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The M.A.K.A.DO: Make America Kingly Again!
IN Series
at Arena Stage
Jordan Wright
October 15, 2026
 Greg Sliskovitch (Yankee-Poo), Andrew Adelsberger (Koch-Co.), and Teresa Ferrara (Num-Num) in IN Series production of The M.A.K.A.DO: Make America Kingly Again! at Arena Stage (Photo/IN Series).
Straight out of the gate, the title gives away its irreverent intent. The M.A.K.A.DO is a grandiose spoof and bitingly clever take off of Gilbert and Sullivan’s well-loved operetta The Mikado. IN Series describes it as “An Operatico-Politico-Buffo-Satirico” which if there were such a term, pretty much sums it up. Think off-the-wall, high octane hilarious with new lyrics provided by legendary spoof-masters, The Capitol Steps. I laughed my tail feathers off at the absurdities, shamelessly guffawing along with the rest of the audience at this collection of colorful characters who deliver songs and patter at lightening pace. Keep up as best as you can. It’s a damn good thing there are seats, otherwise you could fall down laughing and hurt yourself. Don’t hurt yourself.
Skewering a presidential administration, its cabinet, political appointees and elected officials has become an art form. We saw it earlier this year with 44 The Musical and I can only assume there will be more delightfully flippant follies in the works. Because, ladies and gentlemen, as you well know, there lies a wealth of current comic + drama material to glean from (insert daily slap to the forehead emoji here).
 Robin McGinness (Poo-Bah), Greg Sliskovitch (Yankee-Poo), and John Solomon Collins (Pish-Tush) (Photo/IN Series).
I’ll try not to give too much away, but the dramatically lit opening features the Presidential Resolute Desk, a golden toilet and a hefty blond man in a dark suit with his back facing the audience as the orchestra plays the intro. It is in the Oval Office that we are introduced to Koch-Co. (Andrew Adelsberger) and his boot-licking assistants who quickly arrive to assist POTUS in his dark plans. Golden banquet chairs hang in clusters like chandeliers, and a character named Yankee-Poo (Greg Sliskovitch) arrives on a mission to find his long-lost love, the irresistible Num-Num (Teresa Ferrara), who is currently engaged to marry Koch-Co. the wicked slum lord and red ball cap-wearing leader – aka ‘The Lord High Retributioner’ – easily recognized as our current American president. His sycophantic aides, Poo-Bah (Robin McGinness) sporting a shiny leather sash reading “The Man, The Myth, The Legend” and cohort Pish-Tush (John Solomon Collins) who deliver epic hilarity as they bow and scrape to serve their fearless leader.
 Hayley Abramowitz (Peep-Bo), Teresa Ferrara (Num-Num), and Melanie Ashkar (Pitti-Sing) (Photo/IN Series).
An “anti-flirtation law” condemns our Boy Scout hero Yankee-Poo to death by execution for canoodling with Num-Num who still loves him but is in a bit of a pickle with her untimely upcoming nuptials. A trio of MAGA babes, Peep-Bo (Hayley Abramowitz), Pitti-Sing (Melanie Ashkar) and Num-Num, arrive in matching tight red business suits and wavy blond hair cavorting and shooting an Insta reel and singing “How Cool Are We” to the tune of “Three Little Maids from School Are We”.
 Cecelia McKinley (The Maqado) and Hunter Shaner (Kitty-KatiShaw) (Photo/IN Series).
Outlandish characters soon arrive to quell the dangers the young couple faces. A drop-dead fabulous Kitty-KatiShaw (Hunter Shaner), who damn near steals the show as the femme fatale who has a few gossipy weapons up her sequined sleeve as she slinks onto the stage to put a fly in the nuptial ointment. And oh, my dear, if we don’t remain seated, we could tumble onto the stage in stitches when The Maqado (Cecelia McKinley) arrives in all her splendor and French accent – no spoilers here.
