Disney’s Frozen is a Shimmery, Wintery Ice Palace of Wonder at the Kennedy Center
Disney’s Frozen – The Hit Broadway Musical
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Jordan Wright
December 26, 2023
Special to The Zebra
 Caroline Bowman as Elsa (photo/Deenvan Meer) What’s shimmery, glittery and icy all over? Frozen!!! The Disney spectacular indulges everyone’s wintery fantasy with visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads – most especially the adorable tiny princesses that filled the audience in their long tutus and tiaras dressed up like Elsa and waving shiny wands. Did they know the story, the music and all the lyrics? You bet they did, though their parents and grandparents kindly kept them from singing out loud.
Kristen Anderson-Lopez and partner Robert Lopez who together crafted the music and lyrics from Jennifer Lee’s book, keeps the audience in thrall as what was originally the Disney movie by the same name, comes alive in front of eager eyes. From the stage they’re asked if this is their first Broadway show and quite a few gleefully raised their hands. What a scintillating introduction to musicals and, I mused, what a tale they’ll tell their children!
 Lauren Nicole Chapman as Anna and Company of Frozen North American Tour (Photo/Matthew Murphy for Disney) The story of the two sisters, Elsa (Caroline Bowman) and Anna (Lauren Nicole Chapman), brought up in a magnificent kingdom by their caring parents, the King Agnarr (Kyle Lamar Mitchell) and Queen Uduna (Katie Mariko Murray) of Arendelle, is beloved around the world not only for the beautiful story but also the lessons it teaches children – to be kind, to love, to be cautious, but also, when to believe. Along with the charming, life-size Sven the Reindeer (Collin Baja or Daniel Plehal) and Olaf (Jeremy Davis) the goofy, fearfully meltable snowman, Elsa learns to tame her secret magical powers and save her sister from a frozen fate.
But this is no average children’s play, nor a mere evening’s diversion. Backed in full by the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra in concert with the Frozen Touring Orchestra, it is an epic show set in Scandinavia with all the gorgeous scenery reflecting the frigid fjords and alpine tundra. Video projections fill in what the massive sets cannot impart so that it is like being smack dab in Nordic splendor as opposed to sitting in your cozy velveteen seat.
Gowns and balls, maypoles and merriment define the sisters’ lives, until Elsa’s grand coronation when Anna is forced to live in isolation to protect her from Elsa’s dangerous powers.
 Dominic Dorset as Kristoff and DanPlehal as Sven (Photo/Matthew Murphy for Disney) The diverse cast moves effortlessly between ice crystals and shimmery fractals. Comic relief comes from Olaf (Jeremy Davis) and Sven (Collin Baja or Daniel Plehal) and the very silly number, “Hygge” sung beside a wayside chalet by the whole cast who dash in and out of a sauna beating themselves with birch branches to a song about comfort, friendship and conviviality. It is irresistible!
Snow blizzards and the haunting mountain people create just enough suspense to keep you on the edge of your seat. And did I mention Anna and Elsa’s love life? A Prince, Hans of the Southern Isles (Preston Perez), and a kindly mountain climbing guide, Kristoff (Dominic Dorset), are involved – one a straight shooter and one, well, not at all what he seems.
Highly recommended. Embrace the wonder-filled world of Frozen!
 Caroline Bowman as Elsa and Lauren Nicole Chapman as Anna (Photo/Matthew Murphy for Disney) With Annie Piper Braverman or Emma Origenes as Young Anna; Erin Choi or Savannah Lumar as Young Elsa; Evan Duff as Weselton; Tyler Jimenez as Pabbie; Renée Reid as Bulda; Jeremy Davis as Oaken; and Gretel Scarlett as Head Handmaiden.
Additional cast members in the ensemble – Kate Bailey, Kristen Smith Davis, Leigh-Ann Esty, Michael Everett, Jason Goldston, Natalie Goodin, Zach Hess, Adrianna Rose Lyons, Alexander Mendoza, Nick Silverio, Daniel Switzer and Peli Naomi Woods.
Under the direction of Michael Grandage with Orchestrations by Dave Metzger; Sound Design by Peter Hylenski; Puppet Design by Michael Curry; Scenic and Costume Design by Christopher Oram; Lighting Design by Natasha Katz; Choreography by Rob Ashford.
