Reviews: Last News

do not call it a “board game,” I was advised by one friend in-the-know) was the focus of steady and significant controversy from critics, mostly concerned parent groups, who believed it to be connected to more than two dozen murders and suicides. It was not, of course, but facts have never gotten in the way of a good ol’ fashioned moral panic.Eventually, conservative Christian parents found other things over which to fret and ban — video games, Harry Potter, trans children (such diversity of hatred) — and Dungeons & Dragons (also known as “D&D” or “DnD”) fell off their radar, leaving only a bunch of lovable nerds and geeks and the occasional xckd comic reference in its wake.I’ve never played D&D, but it feels as though every other friend of mine has had some sort of history with the game.

Like Me (★★☆☆☆) makes broad, swift swings between emotional highs and lows.In short order, Tom, portrayed by newcomer Yoav Keren, bounces from a threesome with a handsome gay couple, to being informed by his widower dad Gideon (Danny Geva) that, based on some tell-tale queerness Gideon found on the kid’s phone, he’s giving Tom two weeks to get out of the house.Writer-director Eyal Kantor’s feature debut treads credible ground depicting Tom’s confusion as he processes being rejected by his emotionally distant dad. He still parties when he can with straight bestie Gilad (Mendi Barsheshet) and Gilad’s new Instagram-influencer girlfriend Noa (Roni Adler), but the hurt and anger seething beneath the smiles can surface when he least expects.During a photo shoot, Rami (Gal Amitai), a smitten photographer twice Tom’s age, directs model Tom to pour that pain out, resulting in the most persuasively raw moments of Keren’s performance.

In Love and Warcraft, Madhuri Shekar was heralded as one of today’s fastest-rising and most prolific American playwrights.Since that 2014 debut and its focus on video games and gamer culture, Shekar has also earned praise for her mastery at tackling intricate and distinct genres, as varied as science and science fiction, and historical drama and horror.Shekar is at it again, this time with a contemporary American dramedy, or what Olney Theatre characterizes as “firmly in the mold of the great American kitchen sink dramas, leavened by a good dose of comedy.”A Nice Indian Boy is a story about Naveen Gavaskar, a Marathi-speaking Hindu boy, meeting the boy of his dreams — another Hindu boy, Keshav, who loves the same Bollywood films and can cook a mean dal makhani.It’s a match made in heaven that might even curry favor with his tradition-minded parents. Except, that is, for one small detail: Keshav was raised in an immersive and culturally rich Indian household by the Indian foster parents who adopted him, yet he himself is white.Still, the two are madly in love and ready to announce that to the world, starting with Naveen’s parents and the Gavaskar family.

Selling Kabul (★★★★☆) at Signature Theatre might have been able to hear the actors’ hearts racing.The Afghanistan-set drama by Sylvia Khoury, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2022, draws us fully inside the humble, endangered lives of Taroon (Mazin Azar), a translator desperately awaiting a visa to flee Kabul, and his sister Afiya (Awesta Zarif). Afiya, along with husband Jawid (Yousof Sultani), risks freedom and safety by hiding Taroon from the Taliban, and from the couple’s nosy neighbor, Leyla (Neagheen Homaifar).Ghaheri’s production draws us close inside the characters’ dire reality, and Afiya and Jawid’s cozy apartment, rendered in textured, naturalistic detail by Tony Cisek.Images on the living room television of former Afghan president Hamid Karzai — with Obama, with Putin — usher in the atmosphere of 2013 and America’s longest war, reinforced by the heap of Army fatigues piled in a corner.

The Consultant (★★☆☆☆) falls in line with this era of TV dramas, trying to go a step above the rest to craft something worthwhile, but whether it achieves any of this is a different story.Created by Tony Basgallop, who previously helmed the Apple TV+ series Servant alongside M. Night Shyamalan, the dark thriller (which alleges it is also a comedy) stars Christoph Waltz as Regus Patoff, a sociopathic consultant who takes over Comp Ware, a successful mobile game company, after the CEO is killed by a “devil-possessed” kid obsessed with the company’s games.Quickly forced to abide by Patoff’s strange and demanding requests, the Comp Ware employees, unable to afford to quit, suffer through Patoff’s quirks and increasingly strange demands.

Party Down (★★★★★) even better.First airing on Starz in 2009, the comedy follows the Party Down catering crew as they try to make it big in Hollywood while also just trying to make ends meet. Packed with a cast that most comedies would literally kill for, the show quickly grew a small cult following — emphasis on “small,” as the comedy never caught a big enough audience to warrant more than two seasons.After its cancelation, Party Down quickly joined the likes of Firefly and Freaks and Geeks on “shows canceled too soon” lists for years to come.

