All stories by Susan Galbraith on BroadwayStars

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Madama Butterfly at Castleton Festival opening weekend by Susan Galbraith

Opening the 2014 season, with Lorin Maazel scheduled to conduct, word came down from il Maestro himself that this production of Madama Butterfly was the “real thing.” The place was packe…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 11:23AM
Friday, June 13, 2014

Healing Wars, a performance that must be seen by Susan Galbraith

Haunting, beautiful, and ablaze with human dignity, Healing Wars is a meditation on the meanings and implications of war. Washington’s own director/choreographer Liz Lerman has turned to s…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 03:23PM
Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Notes from the Prague Fringe Festival – performers show us around the festival by Susan Galbraith

- The Prague Fringe Festival (May 23 – 31) invites companies from around the world for their 9 day festival. Susan Galbraith and her Alliance for New-Music Theatre productions – …

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 10:25AM
Monday, May 19, 2014

Has Brecht’s time come and gone: a conversation with artists from the Signature production by Susan Galbraith

A current production of Brecht’s Threepenny Opera, directed by Matthew Gardiner at Signature Theatre, has caused a stir with lots of contradicting opinions about the merits of performance,…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 10:19AM
Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Things You Shouldn’t Say Past Midnight by Susan Galbraith

So what do you scream out in the throes of ecstasy? Should a person get a freedom-to-express pass even when the turn-on becomes racially or otherwise offensive? Is nasty necessarily exciting…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 12:17PM
Monday, May 5, 2014

The Magic Flute a whimsical delight by Susan Galbraith

When Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote The Magic Flute as a fairy tale fantasy he was seeking broad popular appeal. Washington National Opera has followed suit with this production, including pr…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 11:25AM
Monday, March 24, 2014

A Midsummer Night’s Dream at World Stages by Susan Galbraith

Rarely does a reviewer get to indulge in a second viewing of a production. In this case, director Tom Morris’ splendid production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is well worth multiple view…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 11:20AM
Thursday, March 20, 2014

Savannah Bay at World Stages by Susan Galbraith

Nothing quite prepares you for a Marguerite Duras play, so rarely is she done on this side of the Atlantic. As delicate as lace, as ephemeral as the foam on the waves that provide the aural …

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 10:16AM
Monday, March 17, 2014

Harmsaga at World Stages by Susan Galbraith

World Stages, an International Festival offers three weeks of feasting on international theatrical fare at the Kennedy Center with twenty-two theatrical offerings from nineteen countries, in…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 10:54AM
Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Michael Fabiano on the life of an Opera Singer: “305 days on the road … home is my vacation” by Susan Galbraith

Washington Concert Opera is about to bring Giuseppe Verdi’s rarely produced Il Corsaro to the Lisner Auditorium March 9th.  It’s the two-hundredth birthday of composer Verdi, and there …

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 09:30AM
Monday, February 24, 2014

Moby-Dick by Susan Galbraith

Massive. Emotionally wrenching. Magnificent. On Saturday night, at the east coast  premiere of Moby-Dick, the Washington National Opera audience sighted the breaching of a great American op…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 11:06AM
Monday, February 17, 2014

Rehearsing Moby Dick. We visit the whaler’s “ropes rehearsal” by Susan Galbraith

When you want to understand a new theatrical work in a challenging form like opera, with its many moveable parts, it’s not enough to plop down for a single performance. Ideally, you should…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 11:57AM
Monday, February 10, 2014

Souvenir: A Fantasia on the Life of Florence Foster Jenkins by Susan Galbraith

Souvenir purports to be one big gag about bad opera singing – and of course some people would say all opera singing is appallingly funny– so a comedy based on the life of an historic…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 12:24PM
Wednesday, February 5, 2014

The state of the arts: the Kennedy Center International Leaders Forum by Susan Galbraith

This past weekend the Kennedy launched its first annual International Arts Leaders Forum. It was a grand vision with as grand a title. The stated goal was that big institutional leaders woul…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 10:35AM
Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Ella Fitzgerald: First Lady of Song by Susan Galbraith

When the spotlight hits Freda Payne in the opening number, its dusty light swirling around her evoking a club atmosphere, you could swear the first lady of song has been reincarnated. Payne …

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 10:02AM
Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Scapin by Susan Galbraith

