Reviews

The Hairy Ape at Spotlighters Theatre

Reviews October 30, 2017 Lance Bankerd

“I ain’t on oith and I ain’t in Heaven, get me? I’m in de middel tryin’ to seperate em, takin all de woist punches from bot’ of ’em. Maybe dat’s whay dey call Hell, huh?”

On a weekend packed with frightening diversions the most terrifying of all is surely Eugene O’Neill’s nearly century old expressionist drama, The Hairy Ape running through 19 November at Spotlighters Theatre. I was at opening night on Friday and I have been haunted ever since by the themes,

The Bridges of Madison County at Dundalk Community Theatre

Reviews October 30, 2017 Andrew Worthington

The movie-turned musical has become a prevalent trend in today’s world, but The Bridges of Madison County is unlike most musicals in the same family; it breaks the mold and offers the audience an emotional, rich story filled with phenomenal music. Based on Robert James Waller’s 1992 novel, which was adapted into the 1995 film starring Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood, The Bridges of Madison County is a rich, profound love story that transcends the page,

The Sea Voyage at Baltimore Shakespeare Factory

Reviews October 30, 2017 Leanne Stump

It begins with a storm, a shipwreck, the rag tag crew find refuge on the shores of a strange island…sound familiar? Don’t be fooled, The Sea Voyage is far from an echo of Shakespeare’s Tempest. John Fletcher crafts a witty comedy that rivals the better remembered bards of his time. His female characters are strong willed, humorous and well, horny. The Baltimore Shakespeare Factory did an excellent job unearthing this comedic gem.

The Book of Mormon appearing live now at The John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts

The Book of Mormon at The Kennedy Center

Reviews October 27, 2017 Amanda N. Gunther

Ding Dong! Hello! My name is Elder Gunther and I would like to share with you— the most amazing musical. Ding Dong! Hello! My name is Elder Bloom; it’s a musical about America a long, long time ago— dating all the way back to 2011! It has so many awesome parts you won’t believe how much this musical can change your life! Ding Dong! Hello— we’re all going to die someday,

The Adventures of Peter Pan at Synetic Theater

Reviews October 27, 2017 Amanda N. Gunther

Adventures are supposed to be dangerous and exciting, captivating and wondrous! Filled with never-ending adventures, Synetic Theater brings to the stage their very own adaptation of J.M. Barrie’s iconic adventurous classic Peter Pan. Directed by Paata Tsikurishvili, with Co-Direction and Fight Choreography by Vato Tsikurishvili and Choreography by Irina Tsikurishvili, this stage production— The Adventures of Peter Pan adapted by Ed Monk and overseen by the Creative Team of Marley Giggey and Tori Bertocci— has fighting,

33 Variations at Colonial Players

Reviews October 26, 2017 Spencer Nelson 1 Comment

Theme and Variations as defined by Merriam-Webster “a standard form of musical composition consisting of a simple usually harmonized melody presented first in its original unadorned form then repeated several or many times with varied treatment so based on the theme that at least some semblance of its general melodic or harmonic form is evident”. While the definition pertains to music it can also be thought that our lives are a variation on a theme or ideal of what we imagine and hope it will be.

1984 at Maryland Ensemble Theatre

Reviews October 26, 2017 Amanda N. Gunther

There is a show running in Frederick.

WHAT SHOW. YOU MUST BE PRECISE.

There is a production of George Orwell’s 1984 as adapted to the stage by Michael Gene Sullivan running at a theatre in Frederick.

WHERE. YOU MUST BE PRECISE.

There is a production of George Orwell’s 1984 as adapted to the stage by Michael Gene Sullivan running at The Maryland Ensemble Theatre.

