All stories by Nelson Pressley on BroadwayStars

Friday, November 28, 2014

‘Gigi’ play will open in New York, as musical opens in D.C. by Nelson Pressley

Now is the winter we thank heaven for little girls, for January will bring audiences not one “Gigi,” but two. The Kennedy Center’s new stage version of the 1958 Lerner and Loewe movie …

SOURCE: Washington Post at 03:27PM
Wednesday, November 26, 2014

One clown, two openings: Matthew Wilson juggles his own commedia and a hit farce by Nelson Pressley

The setup is classic: One man tries to be in two places at once; comedy ensues. Meet Matthew Wilson, who is directing “One Man, Two Guvnors” for 1st Stage while gearing up for his own so…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 12:46PM
Sunday, November 23, 2014

“Five Guys Named Moe”: Vintage jump-jive goes modern boy band at Arena by Nelson Pressley

The time warp happens pretty fast in “Five Guys Named Moe” at Arena Stage: One minute a 1940s drunk named Nomax is moping about troubles with his gal, and the next he is getting advice f…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 06:42PM
Monday, November 17, 2014

Disney musical ‘Little Mermaid’ bobs along at Olney by Nelson Pressley

When last seen on Broadway in 2009, Disney’s $15 million musical “The Little Mermaid” was quietly sinking under the waves after a run of less than two years. A planned major national t…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 04:33PM
Thursday, November 13, 2014

‘Fiddler’ at Arena: A match by Nelson Pressley

Tevye the milkman has been played by countless performers since “Fiddler on the Roof” began its long Broadway history 50 years ago, yet at Arena Stage Jonathan Hadary acts the part like …

SOURCE: Washington Post at 02:45PM

‘Political madman’ meets ‘Five Guys Named Moe’ by Nelson Pressley

How do you reconcile the jazzy 1940s-50s musical revue “Five Guys Named Moe” with a futuristic play about America’s first gay president enduring a zombie apocalypse? “There is no rec…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 12:38PM
Friday, November 7, 2014

Tony Kushner’s civil war by Nelson Pressley

Tony Kushner is frequently cited as the country’s leading working playwright, so it’s more than slightly alarming to hear the “Angels in America” playwright say, “I don’t want to…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 11:13AM

Copyright, or health insurance? Kushner on benefits of stage vs. screen by Nelson Pressley

Playwrights control their scripts. Screenwriters have a union and health insurance. Tony Kushner, playwright (“Angels in America”) and screenwriter (“Lincoln”) talks about these and …

SOURCE: Washington Post at 11:13AM
Thursday, November 6, 2014

The peril of trying to be good: from The Welders, ‘Not Enuf Lifetimes’ by Nelson Pressley

Thekid in the anguished new drama “Not Enuf Lifetimes” is jumpy but lovable, a dreamy do-gooder and a hip-hop buff. Your heart immediately goes out to him as he buys his baffled working …

SOURCE: Washington Post at 12:34PM
Monday, November 3, 2014

The assassins are back in Folger’s spooky ‘Caesar’ by Nelson Pressley

The “Julius Caesar” now playing at Folger Theatre is haunted, funereal and apparently eternal — a “Caesar” bubbling up from the pits of hell. Director Robert Richmond has set the p…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 05:50PM
Friday, October 31, 2014

Harry Winter and Stephen Gregory Smith: Jazzing up a bare-bones backstage by Nelson Pressley

Acting isn’t a punch-the-clock job, yet performers are contractors, hired show by show. Cast members typically share dressing rooms, and most keep their “stations” in front of the mirr…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 12:11PM
Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Sign language and song in ‘Visible Language’ at Gallaudet by Nelson Pressley

“I want to communicate,” goes an early chorus of the musical “Visible Language,” and that fundamental message is delivered in song, American Sign Language and even supertitles projec…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 04:56PM
Monday, October 27, 2014

Army of playwrights and D.C. celebs amass for Arena’s ‘Our War’ by Nelson Pressley

Two moments stand out from Friday’s opening of “Our War,” a new collection of short dramatic responses to the Civil War. One moment is a splendidly vivid tale of a rooster and a slave …

SOURCE: Washington Post at 06:03PM
Friday, October 24, 2014

To life! ‘Fiddler’ is 50, lyricist Harnick is 90 by Nelson Pressley

NEW YORK — The sky over Central Park brightens Sheldon Harnick’s living room, a spacious haven more than a dozen floors above Manhattan’s streets. Misty, colorful paintings by Harnick�…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 10:28AM
Thursday, October 23, 2014

Ageless on stages: Actors in their 80s by Nelson Pressley

For some theater people, limelight is clearly a tonic. “Fiddler on the Roof” lyricist Sheldon Harnick still cuts a natty, lively figure — and at 90, he’s still writing. Also flauntin…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 04:33PM
Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Signature sings out: The 25th anniversary concert by Nelson Pressley

