Articles Tagged With: Signature Theatre

The cast of Ragtime at Signature Theatre. 📷 Christopher Mueller

Ragtime at Signature Theatre

Signature Theatre’s latest offering is a stellar production of Ragtime, a musicalization of E. L. Doctorow’s sprawling 1975 novel, in which a variety of real and fictional characters from the turn of the 20th century are woven into an epic American tapestry.  Presenting a panoramic view of the dawning of the twentieth century, Ragtime addresses such issues as immigration, racism, socialism, women’s rights, industrialization, and the labor movement. Seeking to identify the forces that have shaped America over the past century,

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Jacob Yeh (Erhu Player) and Ashley D. Nguyen (Lauren) in King of the Yees at Signature Theatre 📸DJ Corey Photography

King of The Yees at Signature Theatre

I still believe that the main purpose of a theater review is to help readers decide whether a show is actually worth seeing and whether it is worth the ticket price. King of the Yees at Signature Theatre is well worth the ticket price and definitely worth seeing. It is a clever script with a strong cast, good direction, a universal message, and several laugh-out-loud moments. It is also worth mentioning that this is Signature’s only non-musical offering this season.

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Mark Evans (left) as Robert Kincaid and Erin Davie (right) as Francesca Johnson in The Bridges of Madison County at Signature Theatre 📷 Daniel Rader

The Bridges of Madison County at Signature Theatre

This is Albany… This is Buffalo… This is Shirlington… Not an original planned stop on the train that Francesca took with Bud on their way to Winterset, Iowa. But The Bridges of Madison County is stopping in Shirlington, Virginia for a few weeks (through September 17th 2023) as the main-stage musical opener to their 23/24 season. Jason Robert Brown’s haunting score wending through the rolling book by Marsha Norman, based on the novel by Robert James Waller,

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Home Before You Know It: An Interview with Julia Wheeler Lennon on Signature Theatre’s The Bridges of Madison County

They’ll be home before you know it! And by home we mean back to the stage— the live stage, Max Theatre at Signature to be specific. Signature Theatre launches its 2023/2024 season with the 2013 Broadway musical— The Bridges of Madison County, with music & lyrics by Jason Robert Brown and book by Marsha Norman. Based on the 1992 novel of the same name by Robert James Waller, Bridges (as it is affectionally referred to in the theatre world) won the 2014 Tony Awards for Best Original Score and Best Orchestrations— after the show had closed on Broadway.

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Neagheen Homaifar (left) as Leyla with Yousof Sultani (center) as Jawid and Mazin Akar (right) as Taroon in Selling Kabull. 📸Christopher Mueller

Selling Kabul at Signature Theatre

The year is 2013. The United States is withdrawing troops from Afghanistan as the Taliban take control; Afghans are fleeing the country.

The year is now 2023. The United States started withdrawing troops from Afghanistan two years ago as the Taliban took control; Afghans are fleeing the country. Again. How can a decade have passed and a harrowing event impacting millions still be happening as if nothing has changed in ten years’ time.

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Somewhere In A Tree: An Interview With Alexander Tom on Being the Musical Director of Pacific Overtures at Signature Theatre

 A rarely produced Sondheim. Perhaps one of Signature Theatre’s signature marks as they frequently unearth some of the lesser recognized or at the very least, lesser attempted, Stephen Sondheim works. Pacific Overtures is no exception for this season. The irony of white men creating the musical narrative for Eastern culture is not lost on anyone, particularly not Musical Director Alexander Tom, who is a Chinese and Vietnamese American. In a phone interview with the show’s musical director,

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Exploring the Graveyard of Empires: An Interview with Yousof Sultani on playing Jawid in Signature Theatre’s Production of Selling Kabul

Media sensationalism, news-blips, and the never-ending stream of immediate access to everything, everywhere, and all at once has led to more than just empathy fatigue. In the minds of the masses, particularly those more technologically engaged with social media, it has led to cultural shortsightedness. A thing is happening. Somewhere that isn’t here. And it’s unfortunate. And we feel bad. And we move on. But that doesn’t mean this is the first time, the only time that such a thing has happened.

