Skip to main content
The Arabian Nights

Constellation’s production of Mary Zimmerman’s The Arabian Nights is a dream come true. 
  
 As Constellation concludes its tenth anniversary season, it has its own story behind The Arabian Nights.  This was Founding Artistic Director Allison Arkell Stockman’s second production in 2007,  one which received great reviews and launched Constellation’s stellar career in Washington theater circles.  

That production also launched the collaboration with Tom Teasley, a world-renowned composer, instrumentalist, and teacher who created The Arabian Nights on his CD All the World’s a Stage. 

 Their formula of great stories accompanied by live original music continues. While it  might seem daunting for a small theater company with only 100 seats to attempt world classics,  Constellation shows never miss its target which is the human heart.

Eleven ensemble actors portray 40 characters from the legendary tales of a 1,001 nights.    Veronica del Cerro is the famed storyteller Scheherezade, with Ryan Sellers as the ruthless ruler Shahryar.   Matthew Aldwin McGee, who does double-duty as a member of the ensemble, playing Jester and others.  Lilian Oben is most impressive in her display of knowledge and wisdom as  Sympathy the Learned while Shravan Amin as Madman and  Jeremy Keith Hunter as Pastrycook are quite exuberant!

Making their Constellation debuts are Surasree Das, Thomas Howley, Yesenia Iglesias, Dallas Milholland, and Kevin Sockwell; and understudies Linda Bard, Justin Jarod Bell, Thomas Ellis, and Melissa Reed.

As the tales unfold,  one leading into another,  the  costumes continually  dazzle the eyes— thanks to costume designer Erik Teague— while our ears are enchanted by the musical magic of Tom Teasley throughout. 

The entire company join in spirited dances and fights, thanks to the choreography of Casey Keleba and Verionque Kim Tran.  Scenic designer A.J. Guban, with Matthew Aldwin McGee as property designer and lightening designer Jason Arnold, provide the imaginative setting and perfect atmosphere for recounting these tales.

Scheherezade’s storytelling is never-ending—that is what we wish for Constellation in its next decades.  

WANT TO KNOW MORE
Constellation is at 1835 14th St NW,
www.ConstellationTheare.org 
202-204-7741




Popular posts from this blog

  Once is here again!   The Brooklyn Gallery Players reach into the treasure chest of great musicals to bring Once alive and on stage in Brooklyn (until to December 17, 2023). Director Mark Gallagher , and Music Directors David Fletcher and Brendon McCray have crafted a vibrant production, seamlessly integrating the 15 member cast in roles  as both actors and musicians. Set in Dublin, the  formula for the poignant love triangle  is simple. Patrick Newhart  plays Guy, an Irish musician who has given up  on love as he sings the award winning classic  Falling.  Newhart mastered the bombastic busking guitar style and performed each of his songs with intensity and passion Sophie Smith-Brody  is Girl,  a Czech woman  who will inspire him to try again both in  love and with music. Smith-Brody performed each of her disparate songs with aplomb,  from the opening classical piece to her plaintive solos – If You Want Me and The Hill.  The performance starts  with an “ impromptu”  p
Read more
               TINA - THE TINA TURNER MUSICAL  at The National Theatre              In the 1970s, I  had spent weeks climbing around ruins in Peru.  I heard music of the Andes all over.  I  was  finally at  Machu Picchu to spend the night so I could get up early  and climb to see the sunrise from the top of the ruins.   As I got to steps by the gatekeepe,  I could hear his boom box blaring across the Andes “I Wanna Take You Higher”  by Tina Turner.   You don’t have to go climbing the Andes to hear her songs — Tina-The Tina Turner Musical  isright here  at the National Theatre, Washington DC,  until  Oct. 23, 2022.    The show has broken all records with the awards it has received since in premiered in April 2018 in London.  No one questions that Tina is a musical legend but  for this show  accolades to  the stars Naomi Rodgers and Zurin Villanueva who alternate in the  spectacular role.   At every performance there will be people  who remember seeing Tina “back when” and
Read more
  Sarah Ruhl’s Orlando — sparkling wit and ageless wisdom —   at   Constellation Theatre — gone but not forgotten In Virginia Woolf’s Orlando A Biography ,  the eponymous hero undergoes many changes over the centuries— from roles in society and relationships to sex change.  Since the time travel gender bending work was published in 1928, this his/her story has continued to undergone adaptions to its original form, from analytical scholarly critiques to crowd pleasing  movies and stage plays.  Constellation Theatre Company continued  the tradition with its amazing presentation of Sarah Ruhl’s narrative play Orlando .    Five actors  take on dozens of roles as characters or in the  chorus to keep the story at its rapid pace,  condensing events spanning almost five centuries into 100 minutes.   Orlando (Mary Myers) is  ever the aristocrat whether as a page in the court of  Queen Elizabeth I (Alan Naylor)  or involved with a mysterious Russian princess (Edmee - Marie Faal) or pursued
Read more