In 'How I Paid for College' at Hub Theatre, quirkiness abounds by Celia Wren

If you were to ease into a life of benign criminality, you could do worse than to land a guide like Edward Zanni. The hero of "How I Paid for College," an amusing but unmemorable monologue-w…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 2:53pm on December 12, 2012☆⚑

Charmingly tongue-in-cheek 'Altar Boyz' is equal parts backsliding and Backstreet by Celia Wren

Is there room on your smartphone for a soul-sensor app? You might hanker for one after attending "Altar Boyz," the musical that's larking about at 1st Stage in Tysons Corner. The show's char…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 11:30am on December 10, 2012☆⚑

'Night,' 'Life' offer two takes on Christmas: Cynical and optimistic by Celia Wren

Snapshots of families you barely know tumble out of the red and green envelopes in your mail. Hackneyed carols cloy the air in supermarkets. The average Starbucks smells like a nutmeg empori…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 1:48pm on December 5, 2012☆⚑

Easy to get lost in lively, crowded 'Seussical' by Celia Wren

Things are getting busy in the Jungle of Nool " and we're not just talking about the selfless missions of Horton the Elephant, the mischief of the Wickersham monkeys and the meddling antics …

SOURCE: Washington Post at 7:25pm on November 27, 2012☆⚑

In children's theaters, colorful figures from America's past by Celia Wren

Plucky pioneers, medicine-show hucksters, a Union Army balloonist and other colorful figures from America's past are bustling through two local children's productions. Over in Glen Echo, Adv…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 5:23pm on November 26, 2012☆⚑

'Jekyll & Hyde' musical thrilling, ominous and way too obvious by Celia Wren

Would you like a side of pseudo-profundity with your serving of lurid melodrama? If so, I have the theatrical repast for you: "Jekyll & Hyde," the overheated and nuance-free musical by c…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 8:50pm on November 21, 2012☆⚑

In 'The Comfort Team,' an affecting look at the many griefs of war by Celia Wren

You have to take solace where you can find it. For Chandra, a Navy bride whose honeymoon was interrupted by the U.S. military's surge in Iraq, there's consolation in waving sage-and-lavender…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 11:32am on November 12, 2012☆⚑

At Keegan Theatre, 'All My Sons' is a family circle of secrets by Celia Wren

A white picket fence is all very well, but that emblem of middle-class aspiration can't shut out the past. And it's no defense against moral accountability. Those thoughts might fleet throug…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 6:55pm on November 7, 2012☆⚑

'Atheist's Paradise' from The Edge of the Universe Players 2 by Celia Wren

At one point in local writer Bill Goodman's new play, a kindly flying instructor tells an anxious new student that her first-ever solo flying stint was graceless and inept. Would that one co…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 6:25pm on November 5, 2012☆⚑

A puppet show for the dybbuk in all of us by Celia Wren

The adroit and tangy puppet show "The Dybbuk Between Two Worlds" tells of a spooky tug-of-war between the natural and supernatural realms. But the "two worlds" of the title could also be the…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 3:14pm on November 2, 2012☆⚑

New funding program brings avant-garde 'Amarillo' to U.S. by Celia Wren

Sand spills from a jug held by a whirling woman. Sand sluices over the still, prone body of a man. Sand cascades from dozens of plastic bags that dangle in the air like broken hourglasses. A…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 6:13pm on October 31, 2012☆⚑

In Hugh Masekela's 'Songs of Migration,' a fantastic voyage by Celia Wren

Hugh Masekela's trumpet becomes a mining drill in "Songs of Migration," the tuneful, quietly stirring musical tribute running through Saturday at the Kennedy Center's Terrace Theater. True, …

SOURCE: Washington Post at 10:47pm on October 18, 2012☆⚑

15th International Festival of Hispanic Theater: T'is both here and there by Celia Wren

Forget the green-eyed monster: Othello should look out for the guy with the red clown nose. Dominican theater artist Claudio Rivera dons such a nozzle for "Otelo . . . Sniff,"…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 11:54am on October 17, 2012☆⚑

