Articles Tagged With: Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre

Fag Gods at Spotlighters Theatre

Reviews April 15, 2024 Jamie Gerhardt Leave a comment

author: Jamie Gerhardt

Fag Gods is a mythic camp comedy making its worldwide performance debut at Spotlighters in their 61st season in Baltimore, and it truly couldn’t have had a better opening. Written by John Bavoso and presented at the Baltimore Playwright’s Festival last year, it was the highest-rated selection of that season, and Spotlighters (very thankfully!) decided to give this wonderful little show its debut. The show is highly representative of the LGBTQIA+ community— as you might be able to discern from its title— and as someone who came out as transgender myself within the past year,

Laughing Stock at Spotlighters Theatre

Reviews March 2, 2024 Amanda N. Gunther

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.

Outward Bound at Spotlighters Theatre

Reviews October 31, 2023 Amanda N. Gunther

“…to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave…”

Christmas starts in October for everyone else, so why not use a lesser-recognized Dickens’ quote to welcome in the latest show of Season 61 at Spotlighters? (And if you need more Dickens in your life, beyond this hook-quote, be sure to book your tickets for the cherished annual performance of Phil Gallagher’s one-man A Christmas Carol coming this December) But this particular quote feels apropos for Outward Bound,

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike at Spotlighters Theatre

Reviews April 19, 2023 Angelica Peaco

Growing up as an only child, I often imagined what it would be like to have siblings and to be able to grow older with them. After seeing Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike at Spotlighters Theatre I no longer need to imagine what that type of life might look like. Written by Christopher Durang and Directed by Erin Klarner, this play encapsulates the ups and downs of sibling dynamics and proves that even as adults’ siblings will always have a unique and indescribable bond.

[Title of Show] at Spotlighters Theatre

Reviews January 24, 2023 Angelica Peaco

Fierce! Original! Hysterical! All adjectives that one could use to describe [title of show] at Spotlighters Theatre. Written by Jeff Bowen and Hunter Bell with Music & Lyrics by Jeff Bowen, and the Book by Hunter Bell, this show creates a world in which a theater patron can see the time, blood, sweat, and tears that it takes for an original musical to make it all the way to the Great White Way.

A Christmas Carol at Spotlighters Theatre

Reviews December 11, 2022 Erin Tarpley

“God bless us, every one”

Tis the season for holly, mulled wine, and curing any case of “Bah humbug.” Returning for the second year in a row (and deservedly so!), this one-man show, adapted and edited by Sherrionne Brown and Phil Gallagher returns to Baltimore’s own Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre through December 18th to reprise this wonderful rendition of Charles Dickens’ beloved classic: A Christmas Carol.

It is difficult to find anyone in the English-speaking regions of the world who are not,

Hoodoo Love at Spotlighters Theatre

Reviews September 30, 2022 Joshua Bermont

Set in Memphis during the Great Depression, Hoodoo Love – written by Katori Hall, directed by Rain Pryor, and currently playing at the Spotlighters Theatre – exists at the seamy and sultry crossroads where superstition, the blues, and matters of the heart converge… the sort of crossroads where Tommy Johnson, referenced in this piece (along with a great many other blues legends), might well have stood at midnight and sold his soul for his music.

Five Women Wearing The Same Dress at Spotlighters Theatre

Reviews June 2, 2022 Amanda N. Gunther

Dum-dum-daaah-dum. Dum-dum-daaah-dum! Always a bride’s maid and never a bride, right? But who needs to be the bride when you can be one of Five Women Wearing the Same Dress? The penultimate show in Spotlighters’ mainstage season, this oddly-out-of-sorts-with-itself comedy by Alan Ball is a unique examination of five women in the mid 90’s who all have one thing in common: they’re the bride’s maids in a wedding where the bride herself seems none too popular.

The Mousetrap at Spotlighters Theatre

Reviews April 16, 2022 Amanda N. Gunther

The wonder.

The mystery.

The Mousetrap.

While the ending may be the world’s best-kept secret, there’s no wonder or mystery that it is London’s longest-running performance in The West End. This Agatha Christie stage play is loaded with intrigue, deception, suspense, and— of course— mystery. And it’s now appearing on The Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre stage, directed by Paul Saar. With edgy moments of suspense, thrilling moments of spine-tingling terror,

Puffs at Spotlighters Theatre

Reviews March 9, 2022 Mike Zellhofer

Puffs is certainly written for serious fans of a certain young wizard. You pretty much have to be well versed in the wizardly world of J. K. Rowling (all seven years and then some) to have every joke land. However, Director Alanna Kiewe and her Spotlighters’ cast deliver an evening of entertainment whether you are a Potter novice or you bleed butter beer. I mean come on; these are Puffs we are talking about.

