The setting, for the moment, is the deck of a ship, but the turbulence you notice is not the movement of waves: It's the roiling of feeling " shock, wonder, disquietude, pleasure " as a woma…
Don't talk to Septime Webre about the apparent incongruity of ballet-rock music pairings " about the way rock's populist, let-it-all-hang-out ethos might seem to clash with ballet's high-art…
What's the secret to becoming a successful playwright? A chronic case of the artistic fidgets can help " or so you might conclude after speaking with Quiara AlegrÃa Hudes. "I'm a little r…
"Such was the darkness of that day . . . that we walked in the clouds, and could not see our way." So wrote the Rev. John Hale, looking back ruefully on his involvement in the …
If you were looking for a quirky health-care professional, you'd be hard pressed to do better than Nurse Doris. A self-described atheist anarchist Trotskyite, this quip-slinging figure in pa…
Tall bales of straw (or so it looks) loom as backdrop to "Rumpelstiltskin," the artful, stylized fairy tale dramatization now at Imagination Stage. The agrarian image is a good emblem for th…
A little bit of theatrical surrealism can go a very long way. That maxim holds true for "The Wedding Dress," the 1943 play by Brazilian writer Nelson Rodrigues now generating dreamlike atmos…
Sensationalism and the avant-garde: A match made in heaven? It was certainly a match made in Brazil in 1943. That year saw the premiere of Nelson Rodrigues's "The Wedding Dress," a drama tha…
One hates to slight the guy in the rhinestone-trimmed cowboy hat. But Bowen McCauley Dance, the local ballet-influenced contemporary dance company, packed enough bracingly textured work into…
To keep from hearing the Sirens " the Greek mythological beings whose songs lured men to their deaths " Odysseus's mariners famously stopped their ears with wax. Good thing the sailors never…
Florence Foster Jenkins " the socialite-turned-soprano " has a solemn warm-up routine. Looking religiously intent, she flexes and massages her jaw. She touches her fingers delicately to her …
She seems a fragile support for an ambitious family canvas: this slender barefoot woman in a white nightdress, often seen huddled in a wooden rocking chair. Yet, in "La Señorita de Tacna …
One of the most powerful moments in NextStop Theatre Company's "Richard III" contains no audible words. It's near the end of the play; at Richard's behest, the sinister ruffian Tyrell has mu…
Faint shouts and cheers waft periodically from the rear of the stage during the Keegan Theatre's "The Best Man." Gore Vidal's 1960 drama imagines an eventful presidential convention, and the…
If Brides magazine ever decided to cover "Wedding of Ordos," the editors would have to relegate all other nuptial-related topics to another issue. As seen at the Kennedy Center's Eisenhower …
Sometimes the sad sack wins the day. During much of Constellation Theatre Company's delightful "Scapin," the none-too-bright servant Sylvestre (Bradley Foster Smith) exudes wet-noodle dolefu…
An eye for absurdity can take you a long way: The work of the engaging solo performer Steven Fales is a case in point. His trio of autobiographical one-man shows " "Confessions of a Mormon B…
If it is possible to execute a full-body leer, actor Jack Boice has mastered the trick. A scene in the campy entertainment "50 Shades! The Musical" finds the performer " wearing a skimpy red…
Jeff Calhoun has directed for Broadway. He has directed for regional theaters; he has directed galas; and he directed tours of "High School Musical" and "High School Musical 2." The other da…
When does the exuberantly seedy spirit that animates Pointless Theatre's "Minnie the Moocher" flare into full view? Is it when two sinister figures wearing skull masks caper comically on, th…
Conventional wisdom holds that January can be a challenging time for theaters, with winter weather and post-holiday fatigue tending to put a damper on attendance. But in Richmond, the period…
You might expect a drummer to take a leery view of tap dancers. After all, tap dancers create their own crisp rhythms from floor and shoe leather " sort of infringing on a percussionist's tu…
There's a point in the second act of 1st Stage's current production " Michael Frayn's beloved farce "Noises Off" " when a character inadvertently aligns with a cactus. The moment crowns a se…
Holiday parties of all descriptions are in the pipeline around the region. But few festive gatherings will be as zoologically notable as those in two children's musicals, "Elephant & Pig…
Never underestimate the usefulness of a vampiric fairy. Such a supernatural creature"or, to be more accurate, the idea of one " played a critical role in the birth of "Matthew Bourne's 'Slee…