All stories by Celia Wren on BroadwayStars

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Capital Fringe’s‘The Afflicted’ could benefit from rewrites by Celia Wren

What’s with the uptick in new plays about the Salem Witch Trials? This month, the Contemporary American Theater Festival in Shepherdstown, W.Va., premiered Liz Duffy Adams’s “A Discour…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 12:16PM
Tuesday, July 16, 2013

At Capital Fringe Festival, a testosterone-fueled spin on ‘Romeo and Juliet’ by Celia Wren

Boys will be boys — and therein lies Verona’s misfortune. Such is the subtext in the gripping “Romeo and Juliet” brought to the Capital Fringe Festival by We Happy Few Productions. T…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 02:28PM
Monday, July 15, 2013

Review: ‘Act a Lady’ from the Hub Theater by Celia Wren

The let’s-put-on-a-show trope gets an edgy, psychologically sophisticated twist in Jordan Harrison’s comedy “Act a Lady,” now on view in a plush, spirited production from the Hub The…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 02:48PM
Sunday, July 14, 2013

Victorian Lyric Opera’s ‘Our Boys’ is a fun, creaky Fringe revival of 138-year-old play by Celia Wren

“Our Boys” is a play with pedigree. According to the Victorian Lyric Opera Company, which is giving this amusing if creaky piece a good-humored airing, H.J. Byron’s comedy racked up a …

SOURCE: Washington Post at 04:52PM
Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Precedent haunts Contemporary American Theater Festival, but little is notable here by Celia Wren

Allusions to showbiz, and to literature, pepper the fare now at the Contemporary American Theater Festival, the annual showcase for recently minted plays in Shepherdstown, W.Va. On the festi…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 03:32PM
Thursday, July 4, 2013

‘Rabbit Hole’ is artful portrait of survival after loss by Celia Wren

Objects have taken on a terrible significance for Becca and Howie Corbett, the married central characters in David Lindsay-Abaire’s play “Rabbit Hole.” A copy of “The Runaway Bunny�…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 07:06PM
Tuesday, July 2, 2013

In ‘Peter Pan and Wendy,’ Hook and his pirates pillage our affections by Celia Wren

If he has managed to escape the crocodile that was hot on his trail, when last we heard, Neverland’s Captain Hook might have a bright future as an entrepreneur. Not only has this endearing…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 03:49PM
Tuesday, June 25, 2013

‘Caesar and Dada’ depicts lively clash of artistic ‘isms’ in old Zurich by Celia Wren

Insurgent idealisms clash and echo in “Caesar and Dada,” the frolicsome, piquantly brainy new play by Allyson Currin receiving its world premiere from WSC Avant Bard. And it’s not just…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 06:46PM
Sunday, May 26, 2013

‘Big Nate’ travels outside comic strip borders in affable Adventure Theatre musical by Celia Wren

If you put together a garage band with your two best buddies, you would expect your own dad to remember the group’s name, right? The trouble-prone sixth-grader Nate Wright certainly expect…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 05:37PM
Friday, May 24, 2013

New burlesque encourages all shapes, sizes and sexes by Celia Wren

There are some for whom glitter-tracking is an occupational hazard. Sadie Hawkins and Buster Britches are two of those people. “Glitter gets all over your house; it gets all over everythin…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 12:36PM
Tuesday, May 21, 2013

‘The Full Monty’ at the Keegan Theatre comes across a little rusty by Celia Wren

Splotches of brown mottle metallic girders on the set of “The Full Monty,” the latest offering from the Keegan Theatre. The allusion to rust is apt enough: David Yazbek and Terrence McNa…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 02:17PM

Theater review: ‘Club de Caballeros’ is a witty meditation on love and friendship by Celia Wren

You have to hand it to the characters in “Club de Caballeros (Rotos de Amor)/Gentlemen’s Club (Love Torn)”: Their romantic lives may be in free fall, but they don’t sit around moping…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 01:01PM
Tuesday, May 14, 2013

‘Gilgamesh’: Constellation Theatre Company vividly dramatizes the mystical epic by Celia Wren

They may have the oldest bromance in recorded history, and you can watch them spar with a supernatural bull in Constellation Theatre Company’s bold and colorful, if somewhat over-solemn, �…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 10:59AM
Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Physical one-acts ‘2-2 Tango’ and ‘Skin Tight’ share Studio 2ndStage bill by Celia Wren

You have to maneuver artfully when you embark on a love affair. That truth sashays into the open with dashing verve and cynicism in the Studio 2ndStage production of “2-2 Tango,” a short…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 12:01PM
Thursday, April 25, 2013

Imagination Stage bestows a truly ‘Magic’ touch by Celia Wren

It can be disconcerting to have a sense of justice. No one knows this better than Lucy, the heroine of the children’s play “The Magic Finger,” now in a world-premiere run at Imaginatio…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 07:48PM
Wednesday, April 24, 2013

