Saturday, October 01, 2005
thumbnail reviews of what's on, from Gary in Silver Spring
Gary took the thumbnail weekend theater reviews from the Washington Times and added his own reviews, in all caps, afterwards. The reviews are posted here with his kind permission. Not only is Gary an educated and enthusiastic theater goer (though my tastes are closer to that of his partner, Paul), but he can see through the otherwise loathsome Washington Times to note that the theater reviews in the Washington Times are better than those in the Washington Post.
Perhaps there is hope for that paper. And certainly a lot to choose from in theater!
NOW PLAYING
*After Ashley --Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company. Playwright and D.C. native Gina Gionfriddo delves into our fascination with the preyed-upon in this brashly funny, disquieting play. Ashley Hammond, the wife of a Washington newspaper reporter and mother of a resentful 14-year-old, is brutally raped and murdered by a man hired to do yardwork. Her son's excruciating call to 911 makes him a celebrity, and her husband's heart-tugging book, "After Ashley,"
becomes a best-seller and springboard to a TV show with "tasteful" re-enactments of the crimes, which Ashley's husband hosts. The play vividly satirizes a society that claims to be horrified by violence, yet fetishizes its images. It's overwritten and mines the same angry territory over and over again, but the characters are compelling and the agile cast members add nuance to their roles.
Through Oct. 16. 202/393-3939. Reviewed by Jayne Blanchard.
A BEST BET IN THIS THEATERGOERS EYES. GOOD SCRIPT & DIRECTION MARRIED TO FINE ACTING. TRY TO SEE IT!
°Aida. Toby's Dinner Theatre. The Elton John-Tim Rice version of
Giuseppe Verdi's opera is a pastiche of Broadway belters, easy-listening rock 'n' roll and pop balladry. Yet the story of a princess caught between trying to save her people and her love for a conflicted Egyptian soldier packs an emotional wallop. Credit a deeply felt, wrenching performance by Felicia Curry as the Nubian-princess-turned-Egyptian-slave Aida, and equally affecting acting and singing by Russell Sunday as the soldier Radames and Janine Gulisano as Amneris, the third side of the tragic love triangle. Through Nov. 20. 301/596-6161.
Reviewed by Jayne Blanchard.
SEEING THIS TOMORROW EVENING IN THE COMPANY OF PABLO, HIS MOM & ONE OF HIS SISTERS. HAVE NO DOUBTS WE WILL BE HAPPY THEATRE CAMPERS. [Wendy: It's supposed to be terrific, far better than the Kennedy Center or NY productions.]
°Camille. Round House Theatre Bethesda. Playwright Neil
Bartlett returned to Alexandre Dumas fils' original 1848 novel for his base version of "La Dame aux Camelias." Dumas portrayed a money-mad, licentious world where champagne and drugs were in plentiful supply and women were sexual, mercenary creatures. Mr. Bartlett strips away even more of the tale's romantic conventions in this adaptation, which puts a price tag on everyone and leaves no trace of romantic flourishes. Women are floozies, men are cads, scandal is all. The
delicate beauty of Angela Reed as Marguerite contrasts with the character's hearty, cursing style, while Aubrey Deeker as Armand seems almost too fragile to live. Their love scenes are animalistic and no-frills. It's an unfettered, brutal version of "Camille" that strips away everything but meanness and avarice. Through Oct. 16. 240/644-1100. Reviewed by Jayne Blanchard.
PAUL & I ENJOYED THIS MUCH MORE THAN MS. BLANCHARD. IT'S DOWNRIGHT PHYSICAL & ALMOST SEXUALLY BRUTAL. WE ENJOYED THE CAST & THE STAGING VERY MUCH. NOT A HOME RUN FOR THE NEW ROUND HOUSE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR. BUT A THREE BASE HIT THE FIRST TIME OUT IS NOT BAD.
