Breathtaking Drama Paradise Blue at Studio Theatre
Paradise Blue
Studio Theatre
Jordan Wright
May 5, 2025
Amari Cheatom (Blue) and Marty Austin Lamar (Corn) in Paradise Blue at Studio Theatre (Photo/DJ Corey Photograhy)
Passion, danger and business clash in 1949 Detroit in this breathtaking drama from Playwright Dominque Morisseau – part of her Detroit trilogy. A drama so explosive and emotionally charged it will have you leaning in hard. Set in the Black Bottom neighborhood in 1949, a man named Blue runs the Paradise Club with an iron hand, a fierce loyalty to his trumpet and his love for a naïve young woman named Pumpkin. The hot-headed Blue is haunted by the demons of his father, who was also a trumpeter and whose murderous sins cast a long shadow of guilt onto Blue.
Blue’s house band, the Blue Black Bottom Band, consists of Blue on horn; Corn, a tender-hearted piano man with a soft spot for Silver; P-Sam, a man frustrated with his life and consumed with secret dreams of acquiring the Paradise and Pumpkin; and a bassist who recently quit the band. It’s a successful joint with no real reason for Blue to sell, except the mayor has plans to buy up the old buildings and gentrify this long-established Black neighborhood. Blue sees it as an opportunity to take the money and run when along comes Silver from New Orleans. Silver is a savvy, sultry, take-no-prisoners beauty who captivates the men. Blue tells her, “We don’t need your backwater hoodoo!”
Ro Boddie (P-Sam) and Anji White (Silver). (Photo/Margot Schulman)
She rents a room above the club and quickly insinuates herself into the dynamics of the club’s business while teaching Pumpkin, a poetry lover, the fine art of being an independent woman. Nicknamed the “Spider Woman” for her way with men, Silver freely admits she shot and killed her husband and she’s still packing a loaded gun. “I prefer the heat in the bedroom, not the kitchen,” she tells Pumpkin.
Brilliantly staged, dynamically directed and exquisitely performed in the new Victor Shargai Theatre, the room is set up cabaret style with a long bar offering an extensive drink and light fare menu by Kbird. Patrons are seated at small round tables with full view of the room and a small stage where some of the action takes place, but it’s mostly immersive as the actors move freely throughout the room.
Kalen Robinson (Pumpkin) and Amari Cheatom (Blue). (Photo/DJ Corey Photography)
Paradise Blue is one of the very best works this reviewer has seen. A powerhouse of a play evoking some of the greatest American playwrights. (I felt Tennessee Williams and August Wilson were in that very room.) Every element from cast to production was impeccably thought out – acting, lighting, staging, set design, sound design, costumes and musical direction.
Highly recommended! An absolute triumph!!!
With Kalen Robinson as Pumpkin; Amari Cheatom as Blue; Ro Boddie as P-Sam; Marty Austin Lamar as Corn; and Anji White as Silver. Musicians – Mark Saltman as Bassist and Michael A. Thomas as Trumpeter.
Directed by Raymond O. Caldwell; Set Design by Lawrence E. Moten III; Costume Design by Cidney Forkpah; Sound Design by Matthew M. Nielson; Fight Coordinator, Robb Hunter; Intimacy Coordinator, Sierra Young; Dramaturg, Adrien-Alice Hansel.
Through June 22nd at Studio Theatre, 1501 14th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20005. For tickets and information call the box office at 202-332-3300 or visit www.StudioTheatre.org.
John Moore (Steve Jobs) in The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, Washington National Opera at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. (Photo/Scott Suchman)
In a unique opening, composer Mason Bates strikes the perfect complement to the characters using saxophone, guitar and the electronika from Apple equipment to represent the major characters – electric guitar for Steve Jobs, saxophone for Steve “Woz” Wozniak, and wind-like instrumentation for Jobs’ spiritual mentor Kōbun Chino Otogawa. Against a backdrop of several dozen video monitors to reflect his life and times the story, set in 17 separate scenes, begins to unfold. It’s Bates’ first opera and it’s a stunner. And so is the cast! I was captivated by baritone John Moore’s portrayal of Jobs, though you may see it during its short run with John Patton in the role.
