Hadestown – A Sensational Musical Carnival Travels to Hell and Back at The National Theatre
Hadestown
The National Theatre
Broadway at The National
Jordan Wright
June 7, 2023
Special to The Zebra
 Hannah Whitley J. and Antonio Rodriguez and Company (Photo by T Charles Erikson) If you haven’t brushed up on your Greek mythology lately, you may easily be excused. Yet surely you recall the parable of the doomed lovers Orpheus and Eurydice and Hades and the goddess Persephone. Hades forced his lady love to live with him in hell for half the year and in sunlight for the other half — a seasonal arrangement that strained their unique relationship. Hadestown, the eight-time Tony Award winning musical, borrows from these myths to create a sensational story of love and loss and the power of dreams.
This colorful, theatrical carnival evokes Thomas Hart Benton’s paintings of everyday American life, the unfettered dancing of Josephine Baker, the ground-breaking jazz of Louis Armstrong, the soft sultry ballads of American folk music and the syncopated rhythms of Basin Street’s Afro-Caribbean diaspora with its familiar syncopated “strut.” It’s a fascinating polyglot of N’awlins’ roots and shoots plunked down into a parable as old as time.
 Nathan Lee Graham (Photo by T Charles Erickson) While it is a wildly exciting piece of musical theater, it also offers up a huge dose of consciousness-raising. Super slick, Hades (Matthew Patrick Quinn), as King of the Underworld, is as ruthless as the early American coal and oil barons, recklessly stripping the earth of precious resources and enslaving miners when union-busting proved deadly.
With his extraordinary, multiple-octave range, J. Antonio Rodriguez as Orpheus sings of his love for the waif, Eurydice (Hannah Whitley) as he despairs of the deplorable conditions of the workers and the destruction of the Earth by power-hungry Hades. Quinn’s magnificent baritone voice is eerily evil… in a good way. Defending his ruthlessness, Hades sings of his need for “The Wall” to keep the haves from the have-nots. “The enemy is poverty. We build the wall to keep us free. To keep out poverty.” Sound familiar?
Hadestown is a social and moral construct cleverly tucked into a musical and written by two women. It has a tender love story (two, in fact) cleverly cached in the universal struggle for freedom from oppression and the quest for basic human rights. Be careful or you’ll miss it, wooed as you will be by the harmonizing harpies (The Fates), the stewpot of Cajun and Creole, the red-hot sexpot Persephone (Maria-Christina Oliveras), Hermes (Nathan Lee Graham) as the slithery, smooth, storytelling dandy, and the dazzling lighting effects.
 Company of Hadestown (Photo by T Charles Erickson) Backed melodically by The Fates (Dominique Kempf, Belén Moyano and Nyla Watson),
heartthrob and guitarist Barasch croons the especially soulful “Wait for Me” to Eurydice before she is cast into the Underworld and into the vile clutches of Hades himself.
As in several modern musicals, the musicians are on stage throughout, affording us a close-up of the shiny glint and soulful wah-wahs of the trombone (Emily Fredrickson who plays a mean solo); the pleasant strains of the violin by Kyung Leblanc; with Kely Pinheiro on cello; Calvin Jones on double bass; drums and assorted percussion by Eladio Rojas; a haunting honky-tonk accompaniment by Eric Kang on upright piano; with Belén Moyano on accordion, an important component in New Orleans Zydeco music. The score is filled with minor chords adding to the heart-wrenching sense of longing and doom.
With the stunning harmonies of the Workers Chorus featuring Jordan Bollwerk, Shavey Brown, Jamal Lee Harris, Courtney Lauster and Racquel Williams.
Music, Lyrics & Book by Anaïs Mitchell with Rachel Chavkin; superb Choreography by Chita Rivera Award– winner David Neumann; Scenic Design by Rachel Hauck; Costume Design by Michael Krass; Lighting Design by Bradley King; Sound Design by Nevin Steinberg and Jessica Paz; and Dramaturg Ken Cerniglia.
A massive must-see!!!
 Company of Hadestown North American Tour (Photo by T Charles Erickson) Through June 18th at The National Theatre, 1321 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20004. For tickets and information visit www.BroadwayAtTheNational.com or in person at the box office.
