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Freaky Friday – The Musical – A Solid Winner at The Little Theatre of Alexandria
Freaky Friday
The Little Theatre of Alexandria
Jordan Wright
July 26, 2023
Special to The Zebra
 (L-R) Sofia Cruz and Kristina Friedgen. (Photo/Matt Liptak) Having seen and loved Disney’s Freaky Friday when it premiered at Signature Theatre seven years ago in its debut from film-to-stage production, I have been beside myself to revisit this wonderful musical collaboration between composer Tom Kitt and lyricist Brian Yorkey. Kitt, best known for his scores of If/Then, Next to Normal, SpongeBob SquarePants and Jagged Little Pill draws from a panoply of musical themes and rhythms to create indelibly catchy tunes – the kind you find yourself humming all the way home. Yorkey partnered with Kitt on Next to Normal and If/Then and both men are stalwarts of the Broadway musical scene. Blessed by top-notch crew and cream-of-the-crop local talent, Director Joanna Henry has made the best of this engaging and heartwarming musical.
The bizarro premise of a mother and daughter switching roles for one day after an accident with an hourglass may be familiar to those of you who recall the movie that opened in 1976. Based on the novel by Mary Rodgers, it starred the adorable Jody Foster as the daughter and Barbara Harris as her mother. A later version in 2003 had the ever-talented Jaimie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan as the mother/daughter duo.
 Patrick Byrns, Luke Martin, Joshua Mutterperl, Tucker Eskew, Michelle Stein, Kai Avila, Hannah Taylor, Eileen Parks and Sofia Cruz. (Photo/Matt Liptak) Single-mom-with-issues Katherine (Kristina Friedgen) and her feisty daughter Ellie (Sofia Cruz) magically switch roles for a day. Katherine, who is about to marry the adoring Mike (Paul Caffrey) wants to shed the day-to-day responsibilities of parenting an angsty teen, and Ellie has had it with the restrictions and emotional upheavals of being a high schooler with a helicopter mom. When the roles are switched and Katherine takes Ellie’s place, she experiences the day-to-day bullying and body shaming her daughter endures and Ellie sees the daily grind of running a catering business while raising two kids without a father.
 Tucker Eskew, Patrick Byrns, Kai Avila, Luke Martin, Sofia Cruz, Naja Bates and Eileen Parks. (Photo/Matt Liptak) Eighteen glorious numbers, backed by Conductor Christopher A. Tomasino’s sixteen-piece band, fill the two acts, giving us a diverse score of touching ballads, 50’s rock styles and Latin beats sung by a cast with big, expressive voices. Stefan Sittig’s choreography is seamless even with a couple dozen actors on stage at the same time. It’s a massive cast who morph into their quirky roles with aplomb. Shining above all others is Sofia Cruz who manages not only to inhabit her role as if born to it, but Kristina Friedgen who brings both sweet emotion and the manic desperation of a mom at her wit’s end. In the same category of excellence is Lourdes Turnblom as Katherine’s Catering Assistant, Torrey, who dials up the wit’s end confusion while trying to decipher why Katherine is acting like a child and Ellie is bossing her around. And endearing as heck is Joshua Mutterperl as Adam, the high school cutie and scavenger hunt list master with a secret crush on Ellie – or is it for her mom’s sandwiches?
It’s everything we want from musical theater – laughs, beautifully sung, funny or meaningful tunes, and characters you can relate to. Special kudos to Costume Designers, Judy Whelihan and Robin Worthington, who perfectly capture the funky-cool energy of teen styles and grown-up outfits.
Highly recommended.
 Kiril French and Kristina Friedgen. (Photo/Matt Liptak) With James Campione or Kiril French as Fletcher Blake; Naja Bates or Eileen Parks as Savannah; Peter Fannon as Grandpa Gordon/Mr. Blumen/Parker’s Dad/Señor O’Brien/Security Guard; Brandy Reece as Grandma Helene/Gretchen’s Mom/Mrs. Luckenbill/Mrs. Time; Brenda Parker as Catering Staff/Danielle/Savannah’s Mom/Ms. Meyers/Officer Sitz; Michelle Stein as Hannah; Hannah Taylor as Gretchen; Patrick Byrns as Catering Staff/Louis; Tucker Eskew as Catering Staff/Student; Lourdes Turnblom as Torrey/Adam’s Mom; Eileen Parks as Florist/Laurel/Catering Staff; Luke Martin as Student/Fish Vendor/Dr. Ehrin/Pastor Bruno/Well’s Dad/Officer Kowalski; Kai Avila as Catering Staff/Wells.
Book by Bridget Carpenter; Hair and Makeup by Natalie Turkevich; Lighting by JK Lighting (Jeffery Scott Auerbach and Kimberly Crago); Sound Design by Alan Wray; Set Design by Myke Taister; Dance Captain Eileen Parks.
Through August 12th at The Little Theatre of Alexandria, 600 Wolfe Street, Alexandria, VA 22314. For tickets and information call the box office at 703 683-5778 or visit www.TheLittleTheatre.com
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.
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.
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