All stories by Ramona Harper on BroadwayStars

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Review: ‘NSO Pops: Maxwell: A Night at the Symphony’ at the Kennedy Center by Ramona Harper

There’s something way-cool seeing a full classical orchestra accompany a cornrowed, ponytailed R&B crooner in a bow-tied tux on the stage of the hallowed Concert Hall of the Kennedy Ce…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 08:24PM
Sunday, August 11, 2019

Review: ‘Amélie’ at 2nd Star Productions by Ramona Harper

Amélie is a whimsy of a musical with a big cast of characters and an equally big heart. An ensemble-driven rom-com that transports you into a world of imagination and prankish intrigue, Am�…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 10:37AM
Wednesday, August 7, 2019

Holy Ground that’s Marvtastic: Black Theatre is for Everybody by Ramona Harper

The National Black Theatre Festival was over-the-top for the 65,000 ticketholders who descended upon Winston-Salem, North Carolina, the City of the Arts and Innovation, July 29 through Augus…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 09:18PM
Tuesday, June 25, 2019

Review: ‘Twisted Melodies’ at Mosaic Theater Company by Ramona Harper

A foreboding, wide-open hotel window overlooking the Manhattan night skyline beckons you to enter the tender interior space of ’70s soul singer, composer and recording artist, Donny Hathaw…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 03:07PM
Friday, May 24, 2019

Interview: Sean-Maurice Lynch of ‘Jubilee’ at Arena Stage by Ramona Harper

The reviews are in: Jubilee is being praised for honoring and preserving the impact of the Negro Spiritual upon the American Songbook. In the Arena Stage production, Director Tazewell Thomps…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 01:12PM
Monday, May 20, 2019

Review: ‘NOC-tURNE’ by NFT Dance & Company at Atlas Performing Arts Center by Ramona Harper

The airy-fairy world of contemporary ballet takes a turn toward the macabre in Nancy Flores-Tirado’s darkly romantic NOC-tURNE, performed by NFT Dance & Company in follow-up to Atlas�…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 08:07PM
Thursday, April 4, 2019

Review: The Kennedy Center’s ‘Celebrating the Human Spirit Awards’ Gala featuring Idina Menzel by Ramona Harper

The Kennedy Center’s annual party with a purpose on Wednesday night, the Celebrating the Human Spirit Awards Gala, honored Distinguished Philanthropists Patrick G. Ryan and Shirley W. Ryan…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 07:50PM
Wednesday, April 3, 2019

Review: ‘New York City Ballet: Works by Balanchine, Robbins, and Reisen’ at the Kennedy Center by Ramona Harper

Spring is in the air with not only the blooming cherry blossoms but also the bursting energy of the New York City Ballet’s exciting spring concert at the Kennedy Center. Something old and …

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 03:28PM
Monday, April 1, 2019

Review: ‘Native Son’ at Mosaic Theatre by Ramona Harper

We usually think of a rat as a detestable lowlife animal that we dread. It slinks in dark corners of the floor, hiding itself from being seen. It nervously darts and runs when spotted and ca…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 09:47PM
Wednesday, March 27, 2019

Review: ‘A Bronx Tale’ at the National Theatre by Ramona Harper

Chazz Palminteri is one cool dude. Imagine having your own life story play to sold-out houses on and off Broadway, and be made into a classic film directed by none other than Robert De Niro.…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 09:15PM
Friday, February 15, 2019

Review: ‘The Heiress’ at Arena Stage by Ramona Harper

Women are on the move today. A US Congress reflects the voices of women as never before. #MeToo movements everywhere are fighting the forces that would stifle those voices. So, on the surfac…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 07:59PM
Thursday, February 7, 2019

Review: ‘Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (Program B)’ at The Kennedy Center by Ramona Harper

“Who will tell our grandmothers’ stories?” The phenomenal Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater soulfully responds in memory of its iconic founder with dignity, power and enough creative …

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 07:36PM
Wednesday, September 26, 2018

Review: ‘Lincolnesque’ at the Keegan Theatre by Ramona Harper

In Lincolnesque, a play written by John Strand and directed by Colin Smith, the art of lying for one’s country succeeds in fusing a deceptively light touch and inside-the-Beltway political…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 08:12PM
Monday, May 28, 2018

Review: ‘New Releases Choreographers Showcase’ at Dance Place by Ramona Harper

Back in the ’60s, Bob Dylan wrote “The Times They Are a-Changing,” an ode to protest, social change and the country’s mood moment. Dance Place’s New Releases Choreographers Sho…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 01:37PM
Sunday, May 13, 2018

Review: ‘The Frederick Douglass Project’ by Solas Nua by Ramona Harper

Imagine yourself sitting on a creaky ship as a passenger en route to the Emerald Isle of Ireland. Frederick Douglass, the great abolitionist, is on board with you. The year is 1845. The ship…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 07:51PM
Saturday, May 12, 2018

