A Theatre-Goer's Thoughts

  The company of A Wrinkle in Time at Arena Stage. Photo credit: T. Charles Erickson Photography. Much of the time when I attend the theatre, I am fairly well-acquainted with the material, but once in a while I see something about which I know nothing – or almost nothing. Despite the fact that it is based on what I now know to be a noted, award-winning young adult novel, my near-complete ignorance of the material allowed me to experience the world-premiere musical adaptation of Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time on its own merits. I cannot speak to how faithful it may be to its source, I can only respond to what I see and experience in the theatre. Arena Stage closes out its season with this daring, creatively rich production. There is much here to be enjoyed and admired – perhaps too much. The plot is both simple and complex: Meg, a girl (whose age is vague) and her little brother, Charles Wallace, along with Calvin, one of the girl’s classmates, embark on a journey through...

  The company performing "Comedy Tonight" in Sondheim's Old Friends  in the Manhattan Theatre Club's production. Photo credit: Matthew Murphy. Sondheim’s Old Friends , the Manhattan Theatre Club’s current production at Broadway’s Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, is a love letter to the late composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim. As pretty much every theatre aficionado, and especially every musical theatre aficionado, knows, Sondheim was the preeminent creative force behind some of the most iconic works of the last half of the 20 th century. And many of those iconic shows have been (and continue to be) revived in the first quarter of the 21 st century: witness the currently-running Gypsy with Audra McDonald, and two Tony-nominated revivals during the 2023-2024 season, Merrily We Roll Along (which won) and Sweeney Todd . Devised by producer Cameron Mackintosh, Sondheim's Old Friends  is a smorgasbord of some of Sondheim’s best. In addition to those revivals, Sondheim’s ...

  Amy Brenneman as River in Fake It Until You Make It by Larissa FastHorse at Arena Stage. Photo credit: Daniel Rader. I believe that two of the most challenging forms of theatre are farce and satire. I recall a definition of farce as events that are theoretically possible but far from probable, and to a certain extent, the more outrageous, the better. Satire requires the examination of an idea of significance and demonstrating that the idea is not nearly as significant (or sacred) as it is supposed to be. Combining both farce and satire in a play about personal identity in a political environment where the value and validity of exploring (and celebrating) the differences between us are under attack, in the nation’s capital, is gutsy. And that is exactly what is happening at the Kreeger Theatre stage at Arena Stage in a co-production with Center Theatre Group of Los Angeles, where it premiered earlier this year. This is the kind of theatre that DC audiences relish. Larissa FastH...

Hugh Bonneville (center) as Uncle Vanya with Sharon Lockwood as Grandmamon, Nancy Robinette as Nana, Melanie Field as Sonya, Tom Nelis as Alexandre, and Ito Aghayere as Yelena in Uncle Vanya at the Shakespeare Theatre. Photo credit: DJ Corey Photography. A message from Artistic Director Simon Godwin, who directs the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s current production of Uncle Vanya , adapted by Conor McPherson, in the most recent edition of STC Asides , which serves as the program for the STC production, includes the fact that this is the first foray for STC into the works of Russian playwright Anton Chekhov in the almost 40 years STC has been producing classic plays. Given Chekhov’s importance in the development of modern drama, this is quite a surprise. Based on the success of the current production, I hope the DC audience will not have to wait nearly that long for another of Chekhov’s plays. (Note: This production is in association with the Berkeley Repertory Theatre, where it was pro...

  The cast of In the Heights at Signature Theatre. Photo credit: DJ Corey Photography. Joyful is the best word I could use to describe the magnificent production of In the Heights , now on stage at Arlington’s Signature Theatre. Others would include exuberant, energetic, colorful, insightful, poignant, romantic, moving, sharp, immersive, life-affirming, and optimistic, epic and intimate at the same time: I could go on and on with adjectives. Conceived by Lin-Manuel Miranda, who wrote the musical score and lyrics, with book by Quiara Alegr í a Hudes, In the Heights seemed to come out of nowhere (it actually went through a number of iterations) before bursting onto the scene, opening on Broadway in 2008. I knew almost nothing about it when I saw it there (on a half-price ticket), just a few days before it received 13 Tony Award nominations and there were no more discounted tickets! It won four Tonys (including Best Musical and Best Score), and started playing to full houses. It p...

  Oneika Phillips as Queen Gertrude and Sabrina Lynne Sawyer as Ophelia in Folger Theatre's world premiere of  A Room in the Castle , written by Lauren M. Gunderson, directed by Kaja Dunn. Co-produced with Cincinnati Shakespeare Company. Photo by Erika Nizborski. William Shakespeare created dozens, if not hundreds, of characters as a playwright. The fact that the great majority of them are men should probably not be a surprise due to the facts that (a) Shakespeare was a man, and (b) at the time he was writing, only men were allowed to act on stage. Oh, there are women here and there, some of them prominent, but most relegated to supporting or minor roles. And even some of the major roles for women (Lady Macbeth and Juliet, for example) are defined more by their relationships to male characters rather than to their own individual personalities and situations. There is, it seems, no “room” for the females. A Room in the Castle , a world premiere of the play by Lauren M. Gunder...