All stories by Peter Marks on BroadwayStars

Thursday, June 7, 2012

66th Tony Awards: And the Winner Is . . . Washington by Peter Marks

NEW YORK " Sunday night, we will finally get the answer to a tense theater season cliffhanger: Will the Kennedy Center win its first Tony Award in 15 years? We already know that Washington's…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 04:48PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Round House Theatre names Ryan Rilette as new leader by Peter Marks

Round House Theatre, one of the region's popular mid-size theater companies and an arts anchor in Montgomery County, on Wednesday announced the appointment of Ryan Rilette as its producing a…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 08:19PM[SHARE]

Round House Theatre names Ryan Rilette as new leader by Peter Marks

Round House Theatre, one of the region's popular mid-sized theater companies and an arts anchor in Montgomery County, on Wednesday announced the appointment of Ryan Rilette as its new produc…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 02:22PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, June 5, 2012

No Rules Theatre troupe has little pep in 'Suicide Incorporated' by Peter Marks

As business plans go, Scott's will surely never make the case study annals of Wharton. Hanging out a shingle for a company that writes suicide notes for those seeking grammatical assistance …

SOURCE: Washington Post at 07:39PM[SHARE]

In 'Mr. Burns,' civilization may fade, but Bart Simpson is forever by Peter Marks

As inexhaustibly original as the animated series that inspired it, the kookily brilliant "Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play" is the sort of once-in-a-blue-moon show that stays stuck in your br…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 01:31AM[SHARE]
Friday, June 1, 2012

Larry Kramer's scalding 'The Normal Heart' comes to Arena Stage by Peter Marks

If there was a road map for breakout theatrical success, "The Normal Heart" misplaced its copy. Larry Kramer's much-admired, alarm-bell-ringing 1985 drama about the spread of AIDS through th…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 01:33PM[SHARE]

'Beertown' returning to D.C.: Refreshments in the footlights by Peter Marks

Tired of the same old summer routine: the sweltering afternoon by the pool, the mosquito armada at the picnic, the endless crawl to the beach? How about taking a detour from the seasonal hum…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 10:22AM[SHARE]
Friday, May 25, 2012

Arena Stage's 'Music Man' is Iowa stubborn and Washington smooth by Peter Marks

Who in their right mind wouldn't haunt the library stacks if Kate Baldwin were assigned to the checkout desk? Teamed with Burke Moses in Arena Stage's endearingly melodic revival of "The Mus…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 01:31AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, May 23, 2012

WSC Avant Bard's 'Tooth of Crime': Missing true grit in pivotal role by Peter Marks

In red satin jacket, polished fingernails and preening self-regard, Tom Carman flutters convincingly onto the Artisphere stage as Crow, a renegade singer come to dethrone an aging rock-and-r…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 11:56PM[SHARE]

'Xanadu': Erin Weaver's a muse in leg warmers at Signature Theatre by Peter Marks

Empty calories don't seem such a misguided nutritional choice when they're served to you by a force like Erin Weaver, the vitamin-enriched musical star of Signature Theatre's "Xanadu," a jau…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 01:57AM[SHARE]
Monday, May 21, 2012

At Shakespeare Theatre, a true master of its comic domain by Peter Marks

Click, click, click. That's the precision with which practically every jubilant act of irreverence registers in Shakespeare Theatre Company's deliriously happy-making version of Carlo Goldon…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 10:32PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Who's the shrew? At Folger, it's a tossup. by Peter Marks

Presumption of funniness is not exactly a capital offense. But it's a performer's crime nevertheless, a rookie sort of miscue that helps to sink Folger Theatre's ill-conceived spaghetti-west…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 01:42AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Tony Award nominations: Led by 'Follies,' Washington lights up Broadway by Peter Marks

In another sign of Washington's growing influence as a theater town, the Kennedy Center's highly regarded revival of "Follies" garnered an impressive eight Tony Award nominations Tuesday, ma…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 05:25PM[SHARE]

'Follies,' 'Clybourne Park' among Tony nominees that got their start in Washington by Peter Marks

The Kennedy Center's production of "Follies" earned an impressive eight Tony nods, including one for best musical revival, in the nominations unveiled Tuesday morning in New York. The announ…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 01:50PM[SHARE]
Monday, April 30, 2012

Seasoning needed for 'The Big Meal' by Peter Marks

The last thing you'd ever want, in the forlornly sterile restaurant where the events of Studio Theatre's "The Big Meal" transpire, is for the waitress actually to arrive with your order. The…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 07:47PM[SHARE]
Friday, April 27, 2012

In Shenandoah Valley, a Shakespeare tradition has taken root by Peter Marks

Out in the Shenandoah Valley, they make Shakespeare the old-fashioned way. And by old-fashioned, I don't mean stodgy or rigid or by trilling the lines as if every word were an opportunity to…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 10:19PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, April 24, 2012