Through January 21st at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, 2700 F Street, NW, Washington, DC 20566. For tickets and information call the box office at 202 467-4600 or visit www.kennedy-center.org
Kennedy Center’s Girl from the North Country is Moving and Unforgettable
The Girl from the North Country
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Jordan Wright
December 19, 2023
Special to The Zebra
 Chiara Trentalange (center) and the cast of the GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY North American tour (Photo/Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade) The thing that Writer/Director Conor McPherson understands is the intrinsic value of Bob Dylan’s words. The Words! The Words! And how Dylan’s lyrics reflect the pain of growing up in small town Minnesota – the frustration of an artist who saw and struggled and loved and experienced the inequality of poverty in America. Surprised as McPherson was when given the go-ahead from Bob Dylan to use his songs in a Broadway musical, his gift for Irish storytelling made him the ideal candidate to interpret the music as poetic script.
This musical had such an impact on me that I’ve been processing it for a week before penning my review. Mainly because the subject matter and the songs are weighty and complicated and the beautifully drawn characters leap right out at you. You know these people, or you know of them. There is an empathic intimacy within this story and in the telling too.
 L-R Ben Biggers, Sharaé Moultrie, Jennifer Blood and John Schiappa (Photo/Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade) It is set in Duluth, Minnesota. The year is 1934 as the Great Depression settles heavily upon the nation and those with little to show for their lives of hard work and sacrifice are suffering mightily. The Laine family runs a boardinghouse filled with curious characters down on their luck or running from the law or in love affairs gone sour. Nick and Elizabeth try to keep things in order along with their adopted daughter Marianne and their unemployed son, Gene. But Elizabeth’s mental health is failing, and the place is losing money. Hardships and love affairs threaten to topple the tenuous equilibrium.
Pretenders and desperados live amongst them. A fake holy roller priest, a prison escapee, and a doddering shoe store owner who proposes to young Marianne when the father of her yet to be born child leaves town. References are made to the true story in Duluth when a crowd broke into the jail and hung three Black men. It was hard times.
 Sharaé Moultrie (Photo/Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade) Dylan’s songs are not as he recorded them. Yes, lyric-wise, but not with the same tempo. McPherson gets more heft from slowing them down, changing up some of the notes and phrasing for emphasis and re-imagining their place in the story. You will feel this deeply and appreciate the songs even more when their meaning is placed in the hands, and voices, of this wonderful 17-person cast. When Elizabeth sings Like a Rolling Stone you can feel the undercurrent of trauma, death and mental illness. It is both insistent and poignant.
Dylan’s words were reflective of society’s drift, the ebb and flow of human involvement, of broken women, beautiful women, men on the fringes of society, his own fallibility and the country’s fragility. This is a thinking person’s production with a world of space within its songs to process its meaning.
Highly recommended. Moving and unforgettable.
 Chiara Trentalange and Ben Biggers (Photo/Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade) With Alan Ariano as Dr. Walker; David Benoit as Mr. Burke; Ben Biggers as Gene Laine; Jennifer Blood as Elizabeth Laine; Matt Manuel as Joe Scott; Sharaé Moultrie as Marianne Laine; Jay Russell as Mr. Perry; John Schiappa as Nick Laine; Chiara Trentalange as Kate Draper; Jill Van Velzer as Mrs. Burke; Jeremy Webb as Reverend Marlowe; Aidan Wharton as Elias Burke; Carla Woods as Mrs. Nielsen;
Soloists/ensemble – Ashley D. Brooks, Justin Michael Duval, Kelly McCormick and Hosea Mundi.
Music and Lyrics by Bob Dylan; Music Direction by Wiley DeWeese; Sound Design by Simon Baker; Lighting Design by Mark Henderson; Scenic Design by Rae Smith; Orchestrator, Arranger and Music Supervisor, Simon Hale.
Through December 31st at The Kennedy Center, 2700 F Street, NW, Washington, DC 20566. For tickets and information call the box office at 202 467-4600 or visit www.Kennedy-Center.org.
The Kennedy Center’s Moulin Rouge is a Maximalist’s Wet Dream
Moulin Rouge
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Jordan Wright
August 6, 2023
Special to The Zebra
 The cast of the North American Tour of Moulin Rouge! The Musical, (Photo/Matthew Murphy for MurphyMade) Moulin Rouge! – The Musical! is a maximalist’s wet dream. Glitz and glamour exude from all pores in this celebration of Paris’s bohemian underworld. The best way to enjoy this glorious extravaganza is to surrender to its magnificent excess, of which there is plenty. Directed by Alex Timbers with lavish costumes by Catherine Zuber and eye-popping sets by Derek McLane this explosive production stuns even the jaded eye. A massive blue elephant and the famous Moulin Rouge windmill frame the stage while the Eiffel Tower and Paris’s glittering night sky form the evocative backdrop.
