Master Class - Manhattan Theatre Club

Master Class - nytheatre.com review

"The supporting actors in Master Class are also quite enjoyable...and Clinton Brandhagen plays the Stagehand with appropriate comic timing reminding us where the priorities lie for those who work behind the scenes. Truly the whole ensemble makes up a strong evening of theatre." - Kristin Skye Hoffmann

"Clinton Brandhagen is WONDERFUL" - Mark Kennedy Associated Press

Pictured: Clinton Brandhagen and Tyne Daly in a scene from Master Class (photo © Joan Marcus)

All My Sons - Everyman Theatre

Tim Swift - The Baltimore Sun

"Everyman's staging of Arthur Miller's "All My Sons," originally scheduled to close Dec. 12, will now go through Dec. 18.

Vincent Lancisi directs an exceptional cast in an illuminating production of this still-potent American play, providing quite a lesson in ensemble acting and subtly atmospheric scenic design. I can't recommend this highly enough."

BWW Reviews: Everyman's ALL MY SONS Is What Theater is All About

by Charles Shubow - Broadwayworld.com

"Everyman Theatre's Artistic Director Vince Lancisi has done it again. He has directed a play I've seen on Broadway and did it better. This time it's the classic play by the late Arthur Miller, All My Sons...Well, leave it to Lancisi who directs this amazing cast in what arguably could be one the best productions ever done at the Everyman."

Everyman Theatre offers compelling revival of Arthur Miller's 'All My Sons'

Tim Swift - The Baltimore Sun

"As Chris, the son who came back from the war and joined his father's business, Clinton Brandhagen reveals admirable scope. His eyes have much to say, too; behind them can be read the gnawing concern that he may be standing, like his father, on sand. And when the elusive truth hits Chris right between those eyes, Brandhagen registers the impact with a terrific intensity that generates an unnerving force onstage.

This season, Everyman celebrates its 20th year. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of patrons rank the affecting revival of "All My Sons" among the best efforts of those two decades. The production reminds you why you love theater, reconfirms what an involving and haunting art form it is -- and how a first-rate company can make it doubly so."

Photograph 51 - Theater J

MARCH 31, 2011 By Steven McKnight - DC Theatre Scene

"Rich’s wonderful central performance is supported by a fine ensemble cast. Clinton Brandhagen capably handles a difficult job role as the officious and conflicted Wilkins."

Theater review: ‘Photograph 51’ at Theater J

April 4, 2011by Nelson Pressley - The Washington Post

"Her superior, Maurice Wilkins, is smug and entitled, but he’s practically knocked woozy by Franklin’s constant lashings...Clinton Brandhagen is particularly deft as Wilkins, finding an appealingly soft center in a role that might have come off as hopelessly priggish."

Theater J discovers DNA

April 1, 2011 By Trey Graham - Washington City Paper

"Daniella Topol’s warm and personable cast brings the supporting characters—an intensely disagreeable Watson, a bluff, worldly Crick, and Franklin’s emotionally constipated, professionally unsupportive colleague Maurice Wilkins among them—admirably to life."

Two Much The Mystery of Irma Vep delivers laughs, surprises, and reams of frilly dresses

By Bret McCabe | Baltimore City Paper

In short: Everyman Theater's current production of Charles Ludlam's The Mystery of Irma Vep is the most fun you can have indoors right now without having to go to confession immediately afterward. Under the direction of Everett Quinton, the late Ludlam's creative and life partner who performed in Irma Vep's 1984 debut by the Ridiculous Theatrical Company, this production is a nonstop laugh-fest peppered by invasions of the paranormal, shots fired in the dark, bleeding paintings, dueling dulcimers, an offstage camel, hidden rooms, and tales of bloody carnage so riotously dramatic you're not sure to laugh or cringe. (Actually, you can't help laughing.) And steering this entire ship of foolishness are two actors bringing to vibrant life seven characters over three acts. It's a pair of athletic performances that make you feel like you've just survived nearly two hours of hot yoga...

Keeping this madcap comedy chugging along are Nelson and Brandhagen, who often sprint from one character to another. Each actor finds a way to give each of their characters identifiable voices, walks, mannerisms, and, miraculously, senses of humor. Brandhagen is a touch spinster/marmish as Jane and Robert Donat-dashing as Lord Edgar, and Nelson moves from being Lady Enid the timid lass one moment and caterwauling Nicodemus the next, a man who feels dug up from a Charles Dickens novel. In fact, at one point Nelson pulls off the acrobatic feat of a conversation between Lady Enid and Nicodemus. That's one of many, many instances where the sheer physical rigor required to realize the play becomes a part of the experience itself, and such a laughing-because-it's-just-funny moment on opening night led to a near riotous pause where Nelson's delivery made Brandhagen almost imperceptibly stifle the urge to laugh.

Such is the peril of delivering this joyously absurd farce so well: the jokes and wit come in such ceaseless waves that there's nary a chance to catch your breath.