Did I mention the eight-piece orchestra who accompany lampoons of familiar ditties from the opera plus a few marches from John Phillip Sousa. I damn near collapsed from laughing so hard at the wacky lyrics written for the well-known “On a Tree by a River (Tit-Willow)” sung by Koch-Co. attempting to convince Kitty-KatiShaw of his undying love? Ohmygawd, the irony, the idiocy! Absolutely delectable!
 Cast of The M.A.K.A.DO: Make America Kingly Again! at Arena Stage (Photo/IN Series).
See it! Revel in the laughter, the gorgeous operatic voices and the delightful music. But do not fall out of your seat when you are doubled over with glee!
Stage Director, Timothy Nelson; Musical Director Dana Scott, Costume Design by William Linares; Lighting Design by Paul Callahan; Wig and Makeup Design by Andre Hopfer.
Through October 18th at Arena Mead Center’s Kogood Cradle, 1101 Sixth Street, SW, Washington, DC 20024. For tickets and information visit www.INSeries.org or www.ci.ovationtix.com
P. S. Before the curtain, Artistic Director Timothy Nelson announced InSeries’ new shared multi-disciplinary theater complex. Named the Revada Arts Center, it is set to open late October a few blocks from The Wharf and Arena Stage at 340 Maple Drive, SW. The Center will host two other production companies – Theater Alliance and 4EYE Film Center. Check it out here www.RevadaArtsCenter.org.
Magic and Illusion at the Fairmont DC
Jordan Wright
October 8, 2026
 Theatre of Magic (Photo provided by Fever)
A few weekends ago, I found myself at a magic show at DC’s elegant Fairmont Hotel. Now I can’t claim to know one single thing about magic shows, but I thought this would prove a good introduction. Before the show began, there were themed cocktails for the adults, and the reception area held six or seven magicians doing live tricks with guests. As guests entered the intimate Kennedy Ballroom to be seated, I was led to a small, round, candle-lit table in front of the stage.
While waiting for the one-man show to begin, I chatted up an attractive 40-something couple at the table beside mine. They were eager to talk about their love of magic shows, describing for me two of the strictly magic-centric venues in Chicago – especially one such venue housed at the back of an actual laundromat and which, once you have surrendered disbelief to the unusual directions, is set up as a real nightclub.
 Theatre of Magic (Photo provided by Fever)
My entire knowledge of magic shows is based on occasional viewings of TV specials by Penn & Teller, David Blaine and of course, David Copperfield, all of whom have been wildly successful drawing huge audiences to their extravaganzas. And speaking of Teller, he recently wrote the magic part of a production along with actor/magician Nate Dendy who was the architect for the magic in the huge hit The Tempest at Round House. Dendy also played Ariel in the play. Dendy later returned to Round House for Nothing Up My Sleeve, a solo hit show.
Over the years, I have seen and loved illusions incorporated into theatre – such as Harry Potter and the Cursed Child – a huge Broadway success; also, anything by Cirque de Soleil; and even a recent show at Signature Theatre that used illusion quite effectively in Pippin. I have since learned there is another side to magic shows and that’s the smaller more intimate shows that include audience participation, and that is how they are presented in this ongoing series at the Fairmont Washington.
 Magician Francis Menotti performing some preshow magic tricks for audience members (Photo/Jordan Wright).
Presented by FEVER, the world’s leading tech platform for culture and live entertainment, and the Theatre of Magic, the Saturday afternoon’s show starred Francis Menotti, who performed a riveting combination of sleight-of-hand, mentalism, restoration and prediction tricks with the assistance of randomly selected audience members. Though I was seated less than six feet from the stage, I still wasn’t close enough to suss out how he performed these mesmerizing feats. And I’m even a bit embarrassed to report my fascinated oohs, aahs and gasps were noted and mentioned during his act by Menotti himself. I just couldn’t keep my jaw from dropping!
