Reviews

The North American tour of Company đŸ“· Matthew Murphy for MurphyMade

Company at The Kennedy Center

Somebody hold me too close.  Somebody hurt me too deep.  Somebody sit in my chair and ruin my sleep and make me aware of being alive.  Being alive.  That’s the plea of protagonist Bobby in Stephen Sondheim’s musical Company (book by George Furth) which is currently gracing the stage in the elegant Opera House at The John F. Kennedy Center for The Performing Arts in our nation’s capital.  Originally produced in 1970 Company was nominated for 14 Tony Awards and won six.

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(L-R) Omar A. Said (Panch), Beth Amann (Rona Lisa), B.J. Robertson (Mitch), Taylor Litofsky (Logainne), Cera Baker (Marcy), Preston Grover (Chip), Sam Slottow (Leaf), Lila Cooper (Olive), and Stephen Emery (BarfĂ©e) in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, presented by Compass Rose Theater đŸ“·

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at Compass Rose Theater

Charming— (adjective) ‘Extremely pleasing or delightful.’ Compass Rose Theater is now producing the most charming production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee I think I can ever recall seeing— and that’s saying something as I’ve covered it over a dozen times in as many years, including just a month ago elsewhere! C-H-A-R-M-I-N-G. Directed & Choreographed by Tommy Malek with Musical Direction by Rachel Sandler, this feel-good, upbeat, absolutely adorable musical is perfectly parsed in the intimate staging space that Compass Rose Theater has at Maryland Hall;

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Puffs at Silhouette Stages đŸ“· Stasia Steuart Photography

Puffs at Silhouette Stages

Puffs at Silhouette Stages: Revenge of the Nerds,” Potter Style

Have you ever wondered what it was like to be a side character in a story? To not be the hero, but just another onlooker? Matt Cox’s Puffs at Silhouette Stages examines this idea in hilarious fashion as we delve into the world of a Certain School of Magic and Magic. A riotous romp through mediocrity,

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The Secret Garden at Woods Memorial Presbyterian Church đŸ“· Audrey Lengbeyer

The Secret Garden at Woods Memorial Presbyterian Church

Come spirit! Come charm! Come days that are warm! Come magical spell— they will help you get well! Come to their garden for the most extraordinary theatrical experience that is so stunning, so professional, and so polished you’ll find it hard to believe that it’s a community organization and playing in a church nonetheless! The Secret Garden now live in living color is appearing through the weekend of March 17th with the Woods Memorial Presbyterian Church and it is beyond remarkable,

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Jesus Christ Superstar at Third Wall Productions đŸ“· Kristin Rigsby

Jesus Christ Superstar at Third Wall Productions

Third Wall Productions, you know I love you. Did you see I waved? I believe in you and your show so tell me that I’m saved! If you’re ready to rock and roll along with the best of them, Third Wall Productions is bringing you that iconic Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Jesus Christ Superstar and it’s the most solid production that they’ve had so far! (In their new home at Chestnut Grove Presbyterian.) Directed by Mike Zellhofer,

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Steel Magnolias at Artistic Synergy of Baltimore

“Laughter Through Tears”

Grab your curlers and spill the tea, because it’s time for Steel Magnolias at Artistic Synergy of Baltimore! Playwright Robert Harling’s comedy-drama comes to stunning life through skilled direction and superb performing. Based on experiences from Harling’s life, Steel Magnolias tells the story of six women who become lifelong friends in a Louisiana nail salon, coming together to support each other through good times and bad.

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Sam McLellan and company in “The Book of Mormon” North American tour. đŸ“· Julieta Cervantes.

The Book of Mormon at The National Theatre

“Tomorrow is a Latter Day”

Hello, my name is Elder Tarpley.  And I would like to share with you the most amazing play now showing at The National Theatre!

Since its debut on Broadway way back in 2011, The Book of Mormon has been continuing to stun audiences all over the world with its funny, offensive, but surprisingly sweet story, and top-notch music sure to make the Musical Theatre Greats of the Twentieth Century proud
 minus all the F-bombs
 and the satirical sacrilegious look at organizational religion
.

