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Fine cast equals 5 star Proof at Olney Theatre (review)
Nevertheless, she persisted. Persisted, pushed back depression and doubt and the burden of care to accept her legacy of genius. The “she” in this case is not Senator Elizabeth Warren but Catherine...
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My Fair Lady blooms with Olney Theatre Center’s new take (review)
My Fair Lady, now at Olney Theatre Center, is yet another classic brought to life by this versatile theatre company. As reimagined by director Alan Souza, the timeline has been moved a few years ahead,...
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Thurgood at Olney Theatre Center (review)
It’s a great time in Washington to re-evaluate through drama the weights and balances of our justice system. Downtown at Arena Stage we’re watching Scalia’s story, penned as The Originalist, which...
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Thurgood at Olney Theatre: Doing Thurgood Marshall justice
As the first African-American to sit on the Supreme Court, Thurgood Marshall is one of the most important judges in U.S. history. He remained on the Court from 1967 until 1991. His leadership through...
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In the Heights at Olney Theatre Center (review)
In the Heights, now packing them in at Olney Theatre Center, has a visceral and emotional score coupled with a story of finding your home and your heart closer than expected. Behold the power of...
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Olney’s Our Town is everyone’s town (review)
It took Olney Theatre, surprisingly, 80 seasons to get around to Thornton Wilder’s iconic Our Town, and with acclaimed director Aaron Posner at the helm, they tackle the challenge of what this...
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Annie at Olney Theatre Center (review)
Forty years ago, I was introduced to the world of musical theater with my first visit to Broadway, where I was lucky enough to see Andrea McArdle play the title role in the original production of...
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Annie inspires Olney’s pajama drive for children in foster care.
Annie finds a new family in the holiday musical, now onstage at Olney Theatre Center. Olney’s meeting with Bob Scheer of Comfort Cases inspired the company to open a drive to bring new pajamas to...
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Julia Cho’s Aubergine, a Korean-American family’s drama (review)
In Julia Cho’s Aubergine, a Korean-American chef deals with his dying father. Cho uses food as the cornerstone for a sensitive though meandering meditation on the difficulties of family, communication,...
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Every Brilliant Thing at Olney Theatre Center (review)
The Narrator (Alexander Strain), stands on the top step of an aisle and says that he has three words for anyone in the audience who is contemplating suicide: his voice lowers to nearly a whisper:...
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Olney Theatre’s 2018/2019 season: 4 musicals in its 9 play mainstage series
There will be a whole lotta theater going on at Olney Theatre Center next season. In addition to its nine-production subscription series, Artistic Director Jason Loewith and his crew will welcome The...
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Powerful production of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible at Olney Theatre Center...
A witch hunt, properly viewed and conducted, is a necessary part of society’s advancement — if we understand “witch” to be some part of the invisible universe which causes human pain and havoc, and if...
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Review: Olney’s Invisible Hand packs a mighty punch
An American banker abducted by jihadists in Pakistan must earn his $10 million ransom by making a killing on the market. And as he introduces concepts of high finance to his kidnappers – some concepts...
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Review: On the Town at Olney Theatre Center, pure perfection.
Olney Theatre celebrates its 80th season this year with this splendid production of On the Town, the Leonard Bernstein/Betty Comden/Adolph Green musical which made its Broadway debut in 1944. Thanks to...
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Review: The Hypocrites’ hijinks with Gilbert & Sullivan’s Pinafore. Bring the...
I am generally not a forced gaiety and audience-participation kind of guy. And yet Saturday night, there I was some 20 minutes before show time for H.M.S. Pinafore, in Olney Theatre’s Mulitz-Gudelsky...
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Review: The Pirates of Penzance at Olney Theatre Center
Theater programming usually doesn’t get any more conservative than Gilbert & Sullivan, late 19th century purveyors of light opera and bad puns. But Chicago’s avant-garde company The Hypocrites’...
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Review: South Pacific, enchanting and relevant
Was ever a message musical wrapped in such a luxurious bounty of romance? Those love songs! Seventy years later, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific still floors us with its lyricism. Jessica...
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Labour of Love, hit West End political comedy, makes US debut at Olney
When Hamilton made the transition to London, some naysayers thought that the musical wouldn’t play as well on the other side of the pond because of its U.S.-centric political story and its celebration...
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Review: Labour of Love, a witty British brew of politics and romance
A comedy that mingles romance with politics and it’s not about porn stars and reality show moguls? Please let it be a breath of fresh air, I plea to the theatre gods, as I take my seat for Labour of...
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Review: Elf the Musical, Olney’s spectacular holiday musical
If there’s one thing you’ll take away from Olney Theatre Center’s Elf the Musical it’s this: the DC musical theater scene has a tremendous talent base. To a one, Elf’s largely ensemble cast give some...
