Reviews

Mary Poppins at Glyndon Area Players

Reviews August 6, 2019 Amanda N. Gunther

By the time the wind has blown the weather vein around, Glyndon
Area Players will show you a practically perfect production of Disney’s Mary
Poppins. Giving life to the message of love through the magic of
performance, GAP has outdone themselves this year with their high-quality
community theatre performance of Disney’s musical about a flying nanny with a
kite-string of loveable chaos in her wake. Directed by the heart and soul of
the Glyndon Area Players,

Cry Baby B-Cast at STAR Ltd.

Reviews August 2, 2019 Amanda N. Gunther

What a wonderful time to be a teenage conformist! But you
better watch your @$$!! You thought you saw everything STAR Ltd.’s Cry Baby had
to offer last weekend? Think again! Ready to rock your world, baby, baby, baby,
the alternate cast has got a whole of lot everything going on! If you missed
what was rocking-and-rolling in last week’s cast, you can read
all about it here.

Seeing a show more than once allows you to absorb multiple
things;

Fluid Movement: The Water Ballet at Fluid Movement

Reviews July 30, 2019 Joseph R. Kennedy

This year marks a special
milestone as Fluid Movement has been entertaining Baltimore residents for 20
years. As someone who has been
contemplating watching Fluid Movement’s Water Ballet for over five years, I’m
glad I decided to finally treat myself to what I had been putting off. The theme of this particular show is a
celebration of Water Ballet’s history, mixed with technical achievement,
care-free fun of the summer, new creative ideas, the beauty of what can be done
by a fleet of swimmers dedicated to artful entertainment,

Cry Baby at STAR LTD

Reviews July 26, 2019 Amanda N. Gunther

Are you a drape? Or are you a square? Nobody is too square
to come on out and see the drapes & the squares facing off in this summer’s
STAR Ltd. musical performance of Cry Baby! Directed by Mike Juba with
Musical Direction by Scott AuCoin and Choreography by Lauren Lowell, the iconic
John Waters film finds new life on the stage. With adapted book by Mark O’Donnell
and Thomas Meehan, and Songs by David Javerbaum and Adam Schlesinger,

A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Endangered Species (theatre) Project

Reviews July 24, 2019 Amanda N. Gunther

This green plot shall be their stage! And by this, tis meant
the Hodson Outdoor Theatre of Hood College, unless of course it rains, and then
there’s an indoor option, but speak not, yet mortals, of tempests— that’s
another Shakespeare altogether! Think instead upon the season, the season of
midsummer, and attend ye well to the first-annual Frederick Shakespeare
Festival, presenting productions by Endangered Species (theatre) Project, and
in this case the production be A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

The Unexpected Guest at Cockpit in Court

Reviews July 24, 2019 Amanda N. Gunther

How different things look in the daylight. A shadowy
murderess might look an innocent housewife when night slips away into day. In
one of Agatha Christie’s more spine-tingling mysteries, all is not as it seems
for the Warwick family in South Wales. Closing the cabaret space 2019 summer
season for Cockpit in Court, The Unexpected Guest is riddled with
unexpected plot twists and daring reveals that keeps audiences on the edge of
their seat through to the mysterious conclusion.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream at The Bard’s Wagon Players

Reviews July 24, 2019 Amanda N. Gunther

I am amazed; I know not what to say. Though the words be but
borrowed from The Bard, the sentiment bares much troth for feelings in my left
pap, where heart doth hop, in regard to The Bard Wagon Players. Striking up
against adversity— both of weather foul and ill-sentiment to their company’s
original namesake— the little mobile wagon full of Shakespeare doth enter its
third season upon the grassy fields of performing outdoor* Shakespeare here in
Maryland.

