Jamie McGonnigal - Page 2

A few years ago, her Elle in the national tour of Legally Blonde earned her a Helen Hayes nomination. Now, Becky Gulsvig is back in DC singing some more familiar tunes in BEAUTIFUL: The Carole King Musical.

The musical tells the story of a marine about to head to Vietnam for the war that saw an estimated 1.5 million casualties. Birdlace (Tiziano D'Affuso), and his fellow marines Boland (Harrison Smith) and Bernstein (David Landstrom) are on leave in San Francisco when they plan a party, like the soldiers before them, called 'The Dogfight.' All the soldiers put money in a pot and compete by bringing the ugliest girl and dancing with her at the party.

Studio Theatre's 2nd Stage has been transformed into a cabaret theatre, complete with proscenium running lights and a runway that would make any Mama Rose proud.  With tongue planted firmly in cheek, the familiar story of Jonathan Demme's Oscar Winning 1991 film, "Silence of the Lambs," comes to life. 

Broadway's Jennifer Laura Thompson (Nice Work If You Can Get It) and Rachel Bay Jones (Pippin) star in the World Premiere of DEAR EVAN HANSEN and they've also managed to tackle being working actors and real-life mothers at the same time. I got the chance to speak with both of them about how all that works - juggling successful careers and parenthood is something not a lot of Broadway actors can pull off.

?Washington DC's Theater J wraps up their 2014-2015 season with Charles Busch's THE TALE OF THE ALLERGIST'S WIFE.

Dan DeLuca plays Jack Kelly in the production that will be coming to DC's National Theatre for a limited two-week engagement June 9-21st.

Closing out the 26th season, Artistic Director David Simmons has put together some of the greatest works by your favorite composer and mine, Stephen Sondheim. When I was 14 years old, I heard 'Sunday' from Sunday in the Park with George for the first time. I remember it clearly. I'd borrowed the album from the library - yes - while everyone else was playing kickball down the street, I was holed up in my room, listening to the vinyl of lesser-known musicals. THAT'S how gay I am.

Zuri Washington is the young star of a musical which tackles many of the issues we're seeing play out on the streets around the nation today. 

Men dressing as women is an art form as old as Shakespeare. In Elizabethan times, women were forbidden from appearing on the stage. Therefore, all of Shakespeare's greatest women, from Lady MacBeth to Portia to Juliet - all originally played by men.

Barbara Cook's Spotlight Series at The Kennedy Center has served as an incredible showcase for some of Broadway's greatest talent to take a smaller stage. The first one I attended was 5 years ago when Laura Benanti took the stage. Since then, dozens of other brilliant performers have taken to the Terrace stage to share a different, more casual side.

After 27 years, the crowd pleasing SHEAR MADNESS at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has become the 2nd longest-running theatrical production in the country, second only to the same production at the Charles Playhouse in Boston. According to press notes, the play has now been seen by a worldwide audience of 10.9 million with over 3.2 million people attending the Kennedy Center production alone.

Mary Todd Lincoln, the wife of President Abraham Lincoln, is the subject of a new play which premieres this month, marking 150 years since the President's assassination. Ford's Theatre, the site of the crime that took the civil rights legend from us, has commissioned playwright James Still to capture a moment in time which very little is known about.

When I was 11, I was in the chorus of a community theatre production of a little show called Pippin. For me, it was what taught me that theatre could be a magical thing. For some reason, as I grew up, I always kind of identified with Pippin's story - which I'm sure is the point of the show somewhat.

Currently starring in the Broadway-bound 'Little Dancer,' Rebecca Luker is playing the adult version of Degas' little dancer - a young lady whose image lives on in several differnet versions - many of which reside in Washington's National Gallery of Art.

From the moment you walk in the door at Capital Fringe's Fort Fringe in downtown Washington D.C., you become a 'survivor.' From that moment on, you're in a battle for your life.

There are few shows I know every word to, and even fewer I've known for 30 years. When I was 10, I was in the chorus of a community theatre production of EVITA in Hingham, MA. I became obsessed. In 5th grade, we had to do a biographical report on anyone we chose. All the other boys chose Babe Ruth, Abraham Lincoln, Ted Williams...I threw up my hand and shouted 'Eva Peron!' The black and white covered vinyl double album became my own personal soundtrack. And I was somehow surprised that people knew I was gay.

What I hoped would be a period piece by now after seeing it ten years ago at New York's Public Theatre, Take Me Out is taking on a vibrant new life at Tyson Corner's 1st Stage. Opening their lucky seventh season, the play is a poignant exploration of expectations, character and how we look at courage.

Easily one of Stephen Schwartz's most lush and beautiful scores, Children of Eden landed on stage at Kennedy Center's Eisenhower Theatre for one night only this past Monday.

'A Gay Man's Guide to Broadway,' though a bit redundant in its titling, was a delightful romp highlighting not just LGBT characters, but equality overall throughout musical theatre history. Opening with 'Hello' from the still-impossible-to-snag-a-ticket-to Book of Mormon through a stirring a cappella arrangement of 'I Dreamed a Dream' (hauntingly and beautifully performed by Kevin Thomason - in the original Patti LuPone key, no less), the performance was an evenly-organized collection of well and lesser-known Broadway tunes.

Blue Man Group continues to thrive now more than 20 years later. If you haven't seen the show, and I don't say this often, I will guarantee you'll have an incredible time.