There are few voices in the history of recorded music that have moved me like Mahalia Jackson's and I'd love nothing more than to be swaying in the aisle at The Hattiloo Theatre's production of Mahalia, which opens this weekend.

This isn't the first time the Hattiloo has performed this gospel musical and the show has a reputation for selling out fast. As much as I'd like to be in that number, I suspect I'll probably be hauling my 7-year-old twins out to Germantown to take in GCT's production of the children's classic Charlotte's Web. You see the wife's name is Charlotte, her mother's name is Charlotte and the first born twin is also Charlotte. So there doesn't seem to be any getting around this.

UPDATE: In an unexpected turn of events the weekend turned out completely differently. I took in Harold Pinter's The Homecoming at TheatreWorks. More on that shortly. I'd love to hear from folks who've seen Mahalia or Charlotte's Web.