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October 26, 2007
You’ve gotta love a man who can make the “All The World’s A Stage” monologue not sound like something you’ve heard 80 zillion times before. That man is Joseph Marcell (best known as Geoffrey from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air), offering the most nuanced of performances in the generally strong... [continue]
| October 25, 2007
For all his success outside of it, David Mamet has done all right by Hollywood. More than all right, in fact: His screenplays for The Verdict and Wag the Dog were nominated for Oscars, and, like Woody Allen, he gets to direct his own scripts just the way he... [continue]
It's hard to believe that a musical could get you hooked on phonics. But spelling suddenly becomes irresistible in "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee," the touring production of the Broadway hit, now playing at the National Theater. The pleasing, goofy show takes an amalgam of precocious, oddball kids... [continue]
October 23, 2007
Meat and Potato, the low-fi theatre company devoted to reviving disused devices such as puppetry and masks, has taken on Rashomon as their latest experiment. Is this a good idea? No, it's a great idea, which makes it all the more disappointing that the show, despite the obvious care and... [continue]
October 17, 2007
Franz Kafka ordered his friend Max Brod to burn his incomplete novel The Trial after his death in 1924; Brod edited and published it instead. Although written more than 80 years ago, the book was so prescient in its portrayal of a idly malevolent bureaucracy that it feels timeless.... [continue]
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October 11, 2007
Have you heard? Geeks wish they were hot. Men love their cars, and don't seem to call after a first date. And women have to wait in long lines for the bathroom, while men are stuck waiting around for them to finish shopping. I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change,... [continue]
October 8, 2007
Pitiable...arresting...bad-ass...shrew? Charlayne Woodard's portrayal of the infamous Kate in Shakespeare Theatre's The Taming of the Shrew defies one-word description. She's an integral part of what's so appealing about Rebecca Bayla Taichman's take on the show, a production which almost manages to overcome the sexist undercurrents of the work itself. For... [continue]
October 4, 2007
It’s been proven again and again: Art thrives on restriction. And kitschy art demands it the way even the most genteel of man-bat hybrids demand hot, fresh blood. So it’s no surprise that the best thing about Landless Theatre Company’s current revival of Bat Boy: The Musical is its... [continue]
When the entire play takes place in a claustrophobic room which is to be designated as hell, you know you're not exactly in for a fun ride. But while Jean-Paul Sartre's No Exit can be almost excruciating at times in its bleakness, it makes for a fairly compelling night of... [continue]
October 2, 2007
A man walks out on stage. He sets down a bottle of water on the floor. Grabs the microphone, wrapping the cord around his hand a few times before clenching his fist around it. He then begins to speak, and continues to do so for almost three solid hours. Without... [continue]
October 1, 2007
Dysfunctional relationship musicals...the Odyssey revisited...a one-nun show...one can't say the D.C. theater scene is relying only on Halloween for their October programming inspiration (though we do, at least, have some Poe still playing). Here's an overview of what's opening this month. Not only a new show, but a new theater!... [continue]
When watching Synetic Theater's take on The Fall of the House of Usher, it seems almost inevitable that the talented troupe would tackle the work. The themes and abstract nature of Poe's short story are keenly suited to Synetic's signature style, one of gothic moods and Irina Tsikurishvili's original, attention-grabbing... [continue]