the washington post friday, december 3, 2010 l
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MiniReviews
A checkmark (g) denotes a show recommended by our critics.
NEWLYREVIEWED ABROADWAY CHRISTMAS CAROL AtMetroStage throughDec. 19
Can amusical have its plumpudding and eat it, too? To judge by this unsatisfying Yuletide romp, the answer is no.Kathy Feininger’s holiday goof labors to simultaneously lampoon and celebrate CharlesDickens’s classic ghost story, aswell as a slewof interpolated showtunes. Tugged in two directions by contradictory impulses, the piece comes across as an annoying mishmash. Even the beguiling performances of three top-notch actors can’t turn this fruitcake recipe into satisfying fare. To be fair, director LarryKaye’s good-humored extravaganza-on-a-shoestring has its infectiously giddymoments. An amusing dose of irreverence arriveswith the “Avenue Q”-style puppets (manned by the actors)who burlesqueWant and Ignorance (theGhost of Christmas Present’s spooky sidekicks, in Dickens’s original). Evenmusic director Aaron Broderick, at the onstage piano, gets into themood,wearing a black robe and “Phantomof theOpera”mask for theGhost of Christmas Yet to Come’s scenes. But these splashes of ebullience can’tmake Feininger’smash-up of caricature and sincerity feel organic.
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co-founder and member Chris Griffin. “There’s no artifice or theatricality to his dialogue.” Nor punch lines, according to Allen, who is co-directing the show. But that doesn’t make it any less amusing, and Cherry Red has a good track record with Tanner’s humor, having performed two of his pieces, including “Coyote Woman” in 2003. “We used to joke during ‘Coy-
ote’ that when we’d look out on the audience, they’d all be sitting there with huge smiles on their faces,” Allen says. “It’s just end- lessly silly.” Although “Wife Swappers”
Friday at 8, Saturday at 3 and 8, Sunday at 3 and 7, and Thursday at 8.
1201N.Royal St.,Alexandria. 703-548-9044.
800-494-8497.www.metrostage.org. $25-$50.
JUNIEB. INJINGLEBELLS, BATMANSMELLS!
At Imagination Stage through Jan. 9
“Junie B. in Jingle Bells,” directed byKathryn Chase Bryer (and recommended for age 4 and older), imagines an elementary school play about Christopher Columbus and his ships. Funneling her energies into the key role of the Pinta is Junie B. Jones, the rambunctious first-grader based on thewell- known character fromthe Barbara Park children’s book series.Dressed in aptly oddball pink outfits,with pink-laced yellow sneakers, this Junie B. (Casie Platt) bewails stubby crayons, schemes to give her Secret Santa a lump of coal and,with enviable self- assurance, announces that “if you glare at people long enough, you canmelt their heads.” Pity her long-suffering teacher. Fear not, parents: “Junie B. in Jingle Bells” also contains a low-keymessage about generosity.
—CeliaWren RICHARD ANDERSON
“ReEntry” stars, from left, Sameerah Luqmaan-Harris, BobbyMoreno, JoeHarrell, PJ Sosko and Sheila Tapia. The play, at Centerstage, is about the lives ofMarine families.
Saturday at 4, Sunday at 1:30 and 4, and Thursday at 10:30. 4908AuburnAve., Bethesda.
301-280-1660.www.imagination
stage.org. $10-$22.
gSNOWWHITE,ROSERED(ANDFRED)
At theKennedy Center Family Theater throughDec. 19
“SnowWhite, Rose Red” (recommended for age 9 and older) aces its spoof of extracurricular dramatics. Composer Zina Goldrich and bookwriter/lyricistMarcy Heisler have dreamed up a story that’s part “High SchoolMusical,” part “Glee” and part sheer arts-geekwish fulfillment.When aD.C. drama club adapts the fairy tale “Snow White, Rose Red” for a regional theater championship, the teensmust copewith a last-minute crisis. The play’s five talented performers have a blastwith their cartoonish characters. As popular cheerleaders and BFFsMelissa andMelinda, LaurenWilliams and Emily Levey flounce around, preening and flipping their hair and bending lustrous voices to perky pop-flavored numbers. Evan Casey amps up the affectations of the drama club impresario/playwright Juan Carlos,who pens dreamballets during trigonometry class. SamLudwig fills in ably as Fred,who has towear a bear suit. And then there’s the moral that also crops up: The showmust go on.
Saturday at 11, 1:30 and 5. 2700 F St.NW. 202-467-4600. 800-444-1324.
www.kennedy-center.org. $18.
