Kennedy Center

Review: ‘Hamlet’ at The Washington Ballet

Hamlet, a modern, dramatic contemporary ballet based on William Shakespeare’s original, The Tragedie of Hamlet, published in 1603 premieres in The Kennedy Center. An “ongoing dialogue between...

Review: ‘Beautiful: The Carole King Musical’ at The Academy of Music in Philadelphia

Packed with unforgettable music and a flashy presentation, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, now playing at the Academy of Music presented by Kimmel Center’s Broadway Philadelphia, crafts the...

Review: ‘Twenty Years with Love’ at Bowen McCauley Dance

Lucy Bowen McCauley celebrates 20 years as a choreographer and artistic director of her own company, with Twenty Years with Love, Bowen McCauley Dance, an evening of three pieces including one world...

Review: The Montreal Symphony Orchestra with Washington Performing Arts at the Kennedy Center

Who needs to skip around musical history in a concert? A hundred years ago the musical world was in ferment, with shocking new developments right before and after World War I. The Montreal Symphony...

Review: Vân-Ánh Võ’s ‘The Odyssey: From Vietnam to America’ at The Kennedy Center

Vân-Ánh Võ’s The Odyssey: from Vietnam to America conjures, to a Western audience, images of Odysseus, returning from victory at Troy, being punished by the gods, losing his army, his loot, his...

Review: Fairfax Symphony Orchestra: ‘An Enchanted Evening’

It really was quite “An Enchanted Evening” at GMU’s Center for the Arts on March 12, 2016 as Mary Michael Patterson and Hayley Travers, accompanied by the Fairfax Orchestra under the baton of Luke...

Review: ‘Advance Always: A Celebration of Frank Battisti and Garwood Whaley’ at The Kennedy Center

The Baldwin Wallace University Symphonic Wind Ensemble (BWUSWE), conducted by Dr. Brendan Caldwell, and the Bishop Ireton Symphonic Wind Ensemble, conducted by Dr. Randall Eyles, performed the concert...

Review: Monica Bill Barnes & Company: ‘Happy Hour’ at The Kennedy Center

Monica Bill Barnes & Company Serving Up Food for Thought … and Cake In life some things that are easy look hard and others that are hard look easy. That’s also the case for choreographer and dancer...

Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC’s Executive Director Chase Maggiano To Become Executive Director of The Washington Chorus

Chase Maggiano, Executive Director of The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC, is on his way to The Washington Chorus in June. He will be sorely missed. Yesterday, he sent this announcement and...

Prokofiev Spring in Washington: A Preview of Seven Musical Events

When Andrew Lloyd Webber recently told a group of teenage rock musicians on Broadway that he wanted to talk about the music of Sergei Prokofiev rather than his own musicals, he was the latest in a...

Review: Fortas Chamber Music Concerts: eighth blackbird at The Kennedy Center

eighth blackbird‘s performance on Monday night at The Kennedy Center was introduced with the theme of murder and mayhem, which explained the state of the set. Rickety looking ladders, dead clocks,...

Review: Laurie Anderson’s ‘Language of the Future: Letters to Jack’ at The Kennedy Center

Cellist Rubin Kodheli joins the legendary performance artist Laurie Anderson on stage at The Terrace Theater for a presentation of her new multimedia work, the memory-haunting Language of the Future:...

John Jiler on 11th Hour Theatre Company’s Next Step Concert Series’ Performance of ‘Big Red Sun’ in Philadelphia

Big Red Sun, the post World War Two-era musical Georgia Stitt and I are developing at the 11th Hour Theatre Company of Philadelphia, began life at the Stephen Schwartz ASCAP workshop ten years ago. We...

Review: ‘New York City Ballet Program A’ at The Kennedy Center

The Yankees of ballet are in top-notch form after a successful winter season in Manhattan. Someone recently asked me why I favored the New York City Ballet above all other American ballet companies. I...

Review: ‘Director’s Cut’ at The Washington Ballet at The Kennedy Center

Ballet Elevated Earlier this month, the dance world rumbled a bit upon learning of the resignation of The Washington Ballet’s high-energy, effervescent Artistic Director Septime Webre. Since his...

Review: The Mariinsky Ballet’s ‘Raymonda’ at The Kennedy Center

Marius Petipa’s, Raymonda, still continues in ballet for the 118th year since its world premiere on January 7th, 1898. This week, the romantic ballet, set in three acts, is brought to the Opera House...

