MR. KOJO NNAMDIFrom WAMU 88.5 at American University in Washington, welcome to "The Kojo Nnamdi Show," connecting your neighborhood with the world. It's the season when you might finally have a little time to relax with family. Maybe you'll be hosting out-of-town relatives, a perfect time for many people to take in a show. There are dozens of big and small productions. Of course, there are a whole host of holiday shows, including twists on classics. Imagine "A Christmas Carol" set in an Irish bar. There are musicals borrowed from movies, a production of Shakespeare whisked away to the tropics.

MR. KOJO NNAMDIThere are musical riffs on Broadway shows and a surprising number of stage performances for kids, even a version of "The Nutcracker" for very small children. But the special treat for Washingtonians this season is the chance to see a familiar face, a local television theatre critic performing in a musical. He joins us in studio today. Robert Aubry Davis is the host of WETA's "Around Town." He is performing now in the musical "Hairspray" at Signature Theater. Robert Aubry, good to see you again.

MR. ROBERT AUBRY DAVISKojo, it's great to be back. Thanks for having me, man. And, of course, it's so weird not to be here to talk about the top 10 anything.

NNAMDIThis is true.

DAVISYou know, that's normally the...

NNAMDIExactly, yeah.

DAVIS...line of conversation, you know?

NNAMDIWell, it's going to be a little different today. We'll soon find out. Also joining us in studio is Rebecca Ritzel. She's a freelance arts journalist with the Washington City Paper, The Washington Post and several other publications. Rebecca, thank you for joining us.

MS. REBECCA RITZELYou're welcome.

NNAMDIAnd Celia Wren is with us. She's an arts journalist who writes regularly for The Washington Post. Celia, thank you for joining us.

MS. CELIA WRENThank you for having me.

NNAMDIYou, too, can join this conversation, 800-433-8850. What have you seen in the theatre recently? What are you planning to see? 800-433-8850. You can send email to kojo@wamu.org, send us a tweet, @kojoshow, or simply go to our website, kojoshow.org, and join the conversation there. Robert, you're best known as an arts critic for "Around Town" on WETA. How did you end up playing one of the lead roles in "Hairspray"?

DAVISCompletely unlikely in every particular. It certainly wasn't something I was seeking or believing I should do. It was an 18-month campaign on the part of Erik Schaefer. He went through every actor who was of size because he really believes this should be a person of size, and he wanted to kind of go back to the original John Waters film and have the Divine-like hair and sort of the Divine-like attitude.

DAVISAnd he was walking by a poster, a bus poster over at WETA and saw my big mug and said, that's the guy -- that was March of 2010 -- shares it with Karma Camp on a lake in Canada in August 2010, seized me at the opening of "Chess" on October 2010. This is -- Bob, I think I have a show I want you to do. And I'm thinking "Our Town," and I'm thinking no. And he finally writes to me a letter February 1st and says, well, I've got the rights to "Hairspray," and I want you to play Edna. So, of course...

NNAMDIYeah...

DAVIS...I promptly said no and gave him all the reasons why not. And then he went on a campaign that lasted till about mid-June before he talked to me into doing this against every possible reason I had in the world not to.

NNAMDIAnd if you hear Robert say divine here, he's not referring to divine as in godly. He's referring into Divine as he is reprising the role that Divine, the actor, originally played in "Hairspray." It's my understanding, though, that you are not even a fan of musical theatre.

DAVISWell, it's not so much that. I have -- I'm a musical person. That really is my life. That's what I do. I mean, classical music is my specialty, and I believe, like with opera, it has sort of a beginning, a middle and an end. There's not really contemporary opera that's really very good. The locus of genius leaves certain things. It left opera. It left musical theatre. I think the locus of genius is really in pop music and has been pretty much like that since kind of the Beatles era.

DAVISBut, you know, there was an era with Lerner and Loewe and Rodgers and Hammerstein and "West Side Story." These kinds of things, these were titanic works of art. I'm not arguing these are not great. I think it's very difficult, though. There's a lot of things that are written musically that don't need to be. Straight plays are often better. There's no reason to add music to these for no particular reason, and it doesn't necessarily improve them, is my point.

DAVISBut there was a long -- and I have to say John Waters agrees with me. If you read the notes to his thing in here, he completely agrees with me about contemporary Broadway theatre. Yeah, there are some good things.

NNAMDIYeah. You read the notes extensively, it's my understanding.

DAVISOh, I went into this with enormous detail. Yeah, I really did do diligence about the entire -- I lived through these events, Kojo. I mean, I was -- I'm from here. I actually got a chance when the antenna was right to see "The Buddy Dean Show." I was -- I wanted to get on "The Milt Grant Show." We were in the middle of the desegregation -- they were at Gwynn's Park. We were at Glen Echo. You remember this time.

NNAMDIOh, I remember this time, and...

DAVISAnd you see -- these...

NNAMDI...you witnessed it all.

DAVISI know. And these kids, you know, have no idea, and I'm trying to explain to them what this is really like and that there's a really serious side to the show. Nelson Pressley told me that when they were going to put it on Broadway, they told Scott and Mark they were going to put the show on, but they weren't going to put Mother Maybelle's song "I know Where I've Been" because it was too depressing. But that is actually the point of the show.

DAVISWhat takes us from a good show to a great show is that one song about the civil rights movement. And that's -- I literally -- I sit backstage every night in tears and sing the background of that song because that, to me, is what this is really about. And I found that part of this show, and, I think, that has made a big difference for me and -- that and the maternal aspect. I've seen a lot of productions of "Hairspray" now, and I don't like the idea of these sort of broad, you know, sort of coming out of character and being a man.

DAVISI mean, this is a real story of a real woman whose mother was a suffragette in, you know, the early part of the '20s and whose life was very much formed by her husband going to war. And since 1942, she hasn't left the house and has gained weight and irons. And, you know, so, therefore, this transformation she undergoes is quite extraordinary. She's the most transformed character in this work. And I try to bring that out in my performance.

