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Running time 2:35 - one intermission
A bright, colorful, tuneful musical comedy
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Storyline: A super-sized high school girl breaks down barriers based on color and girth in Baltimore in 1962 as she leads the effort to get the after-school television dance program -- with its all slender, all white teenage dancers gyrating to the latest rock and roll records -- to abandon its limitation of just one “negro day” a month. In the process she becomes the hit of the show, wins the love of the most popular boy and starts a national movement.

A work of knowledgeable professionalism, all the elements of this show were calculated to accomplish their functions, but they combined into something that doesn’t feel at all contrived. Building on the structure of John Waters’ cult-hit film, Meehan and O’Donnell wisely constructed a script which is gently humorous rather than going for the laugh-till-it-hurts approach of The Producers. The score reminds some of Bye Bye Birdie’s mix of top ten pop songs and traditional show music. The songs move the story along efficiently while getting and then keeping the audience in a very good mood.

Pulver, like her predecessors, maintains the high energy level throughout the show that has been its hallmark ever since the role earned Marissa Jaret Winokur her Tony Award. She's bright, she's chipper, she's funny and she sings and dances with a sense of joyous abandon. Many of the other principals work very hard to match Pulver's energy level. Cast changes abound in this non-Actors' Equity tour, with an insert in the program listing no fewer than seven players who joined the team since the program was printed. Taylor Frey is a great deal of fun to watch as the new "Link Larkin," the slender heartthrob of a lead dancer on the Baltimore TV show. Neither Jacqueline Grabois nor Katie Donohue impress, however, as the new mother-daughter team of bigots.

Director Jack O’Brien reunites with choreographer Jerry Mitchell with whom he gave The Full Monty such clarity of storytelling, to again keep the narrative moving smoothly with a sense of momentum. Mitchell even managed to throw in some basketball imagery like he had in Monty, but with his tongue planted firmly in his cheek, turns it into dodge ball. For this streamlined touring version, the remains of David Rockwell’s witty, colorful and very functional scenic design are a pale reminder of his original but they still work, and Harold Wheeler’s original orchestrations have been reduced somewhat but still achieve a 50s & 60s sound as played by an eleven member orchestra that travels with the show. That sound, however, is often conveyed at a volume that leaves no room for dynamic range - the quiet moments are loud and the loud moments are loud.

Book by Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan. Music by Marc Shaiman. Lyrics by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman. Jack O’Brien's direction adapted by Matt Lenz. Music Direction by Ross Scott Rawlings. Jerry Mitchell's choreography recreated by Danny James Austin. Design: David Rockwell (set) William Ivey Long (costumes) Paul Huntley (wigs) Kenneth Posner's lighting design adapted by Paul Miller, Harold Wheeler (orchestrations) Shannon Slaton (sound). Cast: Arjana Andris, Marsena Eunice Bowers, Angela Birchett, Lindsey Clayton, Andrea Cosley, Audrey Mae Davis, Katie Donohue, Dan Ferritti, Donell James Foreman, Taylor Frey, Ms. Gnomiagre, Jacqueline Grabois, David Heard, Greg London, Sharon Malane, Jarret Mallon, Erin McGrath, Jarran Muse, Ryan Obermeier, Domonique Paton,  Brooklynn Pulver, Sarah Roussos, Brandon Rubendall, Robert Taylor, Jr., Ket Treece, Zach Trimmer, Michael Walker.

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Running time 2:45 - one intermission
t A Potomac Stages Pick for the best Annie you're likely to see
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Storyline: In the depths of the depression of the 1930s, a Billionaire by the name of Warbucks sends his secretary to a New York City orphanage to select a lucky youngster to spend the Christmas holiday in his mansion. She comes back with "Little Orphan Annie" who charms everyone in the place - the staff and the billionaire. He decides to adopt her, but she still holds out hope that the parents who left her on the steps of the orphanage as an infant will fulfill their pledge to come back for her. Warbucks enlists the help of the FBI to track them down and offers a reward, which the mean mistress of the orphanage and her brother plot to collect. But no second rate crooks can outwit J Edgar Hoover, FDR, Daddy Warbucks and Annie!

"Never mind Miss Hannigan," many would say, "how's the kid?" Here, too, the change in casting has improved the show, although the last Annie was thoroughly satisfying. Now it is Amanda Ballon,and she's much, much more than merely satisfying. We cited her in our review when this production played Wolf Trap, but then she was playing one of the other orphans, the diminutive "Molly." As Annie, she's just the chipper trooper the show needs. The new Daddy Warbucks is also an improvement on an already satisfying performance. David Barton is the blustery billionaire who falls for Annie.

The true joy of the show is in the sequences for the orphans. "It's the Hard-Knock Life" works like a charm, and their parody of the 1930s radio singing commercial "You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile" is great fun. These feature the original choreography of Peter Gennaro, recreated by his daughter, Liza Gennaro, who is a noted choreographer in her own right. The baton for the tour has passed to a new musical director, Kelly Ann Lambert, and she has restored the sprightly spirit of a score that is best performed with zest. "N.Y.C." and "Easy Street" seem to be taken at a brighter tempo and the entire orchestra sounds full, rich, sumptuous and joyful.

Legendary designer Ming Cho Lee has come up with new sets for this tour which sometimes seem just a bit flimsy and at others seem impressive.  His Hooverville under a highway bridge where the homeless of the depression sing out the biting "We'd Like To Thank You (Herbert Hoover)" is striking, and his Christmas Eve snowfall effect, as lit by Ken Billington and Jason Kantrowitz, makes the world of Daddy Warbucks' wealth seem like the loveliest of souvenir snow globes.

Music by Charles Strouse. Lyrics by Martin Charnin. Book by Thomas Meehan. Directed by Martin Charnin. Original choreography by Peter Gennaro. New Choreography by Liza Gennaro. Musical Direction by Kelly Ann Lambert. Design: Ming Cho Lee (set) Theoni V. Aldredge (original costumes) Jimm Halliday (additional costumes) Bernie Ardia (hair) Ken Billington and Jason Kantrowitz (lights) Peter Hylenski (sound) Phil Martin (photography). Cast: Lynn Andrews,  Amanda Balon, David Barton, Jaida-Iman Benjamin, Matt David, Annalisa DiBernardo, Jolie Dufrene, Jeffrey B. Duncan, Grace Elizabeth Etzkorn, Justin Glaser, Cheryl Hoffmann, Marina Rose Macherone, Andy Meyers, Ruthie Ann Miles, Sunny Naughton, Ricky Pope, Corey Scheys, Pat Sibley, Abby Spare, Abby Stevens, Tug Watson, Chelsey Whitelock, Alexander Yepremian, Madison Zavits, J. Michael Zygo.

