Chris…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 12:03PM
Monday, February 27, 2017

Brother Mario brings video game to hilarious life (review) by Kelly McCorkendale

The Mushroom Kingdom is in a tizzy. It’s perennial hero (and everyone’s favorite Italian plumber), Mario, no longer finds satisfaction in running, leaping, and rescuing, in facing his sp…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 12:32PM
Monday, February 13, 2017

Hip hop takes a fairy tale for a sci-fi spin in The Freshest Snow Whyte at Imagination Stage by Kelly McCorkendale

The Snow Whyte of the future is a lot doper than the one of the past. She’s also a lot more gender friendly and fiercer. The girl is no longer just a pretty face, thanks to The Freshest Sn…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 10:18AM
Tuesday, February 7, 2017

Studio Theatre’s new comedy, I Wanna Fucking Tear You Apart (review) by Kelly McCorkendale

Like a fantasy disco, I Wanna Fucking Tear You Apart opens all glitz and glamour. Yet, it isn’t as frivolous as it would want you to believe watching Sam (Nicole Spiezio) and Leo (Tommy H…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 02:48PM
Wednesday, February 1, 2017

Hooded, or Being Black for Dummies at Mosaic Theater (review) by Kelly McCorkendale

“Brilliant” is barely adequate to describe Hooded, or Being Black for Dummies, which blurs the line between comedy and drama with the infinite precision, speed, and flash of a p…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 12:06PM
Tuesday, December 20, 2016

An Irish Carol, a lovely spin on its British cousin, at Keegan (review) by Kelly McCorkendale

Like its English cousin, An Irish Carol is a dramatic look at life on a day when it should be most celebrated and filled with peace, hope, and love. Unlike its cousin, there are no actual gh…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 10:18AM
Friday, December 16, 2016

Second City’s Twist Your Dickens at The Kennedy Center (review) by Kelly McCorkendale

Dickens—that stuffy purveyor of eternally drab tales—gets a refreshing and quirky upgrade in The Second City’s Twist Your Dickens, the Kennedy Center’s merry holiday fare that will h…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 12:04PM
Tuesday, December 6, 2016

O. Hub! The Magi is magical. (review) by Kelly McCorkendale

The magical, the magnificent, The Magi. This play, wrapped in a concert, is a wonderfully performed piece that showcases the best of theatre: Storytelling. Drama. Humor. Song, along with gu…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 12:31PM
Thursday, November 10, 2016

Tame. Powerful Shrew re-do from Avant Bard (review) by Kelly McCorkendale

Dark. Squirmy. Brutal. Galling. Backwards. Chilling. A slew of punchy, powerful words ran through my mind, much like the pithy (and punctuated) Tame. on Monday night, as I watched a man dom…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 01:06PM
Monday, October 31, 2016

Open Circle returns with The Who’s Tommy (review) by Kelly McCorkendale

Open Circle’s The Who’s Tommy shakes the establishment not with its hard-hitting guitar riffs but with its fearless use of American Sign Language (ASL), a move more rock ‘n…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 12:06PM
Saturday, October 29, 2016

Debbie Allen’s Freeze Frame…Stop the Madness at The Kennedy Center (review) by Kelly McCorkendale

Debbie Allen’s Freeze Frame…Stop the Madness is a multi-media show about gun violence at the hands of cops/authority figures. Dance is its beating heart. Which is good. Because the dialo…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 08:18AM
Friday, October 28, 2016

Freaky Friday is freaky fun (review) by Kelly McCorkendale

A musical about a suburban mom and her teen daughter having a bad day doesn’t scream high-octane or joyful or laughable, but Freaky Friday is lively, agile, and full of fun, fun, fun. Revi…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 12:24PM
Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Bad Jews at MET (review) by Kelly McCorkendale

Maryland Ensemble Theatre’s production of Bad Jews is drop-your-eyes, shake-your-head, rub-your-forehead funny. Because your family, though maybe not Jewish, is most probably just as mess…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 07:10AM
Monday, September 19, 2016

Collective Rage: A Play in Five Boops at Woolly Mammoth Theatre (review) by Kelly McCorkendale

The wide-eyed, baby-faced babe with a bod known as Betty Boop is an icon—a 1930s cartoon character based on singer and dancer Helen Kane (and influenced by other ladies of the day) who be…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 02:12PM
Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Catch Me If You Can at NextStop (review) by Kelly McCorkendale

The truest measure of a show is often how it leaves you feeling. Sometimes, a show has got its work cut out for itself—taking someone from an incredibly rotten mood to elation (or deep tho…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 06:28AM
Monday, August 22, 2016

Aliens with Extraordinary Skills (review) by Kelly McCorkendale

The elusive O-1 visa for individuals with extraordinary skills is a rare bird in the immigrant community, often going to big-name, A-list entertainers. Think Celine Dionne (Canadian) or John…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 06:18PM
Monday, July 18, 2016

