theater

Reviewed: The Rivalry
At Ford's Theatre, an unexpected take on the Lincoln-Douglas debates.
Theater Review

Reviewed: Three Sisters
At Source, a rather static take on Chekhov.
Theater Review

Reviewed: The Four of Us
At Theater J, a friendship threatened over art.
Theater Review

Threefer Madness: Stick Fly, In the Red and Brown Water, I Am My Own Wife
Racial politics at Arena; Yoruban mythology at Studio; German metatheater at Signature.
Theater Review

Reviewed: The Last Cargo Cult
At Woolly, another inspired rant from Mike Daisey.
Theater Review

Song Recycle: Rent, Reviewed
Keegan's remount wisely stresses the tunes.
Theater Review

Reviewed: Young Frankenstein
In which Brooks suffers in the transition from screen to stage.
Theater Review

The Year in Theater
This year saw smashes, revivals, and panderings. Just like the nine years that preceded it.
Cover Story

Reviewed: The Solid Gold Cadillac
At Studio, a clunker about fighting the man.
Theater Review

Reviewed: August: Osage County
Tracy Letts' witty, acerbic triumph comes to the KenCen.
Theater Review

Crave New World: As You Like It and Lulu
Shakespeare on the frontier; a loose lady in search of emotional solvency.
Theater Review

Reviewed: The Fantasticks
At Arena, a gaudy, slightly distracting remount.
Theater Review

Reviewed: Show Boat
A chamber-size production of one of America's grandest musicals.
Theater Review

Reviewed: Disco Pigs
At Solas Nua, a manic heartbreaker about a friendship gone awry.
Theater Review

Another Schtick in the Wall: Full Circle, Reviewed
Woolly mounts a frenetic, device-heavy tale of 1989 Berlin.
Theater Review

Reviewed: Ariadne auf Naxos
At the Washington National Opera, a Strauss gem about the limits of tragedy.
Opera

Reviewed: Angels in America: Perestroika and A Streetcar Named Desire
Two characters grapple with an era's death—and their own.
Theater Review

Reviewed: Poe Double Feature: "The Fall of the House of Usher" and "The Tell-Tale Heart"
A ghoulish evening that you'll feel in your "sickly vapours."
Theater Review

Lost in Yonkers: Filler Instinct
Theater J grapples with a cluttered Neil Simon play.
Theater Review

Reviewed: Dracula and Adding Machine: A Musical
Two shows that don't suck
Theater Review

Reviewed: Angels in America: Millennium Approaches and The Alchemist
One of these soars. One is leaden.
Theater Review

Reviewed: 4.48 Psychosis
A brittle, brilliant, shapeless play about depression and suicide
Theater Review

The Curse of Black Pearl Sings
A well-performed B-list play about cultural appropriation. Plus: Two knockout Shaw shorts!
Theater Review

Reviewed: Jersey Boys
A winning, by-the-numbers Franki Valli tribute.
Theater Review

Reviewed: The Picture of Dorian Gray
An Oscar Wilde update that Bret Easton Ellis would love.
Theater Review

Couples Therapy: The Quality of Life and Measure for Measure
A poignant tale of two trauma-riddled twosomes. Plus: more all-female Shakespeare!
Theater Review

Pinter of Our Discontent: Moonlight and A Piece of My Heart
An unsettling family drama; an unsatisfactory Vietnam retrospective
Theater Review

Reviewed: First You Dream
Remembering forgotten corners of the Kander & Ebb songbook
Theater Review

Heroes and Zeroes: Eclipsed and Zero Hour
A tribute to the second-class citizens of Liberia; a hilarious paean to the indefatigable Zero Mostel.
Theater Review

Reviewed: Camille: A Tearjerker
A Charles Ludlam drag travesty that transcends mere farce
Theater Review

Due West: Dirty Blonde, Reviewed
Honoring the self-construction of Mae West
Theater Review

To Zombie or Not to Zombie
At Rorschach, a delightfully undead Shakespeare pastiche
Theater Review

