Attention all Brits and Anglophiles! The festive tradition of vying for the evilest stories during the Christmas season is very much intact. Based on Susan Hull’s 1983 neo-Gothic novel came the play, the second-longest running production in London’s West End. It puts us in mind of Dicken’s “A Christmas Carol” featuring the spooky ghosts of Christmases Past, Present and Future. This tale of “truth being quite other”, as it’s described, attempts to be a story of haunting and fear. And the premise that, “It must be told,” becomes the basis for delivering this tale.
Daniel Easton, left, and Robert Goodale star in “The Woman in Black” at the Shakespeare Theatre Company. Photo credit Tristram Kenton
In this atmospherically set two-hander, promoted as “spine-tingling”, the actors trade parts using different accents, subtle costume changes, and a few props, counting on the audience’s imagination to envision the characters’ motives and identities, rather than seeing it all played out. Eerie sound effects – howling winds, thudding steps, screams, and things that go bump in the night – are the raison d’être for attempting to terrorize the audience.
In it, scenes toggle back and forth between an old man’s spooky story and a young solicitor (who also acts as acting coach to the old man) with the two men trading roles and adopting new ones at the drop of a bowler hat. I must confess I found it rather sillier, and utterly predictable, than scary, though several audience members did squeal a few times.
Robert Goodale, left, and Daniel Easton in “The Woman in Black.” Photo credit Tristram Kenton
It’s easy to intuit the plot as well as the outcome when the described setting is the dark salt marshes surrounding an isolated house in England’s barren countryside. Factor in the Nine Lives Bridge that sinks with the tides, further enisling the property and add in a fog-filled graveyard that features prominently as a location for a visiting ghost. I’m not entirely certain there weren’t baying hounds, but there could have been, so seamlessly would they have figured into this well-acted but clichéd story.
Ah well, you can’t win them all – ghosts notwithstanding.
Adapted by Stephen Mallatratt and directed by Robin Herford. Set and Costume Design by Michael Holt, Lighting Design by Kevin Sleep. Starring Robert Goodale as Arthur Kipps and Daniel Easton as The Actor.
Through December 22nd at the Michael R. Klein Theatre (formerly known as the Lansburgh Theatre) at 450 7th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20007. For tickets and information visit www.ShakespeareTheatre.org/events or call the box office at 202.547.1122.
An exhilarating and fresh new production of Fiddler hit the National Theatre this week. The Tony-nominated revival comes in at number eight in the venue’s 2019-2020 “Broadway at the National” series – a series that includes an unprecedented 17 productions. As with many a national touring show, it is only here for a few performances before hitting the road and straight on to yet another U. S. city. Catch it if you can. The voices, as well as the production values, are sublime, and the energy and dance numbers are at full throttle.
The Cast of Fiddler on the Roof. Photo by Joan Marcus.
Written at the turn of the 20th century, the story of the lone fiddler is inspired by the Yiddish stories of Sholem Aleichem. In this funny and sweetly endearing folk tale set in the fictional Russian Jewish shetl called Anatevka, live Tevye, a milkman, his wife, Golde and their five eligible daughters. In their small village the rabbi, or rebbe, is the ultimate authority on Jewish tradition and Yente the Matchmaker, who is the Dolly Levi of arranged marriages, has the final say in whom the young women will marry.
Yehezkel Lazarov, Jonathan Von Mering & the Cast of Fiddler on the Roof. Photo by Joan Marcus.
Alas, poor Tevye. He is eternally conflicted by the changing times as he wrestles with the frightening political climate, the ever-looming pogroms, and the strict religious precepts laid down by the rabbi. Fiercely traditional in a paternalistic society, he tries to rationalize his daughters’ unorthodox marital choices. “On the other hand, look at my daughter’s eyes,” he muses, trying to justify the adoration he sees in them for the men they love. We see Tevye at odds between keeping tradition or accepting the decisions of his beloved daughters. “Without tradition our lives would be as shaky as the fiddler on the roof,” he warns them.
Natalie Anne Powers, Mel Weyn & Ruthy Froch. Photo by Joan Marcus.
This tender and uplifting story is directed by Tony Award winner Bartlett Sher (South Pacific, The King and I) with all-new spectacular choreography (including the epic bottle dance) by famed Israeli Choreographer, Hofesh Schechter are drawn from authentic folkloric dances and by Jerome Robbins original choreography. As an added treat, Tevye is played by the critically acclaimed Israeli theatre, film, and TV star Yehezkel Lazarov. Altogether the cast is seamless. Notable, too, is Noa Luz Barenblat, as Chava, who reminds me of a young Shirley Jones.