Apart from the Champs Elysees boulevardiers whose lives entangle with Montmartre gigolos and prostitutes, the production’s glitz comes in the form of megawatt circus-atmosphere lighting design by Justin Townsend, flouncy petticoats and sexy dancewear set to vivid choreography by Sonya Tayeh. Add an erotic, jaw-dropping tango and the iconic cancan and you have a grand theatrical fantasy.
 1047 – Gabe MartÍnez as Santiago and Libby Lloyd as Nini (Photo/Matthew Murphy for MurphyMade) Leading lady Satine’s (Yvette Gonzalez-Nacer) illicit lover Christian (John Cardoza) writes a rock opera to woo her and it’s the start of their amour as well as the musical pop rock snippets that weave in and out of the dialogue. It’s a spectacular tribute to lyricists everywhere. The playbill lists none of the musical numbers of which there are over a dozen mostly in snippets. Their rhythms and arrangements are re-imagined and delivered to the recipients as dialogue, but I recognized most of them and you will too. The audience reveled in the songs that backgrounded their own love stories hearing songs like “Burning Down the House”, “Let’s Dance”, “Lady Marmalade”, “Royals”, “Diamonds Are Forever”, “Rolling in the Deep”, “Material Girl”, “Firework”, “Bad Romance”, “Chandelier”, “Your Song”, “Sympathy for the Devil” (of which we had not one drop – sung for the cruel Duke of Monroth (Andrew Brewer) whose aim is to control Satine and keep her as his lover.
Themes of La Boheme and Cabaret weave in and out of this glamourous den of iniquity. Think Satine as Mimi, but based on famed French cancan dancer, Jane Avril, and celebrated in Toulouse-Lautrec’s famous posters promoting the venue and its star performers
 The North American Touring Company of Moulin Rouge! The Musical (Photo/Matthew Murphy for MurphyMade) Harold Zidler (Austin Durant) as the ringmaster of this circus of chanteuses and chanteurs. Zidler touts the ambiance as a place where dreams come true and carnal desires are realized. Drawn from Baz Luhrmann’s and Craig Pearce’s eponymous motion picture, it tells the love story of Satine, the nightclub’s leading lady and Christian, a poor (yet extremely handsome!) budding American songwriter who comes to Paris to cavort among the revolutionaries. It is where he falls in league with Toulouse (Nick Rashad Burroughs on the night I saw it played beautifully by Denzel Tsopnang) and Santiago (Gabe Martinez) who are struggling to write a musical. They join forces and soon the trio pitches Christian’s musical to Satine at the Moulin Rouge where love blooms.
I would like to personally thank both John Cardoza and Yvette Gonzalez-Nacer for their magnificent voices. And they should personally thank me for not running up to the stage at curtain to hug them both.
Book by John Logan, with Nicci Claspell as Arabia; Kamal Lado as Pierre; Gabe Martinez as Nini; Harper Miles as La Chocolat; Andrés Quintero as Baby Doll and a bevy of extraordinary dancers!
Highly recommended. C’est fantastique!
 Yvette Gonzalez-Nacer and the North American Touring Company of Moulin Rouge! The Musical (Photo/Matthew Murphy for MurphyMade) Through September 24th at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, 2700 F Street NW, Washington, DC 20566. For tickets and information visit www.Kennedy-Center.org or call the box office at 202 467-4600.
Tony Award-winning “Best Musical” 1776 Celebrates Our Nation’s History with a Bang at the Kennedy Center
1776
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Jordan Wright
July 2, 2023
Special to The Zebra
 “Sit Down, John” – The National Tour Cast of 1776. (Photo/Joan Marcus) John Quincy Adams on celebrating America’s Independence Day – “It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward.”
Opening at the Kennedy Center in time for Fourth of July celebrations, 1776, the Tony Award-winning “Best Musical”, recalls the struggles our forefathers endured to create a document as powerful, as meaningful, and as long-lasting as the Declaration of Independence, separating this newly minted, hodge-podge of colonies from the tyranny of Great Britain. This was the birth of the future of America.
