Areas We Cover
Categories
D.C.
(Maryland / Virginia)
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Theater Review: DAMN YANKEES (Arena Stage)
DAMN YANKEES SWINGS BACK IN STYLE: ARENA’S REVIVAL IS MORE THAN A MUSICAL — IT’S A MILESTONE When Damn Yankees first opened on Broadway in 1955, it was the ultimate baseball fantasy: a middle-aged fan makes a Faustian bargain with the devil to turn into a young slugger for the Washington Senators and finally beat…
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Theater Review: THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR (Shakespeare Theatre Company)
THE WIVES HAVE NEVER BEEN MERRIER The point of The Merry Wives of Windsor was to give Jack Falstaff a bit more time on the stage, beyond the bounds of Shakespeare’s history plays, where his comic genius is hemmed in by the serious matter of battles for land and succession. The character is a big…
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Concert Review: CYNTHIA ERIVO & THE NSO (Wolf Trap)
CYNTHIA ERIVO CASTS A SPELL AT WOLF TRAP Cynthia Erivo returned to the Filene Center at Wolf Trap for two performances with the kind of fire, artistry, and vocal power that turned her into one of Broadway and Hollywood’s most luminous stars. Backed by the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) under the baton of Australian conductor…
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Concert Review: JOHN LEGEND (Get Lifted 20th Anniversary Tour at Wolf Trap)
A LEGEND AT WOLF TRAP Two decades after Get Lifted announced him as a singular voice in modern R&B, John Legend is celebrating the album with a tour that feels both polished and personal. At Wolf Trap’s Filene Center, the blend of natural beauty and architectural warmth provided a setting worthy of the music. Under…
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Concert Review: JAMES TAYLOR AND HIS ALL-STAR BAND (Wolf Trap)
STILL CAPTIVATING WITH A MELLOW GENIUS James Taylor brought the baby boomers and their families out in droves at Wolf Trap’s massive Filene Center Aug. 21 and did not disappoint. During a night of nostalgia beneath the stars, the icon who rose to fame in the 1970s delivered old favorites mixed with lesser-known tunes. He…
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Theater Review: PARADE (Tour at Kennedy Center, D.C.)
A stark and haunting Parade marches into the Kennedy Center, the final stop of this Broadway tour, confronting history with stripped-down staging and searing urgency The national tour of Parade, now at the Kennedy Center, arrives with an intensity that refuses to let its audience settle. Jason Robert Brown and Alfred Uhry’s 1998 musical has always…
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Concert Review: JACOB COLLIER (With Sammy Rae & The Friends at Wolf Trap’s Filene Center)
On a warm summer night in Vienna, Virginia, Wolf Trap was filled to capacity — both lawn and pavilion brimming with joyful fans of all ages. Young families, grandparents, couples on date nights, and groups of friends gathered under the stars to witness something extraordinary: Jacob Collier live in concert. And what unfolded was far…
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Concert Review: ONE NIGHT ONLY (Sutton Foster & Kelli O’Hara with the National Symphony Orchestra at Wolf Trap)
A GLORIOUS NIGHT OF BROADWAY, FRIENDSHIP AND FEMALE ICONOGRAPHY Wolf Trap could not have conjured a more exquisite evening last night for Sutton Foster and Kelli O’Hara’s long-awaited joint concert with the blazing National Symphony Orchestra under Emil de Cou’s impeccable direction. After a relentless midsummer heatwave, the Filene Center welcomed its audience with a…
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Event Review: DAVID SEDARIS (Wolf Trap in Virginia)
THE WIT AND THE HUMID: AN EVENING WITH DAVID SEDARIS An expert in turning the mundane into something paramount and inevitably humorous, David Sedaris uplifted an immense audience at Wolf Trap’s cavernous Filene Center on July 19. Best known for his biting humor and biographical essays, Sedaris – American author, humorist, playwright, and radio contributor…
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Theater Review: A WRINKLE IN TIME (Arena Stage)
CAST TRAVELS LIGHT-YEARS, SCORE FINDS A NEW UNIVERSE, THE BOOK GETS LOST IN SPACE. CAN THE WRINKLES IN THIS NEW MUSICAL BE IRONED OUT? Round about a lifetime ago, in the shadow of the Iron Curtain and the Cold War, Madeleine L’Engle wrote a fable for precocious children that she was pretty sure no one…
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Concert Review: DIANA KRALL (International Tour at Wolf Trap)
DIANA KRALL BRINGS OLD-HOLLYWOOD ELEGANCE TO WOLF TRAP On the warm evening of July 3, the Filene Center at Wolf Trap filled nearly to capacity, its 7,028 seats glowing under the soft shimmer of vintage brass footlights. Crimson velvet curtains and old Hollywood spotlights gave the stage the feel of a bygone movie palace—setting the mood…
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Concert Review: BROADWAY IN THE PARK (Signature Theatre and Wolf Trap with Lindsay Mendez and Jessie Mueller)
BROADWAY WELL-REPRESENTED IN A NIGHT OF MUSIC AND COMARADERIE From the first gleaming brass notes of Bernstein’s Candide Overture, music director Jon Kalbfleisch deftly led the Wolf Trap Orchestra through the piece’s shifting tempos and moods, setting the stage for an effervescent evening of mostly classic musical theater numbers written by Broadway’s best, including Styne, Berlin, Sondheim, and Finn….
