The Bard, beanstalks, beauties, beasts, and, well, Bluey are all on D.C.-area stages in November. Holiday-themed productions are starting to debut, but those who tire easily of Charles Dickens and George Bailey still have plenty of options. Here are the highlights:
SPEAKING OF SHAKESPEARE: Folger Shakespeare Library is still taking its show on the road while its theater is being renovated. That’s why we’ll get a particularly magical production of The Tempest this month from Round House Theatre, produced in collaboration with Folger. Aaron Posner, the directing force behind the show, is back working with Teller of Penn & Teller fame (Nov. 23-Jan. 1); meanwhile, Will’s best comedy, Much Ado About Nothing, is over at Shakespeare Theatre and set in…a cable newsroom? (Nov. 10-Dec. 11).
A MOMENT (OR MAYBE TWO) IN THE WOODS: Meditate on universal truths (“nice is different than good,” for one) in a fractured fairytale setting as Signature Theatre stages the Sondheim classic Into the Woods (Nov. 8-Jan. 29). Meanwhile, Best Medicine Rep Theater is also throwing three fairy tales together into a musical with Rapunzarella White (Nov. 26-Dec. 11).
THEY TRIED TO MAKE ME GO TO REHAB: An actress not quite ready for recovery is at the center of Studio’s new People, Places, and Things (Nov. 9-Dec. 11).
UNDERCOVER COMEDY: It sounds like things are funny until they’re not in Woolly Mammoth’s Just For Us, where a man covertly goes to a White nationalist rally in New York (Nov. 16-Dec. 23).
ALSO OPENING THIS MONTH:
- Yes, it’s a musical of a Wesley Snipes movie; New Jack City Live plays a short run at the National. (Nov. 10-13)
- Special effects are the star in Kennedy Center’s silent Air Play, another quick run. (Nov. 4-6)
- Western farmers get transformed into Dublin gangsters in this century-later reboot of The Playboy of the Western World from Solas Nua. (Nov. 3-20)
- Richard Burton’s the man in question during Scena’sPlaying Burton. (Nov. 30-Jan 2)
- Does It’s a Wonderful Life need to become a musical? They’ll find out at Toby’s. (Nov. 11-Jan. 15)
- Also on the Christmas front, we’ve got dueling productions of A Christmas Carol; Ford’s Theatre’s annual rendition (Nov. 18-Dec. 31) and an Olney Theatre solo production, now in its 12th year. (Nov. 22-Jan 1)
- Olney’s also got that tale as old as time, Beauty and the Beast (Nov. 9-Jan 1).
- A con man (or is he?) takes the stage in 1st Stage’s The Rainmaker — yep, same story as 110 in the Shade, musical theater nerds.(Nov. 17-Dec. 11)
- C’mon babe, let’s paint the town: Chicago is making a stop at the National. (Nov. 15-27)
- Atlas neglects to be politically correct with Miss Richfield 1981: Cancel Cultured Pearls. (Nov. 12 only)
- Creative Cauldron’s bringing the kiddos The Princess and the Goblin (Nov. 4-20). Kids may also be interested in Bluey’s Big Play at the Kennedy Center (Nov. 22-27), the new musical The Day You Begin, also at Kennedy (Nov. 19-18) and, wait for it, Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed: The Rock Experience at Imagination Stage. (Nov. 16-Jan. 8)
STILL PLAYING:
Nov. 6 marks the end for both Holiday and My Body No Choiceat Arena Stage, Ghost, The Musical at Toby’s, both of the Draculas (Synetic and Rorschach) and Constellation’s joyful Once on this Island; you’ve until Nov. 13 to see Intimate Apparel at Theater J, Frankenstein at NextStop, The Time Machine at Scena, and Fade from Unexpected Stage; the ambitious The Till Trilogy at Mosaic, Elegies: A Song Cycle at Keegan, Spies 2: Flight of the Hawk at Imagination, and We Happy Few’s La Llorona all close the Nov. 19 weekend; Sanctuary City runs at Arena through Nov. 27.
This post has been updated to reflect the company producing The Tempest. The show is a Round House Theatre production in collaboration with Folger Theatre.