By the Book: Fucking A and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
A flat update of Hawthorne; a disappointingly tidy Kesey adaptation.
Theater Review

Reviewed: Dead City
Rorschach's gorgeous realization of a modern-day Ulysses
Theater Review

Reviewed: Spring Awakening
At the Kennedy Center, a tight, impossibly stylish staging of a sexual revolution.
Theater Review

Reviewed: The Year of Magical Thinking
Joan Didion's grief loses something in the translation from page to stage.
Theater Review

Reviewed: Shakespeare Theatre Company's Transgressive, Transcendent King Lear
To July 19 at Sidney Harman Hall
Theater Review

CP Theater Picks

Theater Calendar

Fri. Feb. 5, 2010 - Thu. Feb. 11, 2010

  • ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA
    Shakespeare's classic tragedy is adapted by the Synetic Theater into a performance of music, movement, and dance; performed in collaboration with the Shakespeare Theatre Company. Recommended for...
    Lansburgh Theatre,, Closes Feb. 28
  • BARACK STARS: THE WRATH OF RAHM
    Wooly Mammoth Theatre Co., in collaboration with The Second City, pokes fun at President Obama and his administration with a mix of sketch comedy, songs, and improvisation. Opens Feb. 10.
    Wooly Mammoth Theatre,, Opens Feb. 10
  • BEAUTY OF THE FATHER
    An estranged daughter reunites with her father, a painter haunted by the ghost of poet Federico García Lorca. Nilo Cruz's play explores the relationship between a father, a daughter, and the...
    Gala Hispanic Theatre,, Closes Feb. 28
  • FRIDA VICE VERSA
    Marian Licha's one woman show follows Frida Kahlo's teaching career at La Esmeralda School for Painting in Mexico City. Recommended for audiences aged 14 and older. Opens Feb. 6.
    Round House Theatre,, Opens Feb. 6
  • GDIRL FROM GDANSK
    A sibling rivalry is reignited when two brothers confront their relationship troubles. Liam Heylin's newest play explores the effect of love, jealousy, and hate on a family. Closes Mar. 28.
    Keegan Theatre,, Closes Mar. 7
  • Grease
    The all-American musical, based on the sub-cultrues of highschool life in the 1950s. With "American Idol" Season 5 winner Taylor Hicks who plays the showcase role of Teen Angel.
    National Theatre,, Closes Feb. 21
  • I AM MY OWN WIFE
    Inspired by interviews conducted by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Doug Wright, I Am My Own Wife tells the fascinating real-life story of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, a German transvestite who managed...
    Signature Theatre,, Closes Mar. 1
  • IN THE RED AND BROWN WATER
    A steamy coming-of-age in tale the Louisiana Bayou bubbles out of a gumbo of rhythm and sensuality. With In the Red and Brown Water Tarell Alvin McCraney returns to a world driven by intense music,...
    Studio Theatre,, Closes Feb. 14
  • THE LAST CARGO CULT
    Mike Daisey's latest comic rant is sort of a Daisey-chain of smart transactional loopiness that has, by evening's end, connected natives emerging from jungles on a south sea island, to bank-sponsored...
    Woolly Mammoth Theatre,, Closes Feb. 7
  • MADNESS AND CIVILIZATION
    Michel Foucault's 1961 book about the archaeology of madness comes to the stage with help from art visuals and multimedia. Opens Feb. 11.
    Gonda Theatre, Georgetown University,, Opens Feb. 11
  • MAHALIA
    A gospel musical starring Bernardine Mitchell. Closes Mar. 14.
    MetroStage,, Closes Mar. 14
  • ORESTES, A TRAGIC ROMP
    The war is over, Agamemnon and Clytemnestra murdered, and Orestes and Electra await the judgment of the citizens and the gods in this adaptaton of Euripides' gripping drama. Closes Mar. 7.
    Folger Shakespeare Theatre,, Closes Mar. 7
  • PERMANENT COLLECTION
    Eccentric millionaire Alfred Morris' art museum has long flourished in quiet obscurity. When its new African-American director discovers eight remarkable African sculptures tucked away in storage, he...
