I caught Richmond Shakespeare’s, Jase Sullivan-directed, Into the Woods, mid-run at the Cramer Center for the Arts deep in the West End last night. After a long week doing much less enjoyable things, a nice, light musical in a beautiful theater sounded just right. I...
There are American legends and then there are American Gods. Louis Armstrong and Miles Davis appear in the latter category. Their personas could not be more different, their styles, their paths, their acceptance in their time, and the secrets that have bled out into the light after they’ve gone. This upcoming month, all month, the VA Repertory...
A review by Christian Detres Memories of Overdevelopment explores the role trauma plays in life’s orchestra. The play casts this demon not in First Chair as a participant, but at the Conductor's stand. It waves a wand of calamity at flinching communities of brass and string, stabbing at all members, lingering on the most unfortunate. The music...
This is not Bram Stoker’s Dracula; this is the much anticipated Virginia premiere of Ben Stevenson’s Dracula. For over 25 years, it has been performed around the world and has finally landed in Virginia with the Richmond Ballet for Valentine’s weekend. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaUbBeCi8qs Expect imaginative artistic license and several...
Richmond Shakespeare’s Born With Teeth https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9stwktUCxo Richmond Shakespeare took on Liz Duffy Adams’ Born With Teeth and won. Holy shit it’s good. In this two-man show, Avery Michael Johnson and James Murphy (Christopher “Kit” Marlowe and William Shakespeare, respectively) pushed, pulled, tugged, and sawed at the...
The Virginia Repertory Theatre closes the year with the Matt Conner musical The Silver Belles. This is a contemporary ensemble piece often comparable to TV’s The Golden Girls. The play centers around the passing of Oralene. She was the proverbial glue, and leader, of a group of Southern ladies whose Christmas tradition is staging a performance...
Ahmed Al-kadri is a comedian, writer and actor with a vibrant career in stand up comedy, and now he's coming to Richmond to showcase his talent in a stacked show at presented by Traverse Comedy at Strangeways Brewing with fellow comedian Randolph Washington Jr., and hosted by DeVon Simmons. In the lead up to this spectacle of awesome comedic...
As autumn leaves crunch beneath footfalls on Broad Street, Richmond's Arts District readies itself for a vibrant night of cultural convergence. On November 3rd, the storied heart of downtown Richmond pulsates with an irresistible artistic energy during First Fridays. From 5 to 11 PM, galleries will fling open their doors, shopkeepers will...
This article originally appeared in Virginia Pride Guide 2023. This is an updated version with proper dates in retrospect. You can read the whole original issue here Downtown in Monroe Ward, in an unassuming building nestled in a strip, lies a club labeled simply, “Godfrey’s.” Occupying two spaces, 308 and 310 E Grace St,...
You don’t review people’s art to make friends. You certainly don’t do it to lose them either. However, managing honesty while attempting charity is fruitless. Every once in a while you have to tell it like it is, even when it stings. This is going to sting. The premiere of Richmond Shakespeare’s Hamlet at the Dominion Energy Center made a...