There is more swishing than swashbuckling in the latest Constellation Theatre Company production of Scapin, but all is delivered with such juicy enthusiasm and at such daredevil speed that t…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 09:48AM
Monday, December 9, 2013

Man in a Case by Susan Galbraith

Watching Mikhail Baryshnikov in Man in a Case is everything that so much American Chekhov in adaptation is not; there’s nothing languid about this performance, but rather we watch his char…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 10:00AM

Composer Jeanine Tesori on her new family opera for Washington National Opera by Susan Galbraith

Composer Jeanine Tesori has a new work opening December 14th at the John F. Kennedy Center, with its special Christmas theme making it a suitable holiday treat for the whole family. Commissi…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 06:50AM
Monday, December 2, 2013

American Voices at the Kennedy Center: the Broadway musical by Susan Galbraith

As professionals came together at the John F. Kennedy Center the weekend of November 22nd, across the spectrum of music styles, two ideas came to predominate in the program American Voices..…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 08:02AM
Wednesday, November 27, 2013

American Voices at the Kennedy Center: Country and Pop by Susan Galbraith

As I observed master class after master class across the spectrum of vocal music that was represented this past weekend in American Voices, I learned that the format is more comfortable for …

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 06:31AM
Tuesday, November 26, 2013

American Voices at The Kennedy Center: Jazz by Susan Galbraith

Last Friday evening, the premiere jazz vocalist Dianne Reeves ran a Jazz Master Session in the Terrace Theatre at the Kennedy Center.  Renée Fleming moderated the event as part of a weeken…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 09:34AM
Monday, November 25, 2013

American Voices at The Kennedy Center: Classical Singing by Susan Galbraith

Dispatches from American Voices: Renee Fleming & Friends Opera singer Renee Fleming contacted Michael Kaiser of the Kennedy Center over a year ago with the idea to gather together singer…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 09:23AM
Friday, November 22, 2013

Maurice Hines is Tappin’ Thru Life by Susan Galbraith

When Maurice Hines walks out on the Kreeger stage, he is home. He glows happiness. He blows kisses and loves his audience up.  He tells stories and sings standard after standard with a deli…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 01:03PM
Friday, November 15, 2013

Washington National Opera reveals three new opera shorts by Susan Galbraith

“Invest in what you love.” Washington National Opera and The Kennedy Center have put their considerable forces behind doing just that, and what Artistic Director Francesca Zambello loves…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 11:24AM
Tuesday, November 12, 2013

I Am My Own Wife by Susan Galbraith

Michael Stebbins stands on stage in black — a shapeless dress, stockings, and orthopedic laced shoes, with a square headscarf hiding his hair. It could almost be a wimple and he a nun …

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 09:19AM
Tuesday, November 5, 2013

The new musical Crossing opens at Signature Theatre by Susan Galbraith

Signature Theatre has mined something with its world premiere of Crossing that is deep, mysterious, and, just maybe, more precious than gold. Such richness isn’t easily retrieved, but the …

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 11:41AM
Monday, September 30, 2013

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Susan Galbraith

You have to hand it to Synetic’s Artistic Director Paata Tsikurishvili. It took courage to turn his back on the basic 'wordless' formula that has won the company many accolades with its in…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 12:30PM
Friday, September 20, 2013

The Velocity of Autumn by Susan Galbraith

You could fairly hear the crackle of anticipation on opening night at Arena Stage when the lights went up on Estelle Parsons. She sat asleep in a chair and there she slept – until the audi…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 11:45AM
Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Tristan and Isolde by Susan Galbraith

There are many brave aspects of this elegantly sparse production, including its hypnotic single set of rippling silk walls and composer Richard Wagner’s romantic yearnings stripped-down to…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 12:33PM
Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Monday at Page-to-Stage 2013 by Susan Galbraith

The Kennedy Center’s 12th annual Page-to-Stage event was an all you-can-eat buffet last Monday. Not to worry if the flavors and tastes run together. Everyone won in this Labor Day Week…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 12:13PM
Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Nijinsky’s Last Dance by Susan Galbraith

“I am Nijinsky!”  The actor Primoz Bezjak repeatedly declares, one moment bathing in glory as the acclaimed god of dance, and the next wailing in pain as that integration of self crumbl…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 05:27AM

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
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
TBA: Titanic
TBA: Ragtime