38 stories by "Barbara Papendorp"
RAIN OR SHINE, SWEET BABY JAMES DELIVERS At 78, James Taylor still has the songs, the voice, the humor and one hell of a band There are concerts that are simply enjoyable, and then there are…
GROBAN WITH THE FLOW A soaring baritone meets the sweep of the National Symphony Orchestra There are singers who command a stage, and then there are artists who seem genuinely delighted to s…
THE FAMILY THAT PLAYS TOGETHER, SWAYS TOGETHER Generations of the Reyes family keep the Gipsy Kings’ irresistible rhythms moving forward Under a cool, clear moonlit sky at Wolf Trap last n…
THE BOSS STILL SUPREMES At 82, Diana Ross still knows how to turn a concert into an occasion From the moment Washington, D.C.’s DJ Heat began warming up the crowd, Diana Ross’s return to…
BATISTE INFECTION Jon Batiste and the NSO make musical boundaries disappear From the very start of Jon Batiste’s performance with the National Symphony Orchestra at Wolf Trap last night, I…
AMERICA, ORCHESTRATED Bernstein and Gershwin soar, Renée Fleming enchants, and even the Virginia wildlife gets into the act Saturday night’s National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) concert at W…
A BROADWAY BLOCK PARTY Tituss Burgess, Heather Headley, and Signature Theatre turn a summer concert into a joyous celebration of musical theater There are summer evenings at Wolf Trap that e…
COLD RAIN, HOT CLASSICS Sting ignites Wolf Trap’s summer season Sting opened the summer season with a 3-night stay at the Filene Center at Wolf Trap. On Friday, May 22, his performance eas…
CORNER OF THE SKY, CENTER OF THE RING Signature’s dazzling revival embraces Pippin‘s whimsy, darkness, and enduring search for meaning A sort of ninth-century, one-ring circus crammed wi…
ONE ACTOR, A KINGDOM OF SOULS Eddie Izzard's virtuosic solo turn reframes Shakespeare with clarity and control Eddie Izzard's Hamlet is far from a traditional staging of William Shakespeare'…
A CLASSIC MUSICAL REBORN AS A RHYTHM-DRIVEN NIGHTCLUB EXPERIENCE A propulsive, jazz-infused staging that reclaims Pal Joey's cultural roots At Arena Stage, Chez Joey is less a revival of Pal…
DAVE MALLOY'S A CAPPELLA SUPPORT-GROUP MUSICAL ABOUT INTERNET ADDICTION Intimate, exacting, unplugged, emotionally bracing" an in-the-round ritual that is a communal act of listening Dave Ma…
DAMN YANKEES SWINGS BACK IN STYLE: ARENA'S REVIVAL IS MORE THAN A MUSICAL " IT'S A MILESTONE When Damn Yankees first opened on Broadway in 1955, it was the ultimate baseball fantasy: a middl…
CYNTHIA ERIVO CASTS A SPELL AT WOLF TRAP Cynthia Erivo returned to the Filene Center at Wolf Trap for two performances with the kind of fire, artistry, and vocal power that turned her into o…
A LEGEND AT WOLF TRAP Two decades after Get Lifted announced him as a singular voice in modern R&B, John Legend is celebrating the album with a tour that feels both polished and personal…
A stark and haunting Parade marches into the Kennedy Center, the final stop of this Broadway tour, confronting history with stripped-down staging and searing urgency The national tour of …
A GLORIOUS NIGHT OF BROADWAY, FRIENDSHIP AND FEMALE ICONOGRAPHY Wolf Trap could not have conjured a more exquisite evening last night for Sutton Foster and Kelli O'Hara's long-awaited joint …
DINANA KRALL BRINGS OLD-HOLLYWOOD ELEGANCE TO WOLF TRAP On the warm evening of July 3, the Filene Center at Wolf  Trap filled nearly to capacity, its 7,028 seats glowing under th…
BROADWAY WELL-REPRESENTED IN A NIGHT OF MUSIC AND COMARADERIE From the first gleaming brass notes of Bernstein's Candide Overture, music director Jon Kalbfleisch deftly led the…
A WORLDPRIDE CELEBRATION OF QUEER IDENTITY, DISCO, AND SHAKESPEAREAN DELIGHT Folger Theatre's 2025 production of Twelfth Night, directed by Mei Ann Teo, is a visually sumptuous, sonically…
Upon entering the Ark Theater, one is immediately transported to a grungy, offbeat club where Hedwig and her band, The Angry Inch, are about to take the stage. Richie Ouellette's set design …
A Dazzling Night of Song and Tribute Broadway took up residence on the banks of the Potomac last night as the Anthem Theatre played host to the Signature Theatre's annual Sondheim Award Gala…
A BEAUTIFULLY SHABBY, STARKLY HUMAN TRIUMPH From the moment the house opens, Shakespeare Theatre Company's Uncle Vanya, directed by Simon Godwin and starring Hugh Bonneville, signals that…
HAUNTING, URGENT, AND SPEAKS VOLUMES Priyanka Shetty's #Charlottesville, currently running at the Keegan Theatre, is a searing and deeply personal exploration of one of the darkest moment…
FORBIDDEN LOVE AND THE GILDED AGE GLOW IN ARENA'S DAZZLING PRODUCTION, BUT THE AGE OF INNOCENCE LINGERS Playwright Karen ZacarÃas (Destiny of Desire which premiered at Arena in 2015, Nati…