Emilie at Avant Bard

Reviews October 25, 2017 Amanda N. Gunther

A life lived fully can still change the universe. Surely that must mean your life has meaning, if it’s changing the universe. Of course, it’s not what we mean but that we mean. And your life too can mean something if you live it fully by going to see the area premier of Lauren Gunderson’s Emilie La Marquise Du Châtelet Defends Her Life Tonight currently playing at Avant Bard. Directed by Rick Hammerly,

Antony and Cleopatra at Folger Theatre

Reviews October 24, 2017 Amanda N. Gunther

Not a minute of our lives should stretch without some pleasure in it. The Folger Theatre is stretching nearly two and a half very deliberate minutes of theatrical pleasure into their current production of Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra. One of the Bard’s tragic histories, or historical tragedies as it straddles both categories soundly, this alluring and tempting production is an enticing start for the 2017/2018 theatrical season at The Folger. Directed by Robert Richmond,

Beau Jest as Greenbelt Arts Center

Reviews October 23, 2017 Rachel Zirkin Duda

Introducing a significant other to Mom and Dad is a ubiquitous rite of passage that can be simultaneously exciting and terrifying. You want that first meeting to go perfectly. You hope your partner will like your parents. You pray your parents will return the feeling and give you both their blessing. But, what do you do when your family DOESN’T approve of your relationship? If you are Sarah Goldman, the main character in the Greenbelt Arts Center production of Beau Jest (written by James Sherman and Directed by GAC staple Norma Ozur) the answer is clear– you conjure up a more “suitable” suitor to introduce to your parents– and then hire an actor to bring the character to life.

Heathers at How Do You Like Me Now Productions

Reviews October 20, 2017 Amanda N. Gunther

The extreme always seems to make an impression, so color me impressed that How Do You Like Me Now Productions, as the theatrical producing entity of Erase Hate Through Art, is producing Heathers: The Musical this Halloween season! It’s a real scream! And totally an extreme example of what both HDYLMN and EHTA stand for, when it comes to creating a world that’s free of hate and bullying. Produced by Grant Meyers and Directed by Ed Higgins with Musical Direction by Andrew Zile and Choreography by Kristin Rigsby,

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike at The Highwood Theatre

Reviews October 18, 2017 Amanda N. Gunther

Beware of thinking too much; enjoy the little things. Beware of missing your opportunity to see Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike; enjoy the little theatre in Silver Spring that’s putting it on. Beware of Christopher Durang’s deranged approach to Chekhov; enjoy The Highwood Theatre’s interpretation of this edgy new dark comedy. Beware critics who spend too long opening their review; enjoy instead the actual production at The Highwood Theatre.

Company at Just Off Broadway

Reviews October 15, 2017 Andrew Worthington

Phone rings, door chimes, and in comes a charming and comical production of Company, Sondheim’s musical comedy, presented by Just-Off Broadway in Baltimore! Company, one of the first successful Broadway musicals written about adult themes and relationships, was the winner of 1971 Tony Awards for Best Book, Best Score, Best Lyrics, and Best Musical. The themes of bachelorhood, marriage, and how to form and maintain relationships are enduringly relevant more than three decades later.

Lindsey Litka (left) as Allison and Michael Nugent (right) as Wade "Cry Baby" Walker

Cry Baby at Silhouette Stages

Reviews October 14, 2017 Amanda N. Gunther 1 Comment

It’s a beautiful day for an anti-polio picnic! It’s a beautiful day to get a polio shot! And if you’re in for all that plus an insanely good production, well then at Silhouette Stage, you’ve come to the right spot! Watch your a$$ and do take care because there’s talent lurking everywhere all throughout Silhouette Stage’s production of Cry Baby: The Musical. Directed and Choreographed by Tommy Malek with Musical Direction by John Keister and Nathan Scavilla,

An Act of God at Signature Theatre

Reviews October 14, 2017 Amanda N. Gunther

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And somewhere between days two and six he created Signature Theatre way down in Shirlington, Virginia. And now, after thousands of years of watching the world filled with stupid humans do their worst, the almighty has deigned us meager mortals worthy of a visit— inside the Ark Theatre (because even God isn’t big enough to beat out A Little Night Music starring Bobby Smith next door in The Max)— because he’s come to set the record straight.

