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A CurtainUp in DC 
New and Noteworthy -- January-February 2012
Washington has many cultural assets –world-class museums for instance. So the arrival at Arena Stage January 20 to March 11, 2012 of Red, John Logan’s much heralded play and winner of six Tony awards about painter Mark Rothko, has prompted the National Gallery of Art, www.nga.gov/collection/rothko.shtm and the Phillips Collection, www.phillipscollection.org/collection/rothko/index.aspx to feature prominently paintings in their collections by the 20th-century Russian-American artist.
A co-production with Chicago’s Goodman Theatre, Red is directed by Robert Falls. Washington favorite Ed Gero plays the lead. He blogs too. For Gero’s insights into playing Rothko and his reaction to the great artist’s paintings, go to www.arenastage.org. Also on that website is a list of special events – talks with Gero, curators and shrinks, a documentary on Rothko’s Seagram murals – the theater is hosting.
Donald Margulies’s Time Stands Still at Studio Theatre, through February 12, speaks to the kind of dilemmas faced by many in its audience. Career versus personal needs – a subject of much discussion and angst. Holly Twyford heads the cast.
For those of you who have not yet discovered NT Live – broadcasts in movie theaters worldwide of live productions from London’s National Theatre – I recommend them highly. But finding out when they are playing and where is a challenge unless you get on the e-mail alert list since press and marketing of these marvelous productions has been non-existent. Future productions include The Comedy of Errors in February, She Stoops to Conquer and a new play by Nicholas Wright, Travelling Light, in March. For details, go to www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/61172/venues-amp-booking-us-venues.html.
Jason Grote, playwright and writer for the upcoming tv show Smash, about the making of a Broadway musical, has been busy. In addition to Smash, premiering February 6 on NBC, Grote’s Civilization (All You Can Eat), is slated for February 13 through March 11 at Woolly Mammoth. Howard Shalwitz directs. Civilization takes a look at the 2008 presidential election and financial crisis, questions of race, and a candidate by the name of Sarah Palin. It’s a world premiere.
Maybe its grey skies, maybe it’s the what-the-hell attitude of those willing to brave the elements to take in a show that’s not been done before, but Washington is awash with premieres at the moment. In addition to Grote’s newest play at Woolly, Theater J is also throwing its hat in the ring with the world premiere of Electile Dysfunction: The Kinsey Sicks for President, from February 4 to 19. Commissioned by Theater J, the piece is being billed as the Kinsey Sicks’s bid to become the first Dragapella Beautyshop Quartet to win the Republican nomination for President!
Over the river, at Signature Theater, the world premiere of Really Really, really really runs from January 31 to March 25. Written by Paul Downs Colaizzo and directed by Matthew Gardiner, the setting is an elite university. The theme – what happens when ambition collides with reputation.
Can a play that premiered in 1705 be called new? Not exactly. But The Gaming Table is hardly known to contemporary audiences. Susanna Centilivre’s Restoration comedy centers around a widow with a penchance for gambling. It will be performed at the Folger Theatre from January 24 to March 4.
Two Gentlemen of Verona seems contemporary in Director PJ Paparelli’s update of Shakespeare’s first play at the Shakespeare Theatre/Lansburgh through March 4. Against a flashy metallic set by Walt Spangler, a youthful cast, particularly Andrew Veenstra at Valentine, exudes high energy as it runs, jumps and zips through the light comedy about young love. The not-very-demanding plot and script comes through loud and clear as do such contemporary notes as Armani-like costumes (thank you, Paul Spadone, for this splendid fashion parade), plus Apple laptops, I-phones, even Beyonce’s “All the Single Ladies.” If there were an award for Best Sport, then the winner would surely be Euan Morton as Launce. He plays opposite an adorable mutt of miscellaneous pedigree who by virtue of its one-ear-up and one-ear-down appearance steals focus whenever he sets four paws on stage.
Two plus two: For one weekend only, January 27 to 29, the Shakespeare Theatre is also presenting the John Guare and Mel Shapiro popera version of Two Gentleman of Verona with local fave Eleasha Gamble.
Entrances and Exits:
David Dower, Arena Stage’s Associate Artistic Director, and Polly Carl, Director of the American Voices New Play Institute are moving to Emerson College’s Office of the Arts, which is to be the new home of AVNPI.
There’ll be no “Baubles, Bangles and Beads” at the Kennedy Center this spring after all. The Center’s production of Pal Joey has been cancelled. In its place, the Center will present First You Dream: The Music of Kander and Ebb, directed by Eric Schaeffer, from June 8 to July 1.
For the past 27 years the Helen Hayes Awards has prized good work in Washington’s ever-expanding theatre community and audience that numbers somewhere between 1.5 million and 2 million tickets annually. But over the last few months the Helens has expanded beyond its original purpose by marketing all Washington theaters, all year long. Its presence has grown and so has the website, www.theatrewashington.org . Check it out.
For the past 27 years the Helen Hayes Awards has prized good work in Washington’s ever-expanding theatre community and audience that numbers somewhere between 1.5 million and 2 million tickets annually. But over the last few months the Helens has expanded beyond its original purpose by marketing all Washington theaters, all year long. Its presence has grown and so has the website, www.theatrewashington.org .Check it out.
Speaking of Awards. . . Signature Theatre’s third annual Stephen Sondheim Award goes to . . . Patti Lupone, at a black-tie Gala benefit, to be held April 16, 2012 at the magnificent Italian Embassy.
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The Helen Hayes Organization's
Interactive List of
DC Theaters
Curtainup @ Facebook
Curtainup @ Twitter and Curtainup's Blog Annex
Ticket Broker Theater Tickets Elf Tickets The Merchant of Venice Tickets Wicked Tickets