The Washington Post - 06.09.2019

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FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2019

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WEEKEND

On StageOur critics weigh in on noteworthy shows

Keegan Theatre’s

‘Legally Blonde’

“Legally Blonde,” the antsy,

noisy musical, lacks the winning

personality of “Legally Blonde,”

the 2001 movie with Reese

Witherspoon as fashionista Elle

Woods, blithely racking up style

points as she ditches a bad

boyfriend and conquers Harvard

Law. The Keegan Theatre’s new

staging of the 2007 Broadway

adaptation throws a lot of

energy into big pop numbers

and workout-driven dances, but

the high-strung show can’t help

coming across like a chemical

accident that won’t stop

foaming. Through Sunday at

Keegan Theatre, 1742 Church St.

NW. keegantheatre.com. $20-

$63. — Nelson Pressley

Mosaic Theater’s

‘Fabulation, or the Re-

Education of Undine’

Double Dutch jump rope rarely

gets its due in drama, but the

game inspires a touching moment

in “Fabulation, or the Re-

Education of Undine,” Lynn

Nottage’s satire about upward

and downward mobility in

contemporary America. Now on

view in a mostly sleek Mosaic

Theater Company production,

“Fabulation” tells of Undine, an

African American PR bigwig whose

world unravels after her husband

absconds with her money. Written

in a less naturalistic mode than

Nottage’s Pulitzer Prize-winning

plays “Sweat” and “Ruined,” but

sharing the former’s concerns

with America’s socioeconomic

and racial fault lines, the 2004

“Fabulation” abounds in biting

satirical specificity. Through Sept.

22 at the Atlas Performing Arts

Center, 1333 H St. NE.

mosaictheater.org. $20-$65. —

Celia Wren

Signature Theatre’s

‘Assassins’

An odd little smile crosses the

face of Bobby Smith as he

relates the disordered thoughts

of presidential killer Charles J.

Guiteau in Signature Theatre’s

perversely entertaining revival

of “Assassins.” In what twisted

frame of mind would this man

have to be to boast of his

horrific homicidal achievement

— and not just boast, but sing

about it, too? That question

crops up again and again with

the infamous gallery that

populates composer Stephen

Sondheim and book writer John

Weidman’s 1990 musical. The

show’s themes seem

particularly consonant now in a

country whose political

atmosphere seems sick at

heart. For “Assassins” — one of

Sondheim’s most brazenly

original works — is a kind of

melodic postmortem on the

cluster of moral and mental

illnesses that compel broken

people to kill American

presidents. Through Sept. 29 at

Signature Theatre, 4200

Campbell Ave., Arlington.

sigtheatre.org. $66-$110. —

Peter Marks

Cirque du Soleil’s

‘Volta’

The combination of

extraordinary acrobatic feats,

industrial-strength artsy

visuals and mysterious wispy

narrative is vintage Cirque du

Soleil. But “Volta” — which

premiered in Montreal in 2017

— purports to have its own

distinctive vision, with a

recurrent theme of street

sports. That motif is not always

apparent, but it certainly

surfaces in certain scenes,

such as a tour de force of

stunt-cycling in which riders

pull off bat-out-of-hell slaloms,

wheelies and aerial swivels

along a transparent cradle.

Through Sept. 29 at Tysons

Galleria, 2001 International Dr.,

McLean. cirquedusoleil.com/

volta. $49-$285. — Celia Wren

CHRISTOPHER BANKS

“Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine,” is a satire about

upward and downward mobility in contemporary America.

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