Hamlet at Susquehanna Shakespeare Ensemble

Reviews October 12, 2017 Amanda N. Gunther

Suit the action to the word and the word to the action! The word is shows without intermission are the new trend and the action is to apply it Shakespeare. Susquehanna Shakespeare Ensemble is boldly running an endurance test— for both audience and ensemble— with the Bard’s most renowned tragedy, Hamlet. Directed by company founder and Artistic Head Marshall B. Garrett, this DIY-Fringe style production of the Danish Prince’s woe is surprisingly accurate in both delivery and conceptualization,

Evil Dead: The Musical at Deer in the Spotlight Productions

Reviews October 11, 2017 Amanda N. Gunther

There are five college students jammed in a car— on spring break vacation and they’re going really far! join them. They are five college students on their way to an old abandoned cottage in the woods! Join Them. What could possibly go wrong? JOOOOIIIN THEEEEM!!! Deer in the Spotlight Productions is striking up its annual tradition of Evil Dead: The Musical, this year appearing in the black box stage space of Street Lamp Productions.

Tuck Everlasting at Scottfield Theatre Company

Reviews October 9, 2017 Amanda N. Gunther 1 Comment

Today is the day you’ve been waiting for forever. Are you ready to let this be the day that something happens? Then hello, Havre de Grace, Maryland! This year— 2017— this day— in the month of October— is going to be the day where everything you’ve ever waited for finally happens! Making its national community theatre debut, Tuck Everlasting, the musical, soars superbly into the main stage of The Historic Havre de Grace Opera House as the inaugural production of Scottfield Theatre Company.

Something’s Afoot at Third Wall Productions

Reviews October 7, 2017 Amanda N. Gunther

You’ve been invited to a marvelous weekend! Aren’t you lucky to all be at Third Wall Productions’ Something’s Afoot? You’re stimulated by the music in the air, there’s murderous mayhem everywhere! Some dazzling costumes with flash and flare! And watch out you don’t get grabbed on your derrière! It’s a remarkably humorous and uplifting production, despite the fact that the bodies are piling up in the library by the dozen! Directed by Mea Holloway with Musical Direction by W.

Much Ado About Nothing at Annapolis Shakespeare Company

Reviews October 7, 2017 Amanda N. Gunther

Annapolis Shakespeare Company opens its main stage with a lavish, lush, magnificent Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare’s most genuinely romantic rom-com. Director Sally Boyett has given it a 50’s spin, with a rock-and-roll soundtrack and a spectacular Tuscan villa (by way of California), with a two-story stucco house and terra-cotta dance floor (by scenic designer Jack Golden).

Helena Farhi and Benjamin Russell play Shakespeare’s greatest lovers, Beatrice and Benedick.

Lear at Single Carrot Theatre

Reviews October 6, 2017 Amanda N. Gunther

People always find terrible ways to justify doing horrible things. But we enjoy watching horrible things; it gives us a feeling of immortality. We, however, are not immortal. Life is short. And the time that we spend with our loved ones is mostly behind us. Single Carrot Theatre opens their 11th season here in Baltimore with Young Jean Lee’s Lear, a peculiar exploration of familial dysfunction threaded loosely within the confines of Shakespeare’s King Lear.

Assassins at Pallas Theatre Collective

Reviews October 5, 2017 Amanda N. Gunther

Angry men don’t write the rules and guns don’t right the wrongs. America’s got a problem…Sondheim has a solution. Never a more poignant and relevant time in our current political climate than right now has it been so appropriate to produce a production of Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins. Pallas Theatre Collective is boldly daring to do so, and it draws striking attention to the world around us at present. Directed by Clare Shaffer with Musical Direction by Alex Thompson,

Love Never Dies at The Hippodrome

Reviews October 4, 2017 Amanda N. Gunther

Welcome one. Welcome all! Welcome to the monster’s ball! See it here— beckoning and shimmering! All agleam— glistening and glimmering! In Charm City where every fantasy is set free…the Baltimore sun rising by the sea and showing us the beauty underneath Andrew Lloyd Webber’s much anticipated sequel to Broadway’s most haunting love story. After negative reviews in its West End debut, and a rigorous overhaul in the Australia, Webber’s masterpiece is here to dazzle the audience.