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Forbidden Broadway’s Greatest Hits at Dundalk Community Theatre

There are few things in the theatrical world that are “forbidden”.  Those of a certain age might remember the Sci-Fi cult classic film Forbidden Planet, or the TV show Forbidden Island.  But there’s one Broadway phenomenon that has stood the test of time and, while not “forbidden” in the technical sense of the word, has sparked legions of loyal followers over the years, and that is Forbidden Broadway. 

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Laughing Stock at Spotlighters Theatre đŸ“· Matthew Peterson

Laughing Stock at Spotlighters Theatre

Madness does not run through the theatre family; it gallops. With sardines. And while you’re certainly not going to get a gargantuan house on the postage stamp stage at The Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre, you can definitely get a hilariously good time with their current production of Charles Morey’s Laughing Stock. Mild to moderate insanity with a dash of ‘WTF’ all balled neatly into the nonsense that is the lifestyle we choose when we jump into the world of theatre.

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Escape to Margaritaville at Tidewater Players đŸ“· Matthew Peterson

Escape to Margaritaville at Tidewater Players

Reset your mind to island time. Because it’s five o’clock somewhere. And for the next two weekends, it’s five o’clock in Havre de Grace as the Tidewater Players presents Jimmy Buffett’s Escape to Margaritaville. Directed by Dickie Mahoney, with Musical Direction by Chris Rose, and Choreography by Evyo (and tap-choreo by Bambi Johnson), this ‘throw-your-cares-away’ silly good time show is just what the doctor ordered in these chilly winter months. And if you really want to be on “island time”?

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Adrift: A Medieval Wayward Folly by Happenstance Theater đŸ“· L Hewitt Photography

Adrift at Happenstance Theater

As above— so below. From the profoundly deep to the oddly absurd, Adrift: A Medieval Wayward Folly, the latest live stage performance from Happenstance Theater, has it all. And also a strawberry. Appearing for a limited two-weekend engagement at Baltimore Theatre Project, this newly devised work comes the masterminds of Mark Jaster, Sabrina Mandell, Gwen Grastorf, Sarah Olmsted Thomas, and Alex Vernon, with their inspirations set ‘adrift’ on stage from the works of Hieronymus Bosch (amongst others) and will fill you with an oddly enlightened sense of wonderment,

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Dontrell, Who Kissed The Sea at Sisters Freehold

Dontrell, Who Kissed The Sea at Sisters Freehold

Dreams are dreams. Awake is awake. Know the difference. But if you don’t know— or don’t want to know? In stunningly beautiful narrative that blend magical realism with the burning yen to simultaneously connect one’s past to one’s future, Dontrell, Who Kissed The Sea is playing a limited engagement with Sisters Freehold currently at The Peale Museum for the next two weekends. This evocative coming-of-age journey, written by Nathan Alan Davis and directed by Makeima Elise Freeland,

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Nolan Almeida (left) as Peter Pan and Cody Garcia (center) as Captain Hook and Hawa Kamara (right) as Wendy and the cast of Peter Pan. đŸ“·Matthew Murphy

Peter Pan at The Hippodrome

econd star to the right and straight on til— viral video ballroom waltzing? Shut the fort door, since when does Peter Pan have Wendy being obsessed with going viral so that she can help pay for her medical school training because she wants to grow up and be a surgeon?

~*~*~*ANGRY TINKLING & CHIMING NOISES*~*~*~

What was that, Tinker Bell? In the newly refurbished national tour launch production that’s leaping into the air with lovely thoughts straight out of Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theatre?

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Ms. Story’s Living History at Greenbelt Arts Center

Dreams don’t have to be deferred. They can grow and bloom; they can bring nourishment to the soul. The sentiment, if not the words exactly, of creator Shemika Renee in the setting the tone for her one-woman production of Ms. Story’s Living History, now appearing at the Greenbelt Arts Center through March 3rd, 2024. Directed by Rikki Howie Lacewell, this educational presentation explores important narratives of historical women of color, telling their stories to help unravel the mystery of history when all too often these stories are overlooked.

