35 Mini Reviews
A star (B) denotes a show recommended by our critics.
NEWLY REVIEWED IN THE NEXT ROOM, OR THE VIBRATOR PLAY
At Woolly Mammoth Theatre through Oct. 3
Sarah Ruhl’s play takes place in the 1880s in the house and clinic of a well-intentioned quack convinced that the way to relieve the depression and frustration of his female patients is to induce a “paroxysm.” What he doesn’t realize is that he’s allowing them to sexually climax, through his accidental invention of the vibrator. The treatments prove popular, and watching actress Kimberly Gilbert warm to the sessions provides the evening’s high points. However, the plot turns most centrally around the doctor’s wife, Catherine, who seeks intimacy with her husband and mourns the fact that — for lack of her own breast milk — she must hire another woman to feed her child. Around these issues of adequacy and thwarted desire the story lumbers on, managing to become ever less involving. It says something about the tying up of the evening’s soapy contrivances that the play appears to end several times before the stage finally goes dark.
Friday at 8, Saturday at 3 and 8, Sunday at 3, Wednesday-Thursday at 8. 641 D St. NW. 202-393-3939.
www.woollymammoth.net. $15-$65.
BTRAVELS WITH MY AUNT
At Howard Community College, Rep Stage, through Sunday
Some journeys are rushed; others are leisurely. “Travels With My Aunt” is firmly in the second category, taking nearly three hours to saunter through a retired bank clerk’s unexpected adventures with the vivacious sister of his just-dead mother. The entire international escapade is played by four men in matching gray suits. That’s the distinguishing feature of “Travels With My Aunt,” Giles Havergal’s practical yet imaginative stage adaptation of Graham Greene’s 1969 novel. All four actors slip in and out of the role of Henry Pulling, the dahlia-nurturing ex-clerk. On top of that, each actor also gets to take on a number of the eccentric characters whom Pulling encounters. The show may be a meander, but it sure has its funny wonders along the way.
Friday at 8, Saturday at 2 and 8, Sunday at 2 and 7. 10901 Little Patuxent Pkwy., Columbia. 410-772-4900.
www.repstage. org. $16-$30, $14-$28 seniors, $12 students.
CONTINUING B CHESS
At Signature Theatre through Oct. 3
Almost any time a mouth opens and notes spill out, the newly slimmed down “Chess” is a gateway to musical-theater nirvana. You will come away from director Eric Schaeffer’s production brimming with admiration, and yet it would be a stretch to declare that “Chess” is now a great musical. It’s merely a great listen. Set in the waning years of the Cold War, it revolves around the chess match between an earnest Soviet star, Anatoly Sergievsky, and his obnoxious American rival, Freddie Trumper. Freddie’s chess second, the emigre Florence, is caught between Freddie and the married Anatoly, with whom she falls in love. The affair becomes a tabloid sensation after Florence leaves Freddie’s camp and Anatoly abandons his Soviet wife and Soviet minder to pursue her. You do get a little teary just before the evening’s close, but it’s a reflex rather than a response to a deep investment in the character.
— P
Friday at 8, Saturday at 2 and 8, Sunday at 2 and 7, Tuesday and Wednesday at 7:30, Thursday at 8. 4200 Campbell Ave., Arlington. 703-820-9771. www.
signature-theatre.org. $55-$86.
DINNER WITH FRIENDS
At Olney Theatre Center through Sept. 26 There are two married couples in Donald
MAEStage and screen icon Mae West returns from the dead to educate her impersonator, through Oct. 2. Wednesday and Thursday at 8. Flashpoint, 916 G St. NW. 202-315-1305.
www.flashpointdc.org. $15-$25.
SHEAR MADNESS The audience joins the fun in this performance based on a murder in a hair salon. Friday and Tuesday-Thursday at 8, Saturday at 9, Sunday at 3 and 7. Kennedy Center, Theater Lab, 2700 F St. NW. 202-467-4600. 800-444-1324. www.
kennedy-center.org. $42.
SINK THE BELGRANO! Scena Theatre presents a satire of the United Kingdom during the Falklands War, through Sunday. Friday and Saturday at 8, Sunday at 3. H Street Playhouse, 1365 H St. NE. 703-683-2824.
www.scenatheater.org. $25-$40.