‘DC-7: The Roberto Clemente Story’ at GALA Hispanic Theatre by Celia Wren

Choreographer Luis Salgado knows how Roberto Clemente felt about baseball. This fact reveals itself about 15 minutes into “DC-7: The Roberto Clemente Story,” the reverent, clunky bio-mus…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 08:03PM
Monday, April 22, 2013

‘The Lady Becomes Him’ at Faction of Fools: A frenetic tale of love and mistaken identity by Celia Wren

You can say this for the lovers and servants in “The Lady Becomes Him,” Faction of Fools Theatre Company’s exhaustingly antic farce: They are one up on Frodo Baggins. That determined h…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 09:13PM
Tuesday, April 16, 2013

James and Giant Peach groove on the ’60s by Celia Wren

Brave, ingenious James Henry Trotter — of “James and the Giant Peach” fame — is larking it up with Mick Jagger, Diana Rigg and the members of Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Okay, th…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 07:41PM
Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Taffety Punk stages a Russian theatrical concept album in ‘Oxygen’ by Celia Wren

Oxygen is a substance that feeds fire, so it seems apt that “Oxygen,” Taffety Punk Theatre Company’s theatrical concept album, should boast an intensity that smolders. For 70 relentles…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 06:43PM
Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Lauren Yee’s ‘A Man, His Wife, and His Hat’ is bold and funny, but occasionally flawed by Celia Wren

The Cheetos-eating Golem is not the quirkiest character in “A Man, His Wife, and His Hat,” the audaciously kooky play by Lauren Yee: That honor goes to the exuberantly self-satisfied tal…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 11:45AM
Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Theater review: ‘Vanitas’ by Celia Wren

The metronome is getting its moment in the spotlight, and that’s not such a good thing for Happenstance Theater, the company that put it there. In “Vanitas,” the latest original work …

SOURCE: Washington Post at 06:26PM
Friday, March 29, 2013

Roald Dahl’s tales live on on stage by Celia Wren

A peach that swells to the size of a house. Hunters who grow wings and fly, like the ducks they’ve been shooting. A teacher who flings small children out of the window. Sounds like deliriu…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 02:49PM
Monday, March 25, 2013

‘Jason Invisible’: Conversation starter on mental illness at the Kennedy Center by Celia Wren

The average whoosh doesn’t get much respect. The whooshing sound of a washing machine in motion — that’s banal. A just-cleaned dish towel whooshing onto the floor — that’s annoying…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 06:17PM
Friday, March 22, 2013

‘Three Little Birds’ is a color-filled delight for kids with Bob Marley tunes for everyone by Celia Wren

No, Glen Echo Park has not turned achromatic. If it seems that way, it’s because of the exuberant colors in “Three Little Birds,” the children’s reggae musical in a world premiere ru…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 11:42AM
Wednesday, March 20, 2013

In Keegan’s ‘Behanding in Spokane,’ the twisted turns tedious by Celia Wren

If Travel + Leisure magazine were to run a feature on the most gruesome lodgings in America, the hotel room in Martin McDonagh’s “A Behanding in Spokane” would surely top the list. May…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 08:56PM
Thursday, February 21, 2013

At Kennedy Center, ‘Bird in Magic Rain with Tears’ is intriguingly enigmatic by Celia Wren

Death. Cameras. The misdeeds of a shadowy Norwegian shipping magnate. These areas of interest unite three damaged characters in the intriguingly enigmatic production “Bird in Magic Rain wi…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 03:12PM
Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Teatro de la Luna performs ‘Sexo, Pudor y Lagrimas (Sex, Shame and Tears)’ by Celia Wren

Would that all houseguests provided as much entertainment value as Tomas, a character in Mexican playwright Antonio Serrano’s “Sexo, Pudor y Lagrimas (Sex, Shame and Tears).” As amusi…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 12:24PM
Monday, February 18, 2013

‘9 Circles’ offers a thoughtful but unemotional descent into cruelty of war by Celia Wren

The title of Bill Cain’s drama, “9 Circles,” alludes to the concentric regions of torment described in Dante’s “Inferno.” But given the emotional workout actor Julian Elijah Mart…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 12:37PM
Tuesday, February 12, 2013

No Title by Celia Wren

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SOURCE: Washington Post at 03:12PM
Thursday, February 7, 2013

‘Grand Parade’ can’t keep up the pace by Celia Wren

An exhilarating sequence opens “The Grand Parade (of the 20th Century),” the flawed, if sometimes brilliant, ensemble-created work by the Massachusetts-based Double Edge Theatre. Now in …

SOURCE: Washington Post at 05:53PM
Wednesday, February 6, 2013

1st Stage’s ‘Italian American Reconciliation’ runs a bit thin by Celia Wren

The characters in John Patrick Shanley’s “Italian American Reconciliation” appreciate the minestrone at their local diner. Watching them relish their soup in the version of the play no…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 05:41PM

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 01, 2025: Glengarry Glen Ross
Apr 10, 2025: Smash - Imperial Theatre
TBA: Titanic