Tag Archives: national theatre

We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: Spamalot

(L to R) Kasidy Devlin (Sir Robin), Adam Grabau (Sir Lancelot), Joshua Taylor Hamilton (Sir Dennis Galahad), Thomas DeMarcus (Sir Bedevere), and Arthur Rowan (King Arthur). Photo credit: Courtesy of Monty Python’s Spamalot.

(L to R) Kasidy Devlin (Sir Robin), Adam Grabau (Sir Lancelot), Joshua Taylor Hamilton (Sir Dennis Galahad), Thomas DeMarcus (Sir Bedevere), and Arthur Rowan (King Arthur). Photo credit: Courtesy of Monty Python’s Spamalot.

It never hurts your anticipation to wait in a humming crowd behind closed theater doors on opening night. Ah, the sheer grandeur of a stage that hosted the world premieres of Showboat, of West Side Story. “What more could you ask for, really?” I thought as I took my seat at the National Theatre.

Fart jokes, obviously.

Yes, Spamalot – the hit show based on the cult film Monty Python and the Holy Grail – is back, this time at the National Theatre. Patrick reviewed it last year when it delighted audiences at the Warner Theatre. A quick recap:

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Entertainment, The Features, We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: Les Miserables

(Photo: Deen van Meer)

There’s nothing that gives me chills like the opening melodies of One Day More. It’s one of my favorite ensemble numbers and it will always stop me in my tracks whether it’s in a feature film trailer or if it’s being done by an Asian YouTuber who sings all nine parts. It is only one of many memorable numbers in the musical adaptation of Victor Hugo’s novel Les Misérables. After over 25 years in production (the longest running musical in the world) the show continues to be a hit. Now on its fourth U.S. tour the show has grossed as much as a $1 million a week. Arriving at the National Theatre for its 10th time in The District since 1986, the all new production features new staging and sets inspired by the paintings of Hugo. However all the songs you’ve come to know and love are the same. I Dreamed A Dream, On My Own, Do You Hear the People Sing?, and the previously mentioned One Day More can be found in a powerful and vibrant show that continues to wow audiences after a quarter century on the stage.

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Entertainment, The Features, We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: Beauty & The Beast

Photo: Joan Marcus

A show has pretty high expectations when it is production of a show that was nominated for nine Tony awards back in 1994. The bar is even higher when that show was based on a wildly successfully animated feature that was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar.

Here for a two week stint at the National Theatre, a new national tour of the Broadway musical version of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast arrives just in time to entertain families and kids jumping into their summer break from school.

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The Features, We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: Fiddler on the Roof

05 Fierstein and Company © 2009, JOAN MARCUS

What is the best way to teach the daily struggles of family life and change to a modern generation: physical comedy or unadulterated sincerity? Harvey Fierstein’s Tevye does both. On the other hand … he has some competition what with the starlet vocals of his three daughters in-production. On the other hand … he’s Harvey Fierstein, part of the reason this run of Fiddler on the Roof at the National Theatre has been so successful.

Fierstein first starred as Tevye during the critically acclaimed Broadway revival, having previously won four Tony Awards, including Best Play and Best Actor in a Play for Torch Song Trilogy, with his most recent win in 2003 for Best Actor in a Musical for Hairspray. Now, he’s filling seats for sold-out crowds of all-ages at the National Theatre, reprising the role as Tevye and doing justice to the name while still maintaining his sense of self on stage. Continue reading →

Mythbusting DC, The Features
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DC Mythbusting: Haunted DC

Photo courtesy of
‘Thomas Trueman Gaff Monument’
courtesy of ‘kimberlyfaye’

Hi, and welcome to a Halloween edition of Mythbusting!  This week, I’ll see if my mythbusting skills can translate to ghostbusting.  I’m going to tackle three different spooky DC myths and see if I can find any validity in the legends.  Sound good?  Let’s get started.

The Demon Cat in the Capitol: First off, let’s tackle one of the most widespread haunted myths of our city: the Demon Cat.  There are so many ghost stories involving a black cat who appears in the Capitol as an omen before national tragedies like presidential assassinations.  Legend has it that the cat has appeared before the assassinations of Lincoln and Kennedy, before the stock market crash of 1929, and even on September 10, 2001.  Apparently, there are even permanent paw prints in the Capitol that show the presence of the Demon Cat!  So is there really a Demon Cat?

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