All stories by Anne Valentino on BroadwayStars

Sunday, March 3, 2024

Theatre Review: ‘The Lehman Trilogy’ at Shakespeare Theatre Company by Anne Valentino

The sheer staying power of three actors playing countless characters over the course of three and a half hours is perhaps the most astounding part of Shakespeare Theatre Company’s producti…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 12:42PM
Monday, February 26, 2024

Theatre Review: ‘Tempestuous Elements’ at Arena Stage by Anne Valentino

Anna Julia Cooper became principal of M Street High School in DC in 1902. Deemed by many the “mother of Black feminism,” Cooper was a staunch proponent of young students of color pursuin…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 03:18PM
Thursday, February 8, 2024

Theatre Review: ‘Anton in Show Business,’ presented by The Arlington Players at Thomas Jefferson Community Theatre by Anne Valentino

  Jane Martin is the pseudonym for a playwright who, among other honors, has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. That very same anonymous “Jane Martin” is the author of “Anton in …

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 03:43PM
Wednesday, February 7, 2024

Theatre Review: ‘This Much I Know’ at Theater J by Anne Valentino

Jonathan Spector’s “This Much I Know” is currently having its East Coast premiere at Theater J. It was the winner of the 2023 Theatre Bay Area Will Glickman Award for best new play pre…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 05:57PM
Sunday, February 4, 2024

Theatre Review: ‘Morning After Grace’ presented by Valley Place Arts Collaborative at Anacostia Arts Center by Anne Valentino

Plays centering exclusively on people “of a certain age” are admittedly few and far between. “Morning After Grace” heavily mines the lives of those who fall into the 60+ category and…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 09:16PM
Friday, February 2, 2024

Concert Review: Audra McDonald and the National Symphony Orchestra at The Kennedy Center by Anne Valentino

Audra McDonald’s star just keeps rising. With a record six Tony Awards along with two Grammys and an Emmy adorning her mantle, the soprano powerhouse absolutely brought down the house in h…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 03:04PM
Tuesday, January 30, 2024

Theatre News: Folger Theatre’s Reading Room Festival – Wrestling with Shakespeare by Anne Valentino

The final day of the Folger Theatre’s Reading Room Festival proved as plucky and spirited as ever. At the center of this Shakespeare-filled Sunday was a staged reading of “Everything Tha…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 03:40PM
Sunday, January 28, 2024

Theatre News: Folger Shakespeare Reading Room Festival – Reframing the ‘Shrew’ by Anne Valentino

This is the second year the Folger has produced The Reading Room Festival, “with new work and conversations inspired by or in response to the plays of William Shakespeare.” The four-day …

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 01:00PM
Sunday, January 14, 2024

Theatre Review: ‘Marjorie Prime’ presented by The Colonial Players of Annapolis by Anne Valentino

Jordan Harrison’s play “Marjorie Prime,” a Pulitzer Prize finalist, is one that teasingly flirts with the boundaries between past and future, between artificial intelligence and the fa…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 02:00PM
Friday, January 12, 2024

Theatre Review: ‘How to Be A Korean Woman’ at Theater J by Anne Valentino

Questions of parentage, heritage, and of one’s past are hauntingly mined throughout Sun Mee Chomet’s one-woman show “How to Be A Korean Woman.” Sun Mee brings audiences 85 minutes of…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 11:03AM
Sunday, December 24, 2023

Theatre Review: ‘One Mo’ Time’ at Anacostia Playhouse by Anne Valentino

Shows that attempt to capture a slice of history are most intriguing when they manage to sincerely transport audiences and are able to not only recreate the milieu, but hit upon that essenti…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 01:46PM
Friday, December 22, 2023

Theatre Review: ‘Moses’ at Theater J by Anne Valentino

Usually, when reviewing a play, I will sleep on it. The next morning, if I have lingering questions, I want to see the “sequel” or I am unusually reflective about what I saw—then I kno…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 07:04PM
Monday, December 18, 2023

Theatre Review: ‘A Delicate Ship’ presented by 4615 Theatre Company at Studio 1469 by Anne Valentino

Last week I had the opportunity to see four shows. Three of them were larger-budget productions. The fourth was a much smaller show staged in a fairly intimate space. In my humble opinion, b…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 07:33PM

Theatre Review: ‘Girl from the North Country’ at The Kennedy Center by Anne Valentino

Some musicals don’t fit inside of a neat little box. Some musicals actually blow up said box in presenting a show that dares to defy conventions. Tony Winner (for Best Orchestrations) “G…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 01:07PM
Thursday, December 14, 2023

Theatre Review: ‘Pretty Woman: The Musical’ at the National Theatre by Anne Valentino

The trend for turning movies into big-budget Broadway musicals has definitely been picking up steam in the past few years. From “Beetlejuice” to “Mrs. Doubtfire,” numerous iconic 90s…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 10:51AM
Wednesday, December 13, 2023

