All posts by Amanda N. Gunther

A full-time theatre reviewer in the Baltimore, Washington, and surrounding areas; Amanda holds a BFA in Acting from the University of Maryland Baltimore County as well as a minor in Creative Writing. Having spent two of her five years at college studying abroad at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, she has learned a great deal about improv, devised work theatre, and interpretive movement pieces. Striving to promote theatre of all types, she can often be found in a theatre of some type, even on her nights off.

Review: The Mesmeric Revelations! of Edgar Allan Poe- Revisited!

Reviews October 13, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

Are you asleep? Good. Let us begin. Again. Darkness has once more descended upon your mind, crept into your dreams, and awakened a nightmare that you knew once before. A vestibule, instructions, the evening awaits— and you recall having been here before. Or have you? Fact and fiction, living and dead, waking and sleeping, the lines are blurring together once more in an evocatively immersive theatrical experience like no other. Returning to The Enoch Pratt House in time for the haunting season,

Review: Insurrection: Holding History at Annex Theater

Reviews October 12, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

It is time for the first to become the last and the last to become the first. A mantra that echoes through the words of playwright Robert O’Hara’s work Insurrection: Holding History. Making its Baltimore debut on The Annex Theater stage under the Direction of Kyle A. Jackson, this provocative work draws forth questions of historical importance in a time that is often called into question, particularly in the way it effects current events.

Review: Planchette

Reviews October 12, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

When the dead speak, they might be talking to you. The mystifying and spookily intriguing tagline for a new experiential theatrical installment that has crept its way into the shadowy nightlife of Charm City just in time for the haunting season. Debuting at the historic Carroll Mansion over near Harbor East, Planchette appears for a limited run engagement to conduct an engagement with spirits from the beyond. Directed by Deirdre McAllister, the new piece was a collaborative conception between area playwright Annelise Montone and local performance artist and magician Brian M.

Review: Maytag Virgin at Quotidian Theatre Company

Reviews October 11, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

The smartest thing you can ever learn is that you don’t have all the answers. Not to life, not to death, not to love. In a strikingly beautiful and evocative world premier work, playwright Audrey Cefaly debuts her new play Maytag Virgin at Quotidian Theatre Company as a part of the Women’s Voices Theater Festival. Directed by Cefaly, this two-person heartwarming tale explores how fragile human life can be, and how even among the shattered debris of ruined life true beauty can be found.

Review: Cake Off at Signature Theatre

Reviews October 10, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

Gotta bowl. Gotta whisk. Then there’s nothing else but the recipes and chemistry and you. It’s time for the 50th Annual Millberry Cake Off and the only missing ingredient is you in a seat at Signature Theatre this autumn to witness the spectacular new musical that is Cake Off. Debuting as a part of the Women’s Voices Theater Festival, this stunning high-octane comedy is both hilarious and heart-warming, a true veritable rollercoaster of emotions in just 100 minutes of sensational singing and performing.

Review: Beautiful: The Carole King Musical at The Kennedy Center

Reviews October 9, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

Sometimes life goes the way you want it to. And sometimes it doesn’t. But when it doesn’t, sometimes you find something beautiful. And Beautiful: The Carole King Musical is what can be found on the Opera House Stage of The John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts this October. Living up to its title, with Words and Music by the infamous Carole King, as well as Gerry Goffin, Barry Mann, and Cynthia Weil,

Attend the Tale of Sweeney Todd: An Interview with Director Lee Lewis

Interviews October 8, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd! He served a dark and a vengeful God! What happens there— well that’s the play! And he wouldn’t want us to give it away…not Sweeney…not Sweeney Todd, the demon barber of Fleet Street! But in an exclusive TheatreBloom interview Director Lee Lewis gives away all the details that the Demon Barber will allow about the upcoming production at Milburn Stone Theatre, reminding us all that this isn’t your mom and pop’s spooky Sondheim musical.

Review: POE at Annapolis Shakespeare Company

Reviews October 7, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

There are some secrets that do not permit themselves to be told. Arising from the grave ruins of memory, a world premier work takes to the stage with Annapolis Shakespeare Company this autumn. POE, as written by Gregory Thomas Martin and Directed by Sally Boyett, explores the final moments of Edgar Allan Poe before his untimely descent into the permanence of madness and death. Situated inside the charming historic 1747 Pub in the cellars of Reynolds Tavern,

Forsaken Angels with The New Day Campaign

News October 6, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

In the war of their stories, the victims are the survivors. Sex-trafficking: an atrocity in society that most dismiss as something happening in third world countries, or only among the impoverished and mentally unstable here in their own country, is a topic needing a voice of political and community advocacy in the United States. WolfPack Theatre Company’s Founding Artistic Director and Playwright William Dean Leary has given voice to women who lived to escape such a war and tell the tale.

Brassieres of Terror- Late Night Double-D Feature at Yellow Sign Theatre

News October 4, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

In the dead of night, when the moon is high, and ill winds blow…that’s when you should be slinking over to the Yellow Sign Theatre to catch a glimpse of the Burlesque Company in residence, Twisted Knickers! Setting up early for a Halloween delight, Brassieres of Terror— A Late-Night Double-D Feature storms the stage with the haunting spectacle of Burlesque in the vain of spooky with a seductive twist.