NNAMDIIf you have questions or comments for Robert Aubry Davis, call us at 800-433-8850. He's performing now in the musical "Hairspray" at Signature Theater. Rebecca, the whole show, like the John Waters movie, is a kind of love letter to Baltimore, isn't it, John Waters' hometown?

RITZELYeah, it is. And, you know, sitting in the theatre the other night, I was actually disappointed that the D.C. audience wasn't getting some of the humor. I don't know if you noticed that, Robert, but...

DAVISOh, yeah. I get Baltimorians there, and they, right away, can tell.

RITZELYeah, I was sitting in the back next to a critic from "Maryland Theatre Guide," who also lives in Baltimore City. I don't any longer. But, I mean, we were kind of disruptive. It was good we were in the back. You nail -- I mean, I think some people forget that there is a silent R in wash, right?

DAVISMm hmm.

DAVISYou do the washing.

DAVISWashington, that's right.

RITZELI spoke like that until I went to college, and I got made fun of. And I had to drop the R out of wash and Washington. And, you know, you iron?

DAVISIroning.

RITZELRight. That's...

DAVISYou're ironing (word?).

RITZELExactly. That's how my grandparents would say it.

DAVISAbsolutely.

RITZELSo thank you very much for (word?) that down, and I hope that more people from Baltimore drive down to see it. Tim Smith gave it a great review, I think, in The Baltimore Sun yesterday.

DAVISThank you. Thank you very much.

NNAMDIYou felt it had a lot of energy.

RITZELYeah. Well -- but I think that I'm kind of curious how you got -- like, when the audience isn't responding in the same way to some of that humor, what is it like for you up on stage?

DAVISWell, there's -- you know, again, my performing art as -- is mostly it's one-man show poetry readings, the Dan Barton concert series, "Child's Christmas in Wales." I do Oscar Wilde. So it's my real first time since, basically, early college, pre-hippie era, to be on stage sharing lines with people. And I've talked -- I talked to hundreds of actors about this before I decided to do this role. And one thing you learn is that every audience is different. In some nights, they are uproarious. They're with you every square inch of the way, and you can play with them.

DAVISSome nights, you have to guide them, and you have to kind of lead them along. You know, it's all right to have fun. It's all right to enjoy the process. And, you know, it -- look, that's why, believe it or not, I don't go on critics night almost ever to theatre because I think it skews a performance. Boy, is that ever true when you're on this end of it, Kojo. I'm telling you right now all these years I've seen it from here. Now, I'm seeing it from over here. And that's very different experience.

DAVISIt definitely changes everything. Michael Kahn told me that now there's, like, 100 critics who want to come. And when he's doing something (word?), it's like 180 seats, so half the house is critics. Of course, it's going to change a performance, you know?

NNAMDIYeah, it is going to change your performance, but you'll have to continue performing anyway. You may have noticed I haven't asked you, Wren, for her opinion. That's because her review is coming out in tomorrow's edition, I think...

WRENI think that's the case.

NNAMDI...of The Washington Post.

WRENIt's filed.

NNAMDIYou'll just have to wait to hear what Celia thinks about it. But, Celia, for those of us who may not have seen it in a while, remind us of the story of "Hairspray."

WRENThe story of "Hairspray," well, it's a young woman, sort of plus-size young woman, a teenager named Tracy Turnblad who loves a local dance TV show called "The Corny Collin's Show." And she manages to snag a place on it and decides that she wants to desegregate it. It's -- the time is 1962, and it's a whites-only show six nights of the week. And one day of the week, they have the, I think, is called the negro day.

DAVISThe negro day...

WRENIs that what they call it?

DAVIS...absolutely.

WRENAnd so she decides that she's going to break that down, and that causes a lot of trouble. And she gets the guy. That's all.

NNAMDIBut most of us who may not even remember the story certainly remember the music from "Hairspray."

UNIDENTIFIED GROUPI love you Baltimore. Every day is like an open door. Every night is a fantasy. Every sound is like a symphony. I promise Baltimore that some day when I take to the floor, the world's going to wake up and see, going to wake up and see...

NNAMDIAnd, Robert Aubry Davis, you have to go into a production where you -- not just have to learn the lines. You had to learn singing and dancing also.

DAVISYou know, it's -- theatre is driving, and when you add music, that's suddenly flying an airplane with a third dimension. And then when you're dancing, that's now going into space. So, basically, Erik gave me three weeks to become an astronaut is the bottom line to that.

NNAMDIAnd you mentioned earlier you played the role of Tracy Turnblad's mother, Edna. It's a pretty serious role considering the circumstances. This was a woman who needed to liberate herself and found a way to do so in this process.

DAVISYeah. I think that is the thing I try to bring to this that, I think, you know, when you have sort of a man playing it broadly and not getting the maternal aspect, I think that's lost. And I think I may not be the best dancer, and I might not be the best singer, but I do -- particularly with this extraordinary Carolyn Cole who plays our Tracey, you know, she graduated from performing arts college the year "Hairspray" came out, and she has auditioned for the role 40 times.

NNAMDIThat's what I read.

DAVISFour-zero times before she got it, and she is such a natural. She also is such an extraordinary person. I fell in love with her back in July when I first met her. At one point, Erik Schaefer, who's, you know, a genius in casting with everybody except for me -- I had this idea that he was going to do a kind of nationwide search, and I was going to be the Simon Cowell, and I was going to decide who's going to be our Tracey -- is going to film it for WETA.

DAVISAnd it's all a done deal. All of a sudden, he walked up to me one day and said, no, no, stop this. I found the perfect person, and that was her. I mean, and she has been a revelation to (word?).

NNAMDIWhen you've auditioned 40 times, you have to be saying to yourself this role was meant for me or I was meant for this role.