High Jinks and Hilarity with an All-Black Cast in The Nacirema Society at The Little Theatre of Alexandria
Jordan Wright
June 6, 2023
Special to The Zebra
 (L to R): Jacquel Tomlin, Robin Lynn Reaves (Photo by Matt Liptak) When scandal hits the Nacirema Society’s celebratory year of presenting debutantes at their posh ball in Montgomery Alabama, all hell breaks loose in this prim and proper world of Black high society. To the mannerly matrons even the slightest whiff of unsavory behavior is utterly unspeakable. The society’s creed is “Honor, Chastity and Truth” and it will prove to be this august society’s undoing if word gets out that there’s been a breach in all three categories. As the program tells us it’s “a glamorous world where folks still dress for dinner and strong-willed grandmothers work behind the scenes” as the ladies’ social club is determined to keep social standards up to snuff at the height of the civil rights era.
Gracie (Selina Tom-Johnson), granddaughter of the society’s grande dame, Grace (Lisa Hill-Corley), knows she’s expected to attend HBCU Fisk College and follow in the family tradition, but that’s not what the delightfully independent budding author Gracie has in mind. She’s determined to pursue a writer’s bohemian life in New York City and her mother, Marie (Kellie Santos DeJesus), is sworn to secrecy so as not to upset Grace’s high-minded plans.
 (L to R): Selina Tom-Johnson, Jummy Lash (Photo by Matt Liptak) The play reads like a TV sit-com (in the best way) as the story unfolds to reveal a blackmail plot and the scandal of an extra-marital affair between the late Dr. Dunbar and the family’s former housekeeper, Alpha Campbell Jackson (Jacquel R. Tomlin), who intends to soak Grace for the dough to underwrite her daughter, Lillie’s (Jummy Lash) college dreams to become a doctor.
But when the New York Times announces the engagement of Gracie to Bobby Green (Evin Howell), a handsome young doctor and Gracie’s childhood playmate, Gracie must do her best to squelch the story and keep secret the romance between Bobby and Lillie.
The shiniest character is Catherine Adams Green (Robin Lynn Reaves, veteran actor in a number of our top local theater productions), best friend to Grace and Bobby’s addlepated mother who gets in over her head when she is asked to secretly broker the sub rosa deal with Alpha before it reaches the ears of New York Times reporter Janet Logan (Kamilah Lawson). Janet’s arrived to report on the historic cotillion and is a guest on Grace’s well-staffed home. Keeping the deal on the down low from Janet triggers a whole host of shenanigans from the ladies and leading to a ton of laughs from the audience.
 (L to R): Robin Lynn Reaves, Lisa Hill-Corley (Photo by Matt Liptak) The all-Black cast keeps it light and breezy amid the high jinks and hilarity of what is expected to be an auspicious event for the Nacirema Society (which by the way spells America backwards). There’s even a soupçon of mystery as family secrets are revealed in this very American drawing room comedy. A good bit of sherry-sipping rounds out the sharp edges of the family dynamic and soon we’re caught up in all the sparkly silliness.
Handily directed by Eleanor Tapscott, writer Pearl Cleage’s convolutedly clever comedy comes alive. It’s a treat for LTA to have selected this work by Cleage who gave us Blues for an Alabama Sky and the New York Times best seller, What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day.
With Barbara Cooper as Jessie Roberts.
Assistant Director, Aracely Ode; Lighting Design by JK Lighting Design – Jeffrey Scott Auerbach and Kimberly Crago; Costume Design by Jean Schlichting and Kit Sibley; Sets by Ken Brown and Peter Mumford; Sound Design by Dr. Victoria Brown and Ruben Vellekoop.
 Front Row (L to R): Jummy Lash, Jacquel Tomlin, Lisa Hill-Corley, Selina Tom-Johnson
Back Row (L to R): Barbara Cooper, Tiffany Morina, Kamilah Lawson, Kellie Santos-DeJesus, Juanisha Brooks, Robin Lynn Reaves, Evin Howell (Photo by Matt Liptak) The Nacirema Society Requests the Honor of Your Presence at a Celebration of Their First 100 Years through June 24th at The Little Theatre of Alexandria, 600 Wolfe Street, Alexandria, VA 22314. For tickets and information visit www.TheLittleTheatre.com or call the box office at 703 683-0496.