°The Disputation. Theatre J. Playwright and scholar Hyam Maccoby's
costume drama dramatizes the Barcelona Disputation of 1263, a four-day
confrontation between a Christian and a Jewish thinker at a time when lurid stereotypes about Jews ran rampant. The meeting, set up at the urging of Pope Urban IV, pitted the outspoken Rabbi Moses Ben Nachman (Theodore Bikel) against Pablo Christiani (Edward Gero), a Jew who became a Catholic and a Dominican friar. The pope hoped that the Christian arguments would be so convincing that masses of Jews would convert. Director Nick Olcott brings force and conviction to the
debate scenes, but though the play engages on the intellectual level it is largely inert dramatically. And stacked as it is against Christianity, its one-sidedness makes it as missionary-minded as the religious extremists it purports to criticize. Through Sunday at the D.C. Jewish Community Center. 800/494-8497. Reviewed by Jayne Blanchard.
IT TOOK ME ABT 45 MINUTES TO REALLY GET INTO THIS. BUT ONCE
BIKEL & SHAKESPEARE THEATRE MEMBERS GERO & LONG TAKE THE STAGE I WAS HOOKED. RECOMMENDED IF YOU CAN GET A TICKET.
°Dracula. Synetic Theater. The lobby walls of the Rosslyn Spectrum
are dripping blood, strings of scarlet fabric oozing down to the floor. And Synetic Theater's fever-dream vision of the Dracula legend delivers--and then some--in an erotic and highly charged production directed by Paata Tsikurishvili, with sensuous choreography by Irina Tsikurishvili. This is a perfect project for Synetic, bringing together the intrinsic theatricality of the vampire myth with the troupe's original blend of movement, dance, spoken word, music
and dazzling visuals. Not since the heyday of Anne Rice's vampire Lestat novels have we seen such a sexy and epic look at the undead. You'll start wishing they sold garlic necklaces at the concession stand. Through Oct. 30 at the
Rosslyn Spectrum. 202/462-5364. Reviewed by Jayne Blanchard.
I WANT TO SEE THIS BEFORE THE RUN CONCLUDES.
*It Had To Be You. American Century Theater. Joe Bologna and
Renee Taylor's pleasing romantic comedy combines the show business comedy with the classic theme that people who at first seem so wrong for each other can turn out to be an inspired match. As the B-movie actress who holds an unctuous TV commercial producer hostage in her pigsty of an apartment after casual sex-- torturing him with feverishly acted scenes from her one-woman play about a
Russian lady who gets crucified upside down--Karen Jadlos Shotts is a comic masterpiece. Daffy and big-hearted, she explodes like a Bloomingdale's shopping bag, spilling color, texture and grab-bag style in her wake. Mark Adams as the producer is congenial but bland. Yet the play's stubborn sense of romance prevails. Through Oct. 8 at Theater II, Gunston Arts Center. 703/553-8782.
Reviewed by Jayne Blanchard.
I'VE HEARD SOME GOOD THINGS ABT THIS SHOW FROM A FEW FOLKS.
WILL TRY & GET OVER TO ARLINGTON TO SEE IT BEFORE CLOSING DAY.
°A Number. Studio Theatre °X ...1/2.British playwright Caryl Churchill has a way of making the familiar frightening. A night-terror quality grips her newest work and lends the cliche "a chip off the old block" a threatening aura as the seedy Englishman Salter (Ted van Griethuysen) breaks it to his anguished son Bernard (Tom Story) that he, Bernard, is a clone, cooked up in a Petri dish after Salter's "original" son supposedly died. Moreover, there is not one, but at least 20 Bernards running around °X and Salter meets many of them.
The virtuoso actors, directed with ferocious economy by Joy Zinoman, do a nimble dance--the elder fascinated and repelled by what he has made, the younger longing for identity and yet a breed apart from his creator. It's a profound and confounding play that makes you question modern technologies and new societies seeking to "improve" on old ways of being. Through Oct. 16. 202/332-3300.
Reviewed by Jayne Blanchard.
STAGING & ACTING DOESN'T GET MUCH BETTER THAN THIS. BUT THE ONE HOUR SHOW FELT TO ME MORE LIKE AN INTRODUCTORY TO A PLAY RATHER THAN A FULLY REALIZED WORK.