DAVISI think that's right.

NNAMDIHere is Douglas in Arlington, Va. Douglas, you're on the air. Go ahead, please.

DOUGLASWonderful. I had the pleasure of seeing "Hairspray" at Signature during its preview week, and prior to that, I didn't know anything about Robert Aubry Davis' skills and abilities as an actor. I thought he was superb in developing the character. Even as he limped along, I think he did a wonderful job. The energy of the entire production was sensational. It really was. Not only that, Signature has decent parking. That's my comment.

DAVISThat's an important fact. Yes.

NNAMDIWell, you should know that, Robert, in a way could relate to Edna's issues. You were not a skinny child.

DAVISNo, no, no. In fact, I tried to get on "The Milt Grant Show." And they had a sixth grade day, like the negro day, and I was too tubby, Kojo. And I remember when they first were starting, these kids don't know anything about green stamps, and they were calling it metrical. And I said, no, no, no. It's called Metrical, and I used to have to take it, you know? So I've been explaining the various references to Gina Lollobrigida and Eva Marie Saint and...

NNAMDIAnd even things they can still find in the store but don't -- apparently Doublemint gum.

DAVISYeah, the double-wide twins, all those kinds of references, yeah. They weren't associating it with the campaigns that were popular in the '50s and early '60s on television. Edna, obviously being housebound, is a television addict, and all she knows from the world is what she sees on TV. But, you know, it's -- I appreciate your comment, Douglas. It's very, very sweet. It is a much better -- I mean, it's a better cast than I deserve.

DAVISThe cast is superb, except for me, and I am on their shoulders every single night. And they are all absolute consummate professionals. It's so stunning. And I got to tell you, Kojo, actors work so freaking hard for so little money. I swear to you. It's just mind numbing to me. There's this thing they have called 10-12. So you have 10 straight days of 12-hour rehearsals. You can't, you know, go to the store. You can't get the mail. You can't go to the pharmacy.

DAVISI say to these people, how do you live your lives, you know? And at any rate, I've always been sympathetic to theater. And I'm, of course, a native Washingtonian, seen thousands of theatrical productions. Might we note that it's ratcheted up exponentially since I'm actually doing this?

NNAMDIAnd before we go to a break, here is Phil in Kensington, Md. Phil, you're on the air. Go ahead, please.

MR. PHIL FOXHi. Bob Davis, how are you doing?

DAVISIs this my Phil Fox?

FOXYes, sir.

DAVISHey, Phil, how are you doing, man? Phil goes back a long way in the town. Do you -- are you coming to see the show?

FOXI have not come yet, but I cannot count the number of friends who've sent me the reviews.

DAVISOK. That counts.

FOXI want to congratulate you and (word?) and I went through some civil rights activities together back in the day when we were going to (word?).

DAVISYeah, can we mention we've known each other since 1955? Or is that too scary?

FOX1955 indeed. If memory serves me correctly, did we not go together to Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech because we heard it was free Peter, Paul and Mary concert?

DAVISYeah, yeah. PPM. By the way, Phil's mom still is an usher at Olney's. So I take my mom out to see shows at Olney and get to talk to Phil's mom. So it gives you a sense of what the town is like, you know?

NNAMDINever heard the march on Washington described as free Peter, Paul -- but in 1955, if you're kids, I guess I can see that. Phil, thank you so much for your call. We're going to take a short break. And during the course of this break, see if you can recognize any of the voices in this duet.

NNAMDIWelcome back to our conversation. It's our Winter Theater roundup. We started focusing on Robert Aubry Davis' performance in the musical "Hairspray" at Signature Theatre. He is the host WETA's "Around Town." Also in studio is Celia Wren. She's an arts journalist who writes regularly for The Washington Post. And Rebecca Ritzel is a freelance arts journalist with the Washington City Paper, The Washington Post and several other publications.

NNAMDIBefore we move on from "Hairspray," Robert Aubry Davis, talk about working with younger cast members -- all local, it's my understanding.

DAVISYou know, except for Carolyn, these are all superb young performers. And what struck me from the very beginning, actually, they had me sit down and talk about 1962 to them. And getting the questions from all these kids was amazing because, I mean, they're really tough questions, like, were African-American kids really put in special education when they had desegregation? I mean, that's a really -- and the answer is, yes, most probably. And how did I feel when African-American kids came to the school?

DAVISAnd, you know, these kinds of brilliant questions -- but what's important to me and, I think, to you, Kojo, is that there are white and black, and they're gay and straight. And they're all over the map, but they work together superbly. There's no weirdness or strangeness. Kind of everything I would have dreamed would have happened out of the '60s and out of the movement, I see in these kids. I just -- I have so fallen in love with these kids. I cannot tell you how honored I am to be among them every single day.

DAVISI just have love for them that just overflows. And as I say, they work insanely hard for nothing. I mean, it's a dollar an hour by the time you cost it out, but I just adore, adore these kids.

NNAMDIIt's what they want to do.

DAVISYeah, I hear you.

NNAMDIIt is the season, Rebecca, for holiday shows. What else is out there that families might want to see? We know, of course, that "The Nutcracker Ballet" is at the Warner Theatre. Signature has its annual Follies. Care to comment?

RITZELWell, yeah. If you've never the seen the Washington Ballet's "Nutcracker," this is a good year to go because, thanks to a grant from a philanthropist Adrienne Arsht, they finally have live music back again. So that's a really important thing and a good reason to go. There are a lot of -- you know, it's a very cute "Nutcracker," a lot of adorable animals. There are children involved. So that's a good bet.

RITZELThe Kennedy Center brought in American Ballet Theatre's "Nutcracker" this year. It's a new "Nutcracker," debuted last year in Brooklyn. First performance outside of New York was here in D.C., and I really enjoyed that. But, unfortunately, it's been a year and gone.