From the moment the cast appears onstage changing out of day shoes into brass-buckled pilgrim shoes, rolling up short white socks over leggings to create knee breeches, and topping the ensemble with brocade frock coats, we know we’re in the room where it happened – that would be the Second Continental Congress convening in what was then our nation’s capital, Philadelphia.
 Gisela Adisa as ‘John Adams’ (Photo/Joan Marcus) All the superstars are there – John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson – plus lesser-known representatives from the original thirteen colonies. In this august setting we witness the fights (some were physical), the legal arguments raised and the staunch opposition from the southern states where plantation-owning aristocrats fought mightily to hold onto slavery.
John Adams (Gisela Adisa) considered a rabble-rouser, the skirt-chasing B. Franklin (Liz Mikel) and the politically conflicted T. Jefferson (Nancy Anderson) are in favor of seceding from British rule and are willing to support General George Washington encamped in New York and suffering heavy losses at the start of the Revolutionary War. Whether you’re a history buff or not, it’s as exciting as a cage fight. The main thrust of the musical is Adams’ singular ability to challenge the preponderance of naysayers. Oh, the arm-twisting, wrangling, dealmaking and high-minded debates! As Franklin tells Adams, “Don’t worry, John. The history books will clean it up.” And did they ever!
 “Momma, Look Sharp” – (Left) Tiffani Barbour as ‘Andrew McNair’ and (center) Brooke Simpson as ‘The Courier’ and the National Tour Cast of 1776. (Photo/Joan Marcus) Like the old TV show, “You Are There” hosted by Walter Cronkite, 1776 puts you firmly into the heart of that crisis. A very fine cast with a wide array of extraordinary voices (Just when I thought I had a favorite, another one blew me away.) and lovely violin playing from Nancy Anderson. Did you know Jefferson played the violin? His wife, Martha (Connor Lyon’s stunning operatic voice on “He Plays the Violin”) thought it was a turn on. You have to wonder if Sally Hemmings felt the same. And you can’t help but be moved by the emotional number, “Momma, Look Sharp” referencing death on the battlefield.
Oneika Phillips in the role of John Hancock, President of the Congress and in charge of the proceedings, is brilliant at herding cats which is the only metaphor I can think of to describe the rag-tag do-nothings whose singular motive is preserving the status quo and their reverence for King George III.
How they ever formed a perfect union is beyond the reckoning of every American History scholar, but seeing this musical and separating out those true patriots who were determined against all odds to see the nation become whole, will provide some insight and a whole lot of entertainment.
 Liz Mikel as ‘Benjamin Franklin’ (Photo/Joan Marcus) Directed by Jeffrey L. Page and Diane Paulus with a company of artists representing multiple races and diverse gender identities. Additional cast – Karole Foreman as Robert Livingston of New York; Gwynne Wood as George Read of Delaware; Dawn Cantwell as Col. Thomas McKean of Delaware; Jill Marie Vallery as Cesar Rodney of Delaware; Tiffani Barbour as Congressional Custodian, Andrew McNair; Julie Cardia as Stephen Hopkins of Rhode Island; Brooke Simpson as Abigail Adams/Rev. Jonathan Witherspoon of New Jersey; Shelby Acosta as Charles Thompson of New Jersey; Joanna Glushak as John Dickinson of Pennsylvania; Shawna Hamic as Richard Henry Lee of Virginia; Kayla Saunders as Joseph Hewes of North Carolina; Lulu Picart as Samuel Chase of Maryland; Kassandra Haddock as Edward Rutledge of South Carolina; Ariella Serur as Judge James Wilson of Pennsylvania; Anissa Marie Griego as Roger Sherman of Connecticut; Sav Souza as Dr. Josiah Bartlett of New Hampshire and Candice Marie Woods as Courier.
Music and Lyrics by Sherman Edwards; Book by Peter Stone; Set Design by Scott Pask; Costume Design by Emilio Sosa; Lighting Design by Jen Schriever and Sound Design by Jonathan Deams.
Happy Fourth of July! It’s the perfect musical for the whole family.
Through July 16th in the Eisenhower Theater at the Kennedy Center, 2700 F Street, NW, Washington, DC. For tickets and information call the box office at 202 467-4600 or visit www.kennedy-center.org.