Notes from Signature Theatre’s cast-of-thousands 25th anniversary concert Monday night, an event that featured 70 artists, a full orchestra, flashbacks from favorite musicals, and knockout…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 02:43PM
Thursday, October 16, 2014

From “Ragtime” to “Rocky” to “Dancer”: Flaherty and Ahrens, together 30 years by Nelson Pressley

NEW YORK — Just around the corner from Broadway, the Kennedy Center’s original new musical “Little Dancer” is under construction. A waltz tune fills the bright rehearsal studio, and …

SOURCE: Washington Post at 01:51PM
Monday, October 13, 2014

The Baltimore apocalypse: Small theaters, wild visions by Nelson Pressley

Baltimore: where the theater is weird, the tickets are cheap and the world is going to hell. That’s the snapshot as some of Bal’mer’s small but rising troupes opened shows last weekend…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 12:42PM
Tuesday, October 7, 2014

‘Dr. Moreau’ sinister but static at Synetic by Nelson Pressley

Has Synetic Theater worked its proficiency for hardcore, cold-blooded sensations into a dull groove? The renowned physical troupe spins and writhes and floods its Crystal City stage with sha…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 01:33PM
Friday, October 3, 2014

Odets still in full voice with ‘Awake and Sing!’ at Olney Theatre Center by Nelson Pressley

Could Arthur Miller have written “Death of a Salesman” if Clifford Odets hadn’t come out first with “Awake and Sing!”? Maybe: In the 1930s, the Depression-rattled American theater …

SOURCE: Washington Post at 01:40PM

Sing out, sinners! ‘Elmer Gantry’ musical revived at Signature Theatre by Nelson Pressley

For more than a quarter of a century, Washington has had a recurring dream of an “Elmer Gantry” musical. The show, based on Sinclair Lewis’s 1927 novel — perhaps better known as the …

SOURCE: Washington Post at 12:34PM
Thursday, October 2, 2014

Under director Michael Grandage, “Evita” almost reclaims power at Kennedy Center by Nelson Pressley

That politically ambitious spitfire Evita and her crocodile tears have returned, and her reappearance at the Kennedy Center’s Opera House is magisterial. The settings around her are statel…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 11:33PM
Wednesday, October 1, 2014

‘Driving Miss Daisy’: A safe, entertaining ride at Ford’s Theatre by Nelson Pressley

Steady there. Easy does it. We’re just moseying to the Piggly Wiggly, or creeping crosstown for a comically dreaded family visit. Leave the fussing to that prim and addled back-seat driver…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 01:58PM
Monday, September 29, 2014

Boneyard Studios’ tiny D.C. houses host Pinky Swear’s ‘Tiny House Plays’ by Nelson Pressley

The mini plays are nearly upstaged by the tiny houses in “Tiny House Plays,” a 90-minute theater piece and house tour set in the aggressively downsized enclave called Boneyard Studios. I…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 02:19PM
Thursday, September 25, 2014

Locally grown ‘Evita’ star travels the long road to the Kennedy Center by Nelson Pressley

Howard County’s Glenelg High School sits only 35 miles from the Kennedy Center, but actress Caroline Bowman has taken the long way around — you know, stopping on Broadway. And in Turkey.…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 01:01PM
Monday, September 22, 2014

A mod ‘Marie’ in bikini and wigs at Woolly by Nelson Pressley

The spectacle of Marie Antoinette in a striped bikini certainly announces a brash updated view of the notorious French queen at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company. In the lively extravaganza of …

SOURCE: Washington Post at 02:38PM
Friday, September 19, 2014

“Marie Antoinette” at Woolly: Losing her head again by Nelson Pressley

‘You lead a dissipated life,” Marie Antoinette’s mother railed in a 1775 letter to her royal daughter. “I hope I shall not live to see the disaster that is likely to ensue.” “I k…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 12:37PM
Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Angela Lansbury coming to National Theatre next spring by Nelson Pressley

The National Theatre is adding a burst of star power to its theatrical lineup this season in the ageless form of Dame Angela Lansbury. Next March the five-time Tony Award winner and TV icon …

SOURCE: Washington Post at 12:11PM
Friday, September 12, 2014

Jayne Houdyshell, late-blooming Broadway baby by Nelson Pressley

Jayne Houdyshell was well into her 40s when she took the gamble of her life. Abandoning the sturdy connections she had forged over two decades performing throughout the East and Midwest, she…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 12:34PM
Wednesday, September 10, 2014

‘Fool for Love’ at Round House, taking the edge off Shepard by Nelson Pressley

Like a faded postcard, “Fool for Love” at Round House Theatre has capably captured that vintage Sam Shepard desperation-at-the-edge-of-the-desert look. Meghan Raham’s set deliberately …

SOURCE: Washington Post at 03:30PM
Friday, September 5, 2014

For D.C. couple, musicals take center stage by Nelson Pressley

Musicals have always been the bottom line for John Hance and Maggie Boland. He’s the Kennedy Center’s general manager for theater productions, including the retooled “Side Show” that…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 01:41PM

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