62 stories by "Chuck Leonard"
The audience for Sutton Foster at The Barns at Wolf Trap was packed on opening night and clearly delighted to have a chance to hear Foster in such a warm and intimate venue. A phenomenal act…
Congratulations DC-area theatergoers! A new version of a major musical is being performed at George Mason University this weekend. It has legs and there are still tickets available. Rags is …
SEVEN is a powerful documentary piece of theatre that brings the writing talents of seven award-winning playwrights to bear on the personal interviews of seven world-changing women from arou…
Audra McDonald's concert Saturday night, September 28, was the culmination of a wonderful evening at George Mason University's 14th annual ARTS by George! benefit. The concert hall at the Ce…
In The Giver, Eric Coble's adaptation of the Newberry Award winning novel by Lois Lowry, Aldersgate Church Community Theater offers a family-friendly production about a future society that h…
OORAH and HOOYAH! Integrity and a code of honor is at the heart of the play A Few Good Men, showing now at The Little Theatre of Alexandria. Many Marines and a few Naval officers share the f…
The Quail Valley Country Club is the setting for Ken Ludwig's A Fox on the Fairway, and the annual golf tournament against their rivals, Crouching Squirrel Country Club, is at hand. Quail Va…
Last night, Aquila Theatre performed a wonderful version of the classic comedy, A Midsummer Night's Dream at George Mason University's Center for Visual and Performing Arts. All of the actor…
If you have not yet visited the intimate Workhouse Theatre in Lorton, Virginia, Frank Shutts is currently directing a screwball comedy full of inappropriate giggles. Attitudes are purposeful…
When one thinks about a classic romantic comedy, exploding with moments of farcical mayhem, You Can't Take It With You is as classic as it gets. Written in 1936 by George S. Kaufman and Moss…
Sarah DeLappe's first play, The Wolves, was a finalist for the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for drama, and has subsequently been produced all over the country. The production at NextStop Theatre Comp…
Offering timely explorations of important topics, 1st Stage continuously produces memorable plays. They are always solid, but The Brothers Size will knock you out. In it, a young man newly r…
In Superior Donuts, which opened at the Reston Community Players last night, the new Starbucks across the street is taking business from a 60-year-old family-owned shop. It is a familiar sto…
A Civil War Christmas at 1st Stage is a strong addition to plays that connect with the holiday season. Playwright Paula Vogel embraces and examines provocative themes in this piece, looking …
Beautiful – The Carole King Musical is a delightful, heavenly-sounding, Tony and Grammy Award-winning musical about Carole King, who "wrote the soundtrack to a generation." With a h…
Will you be swept up into the legend of Anastasia, the youngest daughter of Nicholas II, the last Emperor of Russia? When her family was executed during the Russian Revolution, the rumor spr…
Big River is the musical adapted from the novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain. With music and lyrics by Roger Miller and a book by William Hauptman, the 1985 production …
Editing from the playwright's own words, "Émilie is a play about legacy," and "is a dilated moment in time just before Emilie's death. It is a game of wit, a defiance of mort…
Hero's Welcome at 1st Stage is the area premiere of British playwright Alan Ayckbourn's 79th play. While Ayckbourn might be best known for his uproarious comedies, the humor here is darker t…
In its world premiere first professional performance, Swimming With Whales at 1st Stage has already built an impressive record in its preparation. It was part of the Sigworks Readings at Sig…
Waitress at the National Theatre is sweet as "Sugar." The word resonates during scene shifts, as an immensely talented piemaker, Jenna (Desi Oakley), lists the ingredients for the new pie sh…
50 years ago, Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot on the balcony outside of his room at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis. His death at age 39 still reverberates throughout the country, which still…
Despite period costumes, The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail feels current, primarily because it is so topical. Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee wrote the play in 1969, but George Mason's produ…
As the play starts, Morrie Schwartz is dying from ALS. That such a heart-warming, honest, and funny play would begin with such a premise is startling. In Tuesdays with Morrie, produced by th…
Satire is a comic form I have always loved. Among the greatest geniuses of the genre is Moliere, whose comedies from 3.5 centuries ago still evoke howls of laughter when done well. Directed …