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Running time 2 hours 10 minutes
t Potomac Stages Pick for a reunion with old friends

Storyline: Two actors assume nearly two dozen personalities as they enact the events of a day in the third smallest town in Texas. In this case, the day is Christmas Eve and the big question is "who will win the Christmas decoration contest?"

Written by Joe Sears, Jaston Williams and Ed Howard. Directed by Ed Howard. Design: Loren Sherman (set) Linda Fisher (costumes) Root Choyce (lights) Ken Huncovsky (sound) Bill Records (photography). Cast: Joe Sears, Jaston Williams.

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Running time 2:35  - one intermission
The 25^th anniversary touring company
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Storyline: On a starry night in a junk-filled empty lot, the neighborhood cats gather for their special night, the night of the Jellicle Ball when the most senior among them, Old Deuteronomy, will pick the one cat who will go to “the heavyside layer” to be reborn anew. A series of dances, songs and skits present the personalities of a number of cats including Grizabella the glamour cat, Gus the theater cat and Mr. Mistoffelees the conjuring cat. In a spectacle filled finale, the chosen cat rises heavenward in a cloud of mist.

There just isn’t enough left to save this show. To be fair, Cats is a polarizing musical. Due to its lack of a strong storyline, it has often garnered critical reviews which bemoan its inclusion in the American Musical pantheon. That was never the purpose of Cats. Lloyd Weber's first musical without Tim Rice, it sought to transport its audience to another place - to the secret world of cats - and show, for a moment, what has fascinated us about them since before the time of the Pharaohs. And it succeeded wildly, holding a record for longest running musical on Broadway, which has since been surpassed by another Andrew Lloyd Weber musical, The Phantom of the Opera. Cats won a phenomenal seven Tony awards in 1983 when it opened at the Winter Garden theater in New York. The longevity, the awards, and the sweeping scores makes this an easy show to love.

The current touring company has lost some of that magic. The dancers are still lithe and acrobatic, their singing still as pure, but the feeling comes across that they are, for the most part, just going through the motions, lacking the passion and pizzazz needed to properly pull off this musical. Perhaps this was in part due to the fairly small audience in attendance, leaving the large Warner theater only half full, but a larger crowd would still need something to which they could respond. There are a few notable performances. Christopher E. Sidoli is warm and charming in the theater cat portion of the dual role of Growltiger and Gus, the theater cat. Ryan Patrick Farrell, the returning Mr. Mistoffelees, is a dynamic and passionate dancer. The famous key change during the signature song, "Memory," is still moving, but unfortunately the rest of Grizabella’s moments on stage are not as inspiring.

Perhaps it is time to take the “Disney Vault” approach to Cats. Just as that corporation will store a beloved movie in their mystical “vaults” for years and then release it for a new generation, Cats might benefit from that same treatment. Put it away for a while, let it gather its legends and recoup its magic. Let the small community version keep it alive in the meantime (see our review of the performance at the Riverside Center Dinner Theater) till it is truly ready for another national tour. And when it returns, bring it back in style, with a full orchestra (not just two keyboards, one brass and one percussion), and with magic and passion flowing from its songs once more.

Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Based on “Old Possum’s Book Of Practical Cats” by T.S. Eliot.  Original direction by Trevor Nunn. Original Associate Director and Choreographer Gillian Lynne.  Original set and costumes by John Napier. Original lighting design by David Hersey. For the tour: Directed and Choreographed by Richard Stafford. Associate Director/Choreographer Suzanne Viverito. Musical direction by Logan Medland. Design: Raymond Huessy (set adaptation)  Rick Belzer (lighting adaptation) Mark Norfolk and Gaston Briski (sound) Joan Marcus (photography). Named cast: Delaine V. Andrzejewski, Mark Donaldson, Kristyn Dayus, Trevor Downey, Ryan Patrick Farrell, Cara Michelle Fish, Annisa Hartline, Felix Hess, Casey Hill, Lisa Karlin, Ian Laskowski, Nicholas McGough, Luke McCollum, Philip Peterson, Sara M. Reardon, Dave Schoonover, Wesley Seals, Samantha Shafer, Christopher E. Sidoli, Joanna Silvers, Angie Smith.

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Running time 1:40 - no intermission
Price range $34-$52
t A Potomac Stages Pick for joyful good spirits

Storyline: How many different everyday objects can be used by talented young people to tap, clap, tamp, slap, pat, whack, knock, beat, thump or stomp out a rhythm? Answer: brooms, match boxes, dust pans, rubber tubes, pots and pans, toilet plungers, sticks and poles, carpentry tools, water bottles, Zippo lighters, trash cans and lids, basket balls, the kitchen sink or just hands and feet.

The surprising thing about the return of Stomp to the Warner Theatre is that it no longer strikes audiences as such a loud show. When it first broke into public consciousness a decade and a half ago, it had a reputation as an ear-taxing experience. Today, with ever louder amplification of concerts and musicals, there are times when Stomp seems positively restrained. It is remarkable for its use of hushed sounds like matchboxes stroked with finger nails or sliding boots on a sand strewn floor. Silence becomes a tool in the stompers’ arsenal. The famous wall of sound, where cast members suspended in harnesses pound on the set’s pots and pans, is but a brief explosion.

Thirteen stompers are listed in the program without any distinction between them. (Only one, Stephen Serwacki, was in the cast the last time the show played here three years ago.) Just which one is the big guy who takes on the role of a natural leader and draws the audience into a relationship with the cast? What is the name of the even bigger guy? Who is the funny one, the one whose performance has a great deal in common with a rodeo clown - that other discipline that takes great skill to appear clumsy? In fact, since only eight actually perform on a given night, which eight are you seeing? Would it have been so terrible had they included photos so we could know who is whom?

