Jeffrey Walker - Page 3

Mame Dennis Burnside has coaxed the blues right out of the horn many times since the late 1960s and Riverside Center for the Performing Arts has brought the ditzy, glitzy and glamorous free-spirit back for a big, old fashioned musical hit. This new production of MAME looks and sounds like a million bucks and deserves to be a solid, sell-out for the holidays.

Like a sepia-toned photo from the pages of a family album, Avant Bard's production of HOLIDAY MEMORIES evokes seasonal joys untouched by commercialism and cynicism - two mortal enemies of the true spirit of Thanksgiving and Christmas, in my opinion. Taken from two personal short stories by the iconoclastic author Truman Capote, this stage adaptation deserves to become an annual tradition.

Relive the Golden Age of Broadway and the magical moments from TV's past with Ethel Merman, Mary Martin, Frank Sinatra, Julie Andrews,Carol Burnett and many more as we look at the history of live TV musicals.

DEATHTRAP is an old fashioned, twisty thrill ride. NextStop Theatre Company puts the thrill back in thriller with a briskly directed, well cast production of the venerable potboiler. If we gave out ratings at Broadway World, I would offer NextStop four big ones for a production that crackles with wit and delivers a bloody good time.

What is the American dream? This question and many others were asked and explored on a ground-breaking public television series from the early 1970s. Combining elements of variety shows and sketch comedy, documentary film, witty animated sequences, and a who's who of pop culture icons, THE GREAT AMERICAN DREAM MACHINE paved the way for future television programming. Years before SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE and THE DAILY SHOW, a just before cult classics like THE GROOVE TUBE and KENTUCKY FRIED MOVIE offered topical and satirical comedy on film, THE GREAT AMERICAN DREAM MACHINE was pioneering television.

Stripped to the essentials - a stage, a handful of actors, a rapt audience - ANTIGONE recently proved once again its place in the pantheon of the world's finest tragic plays. The international production of the Sophokles drama made a short stop in Washington for the last leg of a national tour of select American cities, helmed by the Belgian theatre wunderkind Ivo van Hove. French film and theatre star Juliette Binoche led an ensemble of U.K.-based actors who clearly illuminated the timeless tale of family devotion versus the law.

The bottom-line: The DVD set of AMERICA'S TEST KITCHEN Season 15 can help at home chefs to cook up a storm and offers many features which set the series apart from run-of-the-mill how-to videos. Firing up fifteen seasons of deconstructed recipes and kitchen gadget trial and error, AMERICA'S TEST KITCHEN is one of public television's most popular cooking shows. Hosted by the bow-tie sporting and affable Christopher Kimball, the show takes the mystique out of cooking, tests useful kitchen equipment and helps to work the kinks out of cooking gadgets in a straight forward manner that is easy to follow.

Poised to take you to heaven with a song, a prayer and a tug at the heartstrings, SISTER ACT THE MUSICAL is a blessing that needs no disguise. Fredericksburg's Riverside Center Dinner Theatre is presenting the regional premiere of this London and Broadway hit adaptation of the Whoopi Goldberg starring film from the mid-1990s. Riverside audiences will be asking 'Who needs Whoopi?' once they get a load of Felicia Curry as the disco-chanteuse who brings a little funk to the convent.

Welcome to the first of a series of reports from the outskirts of the big cities! For the next couple of weeks, I will be visiting some of the smaller cities and towns around that all share one thing in common: cultural gems that dot the landscape. Today, I present to you Culpeper's State Theatre and the recent performance by Lynchburg's Endstation Theatre Company. Endstation presented TWO GENTLEMEN OF VIRGINIA recently to the delight of an appreciative audience. I think the Bard would have been thoroughly entertained by a skillfully paved intersection of historical references from the 1780s and rock and roll memories of the 1980s.

The iconic rock opera is back onstage and Prince William Little Theatre has got it. A challenging show for even a professional company, this community theatre tackles Pete Townshend's landmark piece with gusto and innovative staging by director Melissa Jo York-Tilley and co-choreographers Melanie Marie Gibson and Ahmad Maaty. Boasting some strong performances of the classic rock score, the production gets an “E” for effort.