CONTINUING
gANNIE AtOlney Theatre Center through Jan. 9
The Christmas party has already started at Olney Theatre Center,where a plucky redheaded orphan and her bald billionaire protector are hosting an expansive, confident production of this evergreen musical. Spiffed-up visuals nicely showcase directorMarkWaldrop’s talented cast,
—C.W. —C.W.
nearly all ofwhomare nimble of foot and hearty of voice. CaitlinDeerin is redheaded sunshine as Annie, themost upbeat castoff in the evilMissHannigan’s tenement orphanage. Playing the oppressiveMiss Hannigan, ChannezMcQuay goes full monster. The other bad guys give the show its glorious dose of pizzazz during “Easy Street,” the sultry number about getting rich quick. (Their scheme is to conDaddy Warbucks,who has offered a reward if Annie’s real parents can be found, that they fit the bill.) The list of performances to admire could go on. The Charles Strouse- Martin Charnin score,with its Broadway anthems (“Tomorrow”) and streaks of Depression-era jazz, is ably played by Christopher Youstra’s six-piece orchestra, and the deep, appealing cast beams as they bring the irrepressibly cheerful numbers home.
Elizabeth. Factions in the divided realmare spoiling forMary to take the crown from Elizabeth,who as a result is equivocating overwhether to lop offMary’s head. The dynamic is conveyed in sequences of Sara Barker’s Elizabeth andHeatherHaney’s Mary conferringwith trusted (and sometimes, not so trustworthy) aides and allies, and culminates in a scene out of the playwright’s imagination: an arranged encounter between the queens that sputters disastrously out of control. In director Colin Hovde’s hands, Schiller’s drama remains an engrossing, imaginatively fictionalized account of the endgame for a titledwoman with designs on another’s kingdom.
Saturday at 2 and Sunday at 7:30. 1101 Wilson Blvd.,Arlington. 703-418-4808.
www.washingtonshakespeare.org. $25.
Friday at 8, Saturday at 2 and 8, Sunday at 2 and 7:30,Wednesday at 2 and 8 and Thursday at 8. 2001Olney-Sandy Spring Rd.,Olney. 301-924-3400.www.olney
theatre.org. $26-$54.
EVERY TONGUE CONFESS AtArena Stage through Jan. 2
Conceived as a hall for the birthing of new plays, Arena Stage’s newest space, the Kogod Cradle, embraces that functionwith its inaugural presentation: theworld premiere ofMarcusGardley’s folkloric exploration of hate crimes in the South. Gardley’s play, bolstered by a top-notch cast, tries through lyrical speeches,magical spirituality and densely interlocked subplots to locate the redemptive potential in a horrific set of circumstances: the serial burning of black churches in the Alabama of themid-1990s. The sense created here is of amoral universe aching for correction, one inwhich the sin of racismknows no particular color. In its final stages, the play picks up some emotional steam, and the clear portrait begins to emerge of a community that needs to look inward for an understanding ofwhat has unleashed a terrible evil. That the steps to this revelation could be laid outmore effectively does not by a long shot nullify the dramatist’s imaginative exertion. It justmeans there’s roomfor a bitmore of it.
Saturday at 8, Tuesday-Wednesday at noon and Thursday at 8. 1101 Sixth St. SW.
202-488-3300.www.arenastage.org. $70-$110.
gMARY STUART AtArtisphere throughDec. 12
Friedrich Schiller’s story of the vain and competitive queens unfolds inWashington Shakespeare Company’s nimble,modern- dress staging as penetrating political
psychodrama.Mary, the golden girl adored by the Catholic population, is held under guard by her cousin, the Protestant
—Nelson Pressley
to his prairie love, Laurey (EleashaGamble). Itmight seemthat in casting a Latino and an African American as the lead couple, Smith has placed Curly’s line in italics too deliberately. But not only is there some historical support for these choices, it’s also a fact that each of themsings like a dream. In the benevolent land of opportunity that is conjured here, they’ve earned these jobs, on merit. And their performances are cushioned by themost astutely assembled cast Arena has rounded up for amusical in years.
—P.M.
gTHEMASTERANDMARGARITA At the Lansburgh Theatre throughDec. 12
Synetic Theater’s newproduction is an extravaganza of thunderingmusic, outlandish costumes, bold lighting and lithe, often semi-clad actorswho canmove like bizarre hell-driven creatures and contort themselves like circus freaks. “TheMaster andMargarita” is Roland Reed’s adaptation of Soviet novelistMikhail Bulgakov’s 1930s anti-totalitarian
saga.Husband-and-wife teamPaata and Irina Tsikurishvili star together as the title characters, an anguishedwriter (themaster)who has dared to pen a Christian book under atheistic rule, and his love andmuse (Margarita). As performers, the Tsikurishvilis—emigres fromthe republic ofGeorgia—are mesmerizing,melding intensity and craft. The duomovewith controlled frenzy,with Irina channeling inspirationwhile Paata repeats a hand gesture signifying the master’s suddenly prodigiouswriting. That the gesturewill be seen again, only in broken form, emphasizes Synetic’s ability to forge pictures that, at their best, can beworth so muchmore thanwords.
Friday 8, Saturday at 2 and 8, Sunday at 2 and 7:30, Tuesday-Wednesday at 7:30 and Thursday at 8. 1101 Sixth St. SW.
202-488-3300.www.arenastage.org. $45- $105.
gREENTRY At Centerstage throughDec. 19
Friday at 8, Saturday at 2 and 8, Sunday at 2 andWednesday-Thursday at 8. 450 Seventh St.NW. 202-547-1122.