Review | Spooky Action Theater's 'Reckless' turns Christmas tree upside down by Celia Wren

The Yuletide season was not designed to bruise and batter the human spirit, but sometimes it has that effect. Just look at Rachel, the chirpy wife and mom who flees her home in terror on Chr…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 11:56am on October 12, 2012☆⚑

In 'Holly Down in Heaven,' dolls begin to toy with teen by Celia Wren

Saint Simeon spent years living atop a pillar, the story goes. Saint Anthony of Egypt withdrew to the desert. Could they have chosen those routes to holiness because they lived prior to the …

SOURCE: Washington Post at 8:27pm on October 4, 2012☆⚑

Theater review: 'In Spite of Love' at GALA Hispanic Theatre by Celia Wren

They're not quite Beatrice and Benedick, or Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy. Still, an appealing antagonism waxes and wanes between Carlos, count of Urgel, and Diana, princess of Barcelona, t…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 3:00pm on September 17, 2012☆⚑

'Taking Steps' at Source Theatre by Celia Wren

You wouldn't want him vetting texts for libel, or drafting your will. You certainly wouldn't want to find him near a courtroom. Pale and tongue-tied, with a precariously knotted bow tie and …

SOURCE: Washington Post at 6:14pm on September 12, 2012☆⚑

Sizzling 'August' settles in at Keegan Theatre by Celia Wren

The folks at 1-800-FLOWERS must be grateful there aren't more Violet Westons. Violet is the flakily savage matriarch at the heart of "August: Osage County," Tracy Letts's Pulitzer Prize-winn…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 8:31pm on August 9, 2012☆⚑

'A Year of Giving' at Capital Fringe Festival engages and satisfies by Celia Wren

You'll find a photograph on your chair when you walk into "A Year of Giving," an engaging and often funny play based on the blog of local thinker and philanthropist Reed Sandridge. Each phot…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 2:36pm on July 27, 2012☆⚑

Fringe Festival: 'Tent of Dreams: An Occuplay' by Celia Wren

The road to Fringe is paved with good intentions: Witness, for instance, "Tent of Dreams: An Occuplay," mounted by Nu Sass Productions. A collaboratively generated piece written by Emily Cro…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 12:16pm on July 23, 2012☆⚑

Parsing Hamlet's brain by Celia Wren

Oh what a noble mind is here o'erthrown! The 90-minute, six-actor "Hamlet" mounted by We Happy Few Productions practically invites theatergoers to join in Ophelia's lament. For it is the pre…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 8:43pm on July 22, 2012☆⚑

A family scrapbook writ musically by Celia Wren

The old-fashioned garments dangling from a laundry line, on the set of "Blanche: The Bittersweet Life of a Wild Prairie Dame," appear to have been washed, and hung to dry, with loving care. …

SOURCE: Washington Post at 7:40pm on July 22, 2012☆⚑

'Big Love' at The Hub Theatre: Madcap matrimony on a large scale by Celia Wren

It's the kind of hoopla "Brides" magazine doesn't warn you about. The room is seething with people in formal attire " dancing, eating wedding cake, cracking open the gift boxes that stand in…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 8:01pm on July 20, 2012☆⚑

Review: 'Madame: Helena Rubinstein in America' at the Capital Fringe Festival needs more than a little makeup by Celia Wren

A little primping " a dab of radiance-renewing serum, an exfoliating scrub " will not suffice. With stiff dialogue, disjointed storytelling, awkward pauses, multiple wooden acting turns and …

SOURCE: Washington Post at 11:13am on July 17, 2012☆⚑

'Flight of Fancy (A Steampunk Ballet)' at Capital Fringe Festival by Celia Wren

Let's hear it for the corset, garment of personal liberation! You can almost imagine that cheer resounding through the world depicted in "Flight of Fancy (A Steampunk Ballet)." This charming…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 10:54pm on July 15, 2012☆⚑