The Little Theatre of Alexandria Profile
Jordan Wright
May 21, 2023
In Our Midst – The Little Theatre of Alexandria
Special to The Zebra
In celebration of its 90th anniversary the beloved The Little Theatre of Alexandria has quite a story to tell. With a lengthy history of presenting everything from emotional dramas, Broadway musicals and rom-coms to farce, historical epics and snappy British humor, over the decades the theater has given its audiences a wide range of top-notch entertainment to choose from. This year alone the theater earned a whopping 58 nominations from the Washington Area Theater Community Honors (WATCH Awards). With the help of the theater’s historian Kim Smith-Salmon and LTA President Frank Shutts, we dug into the archives to reveal the history of the small yet mighty theater that continues to provide an extraordinary contribution to the arts in Alexandria.
 Hairspray at The Little Theatre of Alexandria Inspired by a community theater in Lynchburg, VA, Alexandria resident Mary Lindsey mounted LTA’s first production in 1934 at the height of the Great Depression by inviting a drama group through St. Paul’s Church. Formerly known as the “Peacock Players”, the 200-person strong membership met several times at Gadsby’s Tavern to plan for three one-act plays. The following year they incorporated as The Little Theatre of Alexandria premiering with Holiday by Phillip Barry which was performed at The Lyceum Hall for two consecutive nights. The Lyceum was to become the primary staging point for the theatre at this time. For the rest of the first year, one-act plays were interspersed with full-length plays, some recent Broadway hits.
Before tickets were sold to the public, attendees were members and productions were initially held in the Lyceum. In those early years the LTA mounted productions in Gadsby’s Tavern, Carlyle House and during the war years at the Alexandria Cameron Street USO Center. In 1957 the Alexandria City Council granted the group a lease of property at the corner of Wolfe and St. Asaph Streets to construct a permanent structure. Legend has it that the beautiful wrought iron gates that enclose the garden courtyard are from either the Truman White House or Old Executive Building – a mystery the theater is currently researching.
In November 1960 ground was officially broken on the structure – once a vacant lot used by neighborhood children for pick-up games of softball and kickball – and the first performance in the new permanent building at 600 Wolfe Street took place in November 1961 with Send Me No Flowers. In 1960, LTA produced its first musical The Boyfriend, opening the door to over 60 years of musicals and plays at the new location.
 Avenue Q at The Little Theatre of Alexandria The first presidential visit was President Harry Truman and his wife, Bess, who came to see the Gadsby’s Tavern production in 1947. Not only was this the first time a US President had visited LTA, but the first time a US President had been to Gadsby’s Tavern since Andrew Jackson. The Little Theatre of Alexandria has been visited more recently by First Ladies Barbara Bush and Laura Bush as well as President George Bush when daughter-in-law Margaret Bush performed in Neil Simon’s Proposals in the fall of 2001. Older members recall regular visits from President Truman, and Lady Bird Johnson serving punch during intermissions. Numerous senators and congressmen including John Warner and Mark Warner have been spotted in the audience as well as former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens. The biggest surprise may have been when in 1939 Thornton Wilder attended a production of his play Our Town.
 Ragtime at The Little Theatre of Alexandria Over the years a number of actors went on to enjoy successful careers in theater including Marcia Gay Harden who appeared at LTA in 1982 in Neil Simon’s I Ought to be in Pictures, Dermont Mulroney who took classes at LTA when his mother was a member. TV actor Steve O’Connor took classes and appeared in several shows. Calvin Remsburg went onto a professional career in the theater and actors like Tom Wiggin have appeared in national soaps. Currently, LTA is represented on Broadway in The Life of Pi by actress Salma Qarnain who appeared in LTA’s 2000 production of Hair. One Washington Post reviewer referred to the theater as “the Kennedy Center of Community theaters without the obvious trappings.”
The Nacirema Society Requests the Honor of Your Presence at a Celebration of Their First One Hundred Years will open on June 3rd and run through June 24th. For tickets and information visit www.TheLittleTheatre.com or call the box office at 703 683-0496.
Sweeney Todd – The Demon of Fleet Street Provides Murder, Mayhem and Brit Wit at Signature Theatre
Sweeney Todd – The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Signature Theatre
Jordan Wright
May 26, 2023
Special to The Zebra
 Nathaniel Stampley (Sweeney Todd) and Ian McEuen (Pirelli) in Sweeney Todd at Signature Theatre. (Photo/Margot Schulman) Set in the darkest environs of London we find Sweeney Todd just released from prison and plunged into a life of murder and mayhem, a topic popular with virtuous Victorians and their high-minded devotion to morality and manners. Sweeney Todd – The Demon Barber of Fleet Street provides us with a singularly depraved and vengeful killer, a man “who would blink and rats would scuttle” as he “served a dark and vengeful god”, underpinned by the intelligent beauty of Stephen Sondheim’s brilliant score with book by Hugh Wheeler.