The Lion King Roars into Town at The Kennedy Center
The Lion King
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Jordan Wright
June 27, 2023
Special to The Zebra
 Darian Sanders as Simba (Photo/Deen-van-Meer) In its opening number Disney’s The Lion King quite literally roars onto the stage with a procession of African wildlife racing down the aisles. With Elton John and Tim Rice’s epic score, it’s one of the greatest, most electrifying, openings of any show. Seeing it nine years ago on the Kennedy Center’s massive Opera House stage first opened my eyes to the wizardry of Director Julie Taymor’s puppeteering where near life-sized creatures stun even the most jaded theatregoer. The wow factor is jaw-dropping. These exquisitely conceived creatures – giraffes borne on stilts, a massive elephant and baby, whirling birds held high aloft on bamboo poles – stream down the aisles of the Kennedy Center’s Opera House in a fantastical African menagerie. Taymor, who studied Bunraku, the Japanese style of puppetry in which manipulators appear openly, and wayan kulit, the art of shadow puppetry, has magnificently incorporated these concepts into this spectacular production. As in the original production, Taymor also serves as Costume Designer and Mask & Puppet Designer along with Michael Ward.
It is expected that by now (the animated film version premiered in 1994 and in 1998 the stage version garnered six Tony Awards) that you are familiar with the story of the Simba (Darian Sanders) King Mufasa his wise and loving father played by Gerald Ramsey whose superlative voice cradles the emotions in “They Live in You” when he explains to young Simba, Mason Lawson (or Jackson Hayes), how his ancestors reside in the stars; Scar (Peter Hargrave), the evil uncle plotting to steal the throne from Simba; Rafiki the shaman (Gugwana Dlamini) and Zazu (Nick LaMedica) the Red-billed Hornbill. They all inhabit Simba’s life on the plains of Africa, along with the strong-willed Nala (Aniya Simone or Jaxyn Damasco), Simba’s childhood friend, Pumbaa (John E. Brady), the gassy warthog, and Timon (Nick Cordileone) the wise-cracking meerkat. Add hordes of stampeding wildebeests, a pride of lionesses and laughing hyenas (I counted 20 of the creepy beasts) lampooned by Pumbaa and Timon in the famous song “Hakuna Matata” meaning “no worries” in Swahili.
 Circle of Life Cheetah and Giraffes ©Disney (Photo/Joan Marcus) Even if you’ve seen it before, and it’s been making the international circuit well-nigh on 25 years, you should see it again because this production is bigger in so many ways. Let’s run the math. There are 38 cast members, scads of crewmembers, more than 300 costume changes, 573 lighting cues, and 17 orchestra members with 3 conductors and 15 musical numbers. I couldn’t help wondering… where do they all stay during its 5-week run?
Lyricist Tim Rice and Composer Elton John’s score is fabulous. The goosebump-inducing “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” is one of John’s biggest hits as is “Hakuna Matata” that kids adore. Some of the most beautiful and haunting moments are the Afro-spoken chants with the emphasis on Afro-cultural dance and movement. Hans Zimmer won an Oscar, two Grammys and a Golden Globe for the original film score and Soweto émigré, Lebo M, known as the “voice and spirit of The Lion King”, contributed the gloriously rich African rhythms and melodies.
 Darian Sanders as Simba and Khalifa White as Nala ©Disney (Photo/Matthew Murphy) Taymor’s costumes, using the vivid colors of tribal kente cloth, juxtapose Set Designer Richard Hudson’s backdrops of grassy savannas and cerulean skies, while in desert scenes she employs the earthy shades of patterned Malian mud cloth to accentuate Hudson’s parched earth-colored sets.
The Lion King is a lavish feast for the eyes and a paradise of music for the ears and an even more pumped-up version than the original. I’d gladly swing from a baobab tree limb to claim it as one of my favorite musicals ever.
Highly recommended!!!
 Company of The Lion King on Broadway. Circle of Life ©Disney (Photo/Matthew Murphy) With Allison Danielle Semmes as Sarabi; Martina Sykes as Shenzi; Forest VanDyke as Banzai; Robbie Swift as Ed.
Lighting Design by Donald Holder; Sound Design by Steve Canyon Kennedy; Hair & Makeup Design by Michael Ward.
Through July 29th at the Kennedy Center, 2700 F St., NW, Washington, DC. For tickets and information call the box office at 202 467-4600 or visit www.Kennedy-Center.org.