Credit must be given to the lighting design of Steve McNicholas and Neil Tiplady. McNicholas is one of the creators of Stomp and has co-director credit with Luke Cresswell. McNicholas and Tiplady use lights not just to separate the vignettes or to create different atmospheres for different segments, they use them as amplifiers of the percussive effects. At times, the lighting is from upstage on the extreme sides so that the shadows of the dancing stompers are thrown onto the side walls of the theater, creating a world of syncopated motion. That syncopation is infectious with practically every foot in the hall tapping along, every hand beating out the rhythm if only on a knee and every head bobbing a bit while nearly every face shows at least a hint of a smile all night long. 

Created and directed by Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas. Lighting by Steve McNicholas and Neil Tiplady. Cast: Shola Cole, Charlene deGuzman, Dustin Elsea, Jim Holdridge, Joell Jackson, Louis Labovitch, Michael R. Landis, Justin Myles, Chris Rubio, Stephen Serwacki, Michelle J. Smith, Jonah Spear, Nicholas Young.

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Running time 2:25 - one intermission
A high volume Beatles music concert by the "Beatles Tribute" band Rain

Storyline: A chronological survey of the output of the Beatles divided into five "sets." Before intermission the band covers the music the Beatles played on the 1964 Ed Sullivan Show, then songs from the movie A Hard Day's Night segues into the Shae Stadium concert. The band then changes into costume to perform numbers from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. After intermission comes first a flower power set of music from 1968-69 and finally there is a recreation of the final album, Abbey Road.

The four out front are impressive in their musicianship as well as in their capturing of the musical mannerisms of the four they are "paying tribute" to. All of what they do, they do live - no lip synching to pre-recorded material for this group. Joey Curatolo and Steve Landes blend their voices much as did Paul McCartney and John Lennon as they work their way through the catalogue of great McCartney and Lennon songs, the great collection of melodic inventiveness and lyrical charm. They resist any temptation to use the modern innovation of face microphones mounted on plastic booms or tiny taped-on mics. They have, instead, very impressive skills using stand mics - skills that are sadly lacking in much of what you see today. Joe Bithorn, just as with George Harrison before him, only seems to come into his own late in the sequence, but his guitar work on the hard rock later song "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" is outstanding. Ralph Castelli's recreation of Ringo Starr's drum work is a surprising reminder of just how good a rock drummer Starr was.

Since there aren't programs provided, the direction and design (set, costumes, lights, video, sound, etc) are un-credited which is particularly unfortunate as credit should really be given to the lighting designer who gets just about as much visual excitement as possible out of a well-placed collection of fourteen of the computer programmed motorized vari-lite instruments that sweep the stage and the audience. It would also be nice to mention the person responsible for selecting the great number of clips from non-Beatle music played over the sound system between acts and sets as well as the person who assembled the cartoons, television commercials and news footage that are shown on screens as "the boys" change costumes.

Some will be disappointed that there is no printed song list is distributed. However, as a public service, here are the songs performed on opening night: "I Want To Hold Your Hand," "All My Loving," "This Boy," "I Saw Her Standing There," "Hard Day's Night," "Tell Me Why," "Yesterday," "I Feel Fine," "Day Tripper," "It's Only Love," "Twist and Shout," "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," "With A Little Help From My Friends," "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds," "Penny Lane," "I Am The Walrus," "A Day In The Life," "Hello Goodby," "Strawberry Fields Forever," "Here Comes the Sun," "Across the Universe," "Blackbird," "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," "Come Together," "Something," "Get Back," "Revolution," "Golden Slumbers," "Imagine," "Let It Be," "Hey Jude."

Cast: Joe Bithorn, Ralph Castelli,  Joey Curatolo, Steve Landes. Keyboard and percussion backup: Mark Lewis.

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Reviewed May 2
Running time 2 hours 35 minutes
Price Range $44 - $76
t A Potomac Stages pick for strong score performed with great energy 
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 Reviewed February 28
Running time 1:35 - no intermission
A solo bio-play about Israel's Mrs. Meir
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Storyline: Viewing her life from the perspective of old age as she expects death at any time, Golda Meir focuses on the hours at the outbreak of the Yom Kippur War in 1973, when, as Prime Minister of Israel, she had to contemplate the use of nuclear weaponry to preserve her state.

William Goldman's script covers Meir's life story in a methodical manner in a series of narrated flash-backs that cover both her public and her private life. Her family's immigration to Milwaukee from the Ukraine, her marriage which was strained so mightily by her decision to emigrate to Israel, her rise to political prominence, her fund raising speeches in America and her service as Israel's first ambassador to Moscow are clearly and efficiently conveyed. But her five year term as Prime Minister is reduced to its most important moment, the hours at the start of the Yom Kuppur War. Her take-charge personality is rapidly established when just a few lines into the play, as the incidental music underscores her transition to the first flashback, she barks "I can do without the music" - a recurring reference to her disapproval of her husband's desire to bring phonograph records to the kibbutz.

The play had a highly successful run in Broadway's smallest theater, the 597-seat Helen Hayes. There are more seats that that in the orchestra section here at the Warner, not to count the mid-balcony, the upper balcony and the "Grand Suites". The intimacy of the show where Tovah Fedlshuh earned both a Tony nomination and a Drama Desk award for her work doesn't translate to this large hall, and the performance of Valerie Harper suffers from her need to project all the way to the 27th row.

Director Scott Schwartz and his design team pull out all the stops to bolster the slender material with a set that features hidden screens for both still and moving projections, strobe lights accompanied by the crack of gunfire, an eternal flame (that is turned on for one scene then extinguished) and a recurring clock demonstrating the passage of time. Some of the projections are highly effective, such as the superimposure of slats over a door as Harper/Meir talks of her father boarding up their home in Russia to keep out the pogroms, and the skyline of Moscow when she returns as an ambassador. Often, however, the projections, the sound effects and the strobe lights simply emphasize how alone the actress seems on that big stage in that big hall.

Written by William Gibson. Directed by Scott Schwartz. Design: Anna Louizos (set) Jess Goldstein (costume) Louie Zakarian (makeup and prosthetics) Charles G. Lapointe (wig) Batwin & Robin Productions (projections) Jeff Croiter (lights) Kevin Lacy (sound) Mark Bennet (additional sound and music) Aaron Epstein (photography). Cast: Valerie Harper.

