By Mark Edelman
Make it your 2024 New Year’s resolution to enjoy one of these fine performances, live! onstage in January at a theater near you:
AS YOU LIKE IT Shakespeare Theatre Co Now thru January 14
Mash up one of the Bard’s rom-coms with the Beatle’s catalogue and you have two more reasons to appreciate the British contribution to our culture. In this light-hearted romp, Orlando (a dashing Jeff Irving) and Rosalind (Chelsea Rose, no wallflower she) meet cute after the former bests his evil brother and is banished to the forests of Arden. It’s Shakespeare, so Rosalind, in hot pursuit, dresses up like a man and offers to help Orlando woo her/him.
Canadian director Daryl Cloran, who developed the piece, deftly weaves lovers, servants, bumpkins, wrestlers and a nifty five piece combo into a sparkling, witty two and a half hours of fun. All this plus “all the world’s a stage” and Shakespeare’s Seven Ages of Man and you’ve got another good reason to head for Chinatown by Jan 14. Tickets at http://www.shakespearetheatre.org.
FROZEN Kennedy Center Now thru January 21
If you’ve got a six year old daughter or granddaughter careening around the house, you probably know the story of Anna and Elsa, the snow princesses who save their town in this Broadway musical version of Hans Christian Andersen’s classic The Snow Queen. Got a few hundred bucks for your family of four?— well, “let it go” on tickets to this lovely production. Tickets at www,kennedy-center.org
LOVE LOVE LOVE Studio Theatre Jan 10- Feb 18
Brit playwright Mike Bartlett (King Charles III and The 47th) has a way with dramatizing headline-making characters like British royalty, Trump and Biden. Here he turns his sharp eye and biting humor on a pair of carefree Londoners as they wend their way from the swinging 60s thru middle age and retirement, squandering the world they inherited (or so their daughter keeps reminding them). Tickets at www.studiotheatre.org
A CHORUS LINE Toby’s Dinner Theatre Jan 12- March 10
Seventeen talented hopefuls line up for an audition unlike any they’ve ever experienced. By the end of the show, you’re rooting for them to get the job in a Broadway chorus. Tony® and Pulitzer Award- winning Best Musicals don’t come along that often. This one changed musical theater for a generation. Tickets at www.tobysdinnertheatre.com
NUNSENSE A-MEN! NextStop Theatre Jan 12- Feb 11
The latest edition of Dan Goggin’s long-running Nunsense franchise, this latest musical comedy finds five Little Sisters of Hoboken putting on a benefit show to pay for the burial of the other nuns, who died in a catastrophic cooking fire. Don’t get out the hankies–it’s all in good fun (and drag). Tickets at www.nextstoptheatre.org
MINDPLAY Arena Stage Jan 19- March 3
Mentalist Vinny DePonto guides us on an entirely new theatrical event in which our thoughts play a leading role. A love letter to the imperfect mind, this DMV premier explores the fragmented and flawed nature of memory and asks us to question whether we can trust the voice inside our heads. Tickets at http://www.arenastage.org
ANNIE National Theatre January 23-28
In the midst of our national malaise, it’s time to trot our government leaders over to the National for two and a half hours of unbridled optimism. “The sun will come out tomorrow,” a curly-headed little ball of energy sings for us in this Tony® Award winning Broadway classic, now on a national tour. Take the kids and leave Tik Tok at home. Tickets at http://www.broadwayatthenational.com
NEXT TO NORMAL Roundhouse Theatre Jan 24- Feb 25
Diana is a suburban mom struggling with bipolar disorder. Daughter Natalie is a stressed-out overachiever about to snap. Her husband Dan is determined to keep everything “normal.” This brilliant Tony® and Pulitzer Prize winning musical tracks a family sharing grief and struggling to connect with one another. Full disclosure—despite the gloomy premise, I love this musical. Tickets at http://www.roundhouse.org
TICK TICK BOOM Kennedy Center Jan 26- Feb 4
Before his life was cut short in a Manhattan hospital, Jonathan Larson gave us the groundbreaking musical Rent. Prior to that masterpiece, Larson worked on a show about his own experience as a composer struggling to break into New York City’s theater scene. Now that musical comes to DC in a new production directed by Emmy® and Tony Award® winner Neil Patrick Harris. Tickets at http://www.kennedy-center.org
THIS MUCH I KNOW Theatre J Jan 31- Feb 25
In the midst of a lecture, a psychology professor’s marriage fractures, sparking a moving study of three characters as they become entangled in their search for self-discovery. Part mystery, part love story, part philosophical quest, this DMV premier spins our axis of belief and understanding. Tickets at www.theatrej.org
Mark Edelman is a playwright who loves writing about theater. He is a lifetime member of the Broadway League and a Tony voter.
Photo credit: Caroline Bowman as Elsa and the company of Frozen North American tour photo by Deanvan Meer