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Dublin Carol
By Conor McPherson
Directed by Jack Sbarbori
Produced by Quotidian Theatre Company
Reviewed by Steven McKnight

Conor McPherson’s Dublin Carol consists of three scenes set in the office of assistant funeral director John Plunkett (John Decker) in Dublin on Christmas Eve.  The office is a nice creation by set designer Jack Sbarbori, just cluttered enough to be convincing and authentic in every touch, even down to the Aer Lingus coffee mug. Read more…

Frost/Nixon
By Peter Morgan
Directed by Michael Grandage
A touring production presented by The Kennedy Center
Reviewed by Tim Treanor

Richard M. Nixon, the disgraced former President who resigned thirty-four years ago, was well known as an equivocator and a liar, so let us not compound his felonies with anything but complete honesty. This show is a disappointment.

Peter Morgan’s play is given over to an incident on the outskirts of history: David Frost’s four-part interview with Nixon after his resignation and pardon. Read more…

All’s Well that Ends Well
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Joe Banno
Produced by Washington Shakespeare Company
Reviewed by Steven McKnight

All’s Well that Ends Well is famously known as one of Shakespeare’s “problem plays,” the kind that most companies would shy away from tackling unless they have a name like the Washington Shakespeare Company.  Talented director Joe Banno’s clever touches and a game lead performance by Mundy Spears provide an interesting and at times diverting piece of entertainment, but WSC has not solved all of the play’s problems and at times the production flags. Read more…

Doubt (La Duda)
By John Patrick Shanley
Adapted and directed by Matilda Corral
Produced by I.E. Productions C.A., from Venezuela for Teatro De La Luna’s Eleventh International Festival of Hispanic Theater
Reviewed by Rosalind Lacy

What universalizes John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt (La Duda), about a priest suspected of pedophilia, are the adaptations director Matilda Corral makes. We are in a Catholic school in Venezuela instead of an Irish-Italian school in Northeastern United States. But the explosive issues and controversy are the same. Read more…

The Marriage Counselor

Written and Directed by Tyler Perry
Produced by Tyler Perry at the Warner Theater
Reviewed by Debbie Minter Jackson

Going to a Tyler Perry production is like going home on Spring break-you know what’s coming, but it’s comfy and reliable, and there’s absolutely no place like home.  Nobody hits the buttons, unburies the bones, dares the characters to “go there,”  and splashes over the top like Perry.  His musicals fit a winning formula– a mix of zany characters in serious life situations, good smacking the mess out of evil, the healing power of prayer and redemption, and enough gut-wrenching gospel music to qualify for Sunday service. Read more…

Boom
By Peter Sinn Nachtrieb
Produced by Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
Directed by John Vreeke
Reviewed by Tim Treanor

I have some bad news for you. In the next few months, or years, life as we know it apparently will end, courtesy of a major collision between Earth and a great big comet. Regrettably, the few survivors will include, not an overweight, balding theater reviewer, but a nerdy fish scientist named Jules (Aubrey Deeker) and the hyperkinetic journalism student Jo (Kimberly Gilbert) who the fates have appointed as his partner in the arduous task of repopulating the world. I have learned about these unfortunate events from a museum exhibitor named Barbara (Sarah Marshall), who, being from the future, has a little perspective on them. I am happy to report that museum exhibitors from the future are just as pleasantly neurotic as they are today.

Boom, a wickedly clever play set against a backdrop of mass extinction is, curiously enough, a comedy: Read more…

Five Fabulous Scene Stealers and other Kudos
Elizabeth Rayca, Richelle Howie, Steven Rigaux, Sonya Lillenstein, Vishal Vaidya,  The Cast of PetPourri, Josh Speerstra and Rita Moreno.
By Joel Markowitz

Local theatregoers were recently treated to many scene stealing performances. Here are my personal favorites: Read more…

A Man for All Seasons and 13: A New Musical
by Richard Seff

I came to the Roundabout’s revival of A Man for All Seasons late in its run, on November 5^th. I was away when it opened on October 7^th, and was only vaguely aware of its critical response, but my feeling was it had been moderately received, and was perceived by most to be plodding and dull. My general impression was that even Frank Langella, its Tony winning star, had been dismissed as less than successful in playing Sir Thomas More. The lovely thing about live theatre is that if you enter the building with an open mind and a willing heart, magic is available each and every time. Read more…