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How I Learned to Drive at Vagabond Players đŸ“· Vagabond Players

How I Learned To Drive at Vagabond Players

One might think that a play with a title like How I Learned to Drive would depict a story that goes places; and by its own design, this is a play that goes many places and goes in circles (while in reverse) at the same time.  But that being said, while funny and well told, Paula Vogel’s Pulitzer Prize winning play How I Learned to Drive is not for the faint of heart. 

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The cast of Chesapeake Shakespeare Company’s The Oresteia. đŸ“· Kiirstn Pagan Photography.

The Oresteia at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company

Do I remember this? Or is this what’s about to happen? This is no dream. This is no vision. This is the truth. Profound words. Or are they questions? What are words if not questions? You’ll hear them over and over— though never truly in one voice as one might expect from a chorus in a Greek tragedy; their effect, however, is no less striking. Chesapeake Shakespeare Company presents The Oresteia freely adapted from Aeschylus by Ellen McLaughlin and directed by Lise Bruneau.

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The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at Stand Up For...Theatre đŸ“·Lilou Altman

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at Stand Up For…Theatre

COMMUNITY— noun. “a unified body of individuals such as: people with common interests living within a particular area broadly; a group of people with a common characteristic or interest; a body of persons with common interest scattered through a larger society; a group linked by a common policy.” Stand Up For
Theatre’s production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is fostering a real sense of dedication and commitment to the local theatre community,

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Ain’t Too Proud at The Kennedy Center

Now in its first national tour, Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations opened a six-day run at the Kennedy Center on Tuesday, Feb 13. Certainly, the 2019 Broadway musical has one of the richest R&B songbooks a musical could hope for. It was also directed by Des McAnuff, who struck gold in 2004 directing Jersey Boys — a similar biographical musical about a 1960-born men’s vocal harmony group.

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Intimate Apparel at Maryland Ensemble Theatre đŸ“· MET

Intimate Apparel at Maryland Ensemble Theatre

Lynn Nottage’s Intimate Apparel has local origins; originally a co-production between Baltimore’s Center Stage and California’s South Coast Repertory in 2003, it went on to a 3-month Off-Broadway run starring Viola Davis. The material also has a direct link to Nottage’s family history and was inspired by her great-grandmother’s life as a seamstress in the early 1900’s. Nottage found that the narrative and stories of black women in the early 1900’s were largely absent by researching her great-grandmother’s life.

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Hello, Dolly! at The St. Demetrios Suburban Players

Hello, Dolly! at St. Demetrios Suburban Players

Out there! There’s a world outside of Carney! Way out there beyond this suburb, Barnaby! There’s a theatre, Barnaby! Out there! Full of shine and full of sparkle! The Suburban Players of Saint Demetrios’ are glistenin’, Barnaby! Listen, Barnaby! Put on your Sunday clothes— or your Saturday clothes or your Friday clothes— and get yourself down to Hello, Dolly now appearing at The Suburban Players of St. Demetrios’ Greek Orthodox Church before that parade passes you by!

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Eric Bray as Ja'far đŸ“· Matthew Peterson

Twisted: The Untold Story of a Royal Vizier at Street Lamp Community Theatre

No one mourns the Twisted.

No one cries they won’t return (
of Jafar, terrible movie. Just terrible.)

No one lays a Jasmin on their graaaave.

The good man scorns the Twisted.

Through their lives our children learn.

What we miss— when we misbehaaaave.

And goodness knows— the Twisted’s lives are zany!

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Aparna Sri (left) as Lady Macbeth and Jaki Demarest (right) as Macbeth đŸ“· Constantia Rioux

Macbeth at The Rude Mechanicals

“Such welcome and unwelcome things at once ‘tis hard to reconcile.” Macduff, ActIVsc.iii

I spent hours trying to find the way I felt about the current Rude Mechanical’s production of Shakespeare’s Macbeth only to have Billy Bard having already wrapped it up for me more than halfway through the show. This particular production is a balancing act of strong performances, questionable conceptualizations, impressive technological inclusions, mismatched aesthetics, and a barrage of death,

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I Will Eat You Alive at Interrobang Productions đŸ“· Kiirstn Pagan

I Will Eat You Alive at Interrobang Theatre

As a plus sized person, I have spent many years wrestling with my self-confidence and sense of belonging in a world that condemns any body type that is not considered “normal”. Being a fat girl meant that I was different, an outcast, ugly and in certain spaces, unwelcome. I Will Eat You Alive, a new play written and directed by Katie Hileman, brilliantly tackles the societal, familial and personal pressures that fat women like me experience from early childhood through adulthood.