A Christmas Carol at Spotlighters Theatre

Reviews December 14, 2021 Amanda N. Gunther

There have been songs, dances, parodies, and even Muppets. But in all my travels— these 35 and a half years upon this earth— making merry and keeping the spirit and tradition of Christmas alive in my heart not only during the season but all the year, I have never heard of a visit to a lighthouse during the travels of The Ghost of Christmas Present with Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.

Scharf’s Shorts at Spotlighters Theatre

Reviews October 26, 2021 Mark Briner

Friday night, October 22, 2021, was a very big night for a small but important theatre, one of a select few that are the very soul of Baltimore theatre history. After nineteen months of darkness thrust upon them due to Covid-19 lockdowns and mandates, The Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre, that diminutive little workhorse in the step down basement on St. Paul Street, opened again with a light fanfare and a comfortable crowd of faithful patrons to kick off their 59th Season.

Moon Over Buffalo at Spotlighters Theatre

Reviews October 31, 2019 Mike Zellhofer

Ken Ludwig’sMoon Over Buffalo is the second installment from Spotlighters
Theatre’s 58th season. If you are looking for some gut chuckling, tears
down your cheeks humor, then you won’t want to miss this show. Director Brandon
Richards has mentored his cast through door slamming, side splitting hysterics that
will keep you laughing all the way home.

Shealyn Jae Photography Moon Over Buffalo at Spotlighters Theatre. Photo: Shealyn Jae Photography

The first thing you notice upon
entering the theatre is the very cozy and well-designed set of Sam Martin.

Vinegar Tom at Spotlighters Theatre

Reviews May 30, 2019 Mark Briner

Sometimes, it’s all in the
timing. When the circles of life coincide with your best efforts, everyone
wins. There is a history of shows that premiered to little or no hoopla, but
when revived later in a different political or social climate, felt way more
relevant and meaningful. The most popular example is Kander & Ebb’s classic
musical Chicago. Opening in 1975
under the direction of Bob Fosse and starring dual leading legends Gwen Verdon
and Chita Rivera,

Love, Loss, and What I Wore at Spotlighters Theatre

Reviews May 26, 2018 Amanda N. Gunther

It was a white dress with pink floral patterns all over it, A-frame and 50’s vintage style cut with a singular crinoline layer that peaked out from the bottom. I wore it with a pink hat dotted in flowers and pearls, the hat that my partner calls “…that flower bucket on your head…” I got the dress in Vegas, at a retro-chic wannabe vintage shop called Rockin’ Betty’s over in the Arts District— that’s off the strip— on the last Sunday of our family trip there.

First Date at Spotlighters Theatre

Reviews December 22, 2017 Amanda N. Gunther 3 Comments

How does it start? With a meet-cute little musical number featuring the cast of seven. How does it last? Those same seven sing and dance and talk and laugh and cry for 100 minutes every Friday night, Saturday night, and Sunday afternoon* so that audiences all over Charm City can have an adorable feel-good alternative to the Christmas season’s traditional musical theatre offerings. Despite an unsuccessful run Off-Broadway, the current cast of the Spotlighters Theatre production of First Date is finding second life,

Spring Awakening at Spotlighters Theatre

Reviews July 11, 2017 Amanda N. Gunther

11 July and the question is shame. Will you feel shame if you don’t go and see Spring Awakening at The Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre this summer? The answer is yes. Shame is a product of education, but do not remain ignorant to this impressively evocative and intimate piece of highly charged sensual musical theatre. Directed by Jillian Bauersfeld with Musical Direction by Michael W. Tan, this gripping and moving musical drama traverses the controversial plains of adolescence blossoming into maturity despite the deliberate ignorance engrained from the religious and parental rule that governs the time.

She Kills Monsters at Spotlighters Theatre

Reviews June 1, 2017 Amanda N. Gunther

The epic quest for epic theatre in Baltimore City has been going for as long as theatergoers have been seeking it out: since the dawn of theatrical time! The holy grail of theatrical mother-loads has landed at The Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre and it’s slaying— literally! She Kills Monsters by Qui Nguyen and Directed by Stephanie Miller, is exactly what thespians of Charm City have been seeking! Under-produced and rarely seen productions?

The Wiz at Spotlighters Theatre

Reviews April 11, 2017 Amanda N. Gunther

Come on and— ease on down, ease on down the road! Pick up your left foot when your right foot’s down, and head to the Mt. Vernon side of Charm City Town. You’ve got to— ease on down, ease on down the road! It’s time to ease on down, ease on down the road! Pick up your tickets— for this show that is— come on down to Spots and see their show of The Wiz!