Presented by the Washington National Opera, Mark Campbell’s libretto takes us through Jobs’ life as a child circa 1965 inspired by his father’s encouragement to build something mechanical; through his collaboration with Woz (Jonathan Burton or Nicholas Huff), the technological genius; his free spirit lover, Chrisann Brennan (Kresley Figeroa or Anneliese Klenetsky); his relationship to a spiritual life with Otogawa (Wei Wu); and his marriage to his beloved Laurene Powell Jobs (Winona Martin).
Chrisann Brennan (Kresley Figueroa), John Moore (Steve Jobs), and Winona Martin (Laurene Powell Jobs). (Photo/Scott Suchman)
Jobs and Woz considered themselves radicals of the period, anti-establishment, anti-capitalist members of the counterculture that had its beginnings in California. Working together in a family garage in Cupertino, Woz creates new technology that allowed for free phone calls, by copying the telephone tones of Ma Bell and ye olde rotary phone. This revolutionary tactic cemented the beginning of their odyssey together and Jobs’ eventual power mad mania to create the ultimate device – the smart phone.
Set in 2007 in a large convention center, Jobs launches his product to a sea of adoring acolytes. “Never trust a computer you can’t fit in your pocket,” he famously told the young techies. “Type, type, type… swipe!” he commands.
The cast of The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs. (Photo/Scott Suchman)
When Jobs devolves into a self-centered egomaniac, Woz quits, “You’ve become one of the people we hated – a Goliath!” Laurene begs him to slow down, to rest. They know by now of his disease and the cancer that will take his life at 56 years old. Along the way the zigs and zags of his life are reflected by the intensity of the music (Jobs was a huge fan of Bach and saw music in mathematics) and the poetry of Campbell’s libretto that transcends the ordinariness of a life steeped in technology to reflect the drama of a visionary genius who reached supersonic status and changed the entire world as we knew it.
This modern opera has all the dramatic elements of a tragedy plus love story backgrounded by the thrill of a massive revolution in technology through the invention of a product that brings us together as readily as it can tear us apart. As composer and Virginia native, Mason Bates, puts it, “The story of Steve Jobs is the stuff of opera. It’s got obsession, betrayal, passion and ultimate betrayal and death that might have been able to be avoided had Steve Jobs been a little more willing to cede control of his health to others.”
John Moore (Steve Jobs), Jonathan Burton (Steve Wozniak), and Wei Wu (Kōbun). (Photo by Scott Suchman)
With the Washington National Opera Orchestra and Washington National Opera Chorus conducted by Lidiya Yankovskaya alternately Micah Gleason; Production and Staging by Tomer Zvulun; Scenery and Costume Designer Jacob Climer; Projection Design by S. Katy Tucker; Lighting Design by Robert Wierzel; Sound Design by Rick Jacobsohn.
Highly recommended!
Through May 10th at the Kennedy Center, 2700 F Street, Washington, DC 20566. For tickets and information call the box office at 202-467-4600 or visit www.Kennedy-Center.org.
Hedwig and the Angry Inch Slays with Sawyer Smith in the Lead Role at Signature Theatre
Hedwig and the Angry Inch Signature Theatre Jordan Wright April 26, 2025
When Hedwig and the Angry Inchfinished its premiere Broadway run, Signature made the decision to mount this niche production. That was 26 years ago. Now in their 35th season, Signature is re-staging this four-time Tony Award-winning rock musical.
Directors of Hedwighave free rein to create adlibs for the script and the actors do too, affording a wide berth to interpret the script with both topical and regional humor. In in our area that means politics. Inside the Beltway mixing politics and theater guarantees a hugely receptive audience, especially given our current political and regional climate. And for a non-federally funded theater with a progressive board and deep-pocket donors, that translates to free license to mount edgy, intriguing and controversial theatre.