Does the whole thing make believable sense? Not even the faintest lick—but neither does an episode of The Simpsons, an example of the sort of zinging comedy that Irma Vep pulls off. Of course, that's an animated program created by teams of writers, artists, and actors. Irma Vep stirs up that level of anarchy live onstage, in a highly choreographed production spotlighting two men running an acting triathlon.

Plenty of laughs, camp in 'Mystery'

By Tim Smith | Baltimore Sun

The only mystery in "The Mystery of Irma Vep" is how the two actors who dash, hop, limp and swirl through the Everyman Theatre staging of Charles Ludlam's inventive and amusing play are still standing at the end.

Portraying at least three characters apiece, and with gender-crossing ease, the duo of Clinton Brandhagen and Bruce R. Nelson plugs tightly into the crazed world that Ludlam fashioned in 1984. His play, slyly subtitled "a penny dreadful," contains varying amounts of Victorian melodrama, Gothic horror, vaudeville, Hollywood, and maybe even a little of "The Carol Burnett Show."

"Irma Vep" enjoyed an original two-year run off-off-Broadway by Ludlam's Ridiculous Theatrical Company, with the playwright and his partner, Everett Quinton, tackling the multiple roles. Since Ludlam's untimely death in 1987, Quinton has continued to be closely associated with the play, both as a performer (he starred in and produced the award-winning off-Broadway revival in 1998) and, as in the case of this Everyman production, director.

Quinton has Brandhagen and Nelson weathering heights of camp with panache. The greater your appreciation for campiness, the more laughs per minute you'll enjoy, but that's hardly the only element; Ludlam was much too clever to confine himself to a target audience. With "Irma Vep," he cast a wide net for comic potential and reeled in a plot that just keeps on giving.

The two cast members, supported by a hardworking backstage crew, reveal equally remarkable flair for creating totally distinct characterizations, and bouncing between them in seemingly effortless fashion.

Brandhagen deftly reveals Jane to be a wonderfully prim, but combustible, creature; his Lord Edgar is at once suave, vulnerable and slightly dim.

Both men prove admirably adept as quick-change artists, and Nelson makes the most of a scene that requires him to be two characters at once onstage.

At the speed this show moves, there's always the chance that something will go slightly astray, but count on Brandhagen and Nelson to know how to capitalize on the unexpected for an extra laugh. (On opening night, the actors came close to breaking each other up, but that only added to the fun.)

Review: The Mystery of Irma Vep

by Daniel Collins | Broadway World

Vaudeville, Wikipedia tells us, brought "musicians, dancers, comedians, trained animals, magicians, female and male impersonators," acrobats, athletes and more, to the stage. Vaudeville was the land of slapstick comedy, of burlesque, of one-liners, bad puns and the art of the "quick change," as players tumbled in and out of costumes as they raced back and forth on the stage from one bit to the next.

Vaudeville died in the 1930s, killed by television and movies, but occasionally we see the spirit of this madcap form of entertainment, alive and well, in plays like the late Charles Ludlam's "The Mystery of Irma Vep" now at Baltimore's Everyman Theater.

"The Mystery of Irma Vep" is directed by Everett Quinton, Ludlam's life partner, who also performed in the first ever production of this comic farce, written in 1984, and it shows, as Quinton does a masterful job in making this "penny dreadful"-a British term for a melodramatic "dime novel"- priceless entertainment.

He's helped considerably by the acting talents of the 2-man cast, Bruce R. Nelson (Lady Enid, Nicodemus, Alcazar) and Clinton Brandhagen (Jane Twisdon, Lord Edgar, An Intruder) who served this silly salmagundi of werewolves, vampires, mummies, and ghosts to a more than appreciative audience last Friday night.

Nelson, a staple at the Everyman, is, in one moment, the fair, young bride of Lord Edgar, all blonde tresses, swishing satin, tremulous lips and clasping hands, and the next, the peg-legged Nicodemus, bald, bad teeth, Cockney accent, he's Smike from "Nicholas Nickelby" all grown up. Later in the play he becomes Egyptian treasure hunter Alcazar, pulling a camel we never see, and struggling with the word "sarcophagus" which he pronounces "sar-car-PHAG-us."

Nelson demonstrates a range of talent rarely seen on the stage, as few actors have the ability to play two characters simultaneously. With a little help from the backstage crew, Nelson holds a hilarious conversation between Lady Enid and Nicodemus, even as the latter is transforming into a werewolf.

Brandhagen matches Nelson in his ability to become the right and proper maid servant Jane one minute, and the stalwart, pit-helmeted Lord Edgar the next to a mad Mr. Hyde-esque intruder who may be a vampire seconds later. Both Brandhagen and Nelson demonstrate near athletic ability in their swift moves on and off the stage, wigs askew, sweat profuse, but never missing a cue, accents just right, mannerisms distinct from character to character--one imagines the actors must lose 10 pounds with each performance!