Carolyn Keller, Michael Hegarty, Maite Uzal & Yehezkel Lazarov. Photo by Joan Marcus.
“Tevye’s Dream”, a scene featuring the ghost of Fruma-Sarah, is especially stunning with gargantuan creatures inspired by artist Marc Chagall’s images. Together they serve as an eerie and phantasmagorical imagining of Tevye’s nightmare – the one in which he and Golde must face the marriage of their independent-minded daughter Tzeitel to the crusty old butcher Lazar Wolf. “I realize we are the chosen people,” he tells God, “but sometimes couldn’t you choose someone else.”
Olivia Gjurich, Yehezkel Lazarov & the Cast of Fiddler on the Roof. Photo by Joan Marcus.
You’ll revel in “If I Were a Rich Man”, “Matchmaker, Matchmaker”, “Miracle of Miracles”, and “Sunrise, Sunset”, all the time-tested tunes that background the important moments of our lives.
The Cast of Fiddler on the Roof. Photo by Joan Marcus.
Highly recommended whether you’ve seen it once or a hundred times.
With Maite Uzal as Golde; Kelly Gabrielle Murphy as Tzeitel; Ruthy Froch as Hodel; Emma Taylor Schwartz as Shprintze; Carly Post as Bielke; Carol Beaugard as Yente; Nick Siccone as Motel the tailor; Nick Casaula as Perchik; Jonathan Von Mering as Lazar Wolf; Danny Arnold as Mordcha; David Scott Curtis as Rabbi; Cam Cote as Mendel; Kelly Glyptis as Fruma-Sarah; Jack O’Brian as Constable; Sam McClellan as Fyedka; Ali Arian Molaei as The Fiddler.
Conducted by Michael Gildin with Set Design by Michael Yeargan; Costume Design by Catherine Zuber; Lighting Design by Donald Holder; and Sound Design by Scott Lehrer & Alex Neumann. Book by Joseph Stein, Music by Jerry Bock and Lyrics by Sheldon Harnick.
At the National Theatre, 1321 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC. For tickets and information visit www.TheNationalDC.com or call 1.800.514.3849.
Ken Ludwig, the prolific Olivier Award-winning and Tony Award-winning playwright, gifts us with an exquisite pentimento-inspired play drawing on his parents’ long-distance romance during the height of World War II. This charming, world premiere two-hander is constructed in such a way that the actors act out their correspondence. It’s a clever device that allows their letters to come to life. Credit Director Jackie Maxwell for sorting through the mechanics of bringing it to the stage. Separated on either side of the stage and speaking directly to the audience, is Jack, a soldier writing from his military posts and Louise, an aspiring actress residing in the Curtain Call Boarding House in New York City.
(L to R) Jake Epstein (Jack Ludwig) and Amelia Pedlow (Louise Rabiner) in Ken Ludwig’s Dear Jack, Dear Louise running November 21 through December 29, 2019 at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater. Photo by C. Stanley Photography.
The two young letter-writers couldn’t be more dissimilar. Small town-bred Jack, a doctor, is shy, studious and committed to the care of his fellow soldiers, while Brooklyn-born Louise is high-strung, sardonic and witty. They make the perfect case for opposites attracting.
While Jack awaits leave, the ultimate goal is for the two to meet in person, their letters become a lifeline to each others’ emotional well-being. Louise gaily writes about her nerve-wracking auditions and later, about his parents’ efforts to meet her. (They’re behind the whole thing.) One of the funniest scenes is when she regales him with the story of how 45 members of his extended family meet her at the train station and later, how she fell out a window (or was pushed) by one of his undermining aunts. All this after he has begged her not to meet his crazy family and sent letters to his battalion of aunts threatening to out their family secrets if they’re not on their best behavior.
Jake Epstein (Jack Ludwig) in Ken Ludwig’s Dear Jack, Dear Louise. Photo by C. Stanley Photography.
Their correspondence focuses on the period from 1942 through 1945 including Jack’s time on the most dangerous battlefields in Europe and as Louise agonizes that she will never meet her heart’s desire. It’s a sweet romance full of the poignancy, promise, fears, and gallows’ humor universally expressed in letters during wartime and these two actors synch up so symbiotically you can’t help but believe their transformative tale. Ludwig said of his play, “I hope it’s a story about how this country rises to the occasion.” And, indeed it is.
Amelia Pedlow (Louise Rabiner) in Ken Ludwig’s Dear Jack, Dear Louise. Photo by C. Stanley Photography.
