Salome, We Hardly Knew Ye by Peter Marks

With a stunning lyricism, South African director Yael Farber applies her formidable imaginative talents to a well-traveled biblical story and propels it on a revelatory new path. It's the ta…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 7:12pm on October 14, 2015☆⚑

'Cake Off': Signature's new musical is lively, but not fully baked by Peter Marks

Food fight! The oven gloves come off and the flour flies in "Cake Off," the new musical at Signature Theatre that is only sporadically tasty. A man cooks his way into the finals of a nationa…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 7:10pm on October 12, 2015☆⚑

'Beautiful' is one fine night by Peter Marks

If certain musical phrases fail to raise any tingles on the back of your neck " such as "stayed in bed all morning just to pass the time" or "it would be so fine to see your face at my door"…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 9:55pm on October 8, 2015☆⚑

For two replacements with D.C. cred, a hit Broadway play is the place by Peter Marks

NEW YORK "Their text messages to each other that day conveyed the excitement known so well by actors scrambling for their next job."I was called back!" Andrew Long typed out to Nancy Robinet…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 11:58am on October 2, 2015☆⚑

Inching closer to gender parity in Washington, but is this year an aberration? by Peter Marks

To boost the producing of plays written by women, it really does take a village.The village in this case encompasses the city of Washington, D.C. and its surrounding suburbs. A new stu…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 9:27am on October 1, 2015☆⚑

A "Spring" Reawakening on Broadway by Peter Marks

NEW YORK " Their hands fluttering up to form what look like little arches, the cast members of Deaf West Theatre's "Spring Awakening" offer an initial glimpse of how American Sign Lang…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 10:40pm on September 27, 2015☆⚑

A theater export from D.C. that turns out to be a late bloomer by Peter Marks

If you don't believe in life after death, then you aren't acquainted with the fate of "Glory Days."The modest musical, born in early 2008 at Signature Theatre, about four high school buddies…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 5:45pm on September 24, 2015☆⚑

Signature Theatre Wants Your New Musical by Peter Marks

There's another place for you in Arlington to hone your new musical.Signature Theatre revealed details on Thursday of its new SigWorks: Musical Theater Lab, a project that begins ne…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 4:40pm on September 24, 2015☆⚑

D.C.'s secret export: theater by Peter Marks

As word of mouth steadily grew in early August and tickets started to fly out of Arena Stage's box office, Stacey Mindich knew that the musical she helped nurture, "Dear Evan Hansen," would …

SOURCE: Washington Post at 3:34pm on September 24, 2015☆⚑

The Most Produced Plays In America include "Mr. Burns" and "Stupid F"ing Bird" by Peter Marks

American Theatre magazine surveys the country annually for the most frequently produced plays at the nation's regional theaters. Lo and behold, two of the top 10 originated at Woolly Mammoth…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 1:02pm on September 16, 2015☆⚑

Review of 'Chimerica': Good characters, forbidding cities by Peter Marks

The mystifying success of Lucy Kirkwood's "Chimerica" grows only more puzzling with its American premiere at Studio Theatre. After three-hours-plus of lumbering exposition, you leave the pla…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 7:39pm on September 15, 2015☆⚑

by Peter Marks

Warning: That dish placed before you that goes by the name of Caesar, Waldorf, Chopped, Cobb or Kale may be hazardous to your psyche.Yes, you'll learn courtesy of "Women Laughing Alone With …

SOURCE: Washington Post at 7:09pm on September 14, 2015☆⚑

Challenging the gender status quo in American theater by Peter Marks

Given the raw data, you would think that every day in the theater would be a women's festival.Read full article >>

SOURCE: Washington Post at 2:30pm on September 11, 2015☆⚑

Misty Copeland brings star power to 'On the Town' by Peter Marks

NEW YORK " Re-electrifying a show in its dying days, ballet sensation Misty Copeland brings considerable charisma and elegant physicality to her Broadway debut as a gamine beauty queen in th…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 12:57pm on August 26, 2015☆⚑

Dear Evan Hansen: You're going to New York by Peter Marks

"Dear Evan Hansen," the new musical that opened to excellent reviews earlier this month in its world premiere run at Arena Stage, is moving to New York in spring 2016.Second Stage Theatre an…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 4:59pm on August 13, 2015☆⚑

'Hamilton': Making ecstatic history by Peter Marks

NEW YORK " Thomas Jefferson was honored with a majestic memorial, George Washington by the name of our capital city. But lovers of show tunes know that among the Founding Fathers, Alexander …

SOURCE: Washington Post at 9:29pm on August 6, 2015☆⚑

'Dear Evan Hansen' radiates charm and wit, and that's no lie by Peter Marks

If your upcoming vacation plans allow you any flexibility, then by any means possible add "Dear Evan Hansen" to your itinerary. The heart-piercingly lovely new musical, receiving its world p…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 10:50am on August 3, 2015☆⚑

'Hamilton' director Thomas Kail, at the height of his powers by Peter Marks

NEW YORK "Read full article >>

SOURCE: Washington Post at 2:58pm on July 31, 2015☆⚑

An actor of note seeks to unlock the mysteries of a hero of the Holocaust by Peter Marks

NEW YORK " David Strathairn can't get the Georgetown professor out of his system.It is a purely professional attraction, however, one that over the past year has propelled the Oscar-nominate…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 3:38pm on July 16, 2015☆⚑

'Dear Evan Hansen': Original story, high hopes for Benj Pasek and Justin Paul by Peter Marks

NEW YORK " Is this the one?Read full article >>

SOURCE: Washington Post at 3:49pm on July 10, 2015☆⚑

It shouldn't be Patti Lupone's job to call out inconsiderate texters at the theater by Peter Marks

News reaches us that Patti LuPone is mad as hell and isn't taking it anymore. Wednesday night, during a performance of the off-Broadway play she's appearing in, "Show for Days," she spied a …

SOURCE: Washington Post at 4:10pm on July 9, 2015☆⚑

Little Shop of HURRAHS! Greene & Gyllenhaal are sublime in concert version of Ashman-Menken show. by Peter Marks

NEW YORK"The decades melted away at City Center Wednesday night, as the astonishingly ageless Ellen Greene returned in all her glory to the role she made famous"the doomed, cutey-pie-voiced …

SOURCE: Washington Post at 1:57pm on July 2, 2015☆⚑

"Bombshell" For Real? by Peter Marks

So "Bombshell" really may be a thing.The musical-within-a-musical on NBC's defunct "Smash" is now being developed by the network as a full-fledged stage musical. This may eventually mark the…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 4:18pm on June 22, 2015☆⚑

Who Are the New Welders? by Peter Marks

The playwrights who banded together in 2013 to form The Welders built an unusual mandate into their company's story: term limits.  Not by setting an expiration date for the overall concep…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 2:30pm on June 22, 2015☆⚑

Steve and Edie (Martin and Brickell) bring a musical to D.C. by Peter Marks

Steve Martin is a man of many media. In movies, he's played a jerk and an amigo and the father of a bride. On TV, he's been a wild and crazy guy. For museum exhibitions, he's lent pieces fro…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 10:00am on June 16, 2015☆⚑