DC Metro Spotlight: December 2005

Along with the familiar Christmas carols this holiday season comes a parade of familiar shows on Washington’s stages. Most of the town’s theater companies are finishing up their fall runs and there are few openings scheduled during December, and what is coming is largely revival material focusing on comfortable old shows.

The big question is whether or not Molly Smith can hit another one out of the park as she directs Arena Stage’s take on Damn Yankees, the 1955 Broadway hit about a middle-aged baseball fanatic who trades his soul to the Devil for a chance to lead his beloved team to victory in the pennant race against the Yankees. Brad Oscar, late of The Producers, stars as the devilish Mr. Applegate, along with Matt Bogart as Joe Hardy and Meg Gillentine as the temptress Lola (December 9- February 5).

Speaking of things devilish, the Kennedy Center welcomes the touring company of Wicked, the recent Broadway hit from Stephen Schwartz (Godspell, Pippin). This lavish production, which has been described as a “prequel” to The Wizard of Oz, tells of two Ozian school chums, one of whom grew up to become the Wicked Witch of the West, while the other became Glinda, the Good Witch. (December 21-January 15).

The Kennedy Center is a kid-friendly place this holiday season, with two other shows opening that cater to the younger set. Alice, the Kennedy Center-commissioned world premiere of an adaptation of Whoopi Goldberg’s first children’s book, inaugurates the Center’s newly-built Family Theater. Recommended for ages five and up, Alice features a smart urban girl who travels with a semi-invisible rabbit to the big city to become rich, but ultimately realizes the importance of friendship (December 9-January 2). Meanwhile, The Kennedy Center-commissioned production of Alexander, Who’s Not, Not, Not, Not, Not, Not Going to Move returns to the Terrace Theater (December 22-30). Also recommended for audiences five and up, this musical finds young Alexander, whom we first met in Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, now facing his “biggest challenge ever,” as his family plans to move far away from all that is familiar to him.

There’s music for older folks, too, as the female rockers known collectively as Betty return to Theater J with their biographical celebration of girl power called Betty Rules (December 20-January 29). Across town, two hardy perennials will battle it out across the street from each other, as the umpteenth local stop of the touring company of Les Misérables (and the commercials promise it’s the last time) plays the venerable National Theatre (December 7-January 21) and Eva Peron briefly rises and falls yet again as Evita plays the Warner Theatre (December 27-January 1).

If you’re desperate for something new that’s not aimed at kids, consider visiting the tiny, scrappy H Street Playhouse in NorthEast for the debut of both a new theater company, called The Restoration Stage, and a new musical called The Truth (Welcome to the Down Low). Sure to spark conversation, the production deals with what some have called the phenomenon of married African-American men who also maintain a gay lifestyle outside of the home (December 1-18). Also promising controversy is Didactic Theatre Company, which is staging Nicky Silver’s Beautiful Child on those same dates at The Warehouse Theatre. This one concerns a teacher having an illicit relationship with an eight-year-old student.

If that’s not your idea of holiday fare, there is one final production opening that might be more appropriate for you. Journeymen Theater Ensemble, which has a subtle Christian mission, opens British playwright Shelagh Stephenson’s play An Experiment with an Air Pump on December 28 for a one month run. A darkly comic play about the moral quandaries that go along with scientific progress, it will unfold at Arlington, Virginia’s Clark Street Playhouse.