Happy New Year everyone!
As we welcome in a new year of great theatre in the nation’s capital, I thought it would be fun to do one of those “Best of 2010" lists as well as preview what’s opening in January on DC area stages. So let’s raise our glasses and offer a toast to all those theatre companies who gave us great productions in 2010, and to the upcoming 2011 theatre season!
MY FAVORITE 2010 PRODUCTIONS IN THE DC AREA:
There were hundreds of productions mounted on DC area stages in 2010. Here are my personal favorites (in alphabetical order):
A Christmas Carol at Toby’s Dinner Theatre of Baltimore
A Man of No Importance at Keegan Theatre
Antony and Cleopatra at Synetic Theater
Candide at Shakespeare Theatre Company
Chess at Signature Theatre
Hairspray at Toby’s Dinner Theatre of Columbia
High Fidelity at Landless Theatre Company
Into The Woods at The Theatre Lab - School of Dramatic Arts
Les Miserables at Act Two @ Levine
Master and Margarita at Synetic Theater
My Name is Asher Lev at Round House Theatre
Oklahoma! at Arena Stage
Othello at Synetic Theater
Passing Strange at The Studio Theatre
Perez Hilton Saves The Universe at Landless Theatre Company
RENT at Toby’s Dinner Theatre of Columbia
Side Show at Teatro 101
Sophisticated Ladies at Arena Stage.
Sycamore Trees at Signature Theatre
South Pacific at The Kennedy Center In Washington, DC.
The Dancing Princesses at Imagination Stage
The Happy Elf at Adventure Theatre and Montgomery College
The Odd Couple at Theater J
The Stephen Schwartz Project at Musical Theater Center
Violet at Teatro 101
You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown at No Rules Theatre Company
JANUARY 2011 MUST-SEES
(1) THE ARABIAN NIGHTS, FROM JANUARY 14TH TO FEBRUARY 20TH IN THE FICHANDLER AT Arena Stage, IN WASHINGTON, DC.
Tony Award-winning Director Mary Zimmerman (for Metamorphoses) whose production of Candide is packing them in at Sidney Harman Hall at The Shakespeare Theatre Company – has adapted the “Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night" and is bringing The Arabian Nights to Arena Stage’s Fichandler where the popular Oklahoma! played to sold out audiences and received rave reviews. I know the show will be visually stunning, because every show I’ve seen that Mary has directed has been beautifully designed.
“In ancient Baghdad, a courageous young girl postpones her execution by weaving magical tales for the troubled king. Genies and jesters, lovers and thieves spring to life from Scheherazade's imagination – allowing her to win the king's heart even as she secures her freedom."