Review: Malpaso Dance Company at the Kennedy Center’s “Artes de Cuba” Festival by Ramona Harper

Make no mistake about it, there were no missteps in the lusciously agile performance of the Malpaso Dance Company at the Kennedy Center on Friday night. The company has been growing strong s…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 07:46PM
Sunday, April 15, 2018

Report: Black Theatre & Dance Symposium at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center by Ramona Harper

The School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies of the University of Maryland hosted its fourth Black Theatre & Dance Symposium at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center on Satur…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 08:57PM
Friday, April 6, 2018

Review: ‘Two Trains Running’ at Arena Stage by Ramona Harper

There’s simplicity in truth. Arena Stage’s Two Trains Running is August Wilson’s simple truth about the African American experience during the 1960s urban renewal of inner-city Pittsbu…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 08:31PM
Monday, March 19, 2018

Review: ‘Nat Turner in Jerusalem’ at Forum Theatre by Ramona Harper

The unsettling sight of a young man in shackles sitting on a bare, plank-wood floor; a glimmer of night sky piercing the darkness through the barred window of a simple jail cell; and the ten…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 04:30PM
Thursday, March 1, 2018

Review: ‘Deep River: The Art of the Spiritual’ at the Washington National Cathedral by Ramona Harper

When is art an intentional expression of respectful cultural appreciation and when is it an unconscious foray into cultural misappropriation? These were some of the deep questions raised in …

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 08:45PM
Thursday, February 8, 2018

 Review: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater at the Kennedy Center by Ramona Harper

For the sixth consecutive year, the Kennedy Center renewed its February tradition of hosting a gala evening of dance to raise funds for gifted young dancers in the DMV. The Alvin Ailey Ameri…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 11:26AM
Sunday, January 21, 2018

Review: : NSO Pops and Kenny ‘Babyface’ Edmonds at the Kennedy Center by Ramona Harper

The NSO Pops presented its first-ever collaboration with superstar Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds on Friday night for a two-night run in the Concert Hall of the Kennedy Center. Under the music…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 12:10PM
Friday, November 24, 2017

Review: ‘A Night with Janis Joplin’ at the Strathmore by Ramona Harper

If any singer from the hippie era could take a little piece of your heart, it was the legendary Janis Joplin. In A Night with Janis Joplin, the story of the iconic rock star emblazoned the s…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 09:08PM
Tuesday, September 12, 2017

Review: ‘Word Becomes Flesh’ at Theater Alliance at Anacostia Playhouse by Ramona Harper

The Word, in spiritual parlance, is the creative power of God made audible and visible through His Son. It is the energy of the divine dynamic made manifest through Self-revelation. True to …

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 04:54PM
Saturday, July 8, 2017

Review: ‘Fabulation or the Re-education of Undine’ at Port City Playhouse by Ramona Harper

Lynn Nottage’s Fabulation or the Re-education of Undine is an outrageously hilarious romp into the fabulated life of Undine Barnes Callas, a feisty, successful African American woman whose…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 01:43PM
Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Review: ‘How I Learned What I Learned’ at Round House Theatre  by Ramona Harper

August Wilson was a high school dropout who went on to receive two Pulitzer Prizes for Drama and he’s regarded as one of the five most celebrated playwrights in the history of American the…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 06:02PM
Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Report: ‘A Centennial Celebration of John F. Kennedy’ at The Kennedy Center by Ramona Harper

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (The Kennedy Center) paid elegant tribute to the legacy of its namesake in A JFK Centennial Celebration on May 29, 2017, the 100th birthday…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 02:30AM
Tuesday, May 9, 2017

Review: ‘Come Together:  A Celebration of John Lennon’ at The Kennedy Center by Ramona Harper

At a time when we can only imagine a world without walls of division and exclusion, the Annual Kennedy Center’s Spring Gala concert, Come Together:  A Celebration of John Lennon, reached …

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 05:52PM
Friday, May 5, 2017

Review: The 22nd Annual Mary Lou Williams Jazz Festival: Abbey Lincoln Tribute at The Kennedy Center by Ramona Harper

The music of Abbey Lincoln was The Kennedy Center’s choice for its 22nd Annual Mary Lou Williams Jazz Festival. Showcasing the best in old and new jazz artistry, this year’s tribute pres…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 07:07PM
Saturday, April 22, 2017

Review: ‘Tribute’ at Greenbelt Arts Center by Ramona Harper

Scottie Templeton is dying. And with that deadly diagnosis, Tribute, by Bernard Slade, now playing at the Greenbelt Arts Center, poignantly considers what’s really important in life and …

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 08:00PM
Sunday, March 26, 2017

Review:  NSO Pops:  Sophisticated Ladies:  100 Years of Ella & Company     by Ramona Harper

Acclaimed vocalists Capathia Jenkins, Sy Smith and Montego Glover joyously hopped the A train to Harlem along with the NSO Pops in tribute to the Queen of Jazz in Sophisticated Ladies:  100…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 05:27PM

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