Review: Washington Performing Arts Presents Chris Botti at The Kennedy Center

Washington Performing Arts Produces an Eclectic and Entertaining Musical Evening with Chris Botti I went to a Chris Botti concert and Cirque du Soleil and Led Zepplin broke out. Saturday night’s...

Review: Il Volo at The Kennedy Center

I’ve always known that the mix of pop music and classical singing is one of the most popular music styles in Italy. What I didn’t know until last night’s Il Volo concert was that it is “Fan Girl” (Fan...

Review: ‘Lost in the Stars’ at Washington National Opera #2

One of the most powerful musical dramas of the 20th century has just opened at The Kennedy Center, home of the Washington National Opera, for a one-week run. And theater lovers who long for the...

Review: ‘Lost in the Stars’ at Washington National Opera

In the scorching, emotional and honest opera of man in search of redemption, the opera–Lost in the Stars, now playing as part of the Washington National Opera series at the Kennedy Center —is a...

Review: ‘OLIVÉRio: A Brazilian Twist’ at The Kennedy Center’s Theater for Young Audiences

The Kennedy Center has produced yet another world premiere production for this season’s Theater for Young Audiences. This time, they have taken Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist and brought the story to...

A Valentine’s Day Treat: ‘Lovers and Lotharios’ at the Cultural Arts Center of Montgomery College

If you’re looking for a romantic date this Valentine’s Day, then check out the ‘Symphony of the Potomac’—Washington’s own community-based orchestra—which will be celebrating the art of love with a...

Review: ‘The City of Conversation’ at Arena Stage

In the daring new play about Washington politics and the halcyon days of genteel social hostesses, The City of Conversation, (now playing at Arena Stage) the word “conversation “ is most decidedly a...

Review: ‘Une Education Manquée’ at Opera Lafayette

Opera Lafayette’s second offering of the season, Emmanuel Chabrier’s Une Education Manquée, is a far cry from the massive spectacle many people assume is synonymous with opera. This little known...

Review: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater at The Kennedy Center

Only Worldviews coexisted within the remembrance of spirit, while timeless historical context filled the John F. Kennedy Center Opera House on Tuesday, February 2nd, 2016. The Alvin Ailey American...

Review: American Ballet Theatre’s ‘The Sleeping Beauty’ at The Kennedy Center

Alexei Ratmansky’s newest staging of the great classical ballet The Sleeping Beauty feels like that moment in the classic MGM film The Wizard of Oz when the scene goes from black and white to...

An Interview with Composer Steven Lutvak on ‘A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder’ and his FREE Masterclass at Young Artists of America on Tomorrow at AMP -Thursday, February 28, 2016 From 7-9:30 PM

Steven Lutvak’s Tony Award-winning musical A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder is bringing a lot of laughs to audiences in The Eisenhower Theater at The Kennedy Center. And he is also in town to...

Review: ‘The Winter’s Tale’ at The Kennedy Center

The Winter’s Tale: Warm Production for a Cold Winter’s Night Choreographer Christopher Wheeldon has taken a challenging late Shakespearean play – The Winter’s Tale from 1623 – and revitalized it into...

Review: ‘Let Freedom Ring! Featuring Yolanda Adams’ at The Kennedy Center

The spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was present this past Monday, January 18th, in the John F. Kennedy Center’s Concert Hall for the fourteenth annual Let Freedom Ring Celebration. This...

Review: ‘A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder’ at The Kennedy Center

With a wealthy aristocratic family that refuses to acknowledge him, and a money-hungry girlfriend who refuses to marry him, what’s an impoverished young man to do? The unfortunate relatives of Monty...

Review: ‘Better Gods’ at The Washington National Opera

Friday night, the Washington National Opera (‘WNO’) premiered a brand new opera, based on the life of the last sovereign in Hawaii, Queen Liliʻuokalani. Better Gods, directed by Ethan McSweeny, was...

DCMetroTheaterArts’ Best of 2015 #19: ‘A Look Back at Dance in 2015’ by Lisa Traiger

For reasons that continue to surprise me, 2015 was a relatively light dance-going year for me. That said, I managed to take in nearly a top ten of memorable, exceptional or challenging performances...

DCMetroTheaterArts’ Best of 2015 #14: Dance Performances

Here is Rick Westerkamp, Lisa Traiger, Samantha Machar, Madeline Duff, and Yasmeen Enahora’s Best Performances in Dance honors: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater performing Hofesh Schechter’s...

