Elliot Lanes - Page 12

Oooh la la, the good folks at Imagination Stage have a Parisian musical spectacular in store for you with the non- cheesy story about a couple of mice out to save the cheeses of Paris. Anatole: Mouse Magnifique features a dynamic and fun score by James Valcq (Music), book and lyrics by John MacLay and Lee Becker, and a terrific no-holes-like-a-piece of-Swiss-cheese-staging from Tom Story.

Over the years, Charles Dickens' works have been turned into many stage and film adaptations. I'm sure we've all seen A Christmas Carol or Oliver Twist in one form or another. While both are set against some bleak backdrops, they feature some larger-than-life characters that make them ripe for theatrical presentation.

The art of tap dancing is taken to new heights…literally…in the high octane, high energy worldwide sensation known as Tap Dogs. Not only do the eight male performers do traditional tap routines in this 80-minute industrial extravaganza, they take it to places tap hasn't gone before incorporating, water, scaffolding blowtorches, and more.

Today's subject disproves the theory that you can't be good at everything. Kevin Laughon is the Production Associate at Theater J, but his long career of working in the theatre has taken him on both sides of the footlights.

With all of the media options at their disposal today, creating theater pieces that will keep young people totally engaged is getting to be more and more of a challenge. Kennedy Center's Theater for Young Audiences (TYA) division's latest attempt at something fresh sometimes succeeds and sometimes doesn't. Most of the success in She A Gem can be attributed to the oh so fly direction of Paige Hernandez and her talented cast and design team. Whether or not the playwright Josh Wilder was up for the challenge is open to debate.

The 1985 Broadway season might have been one of the weakest on record for musicals; in fact, only three shows were nominated for Best Musical at the Tony Awards that year. We had an Ellie Greenwich jukebox musical (Leader of the Pack), one of Harold Prince's big budget disasters (Grind), and a musical based on Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Big River). Needless to say, at least in my opinion, Big River won the Tony Award for Best Musical and several other awards in part due to a lack of competition. Despite some catchy songs by Roger “King of the Road” Miller the show suffered, in my opinion anyhow, from there simply being too much of it. William Hauptman's book tried to focus on multiple stories as opposed to having Huck and his relationship with runaway slave Jim be the true heart.

Today's subject, Kevin McAllister, always has dynamic stage presence no matter the production. Currently he is living his theatre life onstage at Signature Theatre singing the Ken Page track in Ain't Misbehavin'. The production runs through March 10th in Signature Theatre's MAX space.

The recording artist/composer/free spirit known as Nellie McKay is not your typical performer to be sure. It's actually hard to even associate her with a particular musical genre because she performed a little bit of everything in her concert at Kennedy Center as part of the Renée Fleming VOICES series.

There are certain performances from Broadway history that can never be replicated, one of which is Robert Preston's star turn as the flimflamming boys band sales man Harold Hill in the 1958 Tony Award winning musical The Music Man. It was a bit of a shock when it won best musical that year because it beat out the revolutionary West Side Story. Ah well, commercialism nearly always wins.

Today's subject, Sarah Marshall, has had a long and distinguished DC theater career that spans over three decades. You can currently see her in Admissions at Studio Theatre – one of her theater homes. The production runs through March 3rd.

Today's subject, Jonathan David Martin, came to Washington, DC after accepting a job as Associate Producer of Theater J, but he is currently living his theatre life back onstage in The Heiress at Arena Stage in the role of Morris Townsend This production, which marks his Arena Stage debut, begins performances on February 8th. It plays through March 10th in Arena's Fitchandler Stage space.

It's hard to believe that it's been over 40 years now since a little revue that started at New York's Manhattan Theatre Club took Broadway by storm. The show was Ain't Misbehavin' and if you didn't know who composer Thomas “Fats” Waller was before, you did after seeing this show. It also made Nell Carter a star and garnered her a television series called Gimme a Break. Besides Carter the cast was comprised of Charlaine Woodard, Armelia McQueen, Andre De Shields, and Ken Page. When the original cast returned for a Broadway revival of the show in the 80's, Nell Carter received star billing even though the show is truly an ensemble piece. Ah, the power of television.

MetroStage continues its winning 2018/19 season with the company's fourth production of Three Sistahs. This musical premiered in 2002 and it's easy to understand why it is one of Producing Artistic Director Carolyn Griffin's favorites.

Today's subject Matthew Bourne has done what some might say is impossible, making his theatre life quite the big deal. Bourne has managed to meld the worlds of classical dance and theatre together in his internationally acclaimed company New Adventures with some pretty terrific results. His latest creation, Cinderella, hits the stage of the Opera House at Kennedy Center on January 15 playing through the 20th.

If you were to ask anyone who they think was one of the greatest all-around performers of the twentieth century, chances are Judy Garland would definitely be one of the most popular answers. It's hard to fathom all she accomplished in her short 47 years of life. It's even more challenging to consider what would have been had she lived longer.

Given the current political climate in this country you have to ask if there is any such thing as a truly honest politician. Today's subject, Nehassaiu deGannes, is currently living her theatre life onstage at Studio Theatre portraying just that type, Rep. Sydney Millsap, in local playwright Sarah Burgess' Kings. The production runs through January 13th in Studio's fourth floor space.

There are many companies presenting Theater for Young Audiences (TYA) shows in and around the DC area. One of the newest is a company that's been around for over twenty years, but has relatively recently branched out into the family entertainment genre.

For many years now, the famed Cirque du Soleil has been combining the two worlds of circus and theater to create some spectacular productions. Anyone that has seen one of their shows in Las Vegas or elsewhere knows that when you attend a Cirque production, it's an unforgettable experience. Cirque has repurposed the music of The Beatles, taken us to a spectacular jungle world and elsewhere in their past productions, but with their latest touring show Crystal the company adds ice skating to their repertoire. Combining traditional circus skills with breathtaking ramp jumps, break dancing, show skating and much more Crystal is not your typical Cirque du Soleil production. It takes place entirely on an ice rink, but for those that remember it, this is not your standard Ice Capades by any stretch of the imagination either.

There are certain theatrical presentations you can always depend on for sheer holiday joy at this time of year. Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker is definitely high on that list. The music has spawned many different interpretations over the years, including Duke Ellington's version featuring a swinging saxophone section. The music is also used in many television commercials so even if you didn't know the music was from the classic ballet, chances are you at one point or another have been exposed to The Nutcracker.

How far would you go to be with the one that you love? Sonya Kelly's autobiographical How to Keep an Alien, now being presented by Solas Nua, explores this question with warmth, humor, and a tour-de-force performance from DC acting goddess Tonya Beckman. This production marks the first time Kelly has not performed in the show herself.