Time Stands Still, Donald Margulies’ fascinating drama at Bristol Riverside Theatre, seems at first as if it’s going to be a deep meditation on war and politics. But Margulies’ charact…
SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 10:59AMThe Blakes are not your ordinary dysfunctional family. As they gather for Thanksgiving dinner in an unfamiliar locale, everything seem fine, if a little off-kilter; they engage in their favo…
SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 06:03PM“Life is a mistake that only art can correct.” That’s not a line you’d expect to hear at a rock and roll show, is it? But Passing Strange isn’t your typical rock show, or musical,…
SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 03:03PMMorning’s at Seven fits the definition of “quaint.” With its elderly characters and its winsome setting – a Midwestern town in the 1930s, where everybody knows each other’s problem…
SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 09:34AMHow many versions of A Christmas Carol have you seen? Probably too many to count. But I can guarantee you’ve never seen one that mentions Doylestown, Lambertville and Peddler’s Village b…
SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 04:49PMQuintessence Theatre has built a strong reputation as a home for classic drama. But now they’ve dived into the American Musical Theatre canon in a big way by staging one of the most popula…
SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 06:27PM“Tale as old as time”? If you’re the parent of a young child who has watched a certain Disney animated film on video over and over and over, it might seem that way. But when you take t…
SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 07:03PMThe programming of music by Haydn is unusual for The Philadelphia Orchestra. The choice is even more surprising coming from conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who is more associated with mode…
SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 09:07PMThe setting is ordinary – an office with two desks side by side. The desks are covered with plants, knickknacks, and piles of paperwork. The sort of thing we see every day in corporate Ame…
SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 04:32PMThe list began after her first attempt. A list of everything brilliant about the world. Everything worth fighting for. If I were to make a list of every brilliant thing about the world, audi…
SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 03:34PMWhat’s not to like about The Fantasticks? It’s always been a modest, gentle show that goes down easy. The Eagle Theatre’s new production adds a few new wrinkles, putting its own stamp …
SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 03:10PMIs seeing a Christmas show in November too early for you? When I went to see this show during the first week of November, I couldn’t help thinking of the scene in A Charlie Brown Thanksgiv…
SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 05:42PMThe Wilma Theater’s Blood Wedding sets out to overpower you – and it succeeds. From its first moments, when the 11-member ensemble assembles on a long, bare, black platform, stares dire…
SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 12:14AMRed Herring is a parody of the tough film noir mysteries of the forties and fifties. But playwright Michael Hollinger has more on his mind than mere nostalgia: his play is also a romance, a …
SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 03:04PMIt’s been said that one of the problems with politics these days is that people talk but don’t listen. Opposing political sides state their positions, but too many speak just to their su…
SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 10:32PMJanis Joplin was a true original. But as the musical/tribute concert A Night with Janis Joplin proves, she didn’t just come out of nowhere. Joplin became a top star during the psychedelic…
SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 09:09AMThere’s a lot going on in Lisa Kron’s life. There’s her brother’s upcoming marriage, a ceremony that’s being held at a Jewish community center with “a wonderful design out of a 1…
SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 09:42PM“Your status has expired.” For Canaan Muponda, these are the most fearsome words imaginable. A refugee from Zimbabwe, Canaan has spent the last five years living in Liverpool with his yo…
SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 11:42AMNext to Normal isn’t your standard Broadway musical. But this offbeat Pulitzer Prize-winner, now receiving a solid production at West Chester’s Resident Theatre Company, shines a light o…
SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 09:13AMGodspell has always been a show filled with spirit. Ever since its New York debut in 1971, it’s been a vehicle for a lot more than a religious message. Its loose structure – John-Michael…
SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 10:07AMWho was the first rock and roller? You could say it was Elvis Presley, the first rock and roll superstar. Or Bill Haley, the first rocker to have a number one hit. Or maybe it was Ray Charle…
SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 04:23PMRipcord is the story of a cutthroat battle of practical jokes and dirty tricks between two women in an assisted-living residence for the elderly. Does that seem unlikely? Then you’ve neve…
SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 01:25PM“Do you want to talk, or do you want to be cryptic and weird?” Those words – which sound like they might belong in a lot of Sam Shepard’s plays – appear in the first scene of Shepa…
SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 10:23AMWant to make one of the zaniest shows of all time even zanier? Just add Frank Ferrante. Ferrante has directed the Walnut’s new production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,…
SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 04:06PMAirswimming, Charlotte Jones’ play about two Englishwomen stuck in a mental institution for no good reason, walks – or should that be swims? – a fine line between sly humor and sensiti…
SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 11:19AMFor the great South African playwright Athol Fugard, the personal is political. And nowhere is that more true than in Statements After an Arrest Under the Immorality Act, a 1972 Fugard play,…
SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 10:33AMThe program for GATZ claims that it is “A parody based on ‘The Great Gatsby’ Written by F. Scot. Fitzgerald.” (Note that Fitzgerald’s middle name is misspelled.) But a parody is, b…
SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 03:07PMThe cast of Hello Blackout! spends a lot of time in the dark. In the opening moments of the show, lights slowly fade up and we faintly see five people staggered across the stage. They’re …
SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 03:48PMAfter seeing a group of onstage pirates repeatedly singing “Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum,” I went out to the lobby of the Hedgerow Theatre in search of refreshment. Alas, there was no ru…
SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 11:28AMIf you’re a fan of Tony Braithwaite and his one-person (or sometimes two-person) shows – often performed at Act II Playhouse, where he is the Artistic Director – you know what to expec…
SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 09:51PMEditor’s note: Our Steve Cohen continues his posts on the arts scene in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with a look at Santa Fe Opera’s production of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor. Lucia di La…
SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 10:21PM