°Othello. The Shakespeare Theatre. In this emotionally charged new
production, expertly directed by Michael Kahn, stars Avery Brooks and Patrick Page break new ground with their unconventional interpretations. Mr. Brooks' brave portrayal of Othello is deep and comprehensive, adding sophistication and touching vulnerability to a seemingly two-dimensional character. Mr. Page as Iago conjures forth the icy instincts of a true psychopath, a loveless,
guiltless individual caring little for the death and mayhem left in his wake. The ensemble cast adds notable heft. The result is a superb opening act for the company's 2005-2006 season. Through Oct. 30. 202/547-1122. Reviewed by T.L. Ponick.
THIS OTHELLO HAS SHAKESPEARE THEATRE STARTING THE SEASON OFF WITH A BANG! YOU JUST LOVE HATING THE CONNIVING OF PAGE AS IAGO. LIKED HIM IN THIS MUCH BETTER THAN WHEN HE WAS MACBETH ON THIS SAME STAGE. I FIND BROOKS A VERY QUIRKY-MANNERED ACTOR & AT TIMES THIS WILL WORK AGAINST HIM. NOT IN THIS CASE WHERE HE IS BELIEVABLE AS THE JEALOUS CONFLICTED OTHELLO. FINE SUPPORTING CAST FINELY TUNED BY DIRECTOR KAHN. HAVE TO AGREE WITH A LOCAL DIRECTOR,
NAMELESS, WHO ASKED: "WHAT WAS THAT INDIAN FORT LOOKING SET ALL ABT?"
°Passion Play, a Cycle. Kreeger Theater, Arena Stage. Young
playwright Sarah Ruhl uses productions of the Passion Play from three different epochs--Elizabethan England, 1934 Germany and the late-20th-century American Midwest--as a frame to explore the inherent theatricality in politics and religion in this world-premiere three-play work. Molly Smith directs with a flair for
both religious pomp and carnival-style hurly-burly, providing a potent visual stew of iconic and startlingly original imagery. Set designer Scott Bradley echoes traditional biblical and religious art in the use of the tableaux. The actors dive into the multiple permutations of their roles with relish, and all are superb. Robert Dorfman's deft impersonations of famous figures --Queen Elizabeth I, Adolf Hitler and Ronald Reagan --are electrifying. The first two parts of the cycle are satisfying, but the third seems unfinished and raw, making the whole little more than a passing parade of human history, one that is all
performance, no soul. Through Oct 16. 202/488-3300. Reviewed by Jayne
Blanchard.
FOR MY MONEY THE THIRD ACT, COMMISSIONED BY ARENA, OF THIS
AMBITIOUS UNDERTAKING WAS THE ONE THAT WORKED THE BEST. I ALMOST DEPARTED AFTER THE 2ND ACT BUT WAS ENCOURAGED TO STAY BY PABLO WHO WAS GETTING MUCH MORE FROM THE EVENING THAN I. THE 1ST ACT IS THE FIRST PLAY EVER WRITTEN BY MS. RUHL. HER TRULY WONDERFUL 2005 PULITZER CONTENDER "A CLEAN HOUSE, " IT PLAYED WOOLLY A FEW MONTHS BACK, WAS THE MOTIVATION FOR ME TO SEE THIS WORK. JETTISON THE FIRST TWO ACTS IN FUTURE. HAVE MS. RUHL WORK ON THE 3RD ONE WHERE I SEE THE GENESIS OF A FULL BODIED TWO ACT PLAY ABT MILITARY FOLKS & POST WAR SYNDROME.
THE SOUTH DAKOTA PASSION PLAY COULD STILL BE THERE AS A SUBTEXT.
AN INTERESTING EXPERIMENT BY ARENA STAGE THAT WILL NOT HAVE LEGS AROUND THE COUNTRY IN REGIONAL THEATRE. THERE IS GOOD ACTING ALL AROUND, AS WELL AS DIRECTION BY MS.