    Round House Theatre,, Closes Feb. 21
  • PETER & THE WOLF
    Sergei Prokofiev's children's tale about Peter and his animal friends is retold as a musical. Recommended for children aged 5 and older. Closes Mar. 21.
    Imagination Theater,, Opens Feb. 3
  • PUSS N' BOOTS
    The classic fairy tale about a clever cat who dons a pair of human boots and leads his poor homeless master to a life of luxury. When Puss puts on the boots, he becomes a fantastic dancer and uses...
    Synetic Family Theater,, Closes Mar. 14
  • RICHARD II
    The Shakespeare Theatre Co. and director Michael Kahn explore Shakespeare's historic account of the life and death of King Richard II. Played in repertory with Henry V. Closes Apr. 11.
    Sidney Harman Hall,, Closes Apr. 11
  • SHEAR MADNESS
    The "most fun night" Arch Campbell's ever had at the Kennedy Center is an extended vaudeville routine set in a Georgetown hair salon rather than a play. Funny without ever becoming either witty or...
    Kennedy Center,,
  • STICK FLY
    One lazy summer weekend, Kent LeVay invites his fiancée, Taylor, to meet his parents at their luxurious Martha's Vineyard summer home. Taylor, under the microscope and unaccustomed to the...
    Arena Stage,, Closes Feb. 7
  • SUICIDE.CHAT.ROOM
    A new piece that weaves actual text from suicide usenet groups, music by Beauty Pill, and choreography by Paulina Guerrero into an elaborate Punk Dance Theatre Concer. Closes Feb. 14.
    Flashpoint's Mead Theater Lab,, Closes Feb. 14
  • SWEENEY TODD
    Signature Theatre presents one the most famous musicals from composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim.
    Signature Theatre,,
  • THE ATHEIST
    The regional premiere of Ronan Noone's dark, one man comedy explores the concepts of fame and accomplishment through the story of a Kansas reporter who torments a politician after uncovering a...
    Keegan Theatre,, Opens Feb. 9
  • THE CONSTELLATION
    A love-struck, ambitious, and just-this-side-of-crazy homeless man sets out to win his beloved's heart by making her believe in his magnificent and completely impossible dream. Set in Baltimore on...
    Active Cultures Theatre,, Closes Feb. 14
  • THE FOUR OF US
    When Ben's first novel vaults him into literary stardom, his best friend David, a struggling playwright, is thrilled for his newfound success...or is he? This poignant play explores the nature of...
    Theater J,, Closes Feb. 21
  • THE GLASS MENAGERIE
    Tennessee Williams' 1944 drama is a delicate yet profound story of love, loss, yearning, illusion and escape. Closes Feb. 28.
    Rep Stage,, Closes Feb. 28
  • THE MISER
    In David Ball's adaptation of Moliere's satirical comedy, a ruthless moneygrubber controls the strings to his purse as tightly as the reins of his household. But can this forerunner of the modern CEO...
    Washington Shakespeare Company's Clark Street Playhouse,, Closes Feb. 28
  • THE RIVALRY
    An awkward stringbean of a man, stumbling over his chair and spilling cribsheets from his hat, the Great Emancipator would need a red rubber nose and clown makeup to be less prepossessing at the...
    Ford's Theatre,,
  • THREE SISTERS
    The poster art for Constellation's production–a trio of delicate, feathery seeds awaiting the faintest breeze to sweep them off to a fertile landscape–precisely captures the title...
    Constellation Theatre,, Closing Feb. 21
  • WILL SUCCESS SPOIL ROCK HUNTER?
    George Axelrod's 1955 comedy is a Faustian spoof combining classic romance, slapstick comedy and a duel with the Devil. Closes Feb. 6.
    American Century Theater,, Closes Feb. 6
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The Issue of Feb. 5 - 11, 2010

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