To paraphrase author J. M. Barrie, 'PETER PAN is an awfully big adventure!' For children of all ages and that wide-eyed child still dreaming of Neverland within, your ticket to adventure, whimsy and danger has taken up residence in Tysons Corner through August. J. M. Barrie's classic PETER PAN has swooped back onto the stage and brought the popular story combined with dazzling stagecraft for a wholly immersive experience to enthrall a new generation of audiences. Running through August 16, PETER PAN is ready to fly into your heart once again.

Countess Aurelie and her fellow madwomen are back to save Chaillot, Paris and the world in a stylishly realized theatrical tour-de-force. As directed by Christopher Henley, WSC Avant Bard's THE MADWOMAN OF CHAILLOT is a feast for the eyes and ears. The production, in an exciting and vibrant translation by Laurence Senelick, also feeds the soul as a reminder of how precious our fragile earth really is and how important it is for someone, anyone, to take a stand to protect it. This MADWOMAN is also brilliantly acted from the members of the quirky ensemble to the queen bee herself, Countess Aurelie, effortlessly brought to life by Avant Bard company member Cam Magee.

Old Blue Eyes might not be back but if you are a fan of his catalog of songs, MY WAY: A MUSICAL TRIBUTE TO FRANK SINATRA may give you high hopes and fly you to the moon with nearly 60 signature tunes. An attractive cast covers all phases of Sinatra's musical legacy with style backed up by a killer trio. Ring-a Ding Ding!

The Lusty Month of May; like the song says: 'It's time to do a wicked thing or two!' It's May, the time when spring brings that hot-blooded, four letter word: lust. Musicals have had a steady history of lusty musical numbers. There are songs about rolling in the hay, and others extolling the virtues of different (ahem) flavors of man-candy. Some songs are paens to hot, steamy nights, and some are about what you do on those kind of nights. 

Tanya Barfield's THE CALL has come to the Atlas Performing Arts Center on H Street in a production that gives full value to the huge questions posed by the play. THE CALL does not give easy answers and that is just fine with me. But it sure makes you think. Inspired by Barfield's own experience with international adoption, THE CALL is not a documentary by any means. This is a very human story, with one eye on the personal and one eye looking beyond to the big picture, a hallmark of brilliant theatre if there ever was one. Director Shirley Serotsky's precise direction enhances the global scope while remaining focused on Annie and Peter's bumpy road to parenthood.

Putting another arrow in my own quiver, I am jumping from my usual duties recapping GOTHAM (season is over anyway) and serving as tonight's shot for shot commentator for ARROW as its third season comes to a close. I do watch ARROW and I am a fan so I am not jumping in totally cold. I do know that main man Oliver Queen – aka the Arrow – took the bait offered by the shady league all so he could work from the inside. Some of his allies thought he really turned on them so there are suspicions galore.

CINDERELLA wins more than bracelets in Washington National Opera's closing opera of the season. Featuring the auspicious debut of American mezzo soprano Isabel Leonard (2013 Richard Tucker Winner), Rossini's comic and lyrical romantic opera weaves an easy spell. CINDERELLA – “La Cenerentola” – is conducted with skill and precision by Italian conductor Speranza Scappucci, also making her WNO debut. The role of Isabella (Cinderella) is sung by Leonard on May 13, 16, 19 and 21. Alternating the role with Leonard, is Irish mezzo Tara Erraught, making not only her WNO debut but her first American opera appearance. Erraught is Isabella on May 11, 15, and the matinee on May 17.

Gangland wars, Gordon's women come together, and Bruce learns secrets hiding in Wayne Manor - all coming together for tonight's freshman season finale for GOTHAM. We're updating and recapping LIVE starting at 8 pm EDT.

Holy Dramatic Twists! GOTHAM has two episodes left and events are coming to a boiling point in the pentultimate episode of season one.

Arena Stage audiences cannot get enough of Justice Antonin Scalia and John Strand's new play THE ORIGINALIST which has premiered in the Kogod Cradle. Performances continue through May 3 and a second extension is scheduled to run May 19 through May 31. Directed by Molly Smith, the play stars one of Washington DC's most recognizable actors, Edward Gero as Scalia. He is joined by Kerry Warren and Harlan Work as two clerks who work for the controversial justice. Broadway World spoke with Kerry Warren about the extension and the impact THE ORIGINALIST is having on audiences.