The Lover & The Collection at Shakespeare Theatre Company

Reviews October 4, 2017 Amanda N. Gunther

Just who is who and what is what? Who’s lying? Who’s telling the truth? Scandal, lovers, mistresses, and then some await eager audiences of Washington DC as Shakespeare Theatre Company opens the 2017/2018 season with a double-bill of Harold Pinter. Artistic Director Michael Kahn brings The Lover & The Collection together for an evening inside the darkly scandalous and peculiarly humorous world of Pinter’s somewhat dated characters. Overlooking the misogyny and general banality of the female character featured in each of these productions,

The Cradle Will Rock at Iron Crow Theatre

Reviews October 3, 2017 Amanda N. Gunther

It takes a lot of Joes to make a sound you can hear. Iron Crow Theatre and it’s almost 20 Joes are making sounds, but the question is— do you hear the people sing? Is it the song of angry men? We’re not marching through France, and this ain’t Russia. It’s Steeltown, USA (temporarily residing in Baltimore, of course) and it’s time to speak up and make your voices heard. The Cradle Will Rock kicks of the 2017/2018 “Season of Identity” for Iron Crow Theatre,

Love and Information at Forum Theatre

Reviews October 2, 2017 Amanda N. Gunther

If the human eye was a digital camera it would have 576 mega pixels. 30% of businesses in the U.S.A. are owned by women. McDonald’s opens a new restaurant every 14.5 hours. Swedish wasn’t made the official language of Sweden until 2009. Approximately 300 couples get married in Las Vegas, Nevada every day. Forum Theatre is producing the area premier of Caryl Churchill’s Love and Information. Is it better to know things or not know things?

The Bridges of Madison County at Red Branch Theatre Company

Reviews September 30, 2017 Amanda N. Gunther 4 Comments

Love is always better. But what if you choose the path of love in hopes of escape? A simple girl, bereft of her fiancé from the war, desperate to escape Italy takes the first American GI that comes along and settles a life in farm-country Iowa. She tends the husband, raises two children, and cooks the dinner. They say a picture is worth 1,000 words; what then must the photographer who takes that picture be worth when he shows up like a breath of fresh air disrupting her routine,

Little Shop of Horrors at Tantallon Community Players

Reviews September 22, 2017 Amanda N. Gunther 2 Comments

Does everyone remember a couple of weeks ago when we had that total eclipse of the sun?

Well, I was walking in the wholesale theatre district that day— Da-doo! And I passed by this old place where I sometimes see theatre— Harmony Hall Regional Center-doo! And they sometimes host Tantallon Community Players, good-theatre-doo! And I noticed that they had this strange show happening— good for you! A musical! And something about feeding the plants— nope-de-doo!

The Terrible Secret of Lunastus at Baltimore Rock Opera Society

Reviews September 22, 2017 Amanda N. Gunther

As foretold by The Argus, in Chapter 9, Section Beta, Paragraph Crimson, Sub-paragraph Python, Verse #69— all denizens of Baltimore will report to the Zion Lutheran Chruch between the dates of NOW and October 8, 2017* to experience The Terrible Secret of Lunastus! Not even the forces that be can stop The Baltimore Rock Opera Society from getting a show up and produced this year! Revitalizing, resurging, and remounting the 2011 production of The Terrible Secret of Lunastus,

Completely Hollywood at Off the Quill

Reviews September 21, 2017 Spencer Nelson

In a world where entertainment reigns supreme, one theatre troupe dares to do the impossible and take on America’s biggest export (after weapons that is) – Movies! There is nothing new happening under the Hollywood sign and Off the Quill is ready to prove it to you in their latest show Completely Hollywood (Abridged) written by Reed Martin & Austin Tichenor, with additional material by Dominic Conti. Movie lovers will get a kick out of this comedic journey through Hollywood from Director Leanne Dinverno.