877-487-8849.www.shakespeare
theatre.org. $30-$55.
—PeterMarks
gOKLAHOMA! AtArena Stage throughDec. 30
Arena Stage’s “Oklahoma!” is quite simply an enchantment.DirectorMolly Smith infuses amusical that sometimes can come across as a nostalgia piecewith the energy of a newage,with the gifts of a castwhose faces reflect the America of thismoment. “Oklahoma!” takes place just after the turn of the 20th century in a territory soon to become a state. It’s about plain folks on a small patch of earth being absorbed into a universe of bigger ideas and ambitions. “Country’s changing, andwe got to change with it!,” Curly (Nicholas Rodriguez) confides
—N.P.
This interview-based play about the lives of Marine families keeps an iron grip on your attention. Rattling as it can be, “ReEntry” is its own refreshment. The piece has been put together by co-authors Emily Ackerman and KJ Sanchez, veterans of the interview-driven troupe the Civilians, so they knowhowto convert rawdocumentary speech into vivid theater. Ackerman and Sanchez hang a lot of their information around a single family: a mother, twoMarine brothers and their sister at home. An hour into the showyou sense a jarring,maybe unbridgeable disconnect between the peoplewho live themilitary life and thosewho don’t. The voices give you plenty of painfulwar-is-hell stories, but they gowell beyond, bustingmyths and touching the rawnerve ofwhat can be so alienating on both sides of the service experience. The actors are flat-out fabulous, never striking the false notes that could nudge things toward caricature. “ReEntry” knows its subject toowell to flinch, and it delivers a troubling picture of the people and systems on both sides. But Ackerman and Sanchez also love these guys; the evening seems to have several endings, and each one’s a beaut.
Friday at 8, Saturday at 2 and 8, Sunday at 2 and 7:30, Tuesday-Wednesday at 8 and Thursday at 7. 700N. Calvert St., Baltimore. 410-332-0033.www.center
stage.org. $10-$45.
RICHARDIII AtArtisphere throughDec. 12
An intriguing, barbed strangeness permeatesWashington Shakespeare Company’s “Richard III,” and it’s not a function of the troupe’s debut at Artisphere. In the hands of co-directors Christopher Henley and JayHardee the play has gained a menacing, decadent and largely compelling exoticism. Actorswith bizarre, asymmetrical facialmarkings stalk around in sci-fi-tinged, haremchic to the accompaniment of eerie, techno-flavored soundscape. A side effect of this defamiliarizing aesthetic is to
significantly shrink the villainy, and even the charisma, of the title character. Though disappointing, this dynamic doesn’t sink the production. And Richard starts to lookmore brutal as he disposes of courtiers. The phantoms are striking at first, but by the climactic battle scene, there are somany creeping, rolling spooks onstage that the play starts to look like a zombie-themed modern dance
production.My kingdomfor an exorcist.
doesn’t have the dark aesthetic of many of Cherry Red’s other plays, it still speaks to the company’s mission, which is to spotlight “good plays by often underpro- duced playwrights who really should be seen by more people,” says company member and co-di- rector Kate Debelack. The company doesn’t plan on
halting this quest to unearth and share what it considers hidden gems, even as the group ventures into other types of projects. “Cherry Red’s not going any-
where,” Allen says. “There’s no way we’re stopping anytime soon.”
stephanie.merry@
wpost.com —P.M. Wife Swappers
Through Dec. 18. DC Arts Center, 2438 18th St.NW.
www.cherryredproductions.com. $25. Not recommended for younger than 18.
Friday-Saturday at 7:30, Sunday at 2, Thursday at 7:30. 1101Wilson Blvd., Arlington. 703-418-4808.www.washington
shakespeare.org. $25-$35.
SUPERIORDONUTS At Studio Theatre through Jan. 2
—N.P.
Actor Richard Cotovsky is Arthur Przybyszewski, proprietor of the titular establishment and authoritative relic of a bygone era in Tracey Letts’s hit-and-miss Chicago comedy.He arrives onemorning at the coffee shop to discover the aftermath of an act of vandalism. Inwalks young Franco Wicks (Johnny Ramey), a dynamo fromthe ’hoodwho, desperate for a job, refuses to take no for an answer. It turns out that Franco is both on the run fromhis thuggish bookie and in search of a decent agent: In his down time, he haswritten a novel. Ramey’s exuberant performance proves an entertaining counterpoint to Cotovsky’s stoicism. By degree, Cotovsky allows you to seewhat still throbs in Arthur’s soul, that he yearns for a second chance. If only the playwright hadn’t felt it necessary to spell everything out, in intrusive disgorgings of Arthur’smemories. Somehow, though, Cotovskymanages to solidly embody Arthur’s distracted essence, ensuring that “SuperiorDonuts” does not play outwith a hole in its center.
Tuesday-Wednesday at 8, Saturday at 2
—C.W.
—P.M.
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