All stories by Marshall Bradshaw on BroadwayStars

Wednesday, June 12, 2019

Review: Chesapeake Shakespeare’s open air Macbeth by Marshall Bradshaw

With stars overhead and faint sounds from picturesque Ellicott City, Chesapeake Shakespeare Company (CSC) brings a homey atmosphere to their movable Macbeth, performed amongst the renovated …

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 03:42PM
Saturday, March 23, 2019

Review: Spills. Charms and thrills like a Tinder date should by Marshall Bradshaw

With characters named “Dude,” “Gal,” and “Chick,” I was wary that Spills would be just another cliché story about millennials (What industry did we kill this time?). I was wrong…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 12:55PM
Tuesday, October 30, 2018

Review: East of Eden at NextStop Theatre by Marshall Bradshaw

East of Eden is an American classic, a huge and sprawling novel, stretching from the Civil War to World War I and from California to Connecticut. John Steinbeck — who won the Pulitzer …

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 10:32AM
Friday, October 5, 2018

Review: Summerland, Civil War spirits or hoaxes, from Washington Stage Guild by Marshall Bradshaw

Washington Stage Guild’s Summerland serves up spirits from the next world but fails to make much of the play’s unusual post-Civil War subject and its fascinating antagonist. Sho…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 12:12PM
Tuesday, October 2, 2018

Review: She Stoops to Conquer at Chesapeake Shakespeare by Marshall Bradshaw

In Chesapeake Shakespeare Company’s She Stoops to Conquer, a skilled cast with a script that has stayed light and funny for over two hundred years makes for a great night out, hour after h…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 01:06PM
Thursday, July 26, 2018

Review: 52:15 at Capital Fringe by Marshall Bradshaw

Perhaps more than any other show at this Fringe, 52:15 challenges its audience to reconsider one of its core beliefs. The 100th Monkey Theatre Ensemble’s mix of traditional, surreal, and p…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 07:54AM

Review: Aphrodite’s Refugees at Capital Fringe by Marshall Bradshaw

In Aphrodite’s Refugees, Monica Dionysiou finds new ways to share stories she grew up with: in this case, as show’s description puts it “the fate of four teenage refugees i…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 12:12AM
Wednesday, July 18, 2018

Review: Where Did We Sit on the Bus? at Logan Festival by Marshall Bradshaw

Brian Quijada is unstoppable. In his autobiographical Where Did We Sit on the Bus?, he sings, dances, and wields a live looper like a genius to create a solo performer musical that takes us …

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 12:06PM

Review: The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey at Logan Festival by Marshall Bradshaw

The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey brilliantly subverts both crime procedurals and comedy. This is a show not about catching the bad guys or laughing at weirdos, though it’ll trick …

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 12:06PM
Sunday, July 15, 2018

Review: Marx in Soho at Capital Fringe by Marshall Bradshaw

After nearly two centuries of begging, God allows Karl Marx a brief visit to Earth to clear his name. “I am NOT a Marxist!” he emphatically declares in historian Howard Zinn’s play. We…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 07:18PM
Saturday, July 14, 2018

Review: Holon! at Capital Fringe by Marshall Bradshaw

A holon, coined by Arthur Koestler in his book The Ghost in the Machine (1967), is philosophical term for something that is simultaneously a whole and a part. For example, Holon! is one whol…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 11:32AM

Review: F*ck Tinder: a love story at Capital Fringe by Marshall Bradshaw

In two years, David Rodwin went out with 120 women. Evidently, that changes a man. F*ck Tinder, Rodwin’s solo show on his dating life, ranges from deep vulnerability to unrestrained boasti…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 11:32AM
Friday, May 4, 2018

Review: True West by Rep Stage goes for the comedy by Marshall Bradshaw

Sam Shepard’s obituary in the New York Times describes his plays as hallucinatory, though his Pulitzer Prize finalist, True West, is relatively close to naturalistic. Critics often count …

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 09:54AM
Friday, April 27, 2018

Review: Girlfriend musical at Signature Theatre by Marshall Bradshaw

Girlfriend, a distinctly gay love story built around a specific alt-rock album, delivers a universal narrative of first time young love and the music that makes the teen years survivable. Ji…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 09:24AM
Tuesday, April 10, 2018

MET’s Rapture, Blister Burn is sharp and engaging (review) by Marshall Bradshaw

Rapture, Blister, Burn is a masterful exploration of feminism in practice, and Maryland Ensemble Theatre (MET) gives it a sharp, engaging production sure to stoke important conversations ove…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 04:31PM
Tuesday, January 30, 2018

Perisphere takes on Molière’s Tartuffe (review) by Marshall Bradshaw

Perisphere Theater refreshes Molière’s classic Tartuffe with a skilled and playful cast. But you need be patient. The show digs itself a very deep hole in its first full scene, exhibiting…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 12:10PM
Monday, October 30, 2017