Costumes by Linda Cho and hairstyles by Ellyn Miller are period-perfect, though Beowolf Boritt’s backdrop is more reminiscent of amoebas suspended in a test tube than a setting for a wartime dramedy.
If you like “A Wonderful Life”, and who doesn’t, this one’s for you.
(L to R) Amelia Pedlow (Louise Rabiner), Ken Ludwig (Playwright) and Jake Epstein (Jack Ludwig) in Ken Ludwig’s Dear Jack, Dear Louise. Photo by C. Stanley Photography.
Starring Jake Epstein (originator of the role of Gerry Goffin in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical and Peter Parker/Spiderman in Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark) and Amelia Pedlow (lately featured in Doubt, Love’s Labour’s Lost at the Folger, and The Metromaniacs and A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Shakespeare Theatre Company).
Through December 29th at Arena Stage, 1101 Sixth St., SE, Washington, DC 20024. For tickets and information call 202 488-3300 or visit www.ArenaStage.org.
The high energy Tony Award-winning, Newsies, a lollapalooza of a musical, tapped, spun, swung, belted and leapt its way onto the Fichandler Stage to tremendous applause. A sweetheart of a story about the scrappy young newsboys who went up against the powerful New York City-based newspaper barons, William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer, it checks all the boxes for fabulous, family-friendly, action-packed entertainment.
The cast of Disney’s Newsies running November 1 through December 29, 2019 at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater. Photo by Margot Schulman.
This David meets Goliath story pits orphan newsboys against greedy publishers setting the stage for a tender love story between the strike’s brash young leader, Jack Kelly, and the publisher’s daughter, budding theatre critic, Katherine Plumber. This is where I mention Daniel J. Maldonado who plays Jack. Remember that name. He’s not only ferociously talented and fiercely captivating, but a total heartthrob. Okay, we got that out of the way.
(L to R) Edward Gero (Joseph Pulitzer) and Jamie Smithson (Nunzio/Guard/Policeman/Teddy Roosevelt) in Disney’s Newsies running November 1 through December 29, 2019 at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater. Photo by Margot Schulman.
Here’s the set up. To raise his profits, Pulitzer jacks up the price the kids must pay to the middlemen, leaving them little to subsist on. Led by Kelly and fellow newsie, David, the boys decide to form a union and strike for better wages and decent working conditions. The period musical is set in 1899 when other citywide unions, from the trolley workers to child labor unions, had tried and failed to gain traction for their demands. When it looked as though workers were winning support, the bosses sent thugs to rough them up portrayed here as the Lower East Side Delancey Brothers.
Nova Payton (Nun/Medda) in Disney’s Newsies running November 1 through December 29, 2019 at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater. Photo by Margot Schulman.
Jack forms a bond with David, a bright kid whose father lost his job and is forced to work to so the family can eat. David, along with his little brother, Les, are both the force and inspiration for the orphans’ dreams. Another shining star is local talent Josiah Smothers as Les. Not only can he dance and sing with the best of them, but he is utterly endearing.
(L to R) Daniel J. Maldonado (Jack Kelly) and Erin Weaver (Katherine) in Disney’s Newsies running November 1 through December 29, 2019 at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater. Photo by Margot Schulman.
Performed in the round, the actors utilize all the aisles and all four entry points to create an all-encompassing experience. Ken MacDonald’s set design from Pulitzer’s swank office and Medda’s swanky nightclub to the fire escapes of the Lower East Side, provides the perfect climate for the ultimate showdown.
Rounding out the core cast, is Edward Gero, spot on as the crochety Pulitzer, the gorgeous Erin Weaver as Katherine with a voice like an angel, and the irrepressible Nova Y. Payton, who plays Medda Larkin, a hotsy-totsy cabaret singer whose soulful powerhouse voice shakes the rafters. The rest of the ensemble showcases some of the best hoofers and singers anywhere. Remember. If you see Disney in front of a show’s title, it will be spectacular!
Highly recommended.
Through December 29th at Arena Stage, 1101 Sixth St., SE, Washington, DC 20024. For tickets and information call 202 488-3300 or visit www.ArenaStage.org.
Directed by Molly Smith with book by Harvey Fierstein and 18 wonderful numbers written by Jack Feldman, composed by Alan Menken, based on the Disney film written by Bob Tzudiker and Noni White. Dazzling choreography by Parker Esse with Dance Arrangements by Danny Troob; Costume Design by Alejo Vietti and Sound Design by Daniel Erdberg.