If you want to attend one of these super fun and fascinating, off-the-grid, intimate magic shows, they are centered around our upcoming holidays. The dates are October 10, 24, 30 and 31; November 14 and 28, and December 23, 24 and 27. The hotel invites ticketed guests to take advantage of 20% off pre- or post-theatre dining in the hotel’s lobby or Loggia Lounge.
Theatre of Magic at the Fairmont Washington, DC at 2401 M Street, NW, Washington, DC 20037. For tickets and information visit www.FeverUp.com.
Measure for Measure
Folger Theatre
Jordan Wright
September 29, 2026
 Renea S. Brown (Isabella) in Folger Theatre’s production of William Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure (Photo/Erika Nizborski).
Measure for Measure is a rare commodity and not one of Shakespeare’s much-produced plays. It’s scandalous and politically charged, so it fits right in with our times. Director Psalmayene 24 sets the play in the American South in 1950’s a time not so socially different than the early 1600’s when an unwed pregnant woman was shunned. In the 1950’s she would be sent off to a home for ‘unwed mothers’, forced to wed before she ‘showed’ or, if the family had connections, sent to a convent to give birth in secrecy. In this story Claudio is sent to prison for “fornication” and sentenced to death – his lover Juliet shunned by society. It’s not difficult to find the hypocritical relevance to our current political state.
 Nathan Darrow (The Duke), Renea S. Brown (Isabella), and Holly Twyford (Escalus) (Photo/Erika Nizborski).
A comic drama, it tells the story in rhyme and dialogue of Isabella, a valiant novice who speaks truth to power, standing up to the elites who hide their own failings through their positions of power. One in particular is Angelo, whom Vincentio, the Duke of the province, has appointed to serve as his proxy while he travels. Angelo’s aide, Escalus, a prim and proper schoolmarm, place sentence on Claudio, the father-to-be, in a kangaroo court trial. Though Claudio and Juliet are deeply in love and had planned to be wed, Angelo’s brutish and lecherous nature refuses to take that into consideration and demands Claudio be beheaded. I should note that both Angelo and Escalus are cast as White while Isabella and Claudio, brother and sister, are Black – a most intriguing interpretation. Juliet is played by a White actor suggesting a crime of miscegenation. It may be difficult to comprehend how there could possibly be comic relief in this romantic tragedy, but the lesser characters are so broadly and humorously drawn that there is plenty of humor to lighten the serious nature of the plot. When Mistress Overdone, the flashy Black owner of a brothel, dresses down Elbow and Master Froth, two naughty White teens who make jokes about sex and disease in the bawdy houses, it is riotously funny.
 Ahmad Kamal (Pompey) and Chinai Routté (Mistress Overdone) (Photo/Erika Nizborski).
With a purposely muted set, Psalmayene emphasizes the discrimination of the era with ‘Colored Only’ and ‘White Only’ drinking fountains. His not inconsiderable sway as a much celebrated director in the DMV gives him a huge talent pool in which to draw from for his casts and creatives. This production proves that to be true. The sheer glory of this production is the electrifying performance by Renea S. Brown as Isabella. Brown shows her talents as one of the fiercest, bravest and most confident actors I have seen on any stage, and it gobsmacked me to witness her powerhouse soliloquies. All in all, the casting is as superb as the direction, but Brown’s performance is award-winning and I am sticking my neck out here to predict it.
Highly recommended!!!
 Lee Osorio (Angelo) and Renea S. Brown (Isabella) (Photo/Erika Nizborski).
With Nathan Darrow as The Duke; Holly Twyford as Escalus; JaBen Early as Claudio; Jonathan Feuer as Lucio; Sean Fri as Provost; Maryanne Henderson as Juliet; Ahmad Kamal as Pompey; Lee Osorio as Angelo; Chinai Routté as Mistress Overdone and Francisca; Ryan Sellers as Elbow and others; John Sygar as Froth and others.
