All stories by Peter Marks on BroadwayStars

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Robert Pinsky adapts 'Wallenstein' for Shakespeare Theatre by Peter Marks

"First of all, forget about the Thirty Years' War," the conflict-hardened and battle-weary Gen. Albrecht Wallenstein advises an audience in the first seconds of Shakespeare Theatre Company's…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 08:14PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Kennedy Center plans Degas-inspired new musical, 'Little Dancer' by Peter Marks

You know it as the sculptural quintessence of grit, grace and love of ballet. Now see it as a musical. Edgar Degas's world famous "Little Dancer, Aged Fourteen" is the inspiration for an ori…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 11:12AM[SHARE]
Sunday, April 14, 2013

In resonant 'Andy and the Shadows,' not everything makes sense, for good and ill by Peter Marks

What one generation absorbs as abject suffering, the next may experience as utter bewilderment. For befuddled is how Andy Glickstein stumbles through his out-loud-neurotic, Jewish American l…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 07:42PM[SHARE]
Friday, April 12, 2013

A Poet Laureate Tackles a German Classic in Shakespeare Theatre's 'Wallenstein' by Peter Marks

ORANGEBURG, N.Y. " In the basement recording studio of a tract house in an aging subdivision, a former poet laureate of the United States rocks back and forth to the improvisational licks of…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 04:13PM[SHARE]
Thursday, April 11, 2013

'Matilda' on Broadway: It's magic, and not just for kids by Peter Marks

NEW YORK " Dwelling among us, ladies and gentlemen, is a super-race of tiny entertainment machines. Disguised as children, they sing, act, dance, tumble and generally bedazzle, as if each of…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 07:51PM[SHARE]

'Coriolanus' turns on a potent Page by Peter Marks

With a voice that rumbles and quakes like an avalanche, Patrick Page unleashes his catalytic energy on "Coriolanus," the Shakespearean tragedy that builds ever so incrementally to a roaring …

SOURCE: Washington Post at 07:08PM[SHARE]
Monday, April 8, 2013

Theater review: In King's world, via 'The Mountaintop' by Peter Marks

He smokes. He cusses. He drinks. He comes on to a woman who isn't his wife. But he also speaks in the inspirational voice of a Gandhi-esque leader who forced America to search its conscience…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 07:42PM[SHARE]
Thursday, April 4, 2013

Lauper's "Boots" were made for Broadway by Peter Marks

NEW YORK " When it's good, "Kinky Boots," the new Broadway musical with the rocking Cyndi Lauper score, is sweetly, vivaciously, irresistibly good. And when it's not so good " well, let's no…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 07:48PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Daisey on Disney: A ride worth taking by Peter Marks

That dependably major meteorological event, Hurricane Daisey, has swept back into Washington. As with past storms of this variety, the latest one seeks to shake an institution to its foundat…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 08:05PM[SHARE]
Monday, April 1, 2013

'Mary T. & Lizzy K.' fashions relationship of Lincoln's wife and her dressmaker by Peter Marks

With actress Naomi Jacobson perched on a stand as she's fitted for a gown in Arena Stage's "Mary T. & Lizzy K.," an audience learns what's in and what's out in mid-19th-century haute cou…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 06:05PM[SHARE]
Sunday, March 31, 2013

A new 'Dolly,' in dancing trim by Peter Marks

If Mount Rushmore had been carved to enshrine Broadway musicals rather than presidents, the four faces gazing majestically out from the mountain might look something like this: Yul Brynner a…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 05:21PM[SHARE]
Friday, March 29, 2013

On the heels of 'Really Really,' could D.C.'s next export be theater? by Peter Marks

NEW YORK " From the outset, the box-office appeal of "Really Really" astonished actor-turned-playwright Paul Downs Colaizzo. He was surprised when Eric Schaeffer, Signature Theatre's artisti…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 04:22PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, March 26, 2013

'4000 Miles' at Studio Theatre makes for wise travel by Peter Marks

Please give a warm welcome to Amy Herzog, a playwright of distinction whose rich portfolio you'll want to get to know. Shaped by deft observation and psychological texture, her work has begu…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 07:03PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, March 13, 2013

A bonanza of daring, across the boards by Peter Marks

Whether it's an intensifying appetite for novelty, a newfound embrace of boldness " or maybe an increase in spinach consumption " something has gotten into the theater makers who are decidin…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 08:48PM[SHARE]
Friday, March 8, 2013

An exuberant 'Fanny and Alexander' brings Bergman's Ekdahls to the Kennedy Center by Peter Marks

The turntable on which Sweden's Royal Dramatic Theatre places its stage version of "Fanny and Alexander" is an apt visual clue to director Stefan Larsson's elegant production " a beguiling s…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 03:47PM[SHARE]

