All stories by Peter Marks on BroadwayStars

Friday, May 8, 2015

Scalia and his audience by Peter Marks

Audience walkouts during a performance are an occupational hazard for stage actors. But the one that occurred some days ago in the opening moments of "The Originalist" struck Edward Gero as …

SOURCE: Washington Post at 12:12PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Mosaic hangs out its theatrical shingle by Peter Marks

In one of the inaugural acts by his new theater company, Ari Roth will stage a play that he believes was key to his firing at his old one.As a result, Mosaic Theater Company of D.C. " the gr…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 01:51PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, April 28, 2015

'Paris,' 'Fun Home' earn most Tony nods by Peter Marks

NEW YORK " "An American in Paris," a lavish new dance-driven adaptation of the 1951 Oscar-winning movie, shared honors as biggest harvester of Tony nods, 12, including one for best original …

SOURCE: Washington Post at 10:16AM[SHARE]
Friday, April 24, 2015

Quiet gems vs. star-driven musical muddles in the rush of openings before the Tonys by Peter Marks

NEW YORK " Two Broadways coexist, in uneasy detente, amid the narrow swath of theaters stretching from West 41st Street to Lincoln Center on West 65th. One of these Broadways is a haven of s…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 11:39AM[SHARE]
Sunday, April 12, 2015

Worlds converge with grace in 'An American in Paris' on Broadway by Peter Marks

NEW YORK " A wholly contagious joy of motion is packed into every kick, lift, tap and leap of "An American in Paris," director-choreographer Christopher Wheeldon's suavely mounted, dance-dri…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 07:30PM[SHARE]
Friday, April 10, 2015

Bill and Hillary, sent up in ribald song by Peter Marks

NEW YORK " Depending on what voters have in mind, "Clinton the Musical" is either a flashback to some of the juicier comedy targets of recent presidential history or an early warning about a…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 11:45AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, April 8, 2015

'Gigi' skips uncertainly onto Broadway by Peter Marks

NEW YORK " "Gigi" is a flawed musical about a Pyrrhic victory, the triumph of a feisty young woman groomed to be a sexual trophy who ends up becoming a rich man's trophy wife instead. The pr…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 10:01PM[SHARE]
Thursday, April 2, 2015

In a brilliant 'Skylight,' a passion purls just below a tense uneasiness by Peter Marks

NEW YORK " It's not a choice that everyone is equipped to make, to trade plush surroundings and comfortable love affairs for life in a dank flat and a job teaching the children of society's …

SOURCE: Washington Post at 10:01PM[SHARE]
Thursday, March 5, 2015

All the standard Larry David neuroses, now on Broadway by Peter Marks

NEW YORK " The Larry David who stars in "Fish in the Dark," his middling new Broadway comedy about a cantankerous head-case urinal manufacturer, bears striking similarities to the Larry Davi…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 10:00PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, February 17, 2015

History as you've never heard it before by Peter Marks

NEW YORK " Lin-Manuel Miranda is showing us the way. To anyone who might suggest musical theater has hit a creative dead end, the actor-songwriter unfolds a spectacularly persuasive counterĂ…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 10:33PM[SHARE]
Thursday, January 29, 2015

Kennedy Center's 'Gigi,' starring Vanessa Hudgens, affirms its undistinguished status by Peter Marks

If you think you remember "Gigi" well, a newly buffed revival wants you to have some freshened perspective on the Oscar-winning 1958 film musical, later turned into a stage version by its cr…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 10:00PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Washington's best theater of 2014 by Peter Marks

Here, plain and simple, are my 10 favorite Washington theater experiences of 2014:1. "Side Show," Kennedy Center. Forever ahead of its time, this heartbreaking musical about conjoined twins …

SOURCE: Washington Post at 05:20PM[SHARE]
Sunday, December 28, 2014

Levinson, Crow take 'Diner' for a test-drive by Peter Marks

Fear not, "Diner" fans: The world-premiere musical version at Signature Theatre faithfully replicates the outrageous movie-house scene from Barry Levinson's beloved 1982 film, the one in whi…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 05:51PM[SHARE]
Friday, December 26, 2014

JCC head details 'insubordination' of Ari Roth by Peter Marks

The battle over the firing of Theater J artistic director Ari Roth took another bitter turn this week, with the circulation of remarks by his boss at the DC Jewish Community Center, Carole R…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 04:43PM[SHARE]

Carole Zawatsky's letter about Ari Roth's firing by Peter Marks

Here is the letter about the firing of Ari Roth, artistic director of Theater J, that Carole Zawatsky, CEO of the DC Jewish Community Center, e-mailed Wednesday to Israeli playwright Motti L…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 04:43PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Another Open Letter Protests Ari Roth's Firing by Peter Marks

Another open letter protesting the firing of Theater J's longtime artistic director, Ari Roth, is being circulated by a pair of Bay Area-based documentary film makers, Deborah Kaufman and Al…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 07:28PM[SHARE]
Monday, December 22, 2014