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Dani Stoller (left) as Judy, with Michael Tacconi (center) as Mark, and Nina-Sophia Pacheco (right) as Actress in Which Way to the Stage? 📸Daniel Rader

Which Way To The Stage? at Signature Theatre

Judy (Dani Stoller) and Jeff (Mike Millan) are the musical-theater-obsessed protagonists of Ana Nogueira’s new comedy Which Way to the Stage? at Signature Theatre’s ARK: a playful, yet thought-provoking comedy about friendship, ambition, and what happens when dreams fall just out of reach.

 The 30-something best friends, and hopeful actors, are struggling to gain any sort of foothold in an industry into which they don’t really fit. Jeff has resigned himself to the fact that the only parts out there for a femme gay man like him are the ones he creates for himself as a drag queen.

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Food In My Mouth; Art On My Stage: An Interview With Bobby Smith In Signature Theatre’s No Place To Go

What do you do when you reach a certain age and the ‘family’ you’ve always thought you had in your job is now walking away from you? To go to Mars? And all you asked from them is a jazillion dollars? A semi-non-direct quote from No Place To Go, a new musical conceived by Ethan Lipton, now on stage in Signature Theatre’s Ark stage, starring Bobby Smith. A one-man musical with three musicians live on-stage in addition to Smith,

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No Place To Go at Signature Theatre

No Place to Go by Ethan Lipton is the antithesis of the Frank Loesser musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying—it’s about the experience of losing a job, and a sense of purpose, without trying. It is also a comedic look at our modern society that smacks you in the face with how honest and real it is, and I loved it.

The story is simple enough: George is a middle-aged man with his own small band who has been working the same day job for the last 10 years as a “permanent part time” employee.

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Nova Y. Payton in The Color Purple. 📸Christopher Mueller

The Color Purple at Signature Theatre

It is a joyful noise unlike any other. Signature Theatre’s production of The Color Purple will take you to church— in the most inspiring, healing, and joyous fashion possible. Directed Timothy Douglas, with Musical Direction by Mark G. Meadows, and Choreography by Dane Figueroa Edidi, this rapturous production is stellar beyond compare and leaves the heart bursting with indescribably hope.

It’s a humble set and yet the vivid life that spring forth both from behind the slatted wooden shutters and on the planks itself are worth exalting to the heavens.

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Unveiling What’s Inside: An Interview with Kaiyla Gross on The Color Purple at Signature Theatre

“It take a grain of love to make a mighty tree. Even the smallest voice can make a harmony.” ~ “The Color Purple” from the musical of the same title, soon to be opening the 2022-2023 season at Signature Theatre. A powerful show, with book by Marsha Norman, and music & lyrics by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis, and Stephen Bray, based on the 1982 novel by Alice Walker and its 1985 film adaptation, this striking musical has the potential to be a dynamite way to open Signature’s new season.

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She Loves Me at Signature Theatre. Photo: Christopher Mueller.

She Loves Me at Signature Theatre

Will you like the show you see? Will you know that there’s a world of love, uplifted spirits, and joyous frivolity— waiting just inside those painted walls, waiting for everyone to see? You’ll know— if the show— you’re seeing is— She Loves Me. Signature Theatre, in its most extensive and momentous live-staged undertaking (after 600 days of being dark) is bringing a heartwarming musical classic to its Max Theatre stage and it just the dose of giddy and glee that the world needs right now.

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Rent at Signature Theatre. Photo: Christopher Mueller

Rent at Signature Theatre

In daylights. In sunsets. In midnights. In cups of coffee. In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife. 525,600 minutes— how do you measure— a year in life? For Signature Theatre and the rest of the world, for whom its been longer than 525,600 minutes since live theatre has occurred with in-person audiences on their stages, you celebrate with a production of Jonathan Larson’s incomparable musical, Rent. Directed by Matthew Gardiner, with Musical Direction by Mark.

