Kennedy Center

DCMTA 2021 Staff Favorites: Outstanding Professional Theater Productions

17 productions that wowed us as live theater returned.

Come for the songs in ‘Beautiful: The Carole King Musical’ at KenCen

And what songs they are! — classics on a par with anything in the American Songbook.

What’s so funny about John Oliver

The Emmy-winning political comic has a standup gig at Kennedy Center that’s nearly sold out.

‘…(Iphigenia)’ opera at Kennedy Center pushes musical boundaries

The creators have thrown away the rulebook. It’s not jazz exactly and certainly not classical contemporary.

Improvised Shakespeare Company at KenCen is absolutely stunning

Their combination of improvisational comedy, poetry, sketch comedy, and theater is bafflingly impressive.

Washington Arts Ensemble sees bright future after pandemic launch

The young chamber music group begun by two Juilliard alums has already sold out monthly performances.

Kennedy Center’s ‘Accoustic Rooster / Indigo Blume’ is a joyous smash hit

An amazing production filled with energy, courage, and hope.

in ‘Xenos’ at Kennedy Center, Akram Khan dances to the end of the world

A rumination on identity, memory, death, life, and regeneration — a portrait of humanity captive to demons.

Randy Preston crows about his songs in ‘Accoustic Rooster’ at KenCen

‘I put in as much music as I could because kids need to be exposed to as much good music as they can.’

At Kennedy Center, the WNO has fun being back home

In a concert called ‘Come Home: A Celebration of Return,’ the variety of styles and greatest hits was almost too much for the ear and heart to bear.

A charming story underbaked in ‘Waitress’ at Capital One Hall

Sara Bareilles’ engaging and emotional score remains a source of joy, but this non-Equity tour is a pale shadow of its Broadway counterpart.

NSO creates fine embroidery with Tortelier conducting

The entire program was united in evoking pastoral landscapes and idylls.

Yan Pascal Tortelier on conducting: ‘Art and beauty enlighten, elevate and open unexpected doors’

He returns to the National Symphony Orchestra’s podium for the first time in nearly three decades.

The National Symphony Orchestra meets its audience at The Anthem

Musicians ditched their concert dress for casual-cool wear more in tune with the industrial-chic locale.

Ronald K. Brown/EVIDENCE takes a soul-infused journey from mercy to grace

At Kennedy Center, a rich triptych of works with historical underpinnings of the African American experience.

In ‘Hadestown’ at Kennedy Center, a wildly exciting theatrical carnival

Borrowing from Greek mythology, a musical of love, loss, and the power of dreams.

Explosively beautiful ‘Hadestown’ gets down at Kennedy Center

The music steals the show, but there is much, much more to enjoy.

Paul Taylor Dance Company opens Kennedy Center dance season with verve

Two familiar works ease us back into the theater on a high note.

Tune in to Kennedy Center’s big 50th birthday party Friday on PBS

Celebrating 50 years of the National Cultural Center, the evening is hosted by six-time Tony winner Audra McDonald.

Emergent Seed to showcase grant winners at Art All Night on Saturday

Free music, spoken word, and visual art in an unmatched setting.

That goofy guy Patton Oswalt kicks off Kennedy Center comedy season

He slayed the audience for over an hour and got a standing O.

‘Concert of Remembrance’ at Kennedy Center for a nation in need of healing

Patriotism and love of country were in the air as a unifying force to heal the past and lend hope to a future of inclusion and equality for all.

Kennedy Center flings open its doors for 50th anniversary

New season celebrates the performing arts as a unifying and healing force.

Kennedy Center opens a fantastic ‘Wind in the Door’ for kids

A heartwarming show with a powerful message based on Madeleine L’Engle’s classic.

Ragamala Dance Company to present free world premiere Sept. 11–12 at the REACH

Site-specific work imagines a metaphorical world of immortality.

Free ‘Concert of Remembrance’ at Kennedy Center September 10

National Symphony Orchestra program to commemorate 9/11, reflect on loss from COVID, and honor frontline workers.

Jane Franklin Dance to kick off season in art gallery August 27

A new dance by Roxann Morgan Rowley about resilience will be performed by dancers over 40.

Ford’s to present free ‘Come From Away’ concert at the Lincoln Memorial

The event September 10 commemorates the 20th anniversary of 9/11.

Tony-winner Lillias White releases her first solo album ‘Get Yourself Some Happy!’ on Friday

Internationally acclaimed for her work on both the stage and screen, Brooklyn native Lillias White – who won a Tony Award for Best Featured Performance by an Actress in a Musical for Cy Coleman’s The...

Chamber Dance Project takes bold step back to normalcy

An evening of choreography titled ‘Tear the Edge,’ featuring four world premieres, comes to National Cathedral Sunday, July 18.

