Kennedy Center

Review: ‘The Gabriels’ at the Kennedy Center

For those who are familiar with Richard Nelson’s 4-play cycle, The Apple Family Plays, his The Gabriels: Election Year in the Life of One Family, now on stage at the Kennedy Center’s Lab Theatre, will...

Review: ‘Catch Me: A Magic Dual’ at The Mayflower Hotel

DC Audiences are cramming into a Dupont Circle Hotel to catch this monthly show. After experiencing this supercalifragilisticexpialidocious performance of abracadabra, I still don’t know the answer to...

Review: The Choral Arts Society of Washington’s ‘A Choral Arts Christmas’ at The Kennedy Center

I love choral music. I love the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. I’ve been looking forward to this performance. Everything musical was wonderful during the evening. Even as the doors opened, a small brass...

Review: Handel’s ‘Messiah’ by NSO at The Kennedy Center

Messiah is perhaps the best known of the German-born but London-settled composer George Frideric Handel. Profoundly religious, the three-part Oratorio moves from the prophecy of Christ to his death...

Review: ‘Wicked’ at The Kennedy Center

Green seems to be the everlasting black for the blockbuster Broadway musical Wicked, as its national tour returns to The Kennedy Center’s Opera House this holiday season to tell The Untold Story of...

Review: Second City’s ‘Twist Your Dickens’ at The Kennedy Center

If you’re looking for something to laugh at in this wintry political season, then you’d better move fast. That’s because tickets for Twist Your Dickens, Second City’s parody of A Christmas Carol—now...

Magic Time! ‘Into the Woods’ at The Kennedy Center

The acclaimed Fiasco Theater production of Into the Woods has come to the Eisenhower Theater at Kennedy Center for the holidays—I am tempted to say for a spell, because the show is enchanting as a...

Review: NPR’s ‘A Jazz Piano Christmas’ at The Kennedy Center

It was a family affair last night at The Kennedy Center’s Family Theater for the annual NPR’s A Jazz Piano Christmas. With performances by first a father and daughter team, Bethany and Willie Pickens;...

Review: ‘A Holiday Pops!/Home for the Holidays’ with the NSO Pops

‘Tis the season for holiday cheer, laughter and heart-warming music, and there is no better place to find it all wrapped up together than at the NSO Pops’ A Holiday Pops! concert. The first...

Review: The Fiasco Theater’s ‘Into the Woods’ at The Kennedy Center

I did not listen to my much-loved soundtrack of Stephen Sondheim’s and James Lapine’s classic fairy tale mash-up before heading off to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to see the...

Review: ‘A Merry Little Christmas with Megan Hilty’ at The Kennedy Center

If the slightly warmer weather than normal for this time of year is making it hard for you to get into the holiday mood, head to The Kennedy Center for A Merry Little Christmas with Megan Hilty and...

Review: ‘Diana Ross – All the Best of Times’ with the National Symphony Orchestra at The Kennedy Center

Singer extraordinaire Diana Ross is a musical legend and she proved it last night in a concert at The Kennedy Center’s Concert Hall. Presenting a showcase full of golden oldies as well as some classic...

Meet the Cast of Avant Bard’s ‘TAME.’ Part 5: Karen Lange

In part five of a series of interviews with the cast of Avant Bard’s production of TAME., meet Karen Lange. Joel: Where have local audiences seen you perform recently on stage? Karen: Most recently, I...

Review: ‘The Nutcracker’ by the Cincinnati Ballet at The Kennedy Center

We know the holiday season is upon us when theaters around the country begin to put on Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s classic The Nutcracker. The Cincinnati Ballet’s production at The Kennedy Center,...

Review #2: ‘A View From the Bridge’ at The Kennedy Center

The stripped-down, minimalist and auteur-driven interpretation of Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge delivers a tragic, elemental, and mythic dimension to this stirring play that delineates the...

Review #1: ‘A View From the Bridge’ at The Kennedy Center

Act fast: Director Ivo van Hove’s visionary production of Arthur Miller’s A View From the Bridge, which won plaudits on both Broadway and the West End since it opened in 2014, is only playing at The...

In the Moment: ‘A View From the Bridge’ at The Kennedy Center

Even having inklings of what to expect, there was no protecting myself from the shattering production of Arthur Miller’s A View From the Bridge at the Kennedy Center. I don’t think even wearing a...

