All stories by Alan Katz on BroadwayStars

Tuesday, March 10, 2020

Review: Museum 2040, an ambitious but flawed immersive experience by Alan Katz

I was intrigued by Museum 2040, an alternate future immersive production that combines a museum exhibit and a theatricalized dedication ceremony, from the moment I interviewed its playwright…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 02:18PM
Thursday, February 20, 2020

Review: The Snowy Day at Adventure Theatre MTC and a dad’s-eye view of TYA shows by Alan Katz

The Shark, my desultory 3 year old, was hopping from place to place in Glen Echo Park in anticipation of seeing The Snowy Day and Other Stories, a musical adaptation of one of the most popul…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 12:24PM
Tuesday, February 11, 2020

Review: Zomo the Rabbit at Imagination Stage by Alan Katz

As my toddler stuffed fistfuls of frosting in her mouth, I couldn’t help think of Zomo the Rabbit, the deliciously fun Theater for Young Audiences play that we saw earlier. Not just becaus…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 08:06PM
Wednesday, December 11, 2019

Review: Squeakers & Mr. Gumdrop, a delightful Shark-approved holiday romp for toddlers by Alan Katz

It was a type of morning that many parents of small children are familiar with: a morning full of questions. The Shark (my ever-moving, ever-hunting, and ever-curious almost-3 year old) was …

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 06:54PM
Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Review: The Velveteen Rabbit at Adventure Theatre MTC by Alan Katz

The best and worst part of toddlers is their Big Feelings. Just the morning of me writing this piece, my toddler (who we call The Shark) has displayed righteous indignation at not being allo…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 05:24PM
Thursday, October 24, 2019

Review: At Constellation, a Little Shop that’s big fun. by Alan Katz

There’s a pall of delicious irony lingering over Constellation’s Little Shop of Horrors, the now-classic musical tale of a weirdo named Seymour from Skid Row who finds an extra-terrestri…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 03:36PM
Tuesday, October 1, 2019

Review: The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show at Imagination Stage by Alan Katz

You may not recognize the name Eric Carle, but you’ll probably recognize his distinctive collage art. He hand paints sheet after sheet of tissue paper with bold acrylics. He cuts them in s…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 03:18PM
Thursday, September 26, 2019

Review: Elephant and Piggie’s “We are in a Play!” Shark-approved “gooood show” by Alan Katz

I’ll admit, I was a bit terrified to attend Elephant and Piggie’s “We are in a Play!” Mostly because my toddler, lovingly called the Shark, had lived up to her animal Patronus and di…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 01:48PM
Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Review: Skip the long rehearsals. Taffety Punk actors jump right into the action with Richard III by Alan Katz

The best theater reveals moments of high emotion built on the intersection of intense preparation and the chaos of live performance. By that measure, the best theater experience in DC is Taf…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 04:42PM
Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Review: Disney’s Aladdin. It’s all about the spectacle and Major Attaway as Genie by Alan Katz

“It’s the plot that you knew/ with a small twist or two/ but the changes we made were slight,” croons Major Attaway as the Genie in the finale of Aladdin national tour, now at the Kenn…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 03:32PM
Monday, July 1, 2019

Review: The Cat in the Hat with puppets at Adventure Theatre MTC by Alan Katz

Two or three weeks ago, my daughter was finally patient enough to get all the way through Dr. Seuss’s book, The Cat in the Hat. A feat of patience and wit, to be sure, for someone who is t…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 05:12PM
Wednesday, February 20, 2019

Reykjavík review. Steve Yockey’s play gets Rorschach’s signature treatment by Alan Katz

Truth be told, I’ve never been to Iceland. But I somehow doubt that Steve Yockey and Rorschach Theatre’s horror-strewn and homo-centric vignettes in the rolling world premiere Reykjavík…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 11:43AM
Thursday, November 29, 2018

Review: How to Catch a Star. Wow! visuals for a simple story by Alan Katz

How to Catch A Star adaptor, director, and tech wizard Jared Mezzocchi leads this debut that serves up truly jaw-dropping visuals for a full hour of exploratory theater, guaranteed to amaze…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 11:06AM
Monday, November 5, 2018

Review: Apocalypse Soon, buffet is great, political satire’s hard by Alan Katz

Washington DC has quite a rich tradition in political satire, from local legends The Capitol Steps to one-off play commissions at local theaters like Signature to niche private functions onl…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 11:54AM
Wednesday, September 26, 2018

Review: Blueberries for Sal, a new kids musical at Adventure Theatre by Alan Katz

After napping on a long drive to Glen Echo Park on a rainy day, it was time to wake up the Shark. The Shark is my 20 month old daughter who, like her namesake, seems to need constant movemen…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 12:18PM
Wednesday, September 12, 2018