NNAMDICelia, there are no fewer than three takes on Dickens this year. There is "Broadway Christmas Carol" at the MetroStage, an Irish take at the Keegan called "An Irish Carol" and "A Christmas Carol" at the Ford Theatre. Which one would a purist want to see?

WRENWell, I think probably Ford's Theatre, probably. I haven't seen Ford's Theatre version for a couple of years, and they don't -- I think they've changed it a couple times, but I think that's probably the one that sticks most closely to Charles Dickens' story. "Broadway Christmas Carol," I reviewed, and I saw the previous year. And it's really just takes an abbreviated version of the Dickens tale played for laughs with interpolated Broadway show tunes. So it's sort of a little bit like the three-course dinner chewing gum in "Willie Wonka" that fabricated -- you know, gives you a little taste of something.

WRENBut all the show tunes are really abbreviated. I also reviewed a show called "Carol's Christmas," which was a riff on "A Christmas Carol" about a contemporary young woman who's having dating problems and she's haunted by a boyfriend's past, present, future, basically. You know, there are always versions of "Christmas Carol" all over the place in the theater scene around this time of the year.

DAVISI think Paul Morella is doing a solo version up at Olney as well.

NNAMDIIf you see me taking notes is because I have to take my granddaughter to the theater on the holiday season. So I'm taking notes. MetroStage is putting on "Broadway Christmas Carol" again this year. How do you do Dickens Broadway style?

WRENWell, it's played very humorously. So there's kind of a knowing wink-wink vibe between the performers and the audience. And for example, Tiny Tim sings -- had a little crutch. It's a three-actor version, so they're all donning wigs, and it's all done in a slightly, you know, very tongue-in-cheek, irreverent fashion. He sings "Tomorrow" from "Annie," but he's imagining that he's going to be able to walk tomorrow and beat up on a local bully who's beating him up.

WRENSo he sings, tomorrow, tomorrow, I'm going to get you tomorrow. And so it's all done in that. And then there's a Mae West -- Jacob Marley's ghost turned out to be a woman and is like Mae West and sings a song. And so it's very irreverent.

NNAMDIIf you like to join the conversation, 800-433-8850 is the number to call. What have you seen in the theater recently? And what are you planning to see? You can also send us a tweet, @kojoshow, or email to kojo@wamu.org. Rebecca, in Theater J has its own holiday show, a production of "Oy Vey in a Manger." Talk about that.

RITZELI can say nothing but oy vey, they have one. Yeah, no, I have not been to see this, but, I mean, we do have -- I hope you agree, Celia -- we have really fun jobs, but in December, there's a lot to see. And you cannot get to everything. And Monday night, I went to a concert for fun, and it was actually really nice.

RITZELPink Martini up at Strathmore. Could I, maybe, mention "Billy Elliot," Kojo?

NNAMDIPlease do.

RITZELOK. This is a musical that is what The Kennedy Center has picked to bring in for their big sort of holiday tour. When I saw it, and actually I had the privilege of writing about the launch for tour last year, it has a lot of heart and depth to it. It's not just sort of a fluffy story about a kid ballet dancer. And I think that it would, you know, it resonates with adults very much too, is a lot -- I mean, the politics, it -- there's a minor strike involved and the great Christmas anthem "Merry Christmas Maggie Thatcher."

RITZELSo I really -- I do think it's a good show. And, you know, granted, tickets are going to be pricey, but that it is something that could resonate with the family.

DAVISHow do we like "Much Ado About Nothing," ladies?

WRENI haven't seen it yet.

DAVISNo.

RITZELI enjoyed it. Yeah

DAVISMm hmm. This is the set -- the one set in Cuba, pre-revolution?

NNAMDITalk -- tell us a bit about that. You saw it. You liked it?

RITZELI did. I think for most part, the Cubans -- I mean, it's just gorgeous. Gorgeous sets.

DAVISBeautiful set.

RITZELThe dresses, I was like, you know, being -- OK, I want to wear that one and then I want to wear that dress.

DAVISLot of dancing.

RITZELYeah, a lot of dancing. What -- it's interesting, Ethan McSweeny has played with the script a little bit and changed some of the references. So they talk about pesos. There's a line in the original that someone says to Beatrice -- Beatrice and Benedick are the leads -- you will never run mad, not 'till a hot January. Well, we had to get rid of that line because this is set in Cuba and it's hot January.

RITZELSo there are a lot of little tweaks, but then there are some things that have not been changed, and so it's little bit -- if you really know Shakespeare, it will bump you slightly.

NNAMDIWell, I guess it's intended to. I'd like you all to talk a little bit about this. Most theaters have some sort of holiday show, and there's a reason for that, isn't there, Celia?

WRENWell, it can be kind of a cash cow for theaters. And of course, we critics -- I agree with Rebecca -- I find that this time of year, you know, I've two versions of "Christmas Carol." I reviewed a one-man-show version of "It's a Wonderful Life." I reviewed "'Twas the Night Before Christmas." And, you know, you feel a bit -- as a critic, you become a little jaded and you sort of wish, oh, I wish it were January, maybe I could see, you know, different shows.

WRENBut you can't blame theaters for wanting to, you know, you can get in maybe some extra audiences at the holiday time. People come with their families. And, you know, doing something that is maybe a little safer choice could, you know, subsidize a more exciting production some other time in the year. So...

NNAMDIYeah. People need to be reminded that full houses over the holiday season do serve an important purpose. Care to comment on that, Robert?

DAVISYou know, it's very -- it's nice when you have a theater like the Folger, where you're able to alternate theatrical performances and music, and what the Folger has wisely done over the years. And in fact, there's an opportunity Thursday all the way through Sunday to see their superb Christmas program. It is the wonderful wind ensemble Piffaro and they're doing music from Renaissance Spain for Christmastime.