Review: The Choral Arts Society of Washington Presents ‘Berlioz: Requiem, Op. 5’ at The Kennedy Center’s Concert Hall

It was a chilly night, fitting for a change of pace, when the Choral Arts Society of Washington performed Hector Berlioz: Requiem, Op. 5 Grande Messe des Morts to a buoyant crowd at The Kennedy Center...

Center Stage’s November ‘Wright Now Play Later’

Last month, after several seasons of success with their Wright-Right-Now (“WRN”) program – the micro-commissioning series in which playwrights produce patron-prompted short plays on demand, Center...

Review: The Washington Chorus Presents Philip Glass’ Symphony No. 5

On Sunday, November 13, 2016, the pulsating, transcendent and visionary music of the modern musical giant of minimalist music, Philip Glass —came to vivid life in a unique and powerful concert event....

Meet the Cast of Peace Mountain Theatre Company’s ‘A Delicate Balance’: Part 6: Devora Zack

In part 6 of a series of interviews with Peace Mountain Theatre Company’s A Delicate Balance, meet Devora Zack. Joel: Please introduce yourself and tell readers where they have seen you perform before...

Review #2: The Washington National Opera’s ‘The Daughter of the Regiment’ at The Kennedy Center (Cast #2: Sunday, 11/13/16)

Sometimes a relationship between a child and a parent is truly uplifting. Multiply those emotions times twenty, and you experience the heartwarming plot of The Daughter of the Regiment. Broadway...

Review #1: Washington National Opera’s ‘The Daughter of the Regiment’ (Opening Night Cast-11/12/16)

If your operatic desire is to hear one glorious aria after another sung by two operatic voices that would make the gods envious –set against a deliriously “light-as-air” comically sentimental soufflé...

Composer/Librettist Andrew Earle Simpson on ‘The Outcasts of Poker Flat’, His New One-Act Chamber Opera Playing at Catholic University Through Sunday 11/20

New opera: The Outcasts of Poker Flat at Catholic University (Or, “Two Prostitutes, a Thief, and a Gambler Walk into a Bar…”) This month, The Outcasts of Poker Flat, a 70-minute one-act chamber opera...

Review: ‘Where Words Once Were’ at The Kennedy Center

This past weekend, The Kennedy Center opened a newly commissioned show for young audiences from Playwright, Finegan Kruckemeyer. The piece titled, Where Words Once Were, touches on the often...

Review: Sheila Jordan at the KC Jazz Club

Sheila Jordan loves jazz. Sheila Jordan loves singing. Sheila Jordan really loves jazz singing. And we feel truly blessed to have spent an evening in the presence of that love. For those who have not...

Review: ‘STREB Extreme Action’ at The Kennedy Center

Fans of STREB Extreme Action were out in force last night at The Kennedy Center. Enthusiasm in the Eisenhower Theater was at a fervor one might find at a rave or rock gig. The singular choreographic...

Review: Prokofiev’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ with the National Symphony Orchestra at The Kennedy Center

Something of a high-stakes atmosphere pervades this week’s concerts by the National Symphony Orchestra. It’s performing an all-Russian program, always a touchstone harking back to the reign of Soviet...

Magic Time! ‘In the Cage, She Has a Fighting Chance’: A Q&A With Stephen Spotswood About His New Play ‘Girl in the Red Corner’ at The Welders

This seems to be the season in DC Metro Theater for pugilistic women. Women who box claimed the stage in Jen Silverman’s Collective Rage (just closed at Woolly Mammoth Theater Company). A woman who...

Review: Debbie Allen’s ‘FREEZE FRAME… Stop the Madness’ at The Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater

Ever since Debbie Allen parleyed a killer look in the 1980 movie Fame into a featured role on the popular television series, this triple threat has been busting open doors in Hollywood for women of...

Review: ‘Cinderella’ With the San Francisco Ballet at The Kennedy Center

There are no pumpkins to be found in this Cinderella. The San Francisco Ballet’s version, created by Choreographer Christopher Wheeldon and librettist Craig Lucas, departs from the Perrault story most...

The Suzanne Farrell Ballet: All-Balanchine Program at The Kennedy Center

Original works of George Balanchine drift onto The John F. Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower stage by The Suzanne Farrell Ballet. Under the direction of Suzanne Farrell, who was once the protégé of George...

‘Black Diamond’ by Danish Dance Theatre at The Kennedy Center

The choreographic universe Tim Rushton created for his evening-length contemporary ballet Black Diamond is made up of an engaging accretion of enticing, quirky, and oddball moments in movement. The...