Choreographer, Tony Thomas; Composer, KOKAYI; Adaptor, Mekala Sridhar; Scenic Designer, Debra Booth; Costume Designer, Mika Eubanks; Lighting Designer, Jesse Belsky; Sound Designer, Matthew M. Nielson; Casting Director, Danica Rodriguez.
Through November 1st at the Folger Theatre, 201 East Capitol Street, SE, Washington, DC 20003. For tickets visit www.Events.Folger.edu
Dance Theatre of Harlem
Performing at the National Theatre DC
Jordan Wright
September 25, 2026
 DTH Company Artists Alexandra Hutchinson and Derek Brockington in Firebird (Photo/Nir Arieli).
A sell-out crowd filled the National Theatre to see this two-night only performance of Firebird by the Dance Theatre of Harlem. Introducing the evening’s performance was Jenny Bilfield, the President & CEO of Washington Performing Arts, a 50-year collaborator with the prestigious ballet company. Bilfield let us know that as a condition of his $8.5 million bequest, the company should include more classical ballet. We saw that reflected in last night’s stunning Dallas Morse Coors Legacy Performance where contemporary met classical to blow the audience out right of their seats.
In Return, the first of the three pieces, we found powerhouse contemporary dance movements in Choreographer Robert Garland’s approach to Soul music featuring familiar hits by Aretha Franklin and James Brown. Imagine if you will, interpretations of “Baby, Baby, Baby”, “Mother Popcorn”, “I Got The Feelin’”, “Call Me” and “Superbad”. The corps was clearly as down with it as the audience who cheered and applauded for every hot move.
 DTH Company Artists in Robert Garland’s Return (Photo/Jeff Cravotta).
The next piece Donizetti Variations used the original George Balanchine choreography. The piece is stale – 19th century period maidens in pale blue peasant garb performing a rather toned-down version. A piece like this demands extreme perfection and one got the sense that the troupe wasn’t thrilled by it and neither was the audience who gave it a lackluster reception. One pleasant aspect was the many entrechats, which I love to see and which were executed to perfection.
 DTH Company Artists in George Balanchine’s Donizetti Variations (Photo/Rachel Papo).
The final piece was set to the music of Igor Stravinsky’s Firebird and choreographed by John Taras. It had originally been performed by the troupe in a World Premiere in 1982 at New York’s City Center. It’s what everyone had come to see. The stunning brilliance of Set Costume Designer Geoffrey Holder’s orchid-inspired scrim and backdrops as well as the lavish original costume designs for the principals to include the thirteen princesses were breathtaking while costumes for the wicked Kastchei and his demonic minions were convincingly terrifying. Clearly inspired, the stellar troupe performed it to their utmost. The Firebird was sans doute what the audience had been anxiously anticipating, and they were not disappointed as you could register their appreciation clear up to the chandeliers.
 DTH Company Artists Derek Brockington, Jhaelin McQuay and Company Artists in Firebird (Photo/Rachel Papo).
A final performance will take place tonight September 26th at 7:30pm at the National Theatre, 1321 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC 20004. For tickets and information call the National Theatre’s box office at 800.513.7540 or visit www.Tickets-center.com.
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Round House Theatre
Jordan Wright
September 21, 2026
 Nicole Michelle Haskins (Ma Rainey) in August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom at Round House Theatre (Photo/Teresa Castracane).
In a collaboration with Olney Theatre Center, Round House Theatre gives us Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, an August Wilson play with music set in the 1920’s. All of Wilson’s ten-play “Pittsburgh Cycle” should be compulsory viewing. This one tells the story of the hot-tempered Blues singer Ma Rainey, whose career was driven by American audiences love of Black music.