‘GMCW Turns 40’ celebrates equality, justice, and joy

GMCW turns 40 is a joyous, and bittersweet, survey of the breadth of the work of Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC. Photographs, newpaper clippings, and video footage of the Chorus singing, acting,...

NSO reunites with live audience after 15 months of silence

For the first time in more than a year, audiences lined up outside the Kennedy Center’s Concert Hall to hear the National Symphony Orchestra perform last week. Musicians and their public were together...

Bowen McCauley Dance to take last bows, gives penultimate performance

As the dance world eases back to stages, Bowen McCauley Dance was among the first to dip a toe in to test the waters, dancing together on the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater stage before a very...

A summer of free weekend mini-festivals at Kennedy Center’s The REACH

Millennium Stage returns to the Kennedy Center with weekly, free, outdoor performance experiences curated by artists and organizations from around the DMV. Every Thursday to Saturday, May 27­­ to...

Brave Soul Collective to celebrate 15 years of Black Queer artistry

Local HIV/AIDS outreach and arts organization Brave Soul Collective (BSC) kicks off its 15th year and virtual performance season with BSCFifteen, a week-long artist residency at The Kennedy Center...

KenCen puts on puppet show and kids try it at home

I had the opportunity to watch Leonardo and Sam: The Terrible Monster and the Most Scaredy-Cat Kid in the Whole World, Respectively with my daughters (aged 7 and 9). The show is adapted from two Mo...

An upcoming auction of ‘Stage & Screen’ memorabilia to benefit The Actors Fund

In partnership with two-time Tony Award-winning actress Christine Baranski and Doyle Auctioneers & Appraisers, The Actors Fund – providing human services for the performing arts and entertainment...

Roaring back: Noseda returns to lead NSO in four filmed concerts

Gianandrea Noseda has returned to the podium of his beloved National Symphony Orchestra, awakening the sleeping giant that is the sound he has crafted as the ensemble’s music director since the...

Throughout the Broadway shutdown, ‘Hamilton’ continues to inspire

Although, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, live performances with an in-person audience at Broadway’s Richard Rodgers Theatre have been shut down for more than a year, since March 12, 2020,...

In Matthew Bourne’s ‘Romeo and Juliet,’ the lovers are teens in juvey

“For never was there a tale of more woe, than this of Juliet and her Romeo.” Who doesn’t know the tragic ending of star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet? Yet we continue to be besotted by the...

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra to play composers silenced by Nazis

Four composers who died in Nazi concentration camps are known to have written entire compositions while imprisoned there, and the Washington–Baltimore region deserves its share of credit in bringing...

Essential Theatre to mark MLK Jr. Day with Rosa Parks play

In celebration of the Martin Luther King Jr. national holiday, The Essential Theatre Performances in Cyberspace will present Rosa Parks: Such a Time. Written and performed by Gwendolyn Briley-Strand,...

Taylor Mac puts on the glitz in ‘Holiday Sauce’ on demand

Taylor Mac is an acquired bad taste, and fans who remember fondly Taylor Mac’s over-the-top Holiday Sauce—which played live one-night-only last year at The Kennedy Center—will be gladdened to know a...

COVID cancelations to cost Kennedy Center over $80 million

Responding to the mounting COVID-19 pandemic, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has canceled all previously scheduled programs through April 25, 2021. Additionally, Washington...

Opera Lafayette takes a French comic classic to the Old West

Take any decent road trip through the American West and you’re bound to pass half a dozen old opera houses in varying states of disrepair, or repair — if there happens to be a local renaissance...

How the Kennedy Center is keeping live performance alive (cautiously)

Update November 18, 2020: COVID cancelations to cost Kennedy Center over $80 million Scheduled performances through April 25 are off; Broadway musical tours are postponed; Kennedy Center Honors are...

Next Ice Age dancers carve out haunting moves

Looking for something really cool to do this Halloween weekend? Check out The Next Ice Age (NIA), an amazing ice dancing troupe that will provide both tricks and treats. The company performs its...

If you missed ‘What the Constitution Means to Me,’ now’s your chance

This tense election season has been made all the more nerve-wracking by our president’s persistent dissing of the Constitution he swore to uphold. Short of a landslide shellacking, Heidi Shreck’s What...

The new bio ‘Eubie Blake: Rags, Rhythm, and Race’ recounts the life and times of an American music legend

Authors and music specialists Richard Carlin and Ken Bloom present a densely packed, meticulously researched, and painstakingly incisive portrait of a jazz icon and his times in their recently...

Vanessa Williams and Renée Fleming sing in a new era at the Kennedy Center

It goes without saying that things haven’t quite gone as planned this year in the DC performing arts scene. The recent pandemic shuttered many of the region’s stalwart venues in March and continues to...