Safe as Houses from Pinky Swear Productions by Marshall Bradshaw

Safe as Houses seizes a few opportunities to explore how unintentionally hurting loved ones does not make that hurt any less your responsibility. It gets bogged down, however, in handwringin…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 08:36AM
Wednesday, October 18, 2017

Hal Linden in The Price (review) by Marshall Bradshaw

There’s something noble in sticking with your family no matter what, but there’s also something noble in finally cutting ties with a toxic parent. The Price grinds that contradiction aga…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 12:48PM

Wilderness explores Utah teen therapy program (review) by Marshall Bradshaw

This past weekend, En Garde Arts brought a new multimedia documentary theatre piece to the Kennedy Center. True to the best of its genre, Wilderness strikes right at the core with devastatin…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 12:48PM
Tuesday, October 3, 2017

Caryl Churchill’s Love and Information review by Marshall Bradshaw

With a title like Love and Information, Forum Theatre’s newest show grants itself a wide warrant, delivering quite a bit of the former and volley after volley of the latter. The show reall…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 11:42AM
Thursday, September 14, 2017

In Cabaret We Trust at Blind Whino (review) by Marshall Bradshaw

In Cabaret We Trust is a carnival of artistic talent from across a variety of media, even inviting the audience to participate. TBD Immersive earns its name by opening up a tremendous set s…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 10:24AM
Tuesday, September 5, 2017

Scena’s Julius Caesar, a bit of a muddle (review) by Marshall Bradshaw

It’s very easy to wheel out Shakespeare for yet another production. It’s effortless to claim that your production is Important because it speaks to the current political climate. But wit…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 04:18PM
Tuesday, July 25, 2017

Synetic’s signature portrait of evil: Mark of Cain (review) by Marshall Bradshaw

In their first original piece in five years, Synetic Theater tells a grand story, from humanity’s flawed origin all the way to an ignominious end. The non-stop display of physical prowess …

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 01:06PM
Monday, July 17, 2017

P.I.C. : The Prison Industrial Complex (Capital Fringe review) by Marshall Bradshaw

With P.I.C. : The Prison Industrial Complex, the Conciliation Project hits the cruelty of the American criminal justice system hard with just about everything they can throw at it: Scores of…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 03:24PM
Friday, July 14, 2017

A Capital Fringe pub crawl of H Street bars by Marshall Bradshaw

We sent Marshall Bradshaw out to check on what the bars near Fringe headquarter have to offer all you Fringe-goers. Here’s his report. Star & Shamrock Tavern & Deli 1341 H St N…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 05:18PM
Monday, July 10, 2017

Spy in the House of Men (Capital Fringe review) by Marshall Bradshaw

Autobiographical solo performances are a major food group at Capital Fringe. Spy in the House of Men follows the recipe step-by-step, but stands out from the rest as particularly well-writte…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 03:54PM
Sunday, July 9, 2017

8 Bit Circus Sh*t (Capital Fringe review) by Marshall Bradshaw

8 Bit Circus Sh*t’s two acts are almost as different as fire and ice. Both are video game-inspired displays of fire circus tricks, but vary greatly in excitement and accessibility. Act I t…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 06:33AM
Saturday, July 8, 2017

The Blind (Capital Fringe review) by Marshall Bradshaw

Against a backdrop of trendy dramedies and raunchy musicals, the Wheel Theatre Company’s The Blind leads its audience to a cold, dark forest a century old. Your experience depends on how f…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 08:06AM
Friday, June 16, 2017

August Wilson’s How I Learned What I Learned, simple, evocative. (review) by Marshall Bradshaw

In a moving memorial, director and co-conceiver Todd Kreidler uses solo actor Eugene Lee to call his friend and mentor’s spirit back to the world. Playwright August Wilson seized the oppor…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 10:42AM
Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Nick Olcott sprinkles magic on Oberon from In Series (review) by Marshall Bradshaw

Oberon, king of the fairies, has been challenged by his queen Titania to write a play to rival Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream without resorting to magic. But Oberon, though beau…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 08:54AM
Wednesday, June 7, 2017

David Ives’s The School for Lies (review) by Marshall Bradshaw

Playwright David Ives’s mastery of rhymed verse builds on Molière’s 17th-century comedy of manners. Together, they will leave your sides aching. The School for Lies is the fourth French…

SOURCE: DC Theatre Scene at 11:54AM

All that Chat

2023-2024 BROADWAY SEASON
May 30, 2023: Grey House - Lyceum Theatre
Jun 26, 2023: Just For Us - Hudson Theatre
Jul 24, 2023: The Cottage - Hayes Theater
Nov 16, 2023: Spamalot - St. James Theatre
Dec 18, 2023: Appropriate - Hayes Theater
Mar 07, 2024: Doubt - Todd Haimes Theatre
Apr 14, 2024: Lempicka - Longacre Theatre
Apr 17, 2024: The Wiz - Marquis Theatre
Apr 18, 2024: Suffs - Music Box Theatre
Apr 25, 2024: Mother Play - Hayes Theater
Jun 10, 2024: The Drama Desk Awards