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Dance Review: RED ANGELS (Chamber Dance Project)
PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES OF CLASSICAL BALLET Founded in New York in 2000 as a means to put professional ballet dancers to work during their summer hiatuses, Chamber Dance Project, now based in Washington D.C., combines art forms to offer live, spontaneous performances, says Project Founder Diane Coburn Bruning. Dwellings, choreographed by Christian Denice (photo Rachel…
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Theater Review: PARADISE BLUE (Studio Theatre in D.C.)
A NIGHT OF MUSIC, MEMORY, AND MADNESS: PARADISE FOUND The Studio Theatre’s Victor Shargai stage has been strikingly transformed into a 1949 jazz club for Paradise Blue, Dominique Morisseau’s haunting and lyrical drama. Director Raymond O. Caldwell’s bold concept places the audience right inside the Paradise Jazz Club of Black Bottom, Detroit — immersing us…
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Theater Review: KING JAMES (Round House Theatre in Bethesda, Maryland)
KING JAMES SCORES BIG AT ROUND HOUSE THEATRE Rajiv Joseph’s King James—which opened last night at Round House Theatre—isn’t a revival of the 1611 Bible translation, but a contemporary comedy named for a different kind of king: LeBron James. Structuring the play like a basketball game in four quarters, Joseph uses the rise and fall…
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Theater Review: TWELFTH NIGHT (Folger Shakespeare Library)
A WORLDPRIDE CELEBRATION OF QUEER IDENTITY, DISCO, AND SHAKESPEAREAN DELIGHT Folger Theatre’s 2025 production of Twelfth Night, directed by Mei Ann Teo, is a visually sumptuous, sonically electric, and emotionally resonant reimagining of Shakespeare’s beloved comedy. Framed through the lens of WorldPride and running through June 22, this staging boldly transforms the shipwrecked romances and mistaken…
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Theater Review: FRANKENSTEIN (Shakespeare Theatre Company in D.C.)
NOT THE MONSTER YOU EXPECT: VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN IS THE VILLAIN Based on Mary Shelley’s iconic novel, a bold retelling of Frankenstein opened last night at STC’s Klein Theater in Washington D.C. It’s not the story you might expect — and in this case, that’s a good thing. This ambitious adaptation by Emily Burns refreshes the…
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Theater Review: WE ARE GATHERED (World Premiere by Tarell Alvin McCraney at Arena Stage)
THREE HOURS IN THE CHURCH OF QUEER LOVE: A COMPLICATED DANCE AT ARENA STAGE Tarell Alvin McCraney (Oscar winner for Moonlight) returns to the stage with We Are Gathered, a lyrical and immersive exploration of love, commitment, and the weight of legacy. Directed by Kent Gash at Arena Stage, attending the play feels like an…
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Theater Interview: KEVIN MAMBO (currently in “We Are Gathered” at Arena Stage, D.C.)
Kevin Mambo’s journey to the stage reads like a global prelude to a richly textured career. Born in Zimbabwe, raised in Canada, and educated in Los Angeles at USC, Mambo’s trajectory launched the moment he graduated. He was cast in the long-running soap The Guiding Light and relocated to New York City to inhabit the…
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Theater Review: HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH (Signature Theatre in Arlington, VA)
Upon entering the Ark Theater, one is immediately transported to a grungy, offbeat club where Hedwig and her band, The Angry Inch, are about to take the stage. Richie Ouellette’s set design leans into the grit and rawness of the story — with dismembered mannequin body parts strewn about, it evokes a world held together…
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