MARYLAND
JAKE’S WOMEN2nd Star Productions presents Neil Simon’s comedy about a novelist who daydreams about the women in his life, through Saturday. Friday at 8 and Saturday at 3. Bowie Playhouse, Route 3 southbound between routes 450 and 50, Bowie. 410-757-5700. 301-832-4819. www.
bctheatre.com.
www.2ndstarproductions.com. $20, $17 seniors and students.
KT SULLIVAN Sullivan performs as part of Center Stage’s cabaret series, through Sept. 19. Thursday at 7. Center Stage, 700 N. Calvert St., Baltimore. 410-332-0033.
www.centerstage.org. $35.
— Peter Marks STAN BAROUH
Rep Stage’s “Travels With My Aunt,” starring, from left, Michael Russotto, Nigel Reed, Bill Largess and Lawrence Redmond, is a meandering journey well worth taking.
COMINGS AND GOINGS
Last chance Closing Sunday: Scena
Theatre’s “Sink the Belgrano!” at the H Street Playhouse (703-683-2824, www.
scenatheater.org); “Travels With My Aunt” at Rep Stage, Howard Community College (410-772-4900,
www.repstage. org).
— Nelson Pressley
Margulies’s play: one suddenly splitting up, and the other quietly rocked by that fact. In this fine, occasionally shattering production, Beth and Tom — the breakups — seem like mismatched flakes. Gabe and Karen, on the other hand, appear great together until the flameout between Beth and Tom infects Gabe and Karen with uncertainty. The scenes are long and exploratory, catching the four characters in shifting moods and uncertain allegiances. The consistently sensational base to all this is Gabe (Paul Morella) and Karen (Julie-Ann Elliott), who are utterly on the mark with the quick flare-ups and careful diplomacy of long-haul relationships. Together these actors exquisitely illuminate Margulies’s scenes from an enviably good, desperately fragile marriage.
Friday at 7:45, Saturday-Sunday and Wednesday at 1:45 and 7:45, Thursday at 7:45. 2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Rd., Olney. 301-924-3400.
www.olneytheatre.org. $26-$54.
SOMETHING YOU DID At Theater J through Oct. 3
.M.
“He’s the devil,” declares Alison Moulton (Deborah Hazlett), the jailed antiwar activist in Willy Holtzman’s drama. Alison is describing an old lefty colleague and lover who has morphed into a hyped conservative rant-master played by Rick Foucheux. The going gets sluggish as the characters drag mountains of sordid cultural and personal baggage into full view. That may be part of what’s keeping Eleanor Holdridge’s cast from fully sinking their teeth into each other’s necks. The performance is oddly cautious
for nearly an hour, even though the play is crafted as a series of cross-fire faceoffs. But as Holtzman’s play boils down to a showdown between a tarnished angel and a rat, it’s Hazlett who gives the evening dimension and heft. Foucheux only sometimes gets all the way inside the mind of a political opportunist with a gift for making fearful, tearful catchphrases sting. Hazlett, though, becomes the real deal. She delivers exactly what this melodrama requires: a heroic performance.
— N.P
Saturday at 8, Sunday at 3 and 7:30, Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30. 1529 16th St. NW. 800-494-8497.
www.theaterj. org. $30-$55, $15 age 35 and younger.
— N.P . Also Playing
Prices are for the entire run of the show; Individual shows may vary.
THE DISTRICT ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL Marsha Mason stars in Shakespeare’s romantic comedy about one woman’s pursuit of a husband, through Oct. 24. Friday and Thursday at 8, Saturday at 2 and 8, Sunday and Wednesday at 7:30. Lansburgh Theatre, 450 Seventh St. NW. 202-547-1122. 877-487-8849. www.
shakespearetheatre.org. $37-$93.
ANNA SCHULMAN: THE QUEEN OF H STREET This one-woman show tells the story of Anna Shulman and her impact on
.
the H Street neighborhood during the 1920s and 1930s, through Sunday. Sunday at 3. Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H St. NE. 202-789-0900.
www.atlasarts.org. Free, registration required.
CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION In amateur theater class, games and exercises resemble out-of-class drama, through Oct. 17. Friday and Wednesday-Thursday at 8, Saturday at 2 and 8, Sunday at 2 and 7. Studio Theatre, 1501 14th St. NW. 202-332-3300.
www.studiotheatre.org. $35-$65.
FALSETTOS Ganymede Arts presents a play about a man who leaves his wife and children for another man, only to separate then reunite years later, through Oct. 10. Saturday and Thursday at 8, Sunday at 7. Noi’s Nook at Go Mama Go!, 1809 14th St. NW. 202-709-3698. www.
ganymedearts.org. $30.