Love, Loss, and What I Wore at Arts Collective @ Howard Community College

News October 3, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

Has a singular article of clothing from somewhere in your life ever moved you? Maybe it was your prom dress. Your first bra? A black sweater or your favorite t-shirt? It is a universal thread over which women bond: their clothing. Presented for a three-weekend limited engagement, the Arts Collective @ Howard Community College brings a treasured time capsule of women’s life, relationships, and their wardrobe to the stage with Nora and Delia Ephron’s Love,

The Guard at Ford’s Theatre

Reviews October 2, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

Artists are the real philosophers of the world because they are the ones struggling to communicate the real human condition. In a powerful new evocative work commissioned for Ford’s Theatre, playwright Jessica Dickey explores the notion of protecting the space around the art in her new heart-heavy drama The Guard. Receiving its world premiere upon the stage under the Direction of Sharon Ott, this fascinating new work is not without its levity in its epic journey of exploration through emotions and the notions of art and what it means to exist as humans in a world dominated by untouchable art.

Smirk & Mirrors at Club Charles

News October 1, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther 1 Comment

The deviously delicious and dark world of edgier entertainment never stops flowing from out the doors of the Yellow Sign Theatre. In fact there is so much of an overflow that it has slithered its way into Club Charles, the trendy Station North Night Club right next door. YST’s Magician in Residence, L.G. Gerace, Most Marvelous— who is also the known magician in residence with the Baltimore Rock Opera Society (BROS) sets up shop every Wednesday evening in a private little alcove in the corner of the club and invites club patrons in to witness his intriguing little show,

Horatio Dark’s Between The Lines at Yellow Sign Theatre

News September 29, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

Good evening, Baltimore. It’s time to dim the lights, settle into your radio, and steel your nerves as Horatio Dark, the master of the macabre, the navigator of the netherworld, the antiquarian of the insane takes you on an aural adventure to the realm of the frightening and the bizarre. Brought to you through the hosting vessel of The Yellow Sign Theatre Company, Horatio Dark’s Between the Lines live radio broadcast is here for your entertainment pleasure.

Review: Dogfight at Red Branch Theatre Company

Reviews September 29, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

You’re going to have some kinda time at Red Branch Theatre Company this fall as they swing their way into the season with Dogfight, a musical with Book by Peter Duchan and Music and Lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. Directed by Stephanie Lynn Williams, with Musical Direction by Dustin Merrell, this evocatively haunting and tragically beautiful musical shows the caliber of talent that RBTC possesses when mounting a show.

Review: No Spring Chicken at NextStop Theatre Company

Reviews September 27, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

Hope is a powerful thing. It helps you hang onto your dreams, even when you have to hang on for two decades. As a part of the Women’s Voices Theater Festival, NextStop Theatre Company welcomes a bundle of joy in this world premiere production of No Spring Chicken. Written and Performed by Ginna Hoben and Directed by Sullivan Canaday White, this 75-minute one-woman drama is a lighthearted retelling of pregnancy from Advanced Maternal Age.

Review: The Cat in the Hat at MET’s Fun Company

Reviews September 26, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

Whether it is raining outside or perhaps it is sunny,

The MET’s Fun Company has a show that is funny!

It’s a fanciful jaunt, a chance to let your imagination run loose!

Because they’re mounting a production adapted from Dr. Seuss!

Katie Mitchell, the Adaptor, of this fantastical story

Adapts The Cat in the Hat and all of its glory!

Directed by Julie Herber,

Review: Phoebe in Winter at Single Carrot Theatre

Reviews September 26, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

Things must be allowed to occur in their own natural time. In keeping true to that sentiment, the Season 9 opening show at Single Carrot Theatre, a part of the Women’s Voices Theater Festival, moves along in not only its own natural time but its own natural world. A world of chaos and war beyond that of a global perspective, deep in our hearts and homes, Phoebe in Winter brings an evocative examination of the roles we play in our lives,

Sensational! Volume III: An Interview with Director Michael Blum and Musical Director Erica Rome

Interviews September 25, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

Something sensational is cooking up over at The Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre. Gilbert before Sullivan! Unheard of, right? This fascinating work marks the American premier of A Sensation Novel: A Musical Play in Three Acts, that was previously lost to time. In Volume III of the TheatreBloom exclusive interview series, we sit down with Director Michael Blum and Musical Director Erica Rome, conceptual artists who have worked to reconstruct the missing pieces of Gilbert’s work and get it up on its feet as the opening show of the Spotlighters 2015/2016 season.

Review: Farragut North at Milburn Stone Theatre

Reviews September 25, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

Ambition seduces. Power corrupts. Milburn Stone Theater delivers. For a one weekend exclusive engagement, MST takes on the scandalously charged political thriller Farragut North at the Elkton Station found-space location. Written by Beau Willimon and Directed by Andrew John Mitchell, this edgy political chaser keeps you enthralled with the backroom politics as the race for the big house unfurls in backwoods Des Moines, the biggest political victory a candidate can hope to make in their campaign.

