Articles Tagged With: Spotlighters Theatre

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,

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,

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: The Game’s Afoot at Spotlighters Theatre

Reviews November 23, 2016 Amanda N. Gunther 1 Comment

Madhouse doesn’t begin to describe the utter shenanigans happening in William Gillette’s New England mansion on Christmas Eve. Scandal! Mystery! Murder! For god’s sake, there are actors present! What else could be expected from Ken Ludwig’s bitingly humorous and boisterously bloody play The Game’s Afoot? Directed by Fuzz Roark, this scintillating madcap comedy with just a dandy drop of blood for the murder mystery enthusiast in us all is the perfect way to ring in the holiday season.

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: Marx in Soho at Spotlighters Theatre

Reviews September 2, 2016 Amanda N. Gunther

Is there anything more outrageous than an honest critic? It might be the way that The Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre is kicking off their 55th season with Howard Zinn’s Marx in Soho. Directed by Sherrionne Brown, with Phil Gallagher in the titular role, this evening of socialist banter is an engaging theatrical endeavor that will grip the audience and give them pause to think about whether or not society is going in any direction at all,

Review: Tick Tick BOOM! at Spotlighters Theatre

Reviews July 11, 2016 Amanda N. Gunther

Stop the clock. Take time out. Hear the Tick Tick BOOM! as it explodes on the stage of The Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre to close out their 54th season. Jonathan Larson’s pre-Rent musical arrives under the Direction of Jillian Locklear Bauersfeld with Musical Direction by Michael W. Tan and features an intimate cast of three just living the real life of 1990 New York City. Big dreams, big goals,

You Can’t Stop the Beat at Toby’s Dinner Theatre: Meet the Nicest Kids in Town- Samantha McEwen Deininger and Renata Hammond

Interviews June 14, 2016 Amanda N. Gunther

You can try to stop the seasons, hon, but you know you never will! As the season of summer gets hot underway in Baltimore, Toby’s Dinner Theatre of Columbia sets to open their production of Hairspray. Entering the second part of the “You Can’t Stop the Beat” interview series, TheatreBloom sits down with two of the show’s Dynamites, Samantha McEwen Deininger and Renata Hammond, for a chitchat about the production and just what it’s been like to be a part of the show.

Vile Villain: An Interview with Les Liaisons Dangereuses’ Nathan Parry

Interviews June 2, 2016 Amanda N. Gunther

Scandal. Lust. Mind games. Les Liaisons Dangereuses at The Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre has it all. And so does area actor Nathan Parry. In a TheatreBloom exclusive interview, we take a moment to sit down with Nathan and talk shop about what it’s like to play vile villain Vicomte de Valmont, and find out just what makes it so dangerous.

Thanks for sitting with us! Would you give us the brief introduction and tell us what you’ve done that we might recognize of your work in the area?

Review: Les Liaisons Dangereuses at Spotlighters Theatre

Reviews May 31, 2016 Amanda N. Gunther

Love is something you use, not something you fall into. Though should you choose to use your love of theatre to fall into one of the 68 seats inside The Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre between now and the 19th of June you may just fall in love with what’s on the stage. Swordplay— of two distinctive varieties, once of which includes actual rapiers— scandal, sin; all of these delicious morsels are yours for the taking if you dare the three-hour theatrical endeavor that is Les Liaisons Dangereuses.

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,

Discount Tickets for EVITA at Spotlighters Theatre

News April 11, 2016 Amanda N. Gunther

DISCOUNT TICKETS for EVITA at SPOTLIGHTERS

Spotlighters is offering a limited number of discount tickets to this weekend’s performance of EVITA! Regular price is $20 – but use Discount Code: ” MARIA-01 ” when you order your tickets and save $8.00 off your ticket price! There are limited number of Discount Tickets available for this weekend, so don’t delay! Order your tickets at www.spotlighters.org Tickets are only available for the upcoming weekend. Subject to pre-sale.

She’s Not Good, She’s Not Bad, She’s the Witch: An Interview with Kristen Zwobot for Reisterstown Theatre Project’s Into the Woods

Interviews April 3, 2016 Amanda N. Gunther

She’s the hitch…she’s what no one believes…she’s the witch! Kristen Zwobot sits down in a TheatreBloom exclusive interview to discuss tackling a Sondheim Bucket-List role as she takes on The Witch in the Reisterstown Theatre Project production of Into the Woods.

If you could give us a brief introduction of who you are and what of your work the readers might recognize, we can get started.

Kristen Zwobot: So I’m Kristen Zwobot and I’m playing the witch.

Review: Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill at Spotlighters Theatre

Reviews March 18, 2016 Amanda N. Gunther

It’s astonishing what a little moonlight can do. And it’s a full moon over Mount Vernon in Charm City for the next three weekends as Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill lights up the stage at The Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre. Featuring solo performer Anya Randall Nebel as the legendary Billie Holiday under the Direction of Jared Shamberger and Musical Direction of LeVar Betts, this truly haunting and powerfully evocative musical tale is not your ordinary jukebox musical.

Review: Southern Baptist Sissies at Spotlighters Theatre

Reviews February 13, 2016 Amanda N. Gunther

Everybody has their truth. Yours may be different from mine, but there’s only one way to the promised land…of theatre…and for the moment that way is through the gates of Spotlighters Theatre as they warm up the winter with their production of Southern Baptist Sissies. Written by Del Shores and Directed by Fuzz Roark, this evocative, heartbreaking tale of reconciling religious truth with reality tugs the heartstrings hard and doesn’t let go until the show’s stirring conclusion.

Review: Moonlight & Magnolias at Spotlighters Theatre

Reviews January 9, 2016 Amanda N. Gunther

As God is my witness, you shall never be hungry again, at least your comedic appetite will be sated when you turn up to the Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre for their first production of 2016, Moonlight & Magnolias. A madcap malady of hilarious proportions Directed by Michael Zemarel, this play is a zany two hour trek across Hollywood’s most manic melodrama, Gone With the Wind. Only in the most truncated and hysterical fashion possible,

Dramatists Guild of America Presents: Baltimore Footlights Reading Series- The Quickening

News October 31, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

People take great comfort in proof, especially when it comes to the unknown. But sometimes the proof is the explanation. Baltimore-based playwright Mark Scharf debuts his newest work, The Quickening— a ghost story for the stage— as a part of the Baltimore Footlights Reading Series 2015-2016. Hosted by the Dramatists Guild of America, this reading series provides the opportunities for local playwrights to have staged readings of their new works, generating a chance for workshopping new ideas based on feedback given by the audience.

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.

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: 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.

Review: Altar Boyz at Spotlighters Theatre

Reviews July 13, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

Peace be with you, Baltimore! Are you ready to raise the praise with this funky fresh new sound? It’s Mary Magdalicious and it’s dropping down faster than Sunday morning parishioners on their knees in the pews over at Spotlighters Theatre this summer! That’s right, fathers, sons, and holy ladies— appearing for an extremely limited engagement in the halls of the St. Paul sanctuary— Altar Boyz are live for your praying pleasure!

Comments from the Peanut Gallery: Voices Against Bullying with Reed DeLisle

Interviews June 12, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

When theatre is evocative and moving, audience members can’t help but wonder what it’s like for the actors who help to make it so, particularly when the subject matter is intensely poignant and relevant to the outside world. Spotlighters Theatre’s current production of Dog Sees God, addresses a great many issues that plague today’s adolescent culture, everything from homophobia and bullying in the LGBT+ community, to teenage substance abuse and mental health.

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.