Leisure

Reviews and think pieces on music, movies, art, and theater.

Leisure

The Voice’s guide to D.C.: Where to eat

Affordable Eats The Well Dressed Burrito Address: 1220 19th St. NW How to get there: Take the GUTS bus to Dupont Circle, walk three blocks down 19th, and peer dubiously... Read more

By , , , and August 27, 2021

Performance

Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Blindness dazzles in darkness—and solitude

Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Sidney Harman Hall has opened the house once again. Well, not “house,” exactly. The theater’s in-person debuting return, an actorless show, begins the moment the audience files... Read more

By May 22, 2021

Movies

Director Ben Sharrock on how the refugee crisis keeps asylum seekers in Limbo

On the secluded Scottish Uists, Syrian refugee Omar (Amir El-Masry) awaits an update for his pending asylum application. Each day, in an almost Sisyphean display, he traverses the windswept island... Read more

By May 13, 2021

Music

Taemin gives fans a final encore with Beyond LIVE

Lee Taemin has spent nearly half his life in the limelight. It has been six and a half years since the Korean idol released his first solo album, and twice... Read more

By May 6, 2021

Performance

Signature Theatre’s Midnight at the Never Get breaks just the right amount of promises

The premise is deceptively simple. It is a cabaret show about the fabulous and dramatic lives of a songwriter and a performer at the close of the golden age of... Read more

By May 3, 2021

Music

Hard rock band Greta Van Fleet fights its biggest critics in The Battle at Garden’s Gate

Greta Van Fleet is no stranger to living in the shadow of the great rock bands that came before them. Hailing from Frankenmuth, Michigan, the band has been compared to... Read more

By April 29, 2021

Performance

Patrick Page thrills in All the Devils Are Here at the Shakespeare Theatre Company

Footsteps echo in a darkened theater. Every seat in the house is empty, and somehow, it makes the audience shiver even more. All the Devils Are Here: How Shakespeare Invented... Read more

By April 27, 2021

Music

Taylor Swift dives “headfirst, fearless” into the re-recording process with Fearless (Taylor’s Version)

On the heels of Taylor Swift’s historic Grammy triumph, where she received her third Album of the Year award, fans celebrate the re-recording of her first AOTY-winning album. Fearless (Taylor’s... Read more

By April 19, 2021

Music

Canadian post-punk band Dish Pit showcases grime, grit, and glamor on debut LP

Content Warning: This article mentions sexual assault.  It is hot and sweaty in the dish pit of a Montreal restaurant. The sounds are cacophonous and the air is grimy with... Read more

By April 17, 2021

In the District

National Portrait Gallery virtual festival conjures a kaleidoscope of women, art, and history in “Where There Is a Woman There Is Magic”

Content warning: mentions of sexual assault, racism “This selection of portraits seeks to inspire learning and inquiry through the celebration of women, whose stories are often unsung or missing from... Read more

By April 15, 2021

Performance

Tricked-out monologue meets pared-down musical, Round House Theatre’s A Boy and his Soul doesn’t miss a beat online

There is a certain beauty in watching a show and thinking, “this could have been done so poorly.”  It means not just that all the right choices were made, but... Read more

By April 12, 2021

Music

Justice and injustice: Justin Bieber expresses passion for change and love on his sixth studio album

Justin Bieber’s sixth studio album, released on March 19, is already topping the charts.  Justice is Bieber’s eighth overall album to be No. 1 on the Billboard 200. The original... Read more

By April 8, 2021

Music

On Skies, John Woolley shows how high he can fly

Disclaimer: Woolley is the Voice’s current features editor.  It is a well-trodden path. Go out the door of New South 430, down the hall. Pass the common room, go down the elevator.... Read more

By April 6, 2021

Voices

Bridgerton proves that color-conscious casting alone is not good enough

Bridgerton sits somewhere in the middle of the spectrum, not really committed to color-conscious casting, but not color-blind either. The way that race fits into the storyline seems to have been an afterthought. The conversation, which attributed the diversity of the society to love conquering prejudice, was so shallow that I wish they hadn’t included it.

By March 30, 2021

Movies

Nomadland‘s story of wanderers hits close to home

A story of perpetual travelers and their time on the road seems like it should hold few lessons in a year most spent confined to their homes. Yet Chloé Zhao’s... Read more

By March 22, 2021

Features

Touchstone Gallery’s virtual exhibits prove physical art cannot be replaced

One year into the COVID-19 pandemic, the doors to Touchstone Gallery remain closed to the public. Despite attempts to recreate the beloved experience online, Touchstone’s virtual exhibits fail to inspire... Read more

By March 20, 2021

Performance

Signature Theatre’s Simply Sondheim gives us a taste of what we’ve been missing

A theater is never truly empty. Even when it is not being used, a ghost light sits on stage, illuminating a venue that would otherwise be completely dark. Since the... Read more

By March 19, 2021

Performance

DBMOAF Weekend One: A Beloved Georgetown Theater Tradition Perseveres in a Virtual Environment

By no miracle, but by the determination and talent of a group of scrappy Georgetown students, the Donn B. Murphy One Acts Festival (DBMOAF) has persevered in an environment that... Read more

By March 14, 2021

Music

Julien Baker moves forward and finds her strength on Little Oblivions

Queer and Christian. College student and famous touring musician. Addict and sober role model. In Julien Baker’s hands, reconciling these identities is old news—now, she pushes past them altogether.  Baker’s... Read more

By March 8, 2021

Music

Hayley Williams lays her ghosts to rest in FLOWERS for VASES / descansos

No artist showcased quite as much of a quarantine transformation as Hayley Williams. The Paramore lead singer released her explosive solo debut, Petals for Armor (2020), back in May, in... Read more

By February 25, 2021