Elliot Lanes - Page 16

It's getting to that time of year when we think about things that are truly American. We might think about baseball games and hot dogs.  There's also,  of course, the annual Fourth of July concert on PBS featuring Maestro Keith Lockhart and the world famous Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra. If you can't wait until the 4th however, you can catch this true American institution on Sunday, April 8 at the Music Center at Strathmore in Bethesda, MD.  Performances are at 2 PM and 7 PM.

As if there weren't enough scary things in the world right now, I've come to realize that I have been going to live theatrical productions for over 43 years. That means I have been sitting in the dark for a long time (no jokes please).

Today's subjects, Bill Largess and Ann Norton, are living their theatre lives as the Artistic Director and Executive Director of one of the gems in our local theatre scene.

I often state that a solo show is the hardest kind of theater performance to put together because it's just the performer and the audience. In most cases, the show would be an actor telling his/her story or portraying multiple characters. Most of these are easy to follow because there is a clear story line. Now, consider Scena Theatre's latest offering featuring the dynamic actress Nanna Ingvarsson performing three short pieces by the master of easy to follow, minimalist, avant garde material...Samuel Beckett. Yes, you read that right. If you go in thinking of the three pieces as acting exercises rather than full pieces of complete theatrical storytelling, you are sure to have a good experience.

Today's subject, Andrew Walker White, is currently living his theatre life onstage at Quotidian Theatre Company in Bethesda, MD. in the title role of Hobson in Hobson's Choice. The production runs through March 11th.

Last season on Broadway there was a play called Time and the Conways presented at Roundabout Theatre Company. The play hadn't been seen on Broadway since 1937 and after seeing it I understood why. That said, the production had a great look and a very good cast so you could forget about the stodginess of the script. Bethesda, Maryland-based Quotidian Theatre Company's current production of Hobson's Choice bears a resemblance to Time and the Conways because you don't ever see it performed. Unfortunately, the production values – a result of a limited budget – and some questionable casting can't hide all the warts of Harold Brighouse's over 100-year-old script.

We all have bad days; it's inevitable. Something happens to us every once in a while that turns our day from good to bad. However, nothing can top the day that twelve-year-old Alexander has in Adventure Theatre's latest offering, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.

Sometimes touring productions of Broadway musicals are better than their original versions. When I first saw the Tony Award nominated musical Something Rotten in NYC, I found it to be forced and too over-the-top. The current touring production, now playing DC's National Theatre, features a cast that some might say is even better than the original. While all the laughs are still there, everything feels more natural.

Sometimes playwrights have a good idea for a script, but can't leave well enough alone. Such is the case with Laura Schelhardt and her world premiere commissioned play Digging Up Dessa, now playing in the Family Theater at Kennedy Center as part of the Women's Voices Theatre Festival.

The second annual Women's Voices Theater Festival's first entry is the follow up to the hit play Queens Girl in the World, an entry in the first festival in 2015.

Today's subject Felicia Curry is currently living her theatre life at Arena Stage playing the role of Sweet Thing inNina Simone: Four Women. The production runs through December 24 in Arena Stage's Kreeger Theater.

As the holidays kick into, high gear there is no better way to spend the season than with an evening of holiday music played by the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) conducted by Maestro Steven Reineke.

Today's subject Amber Paige McGinnis is currently living her theater life at Theater J as the director of the Tony Award-winning play The Last Night of Ballyhoo. The production runs through December 31st.

A modern day holiday season might include such activities as camping out at Walmart for a 3:00 AM special on a flat screen TV for $25.00 or playing with the latest electronic gadgets that are out there. DC's little jewel of a theater, Washington Stage Guild, takes us back to a time when people actually sat around the fireplace, told stories, sang Christmas carols and hymns and wait for it talked to each other with the delightful holiday offering A Child's Christmas in Wales and Other Stories.

E. B. White's Charlotte's Web has been adapted in many ways. There was an animated movie musical back in the 70s, a live action film a few years back, and a stage adaptation that Theatreworks USA toured around the country for years. Imagination Stage in Bethesda is currently presenting the latter as its holiday attraction. The creative team takes a very heavy-handed approach to material that isn't that light to begin with, unfortunately.

Today's subject Jennifer Moeller is currently living her theatre life as the costume designer for Twelfth Night at Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC). The production runs through December 20th at STC's Sydney Harman Hall space.

What happens when the cr me de la cr me of the DC theater community come together to create a brand-new theater for young audiences musical at the Kennedy Center? The answer is theatrical magic, that's what.

It's that time of year again folks; it's time for the Kennedy Center's annual production of the holiday perennial ballet The Nutcracker. Rather than present the same production every year, Kennedy Center invites a different company to perform its own take on the Tchaikovsky classic. This year, local audiences will be treated to the Kansas City Ballet and today's subjects, Racheall and Ryan Nye, are living their theatre lives as part of this production, which runs November 22nd through the 26th in Kennedy Center's Opera House. Rachael trains all of the kids for the production and Ryan is performing the role of Drosslemyer.

Today's subject Kolby Kindle is currently living his theatre life on the road in the ensemble of the national tour of the juggernaut hit The Book of Mormon. The show is now playing at the Kennedy Center through November 19th.

Some musicals from the golden age of Broadway are done to death. Let's face it, how many productions of Guys and Dolls and Fiddler on the Roof can you take? Anytime a theater chooses to produce a show that isn't seen as often as the aforementioned ones I get very excited. When they are presented well, my musical theater geekiness goes into overdrive. Arena Stage has put my geekiness into overdrive with its current production of the 1954 tuner The Pajama Game. With the exception of a production at Roundabout Theatre Company a few years back, this show really isn't performed very often professionally anymore.