Sawyer Smith (Hedwig) in Hedwig and the Angry Inch at Signature Theatre. (Photo/Daniel Rader)
With that said creator/writer/original cast performer John Cameron Mitchell (who refers to Hedwig as “genderqueer”) in partnership with composer/writer Stephen Trask, allowed for countless reinterpretations to keep the show both current and relevant. This production ushers in the 50thAnniversary of World Pride celebrations in the nation’s capital.
Born male in East Berlin in 1961 before the wall came down, Hedwig, neé Hansel (note the lederhosen), is the child of an absent Army officer father and a cruel and loveless mother. As a child he referred to himself as a “girly boy” who liked to dress in drag. In his teen years, he meets Luther, a soldier eager to encourage his tendencies and who will become his sugar daddy. One day, Luther tells Henry he will marry him, but he will need to have a sex change operation. When Henry wakes up the botched job leaves him with an inch of his manhood.
Vanessa (V) Sterling (Yitzhak), Sawyer Smith (Hedwig), and Joanna Smith (Bass) (Photo/Daniel Rader)
Hansel, now Hedwig (Sawyer Smith), is abandoned by Luther and soon meets Tony, a rock musician. She writes all of Tony’s material and his star ascends, but he too abandons her. It’s 1989 and she winds up in a mobile home in Kansas divorced, penniless and a woman. But despite all that, Hedwig, no slouch to show biz and the glam world of rock, decides to hit the boards with the help of her new husband Yitzhak (Vanessa (V) Sterling) who is as mercurial as a snapdrake – alternating between servile and surreptitious.
Accompanied by a four-piece band Hedwig, now in eye-popping costumes and towering wigs, performs an androgynously hilarious act filled with trash and flash. Their music is an amalgam of punk rock, glam rock and head-banging heavy metal and reminds me of the Russian feminist anti-Putin rock group “Pussy Riot”.
This immersive production snatches life at every turn with cheesy jokes, sassy quips and audience participation. Sit in the front row if you dare – or if you like. The music veers from mosh pit raucous to beautifully tender ballads with Hedwig revving up the audience with twirls and whirls, high kicks and massive allure as her story unfolds.
Chicago actor Sawyer Smith is riveting and reckless. You can’t look away for a second. She has the charisma and vocal chops to captivate the audience who lap up every minute. Sterling is a perfect vocal match to Smith and their harmonies are most especially lovely in the ballads.
Vanessa (V) Sterling (Yitzhak) and Sawyer Smith (Hedwig) with Marika Countouris (Keyboard), Sam Carolla (Drums), Joanna Smith (Bass), and Alec Green (Guitar) (Photo/Daniel Rader)
With The Angry Inch Band of Sam Carolla on drums; Marika Countouris on keyboard and as Music Director; Alec Green on guitar; and Joanna Smith on bass guitar.
Directed by Ethan Heard, Text by John Cameron Mitchell, Choreography by Ashleigh King, Costumes by Eric Teague, Scenic Design by Richie Ouellette, Lighting Design by K Rudolph, Sound Design by Eric Norris, Wig & Makeup Design by Ali Pohanka.
Recommended for grown-ups of all stripes. Wave your freak flag and join the madly wacky world of Hedwig.
Through June 22nd at Signature Theatre, in the Village of Shirlington, 4200 Campbell Avenue, Arlington, VA. For tickets and information call the box office at 703.820.9771 or visit www.SigTheatre.org.
Playwright Larissa Fasthorse’s Zany Farce Reveals an Insider’s Guide to American Indian Identity and How to Become Native as a Pastime
Fake It Until You Make It Arena Stage Jordan Wright April 12, 2025 Special to The Zebra
Noah Bean (Theo) and Shyla Lefner (Wynona) in Fake It Until You Make It at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater running April 3 – May 4, 2025. (Photo/Daniel Rader)
Fake It Until You Make It is a wildly funny farce that provides us with a modern-day interpretation of Indian Country vis à vis White America with all its struggles and challenges. It is a co-production with Los Angeles’ Center Theatre Group.
For a wonderfully fascinating eight years, I became immersed in the heart of Native culture for Indian Country Media Network, and as beautiful, fascinating and historical it is, it can be a tangled web. No one is quite certain of the racial or cultural definition of what it means to be American Indian, for example how much ancestral Indian blood allows membership in a tribe, or if a White person can properly represent their interests. This raucous comedy addresses all those familiar controversies with lampooning, caricatures and cheeky humor.
