LISTENING STATION: Whitney Houston looks to you

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IN CONCERT: Britney's Back

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

For 90 minutes, Miss Spears strutted, writhed and bounced around the stage with the best of her pop music contemporaries.

'Wizard's' lesser magic

Play offers fun but not the 1939 film's charm

Thursday, Dec. 4, 2008

Cupcakes, costumes and contests, oh my! Such was the fanfare that greeted patrons at Tuesday's opening-night performance of "The Wizard of Oz" at the Warner Theatre.

Matisyahu seized by the Spirit

Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2008

Hassidic reggae artist Matisyahu performed to a sold-out crowd Monday at a venue that could not have been more appropriate:

IN CONCERT: Jackson recovers

Concert suffers from A.D.D.

Friday, Oct. 17, 2008

While the economy has been ailing, so, too, has Janet Jackson. Suffering from what was initially described as a "mystery illness," the 42-year-old R&B/pop queen has canceled or postponed nearly a dozen shows on her current Rock Witchu Tour, which kicked off Sept. 10 in Vancouver.

THEATER: Beaty's 'Resurrection'

Playwright shows black men's trouble

Thursday, Sept. 11, 2008

Daniel Beaty's "Resurrection" is a work that looks more intently at the problematic present experienced by many black men while also delivering a formula for a more promising future.

BEYOND: 'Frozen River' fires up cast

Flow of events puts actress Melissa Leo in star role

Friday, Aug. 29, 2008

It's late July. Humidity and Melissa Leo's cigarette smoke hang in the air outside Georgetown's Four Seasons Hotel. The actress is enjoying a rare break between the endless interviews and photo sessions that come with pre-release movie promotion - in this case for first-timer Courtney Hunt's "Frozen River," a chilling drama about a Mohawk woman and a Caucasian woman, both mothers, who form a tenuous business partnership smuggling illegal immigrants across the northern border in order to survive financially.

Sign a song

Interpreter conveys music visually

Friday, Aug. 8, 2008

Unlike most members of music groups, Shirley Childress doesn't play an instrument or sing. In fact, when she performs with her ensemble - hometown favorites Sweet Honey in the Rock - she remains cloaked in silence.

Dissonance in the Keys of Alicia

Friday, June 13, 2008

Alicia Keys is experiencing trouble on the line. It's late May, several hours before the Grammy-winning R&B singer is due to perform at New Orleans Arena, and she's trying hard to make out the questions she's being asked in a teleconference with a few dozen reporters.

'Panda' not a knockout

Jack Black's kick outshines the film's creativity

Friday, June 6, 2008

Directors don't hire Jack Black because of his brilliant character acting; they hire him to be Jack Black, a rotund chatterbox who pings about with all the freneticism of a pinball. Casting him is a risky proposition, as the actor's personality can come across as overpowering and obnoxious (witness "Nacho Libre" and "The Holiday") or charming and quirky ("Be Kind Rewind," "School of Rock").