Artistic directors' letter on Roth by Peter Marks

Artistic directors of major theater companies from across the country on Monday signed this open letter to the DC Jewish Community Center:"We, the undersigned artistic directors, are outrage…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 12:53PM[SHARE]

Artistic directors denounce Roth firing by Peter Marks

In an extraordinary demonstration of unity and anger, 61 artistic directors of major theater companies from across the country on Monday denounced the DC Jewish Community Center's firing of …

SOURCE: Washington Post at 12:32PM[SHARE]
Friday, December 19, 2014

Ari Roth's swift departure from Theater J follows a tumultuous tenure by Peter Marks

By last summer, the estrangement was nearly complete. Tensions between Theater J and its parent organization, the D.C. Jewish Community Center, over the theater company's offerings related t…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 07:53PM[SHARE]

'Into the Woods' aims for fairy-tale end by Peter Marks

Is "Into the Woods" a golden Christmas goose? We are about to discover whether toy-crazy, youth-worshiping American filmgoers will in large numbers embrace a movie musical that effectively s…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 02:29PM[SHARE]
Thursday, December 18, 2014

Artistic director fired from Theater J by Peter Marks

Ari Roth, longtime artistic director of Theater J, an organization he has built over the last 18 years into one of the city's most artistically probing and ambitious theater companies, said …

SOURCE: Washington Post at 08:14PM[SHARE]
Thursday, December 11, 2014

A heavy toll of Puppet Death by Peter Marks

If your sense of humor is a type your friends diplomatically describe as "quirky," you're likely the target audience for "Famous Puppet Death Scenes," a piece of oddball theater that's down …

SOURCE: Washington Post at 04:42PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Theater review: Synetic Theater's 'Beauty and the Beast' by Peter Marks

It's not what's behind a curtain, but behind a screen, that counts most crucially in Synetic Theater's graphically clever new adaptation of the 18th-century French fairy tale "Beauty and the…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 04:53PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Ethan McSweeny's "Tempest" casts a bright, uplifting spell by Peter Marks

Sleekly assembled and easy on the eyes, Shakespeare Theatre Company's new "The Tempest" is a highly enjoyable rendering of Shakespeare's late romance and one of the warmer productions to bri…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 06:17PM[SHARE]
Monday, December 8, 2014

Bradley Cooper constricts his mobility in unmoving "Elephant Man" by Peter Marks

NEW YORK " As guests go, in the megastar-driven dinner party that Broadway has become, Bradley Cooper makes for respectful, well disciplined company. That he's not the exhilarating life o…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 05:02PM[SHARE]
Friday, December 5, 2014

Eric Schaeffer: As his Signature Theatre celebrates its 25th year, any regrets? - The Washington Post by Peter Marks

Back when he was in his 20s and doing community theater in the Northern Virginia suburbs " at a stage of his career when he was green and didn't know what he didn't know " Eric Schaeffer cam…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 02:52PM[SHARE]

Eric Schaeffer: As his Signature Theatre celebrates its 25th year, any regrets? by Peter Marks

Back when he was in his 20s and doing community theater in the Northern Virginia suburbs " at a stage of his career when he was green and didn't know what he didn't know " Eric Schaeffer cam…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 06:47AM[SHARE]
Thursday, December 4, 2014

Sting, the tireless troubadour by Peter Marks

NEW YORK " Night after night, as the lights go down in the Neil Simon Theatre and musicians on guitar and flute and fiddle begin to play, a multiple Grammy-winning international star settles…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 11:56AM[SHARE]
Friday, November 21, 2014

This 'Nutcracker' doesn't pirouette by Peter Marks

No, not THAT "Nutcracker"! Everyone at Round House Theatre is growing accustomed to correcting this thoroughly understandable misunderstanding. "The Nutcracker" is the company's latest offer…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 11:32AM[SHARE]
Thursday, November 20, 2014

'Little Dancer' at the Kennedy Center, with the accent on 'dancer' by Peter Marks

Love of ballet flows from every pore and plie of "Little Dancer." The new Kennedy Center musical showcases most rewardingly the technical gifts of Tiler Peck, a beguiling New York City Balle…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 10:44PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Kushner's 'Guide': Long, gabby and intelligent by Peter Marks

It's been perilously gusty this week outside the confines of Theater J " and within. A great torrent of words is whooshing across the company's stage, courtesy of Tony Kushner and his garrul…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 07:10PM[SHARE]

All that Chat

2025-2026 BROADWAY SEASON
Jun 12, 2025: Call Me Izzy - Studio 54
Sep 16, 2025: Art - Music Box Theatre
Oct 08, 2025: Beetlejuice - Palace Theatre
Nov 13, 2025: Oedipus - Studio 54
Nov 16, 2025: Chess - Imperial Theatre
Mar 23, 2026: Giant - Music Box Theatre
Apr 06, 2026: Becky Shaw - Hayes Theater
Apr 16, 2026: Proof - Booth Theatre
Apr 26, 2026: Drama Desk Cut-Off