A Theatre-Goer's Thoughts

  Jason Ma (Center) as the Reciter and the cast of Pacific Overtures . Photo credit: Daniel Rader. For the second time in less than a week, I had the opportunity to see a show I didn't know well: Signature Theatre's production of Pacific Overtures . One of the least often performed of Stephen Sondheim's musicals, I knew the plot vaguely and had heard just a couple of its songs. Just as was the case with Shout Sister Shout! , I was in for a memorable evening of learning while being superbly entertained. There are many East-meets-West depictions in various genres. When these opposites meet, each learns something about the other but also something about themselves. This is the story of Western (American) encroachment on Eastern (Japanese) culture, told from the perspective of the Japanese. John Weidman’s book takes us back to mid-19 th century Japan. “The Advantages of Floating in the Middle of the Sea,” the opening song, sets the stage. A Shogun’s edict issued in 1638 fo...

Carrie Compere as Sister Rosetta Tharpe (center) with the cast of Shout Sister Shout! Photo credit: Andre Chung. It is a rare event when I attend a performance of a play I know nothing (or almost nothing) about. (I wish I had kept a running list over the years of all of the performances I have been fortunate enough to see.) Such is the case, however, with the current production at Ford’s Thatre: Shout Sister Shout! (Every reference to the play in the program is written without commas, and in all CAPS as well. My inner grammarian grimaces.) Having scored a free ticket to the final preview performance through TodayTix, I wasn’t about to miss this opportunity. Shout Sister Shout! defies easy categorization. It is a “jukebox musical,” in which the songs by a famous musician are assembled in a way to tell the subject’s story ( Jersey Boys , for example) or songs are arranged to tell an invented story ( Mamma Mia! is a good example). Possibly the first (and maybe only) gospel-based jukebo...

  Patrick Page as the all-powerful King Lear at the beginning of the play. Photo credit: DJ Corey Photography. I have never been known for understatement, but I just might take the prize for what I posted on Facebook to share that I would spend the evening seeing the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s current production of King Lear : “Tonight, a little family drama.” But I took some solace in the succinct summary in the play’s program: Two royal families are bad at communication. The children who actually love their fathers flee, regroup, and come back. Almost everyone dies. Many years ago, I taught King Lear in a college classroom. One of my exam questions was, “Name anyone who is still alive at the end of the play.” Due to the play’s extensive body count, it can be a challenging question. From the moment you enter the Klein Theatre, you know you are seeing a King Lear unlike any you’ve seen before. The soundtrack plays the recognizable noise of jet engines as airplanes take ...

Montego Glover as the Witch, Gavin Creel as Cinderella's Prince, and Stephanie J. Block as the Baker's Wife in the National Tour cast of  Into the Woods . Photo credit: Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade. I have seen Into the Woods now five times: the original Broadway production in 1988, at the Civic Light Opera in Pittsburgh (with my friend Beth Leavel as the Witch) in 2009, a slimmed-down touring production at the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theatre in 2017, at Arlington’s Signature Theatre last November (see https://theatregoerthoughts.blogspot.com/2022/11/into-woods-signature-theatre-arlington.html for my response), and the National Tour of last year’s City Center Encores! and Broadway production at the Kennedy Center’s Opera House, making its first tour stop February 23-March 19. Add to that the 1991 television version of the original production aired by PBS and the 2014 film. You may surmise from all that, Into the Woods is a show I enjoy enough to see ov...

Stephanie J. Block as Norma with members of the ensemble in the Kennedy Center's Broadway Center Stage production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's  Sunset Boulevard . Photo credit: Jeremy Daniel. The latest Broadway Center Stage (BCS) production at the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theatre was Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Sunset Boulevard , which was well-received during its all-too-brief eight-day, 10-performance run. Whenever critics compile lists of the best films of all-time, director/co-writer Billy Wilder’s 1950 masterpiece, “Sunset Boulevard,” is almost always on the list, and for good reason. Its story of a faded film star trying to reclaim some of her former glory has elements of tragedy, dark comedy, romance, mystery, and suspense. The musical generally follows the plot of the film. For those who are unfamiliar, a down-on-his-luck screenwriter, Joe Gillis, frustrated by a lack of work (and income), is being followed by loan sharks eager to repossess his car. Escaping them,...

  Dani Stoller and Mike Millan as Judy and Jeff in Which Way to the Stage . Photo Credit: Daniel Rader. Full disclosure: I am (and have been for years) completely one of the “theatre nerds” for whom Which Way to the St age was written by Ana Nogueira. The comedy, which premiered off-Broadway last spring, is currently playing at Arlington’s Signature Theatre, where it continues through January 22. The play is performed in the Signature’s intimate Ark space. Judy and Jeff are best friends: she’s an auditioning actress desperate to be cast, he’s an actor who fills some of the void in his employment by working as a drag performer. Their quest is an autograph from Broadway star Idina Menzel, appearing in the Broadway production of If/Then at the Richard Rodgers Theatre. They aren’t just fans, they are super-fans, almost stalkers, waiting by the stage door night after night, hoping their idol will emerge and provide them with her sacred signature. On an audition, Judy meets Mark, an ...

  William Connell as Captain Taylor and Norm Lewis as Captain Davenport in A Soldier's Play . Photo credit: Joan Marcus. “Procedural” is a term used to help define a genre of storytelling, like a murder mystery. Law and Order in its various incarnations has used the formula for years; Murder, She Wrote was another. Think back to shows like Dragnet and Perry Mason . These shows last so long because they follow a familiar formula. An inciting incident draws the audience in and keeps them interested until the solution is found after dogged investigation by a persistent character in search of truth. Charles Fuller (who died in October at age 83) won the 1982 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the New York Drama Critics Award for Best American Play for A Soldier’s Play , not because it is a procedural, but because as a procedural it accomplishes so much more than expected. Its original production was by the Negro Ensemble Company off Broadway, but its 2020 revival on Broadway won the Ton...