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Reviewed December 27
Running time 2:20 - one intermission
t A high quality, serious production of the pop-opera 
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Storyline: Eva Duarte, born poor and illegitimate in the hinterlands of Argentina, rose to be the first lady of her country by hooking her star to the career of a military man, Juan Peron. Her European tour in the 1940s and the activities of her charitable foundation, as well as the emotional impact on the entire country of her death at the age of 33 are chronicled in a pop opera.

Prince and Fuller treat the pop-opera as opera, taking every element seriously - even the humor. When Lloyd Webber writes an intentionally second-rate tango song for the second-rate tango singer who "had the distinction of being the first man to be of use to Eva Duarte" - "On This Night of A Thousand Stars" - they give it a staging that has him singing not to the audience out front but to a supposed audience in the wings. When Rice turns out inventive rhymes on fashion setters of the time, the costumes meet the need, although Rice misses by a year when he has Evita singing "They need to adore me / So Christian Dior Me" in a scene set in 1946, the year before Dior's first fashion collection. As an opera, it is sung through with no spoken dialogue. As with any good opera, it tells its story with clarity. Prince's original staging treated it as a series of scenes adding up to a unified whole, and Fuller faithfully recreates it, including his own very impressive dance steps - just watch the army officers and upper class clash in "Peron's Latest Flame" so accurately and enthusiastically performed here.

The tour has been on the road for over a year and opened at Baltimore's Hippodrome two months ago with Kathy Voytko in the title role. Then Sarah Litzsinger took over. Her Eva is more brittle, a sharper shard of spirit that takes command at the start as the teenage Evita and dominates the Peron years until cancer brings her down. Philip Hernandez is in full voice as Juan Peron and Keith Byron Kirk is a forceful narrator in the role originally just "Che" but clearly Che Guevera in Prince's concept. He slinks, slithers and struts with panache and sings with gusto. A short but impressive performance comes from Heidi Dean as Peron's mistress who is dismissed to sing "Another Suitcase in Another Hall." The big number, of course, is "Don't Cry For Me, Argentina," the anthem that became a major hit even if - or because -  Rice changed the title to its current rather confusing phrase which makes little sense in the context of the show.

Tim O'Brien's original set and costume design has been faithfully replicated by James Fouchard. The show uses projections of movies and still photographs from Eva Peron's short life that was lived so much in front of cameras. The use of the originals, rather than any attempt to recreate them with the show's cast, put a premium on the costumes to capture the fashions of the time. It works, as does the impressively accurate performance of the orchestra of twelve. There's no credit for re-orchestrations, and many of the touches of Lloyd Webber's notable originals are still effective and work well with the amplified sound of the show.

Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Lyrics by Tim Rice. Directed and choreographed by Larry Fuller based on the original staging by Harold Prince. Musical direction by Elaine Davidson. Design: James Fouchard (Scenery adapted from the original design by Tim O'Brien) Tim O'Brien (costumes) Richard Winkler (lights) Duncan Robert Edwards (sound) Joan Marcus (photography) Kris Diehl (stage manager). Principal Cast: Heidi Dean,  Philip Hernandez, Keith Byron Kirk, Sarah Litzinger, Andrew Ragone.

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Reviewed October 18
Running time 2:00 - one intermission
Price range: $44 - $69
A plodding performance of an inventive musical pastiche
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Storyline: The up-tempo musical tells the biblical tale of Jacob’s youngest son, Joseph, who is sold into slavery in Egypt by his eleven brothers, but rises to be the top assistant to the Pharaoh after successfully interpreting the dream prophesying seven years of bumper crops to be followed by seven years of famine.

Well staged, this show can be a fun evening featuring Andrew Lloyd Webber’s command of a wide range of musical styles and Tim Rice’s marvelously flippant lyrics. This show, which began as a short skit for school kids and has grown into a full fledged "biblical cantata" has one great song after another. It ranges from classic rock-n-roll (the Pharaoh-as-Elvis "Song of the King") to French chanson ("Those Canaan Days") and from joyous calypso ("Benjamin’s Calypso") to sentimental ballad ("Any Dream Will Do") with strong, memorable melodies for each. Rice demonstrates again his unique ability to blend modern idioms to other time periods with a winking humor that beguiles the audience into not only accepting but appreciating the anachronisms.

This version, however, is far from well staged and bogs down time and again with awkward sequences clumsily performed. The big name of the show is Patrick Cassidy who has the stage presence and the voice to pull it off given proper support. Indeed, he frequently seems to be playing his scenes as if he believes he is in a higher quality production, but that simply serves to highlight the disparity in quality. Only in one sequence, with Todd Dubail doing a thoroughly satisfying high energy Elvis Pressley impersonation, does Cassidy manage to establish a sense of rapport with a colleague to pull off an exciting number.

Cassidy's co-star of the evening is Amy Adams, whose resume indicates that she made it to the top ten of the contestants for television's American Idol. While she belts two or three notes to the rafters once or twice, most of her performance is stilted and her singing un-thrilling. None of the other performers emerge from the ensemble to impress which is surprising in a show built to be stopped by a series of highlights. In the time-honored tradition of productions of the show, local kids are on-stage throughout much of the evening and sing along with some of the numbers. The eighteen children thus deployed on opening night were ill-rehearsed and, as a result, added little to the piece. The final "Joseph Megamix" reprise of all the main themes of the show gets a blast from a bass boost that has been missing all evening long but it is accompanied by an only loosely organized choreography that reminds you just how little the team did with the material all evening long.

Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Lyrics by Tim Rice. Directed by Dallett Norris. Choreographed by Arlene Phillips. Musical direction by Kep Kaeppeler.  Design: James Fouchard (set) Rick Belzer (lights) Duncan Robert Edwards (sound) George Byron Griffiths (photography) Joseph Sheridan (stage manager). Principal cast. Amy Adams, Craig Cady, Patrick Cassidy, Melissa Hurley Cassidy, Todd Dubail, Derek Ferguson, Timothy A. Fitz-Gerald, Michael Gellert, Matthew LaBanca, Aryn Lawrence, Marque Lunch, Jr., Brad Madison, Louise Madison, Ernest Marchain, Grant Rosen, Nicholas F. Saverine, Kristopher Thompson-Bolden, Franklyn Warfield.

