There’s still time to catch a show at a local theater before the year’s out, so here’s our reviews of December shows at D.C.-area theaters. Have a busy couple of weeks ahead of you? Fear not, all three of these shows run into January. Want to know what else is playing? Check out our monthly theater preview.

A Soldier’s Play
Review by Missy Frederick

Norm Lewis is no stranger to Broadway fans, courtesy of his impossibly rich voice, showcased in such roles as Caiaphas in Jesus Christ Superstar and Javert in Les Miserables. But it’s his dramatic chops that get put to the test in Kennedy Center’s stirring production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning A Soldier’s Play — though undoubtedly Lewis’ musical theater fans will be delighted during the too-brief, if not strictly necessary, interlude where he gets to sing.

Lewis is U.S. Army Captain Richard Davenport, a man charged with getting to the bottom of the 1944 murder of a less-than-popular Black sergeant, Vernon C. Waters (Eugene Lee). Not explicitly a courtroom drama (though reminiscent of A Few Good Men at times as it hunts for an uncomfortable truth), A Soldier’s Play is more centered around the pre-investigation of who committed the crime, in a landscape of racial tension and plenty of motive.

Waters is not the only victim in A Soldier’s Play. Sheldon D. Brown offers a sensitive, moving performance as C.J. Memphis, a gentle private who ends up in Waters’ crosshairs; he’s a standout in a universally strong ensemble. Though hardly a twist ending, the investigation doesn’t lead quite where the audience may expect, and Lewis’ commanding presence proves to be a calm, steady force as he looks for answers not everyone wants him to find.

Waters is a hard victim to root for, and proves a dramatic representation of what happens to those desperate and determined to be accepted by those in power in a problematic institution like the 1940s segregated military. Lee doesn’t shy away from the sergeant’s sinister qualities, and captures the menacing nature of the character, but takes pains to give us a glimpse of the tragic toll his behavior is taking on him.

A Soldier’s Play runs through Jan. 8 at the Kennedy Center. Running time is just under 2 hours, with a 15 minute intermission. Tickets ($45-$135) are available online. 

The Tempest
Review by Nicole Hertvik

“Hell is empty and all the devils are here,” Shakespeare writes in The Tempest, the revenge comedy full of magic and sorcery.

Drawing on the elements of magic in the plot, co-creators and co-directors Teller (of the renowned magic duo Penn and Teller) and Aaron Posner weave actual magic through a version of The Tempest to Round House Theatre in collaboration with Folger Theatre. The addition of card tricks, levitation, and mind-bending illusions create a play that is as magical to modern audiences as it was to Renaissance theatergoers.

The whiskey-soaked music of songwriter Tom Waits, brought to life by a four-piece band and singers who weave a forlorn soundtrack through the play, imbue the story with yet another layer of mystery. Scenic and costume design by Daniel Conway and Sarah Cubbage add an early 20th-century carpet-bagging magician feel.

Further magic is created by Matt Kent and Renee Jaworski, artistic directors of the famed dance company Pilobolus, who have turned Caliban — a misshapen island sprite here played by two actors, Hassiem Muhammad and Ryan Sellers — into a mass of continually intertwined limbs and a wonder of jaw-dropping physicality.

I have never laughed so much during a production of The Tempest. The uniformly wonderful cast mines every line for its comedic underpinning. Megan Graves, as Miranda, a teenager who had never seen a young man until a boatload of them arrives on the remote island where she grew up in isolation with her father, Prospero, revels in the character’s teenage romantic awakening. She adds hilarious wide-eyed subtext to recognizable lines like “Oh, brave new world that has such people in’t!”

But Eric Hissom as Prospero and Nate Dendy as Ariel, Prospero’s spirit assistant, are the central pillars around which all the show’s other splendors coalesce. Hissom’s Prospero is enthralling and commanding while Dendy, a professional magician as well as an actor, repeatedly defies the limitations of the corporeal world.

With spectacular performances, mind-blowing magic, and laugh-out-loud humor, This production of The Tempest is one of the best shows to grace a DC stage this year. Catch it while you can.

The Tempest runs through Jan. 29 at Round House Theatre, running time is with one 15-minute intermission. Tickets ($46-117) are available online.

Which Way to the Stage
Review by Nathan Pugh

Many know Idina Menzel for her star turns in Broadway’s Rent and Wicked — but only her stans appreciate deep cuts like her oft-forgotten 2014 musical If/Then. The fact that Signature Theatre’s Which Way to the Stage opens at the stage door of If/Then is catnip for musical theater nerds.

The play’s first production since a celebrated run off-Broadway run earlier this year makes it clear playwright Ana Nogueria can celebrate and critique the theater community with an insider’s love. The friendship between Judy (Dani Stoller) and Jeff (Mike Millan) is at the center. Both are fiercely devoted musical theater actors struggling in an industry that doesn’t know how to reward them: Judy’s introversion runs counter to leading lady divadom, and Jeff is both queer and a drag queen.

The show really picks up when Judy meets Mark (Michael Tacconi), a flirtatious actor who was previously a finance bro. Mark’s cavalier confidence alternately attracts and repulses Judy and Jeff, stoking a long-simmering conflict between the friends.

Ethan Heard, Signature’s new associate artistic director making his directorial debut here, does a wonderful job keeping the show’s comedy both spirited and approachable. This is aided by Richard Ouellette’s scenic design, which transforms Signature’s smaller theater into an intimate cabaret venue perfect for the play’s show-within-a-show performances.

You have to admire Nogueria’s ambition. Her script explores the humiliation of performing exaggerated femininity and masculinity with shocking clarity. Yet Judy’s plotlines are curiously undramatized. Her insights around body image and drag kings only get passing references; her scenes with other women (all played by Nina Sophia-Pacheco) are too short and her thoughts on drag evolve off-stage.

Which Way to the Stage is a must-see for its hilarious, candid, intricate portrait of a strained friendship. The show struggles when it veers away from this friendship in its final scenes, but Jeff and Judy’s relationship still finds a way to linger. The two may be Idina Menzel fans, but they’re the biggest fans of each other.

Which Way to the Stage runs at Signature Theatre through Jan. 22. Tickets are $52-78. Run time is approximately two hours with no intermission.