Review: Como Agua Para Chocolate (Like Water for Chocolate), new romantic comedy at GALA by Alan Katz

Walking into Como Agua Para Chocolate (Like Water for Chocolate) I knew, as you may, that there was a best-selling Spanish language movie of its time, and an equally popular novel/cookbook …

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 11:06AM
Tuesday, August 21, 2018

Review: Akerley’s new Interstellar Ghost Hour a space time puzzler by Alan Katz

Iris is an astronaut. She travels through space. Iris is also a chrononaut. She travels through time. And that’s where her troubles begin as the protagonist of The Interstellar Ghost Hour…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 11:36AM
Thursday, July 26, 2018

Review: The Pirates of Penzance at Olney Theatre Center by Alan Katz

Theater programming usually doesn’t get any more conservative than Gilbert & Sullivan, late 19th century purveyors of light opera and bad puns. But Chicago’s avant-garde company The …

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 12:12AM
Friday, July 20, 2018

Review: 50 Ways… at Capital Fringe by Alan Katz

50 Ways…, a new Fringe show from the mind of Mahayana Landowne, promises to fit 50 scenes into just 70 minutes of runtime. How can he do that? When you see it, the answer will become hilar…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 04:36PM
Wednesday, July 18, 2018

Review: Coronado at Capital Fringe by Alan Katz

Coronado is a play in disguise. If you read the blurbs or see the black and white promo photo of a couple of White dudes at a bar table with cigarettes hanging from their mouths, you might t…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 11:04AM
Sunday, July 15, 2018

Review: Vengeance in my Heart at Capital Fringe by Alan Katz

Titus Andronicus is well-known as several things: as Shakespeare’s first true tragedy, as a foreshadow of the brutal Jacobean revenge dramas that would dominate the first quarter of the 17…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 07:18PM
Wednesday, June 6, 2018

Review: To the Clouds earns claps from The Shark and her daddy critic by Alan Katz

Theater critics, at least good ones, should be grizzled theatergoing veterans and yet be centered and sensitive enough to relive the experience of the newcomer every time they see a show. To…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 11:24AM
Tuesday, May 1, 2018

Review: Qui Nguyen’s Vietgone at Studio Theatre by Alan Katz

There are few topics more horrifying and less funny than one’s parents’ sexuality. But Qui Nguyen, one of the hottest American playwrights of the moment, has embraced the embarrassment o…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 01:04PM
Friday, April 6, 2018

Before they reach The Wall. Experience the desert crossing in convincing virtual reality. Carne y Arena (review) by Alan Katz

If you’re looking for the cutting edge of DC theater, look for the groups who are interrogating the boundaries of what it means to even be a theater. From Forum’s actor-less The State to…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 08:38AM
Thursday, March 29, 2018

Review: 410[GONE] from Rorschach Theatre by Alan Katz

Being stuck in the world of 410[GONE] might seem like Hell for most people. After all, it is a trippy video game afterlife full of maddening puzzles based on Dance Dance Revolution and manic…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 11:51AM
Tuesday, November 21, 2017

The Ugly One from Nu Sass (review) by Alan Katz

You would have to be quite the hermit to be missing the current cultural moment of the horrifying and sometimes violent interactions between bodies, sex, and power. With news full of the emp…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 02:42PM
Tuesday, November 14, 2017

The Real Americans at Mosaic Theater Company (review) by Alan Katz

In today’s information age, where significant cultural moments flutter in and out weekly, topical theater may not age well. But sometimes, art speaks to fundamental fault lines in a cultur…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 03:06PM
Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Deb Sivigny’s Hello, My Name Is … (review) by Alan Katz

Memory is a home we can’t help but live in. Wandering from room to partitioned room, we reflexively replay the moments that define us in our search of what they mean for who we are. Deb Si…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 11:48AM

An Interview With a Revolutionary: Natalia Kaliada of Belarus Free Theatre by Alan Katz

There is still dictatorship in Europe. Protestors are beaten in the streets. Artists and activists are tortured in prison. An iron-fisted strong man rigs elections and crushes all opposition…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 06:33AM
Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Assassins from Pallas Theatre Collective (review) by Alan Katz

In the wake of an historically deadly mass shooting and a historically unpopular president comes a musical comedy of sorts about guns, presidents, and their tragic interplay from Lincoln to …

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 09:24AM
Tuesday, September 12, 2017

Ayad Akhtar’s Disgraced at NextStop Theatre (review) by Alan Katz

Imagine the worst dinner party you could attend. Not the worst for company (everyone here is erudite and cosmopolitan), nor the worst for purpose (a celebration of achievement), nor the wors…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 12:54PM

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