Additional cast members in alphabetical order – Rory Boyd as Oscar Delancey/Bill/Ensemble; Matthew Davies as Specs/Ensemble; Javier del Pilar as Bunsen/Stage Manager/Ensemble; Wyn Delano as Snyder/Ensemble; Christian Douglas as Seitz/Ensemble; Hazel Hay or Josiah Smothers as Les; Michael Hewitt as Morris Delancey/Darcy/Ensemble; Michael John Hughes as Romeo/Spot Conlon; Carole Denise Jones as Nun/Hannah/Ensemble; Tomás Matos as Finch/Ensemble; Joe Montoya as Crutchie; Emre Ocak as Mush/Ensemble; Shiloh Orr as Albert/Scab/Ensemble; Tanner Pflueger as Henry/Buttons/ Ensemble; Bridget Riley as Splasher/Nun/Ensemble; Tro Shaw as Tommy Boy/Scab/Fight Captain; Thomas Adrian Simpson as Tommy Boy/Scab/Ensemble/Fight Captain; Jamie Smithson as Nunzio/Teddy Roosevelt/Ensemble/ Luke Spring as Elmer/Scab/Ensemble; Ethan Van Slyke as Davey Jacobs; Chaz Wolcott as Race/Ensemble; and Kelli Youngman as Jo Jo/Ensemble.
The Viennese court awaits to hear what the Emperor thinks of Mozart’s latest opera ~ Photography by C. Stanley Photography
Tony Cisek’s brilliant set design featuring the golden curvature of a stringed instrument’s f-hole with its strings running the height of the stage. Festooned with crystal chandeliers, it serves as a dramatic frame for the pious Antonio Salieri’s opening lines, “Music is God’s Art.” We sense we are within this giant instrument itself, bearing witness to the music world’s greatest scandal. Set in Vienna during the Age of Enlightenment, the play focuses on the fierce rivalry between the tormented court composer Salieri and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the child prodigy. Now confined to a wheelchair and clinging to life, Salieri confesses to murdering his colleague and rival, the eccentric musical genius Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. But did he, as he claims he did, poison him? Or did he drive Mozart into the depths of madness through the deprivation and degradation he foisted upon him?
Composer Salieri (Ian Merrill Peakes) plays a welcoming march for Mozart (Samuel Adams, center) upon his arrival at the Viennese court (Deidra LaWan Starnes, left, James Joseph O’Neil, and John Taylor Phillips, right) ~ Photography by C. Stanley Photography
When they first meet, Salieri and the upstart Mozart trade barbs. The young composer attempts to curry the emperor’s favor while the older Salieri, wildly jealous of Mozart’s extraordinary talents, seeks to undermine him. Though court composer to three Viennese emperors, Salieri’s talent was marginal compared to Mozart’s. To keep Mozart at bay he saw to it he and his adoring wife were both financially and emotionally poverty-stricken.
Eventually his jealousy of Mozart’s talents destroys him and, along with that his belief God was the ruler of his fate. In his soliloquies to God – some prideful, others with fist raised toward the heavens – he provides us with some of the most powerful moments of play.
The eccentric musical genius Mozart (Samuel Adams) shows off his opera for the Viennese court ~ Photography by C. Stanley Photography
Writer Sir Peter Shaffer (Equus, Lettuce and Lovage, The Royal Hunt of the Sun) imagines this modern ‘revenge comedy’ as a dramatic interpretation of the relationship between the two composers adding two venticelli, gossipmongers who tell everyone exactly what they want to hear, an assortment of colorful, back-stabbing court figures, a sexy soprano who curries favor with Mozart, and Mozart’s devoted child bride, Constanze, played pitch perfect by Lilli Hokama.
Sections of several of Mozart’s finest compositions, The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni and his Requiem in D Minor, are woven into the plot and serve as a heavenly musical backdrop.
Mozart (Samuel Adams) lovingly teases his fiancé Constanze (Lilli Hokama) ~ Photography by C. Stanley Photography
Exquisitely directed by Richard Clifford with sumptuous 18th century costumes by Mariah Anzaldo Hale, the play is filled with passion, revenge, and malevolent conspiracy, with a hefty dose of slapstick and lust. The performances alone will take your breath away. Ian Merrill Peakes as Salieri gives one of the finest performances I’ve ever seen on any American stage and Samuel Adams as Mozart proves to be a dazzlingly equal counterbalance.
Powerful, witty and unforgettable. Five stars!!! Don’t miss it!
Additional performers: Justin Adams as Baron van Swieten; Amanda Bailey as Venticello; Louis Butelli as Venticello; Junior Gomez as Salieri’s Valet; James Joseph O’Neil as Count Orsini-Rosenberg; Yvonne Paretzky as Teresa Salieri; John Taylor Phillips as Emperor Joseph II; Ned Read as Kapellmeister Bonno; Deidra LaWan Starnes as Madame von Strack; and Kathryn Zoerb as Katherina Cavalieri.