The Women at Spotlighters Theatre

Reviews March 2, 2017 Amanda N. Gunther

Pride is a luxury a woman in love cannot afford. And the devilish lengths a woman in love will go to in order to maintain that love is unseemly and unsightly to the modern feminist. But in the world of Clare Booth Luce’s The Women, where the utmost priority for the women of society was maintaining a marriage and quashing scandals before they could rise, it’s quite a different story. Directed by Fuzz Roark,

Three Penny Opera at Spotlighters Theatre

Reviews January 19, 2017 Amanda N. Gunther

The line forms, on the right, babe— now that Macheath is back in town! The Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre is sending scarlet billowing all over the stage, kicking off 2017 with a flash of those pearly white sharks teeth as they bring the iconic Bertolt Brecht adaptation, The Three Penny Opera to the stage. Directed (with new editing, adapting, and translating) by Michael Blum with Musical Direction by Erica Rome, this poor man’s opera is certain to put the tingles up your spine.

Review: Das Barbecü at Spotlighters Theatre

Reviews October 12, 2016 Amanda N. Gunther

There’s a ring of gold in Texas that hitched a tumbleweed coach to Baltimore and is kicking up more dust than a dozen road-runners aiming to outrun a pack of coyotes. Yeehaw, you dun heard right if what you heard was Das Barbecü, the musical that spins Wagner’s Ring Cycle as a witty Texas fable, coming to the stage of The Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre! Sure ‘nuff it done been Directed by Greg Bell with that there Musical Direction by Michael Tan and the result is a dead ringer for comedic performance of the year.

Review: Evita at Spotlighters Theatre

Reviews April 16, 2016 Amanda N. Gunther

A year lasts forever and a day when you’re on top of the world. The Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre production of Evita will only last five weekends but will strike a chord in the hearts of theatergoers across Charm City that will easily resonate for a year. The music of Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics of Tim Rice come together under the Direction of Fuzz Roark and Musical Direction of Michael Tan in a pure and sublime performance of one of the most dizzying historical tales ever told in musical theatre.

Just Listen to That! The Voice of Argentina: An Interview with the Leads of Evita at Spotlighters Theatre

Interviews April 13, 2016 Amanda N. Gunther

Oh what a circus! Oh what a show! It’s quite a sunset, but don’t cry for the Argentinians just yet, Charm City! Not until you’ve read this riveting TheatreBloom exclusive interview with the actors in the lead roles at the upcoming production of Evita The Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre. With a wealth of knowledge on their characters, and great opinions on how this “old school” musical is surging with relevance today’s audiences, we sit down to talk over the characters of Eva Duarte de Perón,

Ghost Stories of the Stage: An Interview with Playwright Mark Scharf on his New Work The Quickening

Interviews October 20, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

Is there life beyond death? An age old question that plagues the minds of the masses. Science has answers. Religion has answers. Should not the theatre also have answers? In a brand new work by Baltimore-based playwright Mark Scharf, The Quickening, perceived as a ghost story for the stage, dabbles into the uncharted territories of the unknown. In a TheatreBloom exclusive interview we sit down with Mark Scharf to discuss his latest work.

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.

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: Dog Sees God at Spotlighters Theatre

Reviews June 5, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

Laugh and the world laughs with you. Cry and the world laughs harder. A tough but true learning lesson of life that all too often gets brushed by the wayside in favor of a more optimistic approach to finding the bright side of existence. The Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre is tackling its most evocative and poignantly moving drama to date with their current production of Burt V. Royal’s Dog Sees God.

Review: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest at Spotlighters Theatre

Reviews March 30, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

The more insane a man is, the more powerful he becomes. To experience the ultimate theatrical power in action join the Psychoceramics— humanity’s crackpots— at The Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre for their production of Dale Wasserman’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Directed by Greg Bell, this gripping off-kilter psycho drama, adapted from the novel by Ken Kesey, delves deep into the human psyche and confronts the inner pollutions of the minds of society’s outcasts: the insane.

Review: Jekyll & Hyde at Spotlighters Theatre

Reviews January 19, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

Murder. Madness. Mayhem. It’s all there awaiting you behind the façade. A darkened alleyway; a decent down stone stairs to the underbelly of Saint Paul Street and you shall find yourself amid the most diabolical musical mastery The Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre has offered up on its stage in a great many years. Jekyll & Hyde sets to the stage with relentless power; a beast of a musical under the refined Direction of Fuzz Roark and superb resplendence of Musical Director Michael Tan,