One Interview, Two Characters: Meet MET Actor Thomas Scholtes

Interviews September 25, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

Tricky and thick and none too quick, in the brains department that is, a servant of two masters finds humor and hilarity in his daily task. The critically acclaimed and highly humorous production of One Man, Two Guvnors has only a few weekend performances left at the Maryland Ensemble Theatre! If the rave reviews weren’t enough reason to go investigate, TheatreBloom has sat down with leading player Thomas Scholtes to hear out a few more hilarious reasons as to why people should come enjoy the production.

Sensational! Volume II: An Interview with Sensation Novel Composer Michael Nash

Interviews September 24, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

Having an American premier musical on the stage of The Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre is a fascinating event all on its own. Having music lost from history composed by an Englishman specifically for the project only adds to the sensations that are happening with the current production of A Sensation Novel. In Volume II of the exclusive TheatreBloom interview series, we sit down with British composer Michael Nash to hear how he became involved with the project and what his experience has been like composing original music for the great W.

Review: Queens Girl in the World at Theater J

Reviews September 23, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

Where do you find your place in the world? And how easy can it be to do so when you’re trying to put together the puzzle pieces of your own life while the world around you falls apart? Imagine such a conundrum. Now imagine it in 1962, as a young African-American girl growing up in Queens, and going to a private charter school in Greenwich Village, as Malcolm X is shot, President Kennedy is assassinated,

Review: An Inspector Calls at Everyman Theatre

Reviews September 21, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

We don’t live alone. Our lives intricately touch so many others. Strangers on the street, shop girls assisting us with things, women of the town, factory girls hard at work, they are all living breathing human beings. And what gives us the right to decide that a simple action on our end does not impact their lives irrevocably? The fact that our station may be above theirs? The fact that we are of importance and they are of little consequence?

Sensational! Volume I: An interview with Sensation Novel Player Jim Knost

Interviews September 21, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

To be a sensation novel author is a most fascinating thing indeed. To play a wicked baronet who isn’t all that wicked is also a curious subject. To play both in one show— and not just any show but the American premier of a Gilbert before Sullivan play is a great honor and sensational experience. In an exclusive TheatreBloom Interview series, we’ve sat down with Baltimore area performer Jim Knost to find out just what it’s like to play in and write the sensation novel in the musical performance of A Sensation Novel: A Musical Play in Three Acts,

Review: Ragtime at Toby’s Dinner Theatre

Reviews September 21, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

Giving the nation a new syncopation, Toby’s the Dinner Theatre of Columbia proudly presents a masterful production of the treasured Ahrens and Flaherty musical Ragtime. Rolling on the wheels of a dream, the production is Directed by house Artistic Director Toby Orenstein and Co-Artistic Director Lawrence B. Munsey. With Musical Direction by Ross Scott Rawlings, this evocative, soul-searing musical brings forth a hunger for justice and presents to theatergoers all across the Columbia and greater Baltimore and Washington Metropolitan areas a sensationally talented cast with earnest heart and emotional depth.

Review: Pride And Prejudice at Centerstage

Reviews September 19, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

Country life is so exhausting. All of the never-ending balls and assemblies, the constant need to be dancing the night away into irretrievable states of fatigue; all of these tiresome chores which fall into the laps of brooding and grim single, terribly handsome young gentlemen, as they have their pick of beautiful, albeit dowerless, eligible young girls. It is truly the classic framework of one of the simplest Austenian storylines in romantic literature. Adapted to the stage by Christopher Baker,

Review: One Man, Two Guvnors at Maryland Ensemble Theatre

Reviews September 18, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

Sometimes being a liar works, and with the Maryland Ensemble Theatre there’s bound to be some fireworks! In their season opener, that is. Kicking off the 2015/2015 season with a big comedic bang, MET presents Richard Bean’s One Man, Two Guvnors. Based on The Servant of Two Masters by Carlo Goldoni, this physically intensive farcical slapstick endeavor is Directed by the company’s Artistic Director, Tad Janes, with Musical Direction by Thom Huenger and will leave you rolling in the aisles with gut-bursting laughter.

Variations on 10-Minute Play Festivals: An Interview with Rapid Lemon’s Max Garner

Interviews September 17, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

It’s Baltimore’s original 10-minute play festival. Now in its 11th run of production, The Variations Project is taking up residency in 2015 at the Baltimore Theatre Project. Now presented by Rapid Lemon Productions, a theatre company which evolved into the Baltimore Theatre Scene in 2012, the production is going strong and features eight works from local playwrights. This year’s theme: Family. Much like every year that preceded it,

Review: A Sensation Novel at Spotlighters Theatre

Reviews September 14, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

Piece together, for a moment if you can imagine, all of the fancy finery that floats to mind when you utter the words Victorian London. Let those images of haughty parlors, high cinched collars, and stodgy outfits with miles of lace drift dreamily through your mind along the delectable operetta-style story telling of W. S. Gilbert. Add the accompaniment of Music by Michael Nash, T. German Reed, and a little hint of Arthur Sullivan.