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Reviewed February 23
For mature audiences - nudity
Running time: 2:15 - one intermission
Price range: $34 - $69
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Storyline: At the party 21 year old Benjamin’s parents throw to celebrate his graduation from college, the wife of his father’s friend comes on to him. After a sex-only affair with her, he falls for her college age daughter.

"Mrs. Robinson" became an icon when the 1967 movie opened and the Simon and Garfunkle theme song hit big. This stage adaptation gives that iconographic character more depth and a few redeeming glimmers of decency, and famously includes a nude scene as well as a romp under the sheets which is handled with humor. Fairchild plays the role a bit broader and a bit ditsier than others who have played it on Broadway and on tour which works well with her stage persona.  With all the attention paid to the older woman role, however, adaptor Johnson keeps the focus on the coming of age story. Supporting actors, especially those in the roles of the father of the graduate and the husband of Mrs. Robinson are given parts to sink their teeth into.  Dennis Parlato certainly makes the most of the Mr. Robinson role while William Hill is a bit overly mannered as the graduate's dad.

Benjamin, the graduate of the title, is the central role. Nathan Corddry, who has that role on the tour, is almost continuously on stage. As a result, he runs the risk of having his rather quirky mannerisms become grating. Each of the actors who have played the role to date on Broadway and in the earlier touring company have avoided that fate and he does as well. Winslow Corbett has the younger "Miss Robinson" part. She doesn’t get to make her entrance until an hour into the show but she has three scenes which give her the opportunity to create a satisfying character. Corbett gets the comedy of this tertiary role right but she doesn't do much to let the audience see just what young Benjamin finds so attractive in her character.

The process of converting any well known film to the stage is always complicated by the fact that movies can move from location to location instantly while the stage is much more static. Designer Rob Howell turns this into a virtue by adopting a beautifully elegant but extremely simple set composed of walls of louvered doors. Keeping everything as uncluttered as possible, a bedroom may have only a bed and a hotel lobby only a desk. It focuses the eye and, especially as dramatically lit by Hugh Vanstone, sets the tone. There is very little that is superfluous in the design, the script or the performances. The result is a fine, funny and occasionally touching production.

Adapted and directed by Terry Johnson from the screenplay by Calder Willingham and Buck Henry based on the novel by Charles Webb. Original production directed by Peter Lawrence. Design: Rob Howell (set and costumes) Naomi Donne (hair and makeup) Hugh Vanstone (lights) Christopher Cronin (sound). Cast: Winslow Corbett, Nathan Corddry, Denise Cormier,  Autumn Dornfeld, Morgan Fairchild, Tracy Griswold, Josh Heine, William Hill, Corinna May, Dennis Parlato, Brian Russell.

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Reviewed February 8
Running time 2:05
Price range $34 - $69
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Storyline: Each of the three vignettes has its own storyline. (1) The playful seduction games of a gentleman, a lady and a servant on a picnic. (2) The dreams of the psychologically abused wife of a domineering, gangster-like husband in an Italian restaurant. (3) The obsession of an Advertising Executive with a dancing girl in a yellow dress.

Written by John Weidman. Choreography by Susan Stroman. Original direction by Susan Stroman recreated by Fergus Logan. Design: Thomas Lynch (set) Michael Disco (tour lights) Peter Kaczorowski (original lights) William Ivey Long (costumes) Scott Stauffer (original sound) Shannon Slaton (tour sound) Jerry Metellus (photography). Principal cast: James Blanshard, Candy Brown, Kurt Gorrell, Allie Meixner, Leo Nouhan, Ariel Shepley, Matthew Steffens, Eric Lewis Thielman, Nicky Venditti, Bryant Williams.

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Reviewed November 9
Running time 2:45 - one intermission
Price range $40 - $69
Click here to buy the CD

Storyline: At the end of the conflict the American's call The Vietnam War and that the Vietnamese call The American War, an American soldier falls in love with a Vietnamese girl. They live together briefly but the panic during the fall of Saigon separates them and he is sent home thinking she has not survived the collapse. In fact, she escapes to Bangkok where she gives birth to their son and struggles to survive, dreaming of the day they might be reunited. Unaware of her survival or of their son, the American tries to start a new life with an American wife. Then a friend who works for the cause of children of Americans by Vietnamese women who are ostracized as Bui Doi (The Dust of Life) in their own country, discovers the story of the survival of the girl and her son.

Jennifer Paz is back as Kim, the Vietnamese girl caught up in the net of history. She was nominated for a Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Lead Actress when she played the role at the Kennedy Center nearly a decade ago. She still comes across the footlights as a young waif and she knows just where the dramatic buttons and the musical magic are in this role. Here she's paired with Alan Gillespie, who starts off the evening a bit shakily but who builds the role of her American GI to a very satisfying peak in the second act, and who delivers the key line "Christ, I am American! How could I fail to do good? / All I made was a mess, just like everyone else / In a place of mystery that I never once understood" with an anguishing emotional intensity. Johann Michael Camat is a smooth operator as "The Engineer" whose plotting and scheming move the story along. His "If You Want to Die in Bed" and "The Engineer" are both the show stopping numbers they are supposed to be. Also very good is Rachel Kopf as the wife whose anguished duets with Paz are rich and clear.

The further down the cast list you get, however, the wobblier the performances get. D. J. Oliver has the vocal quality to sing the role of the ex-GI who runs an organization trying to deal with the problems of the Bui Doi left behind after the fall of Saigon, but he slides around some of the notes rather than hitting them on key. Tadeo sings very well indeed as Kim's would-be husband but his acting is stiff, and Ramona DuBarry wavers in her rendition of the lovely "The Movie In My Mind." The men in the chorus provide a full throated sound but the women are simply sour in what should be pure tonal beauty for "The Ceremony".

The sound system is partially to blame for the prominence of some of the vocal failings here for it seems to have a threshold below which it simply doesn't pick up a sound. Thus, the quieter notes seem to drop out while the louder ones are highly amplified with a metallic, even tinny quality. The eleven piece orchestra does a good job of delivering the reduced version of William D. Brohn's very supportive orchestrations, filling the hall with the thumping rhythms of the marches and soaring with some of Schönberg's stronger melody lines.

Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg. Lyrics by Richard Maltby, Jr. and Alain Boublil. Book by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg. Musical direction by Kevin Casey. Orchestrations by William D. Brohn. Directed by Mitchell Lemsky. Choreographed by Jodi Moccia. Design: Adrian Vaux (set) Andreane Neofitou (costumes) Sage Marie Carter (projections) Lucas J. Corrubia, Jr. (sound) Michael Browsilow (photography). Principal cast: Johann Michael Camat, Ramona DuBarry, Alan Gillespie, Rachel Kopf, D.J. Oliver, Jennifer Paz or Laurie Cadevida, Kayla Santana or Jonathan Wade, Tadeo.

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Reviewed May 4
Running time 2 hours 5 minutes
Price range $30 - $69

Storyline: The Passion of Christ - from the entrance into Jerusalem through the last supper, the betrayal by Judas, trials before Pilate and Herod and the crucifixion - is told through the anachronistically modern lyrics of Tim Rice set to the wide range of rock music styles by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

It is hard to remember the furor this musical caused over thirty years ago when it first hit the world as a two-disc recording of a rock-opera. There were those who found the liberties taken with scriptural text scandalously sacrilegious, while others thought it a marvelous new way to spread the word among the world's youth. There were those who found the concentration on the role of the Jewish establishment anti-Semitic, while others found its portrait of a gentle loving Jesus just right for the time. Think of "the buzz" over Mel Gibson's recent movie and then add the shock some felt finding rock-music in theaters where My Fair Lady or Hello, Dolly usually held forth. It wasn't the first inroads of rock, Hair had arrived on Broadway two years earlier, but it was audacious nonetheless.

This is one of the early works of Lloyd Webber and Rice. They had already produced Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat together and would go on to do Evita, but then they went their separate ways -- Lloyd Webber to Cats, The Phantom of the Opera, Sunset Boulevard and a host of others, Rice to tackle projects like Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Aida. Both musically and lyrically it was an audacious work on record, but it has always been a problem trying to put it on stage. This semi-new effort doesn't solve the problem any better than others have -- if you try to match the audacity of the words and the music you end up competing with them. Jesus Christ Superstar works better through speakers or earphones stimulating your own mental images than it does when you have to keep your eyes open and watch what others think you should be seeing.

As a rock-opera, the entire piece is sung through. There are no dialogue scenes for a director to work with, and the timing and pace of every moment in the ninety-some minutes of material is set by decisions Lloyd Webber and Rice made in a recording studio in 1970. They were creating an album, not a play. In this effort to put that album on stage Moriarty has the services of some great singers, none of whom seem to be simply imitating their predecessors. Eric Kunze is a passionate Jesus, Lawrence Clayton a tormented Judas and Potomac favorite Natalie Toro a lovely Mary Magdalene, while Jeffrey Polk thunders as Caifphas and Barry Dennen is a suitably campy Herod. All except Stephen Breithaupt as Pilate find an acceptable visual performance to match the vocal performance required by the score. (Hard as it may be to conceive, Breitghaupt finds a way to over-act a part that already calls for great histrionics.) Then there is the band in the pit trying to be an orchestra using orchestrations more like the original recording than the subsequent Broadway versions. Here the effort to pare down excesses backfires. Music director Craig Barna may have seven fabulous musicians, but three keyboards simply can't replace trumpets, flugal horn, french horn, trombone, bass trombone, tuba, flute, piccolo, saxophone and trumpet piccolo. They shouldn't be asked to!

Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Lyrics by Tim Rice. Directed by Kevin Moriarty. Choreographed by Dana Solimando. Music direction by Craig Barna. Orchestrations by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Design: Peter J. Davison (set) Roger Kirk (costumes) Mark McCullough (lights) Jon Gottlieb and Philip G. Allen (sound) Craig Schwartz (photography). Principal cast: Stephen Breithaupt, Lawrence Clayton, Barry Dennen, Todd Fournier, Eric Kunze, Jeffrey Polk, Lawson Skala, Natalie Toro, Johnny Hawkins.

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Reviewed February 20
Running time 2 hours

Storyline: Just as an evening's lecture by Mr. Mark Twain has been since he first went on the circuit, this evening is comprised of the apparent ruminations of a thoughtful but very funny commentator on the human condition, but there is a careful structure to the evening as he rambles on making observations about the foibles of the human race from religious bigotry to political intolerance and from the dangers of celebrity worship to the workings of what would come to be called "the media." Mr. Twain also recites from some of his published writings, most frequently a selection from his novel "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn."  

The 140 year run of Mark Twain lectures had a hiatus between 1910, with the death of Mr. Clemons and 1954 when a then-youthful Hal Holbrook first recreated a portion of a Twain lecture appearance. Five years later he had perfected the re-creation but, still being youthful, it took him three hours a night to put on the makeup that let him appear as Clemons appeared in his seventies. Today he may not require three hours of makeup application because he, himself, is in his seventies. But he just as assiduously dons the persona of Mark Twain. Those who know Holbrook's appearance and personality from his work on stage, television and movies will not recognize Holbrook on stage as Twain. The transformation is so complete and so convincing, that it simply is Mark Twain Tonight!

Holbrook first portrayed Twain in a two-person show. It became a solo act in 1954 and broke into New York's consciousness in 1959 at the Off-Broadway 41st Street Theatre, winning Holbrook an Obie Award. Columbia Records released an album of highlights from the evening that year and toured the show around the country. In 1966 he debuted it on Broadway, winning the Tony Award for best performance by an actor. In 1967 Holbrook was nominated for an Emmy for performing the role on television.

Hollbrook is said to have committed many hours of Mark Twain material to memory and perfected its delivery. The material delivered on opening night of this all-too-short run of three performances was not, however, simply a compendium of "The Best of Mark Twain." It was a well arranged series of observations, stories and comments that formed a solid structure. It began with light, self-depreciatory auto-biographical sketches that filled in any gaps in the audience's substantial familiarity with Mr. Twain. It progressed through comments on the timeless observations on human foibles and failings that make an evening with Twain so much more than a simple standup comedy routine. Then he pulls out a tale of Huck Finn and the runaway slave Jim to deliver a message of tolerance, loyalty, friendship, duty and dignity as important today as it was when first written.

'Written by Samuel Langhorne Clemons. Cast: Hal Holbrook.