Columns of screeching steam announce the opening scene as the characters enter from the aisles. We hear the plaintively beautiful operatic voice of the Beggar Woman (Rayanne Gonzalez) as she portends the evils that await and we meet handsome, young Anthony Hope (note the surname) (Paul Scanlan), a sailor who saved Sweeney’s life in a shipwreck and who arrives in London to find Todd and ask for a favor in return.
 Katie Mariko Murray (Johanna) and Paul Scanlan (Anthony Hope) in Sweeney Todd at Signature Theatre. (Photo/Christopher Mueller) Mrs. Lovett (Bryonha Marie), an ambitious and wily widow with a failing meat pie shop and soon to become the lover and murderous accomplice of Sweeney (Nathaniel Stampley), appears in her establishment bemoaning the high price of meat while noting how all the neighbor’s cats have disappeared. They soon strike up an unusual and diabolical alliance and, in a stroke of business genius, Mrs. Lovett (note the surname) provides Todd with a tonsorial parlor above her shop where they gleefully combine the two disparate businesses. “Think of it as thrift,” she chirps ominously.
The musical is a tale of love, loss and revenge merrily served up in all its carnivorous glory with a spot of tea and a stiff upper lip. A grisly horror story dripping with blood and British humor and some of the most notably creative of Sondheim’s music and lyrics. And, not to worry, my pet, it’s also gifts us with an acerbic side-eye and biting gallows humor.
 Bryonha Marie (Mrs. Lovett) and Nathaniel Stampley (Sweeney Todd) in Sweeney Todd at Signature Theatre. (Photo/Christopher Mueller) As for our leads, Marie and Stampley, there could not be a more perfect casting of these two actors who both support and contrast each other. Stampley, portrays a gloomy figure of a man who stalks and broods in tenor splendor and who conveys all the evil in the wider world. He is matched only by the broad expressiveness, charm, and magical vocals of Bryonha Marie. They are superb together.
Scenic Designer Mikiko Suzuki Macadams reflects London’s gritty underbelly with the dark and dirty greys of its 19th century warehouse district complementing Costume Designer Robert Perdziola’s vision of ladies in muted grey dresses – save for our heroine Johanna who is a vision in white linen. Director Sarna Lapine creates a scene of constantly swirling dramatic intrigue and a clever concept to mimic the appearance of blood (of which there is much) using thin, red streamers to palatably capture the mendacity afoot.
Of particular note are performances by Katie Mariko Murray who plays sweet, innocent Johanna, Todd’s long-lost daughter; Harrison Smith as Tobias Ragg, the couple’s wide-eyed hapless assistant; John Leslie Wolfe as the libidinous Judge Turpin who keeps Joanna in an actual birdcage; Christopher Michael Richardson as The Beadle; and Ian McEuen as Pirelli, Todd’s Italian challenger to the title of best barber.
Choreographed by Alison Solomon and conducted by Jon Kabfleisch commanding a 15-piece orchestra for the full-on experience.
Highly recommended.
With an ensemble to include Benjamin Lurye, Jimmy Mavrikes, Bob McDonald, Adelina Mitchell (doubling as Dance Captain), Crystal Mosser, Lawrence Redmond (doubling as Fight Captain), Katherine Riddle, Sarah Anne Sillers and Chani Wereley.
Through July 9th at Signature Theatre in Shirlington Village, 4200 Campbell Avenue, Arlington, VA 22206. For tickets and information visit www.SigTheatre.org or call the box office at 703 820-9771.
The Crazy Amazing World of the Dearly Departed Rocks the National Theatre in Beetlejuice
Beetlejuice – The Musical
Broadway at the National
National Theatre
Jordan Wright
May 17, 2023
Special to The Zebra
 (Photo /Matthew Murphy, 2022) Confession 1.0: I had never seen the 1988 Academy Award-winning Tim Burton movie, Beetlejuice, nor TV series based on it. Call me a Beetlejuice virgin.
