National Theatre

Washington Watching Sir Ian McKellen's portrayal of Richard III in the Royal National Theatre's production of Shakespeare's play is a little like looking at the photographs Diane Arbus used to take of freaks.While we are always aware of the monarch's deformities, we are equally aware of his attempts to conceal them. The withered hand is tucked into a pocket; the hunchback is minimized by the expert tailoring of this updated production's military uniforms and evening clothes. And though the limp and a "Phantom of the Opera"-like grossly asymmetrical hairline are constant reminders of the character's freakishness, he appears, like Arbus' subjects, defiantly proud, determined to be normal.

Halfway into the first act of "Crazy for You" -- the "new" Gershwin musical playing a pre-Broadway run at Washington's National Theatre -- there's a scene set in a dilapidated theater. "All we have to do to save this place is just put on a show," the hero says in true cornball fashion.Cornball or not, that dusty theater and its glorious transformation could be a metaphor for the effect "Crazy for You" is likely to have on the current musical-deficient Broadway season: This giddy throwback to boy-meets-girl, wide-eyed optimism looks like just what's needed to resuscitate the grand old American musical comedy.

NEW YORK -- What the 1993-1994 Broadway season lacked in new shows it made up for in revivals. Nearly half -- 17 to be precise -- of the season's 36 openings were revivals. In recognition of this, the Tony Administration Committee divided the revival category into best musical and best play revival for the first time.What are some of the leading oldies-but-goodies? Well, despite racking up nine nominations -- four more than any other revival -- "She Loves Me" is one of the less inventive, more straightforward productions.

National Theatre. "Rent." Open auditions for the Broadway production and all its touring companies. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday at the theater, 1321 Pennsylvania Ave., Washington. Needed are men and women of all ethnicities in their early to mid-20s. Take photo and resume. Prepare 16 bars of up-beat pop/rock/gospel music to sing without piano (no musical theater or country music songs). Call 212-479-0833. Open Space Arts. "Giant Puppet Pageant." Needed are actors, puppeteers, stage hands.

The Royal Shakespeare Company will begin a five-year residency at Washington's Kennedy Center next season. The partnership will bring one new production to Washington each year, beginning in April 2003. Although a specific play has not been chosen for the coming season, King Lear, Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet will each be produced over the five years. A $250,000 gift from the Prince of Wales Foundation launched the residency, and Prince Charles, who serves as president of the Royal Shakespeare Company board, issued a statement saying, "Washington is in for a real treat, and I am delighted that over the next five years you will have regular opportunities to see just what my favorite theatre company has to offer."

Bob Crowley has designed more than 50 theatrical productions in Britain and on Broadway, plus worked on music videos with Sting and on movies with Daniel Day-Lewis and Winona Ryder.But he's only designed one musical: the Royal National Theatre's production of "Carousel." And he's prouder of its opening sequence than anything else in his 15-year career."It's like a summation of things," he says. "I feel there was a synthesis between music and design and direction and choreography. . . . It was as if one mindset was at work."

The National Marionette Theatre and its founder, master puppeteer Daniel Syrotiak, will present the classic children's story Sleeping Beauty on Sunday at Howard Community College's Smith Theatre. The show is part of the Candlelight Concert Society's Performing Arts Series for Children. "The professionalism will appeal to adults - they can sit back and relax and enjoy the show without having to worry about not being entertained," said Syrotiak, who hopes to draw all ages to the show. "It is very exciting to see three generations of a family - children, parents, and grandparents - come to a show together," he said.

"Carousel" - a musical about the circularity of life has come full circle itself.Based on a 1909 European play, "Liliom" by Ferenc Molnar, it was musicalized and thoroughly Americanized in 1945 by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, who transported it from its Hungarian setting to the Maine coast.Now, the Europeans have made it their own again, as proved by the Royal National Theatre of Great Britain's splendid Tony Award-winning production at the Lyric Opera House through Sunday.The visual elements are the core of this beautifully realized revival.

The musical "Ragtime" has been called a pageant and a tapestry, and it is both these things. But it is also something at once smaller and more grand.It is a show about family -- and all the struggles, joys, sacrifices, rewards and heartbreaks a family entails.Based on E.L. Doctorow's 1975 novel, this majestic, sweeping musical (book by Terrence McNally, score by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens) is launching its tour at Washington's National Theatre.In the grand metaphorical sense, "Ragtime" is about the family that is America, a family that is often divisive, even dysfunctional, but ultimately an amalgam of the best qualities of its disparate members.

"I was a wandering sheep. I did not love the fold. I did not love my shepherd's voice. I would not be controlled." -- Alex, the central character in the violent film "A Clockwork Orange."For Benjamin Scott Garris, playing Alex was the role of a lifetime.He tried to commit suicide, just like Alex.He was treated in a psychiatric hospital, just like Alex.He even dressed in costume, wearing black Doc Martens boots and a jock strap pulled tightly over his white pants. Just like Alex.And when the teen allegedly knifed a counselor to death at Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital in Towson in October, police said he seemed to be mimicking the "ultra violence" he found so fascinating in "A Clockwork Orange," a futuristic film about a sadistic droog "rehabilitated" by government psychiatrists.