'Whipping Man': A Civil War seder as the South crumbles by Peter Marks

The characters of Matthew Lopez's engrossing if soberly conventional Civil War drama, "The Whipping Man," gather around a makeshift seder table in the ruins of a stately Richmond homestead t…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 09:06PM[SHARE]
Saturday, April 21, 2012

'Clybourne Park' on Broadway: Poignant ironies, as sharp as ever by Peter Marks

NEW YORK " The move to Broadway proves to be an entirely felicitous visibility upgrade for "Clybourne Park," the Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy about race and class that had a virtually simu…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 08:20AM[SHARE]
Thursday, April 19, 2012

'One Man, Two Guvnors': Gut-achingly good by Peter Marks

NEW YORK " Trusting your gut is an essential guideline in the reviewing business. So if your gut aches as much as mine did all through the rhapsodically silly shenanigans of "One Man, Two G…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 08:01PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, April 18, 2012

A crown lies uneasily in Round House's 'Shadows' by Peter Marks

What a piece of work is this Telemachus, the Hamlet-like brooder of playwright Jason Gray Platt's modern family tragedy, "Crown of Shadows: The Wake of Odysseus." Spoiled and sullen, he buri…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 10:25PM[SHARE]
Friday, April 13, 2012

The Inkwell, a D.C. theater incubator, steps onto a larger stage by Peter Marks

Like most young dramatists, Jason Gray Platt is a struggling one who holds down a day job to nourish his hopes of watching his work come alive at night. Having obtained a degree from Columbi…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 08:14PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Puppeteer and drag artist in tune in 'Arias With a Twist' by Peter Marks

The more the star of "Arias With a Twist" exposes his outrageousness, the more he manages to class up the joint. The joint in question is Woolly Mammoth Theatre, where Joey Arias straps on a…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 01:55AM[SHARE]
Monday, April 9, 2012

D.C. theater to toast the plays of England, Scotland, France by Peter Marks

As if Washington's lively bar scene were not already packed with drama, it is soon going to be the setting for an actual one. The Shakespeare Theatre Company, staging a play for the first ti…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 10:45PM[SHARE]
Sunday, April 8, 2012

In 'Long Day's Journey' at Arena, there's something special about this Mary by Peter Marks

Nationals Park isn't the only spot on the Washington waterfront that gives you a taste of the pros these days. Just around the point at Arena Stage, the player to watch is Helen Carey, who w…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 10:43PM[SHARE]
Friday, April 6, 2012

'Evita' on Broadway: Ricky Martin's charm as Che is misapplied by Peter Marks

NEW YORK"Ricky Martin does a pretty good job of playing Ricky Martin throughout the plodding pageantry of "Evita," the Tim Rice-Andrew Lloyd Webber musical that opened in lavish revival Thu…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 06:24PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Review: Shakespeare Theatre's 'Strange Interlude' by Peter Marks

About two hours into Shakespeare Theatre Company's 3-hour, 45-minute production of "Strange Interlude," the tragic condition of Eugene O'Neill's troubled, meddlesome heroine, Nina Leeds, com…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 11:21PM[SHARE]
Monday, April 2, 2012

A 'Shrew' on two fleet feet from Synetic Theater by Peter Marks

Dudgeon achieves a sexy new high in the scenery-quaking workouts of Synetic Theater's adaptation of "The Taming of the Shrew." The bare-midriffed tantrums of the ageless Irina Tsikurishvili …

SOURCE: Washington Post at 11:14PM[SHARE]
Saturday, March 31, 2012

Before the Tonys, Broadway accelerates with 'Once,' 'Newsies,' 'Jesus Christ' by Peter Marks

It's that gusty time of year again, when the skies open up over Broadway and out of the clouds come the April showers of new productions, all making landfall just under the Tony Awards deadl…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 01:22AM[SHARE]
Friday, March 30, 2012

Dramatist rewrites script to run Baltimore's Centerstage by Peter Marks

BALTIMORE " For an artist from another land, Kwame Kwei-Armah is sure making himself comfortable here quickly. Just a few short months after arriving from London and taking over as artistic …

SOURCE: Washington Post at 01:15PM[SHARE]
Monday, March 26, 2012

Tiptoeing, gently, 'Into the Woods' by Peter Marks

BALTIMORE " The Wolf in Grandmother's bed doesn't seem quite so big and bad anymore. No, like other malicious aspects of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's fractured fairy-tale musical, "In…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 11:24PM[SHARE]
Thursday, March 22, 2012

Signature Theatre's 'Brother Russia': Music reigns, but the Mad Monk is an enigma by Peter Marks

When a new musical is engaged in the complicated process of trying to find its voice, an audience has to be willing to listen to some misplaced notes, to hear it speak and sing in a sometime…

SOURCE: Washington Post at 10:50PM[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