Pushing the Envelope

Gallery

Pushing the Envelope

Washington Post theater critic Peter Marks hands out his own awards for the most (and least) ovation-worthy moments in Washington's 2007-08 theater season.

» LAUNCH PHOTO GALLERY

(Woolly Mammoth)

Melissa James Gibson re-spun

"The Odyssey" as an affecting, modern mythical tale of a career-obsessed mom who wanders off for 20 years and then returns to face the consequences. The production helped fortify Woolly's status as the hottest theater company in town.

Best musical

"Avenue Q"

(National Theatre)

Has smut ever seemed so endearing? This irrepressible Gen Y barrel of snark, wit and puppets doing the nasty made it to Washington four years after its New York birth, and the production couldn't have felt any fresher or funnier.

Worst musical

"High School Musical"

(National Theatre)

A plastic facsimile of the saccharine Disney TV original. And scary evidence of what the corporate musical comedy is doing to the commercial theater.

The longest night

Shakespeare Theatre Company's

"Tamburlaine"

The inaugural act at darkly handsome Sidney Harman Hall was an ill-considered revival of this elongated chore of a play by Christopher Marlowe. The opening-night performance began shortly before 8 on the evening of Nov. 7. And for all anyone knows, it's still going on.

Most auspicious debuts

Veronica del Cerro in

"My Children! My Africa!"

(Studio Theatre) and

Jobari Parker Namdar in

"The Stephen Schwartz Project"

(MetroStage)

The parts couldn't have been more different. Del Cerro played a South African schoolgirl in a play by Athol Fugard; Namdar sang and danced in a new revue built on the songbook of Broadway composer Schwartz. And yet the impact was the same: Each of them left an exhilarating calling card -- the sort you want to keep in the Rolodex.