How You Like Them Apples? Sorry and Regular Singing, reviewed.

Sarah Marshall, Elizabeth Pierotti, Rick Foucheux, and Kimberly Schraf in The Apple Family Cycle, part the second, at Studio Theatre. (Allie Dearie)

My review of Sorry and Regular Singing, the latter two entries in Richard Nelson's Apple Family quartet, is in today's Washington City Paper. I reviewed the first pair, That Hopey Changey Thing and Sweet and Sad, when the same director and cast staged them here in Washington two years ago; see here. If I've little more to say now than I said then, it's only because the magnificent strengths of the whole are also the strengths of its magnificent component parts.

Petty Hurts: Girlstar and Avenue Q, reviewed.

In this week's Washington City Paper, I size up a pair of musicals: Signature Theatre's Girlstar is a confused mess borne aloft by a strong cast, and Constellation Theatre's revival of the hit Sesame Street parody Avenue Q is funnier and more soulful than The Muppets. (The dour 2015 version, not The Muppet Show.) More words, if not necessarily more insight, on these subjects here and here.

Arboreal Talk: Keegan Theatre's The Magic Tree and Molotov Theatre's Lovecraft: Nightmare Suite, reviewed.

Brianna Letourneau and Scott Ward Abernethy in Keegan Theatre's The Magic Tree.

In this week's Washington City Paper, available wherever Washington's free alt-weekly is sold, I review the well-performed Keegan Theatre production of Ursula Rani Sarma's perplexing The Magic Tree, plus Molotov Theatre's Lovecraft: Nightmare Suite, adapted from a half-dozen short stories by the celebrated author of chillers, Hey Probably Lovecraft.

Too Much Is Not Enough: Bad Dog and Alice in Wondlerland, reviewed.

My reviews of Bad Dog, a tough new comedy about alcoholism from prestige-TV writer Jennifer Hoppe-House, and Alice in Wonderland, Synetic Theatre's watery take on the Lewis Carroll classic as reinterpreted by former Washington Post film & theatre critic Lloyd Rose, are in today's Washington City Paper. I got paid to write them but you can read them for free. Everybody wins.

Personal Is Geopolitical: Chimerica and Women Laughing Alone with Salad, reviewed.

My review of the U.S. debut of Lucy Kirkwood's sprawling, ambitious drama Chimerica at the Studio Theatre is in today's Washington City Paper. Also reviewed: Women Laughing Alone with Salad, a surreal feminist comedy from Sheila Callaghan making its world premiere at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company. For those keeping score, that's one great play by a woman that's not officially part of the Women's Voices Theatre Festival, and one pretty good play that is. Read those pieces here, or pick up a dead-tree WCP, available wherever finer alt-weeklies are given away gratis — and you don't even need to have an Amazon Prime subscription!

Each of these shows contain very specific plot and/or production elements I expect their playwrights and directors would prefer for audiences to discover for themselves, but if you abhor surprises and would like to have these things spoiled for you, by all means, go find their Washington Post reviews instead.

Gun Play: One in the Chamber, reviewed.

Grace Doughy, Adrienne Nelson, and Dwight Tolar. (Ian Armstrong)

Director Michael R. Piazza's new production of Marja-Lewis Ryan's all-medicine, no-sugar play about the long aftermath of an accidental shooting is a tough sit, but well-performed. Does that matter? My review is in today's Washington City Paper.