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Reviewed February 12
Running time 2 hours 10 minutes
Price range $26 - $64

Storyline: Live singers and dancers perform songs associated with specific movies while clips from the films themselves are displayed on a giant screen behind them. They dance to Dirty Dancing, they sing to The Sound of Music, they rap to Wild Wild West and Men in Black and they, well we're not sure what they were doing to The Blues Brothers, but one would suspect they thought they were rocking.

This Canadian-produced show is kicking off a US tour. The program lists eight singers but makes no effort to disclose which is which or who sings what. That is a shame because, while none has a name or a face audiences in the States are likely to recognize, they aren't interchangeable nonentities. Instead, each is a talented performer with a style and personality of his or her own. They have strong voices and the ability to put over songs in various genres, from show tunes ("Diamonds Are a Girls Best Friend," "Don't Rain on My Parade") to top 40 hits that have been used in movies ("Heard it Through the Grapevine") to specialty numbers ("Singing in the Rain"). Dancers back them up and take the spotlight for recreations of choreography. Just like the singers, the dancers are simply listed in the program without credit for which role they danced and, like the singers, that is a shame as there are some distinct contributions made which deserve recognition.

The project was conceived by Steve Zalac, Jr., a producer responsible for big, eye-filling "special events" starting with the Olympic Games in Montreal in 1976 and continuing through various sporting events including car races. It isn't surprising, then, that most of the thought that went into this project went into its technical aspects and not its content. The rear-projection screen is flanked by metallic scaffolding. There are banks of high-tech motorized lights that shine up, down around and into the eyes of the audience, changing colors and projecting patterns without a single human hand touching them. The sound system is first rate - you know because it is maintained at a volume sufficient to demonstrate its capacities. However, only four musicians are actually playing. Digital sampling provides a reasonable facsimile of an orchestra behind the soloists for such numbers as "I Could Have Danced All Night" from My Fair Lady and dancers performing to Bernstein's "Mambo Dance" from West Side Story.

It is a shame that similar attention wasn't given to the content of the presentation. The link between the movies and the songs is rarely developed and frequently the movie clips are the previews of coming attractions trailers that preceded their commercial releases. The editing of those trailers had very little to do with the continuity of a single song so the result is that the clips become a distraction rather than an enhancement of the live performance.  Some of the movies selected for display defy logic - as if they really believed that The Big Chill and Easy Rider were among the greatest musicals Hollywood ever produced.

Concept by Steve Zalac, Jr. Creative team: Pierre Boileau, Luc Boivin, Manon St-Laurent, Érick Villeneuve. Directed by Pierre Boileau. Choreography by Manon St-Laurent. Orchestrations and Programming by Jimmy Tanaka. Design: Marie-Claude Chailler (costumes) Matthieu Larivée (lights) André Pichette (sound) Manon Desmarais (audio) Shelley Du Pasquier (stage manager). Cast: Chantal Blanchard, Patrice Blouin, Alexandra Bonnet, Jocelyn Coutu, Diana Diaz, Francis Durochers, Yanick Nadeau Gagnon, Caroline Gergais, Nicko Giannakos, Mariane Girard, Sophie Jane, Marie-Claude Lacasse, Fannie Landry, Mathieu Legault, Maxime Mensah, Suyin Monette, Marie-Eve Munger, Jason Noel, Jean-Francois Poulin, Sanchia Rooker, Manon St-Laurent, Marie Eve Tremblay, Janelle Thomas.

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Reviewed January 27
Running time 2 hours 5 minutes

Storyline: The seven surviving nuns of the Little Sisters of Hoboken put on a fund raiser in the gym of Mt. Saint Helen’s School. They sing. They dance. They clown around in a program filled with tongue in cheek Catholic (big C) humor. The reason they need to raise money is that the convent’s cook “Sister Julia, Child of God” inadvertently poisoned the rest of the nuns with a bad batch of bouillabaisse and the order doesn’t have enough money to burry them all.

The “nun” who works the hardest and scores the most is Mimi Hines as Sister Mary Amnesia who may not remember her name but can still put the audience through a test on their lessons. That scene is the first frontal assault on the audience’s funny bone. She’s followed by a gentle number performed by Georgia Engel, still well remembered by generations of television viewers as Georgia, the girlfriend of a news anchor named Ted on the old Mary Tyler Moore Show. For the number, she carries a teddy bear which, of course, she addresses as “Ted.” Throughout the show Engel is the most consistently in-character in this collection of characters.

The convent’s mother superior is Kaye Ballard, who has been appearing in Broadway musical comedies for a half century (her Broadway debut was in The Golden Apple in 1954.) She knows how to sell a moment or a full scene and she uses that knowledge, especially in the routine that ends the first act where her character unknowingly gets high on an inhaler. But in between those moments she knows she can really wow the audience she seems to let her energy level sag and it has a damaging effect on the entire evening. 

Not surprisingly, it is recording star Darlene Love (remember “Da Doo Ron Ron”?) who brings the strongest voice to the proceedings and she lets loose on the next to last number of the night, “Holier Than Thou” which really gets the audience hooting. This comes at the end of a slow starting second act which struggles to regain the momentum after an unfortunately ungainly monologue is delivered with as much panache as former Miss America and frequent television and movie performer Lee Meriwether, who is otherwise delightful throughout the evening, is able to muster.

Written and directed by Dan Goggin. Musical staging and choreography by Felton Smith. Musical direction by Leo P. Carusone. Design: Barry Axtell (set) Paul Miller (lights) Ryan Powers (sound) Bruce Bennett (photography) Teri Gibson (stage manager). Cast: Kaye Ballard, Georgia Engel, Mimi Hines, Bambi Jones, Darlene Love, Deborah Del Mastro, Lee Meriwether.

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Reviewed January 6
Running time 1 hour 35 minutes
Price range $27-$47
t A Potomac Stages Pick
 for joyful good spirits

Storyline: How many different everyday objects can be used by talented young people to tap, clap, tamp, slap, pat, whack, knock, beat, thump or stomp out a rhythm? Answer: brooms, match boxes, dust pans, rubber tubes, pots and pans, toilet plungers, sticks and poles, carpentry tools, water bottles, Zippo lighters, trash cans and lids, basket balls, the kitchen sink or just hands and feet.