The story takes us into a recording studio session with Ma’s talent agent Irvin, the studio owner Sturdyvant, her backup musicians trumpeter Levee, bassist Slow Drag, pianist Toledo, and trombonist Cutler. As the musicians wait for her to show up, they begin to rehearse. But things go downhill quickly as they swap tales and accusations – fighting over which arrangement of her “Moonshine Blues” they can agree on. Will it be Levee’s version, the young hot-headed trumpeter who threatens to leave the band based on a recording offer from Sturdyvant? Or the arrangement they already know and which Cutler, the cool-headed leader of the group insists on? Toledo, the intellectual and book-smart philosopher of the group, tries to settle it. They get on to swapping tales and regaling each other with their personal struggles while awaiting Ma’s appearance for her decision.
The three-level stage has a winding staircase up to the engineer’s space, the main floor, and the musicians gathered in the basement placed center stage. Meanwhile Irvin is racing up and down the staircase trying to placate everyone when Ma finally arrives with her female lover, Dussie Mae, a hot little vixen who apparently swings both ways, and her nephew, Sylvester, who is a stutterer and who Ma declares will announce the band on the recording. This provides quite a bit of comic relief though it wouldn’t be politically correct these days. Ma’s insistence that Sylvester do the announcing freaks out Irv and the band. Spoiler Alert: After much groaning and protesting by everyone but Ma, he finally nails it.
 Yao Dogbe (Levee), Craig Wallace (Cutler), Ro Boddie (Toledo), Derrick Truby (Slow Drag) (Photo/Teresa Castracane).
The play showcases more than just a story of a moment in time at a recording session. It’s so much more with Ma’s deep bluesy voice, Levee’s extraordinary physicality and Dussie Mae’s adorable sexuality. Comedy and insight blend seamlessly amid the jive-talking, reefer-toking and raw emotional vulnerability as each character reveals themselves.
This play + music stars Nicole Michelle Haskins as Ma and ohmygod she is phenomenal. Big, brash and brassy she belts out the Blues like nobody’s business, owning the stage like the diva she plays. She is riveting, but so is the rest of the cast with beloved DC-based actors Craig Wallace as Cutler, Ro Boddie as Toledo, Yao Dogbe as Levee, Derrick Truby as Slow Drag, Chris Genebach as Sturdyvant, Jaylen Henderson as Sylvester, Michael Glenn as Irvin, Kanysha Williams as Dussie Mae, and Zach Brewster-Geisz as Policemen – all of whom you have seen in the area’s best theaters, many of them multi-award winners.
I loved seeing the crème de la crème of our leading local actors gel with each other in one perfect cast and the sleight of hand it took Director Lili-Anne Brown to pull it off so smoothly. Huge credit to Casting Director Sarah Cooney for assembling a cast who perform with fierceness and heart.
 Nicole Michelle Haskins (Ma Rainey), Kanysha Williams (Dussie Mae), Yao Dogbe (Levee) (Photo/Teresa Castracane).
Music Director, Cedric D. Lyles; Scenic Designer, Arnel Sancianco; 1920’s period Costume Designer, Samantha Jones; Lighting Designer, Minjoo Kim; Sound Designer, Kevin Lee Alexander; Wig and Makeup Designer, Lashawn Melton; and Dramaturg, Naysan Mojgani.
Never ever miss the experience of a well-produced August Wilson play and this one is a sizzling hot hit!
Through October 18th at Round House Theatre, 4545 East West Highway, Bethesda, MD. 20814. www.RoundHouseTheatre.org. Currently tickets are available by calling the Box Office at 240.664.1100, or by booking online at www.roundhousetheatre.org.
The Score
Shakespeare Theatre Company
Jordan Wright
September 19, 2026
 Brian Cox (Johann Sebastian Bach) and Jamie Wilkes (Carl Bach) in Shakespeare Theater Company’s production of The Score (Photo/Teresa Castracane).