Review: ‘A Jazz New Year’s Eve: Diane Schuur and Strings’ at The Kennedy Center

Having been a fan of Diane Schuur’s since college, I was excited to have the opportunity finally to see her in concert. In fact, the sense of excitement was palpable throughout the audience. I met...

DCMetroTheaterArts’ Best of 2015 #12: ‘Memorable Dance in Baltimore and Beyond’ by Carolyn Kelemen

There were many big, wonderful dance events in 2015, including world premieres, new renditions of the warhorse ballets, made-for-TV series (Flesh & Bone),dance documentaries, and grand dance on the...

‘Javon Jackson and Sax Appeal’ at the KC Jazz Club at the Kennedy Center

With Sax Appeal, no other “appeal” is necessary. The soul is satisfied. What happens when you bring four world-class saxophone players, a phenomenal pianist, a fingers-flying bass player, and a young...

‘Matilda the Musical’ at The Kennedy Center

Matilda the Musical, now at the Kennedy Center Opera House, is for all the disrupters and agitators out there in the world no matter what age. It is an insurrection fueled by children who are once...

‘The Barber of Seville’ at the Metropolitan Opera

The Barber of Seville turns 200 years old in two months. Performing it in English translation works best when it helps show American audiences how similar the elements of effective comedy are across...

National Symphony Orchestra: Handel’s Messiah at The Kennedy Center

There is a reason Handel’s Messiah has been performed for hundreds of years. It’s a masterpiece and its intricacies, depth, and sheer mass make continually new interpretations both possible and, for...

‘Bright Star’ at The Kennedy Center

Bright Star officially opened last night in its pre-Broadway engagement at The Kennedy Center. And there is plenty for audiences to like and enjoy. Let’s start with that banjo. Steve Martin co-wrote...

‘Higher: Renée Fleming and Patricia Barber Perform The Music of Patricia Barber’ at The Kennedy Center

Musicians are not meant to be confined to one facet of their craft. Renée Fleming, one of the foremost voices in opera today, is not shy about her love for jazz and the mastery that goes into the...

Discovery Artist in the KC Jazz Club: Fresh Cut Orchestra

On December 12th, 2015, The Kennedy Center Jazz Club showcased a ten-piece jazz ensemble from Philadelphia: the Fresh Cut Orchestra. The show, located in a private room in the Terrace Gallery, brought...

The Washington Chorus’ ‘A Candlelight Christmas’ at The Kennedy Center

No stranger to world-class performances, the Concert Hall of The John F. Kennedy Center of the Performing Arts makes itself home to an annual musical favorite this month, The Washington Chorus’...

‘The Nutcracker’ at Ballet Theatre of Maryland at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts

A sure sign the holiday season is in full swing is the annual return of classic ballet, Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker. It is almost as iconic as Santa Claus, a Christmas tree and catching the final...

‘Hansel and Gretel’ by the Washington National Opera at The Kennedy Center

Once upon a time, dozens of children streamed into the elegant Terrace Theater at The Kennedy Center, all of them paragons of excitement and curiosity. Were these holiday tots rushing in to see the...

China National Traditional Orchestra’s ‘Rediscover Chinese Music’ at The Kennedy Center

Having just returned from China—where one of the highlights of the trip was hearing traditional music performed casually in teahouses and parks—I was curious to see how these simple melodies would...

NSO Pops: ‘The von Trapps and Stephanie J. Block Family Holiday’ at The Kennedy Center

With their annual holiday concert at The Kennedy Center on Thursday, December 10, 2016, the NSO Pops, joined by special guests Stephanie J. Block and The von Trapps, as well as the Washington Chorus,...

‘Tribute to Dmitri Shostakovich’ at the Russian Chamber Art Society

The thematic music of Dmitri Shostakovich echoed the halls of the Embassy of Austria from the multi-talented artists of the Russian Chamber Art Society. Seven classically trained musicians and...

‘It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play’ at Annapolis Shakespeare Company

Annapolis Shakespeare Company (ASC) presents It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play by Joe Landay that will delight audiences of all ages. A play-within-a-play, Annapolis Shakespeare Company rolls...

‘Declassified: In Motion featuring Ben Folds’ by The National Symphony Orchestra at The Kennedy Center

The National Symphony Orchestra/The Kennedy Center Declassified series, launched on Saturday with its performance of In Motion featuring Ben Folds, is a bold initiative to counter the fundamental...