Burgandi Trejo Phoenix (Grace), Noah Bean (Theo), Shyla Lefner (Wynona), Eric Stanton Betts (Mark), and Brandon Delsid (Krys) (Photo/Daniel Rader)
Playwright Larissa Fasthorse, who defines herself as a DC-born nonbinary Two Spirit Afro-Indigenous (Quechua-Kichwa) Latine actor, writer, director and musician, tackles these thorny issues with extraordinary humor, a side eye and a wink. Her six characters have differing viewpoints as to what makes an Indian an Indian, as they go head-to-head in a political farce that is wacky and wonderful with a cat (Yes, a cat!) that takes star turns in thewomen’s catfights.
Five of the characters have offices in a building dedicated to Native American Organizations. River (Amy Brenneman) is White, yet she’s ingratiated herself among the tribal elders with her non-profit group “Indigenous Nations Soaring”, and like the other NGO directors she is fighting for grants. Wynona (Shyla Lefner) runs N.O.B.U.S.H, a non-profit that promotes native plants and shuns the invasive butterfly bush. Thus, the ‘no bush’. She calls people who appropriate her native culture “Pretendians”. In her spare time, she is having a hot and heavy romance with Theo (Noah Bean) who’s an invasive plant remover and, as Wynona calls him, her “ecological warrior and undercover spy. She knows Theo is White but chooses to ignore that little detail to keep him as her lover.
Shyla Lefner (Wynona) (Photo/Daniel Rader)
Grace (Burgandi Trejo Phoenix) is an attorney whose concept of being Native American she describes as a personal choice. She calls it “race shifting”. In other words, you can be whatever race and culture floats your boat. To that end she morphs into Japanese, Middle Eastern and even White. And then there’s Krys (Brandon Delsid), an out gay man who goes to powwows with Grace and is a scene stealer and heart stealer in the very best way.
There are feuds and cock-ups as they challenge each other as to who is Native and who will snag the big grant. In one scene River does a TED talk and screws up her message by performing a slinky belly dance thinking she’ll charm her way to the top. She most decidedly does not. Theo pretends to be Native American in order to spy on River for Wynona. River needs a real Indian to front her organization. When the suave and handsome Mark (Eric Stanton Betts) shows up for his interview to be River’s Executive Director, Theo, who’s pretending to be Indian, gets caught out as a poser and everything goes utterly off the rails.
Describing the characters and their relationships does not in any way detract from the over-the-top high jinks, the chases, the spying, and the alliances. In the end, there are DNA tests that stun everyone as to who is a real Indian.
Burgandi Trejo Phoenix (Grace), Brandon Delsid (Krys), Eric Stanton Betts (Mark), Noah Bean (Theo), and Shyla Lefner (Wynona) (Photo/Daniel Rader)
Designer Sara Ryung Clement has created very effective moving sets of offices with doors and plate glass windows designed for us to see and hear everything that goes on inside. It’s a little bit like the TV show, “The Office” with mayhem and freakouts at every turn and I loved every bit of it.
With great respect local theaters have been paying homage to the American Indian tribes in our region, acknowledging they are sitting on their indigenous lands. On press night, several Native ambassadors were present to address the audience showcasing their music, language and culture and singing the Navaho national anthem.
A terrific cast directed by Michael John Garcés reveals an insider’s guide to American Indian identity and how to become Native as a pastime.
With Costume Design by E. B. Brooks, Lighting Design by Tom Ontiveros, Sound Design by John Nobori, Fight Director Edgar Landa.
Through May 4th at Arena Stage, 1101 Sixth Street, SW, Washington, DC 20024. For tickets and information call the box office at 202 554-9066 or visit www.ArenaStage.org.
