A Theatre-Goer's Thoughts

  Holli' Gabrielle Conway as Tionne "T-Box" Watkins, Jade Milan as Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, and Stoney B. Woods as Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas in CrazySexyCool at Arena Stage. Photo credit: Julieta Cervantes. Biographical “jukebox musicals” are a specific subset of musical theatre, consisting of musicals created using the music of one artist (or sets of artists) to recount the life (lives) of said artist(s). Think Jersey Boys , based on the life and music of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, MJ the musical , about Michael Jackson, and a number of recent musicals giving similar treatment to female performers: Cher ( The Cher Show ), Gloria Estefan ( On Your Feet! ), Carole King ( Beautiful ), Donna Summer ( Summer: The Donna Summer Musical ), and Tina Turner ( Tina ). On the other hand, perhaps the most financially-successful jukebox musical has been Mamma Mia! in which the creators inserted songs by the group ABBA into a plotline that has nothing to do...

  Cedric Neal (center) as the Leading Player with the company of Pippin at Signature Theatre. Photo credit: Daniel Rader. “We’ve got magic to do / Just for you” is a lyric from the opening number of the 1972 musical Pippin , now onstage at Arlington’s Signature Theatre. And the show delivers – with literal gasp-producing magic illusions interspersed throughout the show. Based on a couple of real historical characters from the 9 th century, King Charlemagne of the Holy Roman Empire and his son Pippin, everything else is a theatrical invention. The musical was the first by composer/lyricist Stephen Schwartz who would eventually write Godspell and Wicked , to name the two most successful follow-ups. Although Roger O. Hirson is credited with the libretto, the fingerprints of original director/choreographer Bob Fosse are all over the material. Fosse’s contributions essentially breathed life into the framework that Hirson and Schwartz created, pushing the show into riskier and darke...

 \ Jacob Ming-Trent in How Shakespeare Saved My Life at Folger Theatre. Photo credit: Erika Nizborski. In September 2025, I reviewed Shakespeare Theatre Company’s production of The Merry Wives , an updated adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor as filtered through award-winning playwright Jocelyn Bioh. I wrote the following about the actor playing one of the leading roles: “Jacob Ming-Trent is having a wonderful time as Falstaff, the crude, disheveled mountain of a man whose presence is so real one could almost smell his stench. Ming-Trent gives a charismatic performance in his first STC appearance.” How Shakespeare Saved My Life is Ming-Trent’s personal story of his relationship to Shakespeare, as introduced by a high school teacher. The high school student found his inspiration in the words of the world’s most famous playwright and began to consider (and call) himself from an early age “a Shakespearean actor.” Shakespeare served as a beacon for a young man ...

  Justin Weaks, who created and performs A Fine Madness at Woolly Mammoth Theatre. Photo credit: Christina Daniels. It should come as no surprise that the current offering by the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, which will be performed at various DC locations, is something that defies easy classification. A Fine Madness , conceived and performed by Justin Weaks, is not a play (as he makes clear early on), but it is a kind of storytelling.   Weaks is a talented actor who memorably impressed me in his Helen Hayes Award-winning performance in Arena Stage’s 2023 production of Angels in America: Millennium Approaches . Here, he takes on the role of himself. A Fine Madness is a personal, timely, insightful, 90 minutes of group therapy, audience participation, reflection, and triumph, not just for Weaks, but for the audience as well. A Fine Madness has its roots in the lockdowns of 2020 in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, the memory of which every audience member over 15 or so ...