ONSTAGE, OLD TOWN- APRIL
By Mark Edelman
April showers may come your way, along with the tail end of those lovely cherry blossoms. Meantime, these plays are blooming in the coming months all over theaters in the DMV:
AT THE WEDDING
Studio Theatre
Now thru April 20
There’s an elephant in the room at Studio Theatre—more like six elephants—in Bryna Turner’s new play, well-acted by an ensemble cast featuring Dina Thomas under Tom Story’s sure-handed direction. When Carlo (Thomas) shows up at Eva’s wedding to try to win her back, you can bet that trouble, copious amounts of alcohol and a modicum of truth-telling will ensue. Everybody’s got a secret (you thought the elephants were Republicans?), punctured by Carlo’s determination to get to the truth, no matter how painful or embarrassing,
Welcome back to every wedding cliché you’ve ever suffered through, artfully spun together by Turner and these talented actors. The set, props, costumes, lighting and sound are all first rate, impressive for a theater company that doesn’t have the budget of Arena Stage or Signature.
If you’ve ever wondered who the bride slept with while the groom was out “with the boys,” you’ll have a fine time at this seventy-five minute romp. Tickets at www.studiotheatre.org
MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS
Alexandria Little Theatre
Now thru Apr 13
DC’s own Ken Ludwig adapted Agatha Christie’s potboiler about a wealthy American businessman discovered dead on the eponymous and opulent Continental sleeper train. If “whodunit?” is a question you enjoy pondering, this plot-twisting masterpiece should be just the thrill ride for you. Tickets at www.thelittletheatre.com
| PENELOPE
Signature Theater Now thru April 21 Mrs. Odysseus is fed up and has some things she wants to say about those twenty years waiting back in Ithaca while hubby got all the ink in Homer’s Odyssey. This world premier musical flips the script on the dutiful wife, as Penelope steps out of the background to claim her share of the spotlight. Tickets at www.sigtheatre.org NANCY Mosaic Theater Now thru Apr 21 It’s 1985 and two women are hard at work steering their futures—Nancy Reagan using astrology to orchestrate her hubby’s political career and Esmeralda, a Navajo mother, advocating for her community. Their worlds converge when they discover Nancy is a descendant of Pocahontas in this very DC play about ancestry and ambition. Tickets at www.mosaictheater.org HESTER STREET Theatre J Now thru Apr 21 The world premier of the stage adaptation of Joan Micklin Silver’s 1975 film tells the uplifting tale of a young woman from Eastern Europe who arrives with her little boy in New York’s Lower East Side cira 1890 where she discovers that her husband, who journeyed ahead of her, has already embraced a new American life she does not understand. Faced with the disintegration of her marriage, Gitl must find her voice, protect her son and redefine herself in this strange land. Tickets at www.edcjcc.org/theatre-j. UNKNOWN SOLDIER Arena Stage Now thru May 5 The photo of an anonymous recruit, hidden among her grandmother’s keepsakes, sends a woman on a sweeping musical journey to discover the secrets of her family’s past. With Broadway talent and a name producer attached, this one looks like another Arena pre-Broadway transfer. Tickets at www,arenastage.org. LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS Ford’s Theatre Now thru May 18 That big old scary plant returns to Ford’s in this musical theater favorite. Doo wop and Motown infuse a classic boy-meets-girl, boy-introduces-girl-to carnivorous, blood-thirsty plant story with a great score by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, who went on to save Disney animation with The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast. Tickets at www.fords.org BEAUTY & THE BEAST Toby’s Dinner Theatre Now thru June 16 Tale as old as time—what more can you ask of the Disney juggernaut? The Mouse House’s first Broadway hit, it revitalized not only the Great White Way but big screen animation, too. With a Tony ® Award-winning score by Alan Menken and lyrics by the too-soon taken from us Howard Ashman, Beauty is one for the ages and all ages. Tickets at www.tobysdinnertheatre.com WEBSTER’S BITCH Keegan Theatre April 6- May 5 Gender and obscenity in the age of social media threatens to bring down that most sacred of institutions: Webster’s Dictionary. Office politics collide with ambition, morality and lexicography in this dark comedy—a DMV premier– about vulgar words and the people who define them. Tickets at http://www.keegantheatre.com MACBETH Shakespeare Theatre Company April 9- May 5 In the theatrical event of the season, English Patient star Ray Fiennes and Indira Varma (she of Game of Thrones fame) play the unmentionable Scottish prince and his ruthless mother in a production of the Shakespeare tragedy that’s wowing them in the West End on its way across the pond. Performed immersively on a soundstage that formerly housed BET Studios, the Scottish play cautions that our minds may deceive us, but a guilty conscience will undo us all. Tickets at http://www.shakespearetheatre.org PETER PAN National Theatre April 9- 21 If you believe in fairies, you know what to do: clap your hands so Tinkerbell survives, the Lost Boys defeat Captain Hook and the Darling children return from Neverland to their nursery and beloved pooch Nana. Playwright Larissa FastHorse has adapted this musical chestnut, removing the racist elements and giving Wendy and Tiger Lilly their due. And –spoiler alert– Peter is finally played by a boy! Tickets at broadwayatthenational.com A JUMPING OFF POINT Round House Theatre April 10- May 5 A promising Black female writer lands her first deal with HBO, only to be confronted with a White male from her grad school who accuses her of stealing his work. Their conflict forces us to consider sources, privilege and who gets to tell what kind of stories in this incendiary, provocate world premier. Tickets at http://www.roundhousetheatre.org HAIR Signature Theatre April 16- July 7 The America tribal love-rock musical returns in all its psychedelic glory. When some long-haired hippies on the cusp of adulthood cry out for freedom, peace and joy, they are confronted instead with a world thrown into chaos when one of them receives a draft notice for the Vietnam War. Oh, and there’s a love-in, too. Tickets at www.sigtheatre.org About the Author: Mark Edelman is a playwright who loves writing about theater. He is a lifetime member of the Broadway League and a Tony voter. |