A Stunner of a Dramedy at Shakespeare Theatre Company Stars Downton Abbey Patriarch Hugh Bonneville in this Simon Godwin Directed Uncle Vanya
Uncle Vanya Shakespeare Theatre Company Jordan Wright April 4, 2025 Special to The Zebra
4 The cast of Uncle Vanya at Shakespeare Theatre Company. Photo by DJ Corey Photography.
Simon Godwin’s direction of Uncle Vanya starring Downton Abbey’s patriarch and Royal Shakespeare Company alum and Britain’s National Theatre celebrated actor, Hugh Bonneville, is a once-in-a-lifetime theatrical experience with a brilliantly in synch cast that sparkles like a supernova.
The classic Chekhov play focuses on a dysfunctional Russian family of intellectuals and their closely knit coterie. In a tour de force performance, Bonneville imbues Vanya with engaging depth and larger-than-life passion, ranging in emotional delivery from subtle gestures and unique reactions to hugely expressive physical drama. He is consistently balanced by an experienced cast who readily absorb and match his energy, along with the complex character intricacies called for in these weighty roles.
2 Ito Aghayere and Hugh Bonneville in Uncle Vanya. Photo by Kevin Berne/Berkeley Repertory Theatre
Each character interaction is riveting, dangerously precipitous and yet recognizably familiar. As Tolstoy famously said, “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family in its own way.” And this family is no different – both joyful yet tragic.
There are the money struggles, the romantic intricacies, the cheating, the lying, the family celebrations (Are they ever what we planned?), breakdowns and breakups – plus liquor and a gun. A disastrous combination that never goes well.
3 Nancy Robinette and Craig Wallace in Uncle Vanya at Shakespeare Theatre Company. Photo by DJ Corey Photography
Using brief musical interstices from a cellist slightly offstage, Godwin’s clever choice to bring the intensity back to a dull roar prepares the audience for the next familial battle royale. I don’t need to offer up the plot, either you already know it or can readily google it. Another well-thought out directorial choice is to eschew Russian accents. Bonneville keeps his British accent and all others their American accents. It works because the play’s the thing and we don’t need to be distracted by unnecessary stylings. In an unusual opening scene an ordinary stage is set and the actors enter in street clothes. While the audience settles in (You are advised to come early to the theater so as not to miss this change-up.), they move the props around as if readying for the play and suddenly exit offstage. When they reappear, the stage is reconfigured and the actors are sporting the Victorian fashions of the landed gentry.
1 Tom Nellis and Kina Kantor in Uncle Vanya. Photo by Kevin Berne/Berkeley Repertory Theatre
Both humor and pathos in this dramedy keep Vanya’s family teetering on the edge of total collapse. Will they fight to the finish? It’s close. Will they lose their family estate? It’s iffy. Will Yelena (Ito Aghayere) decide to leave her pompous professor husband Alexandre (Tom Nelis) for Vanya or perhaps the dashing Astrov (John Benjamin Hickey)? It’s a toss-up. Can Nana (Nancy Robinette) rein in her son’s madness? “Old people are just like children. They want everyone to feel sorry for them,” she quips in the understatement of the century. They’re an emotionally land-locked duo. Is Ilya aka ‘Waffles’ (Craig Wallace) the observant philosopher, the grounding force? Cue the guitar and some wise words. Is Granmaman (Sharon Lockwood) keeping the peace? Can Sisyphus? Lastly, will the despondent and compassionate Sonya (Melanie Field) rise to the occasion to keep this family’s spinning-out-of-control madness to a dull roar? Thank God, she does, and that’s no spoiler.
Local actors and STC company members Wallace and Robinette bolster this wonderful cast with memorable performances in this co-production with Berkeley Rep.
5 Sharon Lockwood, Nancy Robinette, Ito Aghayere, and Hugh Bonneville Photo by Kevin Berne/Berkeley Repertory Theatre
Adapted by Conor McPherson, Scenic Design by Robert Brill, Costume Designs by Susan Hilferty & Heather C. Freedman, Lighting Design by Jen Schriever, Sound Design by Darron L. West, Dramaturgy by Drew Lichtenberg, Fight and Intimacy Consultant Danielle O’Dea.
This is the front runner of the season. Do not miss it!!!
Through April 20th at Harman 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.