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Assassins at Signature Theatre

Just a single little finger can change the world.

9— Dayton, Ohio August 4, 2019

22— El Paso, Texas August 3, 2019

3— Gilroy, California July 28, 2019

34 people dead from just a single little finger.

Something just broke.

It’s the strap-line for Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins now
open and running at Signature Theatre in Shirlington, Virginia. And they’re not
wrong.

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Heisenberg at Signature Theatre

People have very different perspectives on experiences that they imagine they are sharing. What if you’re living in the exact same moment as another individual and sparking a chemistry with them but they’re experiencing something completely different? Or is it worse if you think they’re experiencing something entirely different than you when in reality they are experiencing your perspective? A sparkling Broadway gem, by Tony Award-winning playwright Simon Stephens, Heisenberg is a surprisingly meaningful romantic comedy filled with poppy quirks and a disarming amount of heart and emotional depth.

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Light Years at Signature Theatre

Did I tell you the story? The story of the #uglycry of the century? Did I tell you the story? The story of the most evocative musical to take to the stage in recent history? Did I tell you the story? The story of truth, humanity, reality, and life all swirled together through song and narrative perfection, unwinding, unraveling, and unfurling in The Max Theatre at Signature Theatre this winter? Did I tell you the story of Light Years?

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Crazy For You at Signature Theatre

Music is the magic that makes ev’rything sunshiny! And dancing is the thing that makes all your troubles seem tiny! And when you’re sitting watchin’ Crazy For You at Signature Theatre this holiday season, it’ll be all sunshine and smiles with no troubles or cares and you won’t be bothered o’er anything else, I swear! They’ve got the music and it’s magic, and they’ve got the best dancing once could ask for!

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Tom Story (God), Jamie Smithson (Gabriel) and Evan Casey (Michael) in An Act of God at Signature Theatre.

An Act of God at Signature Theatre

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And somewhere between days two and six he created Signature Theatre way down in Shirlington, Virginia. And now, after thousands of years of watching the world filled with stupid humans do their worst, the almighty has deigned us meager mortals worthy of a visit— inside the Ark Theatre (because even God isn’t big enough to beat out A Little Night Music starring Bobby Smith next door in The Max)— because he’s come to set the record straight.

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A Little Night Music at Signature Theatre

Purchase your tickets, la la la! Queue up at the entrance, la la la! Unfold your program, la la la! Hi-ho the glamorous life! It’s so much more than a weekend in the country if you’re venturing to Signature Theatre’s production of Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music. Opening the 2017/2018 with this simplistically elegant classic, Director Eric Schaeffer sets the 28th season in motion with a glorious performance of smiling nighttimes and sensual characters entangling themselves around and through one another all whilst dripped and draped in one of Sondheim’s convoluted albeit romantic,

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Jesus Christ Superstar at Signature Theatre

Jesus Christ Superstar, do you think you’re what they say you are? Now appearing for a limited engagement at Signature Theatre, the Andrew Lloyd Webber that defined rock musicals is now being presented as sleek and modernized. But before you cast your first stone of judgement, take a step back and look at what you’re witnessing. Directed by Joe Calarco with Musical Direction by William Yanesh and Choreography by Karma Camp,

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Jesus Christ: Superstar: An Interview with Awa Sal Secka on Playing Simon Zealotes

Christ, you know you love it— Jesus Christ Superstar— what more do you need to convince you to come and see it at Signature Theatre? Perhaps a one-on-one interview with Awa Sal Secka, playing Simon Zealotes will do the trick! In this TheatreBloom exclusive one-on-one, we speak with Awa about the current production and her part in the show.