Backstory: After a brief tryout here at the National Theatre in 2018, Beetlejuice headed to Broadway and the famed Winter Garden Theatre in 2019. The show had less than a year’s run before the pandemic hit shutting down all productions in early 2020. Nominated for eight Tony Awards in nearly every category and garnering a win for “Outstanding Set Design”, it proved to be a huge success. Luckily for us it’s back in town and killin’ it on its first national tour. All that goes to say that the audience, some garbed in the black-and-white stripes favored by Beetlejuice, consisted of legions of fans of the quirky-cool story and its rock concert vibe.
Reality: It’s a show about death and the newly dead – in the best possible way, I promise – with an utterly irreverent script, electrifying rock music and hilarious lyrics fronted by a tremendously talented cast of singers and dancers, a blazing rock band and dazzling light show. Be prepared to embrace the far side. Can you love the living dead? They’ll prove you can and will.
 (Photo /Matthew Murphy, 2022) The cast in this show is wonderful. From lead demon, Beetlejuice, played to the hilt and heavy on vaudevillian schtick by veteran improv comedian and rock singer, Justin Collette, to the breathtaking vocals of newcomer Isabella Esler who plays young Lydia, the Goth-garbed daughter grieving the untimely death of her mother. Esler has a stunning powerhouse voice tempered by an adorable sweetness that left me and my plus-one wide-eyed in its wake. Chills and thrills.
Picture a young couple, Barbara (Britney Coleman) and Adam (Will Burton) living in a decaying Victorian house longing for a child yet consumed with their individual hobbies. In an unfortunate incident in the dark of night they accidently electrocute themselves and are banished to the netherworld. Beetlejuice, who is “dying” to return amongst the living, needs someone to say his name three times. He cajoles the couple into haunting their old house, so he can con the new homeowners. To accomplish his nefarious ends, the slippery, double-crossing, gravelly-voiced specter unleashes a crazy amazing world of pandemonium filled with dancing skeletons and singing zombies. Enter Delia (the delightful, scene-stealing Kate Marilley), a guru-loving seductress accompanied by her business-obsessed lover and father of Lydia, Charles (Jesse Sharp), who buy the now-haunted house where Barbara and Adam are merrily ensconced in the attic reading “The Handbook for the Recently Deceased” and preparing to pounce on the unsuspecting trio with ghoulish abandon.
 (Photo /Matthew Murphy, 2022) Truly one of the funniest, most energetic, wonderfully choreographed shows – high praise for the endearingly creepy characters – this reviewer has ever seen. Schtick rules! A huge cast propelled by a kick-ass band and rock star voices send this musical beyond the beyond. If I published all the bios of cast and crew, you would have a star-studded list of some of the best-known Broadway performers and designers, most notably Director Alex Timbers (Moulin Rouge!); Original Score by Eddie Perfect (King Kong); with Book by Scott Brown (Castle Rock) and Anthony King (Robbie); Choreography by Connor Gallagher (The Robber Bridegroom); David Korins (Scenic Designer on Hamilton); Six-time Tony Award-winning Costume Designer William Ivey Long; Tony Award winner Kenneth Posner (Kinky Boots); with Sound Design by Peter Hylenski (Moulin Rouge!); the fabulous projection design of Peter Nigrini (Dear Evan Hansen); Puppet Design by Michael Curry (The Lion King); and Special Effects Design by Jeremy Chernick (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child)… to name but a handful of the extraordinary creative team.
With Abe Goldfarb as Priest/Otho/Census Taker; Danielle Marie Gonzalez as Miss Argentina; Jackera Davis as Girl Scout; and the indelible Kris Roberts as Juno; plus a 13-person ensemble and 11-person orchestra with searing synthesizers.
Drop dead fabulous! Grab your tickets while you can!
 (Photo by Matthew Murphy, 2022) Through May 28th at the National Theatre, 1321 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20004. For tickets and information call the box office at 202 628-6161 or visit www.TheNationalDC.com. (The show is recommended for 10+ due to mature references and strong language and as the press release says, “a lot of crazy, inappropriate stuff you would expect from a deranged demon.”)
