In 2004, Green Day released one of its most popular and influential albums, the Grammy-winningAmerican Idiot. In 2010 a Broadway musical was launched, a combination of two albums, American Idiot and 21st Century Breakdown.
From the category archives:
Broadway
Angela Renée Simpson as Queenie (center, in pink dress) and the company of Show Boat. Photo by Scott Suchman.
It is always an odd experience seeing an old time Broadway show revived for today’s cynical modern times. The 1927 production of Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II’s Show Boat is widely credited as being one of the first Broadway “super musicals.” The show spawned numerous, well known classics like “Ol’ Man River,” “You Are Love,” “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man,” “Bill,” and others. Washington National Opera under Artistic Director Francesca Zambello spared no expense in bringing this massive production to The Kennedy Center Opera house.
Grade: B-
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Bowman Wright as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American
Grade: A-
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(L-R) Sameerah Luqmaan-Harris as Elizabeth Keckly and Naomi Jacobson as Mary Todd Lincoln in Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater’s production of Mary T. & Lizzy K. March 15-April 28, 2013. Photo by Scott Suchman.
Playwright and Director Tazewell Thompson has directed over two dozen productions at Washington, DC’s Arena Stage. With the current popularity of all things Lincoln it was only natural that people would start exploring other aspects of the popular President’s life. Mary T. & Lizzy K. is the story about the relationship between Mary Todd Lincoln (Naomi Jacobson) and her seamstress Elizabeth Keckly (Sameerah Luqmaan-Harris). Lizzy K was a tough, no nonsense freed slave who was also Mary Todd’s friend.
Grade: B-
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Broadway Rocks, Wolf Trap. Photo Credit: Michelle Alexandria
As the song from Grease goes, “Summer sun, something’s begun, but uh-oh those summer nights.” While many in Washington, DC melted under the record two-week heat wave, some of us thought it’d be a good idea to spend some time outdoors at Washington, DC’s famous outdoor Amphitheater, Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts.
Grade: C
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Every four years in America there is this little thing called The Presidential Elections. Every year I find myself more and more frustrated at the lack of change in our political culture. Go back 40 years and every election cycle boils down to the same three or four topics –Sex, Abortion, Taxes, and sometimes War.
Grade: A
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If there ever was a play that is Critic Proof and destined to win a boatload of Tonys it is Seminar by writer Theresa Rebeck and directed Sam Gold. In the opening scene it’s clear that this show is one that anyone who has created anything can relate to. All the characters are broad cliches, but there’s an element of truth in the caricatures. Writers, critics and artists of any stripe and status can immediately recognize these people.
Grade: A-
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