THE GREAT GAME: AFGHANISTAN The culture and history of Afghanistan is told through 12 short plays in a three-part series produced by Tricycle Theatre, through Sept. 25. Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30. Sidney Harman Hall, 610 F St. NW. 202-547-1122. 877-487-8849.
www.shakespearetheatre. org. $50-$60 each; $116-$137 for all three.
THE KNIGHT FROM OLMEDO Lope de Vega’s tragicomedy about a love and a rivalry between two Spanish towns is presented in Spanish with English surtitles, through Oct. 17. Thursday at 8. GALA Theatre-Tivoli, 3333 14th St. NW. 202-234-7174.
www.galatheatre.org. $15-$50.
On sale now American Century Theater
presents “The Tenth Man,” Paddy Chayefsky’s comedic drama about a Jewish exorcism. Sept. 17 through Oct. 16 at Gunston Arts Center, Theater II. 703-998-4555. www.
americancentury.org. $30-$35. American opera gets a cabaret-style twist in the In Series double-bill, “Casino
Paradise” and “Trouble in Tahiti,” Sept. 18 through Oct. 2 at the Source. 202-204-7760.
www.inseries.org. $39. No Rules Theatre Company presents “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” a musical starring the famous “Peanuts” comic strip characters, Sept. 23 through Oct. 17 at the H Street Playhouse. 866-811-4111. www.
norulestheatre.org. $15-$25.
LAUREL MILL PLAYHOUSE 2010 ONE ACT FESTIVAL A different set of one-act plays produced by Maureen Rogers and Diana Simmons will be shown every weekend of the festival, through Sept. 19. Friday and Saturday at 8, Sunday at 2. Laurel Mill Playhouse, 508 Main St., Laurel. 301-617-9906, Ext. 2. 301-452-2557.
www.laurelmillplayhouse. org. $13, $10 ages 65 and older and 18 and younger.
OVO Cirque du Soleil acrobats pull off their gravity-defying feats to expose the audience to the world of insects. The Plateau at National Harbor, through Oct. 24. Friday and Tuesday-Thursday at 8, Saturday at 4 and 8, Sunday at 1 and 5. 800-450-1480.
www.cirquedusoleil.com. $55-$255, $49.50-$117 students and seniors, $38.50-$178.50 ages 2 to 12.
THE SCARLET LETTER The National Players bring Nathaniel Hawthorne’s story of adultery, hypocrisy and society in 17th-century Puritan Boston, through Thursday. Wednesday and Thursday at 8. Olney Theatre Center, 2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Rd., Olney. 301-924-3400. www.
olneytheatre.org. Pay what you can.
THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY Tom Ripley is after social status and fortune and is willing to do anything — including murder — to get and keep it, through Sept. 26. Friday and Thursday at 8, Saturday at 3 and 8, Sunday at 3, Wednesday at 7:30. Round House Theatre, 4545 East West Hwy., Bethesda. 240-644-1100. www.
roundhousetheatre.org. $25-$60.
VIRGINIA
GLIMPSES OF THE MOON The romantic musical is set in 1922 New York, through Oct. 17. Friday and Thursday at 8, Saturday at 3 and 8, Sunday at 3 and 7. MetroStage, 1201 N. Royal St., Alexandria. 703-548-9044. 800-494-8497.
www.metrostage.org. $45-$50.
MAURITIUS Theresa Rebeck’s twisting thriller about stamp collecting is staged, through Oct. 3. Friday at 8, Saturday at 2 and 8 and Sunday at 2 and 7. 1st Stage, 1524 Spring Hill Rd., McLean. 703-854-1856.
www.1ststagetysons.org. $25, $15 students.
STRIKING 12 Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Match Girl” gets a musical twist, through Sept. 25. Friday and Thursday at 8, Saturday at 2:30 and 8, Sunday and Wednesday at 2:30. Wayside Theatre, 7853 Main St., Middletown. 540-869-1776. www.
waysidetheatre.org. $20-$30, $10 age 17 and younger.
THE TENTH MAN American Century Theater presents Paddy Chayefsky’s comedic drama about a Jewish exorcism, through Oct. 16. Wednesday and Thursday at 8. Gunston Arts Center
stage continued on 37
THE WASHINGTON POST • FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2010
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136