London’s West End comes to Harman Hall with the stunning original production The Source. It would not be overstating it to remark that the leads and creatives are British TV, film, and theatre royalty with arm’s-length bios and a huge cache of prestigious awards. The story is based on a unique meeting between the Prussian King, Frederick II and Johann Sebastian Bach the esteemed 18th century Baroque composer. Frederick, a fan boy of Bach’s work, invites him to his lavish castle to write a six-part fugue based on a few notes Frederick, a rank amateur, had conjured in a dream. The fly in the ointment is Bach has never written more than a three-part fugue. Well, as it turns out, no matter for the master.
Bach leaves his loving wife, Anna, to set out on the long journey to the home of his devoted son, Carl, who lives near the King in Potsdam. Before he arrives, Frederick has charged his four court composers with the task of turning a few scattered notes from a dream into a fugue. One of the composers is Carl, one of Bach’s 11 sons, who is as broke as his father and desperate to hold onto his position at court. The musicians turn up their collective sycophantic noses at the king’s folly, but to keep their jobs, they cobble together a simple composition which they present to the king.
At Carl’s home Bach receives the noted French philosopher Voltaire who arrives from a rendezvous with the king to see his old friend. The two men conspire not to reveal to the king that they know each other as Voltaire has plans to sing Bach’s praises and smooth his path into the king’s good graces. With spies in every corner and a king whose knowledge outside of his murderous regime is skewed, Bach tells his son, “We see through a glass darkly.”
 Nicole Ansari-Cox ( Anna Magdalena Bach) and Brian Cox (Johann Sebastian Bach) (Photo/Teresa Castracane).
Before his royal appointment, Bach meets the other composers who bet each other a massive sum of money that his composition will fail to please the king. With their meager fortunes on the line, Bach joins the bet yet ultimately wins the king’s favor, despite Bach calling him out for his soldiers ravaging women in his hometown of Leipzig. The ruthless king, unaccustomed to being dissed, tells Bach that war is war and these things happen.
At the time he is introduced to Frederick at court, he is composing cantatas, oratorios, fugues, suites and concertos, including compositions for weddings, funerals and executions for four churches… all while teaching Latin! There is a wonderful scene in which he counters Frederick’s naïveté by explaining the connection between music, emotion and mathematics. He tries to convince Frederick that his collection of notes has come from within his heart. In this moment we see a deeply spiritual Bach who gives no quarter to the shallow-minded king and that’s what makes this clever play so relatable. Speaking truth to power through the arts! Sticking it (warily) to a narcissist! Touché!
Writer Oliver Cotton’s play is vibrant, relevant, modern, utterly hilarious and based on historic lore. Period sets – including a magnificent black and gold harpsichord – and costumes by designer Robert Jones of Broadway and West End are splendid, especially for the flamboyant Frederick who swans around like a swathed peacock.
 Stephen Hagan (King Frederick II), Christopher Staines (Court Composer), Jordan Kilshaw (Courtier), Toby Webster (Court Composer), and Matthew Romain (Court Composer) (Photo/Teresa Castracane).
The wonderful performances in this once-in-a-lifetime theatrical experience linger longingly. Directed brilliantly by Trevor Nunn with the great Brian Cox as Johann Sebastian Bach; Nicole Ansari-Cox as Anna Magdalena Bach, Bach’s wife, who is off-stage Cox’s real wife; Stephan Hagan as King Frederick II, King of Prussia; Jaimie Wilkes as Carl Bach; Peter De Jersey as Voltaire; Geoffrey Towers as Herr Von Meckelsdorf; Matthew Romain, Christopher Staines and Toby Webster as court composers; Juliet Garricks as Emelia, a servant; Will Kerr as Helstein/Courtier; Jordan Kilshaw as Courtier; Max Pink as Courtier; Claire Morrissey as Maidservant.
Lighting Design by Johanna Town; Sound Design & Original Composition by Sophie Cotton.
Highly recommended!!!
Through October 25th Shakespeare Theatre Company at Harmon Hall, 610 F Street, NW, Washington, DC 20004. For tickets and information call the box office at 202.547.1122 or visit www.ShakespeareTheatre.org.
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