DAVISBut what they did is, you know, "Othello's" done, then they can run all these Christmas shows and get those packed up and sell a lot of tickets. And it's also the great time to go because that superb exhibit for the King James Bible is happening now as well. And the Folger is already one of the golden jewels of Washington, a great place to go, but it's very much sort of in the Christmas spirit. I do commend those, and that is something I think that'd be a lot of fun for people.

DAVISThat's also a smart idea 'cause they can mix and match the music and the theater. Although, since I also do their free concert seminars, there's a lot of times we'd have to have music on the stage or otherwise. We've had "Much Ado About Nothing" or "Othello" or whatever else is going on at the same time, but, you know, it's quite a nice thing to have. So if you maximize it like that, you're doing well.

RITZELI think you just said Washington there, didn't you...

DAVISI did say Washington. It's called the covered R, by the way, so, you know?

NNAMDIAnd even though, Rebecca Ritzel, some critics might say, oh, we have to review the same productions year after year or this time of year. Another way of looking at it, this is kind of full employment season for theater reviewers, is it not?

RITZELIt is. I also teach, so I think a lot of us do multiple things as does Celia so.

NNAMDIHere is Aaron in Alexandria, Va. Aaron, you're on the air. Go ahead, please.

AARONHi, there. I just -- I know you guys have moved on a little bit from different productions (unintelligible)...

NNAMDIOh, we can circle back.

AARON...of Christmas carol. But I wanted to give a shout out to another local golden jewel in the region, and that's the little theater of Alexandria. There -- they've got a pretty straightforward, you know, relatively faithful production of "A Christmas Carol" through the 18th, and I think they just added another performance the evening of the 18th because they've been mostly sold out. As you mentioned, these shows are pretty well popular, and I do have a conflict of interest 'cause I'm playing Bob Cratchit in this production...

AARONAnd the cast is...

DAVISJust be in all the earlier tomorrow morning, Bob Cratchit.

AARONSorry?

DAVISJust be in all the earlier tomorrow morning, Bob Cratchit.

AARONI'm buying the time, sir.

DAVISYeah.

NNAMDIBut thank you very much for your call, Aaron. And this would be a good time to mention that a lot of theaters are putting on shows for kids. A few of the offerings: "Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Musical" at the Kennedy Center, good for ages four and up. "Doctor Dolittle" is at the Imagination Stage, ages five and up. "'Twas The Night Before Christmas," Adventure Theater, ages four and up.

NNAMDIAnd, of course, "Nutcracker" before Septime Webre's at the Washington Ballet, and the production at the Puppet Company. Yes, I should mention the one at the Puppet Company. Also, care to talk about that, Celia?

WRENWhich about -- I haven't seen the Puppet Company one. I've seen the other ones.

NNAMDIOh, well, talk about this.

WRENWell, I saw "Knuffle Bunny" when it was done a year or two ago, and it is a completely adorable show based on Mo Willems' popular book. It features really clever choreography by Paige Hernandez, who's a local choreographer. Just completely winning about a child who accidentally leaves her stuffed animal in a Laundromat. There's a happy ending. "'Twas The Night Before Christmas" at Adventure Theater is a really -- a comic take that goes way beyond the poem on which it's based. It's really loopy and funny by Ken Ludwig, a local playwright, and...

NNAMDI"Doctor Dolittle."

WREN"Doctor Dolittle." Now, "Doctor Dolittle" is an interesting one. It's told the creators of the play noticed that Hugh Lofting, who wrote the book of "Doctor Dolittle," served in World War I. And so they've staged it as with the frame tale. Lofting is in the trenches of World War I creating letters -- creating the story to write home to his son in letters.

WRENSo it -- you've got a World War I scene there and then the actors in the trenches -- soldiers in the trenches, like, take little military props and tell the story of "Doctor Dolittle," like a stretcher becomes a boat. And so it's a little -- it's really quite sophisticated and a slightly dark, a huge take on the tale.

NNAMDIIt's an interesting premise, but one that might not be suited for younger kids -- kids. It's recommended for kids ages five and up, but you found it to be aimed maybe a little older than that.

WRENWell, I saw it with -- the friend of mine who had a five-year old, and he was kind of squirming a little bit. And so, you know, parents will best know their own children, but there is -- you know, there's definitely some dark stuff. It sort of strongly implies that Lofting talks about comrades killed in death. You know, there's a trench -- you might have to explain what a trench is. You know, there is references to wounds and family separations and things like that. But it still tells the good -- you know, the story of the guy who can talk to animals.

DAVISAnd, most importantly, take your kids and grandkids to theater 'cause, trust me, it will change their lives. Changed my life. I was very young, saw "Camelot" at National, saw things at Arena Stage when I was young, and that just cemented in my life a love for theater that I've never lost.

NNAMDIMy 6-year-old granddaughter is in the school for the performing arts and is convinced she is much more sophisticated than I am at these things.

NNAMDIHere is Rachel in Takoma Park, Md. Rachel, you're on the air. Go ahead, please.

RACHELHi. I'm Rachel, and I review theater for the blog (word?), which is D.C. art and culture blog, ages -- that's 20 to 35-year-old demographics. And some of the theater that we're reviewing lately is by independent, very small companies in Washington. And the show that I saw most recently was by the Landless Theater Company, and it's "Cannibal Musical," which is stage adaptation of Trey Parker of South Park -- his senior project in college was this movie, "Cannibal Musical."

RACHELAnd you so can watch on Netflix and other places. And so, anyway, they've done a stage adaptation, and it's really hilarious. It's about the DC/AC, and it's showing up until Sept. 23, Thursdays through, I think, Sundays at 7:30, and tickets are $25. So it's really hilarious, and it's, like, great way to support a local theatre company. So I really recommend it, and it's not really probably for kids (unintelligible).