SMITH. BUT IT WAS THE ACTRESS IN THE ROLE OF VILLAGE IDIOT THAT MADE A SPECIAL MARK IN THE MEMORY BANK. RECOMMENDED ONLY IF YOU LIKE YOUR THEATRE OUTING TO LAST AS LONG AS "GONE WITH THE WIND."
Perhaps there is hope for that paper. And certainly a lot to choose from in theater!
NOW PLAYING
*After Ashley --Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company. Playwright and D.C. native Gina Gionfriddo delves into our fascination with the preyed-upon in this brashly funny, disquieting play. Ashley Hammond, the wife of a Washington newspaper reporter and mother of a resentful 14-year-old, is brutally raped and murdered by a man hired to do yardwork. Her son's excruciating call to 911 makes him a celebrity, and her husband's heart-tugging book, "After Ashley,"
becomes a best-seller and springboard to a TV show with "tasteful" re-enactments of the crimes, which Ashley's husband hosts. The play vividly satirizes a society that claims to be horrified by violence, yet fetishizes its images. It's overwritten and mines the same angry territory over and over again, but the characters are compelling and the agile cast members add nuance to their roles.
Through Oct. 16. 202/393-3939. Reviewed by Jayne Blanchard.
A BEST BET IN THIS THEATERGOERS EYES. GOOD SCRIPT & DIRECTION MARRIED TO FINE ACTING. TRY TO SEE IT!
°Aida. Toby's Dinner Theatre. The Elton John-Tim Rice version of
Giuseppe Verdi's opera is a pastiche of Broadway belters, easy-listening rock 'n' roll and pop balladry. Yet the story of a princess caught between trying to save her people and her love for a conflicted Egyptian soldier packs an emotional wallop. Credit a deeply felt, wrenching performance by Felicia Curry as the Nubian-princess-turned-Egyptian-slave Aida, and equally affecting acting and singing by Russell Sunday as the soldier Radames and Janine Gulisano as Amneris, the third side of the tragic love triangle. Through Nov. 20. 301/596-6161.
Reviewed by Jayne Blanchard.
SEEING THIS TOMORROW EVENING IN THE COMPANY OF PABLO, HIS MOM & ONE OF HIS SISTERS. HAVE NO DOUBTS WE WILL BE HAPPY THEATRE CAMPERS. [Wendy: It's supposed to be terrific, far better than the Kennedy Center or NY productions.]
°Camille. Round House Theatre Bethesda. Playwright Neil
Bartlett returned to Alexandre Dumas fils' original 1848 novel for his base version of "La Dame aux Camelias." Dumas portrayed a money-mad, licentious world where champagne and drugs were in plentiful supply and women were sexual, mercenary creatures. Mr. Bartlett strips away even more of the tale's romantic conventions in this adaptation, which puts a price tag on everyone and leaves no trace of romantic flourishes. Women are floozies, men are cads, scandal is all. The
delicate beauty of Angela Reed as Marguerite contrasts with the character's hearty, cursing style, while Aubrey Deeker as Armand seems almost too fragile to live. Their love scenes are animalistic and no-frills. It's an unfettered, brutal version of "Camille" that strips away everything but meanness and avarice. Through Oct. 16. 240/644-1100. Reviewed by Jayne Blanchard.
PAUL & I ENJOYED THIS MUCH MORE THAN MS. BLANCHARD. IT'S DOWNRIGHT PHYSICAL & ALMOST SEXUALLY BRUTAL. WE ENJOYED THE CAST & THE STAGING VERY MUCH. NOT A HOME RUN FOR THE NEW ROUND HOUSE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR. BUT A THREE BASE HIT THE FIRST TIME OUT IS NOT BAD.