With Lighting Design by Max Doolittle and Sound Design by Sharath Patel.
Director Matthew Gardiner’s reinterpretation of A Chorus Line features brand new choreography from Denis Jones and departs from the original branded choreography by Michael Bennett. Though I can’t recall the original enough to make a comparison of the two, I don’t think it’s necessary to enjoy the musical we’ve all come to love.
The cast of A Chorus Line at Signature Theatre ~ Photo by Christopher Muelle
A typical dance studio is the only set. Framed by wide strips of Mylar ‘mirror’ and the traditional ballet barre, the focus is on the personalities and emotional stories of the 24 chorus line hopefuls. Fairly quickly, seven are unceremoniously cut from consideration and we are left with seventeen dancers vying for a limited number of spots in an unnamed production.
Zach is the psychotic director. From his command post, a desk, positioned in the center of the audience, he insults, cajoles, challenges and intimidates the dancers. “I just wanna hear you talk and be yourselves,” he says, insisting they reveal their innermost thoughts and childhood traumas, asking why they are there and why they chose to be dancers. Larry, his emotionless assistant and choreographer, imposes Zach’s whimsical demands and works to corral the wannabes into a cohesive line.
Emily Tyra (Cassie) and Matthew Risch (Zach) in A Chorus Line at Signature Theatre ~ Photo by Christopher Mueller.
The story depicts a cross section of the dancers’ insecurities and neediness, and the fierce desperation of hoping for a break, as they are forced to relive the traumas of their childhood. It’s intensely relatable and curiously human. In a way, it’s pure schadenfreude. We feel their pain and recognize their struggles, but we can’t, and shouldn’t, look away.
There are so many indelible, and identifiable, characters here – Cassie, the aging beauty once in a relationship with Zach and now begging him for a spot in the line; Sheila, a tough broad with attitude, desperate to forget a harsh childhood; Mark, an awkwardly naïve manchild who hilariously misdiagnosed gonorrhea from his addiction to medical textbooks; Val, a former cheerleader with Broadway aspirations and newly purchased plastic surgery; Paul, whose dance experience as a stripper in a drag club brings him shame; Maggie, a warm-hearted dreamer with a difficult past; Richie, a flashy dancer and former school teacher; and all the others, too numerous to describe here. Among them they speak of their struggles to overcome the pain of suicide, incest, depression, poverty, homosexuality. Among the dancers there is love, caring and understanding.
Joshua Buscher (Larry), Daxx Jayroe Wieser (Mark), Bryan Charles Moore (Don) and the cast of A Chorus Line at Signature Theatre ~ Photo by Christopher Mueller
You will easily recognize many of the musical numbers composed by Marvin Hamlisch with lyrics by Edward Kleban (Tony Awards for ‘Best Original Score’, ‘Best Musical’ and ‘Best Book of a Musical’). Zach asks, “If today were the day you had to stop dancing, what would you do?” The answer is the torch song, “What I Did for Love.” Beautifully expressed, the words and music reflect the highs and lows of showbiz life, yet with a universality recognizable to everyone.
A wonderful, shiny, madly talented cast. Highly recommended.
With Maria Rizzo as Sheila; Emily Tyra as Cassie; Matthew Risch as Zach; Joshua Buscher as Larry; Michelle E. Carter as Tricia; Zeke Edmonds as Roy; Adena Ershow as Val; Samantha MarisolGershman as Diana; Jeff Gorti as Paul; Ben Gunderson as Bobby; Lawrence Hailes as Butch; Vincent Kempski as Al; Julia Klavans as Vicki; Elise Kowalick as Kristine; Lina Lee as Connie; Bryan Charles Moore as Don; Corinne Munsch as Judy; Zachary Norton as Greg; Kayla Pecchioni as Maggie; Daniel Powers as Frank; MK Sagastume as Lois; Trevor Michael Schmidt as Mike; Jillian Wessel as Bebe; Daxx Jayroe Wieser as Mark; Phil Young as Richie; and Joshua Buscher as Dance Captain.
Book by James Kirkwood and Nicholas Dante; Lighting by Adam Honoré; Sound Design Ryan Hickey; Orchestra led by Jon Kalbfleisch.
Through January 5th at Signature Theatre, (Shirlington Village), 4200 Campbell Avenue, Arlington, VA 22206. For tickets and information call 703 820-9771 or visit www.signature-theatre.org.