NNAMDIRachel, thank you very much for your call. We got a tweet from someone who says, "At the Woolly Mammoth, 'Spoiler Alert: Everybody Dies.' It's witty and fantastic and other good things I can't fit into 140 characters." Well, it was reviewed in The Washington Post today with a lot more than 140 characters, and it was apparently well liked. Anyone seen it yet?

DAVISSecond City, right?

NNAMDIYeah -- I had Second City TV come to town. Robert, as you're working, but you've managed to see a few things. You caught "Equivocation" at the Arena Stage.

DAVISAnd "Much Ado," and I try -- here's the deal. Whether if it's on a Monday night or if it's what I call the ladies' tea matinees, I can see things and same with films. I could see "Tinker Tailor." You know, it's that kind of stuff. So I'm trying to get around and do as much as I can, but it is very, very tricky and -- but I will say this. Back to the kids going, for me, I still, to this day, go, and I close my eyes between scenes 'cause I don't like to see the magic. I -- the magic of theater is always preserved for me.

DAVISI don't -- I like magicians, but I don't want to know the tricks. Even while I'm in the theater now and I see all those sets move -- there's 541 sound cues and 640 lighting cues and all these people running around, and I'm actually on stage -- I still don't know how theater works. It's still a complete miracle to me every single night, and it's an amazing experience. And I -- you know, I just think it's a grand thing that you're spending time, as you do all the time, Kojo, talking about regional theater.

DAVISAnd I think it was Rachel talking about new young theaters. I mean, there have been some amazing ones, (unintelligible). I think all of us have fallen in love with young theaters that come along and do amazing work. And I just think that's an exciting, invigorating lifeblood into what, in my mind, actually is the greatest art form today. And that's...

NNAMDIWhat is amazing is over the past 20 years, watching theater explodes, so to speak, in the Washington area. We do have to take another short break. When we come back, we'll talk more about the holiday offerings at theaters in the Washington area. If you have called, stay on the line. We'll try to get to your call. If the lines are busy, shoot us a tweet, @kojoshow, or email to kojo@wamu.org. Or simply go to our website, kojoshow.org. Join the conversation there. I'm Kojo Nnamdi.

NNAMDIWelcome back to our theater roundup conversation. We're talking with Celia Wren, arts journalist who writes regularly for The Washington Post, Rebecca Ritzel, freelance arts journalist who writes for the Washington City Paper, The Washington Post and several other publications, and Robert Aubry Davis, host of WETA's "Around Town." He's performing now in the musical "Hairspray" at Signature Theater. We're also taking your calls at 800-433-8850. You can send email to kojo@wamu.org.

NNAMDICelia, Rebecca, some of the other productions out there, there's "You, Nero" at Arena Stage, which Peter Marks calls goofy and provocative as a take on Roman history. I know you haven't seen it but...

WRENI have seen it.

NNAMDIAh, you have seen it. So please tell us.

WRENWell, yes. The really interesting thing is that Arena is doing both "You, Nero" and "Equivocation," and in some ways, they're extraordinarily complementary plays. They're newish plays. And they both deal with art and politics and playwrights dealing with political circumstances. "You, Nero" is very loopy. It's about a playwright dealing in Nero's court and all sorts of -- Nero's getting up to all sorts of murderous antics.

WREN"Equivocation" is a very serious play about Shakespeare in the time of James I. "Equivocation," I think, is a play -- if you're getting tired of, sort of, frilly Christmas fair and you really, you know, sometimes at this time of year, you really want something with intellectual substance. "Equivocation," warning, it's very long, but it's very intellectual.

WRENIt talks about morality of art, the morality of politics and how politicians need to create a narrative in order to, you know, be able to rule or to be able to prevail as a politician, which, of course, is something we see all the time these days with the political campaign coming up.

NNAMDIPerfect Washington show. Rebecca, we talked earlier about "Much Ado About Nothing." Another literary classic is on stage, "Pride and Prejudice" at the Round House." Tell us about that production.

RITZELYes. "Pride and Prejudice." OK. Well, if you are a Jane Austen fan, I definitely do recommend it. I think just looking out at the audience, I saw sort of like all these women on dates just absolutely glowing, and then the guys were kind of quietly bemused. But what I liked about this show -- I don't -- have you been out there, Celia? -- is the fantastic, fantastic character acting by a lot of our local actors. They have just -- I mean, Jane Austen creates these wonderful characters.

RITZELAnd you read them on the page, and what's great about this production is that they have found ways to make Mr. Collins, who is the poor guy that Elizabeth rejects, just hysterically funny but also true to the character. I just -- I really enjoyed seeing this, and it's great to see local actors have a chance to play those parts.

NNAMDIYeah. But there's a problem with any production of "Pride and Prejudice," and that is that any Mr. Darcy has to live up to the BBC television production version with Colin Firth.

RITZELYeah. This guy doesn't, and I felt kind of bad for him.

DAVISIt's interesting, though, that Round House has tackled this issue of book adaptation. Some of them, I think, have been very successful, some, maybe not so much. But what an interesting specialty, it seems to me, you know?

WRENYeah. They really carved out a real niche for themselves doing something that's a little bit different.

RITZELYeah. And it'll be interesting to see what happens since Blake Robinson, the artistic director, is leaving Round House and...

NNAMDIBlake's leaving?

RITZELYeah.

DAVISIt's news to me, too. I didn't know.

RITZELOh, you didn't know. Yeah. He's going to Cincinnati Playhouse, I believe.

DAVISWow. Interesting.

RITZELYeah. So it will be interesting to see what happens then.

NNAMDIHey, Blake. Phone home.

DAVISYeah.

NNAMDIHere is Sarah in McLean, Va. Sarah, you're on the air. Go ahead, please.

SARAHHi, guys. I want to alert you all and your listeners to a couple of things for kids that are a little bit different. They're at the Alden, which Kojo and Rebecca should now. Kojo did Kojo In Your Community there last year, and Rebecca reviewed Martha Graham Dance Company when they were there last year. One is a "Rockin' Hanukah Concert" by Yosi and the Superdads, and it's this Sunday. And it's a great family concert.