My 21st Century Blues (★★★★☆).Her first full-length album is an impressive debut that not only shows off the strengths we already knew she possessed, but shows what she’s capable of when she has free rein.The first indication that Raye was really onto something came with “Escapism,” Raye’s first single to chart internationally. The song’s trip-hoppy beat clips along at a brisk, tense pace, underscoring the feeling of running away toward better things.The rest of the album is just as meticulously crafted and has a sense of timelessness about it, helped along by the way she bookends the album with a cabaret-like intro and outro.Raye’s songwriting is as edgy and fresh as any R&B-inflected pop, but its instrumentation and production is deeply indebted to the best of British jazz and soul.

The Lifespan of a Fact (★★★☆☆), an engaging drama by Jeremy Kareken, David Murrell, and Gordon Farrell, dives right into the abyss in search of what’s true within a soon-to-be-published, nonfiction essay that’s potentially full of fudged facts and fabrications.Either distinction falls over the line from plain old truth. Capable journalists, historians, and other writers of non-fiction are trusted to know the difference, and to practice something like a code of honor in keeping it real for their readers, who shouldn’t have to fact-check every detail.The play — making its D.C.

While introducing “Radical,” director Christopher Zalla (“Sangre de Mi Sangre”/”Blood of My Blood”) said it was a labor of love. In addition to that, he said it’s a “movie about what happens when kids are empowered.” And while the film definitely explores this in a well-crafted display of filmmaking, it also leaves a bit of a dark shadow in the minds of those allergic to the notion that your mind is all you need to succeed.

Tina: The Tina Turner Musical (★★★☆☆), which just shimmied into the National Theatre, three stops into a 30-city national tour.But the show’s creators, including book writer Katori Hall, a Pulitzer winner for her drama The Hot Wing King, don’t seem to have been too sure what to do with Turner’s cache of classics, succeeding only half the time at persuasively reimagining the songs within the context of the singer’s tumultuous life story.You know the story, told via Turner’s multiple memoirs, plus the beloved 1993 biopic What’s Love Got to Do with It and the stellar 2021 documentary Tina, not to mention semi-autobiographical songs like “Nutbush City Limits.”Tina the musical turns “Nutbush City Limits” into a rousing spiritual, dominated by the gospel wail of Ann Nesby portraying Tina’s Gran Georgeanna. One of the savvier uses of Turner’s catalog, the number introduces young Anna-Mae Bullock (a delightful Ayvah Johnson), a little girl with a big voice, from a broken home in rural Tennessee.In another crafty use of an early hit, teenage Anna-Mae, played on press night by the equally big-voiced Naomi Rodgers (the role is played on select nights by Zurin Villanueva), is introduced by sister Alline (Parris Lewis) to the faster scene in St.

Heroes of the Fourth Turning (★★★☆☆) at Studio Theatre, might be a few degrees shy of riveting, but it’s very good.Part juicy reunion drama, part theatrical symposium on Catholic conservatism during the Trump years, the play brings together former Catholic university classmates Justin (Gregory Connors), Kevin (Louis Reyes McWilliams), and Teresa (Laura C. Harris) for a fraught night of healthy and unhealthy debate.Seven years after graduating from the Transfiguration College of Wyoming, they’ve gathered at Justin’s modest home on the outskirts of the school’s small Wyoming town, taking stock of their lives.

Special (★★★★☆), it’s easy to see why a song that reveled in drama and clapped back against haters and internet mobs didn’t make the cut.Her fourth album and second major studio release is a far cry from the nonchalance and bristliness of “Rumors,” and is stronger for it.Special is a lovefest from beginning to end. Living in Lizzo’s world means never having to argue for your worth or desirability.

American Prophet: Frederick Douglass in His Own Words (★★★☆☆), in its world-premiere production at Arena Stage, wisely draw directly from the source for their expansive, though not exhaustive, biography of the great abolitionist, author, publisher, statesman, escaped slave, and public speaker.The bulk of Douglass’ lines and lyrics in the show are words that the man either spoke or wrote, interpreted and interpolated fluidly by book writers Charles Randolph-Wright and Marcus Hummon.Randolph-Wright also directs, while Grammy-winner Hummon composed music and lyrics for the score, which floats between R&B, pop, and gospel influences, but stays too comfortably within theater conventions.The music doesn’t start down the most adventurous path. Opening with Douglass plaintively singing “What Does Freedom Look Like?” feels way too obvious.The follow-up number, “Going to the Great House,” turns out to be a sharply satirical subversion of happy-dancing-slave tropes, but then shifts into a sober — and, again, very on-the-nose — “Wade in the Water,” complete with choreography reminiscent of Alvin Ailey’s “Revelations.”Fortunately, the show goes bolder in its characterization of Frederick Douglass.