A young classical actor, burning bright in Washington by Peter Marks

In college, Zach Appelman heard voices. And they convinced him that he was on the right track. They came to him through speakers and ear buds: the honeyed sounds of great Shakespeareans, act…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 01:49PM[SHARE]
Monday, March 4, 2013

Betting on next season, Signature plays a full house by Peter Marks

As plans for the new Washington theater season take shape, the lineup across the region is looking ever nervier. Although an occasional company is going for the tried-and-true " witness the …

SOURCE: Washington Post at 06:30PM[SHARE]
Thursday, February 28, 2013

A frothy new 'Tempest' bubbling to the surface by Peter Marks

Synetic Theater is up to its old tricks. Which, of course, is very good news. It's added a few new tricks, too, in its never-ending quest for acrobatic dazzle, with a wet-and-wild version of…

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

For Idina Menzel and prize-winning team, D.C. is a Broadway tryout town reborn by Peter Marks

Idina Menzel, one of the original cast members of "Rent" and a Tony winner for the role of Elphaba in "Wicked," will star in a new Broadway-bound musical by the creators of "Next to Normal" …

SOURCE: Washington Post at 02:12PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, February 27, 2013

From Oslo, a most eccentric 'Hedda Gabler' by Peter Marks

With a disarming disregard for theatrical convention, the actor playing the weak-willed Jorgen Tesman in the National Theatre of Norway's radically pared-down "Hedda Gabler" performs about 1…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 11:12AM[SHARE]
Monday, February 25, 2013

For Arena Stage, a season of high hopes and big plans and bigger stars by Peter Marks

How's this for casting coups? Kathleen Turner as Mother Courage! The earthy Turner must have had a blast at Arena Stage last summer playing the tart-tongued liberal columnist Molly Ivins, be…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 09:37PM[SHARE]
Sunday, February 24, 2013

Pointless Theatre's 'Canterbury' has the right spirit but lacks cohesion by Peter Marks

"Canterbury" is what might happen to Chaucer's raucous 14th-century pilgrims if they stopped for a brewski or three at an English major's dorm party. Draped in Natalie Drutz's wittily cartoo…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 06:56PM[SHARE]
Friday, February 22, 2013

A theater man casts his design eye on the Oscars by Peter Marks

It was one of those calls that can set aflutter the heart of the toughest showbiz veteran, even one accustomed to the wearying whims of the most demanding of Broadway directors and producers…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 12:17PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, February 19, 2013

'Metamorphoses': A delightfully fluid way to experience Roman mythology by Peter Marks

The first word uttered in Mary Zimmerman's luminously liquid pageant of ancient myths is "Bodies," and how fitting that proves to be. Over the 100 shimmering minutes of "Metamorphoses," a fl…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 06:34PM[SHARE]
Monday, February 18, 2013

In crowded theater market, Round House Theatre Seeks to Stand Out by Peter Marks

Theater lovers might want to get out their global positioning systems and plug in the settings for Montgomery County, because a new sense of dramatic direction is taking hold in the capital'…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 08:37PM[SHARE]

Review of 'The Convert' at Woolly Mammoth Theatre by Peter Marks

It isn't every dramatist these days who can sustain a nuanced narrative through a full three hours and two intermissions " a feat that makes all the more impressive Danai Gurira's absorbing …

SOURCE: Washington Post at 07:33PM[SHARE]

'Shakespeare's R+J' sets new themes in old play - The Washington Post by Peter Marks

It's the most famous teenage kiss of all time. "O then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do. They pray," Romeo declares on that fateful night of love at first sight at the Capulets' masked…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 09:54AM[SHARE]
Friday, February 15, 2013

No Title by Peter Marks

It's the most famous teenage kiss of all time. "O then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do. They pray," Romeo declares on that fateful night of love at first sight at the Capulets' masked…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 11:16AM[SHARE]
Thursday, February 14, 2013

Two Mamet plays are on the boil on D.C. stages by Peter Marks

The distance between Round House Theatre in Bethesda and Theater J on 16th Street NW is only about seven miles, yet at the moment, that trip covers a large patch of David Mamet's polarizing …

SOURCE: Washington Post at 05:27PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, February 13, 2013

'Shakespeare's R+J' at Signature Theatre: An old heartache gets an electric jolt by Peter Marks

Fear not: The power surges occurring frequently and without warning inside Signature Theatre present no cause for alarm. They are, in fact, the reason you want to get as close as possible to…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 06:56PM[SHARE]
Monday, February 11, 2013

Arena does grandly by 'Good People' by Peter Marks

The people of "Good People" aren't all that good " which is partly why the play is better than good. As consequences of David Lindsay-Abaire's wisdom-filled script and Jackie Maxwell's super…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 09:23PM[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