SARAHWhen we say rockin', it really is rocking. They're really good musicians, even the parents -- so it's a little bit different from the usual Christmas stuff. And there will be some sing-alongs. And then this (word?), the local troop of McLean kids called Studio Rep is doing a ridiculous Christmas play that is great for the high school, college-age type audiences.

SARAHSo more information can be found at aldentheater.org, but I really appreciate this show. And thanks for highlighting the great theater and arts we have in the region.

NNAMDISarah, thank you very much for your call. And, Robert, speaking of highlighting the great theater arts scene, we got a tweet from Coolmcjazz, (sp?) who says, "Know what my fave little known fact about the D.C. theater scene is? D.C. is the second largest theater market in the U.S." Is that accurate?

DAVISWell, according to the old Helen Hayes Awards and Theater Washington, it is in terms of numbers of tickets sold and numbers of people that actually put, you know, their behinds in seats. Now you would imagine Chicago. You would imagine Los Angeles. But every year, they kind of come up with these stats. I like to think that's a lovely idea. Celia, do you have any background on that?

WRENWell, you'd have to know how they measure it.

DAVISYeah.

WRENI mean, are you measuring number of performances? Are you measuring number of tickets sold? You know, is it -- how are you defining professional theater? So you'd have to see the stats on that.

DAVISRight, right. But it's a lovely idea.

WRENThere certainly is a lot of theater going. I think we can all agree with that.

DAVISThere's a lot of great theater. There's no doubt about that.

NNAMDIOh, in my case, are you measuring it with hometown bias? Yes.

DAVISYeah. You bet. There you go.

NNAMDIWe got an email from Charlie, who says, "I'm a total theater nut. I try to see everything. Best thing I've seen, "A Bright New Boise." Excellent in every department: writing, acting, directing, design. And it was actually about something important."

RITZELYeah. It was at Woolly Mammoth. That was a terrific production. We all saw that. Very interesting piece of work, you know?

WRENYeah. I agree. Brilliant.

NNAMDIAnd then Charlie also writes, "Saw the one-woman 'Bust' at The Studio the other night. Great performance, very funny. And it, too, is well thought out and is about important issues. The total concentration of the gifted actress is remarkable. Highly recommended.:" That would be Laura Weedman's performance at Studio Theatre, the tradition of Anna Deveare Smith. What kinds of challenges are there, Celia, to a one-person show?

WRENWell, a one-person show, you know, there's a challenge to whoever is writing it, and then there's a challenge to whoever is performing it. You've got to get -- create a whole momentum that would be supplied by the other actors. And that, I think, is really tricky. I mean -- and you've got to take your hat off to anyone who does it. The one-man show of "Wonderful Life" that I saw at Hub Theatre in Fairfax, that was done without any costume changes.

WRENAll the -- he created the most significant characters from Frank Capra's movie "It's a Wonderful Life," and it was all done with body language, voice and lighting. So, you know, that's not an easy task. It's really something.

NNAMDIIndeed. We got an email from Barb in Damascus. "I'd like to put in a good word for Paul Morella's one-man production of "A Christmas Carol" at the Olney Theatre. My husband and I attended it last year and were immediately transported back to Dickens' time in a way that we never expected. It's nothing short of spectacular the way that Paul Morella manages to embody all the characters. Moreover, what's old is new because, apparently, this was the way that Dickens himself..."

DAVISAbsolutely.

NNAMDI"...used to tell a tale."

DAVISPatrick Stewart recreated that in a one-man show as well. And the great thing about classics -- and it's -- what's interesting about Dickens is that he wrote in the long form and rarely wrote in the short form. And when he did, it was always spectacular, but this is just a great -- if you haven't read "Christmas Carol" lately, sat down and read it in front of a fireplace, just do it. It's such an extraordinary piece of literature, so beautifully wrought and so beautifully constructed, and it's just a true masterpiece.

DAVISAnd it's -- and, you know, it's kind of like -- you can almost not mess it up. It's so fantastically great. But in the case of Paul, it is a very good job. So I do like the idea of being read to 'cause I do that all the time. I do this one-man show as Wilde, and I read things all the time. And I kind of believe in that. I believe in reading poetry. We don't have that much anymore, and it's a nice thing to do.

NNAMDIAnd I should remind you that "Bust" that we just described has been extended, so it will run another few days if people want to catch it at Studio Theatre. Here is Miguel in Washington, D.C. Miguel, your turn.

MIGUELKojo, how are you?

NNAMDII am well, Miguel.

MIGUELThanks for having me on. I just wanted to -- it's a little different, but it's Gay Men's Chorus Washington, D.C. on the 16th, 17th and 18th. The show is called "Red and Greene" this year, and it has a guest star, Ellen Greene, who's also known in the stage as Audrey, "Little Shop of Horrors."

NNAMDIOK. Good. Thank you very much for reminding us about that. We try to get in as much as possible during the course of this hour. Celia, the musical "Billy Elliot" opens at the Kennedy Center this week. Like "Hairspray," similarly "Billy Elliot" started as a film before being brought to the stage. Remind us about the story.

WRENYeah. I saw the Broadway production. It's about a young boy who grows up in a hardscrabble town, mining town in England and discovers, sort of by accident, that he has a real knack for and interest in dance. And, of course, there's sort of a more of a macho culture in his family, who's initially against. And it all takes place against mining strikes, so I think, as Rebecca mentioned, there's politics.

WRENAnd it's really -- I think it's -- they turned it into a musical, did very successfully on Broadway. It really is kind of a great story for our time because it's about, you know, what is the place of art in a time when economic circumstances are really dire? Can you find a place for it? What's the competition between art, politics, making a living and all of that kind of thing?