If vaudeville is the realm of "musicians, dancers, comedians, trained animals, magicians, female and male impersonators," this production is a fitting homage, as we have Lady Enid and Jane playing dueling dulcimers, we have actors trading comic puns (and for one point in the play, a Harvey Korman-breaks-up-at-Tim-Conway moment), we have a stuffed "dead" wolf, a werewolf, some magical special effects, and two men playing six characters, including two women.

The influence of Gothic horror tales by Edgar Allan Poe, Shakespeare, works like Wuthering Heights, Hitchcock's flim "Rebecca" (a haunted portrait of Lady Irma comes to life) are all seen in this play which even features a bit of voodoo and "the curse of the Druids." At play's end, Lady Enid reflects, "Somehow it just doesn't make sense," but then again, it's not supposed to, any more than an episode of "Family Guy" is supposed to "make sense." With "The Mystery of Irma Vep," leave reason behind and prepare, as artistic director Vincent Lancisi told the audience, for some really big laughs.

“Nightingale” Sings at Everyman

"Last Friday night marked the opening of C.P Taylor's WWII comedy/drama And a Nightingale Sang at Everyman Theatre. Truth be told, every play this season at Everyman has been of the utmost quality (Opus and School for Scandal come readily to mind), but this production may be the best thing I've seen there in years. Forgive me, please, if I repeat adjectives or sound like a thesaurus. There are only so many synonyms for "excellent."

Norman, played with nuance and passion by Clinton Brandhagen – is every girl's dream and every father's greatest wish – a good guy. Mr. Brandhagen's heartfelt performance is punctuated with soulful eyes and an endearing delivery of lines. Any man who is so blinded by love so as to overlook any and all of Helen's flaws is ok in our book, which makes some of his act two revelations both shocking and yet completely understandable. It is a difficult role to pull off, and this fine young actor does so with brilliance."

- Reviewed by James Howard Broadway World

Orson's Shadow by Austin Pendleton | Round House Theatre

"Rounding out the cast is a very funny Clinton Brandhagen as the celebrity struck stage hand." A Potomac Stages Pick for a fun back stage battle of egos -Reviewed by Brad Hathaway Potomac Stages

"There are parts of this play, and this production, which are as good as anything I’ve seen on stage this season. An impromptu steak-and-wine party involving Welles, Leigh and Welles’ truth-telling manservant (a very funny Clinton Brandhagen) seemed as absurd as anything in Rhinoceros." -Reviewed by Tim Treanor DC Theatre Reviews

"Celebrity narcissism + audience voyeurism ÷ ordinary human vulnerability = guaranteed laughs, with a little something wistful in the remainder column: It’s an old equation, but Orson’s Shadow proves it out all over again, and pretty elegantly, too.

Clinton Brandhagen rounds out the cast, playing the cheerfully clueless stagehand who keeps stumbling into inopportunities on Daniel Conway’s nicely cluttered backstage set." -Reviewed by Trey Graham Washington City Paper

A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas by Michael Wilson | Ford's Theatre

'A Christmas Carol' With Effects and Affection:

"As Scrooge, [Richard] Poe "bahs!" and "humbugs!" gruffly, and Clinton Brandhagen's irrepressibly beamish nephew Fred bellows good cheer.

Like Christmas, Scrooge and his story can be done by rote. But Poe and his colleagues are given room to come through, and they finish with a glint of real wonder."

-Reviewed by By Nelson Pressley The Washington Post

At Ford's Theatre, 'A Christmas Carol' With Lots of Spirit

"...Backing up this star turn is a capable cast that includes Clinton Brandhagen, as a particularly amiable version of Scrooge's nephew Fred..."

-Reviewed by Celia Wren The Washington Post

Dickens Nouveau: Ford's Theatre serves up an eggnog brew filled with holiday spices of a different variety with 'A Christmas Carol'

"Clinton Brandhagen and Saskia de Vries turn in tender performances as Scrooge’s nephew Fred and Mrs. Fred."

-Reviewed by Jolene Munch Metro Weekly

The Foreigner by Larry Shue

Olney Theatre Center

"I can't imagine a more amiable and sturdy production of the play than this one. The ensemble work is tight, the timing snappy, the tensions roiling. And Brandhagen's too-good-to-be-true Reverend is just that, and dives from saintly to snakey in good form."

-Reviewed by Alexander C. Kafka Rokovoko DC Zine of Arts and Living

The Comedy of Errors Folger Theatre

Brooklyn Brouhaha: Shakespeare "The Comedy of Errors" at Folger Theatre

-Reviewed by Jolene Munch | Washington DC Metro Weekly

"...It also helps to cast a group of actors whose chemistry bolts off the stage in small sparks of electricity. Brandhagen and Sutton are both vastly entertaining in their quick-switch roles as two halves to a whole set of twins. Brandhagen is bold and eccentric one minute, helpless and utterly confused the next..."

'Comedy': The Queen's English, Brooklyn style

-Reviewed by Art Critics on the Web | Foggy Bottom Newsletter

"The playing is fast and furious in this riotous comedy/farce with a highly energized and disciplined cast. Clinton Brandhagen reigns supreme in his dual role of Antipholus with most skillful and distinct twin behaviors."