The surprising thing about the return of Stomp to the Warner Theatre is that it no longer strikes audiences as such a loud show. When it first broke into public consciousness a decade and a half ago, it had a reputation as an ear-taxing experience. Today, with ever louder amplification of concerts and musicals, there are times when Stomp seems positively restrained. It is remarkable for its use of hushed sounds like matchboxes stroked with finger nails or sliding boots on a sand strewn floor. Silence becomes a tool in the stompers’ arsenal. The famous wall of sound where cast members suspended in harnesses pound on the set’s pots and pans is a brief explosion and there are times when it is so quiet in the Warner that you almost feel you can hear the sounds of Mamma Mia! playing half a block away at the National.

Twelve stompers are listed in the program without any distinction between them. Just which one is the big guy with the Mohawk who takes on the role of a natural leader and draws the audience into a relationship with the cast? What is the name of the thin-as-a-rail but explosive girl? Who is the funny one, the one whose performance has a great deal in common with a rodeo clown - that other discipline that takes great skill to appear clumsy? Would it have been so terrible had they included photos so we could know who is whom?

Credit must be given to the lighting design of Steve McNicholas and Neil Tiplady. McNicholas is one of the creators of Stomp and has co-director credit with Luke Cresswell. McNicholas and Tiplady use lights not just to separate the vignettes and to create different atmospheres for different segments, they use them as amplifiers of the percussive effects. At times, the lighting is from upstage on the extreme sides so that the shadows of the dancing stompers are thrown onto the side walls of the theater, creating a world of syncopated motion.  

Created and directed by Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas. Lighting by Steve McNicholas and Neil Tiplady. Cast: Harold Kekoa Bayang, Khalid Freeman, Brad Holland, Tonya Kay, Noah Mosgofian, Nick Pack, John Sawicki, Stephen Serwacki, Sophia Sharp, Carlos Thomas, Elizabeth Vidos, Sheilynn Wactor.

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Reviewed December 5
Running time 1 hour 25 minutes

Storyline: Highlights of this assembly of pieces of Copperfield’s repertoire include “Thirteen” where he makes a baker’s dozen audience members disappear, “Man Versus Steel” in which he appears to pass through a solid steel plank, “Killer” featuring a black scorpion that picks a designated card from a pack and the “Squeezebox” which seems to reduce Copperfield from normal size to something approaching ten inches.

Copperfield appears in casual attire - tee shirt under open dress shirt - with no hint of any of the top-hat and tails magic-show and card-trick heritage of his act. He’s flippant, funny and frequently engages members of the audience in his act with great good spirits. His shtick is a bit vaudevillish and he seems to be a bit fatigued and even bored at moments (just how long has he been doing five shows in two day stops in a city?) but he knows how to draw the entire crowd into the act - not just those he gets up on the stage to pick a card, test a plank of steel or disappear en masse.

Unlike other evenings in a theater, there is no program given out for this event at the Warner. As a result, you won’t know the identity or even the number of people involved in the production from on-stage assistants to designers, lighting directors, sound men or video technicians. But it must be a small army as this is a very active, high-tech performance with spinning lights, massive set pieces, television monitors to give the audience different views of events and people twirling cages, hoisting platforms and operating equipment all evening long.

The only introduction, other than of the illusionist himself, is reserved for a personality well known from the David Copperfield television specials: Webster the duck. He is put through his paces both comedic and magical, much to the pleasure of the audience which is obviously filled with people who know and love the entire repertoire of Mr. Copperfield.

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Reviewed April 29
Running time 2 hours 35 minutes
Price Range $27 - $64
t Potomac Stages Pick 

Storyline: "Rent is about a community celebrating life in the face of death and AIDS" at the end of the millennium. So said Jonathan Larson who wrote this story of squatters in a New York East Village garret on Christmas Eve, using some of the dramatic structure of Puccini’s opera La Bohème.

When it opened in 1996 the buzz was so strong many people predicted it would affect the future of the Broadway musical. Well, it didn’t. And it didn’t because it isn’t revolutionary, as many seemed to think, but extremely traditional in its structure and its score. The only difference is that the music is arranged as rock rather than show music. But rock music is about volume, rhythm and attitude. Show music is about emotions, story telling and character. Jonathan Larson’s score is loud and rhythmic but it is all about emotions and the stories of characters, all of whom have an attitude.

The national touring company features a physical production every bit as good as you will find on Broadway with a cast of performers working well as an ensemble. Individual performances are strong, especially in the five most important parts. Photographer/narrator (Guy Olivieri), his songwriting roommate (Kevin Spencer), their nightclub dancer neighbor (Krystal L. Washington), the performance artist (Caissie Levy) and the drag queen with a heart of gold (Justin Rodriquez.) Spencer’s vocal on "One Song Glory" was the first number to really tear up the house and then was topped by Washington’s "Let’s Go Out Tonight." The full company numbers, especially "Seasons of Love" which opens the second act, were fabulously sung, filling the hall with joyous sound.

This tour is designed for one or two week stops in each theater. The set has been somewhat streamlined to tour but is still both effective and functional. The speaker stacks and light frames have been moved inside the proscenium. The effect is to compress the action slightly but this works well for the ensemble effect of the show. The sound is particularly satisfying except in two scenes on opening night when the famous concert-style face mikes gave the crew fits. Even after over a year touring, the lighting design, while very good overall, still has a shadowy area at the lip of the stage into which characters seem to disappear from time to time.

Book, Music and Lyrics: Jonathan Larson. Directed by Michael Greif. Musical direction by David Pepin. Musical arrangements by Steve Skinner. Musical supervision and additional arrangements by Tim Weil. Choreographed by Marlies Yearby. Design: Paul Clay (original set) Matthew E. Maraffi (set adaptation) Angela Wendt (costumes) Blake Burba (lights) Steve C. Kennedy (sound) Melissa Chacón (stage manager). Cast: DJ Gregory, Sahirah Johnson, Jasmine Jonas, Caissie Levy, Delante McCreary, Brian Ashton Miller, Bridget Anne Mohammed, Matthew S. Morgan, Guy Olivieri, Rebecca A. Pace, Earl R. Perkins, Jr., Justin Rodriguez, Kevin Spencer, Krystal L. Washington, Bruce Wilson, Jr.

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Reviewed March 11
Running time 2 hours 30 minutes
Price range $26 - $64