A Resounding Mais Oui! for the Beloved Les Miserables at The Kennedy Center
Les Miserables
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Jordan Wright
April 16, 2022
Special to The Zebra
 Nick Cartell as Jean Valjean (Photo/Matthew Murphy & Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade) The year was 1985 when Les Miserables hit London’s West End. It wowed critics then – Patti Lupone won the Laurence Olivier Award (Britain’s equivalent of an Oscar) for “Best Actress in a Musical” in her role as Fantine – and the musical was further nominated for two awards for “Best Actor in a Musical” (Colm Armstrong for Jean Valjean and Alun Armstrong for Thénardier). Through all its reincarnations, the operatic sing-through, based on the novel by Victor Hugo and backdropped by the French Revolution, still fills theaters around the world.
The spirit of this musical is as relevant as if Hugo had just set pen to paper. Let’s reflect on Louis XVI’s Ancien Régime’s agenda, shall we? Alienate the lower classes through starvation, then ignore science and reason. Keep monarchical rule in place amid mass resistance and cut taxes on the privileged nobles thus keeping the peasants and rising middle class at bay. Hmmm. Sound familiar? Didn’t work out so well for old Louis who was guillotined for his Draconian policies. Ah, well, he did help us out financially during the American Revolution.
 “One Day More” from (Photo/Matthew Murphy & Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade) At its very soul is the heartbreaking love story of the abandoned prostitute Fantine (Haley Dortch) and the reformed thief Valjean (Nick Cartell) and Valjean’s death bed promise to adopt Fantine’s daughter Cosette (Cora Jane Messer as Cosette as a child and Addie Morales as Cosette all grown up). The story fans out with the heartwarming love story of the innocent Cosette and the idealistic Marius (Gregory Lee Rodriguez) with the tragic Éponine (Christine Heesun Hwang) and her unrequited love for her compatriot Marius. Set amid the glory and desperation of a revolution led by Enjolras (Devin Archer) that arose from social and economic inequality, there hasn’t been a story with as much 18th century history, nor as much inspirational music, till Hamilton arrived on the scene. And you know how that’s turned out.
Bawdier, rougher and lustier than I remember when I last saw it six years ago, this national touring company staging with its three-story sets has the fiery intensity of both the battle and escape scenes greatly realized with projections by Finn Ross and Fifty-Nine Productions who have drawn inspiration from the apocryphal paintings of Victor Hugo. And as grim as the story may be, the drama of Valjean’s misery is lightened up decidedly by the characters of Madame Thénardier (Christina Rose Hall) and her husband Thénardier (Matt Crowle) a hilariously dastardly duo who are the innkeepers of the iniquitous Au Sergent de Waterloo in Montfermeil where Cosette is raised in the cruelest of indentured servitude. Yet always chasing his past, Valjean repeatedly comes up against Javert (Preston Truman Boyd) who is determined to arrest him for his past crimes.
 “Fall of Rain” – Christine Heesun Hwang as Éponine and Gregory Lee Rodriguez as Marius (Photo/Matthew Murphy & Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade) Whether you’ve seen it once or a dozen times, as I suspect many in the enthusiastic opening night audience had, Co-directors Laurence Connor and James Powell give us an awe-inducing production so magnificently staged, so brilliantly performed and so powerfully sung. Kudos too, for the evocative golden-hued scenes by Lighting Designer Paule Constable who conjures up street scenes reminiscent of Dutch artist Petrus van Schendel’s firelit paintings. Edge-of-your-seat new orchestrations by Christopher Jahnke, Stephen Metcalfe and Stephen Brooker are gloriously conducted by Music Director Jay Crowder’s Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra along with the show’s Traveling Orchestra led by Brian Eads.
On the night I saw it the magnificent voice of Nick Cartell received a well-deserved standing ovation and rousing cheers for his performance of Jean Valjean. I clung on his every note. Let me die right here! On his solos “Who Am I” and “Bring Him Home” wanting to run up to the stage and thank him personally. Also Gregory Lee Rodriguez’s tremendous solo “Empty Chairs and Empty Tables” which is a powerful ballad about survivor’s guilt. In an eyebrow-raising surprise, the audience stayed through all the bows and not one person fled before the lights went up. A rare sight in today’s theaters.
Absolutely brilliant in every way. Highly recommended!!!
 “Red and Black” – Devin Archer as Enjolras and company Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg; Lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer; Original French Text by Alain Boubil and Jean-Marc Natel; Costumes by Andreane Neofitou.
Through April 29th at The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, 2700 F Street, NW, Washington, DC 20566. For tickets and information call the box office at 202 467-4600 or visit www.Kennedy-Center.org.
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