The Alan Jay Lerner/Frederick Loewe classic My Fair Lady rolled their second leg of the post-Covid national tour into the National Theatre in DC. Originally conceived for Lincoln Center under the masterful eye of Bartlett Sher, the most accomplished director in the business for breathing new air and contemporary relevancy into beloved but dated musicals. Having had great success with such classics as The King & I, South Pacific, Fiddler on the Roof,
Sixty years ago Harper Lee penned what has become perhaps the quintessential American coming of age novel, the enduring and beloved staple of middle school American Literature curriculums To Kill a Mockingbird, which became in turn one of the most enduring and beloved movies of all time starring Gregory Peck, winner of the Academy Award for his endearing, human portrayal of antihero Atticus Finch trying to make a difference in the morality of the deep South.
“Loverly”
Ain’t it hard to earn an ‘onest livin’ these days? Well, in Edwardian London add in factors like being a woman and being a woman with a thick cockney accent and ‘eaven ‘elp you, guv’nor, but you’re all but done for! OOOOOOOOOOOOooooh, it’s no wonder t’at a character meeting these factors and one t‘at has ‘alf a brain would leap at the opportunity to better ‘er phonetics and elocution ‘if’n it meant she could land a career real proper like,
Fiddler on the Roof for Christmas? Unthinkable.
Unheard of. On the other hand, it’s a brilliant story with glorious music. On
the other hand, it’s not A Christmas Carol or some other stalwart
tradition in the nation’s capital. On the other hand, The National Theatre is
bringing tradition to their stage for a limited week-long engagement smack in
the middle of December this year. With original Direction by Barlett Sher
(recreated here by Sari Evans) and original choreography by Hofesh Shechter
(recreated here by Christopher Evans),
A theatrically inclined, over the top leader is called upon the carpet by a strong, oppositional feminist for policies that are alternately deemed sexist, racist, tyrannical, oppressive, and a throwback to less enlightened times as their country struggles to enter a new era of ideology under the watchful eyes of the rest of the free world. No, this is not this week’s headline at The Huffington Post, but the underlying dilemma at The Kennedy Center in Washington,
Striking and inspiring beauty isn’t just in the covered-bridge landscape of Winterset, Iowa. It’s possessed wholeheartedly in the stellar music of Jason Robert Brown’s The Bridges of Madison County musical, now appearing live on stage in the Eisenhower Theatre of The John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts. Based on the novel by Robert James Waller with Book by Marsha Norman, Brown’s stunning score of the heart-melting and utterly emotionally mesmerizing love story is populated with bittersweet poignancy and the closest thing to true American Opera the stage has heard since the 80’s.