RITZELYeah. The dance instructor in "Billy Elliot" says to the students, who are all girls, except for Billy, our lives are hard outside, but inside this studio, we sparkle.

NNAMDIAnd all the dancers in the show are, well, too young to drive. Who would you recommend the show for?

RITZEL"Billy Elliot?" OK, here's an interesting thing about the tour. If you've seen it in New York, you know that the young Billy used profanity. They have taken the profanity out of the touring production. That was somewhat a controversial thing. So that means that if you are a parent and you didn't want to hear your child speak -- like if you've seen the movie, right, so you can not worry about your children hearing that kind of thing.

RITZELI think people who are interested in politics, but I think also, you know, it's just -- it is pro-socialist at the time, right? So I think some people may not realize that Maggie Thatcher is very much going to be lampooned in this, and then she's going to be praised in that new movie, right, "The Iron Lady"? So it is sort of an interesting -- and Lee Hall, the writer, interestingly, he wrote "War Horse." So the same guy who wrote "Billy Elliot" wrote "War Horse," the new Steven Spielberg movie.

RITZELAnd it is an autobiographical story for him, except he wasn't wanting to be a dancer. He was wanting to be a writer, and he thought dance would make a more interesting story to tell on stage -- well, originally in the film and now on stage.

NNAMDIHere's Andreas (sp?) in Manassas, Va. Andreas, you're on the air. Go ahead, please.

ANDREASHi, Kojo. I just had a quick question. I have a daughter, just turned 4. She's in a couple of dance classes and ballet in the past, and she sort of knows the whole story about "Nutcracker." I was wondering if she'd be too young to go see "The Nutcracker," or should I wait a year or she OK or...

NNAMDIWell, the -- you know, the Puppet Company has a performance for very small kids. It's minus the ballet, but it includes puppets for a performance of "The Nutcracker." You might want to take your 4-year-old to see that. Would you recommend that, Rebecca?

RITZELI don't know about Puppet Company.

WRENI have seen it.

RITZELI mean, I would think that it would probably be, but that's certainly, I think...

NNAMDIHey, you can't go wrong with puppets, Andreas.

RITZELYeah. I think one thing with "The Nutcracker" is to look and see if there are children in the production. I think that helps kids relate.

NNAMDIYes.

RITZELTonight, I'm going to go see the "Great Russian Nutcracker" at -- or Great Moscow at George Mason. There are no children in that production. So that I would not take a younger child to that.

ANDREASOK. OK.

NNAMDIAndreas, thank you for your call. And Lisa Joe (sp?) in Bethesda, Md. Lisa Joe, go ahead, please.

LISA JOEHi there. I saw "Oy Vey in a Manger" last year, and I just have to say I thought it was gratuitously offensive, and, more significant, it just was not funny. For example, they talked about the baby exists, its foreskin and turning it into a scrunchie, but I just didn't find that very funny. I recently saw the "Book of Mormon" in New York. So "South Park" obviously offends a lot of people, but it was witty.

LISA JOEIt was insightful into exactly how it is that religions come up with those founding stories in the first place. So it worked on all different levels, and it was wonderful, and hopefully it'll come to the D.C. area soon. But "Oy Vey in a Manger" is -- I just found gratuitously offensive.

NNAMDIDidn't work for you. It shrinks...

JOENo, not at all.

NNAMDI...pales next to "Book of Mormon." Thank you for your call. Rebecca, you were going to say?

RITZELOh, I was just going to say thank you, caller, for -- since Celia and I hadn't seen that, that we had someone coming...

NNAMDIYes, that we had someone who has actually seen it. We got a tweet from CThing, (sp?) who said, "I would highly recommend the show 'The Rough-Face Girl' at Synetic Family Theater in Arlington, Va. Has anyone else seen that?

WRENYes, I saw that.

RITZELGo ahead.

WRENSynetic, you know, has its trademark style, which is to tell stories wordlessly. They do a lot of wordless Shakes before. That's what they're known. And they also have children's shows that do the same thing. "The Rough-Face Girl" is basically -- apparently a Native American version of -- form of the "Cinderella" story, "Cinderella" myth. And it's about a young girl, and she's sort of shunted aside by her older sister and made to tend the fire.

WRENAnd she ends up basically getting the prince. But she actually goes in search of the prince, and she takes a very active form. She's not -- no passive Cinderella. Anyway, it's told wordlessly, very short production. I think it's, like, under an hour at Synetic.

NNAMDIAnd, Robert, we got this email from Redmond. (sp?) "Are there any free shows that unemployed or poor parents might take their children to? I remember a long time ago when D.C. Recreation sponsored plays at Howard University at this time of year. Do they still do that?"

DAVISWell, I don't know of any, but I think there are subsidized tickets that are -- or highly subsidized for certain theatrical productions, and there's sort of last-minute tickets that are quite inexpensive as well. I would always -- if you want to go to something, call and see what the people say. It's always a good idea. You never know. By the way, back to the caller real quickly, Kojo...

NNAMDISure.

DAVIS...who took his -- I took my daughter to see "Nutcracker" at four. And one of the fellows who came to see "Hairspray" remembers that I took her to see "Faust" that the Source Theatre did for 4 1/2 hours in the alley behind Source...

NNAMDIOh, God.

DAVIS...when she was 5, and she still remembers it to this day. So, by golly, you could take your daughter and see a lot of things.

NNAMDIHopefully, she remembers it fondly.

DAVISShe does.

NNAMDIRobert Aubry Davis is the host of WETA's "Around Town," and he's performing now in the musical "Hairspray" at the Signature Theatre. Celia Wren is an arts journalist who writes regularly for The Washington Post, and Rebecca Ritzel is a freelance arts journalist who writes for Washington City Paper, The Washington Post and several other publications. Thank you all for listening.

DAVISThank you, Kojo.

NNAMDII'm Kojo Nnamdi.