A Love Letter to Audrey Hepburn Premieres as Part of Creative Cauldron’s “Bold New Works” Series
Audrey: The New Musical
Creative Cauldron
Jordan Wright
May 18, 2022
Special To The Zebra
 Santiago Alfonzo Mesa and Rebecca Ballinger (Photo by William Gallagher) Audrey: The New Musical is Danielle E. Moore’s paean to the late stage and screen star. Moore, who wrote the book, music and lyrics, is a young writer and producer whose ambitious project and fondness for Ms. Hepburn gave her the inspiration to create this musical based on the extraordinary life and fascinating relationships of the actress and noted humanitarian. Produced as part of Creative Cauldron’s “Regional Bold New Works” program, the production is directed by Laura Connors Hull who had her hands full putting in place a lot of moving parts from a large cast, tons of choreography by Morgan Arravillaga, and a host of musical numbers (for some unexplained reason unlisted in the program). That there is enough material in Hepburn’s life to form an entire show, of that there is no doubt. Yet the writer’s job of condensing her career while still including the many facets of her wartime experiences in Nazi-occupied Holland, appears monumental.
 Front Row: Bianca Lipford, Rebecca Ballinger, Lindsey Jacobsen, Lenny Mendez Back Row: Santiago Alfonzo Meza, Ricky Drummond, Tyler Cramer. (Photo by William Gallagher) As a young girl living under extraordinarily dangerous conditions Hepburn worked for the Dutch Resistance relaying messages to the opposition, even losing a member of her own noble family to the Nazis, all while studying for a career as a ballerina. Moore splits Audrey’s life in two presenting us with Audrey as the young ballet dancer (Morgan Arrivillaga) alongside her rise to Hollywood stardom and peppering the plot with a compilation of the many familiar faces of the period including her domineering husband, Spanish actor Mel Ferrer (Santiago Alfonzo Meca); William Holden (Ricky Drummond), a serial womanizer; Colette, the celebrated French writer who penned Gigi, Hepburn’s first Broadway show, and who wrote Ondine, one of Hepburn’s earliest film successes. Subsequent stars whirl in and out of her life – Fred Astaire, Marilyn Monroe, Warner Brothers studio head, the bombastic Jack Warner and Edith Head (Bianca Lipford) who as one of the most famed costume designers in Hollywood designed many of Hepburn’s looks for film. Even Givenchy, the Paris fashion designer whose glamorous designs she wore both in an out of her films is featured as is Rex Harrison who starred with her in My Fair Lady which earned her a second Academy Award.
 Rebecca Ballinger and Garrett Matthews (Photo by William Gallagher) There’s a lot of Audrey’s life represented here including the constellation of celebrities she knew, all crammed into this musical about a woman whose career didn’t end on the stage and screen and who was beloved later in life as representative for UNICEF while traveling the globe on humanitarian missions. But the musical does feel like let’s-throw-everything-but-the-kitchen-sink-on-the-stage and see what sticks. And that’s the dilemma. What’s important? What’s exciting? What yields the most drama/comedy/pathos/humor? It’s all here, and much of it is interesting. Lots to process. Yet, I’d prefer to see it pared down. Is a bit with Marilyn Monroe really necessary? Do we need to meet all those famous men in Audrey’s life? Too many to reflect on. Why toss in Ella Fitzgerald (Cynthis Davis) who appears in a Paris café for two numbers? What’s the point? There is enough material here for two separate musicals (I was relieved not to witness a reenactment of Audrey’s funeral). It’s a Herculean effort that needs refinement. But, wow! I was mightily impressed with the effort and felt if a more senior production team were involved, this could see a Broadway stage someday. The concept is very clever and the writing and research show that Moore has done her homework on her idol.
All that said, huge kudos to Costume Designer Margie Jervis, who does double duty as Scenic Designer, and whose elegant costumes in the My Fair Lady’s Ascot Races scene were spot on as well as creating the Givenchy (Tyler Cramer) look-alike dresses and a few 1950’s Edith Head designed costumes taken from Audrey’s films. Smaller details were noticeable in the props where period movie cameras and flashbulb-popping handheld cameras used by reporters in trench coats were perfectly retro. And an extra special shout-out to the Stage Manager (Nicholas J. Goodman) who had too many cues to count.
The locally known cast did a bang-up job on the small stage, but the star of the show was clearly the delightfully pixie-like Rebecca Ballinger who nailed Audrey’s clipped British accent and snappy repartee. So well-cast, she even had Audrey’s swan neck, feathery qualities and lithe figure.
Through June 4th at Creative Cauldron, 410 South Maple Avenue, Falls Church, VA 22046. For tickets and information call the box office at 703 436-9948 or visit www.CreativeCauldron.org.
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