°The Disputation. Theatre J. Playwright and scholar Hyam Maccoby's
costume drama dramatizes the Barcelona Disputation of 1263, a four-day
confrontation between a Christian and a Jewish thinker at a time when lurid stereotypes about Jews ran rampant. The meeting, set up at the urging of Pope Urban IV, pitted the outspoken Rabbi Moses Ben Nachman (Theodore Bikel) against Pablo Christiani (Edward Gero), a Jew who became a Catholic and a Dominican friar. The pope hoped that the Christian arguments would be so convincing that masses of Jews would convert. Director Nick Olcott brings force and conviction to the
debate scenes, but though the play engages on the intellectual level it is largely inert dramatically. And stacked as it is against Christianity, its one-sidedness makes it as missionary-minded as the religious extremists it purports to criticize. Through Sunday at the D.C. Jewish Community Center. 800/494-8497. Reviewed by Jayne Blanchard.
IT TOOK ME ABT 45 MINUTES TO REALLY GET INTO THIS. BUT ONCE
BIKEL & SHAKESPEARE THEATRE MEMBERS GERO & LONG TAKE THE STAGE I WAS HOOKED. RECOMMENDED IF YOU CAN GET A TICKET.
°Dracula. Synetic Theater. The lobby walls of the Rosslyn Spectrum
are dripping blood, strings of scarlet fabric oozing down to the floor. And Synetic Theater's fever-dream vision of the Dracula legend delivers--and then some--in an erotic and highly charged production directed by Paata Tsikurishvili, with sensuous choreography by Irina Tsikurishvili. This is a perfect project for Synetic, bringing together the intrinsic theatricality of the vampire myth with the troupe's original blend of movement, dance, spoken word, music
and dazzling visuals. Not since the heyday of Anne Rice's vampire Lestat novels have we seen such a sexy and epic look at the undead. You'll start wishing they sold garlic necklaces at the concession stand. Through Oct. 30 at the
Rosslyn Spectrum. 202/462-5364. Reviewed by Jayne Blanchard.
I WANT TO SEE THIS BEFORE THE RUN CONCLUDES.
*It Had To Be You. American Century Theater. Joe Bologna and
Renee Taylor's pleasing romantic comedy combines the show business comedy with the classic theme that people who at first seem so wrong for each other can turn out to be an inspired match. As the B-movie actress who holds an unctuous TV commercial producer hostage in her pigsty of an apartment after casual sex-- torturing him with feverishly acted scenes from her one-woman play about a
Russian lady who gets crucified upside down--Karen Jadlos Shotts is a comic masterpiece. Daffy and big-hearted, she explodes like a Bloomingdale's shopping bag, spilling color, texture and grab-bag style in her wake. Mark Adams as the producer is congenial but bland. Yet the play's stubborn sense of romance prevails. Through Oct. 8 at Theater II, Gunston Arts Center. 703/553-8782.
Reviewed by Jayne Blanchard.
I'VE HEARD SOME GOOD THINGS ABT THIS SHOW FROM A FEW FOLKS.
WILL TRY & GET OVER TO ARLINGTON TO SEE IT BEFORE CLOSING DAY.
°A Number. Studio Theatre °X ...1/2.British playwright Caryl Churchill has a way of making the familiar frightening. A night-terror quality grips her newest work and lends the cliche "a chip off the old block" a threatening aura as the seedy Englishman Salter (Ted van Griethuysen) breaks it to his anguished son Bernard (Tom Story) that he, Bernard, is a clone, cooked up in a Petri dish after Salter's "original" son supposedly died. Moreover, there is not one, but at least 20 Bernards running around °X and Salter meets many of them.
The virtuoso actors, directed with ferocious economy by Joy Zinoman, do a nimble dance--the elder fascinated and repelled by what he has made, the younger longing for identity and yet a breed apart from his creator. It's a profound and confounding play that makes you question modern technologies and new societies seeking to "improve" on old ways of being. Through Oct. 16. 202/332-3300.
Reviewed by Jayne Blanchard.
STAGING & ACTING DOESN'T GET MUCH BETTER THAN THIS. BUT THE ONE HOUR SHOW FELT TO ME MORE LIKE AN INTRODUCTORY TO A PLAY RATHER THAN A FULLY REALIZED WORK.