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Rob McClure as Euphegenia Doubtfire in Mrs. Doubtfire đŸ“· Joan Marcus

Mrs. Doubtfire at The Hippodrome

Wanted: Heart-warming, feel-good, fun-loving musical to fill the aching hole in the hearts of Baltimore after Sunday’s devastating upset at Raven’s stadium.

Helloooooo, Poppets!

Mrs. Doubtfire is exactly what this city needs to wake up, feel good, laugh and cry a little, and be made whole again! Coming in hot off the boards of Broadway, Rob McClure and the sensational singing, rapping, hip-hop-happening Scottish nanny is hear to take Charm City by hilarious and heartfelt storm.

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Kaitlyn Ruby (foreground) as Ruth and Amanda Harris (background) as Tillie in The Effects of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds at Spotlighters Theatre đŸ“·Matthew Peterson

The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds at Spotlighters Theatre

Some people were born to speak, others just to listen. And occasionally those of us that listen will report back on what we hear. Form an opinion, as it were. It’s me. I’m a listening opinion-former. And I’m forming an opinion on the current production of The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds, now playing at The Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre through February 4th 2024. The midway point of their 61st season,

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Rent at Iron Crow Theatre

Rent at Iron Crow Theatre

By now most of us have heard of the musical RENT and may have even seen a production (or more), and/or possibly even caught the movie version of Jonathan Larson’s brilliant masterpiece which chronicles the lives of several struggling young artists/activists/musicians in New York set against the backdrop of the AIDS epidemic.   With roots loosely in the 1896 opera La Boheme, Larson’s tale is set in the then-thriving Alphabet City in Lower Manhattan’s East Village in New York. 

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The Book of Grace at Rapid Lemon Productions đŸ“· RLP

The Book of Grace at Rapid Lemon Productions

In a time in our history when yet again we are faced with a growing divide of “us” vs “them,” we are challenged to ask ourselves if the old proverb about how a “house divided against itself shall not stand” is indeed truth.  Suzan-Lori Parks’ play The Book of Grace, making its Baltimore debut with Rapid Lemon Productions, tackles that notion.

Before continuing, a warning: this production contains depictions and descriptions of domestic violence,

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Merrily We Roll Along at Greenbelt Arts Center

When Director Roy Hammond got the rights for Merrily We Roll Along in 2019, little did he know a pandemic and some Broadway wizardry would interfere. But it’s up! And it’s amazing! This 1981 musical covers the trials and tribulations of three artistic friends 
 backwards 
 starting with their ultimate breakup and ending with the hopeful youths staring up on a roof in October 1957. Being Sondheim, you’ll be hard pressed to whistle a melody on the way home,

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Avenue Q at Small Town Stars Theatre Company

Small Town Stars Theatre Company, based at the Carroll Arts Center of Westminster MD, skillfully and confidently walks a fine, fine line in its short but hilariously fun run of Avenue Q (Robert Lopez & Jeff Marx, music & lyrics; book by Jeff Whitty). STS’s production, under the direction of Sean Olsson, effortlessly navigates mature themes of sexuality, racism, internet pornography, all in the oeuvre of network children’s educational programming, complete with custom-made puppets the Jim Henson Company would be proud to associate with.

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Witness For The Prosecution at Vagabond Players

Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? You can’t handle the truth! Though I might be mixing up my courtroom dramas as this one seemed to be skirting all around the truth, only revealing parts of the truth, and there was a lot of questionable truths floating in the ether. In true Agatha Christie style, Witness For the Prosecution splashes onto The Vagabond Players stage to kick of the 2024-leg of their 108th season.

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