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Review: Once at Olney Theatre Center, a love story that only comes around once
As a film, the tiny indie musical Once (shot over 17 days for a mere $150,000) was such an unlikely hit that it’s easy to be cynical over whether a big-budget Broadway adaptation could capture the same...
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Review: Oil, a sprawling and ambitious drama, makes its American debut at Olney
British playwright Ella Hickson gets an American premiere of her sprawlingly ambitious and provocative play at Olney Theatre Center. Oil is a play written up as a “nexus of oil, economics, and power.”...
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Review: A Comedy of Tenors, a grand slam-bang farce with a little Traviata on...
A farce, a farce! My kingdom for a farce! Fortunately, you won’t have to pay such a high price for this one- though, it’s worth it. Ken Ludwig, acclaimed author of Lend Me A Tenor, revisits the...
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Review: Mary Stuart at Olney Theatre Center
One of the most fascinating political power struggles in history is being brought to life at Olney Theatre Center with a crackling and electric modernization of Schiller’s masterpiece by their Artistic...
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Review: Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical at Olney Theatre Center
Mom’s so in denial about having a baby, she’s nine months pregnant and still thinks she’s making it to her ballroom dancing competition in Spain. Shady used car salesman Dad’s hoping to “trade” the new...
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Review: Tiger Style! at Olney Theatre Center
Blame their parents. Albert and Jennifer Chen are failing at life. Sure, they both graduated top of their class from Harvard. And, yes, Jen went on to get a medical degree and PhD (both from Harvard)...
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Review: Cabaret at Olney Theatre Center
Cabaret, the ground-breaking Kander and Ebb musical about sex and show-biz played against a backdrop of the Nazis’ rise to power in Berlin, gets a compelling production at Olney Theatre Center....
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Review: The Royale . Olney Theatre’s boxing drama wins in a knock out
If baseball represents the joy of sport — its season concluding with popped champagne corks and ticker tape parades for the winners and the promise of next year for the losers — then boxing represents...
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Review: Olney’s Singin’ in the Rain sings and taps up a storm
A Hollywood classic gets the royal treatment resulting in a heaping helping of theatrical magic courtesy of Olney Theatre Center’s staging of Singin’ in the Rain. As Hollywood ballyhoo might have...
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Review: Paul Morella in A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas
Gifted actor and storyteller Paul Morella has once again donned the coattails and top hat of Charles Dickens to usher us into the Mulitz-Gudelsky Theatre Lab at Olney Theatre Center. The lobby is...
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7 upcoming plays which are about to tell us where we lost our humanity and...
Tim Treanor was asked to recommend 7 plays for the lecture DC Theatre Season 2020 held January 14 in the Smithsonian’s S. Dillon Ripley Center. Since we’ve had several requests for his remarks, we...
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Review: Miss You Like Hell at Olney Theatre Center.
Olney Theatre Center’s production of Miss You Like Hell explores issues of immigration policies, parental abandonment and the power of Latinx women. Lisa Portes makes her Olney Theatre directing debut...
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Review: The Amateurs, a survival comedy of the 14th century plague
As the novel coronavirus continues to spread COVID-19 across the globe, large scale gatherings across the world face postponement or outright cancellation. But this is hardly the first time, The...
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What’s next for DC area theatres in the radically changed environment? Olney...
Like many area companies, while performances are closed due to the pandemic, Olney Theatre Center (OTC) has developed programs to deepen their connection with audiences through online platforms. On...
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Olney Theatre Center’s ambitious 2020-2021 season
Olney Theatre Center (OTC) will present a robust 83rd season, making space for 18 plays, concerts and presentations, even as renovations continue to the intimate Mulitz-Gudelsky Theatre Lab. “At times...
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Olney Theatre’s running Zoom classes for kids and adults. Here’s how it’s going.
At Olney Theater Center, although all performances and the National Players tour are canceled, the artistic staff, education staff and the National Players have found a new way to stay engaged with the...
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5 free must-watch events this weekend
The King and I Lincoln Center’s Tony Award winning production May 8, starting at 8pm EST through May 10 Free on Broadway HD NOTE: Due to high traffic volume this weekend, Broadway HD recommends...
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Review: The Humans, streamed. Olney cast excels in closeup of Stephen Karam’s...
Public health officials are recommending Zoom Thanksgiving festivities this year, but you can celebrate early with a boisterous and bittersweet sit-down with the Blake family, the proud and careworn...
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DCTS Performance Guide for the 2020/2021 theatre season
While planning theatre in the time of Covid requires faith and flexibility on everyone’s part, we thought it valuable to show you the shows our companies hope to present. Some are virtual. Some will be...
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Lorraine Treanor – These are the plays that won’t let go
These are the plays that won’t let go. They are there as I drift off to sleep, or, unbidden, come to me during the day. This happens more often now, as work here slows to a close. You probably have...
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