Theatre Review: ‘The Seafarer’ at Round House Theatre by Anne Valentino

The idea of wrestling with one’s inner demons is given a slightly different spin in acclaimed Irish playwright Conor McPherson’s “The Seafarer,” now playing at Round House Theater. F…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 04:19PM
Monday, December 11, 2023

Theatre Review: ‘As You Dig It’ presented by Lumina Studio Theatre at The Silver Spring Black Box Theater by Anne Valentino

Shakespeare has something for everyone—a  little romance, some sword fighting, jealousy, greed, the most tragic of deaths, but is Shakespeare suitable for children? What’s more, can Sha…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 11:47AM
Monday, November 20, 2023

Theatre Review: ‘Public Obscenities’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company by Anne Valentino

While technically there is no public obscenity in this play, the content offers a complex, edgy, and, at times, risqué look at modern Indian culture as framed through the literal and metaph…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 10:45PM
Saturday, November 18, 2023

Theatre Review: ‘See You Tomorrow’ at Theater J by Anne Valentino

The world premiere of Iris Bahr’s “See You Tomorrow” at Theater J invites audiences along on a frantic, guilt-driven, and semi-neurotic journey about a woman who is determined to help …

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 07:48PM
Monday, November 13, 2023

Theatre Review: ‘Wednesdays in Mississippi’ presented by Pipeline Playwrights at Joe’s Movement Emporium by Anne Valentino

Nicole Burton’s “Wednesdays in Mississippi” depicts a snapshot of the Civil Rights movement as experienced by a group of women from northern regions of the country who traveled to citi…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 05:32PM
Wednesday, November 8, 2023

Theatre Review: ‘Hazardous Materials’ presented by Perisphere Theater at The Writer’s Center by Anne Valentino

Perisphere Theatre’s production of “Hazardous Material” by Beth Kander paints a post-World War II, Lavender Scare-era portrait of two women whose “scandalous” behavior sets the ton…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 12:45PM
Monday, November 6, 2023

Theatre Review: ‘Agreste (Drylands)’ presented by Spooky Action Theater by Anne Valentino

Spooky Action Theatre has deemed this season, under new Artistic Director Elizabeth Dinkova, as one that extends “Beyond Borders”—both literal and also more metaphorical as far as the …

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 10:48AM
Thursday, November 2, 2023

Theatre Review: ‘Night of the Living Dead Live’ by Rorschach Theatre by Anne Valentino

The DC theatre scene is on fire this fall! Just about every theatre I’ve had the opportunity to visit and every production I’ve thus far seen has had a critical hand in helping define wh…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 05:29PM
Wednesday, November 1, 2023

Theatre Review: ‘Confederates’ presented by Mosaic Theater at Atlas Performing Arts Center by Anne Valentino

As is the case with many of her plays, Dominique Morisseau is not afraid to depict what many are hesitant to say out loud. “Confederates” is no exception. Tackling racism, sexism, slaver…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 05:01PM

Theatre Review: ‘Proof’ presented by McLean Community Players at The Alden Theater by Anne Valentino

David Auburn’s “Proof” won both the Pulitzer and the Tony for Best Play. It has become a widely produced American classic. Ostensibly, it centers on mathematical equations and the head…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 04:25PM
Sunday, October 29, 2023

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

Musicals are notoriously difficult to get off the ground. Local DC-area composer, Neal Learner, was not deterred. Inspired by the often-passionate conversations centered around urban land-us…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 01:54PM

Theatre Review: ‘The Mountaintop’ at Round House Theatre by Anne Valentino

Plays that “rewrite” history are always intriguing to me. Positioning history as something other than a static set of dates or names or images allows you to draw lines that perhaps weren…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 01:40PM
Tuesday, October 24, 2023

Theatre Review: August Wilson’s ‘Seven Guitars’ presented by The AngelWing Project at the Chesapeake Arts Center by Anne Valentino

The plays of August Wilson are indeed theatrical treasures. The pieces comprising the acclaimed Pittsburgh Cycle (10 plays spanning every decade in the 20th century) are among the most treas…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 04:50PM

Theatre Review: ‘POTUS; Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive’ at Arena Stage by Anne Valentino

When thinking about how far the fight for women’s rights has come, how much has been accomplished, and how many glass ceilings have been shattered over the course of the past 100 years, ce…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 03:25PM
Saturday, October 21, 2023

Theatre Review: ‘The Chameleon’ at Theater J by Anne Valentino

When people conjure images of superheroes, what generally comes to mind are more traditional caped figures in six-pack outlining body suits with personal branding emblazoned across their che…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 07:06PM
Tuesday, October 17, 2023

Theatre Review: ‘The Caretaker’ presented by The Edge of the Universe Theater at The Writer’s Center by Anne Valentino

Not all plays are about the story. In fact, with many Harold Pinter plays, the story is the least interesting part. His works tend to center on character, the turbulence inherent in the rela…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 05:11PM

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