Becoming at Capital Fringe (review), worthy of 8 stars by Kelly McCorkendale

Becoming—a modern dance in nine segments about how the interactions of the human heart shape us—is filled with bare feet and beauty. It is a stunning concoction of ballet, acrobatics, an…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 06:57PM
Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Prison Break, Incorporated (review) by Kelly McCorkendale

Nathan Duncan (Andrew Flurer) wants to tear down the system and build a better one (you know, “Damn the man” style). Instead, he’s an-almost-lawyer-turned-dog-walker with a marijuana o…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 11:38AM
Tuesday, July 12, 2016

The Golden Smile (review) by Kelly McCorkendale

The Golden Smile is controlled, constructed chaos, a perfect orchestration of madness. It is terrifying and marvelous all at once.  Theatre of the absurd in a mental hospital.  Seven pati…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 11:07PM
Monday, July 11, 2016

How To Be The Perfect Wingwoman by Kelly McCorkendale

How To Be The Perfect Wingwoman is a musical for the modern lady (or gent) that features great voices and really good acting. Jazelle (Kristina Brooks) is a sweet, good girl forever sentence…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 11:45AM
Sunday, July 10, 2016

soft animal. hideous heart (review) by Kelly McCorkendale

Sure, soft animal. hideous heart it is a bit strange. A hodgepodge of dance, guitar, and storytelling, but it is completely engaging. And moving. Robin Neveu Brown and Kevin Alan Brown—new…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 03:26PM
Saturday, July 9, 2016

AS IT WERE and/or WHAT (ever) DOESN’T MATTER (review) by Kelly McCorkendale

I hate to say this, but I hated AS IT WERE and/or WHAT (ever) DOESN’T MATTER. The long, convoluted title should have tipped me off a week ago when scouring shows, but the description w…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 09:44AM
Friday, July 8, 2016

Joseph Price’s Color Theory (review) by Kelly McCorkendale

Joseph Price has got a lot of guts—just standing on a stage and being himself while making you a part of his story. Color Theory: An interactive Game/Play is a thoroughly fun and enjoyable…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 07:38PM
Monday, June 27, 2016

Chalk from We Happy Few (review) by Kelly McCorkendale

Chalk opens amid chaos one Easter Sunday during a revolt that culminates in hangings and fires. In the middle of it all, palace guard Peter Sedovski (Jon Reynolds) places a cross around the …

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 11:37PM

The Second City’s Almost Accurate Guide to America (review) by Kelly McCorkendale

Mountain Dew. Hulk Hogan. Stuffed crust pizza. These. These things make America great. At least according to The Second City. It’s a sad list, but luckily the open secret here is that The …

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 10:48AM
Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Garbage Kids (review) at Venus Theatre, too perfect for words by Kelly McCorkendale

Venus Theatre has a knack for finding new scripts that make you ache and ruminate all at once—appealing at once to emotion and intellect, deeply, endlessly. Garbage Kids, a tale of homele…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 12:26PM
Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Donald Margulies’ Collected Stories from Peter’s Alley Productions (review) by Kelly McCorkendale

Sometimes less is more—like when only two actresses take the stage and expertly convey a complicated, yet relatable, relationship filled with both mutual admiration and envy—so I’ll k…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 02:45PM

The Wizard of Oz shows off its new songs at The National (review) by Kelly McCorkendale

We all know that The Wizard of Oz is the story of a girl and her dog. And home. Right? So, does the 2011 musical, featuring new compositions and lyrics by Andrew Lloyd Weber and Tim Rice, su…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 08:26AM
Wednesday, April 20, 2016

A spine tingling Macbeth at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company by Kelly McCorkendale

The worst traffic in history, created by road construction and events, plagued a five-block radius within downtown Baltimore this past Saturday, causing even the cast of the Chesapeake Sha…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 11:54AM
Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Oedipus Rox! at Maryland Ensemble Theatre (review) by Kelly McCorkendale

Maryland Ensemble Theatre’s original Oedipus Rox!—based on Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex—is filled with cosmic design and some rockin’ operatic heights, but it’s a tragicomedy that has …

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 10:40AM
Friday, March 18, 2016

American Idiot at Keegan Theatre (review) by Kelly McCorkendale

In 2004, Green Day was an amiable, if declining, punk rock band who’s most recent hit had been a sentimental ballad called “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)”. Their breakthrough album…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 01:14PM

All that Chat

2023-2024 BROADWAY SEASON
May 30, 2023: Grey House - Lyceum Theatre
Jun 26, 2023: Just For Us - Hudson Theatre
Jul 24, 2023: The Cottage - Hayes Theater
Nov 16, 2023: Spamalot - St. James Theatre
Dec 18, 2023: Appropriate - Hayes Theater
Mar 07, 2024: Doubt - Todd Haimes Theatre
Apr 14, 2024: Lempicka - Longacre Theatre
Apr 17, 2024: The Wiz - Marquis Theatre
Apr 18, 2024: Suffs - Music Box Theatre
Apr 25, 2024: Mother Play - Hayes Theater
Jun 10, 2024: The Drama Desk Awards