Review: Peter Frampton Raw: An Acoustic Tour at the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater

It was a packed house for Peter Frampton Raw: An Acoustic Tour last night at The Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater. With excitement in the air, the crowd could not sit still ahead of the show, and...

Review: ‘Wild Lines: Jane Ira Bloom Plays Emily Dickinson’ at the KC Jazz Club

There is nothing quite like “a vast morsel.” When Jane Ira Bloom plays her soprano saxophone, her wiry body jutting and jagging to the notes popping out of her horn, vastness of her petite frame...

Review: ‘Cirque Spooktacular’ at The Kennedy Center

Like The Nutcracker at Christmastime, Cirque Spooktacular, the NSO Pops’ Cirque de la Symphonie Halloween Extravaganza, is bound to become a seasonal tradition at The John F. Kennedy Center for the...

Review: ‘¡Viva Cesar, Viva Kennedy!’ Featuring Eugenia León and La Santa Cecilia at The Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater

It is Hispanic Heritage Month at The Kennedy Center; as soon as you enter you can feel there is something different in the air. As soon as you enter you are greeted with some powerful artwork...

Review: ‘DEMO by Damian Woetzel: Heroes’ at The Kennedy Center

The New York City Ballet’s “main man” for 25 years, Damian Woetzel is a hero to many, certainly one of my favorite dancers. Dressed in stylish jeans and midnight blue t-shirt, his dark curly hair...

Review #2: ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time’

Now and then there comes a production of a play that is so spectacularly original it confounds one’s every expectation of what can be achieved in theater. The story—a marvel in itself—could not be...

An Interview with Playwright Larissa FastHorse

Larissa FastHorse is one of the playwrights participating in Center Stage’s Wright Now Play Later project, which kicks off today. I had a chance to chat with FastHorse last month, when she was in town...

Review: ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time’ at The Kennedy Center

The national tour of the critically-acclaimed, five-time Tony Award-winning production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time made its sojourn to The Kennedy Center’s Opera House this...

Review: The Gary Bartz Quartet at The Kennedy Center Jazz Club

The KC Jazz Club opened its 14th season last Friday with a soul-tossing river of jazz. Gary Bartz starts the evening with a prayer: “Sadness must leave this room,” as Paul Bollenback’s guitar, James...

Review: The Gary Bartz Quartet at The Kennedy Center Jazz Club

The KC Jazz Club opened its 14th season last Friday with a soul-tossing river of jazz. Gary Bartz starts the evening with a prayer: “Sadness must leave this room,” as Paul Bollenback’s guitar, James...

Review: ‘The Blues Project’ by Dorrance Dance with Toshi Reagon and BIG Lovely at The Kennedy Center

If you want to know how America dances, don’t tune in to those kitschy television competition shows So You Think You Can Dance? and Dancing With the Stars. Check out Dorrance Dance in The Blues...

Ayana Reed on Playing Carrie in ‘Blackberry Daze’ at MetroStage

Ayana Reed is a native Washingtonian who is appearing in Blackberry Daze at MetroStage. Here’s her journey… Please introduce yourself and tell our readers about your theater and vocal training and...

Review: National Symphony Orchestra: ‘Shakespeare at the Symphony: From Tchaikovsky to Elgar’

It may be a little known, but hardly surprising, fact that the works of William Shakespeare have inspired more music than any other work of literature perhaps except for the Bible. The Bard’s most...

Duane Richards II on Playing Willie and Simon in ‘Blackberry Daze’ at MetroStage

Duane Richards II is a native Washingtonian who is appearing in Blackberry Daze at MetroStage. Here’s his journey… Joel: Please introduce yourself and tell our readers about your theater and vocal...

Review: ‘National Symphony Orchestra: Season Opening Gala Concert’ at the Kennedy Center

In a political season where talk of building walls sometimes trumps the optimism of building bridges, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, named in honor of a President whose civil...

Review: Yusuf/Cat Stevens’ “A Cat’s Attic” Concert at The Kennedy Center

Cat Stevens (as he was known then) last performed at The Kennedy Center back in November 1971 just months after it opened. Much has changed since then, including his name (which became Yusuf after he...

Review: ‘The Marriage of Figaro’ at Washington National Opera

“Perdono no merita chi agli altri non da.” So say the words carved into the wall above the stage in the Washington National Opera’s stunning production of The Marriage of Figaro (Le Nozze de Figaro)...