They/Them (★★☆☆☆), writer-director John Logan’s seemingly well-intentioned horror-thriller set at a queer conversion camp.Aided by the sunnily sinister setting, Logan does strike a properly foreboding atmosphere as a diverse group of teens arrive at Whistler Camp, all of them innocent but not entirely unsuspecting.Unlike the blissfully stupid sexpots who might populate a Friday the 13th movie, these young gay, lesbian, bi, trans, and nonbinary campers are wary and guarded from the moment they’re greeted by cultish camp leader Owen Whistler.In a canny bit of casting, Whistler is played by Kevin Bacon, who, of course, appeared as one of those dim sexpots in the original Friday the 13th.His character Jack famously died by having an arrow rammed through his throat as he lounged in bed smoking a post-coital joint.

Hypochondriac (★★★☆☆), gay pottery-maker Will (Zach Villa) is visited by The Wolf, a glowing-eyed figure manifested from his boyhood trauma.When Will was 12 years old, his own mother tried to kill him. Heimann depicts the scene — Mom (Marlene Forte) and young Will (Ian Inigo) alone in a rented cabin where she almost strangles him to death — with a matter-of-factness that calls to mind tragic news stories about mothers who murderously turn on their own children.Will’s mom isn’t evil, apparently, but suffered a psychotic break that would land her in a mental hospital for years.

To Kill a Mockingbird (★★★★☆), Aaron Sorkin’s riveting adaptation of Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.At some point in U.S. history, the race, class, and gender dynamics driving Lee’s combustible scenario might feel quaint, laughably antiquated, obsolete.

Perfume Genius, has proven to be an expert in walking that fine line. He has crafted a sound that is all his own, and although his experimental edge has always been there, it is never weird for its own sake.If it can be said to be weird, it is because its ideas — queerness, the interplay of sexual and sensual desire, and the inherent strangeness of inhabiting a frail body made of meat — tend to provoke discomfort and get relegated into that general category of weirdness.Hadreas’ sixth studio album, Ugly Season, (★★★☆☆) take things to a new level with a singularly challenging sound.

Rufus Does Judy at Carnegie Hall is an odd pop culture artifact, not least because it pulled off the amazing feat of becoming iconic itself.His tribute to Judy was campy and affectionate all at once, with an appearance by his sister Martha lending the album its own Judy-and-Liza moment. The performance and the album that came out of it were hits, and several of those songs are still staples in his live performances.Wainwright’s fascination with Judy’s most legendary performance gets a second wind with Rufus Does Judy at Capitol Studios (★★★★☆), a record that came out of a studio session performed and streamed with little fanfare last year.

Algorhythm (★★☆☆☆) represents an attempt to take his music to the next level, albeit with uneven results.Hall has billed Algorhythm as something of an homage to the ’80s, although “infused” with ’80s sounds and elements rather than a lazy copy-paste.The album begins with “Dance Forever,” a synthpop banger that delivers nicely on that promise.It’s very danceable and very Todrick with its high-energy beat ready-made for a high-intensity workout playlist, with a captivating ’80s shimmer layered over it. Hall also flexes the higher ends of his vocal range for Prince-like effect, an interesting innovation that he brings out again a few more times throughout the album.“Dance Forever” turns out to be a bit of an outlier as the album progresses.

There’s Always the Hudson (★★★★☆) follows partners-in-crime Lola and T all over New York City in one turbulent night that could end anywhere in the five boroughs.Although, for Woolly Mammoth’s terrific world-premiere production, director Jess McLeod and scenic designer Misha Kachman have boldly suspended over the action a haunting clue of exactly where Lola and T’s odyssey might lead, foreshadowing a final destination from which one or both might not return.Whether apprehended or not, that hint won’t spoil a thing, but rather adds a tinge of pathos to the powerful undercurrent of danger bubbling beneath the pair’s audacious mission. Lola and T, played by Lázaro and Justin Weaks, are sexual assault survivors who met and became friends in a support group.

High as Hope, Florence and the Machine’s latest release, Dance Fever (★★★★☆) finds Welch and her band embracing a beautifully baroque grandiosity.So much of Dance Fever feels deeply cathartic, finding release in lush arrangements throughout and a handful of soaring, anthemic tracks. On its face, the album delivers on its label, following up the slow-burning opener with “Free,” probably the album’s most straightforwardly danceable single.But Welch loves a multilayered meaning, and unsurprisingly, she takes a broader view of the idea of dancing fever.