Thank you, Awa, for giving us your time! If you would just give a quick introduction of who you are and some of your DC credits,

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Midwestern Gothic at Signature Theatre

You never know how many secrets stay hidden beneath the surface until you start digging. Don’t dig too far down into Virginia or you’ll miss all the sordid secrets that come tangled up in the world premiere of Midwestern Gothic, a new musical with Book by Royce Vavrek, Music by Josh Schmidt, and Lyrics by Vavrek & Schmidt. Appearing now in The Ark Theatre of Signature Theatre, this freeze-frame capture of dystopian life in the American Midwest circa the late 80’s/early 90’s is a questionable venture with a welcomed,

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Mrs. Miller Does Her Thing at Signature Theatre

Who knows what other people hear when they hear Mrs. Miller sing, but what she hears when she sings it the beauty of the music because music makes her happy; music makes her joyful. Find what makes you happy and do your thing. That’s exactly what Signature Theatre is doing with this world premiere production of Mrs. Miller Does Her Thing, written and directed by Pulitzer Prize winner James Lapine. Starring the incomparably talented Debra Monk as Mrs.

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Review: Titanic at Signature Theatre

In every age mankind attempts to fabricate great works at once magnificent and impossible. And impossibly magnificent is the success of the maiden voyage of Signature Theatre’s production of Titanic. With Story & Book by Peter Stone and Music & Lyrics by Maury Yeston, this spellbinding production is a floating city of magnificence in the ephemeral way that only theatre can be. Directed by Eric Schaeffer with Musical Direction by James Moore,

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Review: Silver Belles at Signature Theatre

Oralene was dead: to begin with. This must be distinctly understood or nothing wonderful can come of the story I am going to relate. Well, jingling Jesus, there ought to be a law that every Christmas musical start out with a coffin in Silver Ridge, Tennessee! Christmas is a gift, it’s true, (it’s the season of presents for a reason, after all) and Signature Theatre is giving you the simplest, most entertaining, down-home musical gift that anyone could ask for at this festive time of year: the world premiere of Silver Belles.

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Review: Freaky Friday at Signature Theatre

So you’re never going to believe me— but I guess you will if you go and see it for yourself— but there’s a crazy world premiere musical happening in the Max at Signature Theatre this fall! Debuting—  after previous incarnations as a novel and two major motion pictures (about 25 years apart)— as a stage musical, Freaky Friday lands in the Max with a propulsive rock sound, a textbook Disney outline, and a sensational story that you just have to see to believe.

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Review: The Gulf at Signature Theatre

Do you ever stop and think about your life in reverse? Pause a moment and find that one moment where your life is exactly as it could be and allow that moment to wash over you and fill the gulf of emptiness and restlessness that occupies all human beings on one level or another. In an evocative new dramedy, award-winning playwright Audrey Cefaly delivers her latest work, The Gulf to Signature Theatre.

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Review: Jelly’s Last Jam at Signature Theatre

And it came to pass that jazz was born at Signature Theatre when Jelly’s Last Jam kicked off the 2016/2017 season in the sweltering August heat! Step right into ‘The Jungle Inn’ where you’re jammin’ with Jelly tonight! There’s no doubt about this masterful musical— with book by George C. Wolfe, Music by Jelly Roll Morton, Lyrics by Susan Birkenhead, and Musical Adaptation & Additional Music composed by Luther Henderson— as it lays down the birth of jazz exactly like Jelly Roll Morton remembers it!

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Review: La Cage Aux Folles at Signature Theatre

Take a deep breath, open your eyes, you have arrived at La Cage Aux Folles. Signature Theatre does its utmost to deliver this ravishing, sensual, fabulous musical Directed by Matthew Gardiner with Musical Direction by Darius Smith, and succeeds making it the show of their season, which is saying something considering just how many smashing productions they’ve managed this year. Legend has told and rumor has promised this zesty, thrilling performance would dazzle theatergoers of Washington DC and there are simply not enough words to properly praise the nearly perfect production as it titillates audiences right to the edges of their chairs!

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