°Othello. The Shakespeare Theatre. In this emotionally charged new
production, expertly directed by Michael Kahn, stars Avery Brooks and Patrick Page break new ground with their unconventional interpretations. Mr. Brooks' brave portrayal of Othello is deep and comprehensive, adding sophistication and touching vulnerability to a seemingly two-dimensional character. Mr. Page as Iago conjures forth the icy instincts of a true psychopath, a loveless,
guiltless individual caring little for the death and mayhem left in his wake. The ensemble cast adds notable heft. The result is a superb opening act for the company's 2005-2006 season. Through Oct. 30. 202/547-1122. Reviewed by T.L. Ponick.
THIS OTHELLO HAS SHAKESPEARE THEATRE STARTING THE SEASON OFF WITH A BANG! YOU JUST LOVE HATING THE CONNIVING OF PAGE AS IAGO. LIKED HIM IN THIS MUCH BETTER THAN WHEN HE WAS MACBETH ON THIS SAME STAGE. I FIND BROOKS A VERY QUIRKY-MANNERED ACTOR & AT TIMES THIS WILL WORK AGAINST HIM. NOT IN THIS CASE WHERE HE IS BELIEVABLE AS THE JEALOUS CONFLICTED OTHELLO. FINE SUPPORTING CAST FINELY TUNED BY DIRECTOR KAHN. HAVE TO AGREE WITH A LOCAL DIRECTOR,
NAMELESS, WHO ASKED: "WHAT WAS THAT INDIAN FORT LOOKING SET ALL ABT?"
°Passion Play, a Cycle. Kreeger Theater, Arena Stage. Young
playwright Sarah Ruhl uses productions of the Passion Play from three different epochs--Elizabethan England, 1934 Germany and the late-20th-century American Midwest--as a frame to explore the inherent theatricality in politics and religion in this world-premiere three-play work. Molly Smith directs with a flair for
both religious pomp and carnival-style hurly-burly, providing a potent visual stew of iconic and startlingly original imagery. Set designer Scott Bradley echoes traditional biblical and religious art in the use of the tableaux. The actors dive into the multiple permutations of their roles with relish, and all are superb. Robert Dorfman's deft impersonations of famous figures --Queen Elizabeth I, Adolf Hitler and Ronald Reagan --are electrifying. The first two parts of the cycle are satisfying, but the third seems unfinished and raw, making the whole little more than a passing parade of human history, one that is all
performance, no soul. Through Oct 16. 202/488-3300. Reviewed by Jayne
Blanchard.
FOR MY MONEY THE THIRD ACT, COMMISSIONED BY ARENA, OF THIS
AMBITIOUS UNDERTAKING WAS THE ONE THAT WORKED THE BEST. I ALMOST DEPARTED AFTER THE 2ND ACT BUT WAS ENCOURAGED TO STAY BY PABLO WHO WAS GETTING MUCH MORE FROM THE EVENING THAN I. THE 1ST ACT IS THE FIRST PLAY EVER WRITTEN BY MS. RUHL. HER TRULY WONDERFUL 2005 PULITZER CONTENDER "A CLEAN HOUSE, " IT PLAYED WOOLLY A FEW MONTHS BACK, WAS THE MOTIVATION FOR ME TO SEE THIS WORK. JETTISON THE FIRST TWO ACTS IN FUTURE. HAVE MS. RUHL WORK ON THE 3RD ONE WHERE I SEE THE GENESIS OF A FULL BODIED TWO ACT PLAY ABT MILITARY FOLKS & POST WAR SYNDROME.
THE SOUTH DAKOTA PASSION PLAY COULD STILL BE THERE AS A SUBTEXT.
AN INTERESTING EXPERIMENT BY ARENA STAGE THAT WILL NOT HAVE LEGS AROUND THE COUNTRY IN REGIONAL THEATRE. THERE IS GOOD ACTING ALL AROUND, AS WELL AS DIRECTION BY MS.
SMITH. BUT IT WAS THE ACTRESS IN THE ROLE OF VILLAGE IDIOT THAT MADE A SPECIAL MARK IN THE MEMORY BANK. RECOMMENDED ONLY IF YOU LIKE YOUR THEATRE OUTING TO LAST AS LONG AS "GONE WITH THE WIND."