Kaenaonālani Kekoa (left) as Princess Jasmine and Clinton Greenspan (right) as Aladdin in Disney's Aladdin. Photo: Deen van Meer

Aladdin at The Kennedy Center

Reviews July 22, 2019 Amanda N. Gunther

Well Ali Baba had them 40 thieves, Scheherezad-ie had a thousand
tales! But DC, you in luck, ‘cause on your stage— you got a Disney show that
never fails! You got some Disney in your Opera House, it’s the summer show, it’s
set up camp! The Kennedy Center’s punching with pizzazz, and all you’ll wanna
do is rub that lamp and you’ll get— Disney’s Aladdin! Direct from
Broadway on its National Tour,

Newsies at The Fredericktowne Players

Reviews July 19, 2019 Amanda N. Gunther

Newsies on a mission; kill the competition! The
Fredericktowne Players are carrying the banner of Disney’s latest screen-to-stage
hit musical with their production of Newsies. Directed by Meg Williams,with Musical Direction by Matthew Dohm, and Choreography by Kendall Sigman,
this heartfelt production showcases some vivaciously talented individuals and
produces a quality summertime show for everyone to see during the sweltering
heat of Maryland’s 2019 indoor summer season.

The Fredericktowne Players The cast of Newsies at The Fredericktowne Players

With bold ambitions,

Absolutely Dead at Bowie Community Theatre

Reviews July 18, 2019 Wes Dennis

Absolutely Dead, by
Michael Walker, is a rather difficult play for me to review. Whereas Ken
Kienas, director of the production currently running at the Bowie Community
Theatre, writes in his director’s note that he was floored upon reviewing the
play’s ending, I can’t say that my response was at all comparable — and, given
the overwhelming importance of the reveal to one’s impression of a
murder mystery, that had quite a bit to do with my overall opinion of the
production.

Hamlet (Free For All) at Shakespeare Theatre Company

Reviews July 15, 2019 Claudia Bach

Shakespeare Theatre Company brings its
Summer Free For All program to life for a 29th season, this year reviving its
2018 production of Hamlet, originally directed by Michael Kahn and
remounted by Artistic Associate Craig Baldwin, and starring Michael Urie as the
title role. The show is a power-packed run at over 3 hours, but a scattered
performance from the cast and an incohesive design leaves the audience feeling
every minute of it.

The Mollusc at Quotidian Theatre Company

Reviews July 15, 2019 Amanda N. Gunther

It is extraordinary, the amount of force and pressure a
mollusk will exert to do nothing. Surely it would be easier to do something.
Don’t be a mollusk. Do something. And by something, I mean venture out to
Quotidian Theatre Company’s production of Hubert Henry Davies’ The Mollusc directed
by Jack Sbarbori.

Steve LaRocque (L to R) Emily H. Gilson as Miss Roberts, Marnie Kanarek as Mrs. Baxter,

The Band’s Visit at The Kennedy Center

Reviews July 14, 2019 Amanda N. Gunther

Once, not long ago, a group of musicians came from Broadway
to The Kennedy Center— but you will hear about this as it is pretty important.
The Tony Award-winning musical The Band’s Visit comes to the Eisenhower
Theatre of The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts this summer, with
Music and Lyrics by David Yazbek and Book by Itamar Moses, the poignant and
striking tale of two cultures meeting by mistake is brilliant and relevant in
today’s ever-changing,

PUFFS or Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic and Magic at Artistic Synergy of Baltimore

Reviews July 13, 2019 Amanda N. Gunther

PUFFS! Spoiler alert— not everyone’s favorite house…but
when a hat speaks, you listen! Let’s be clear here, there will be much foolish
wand waving and silly incantations in Artistic Synergy of Baltimore’s production
of PUFFS or Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic
and Magic. Fresh from Off-Broadway, and playing a limited four-show engagement,
PUFFS is the ridiculously absurd parody play that will banish all your
boggarts back into their closets with a healthy dose of laughter.

Hand to God at Wolf Pack Theatre Company

Reviews July 6, 2019 Wes Dennis

There are certain works that, for
all of their other merits, really demand to be seen for one specific scene.
Fans of obscure cinema know this well. In an age where sharing spoilers was not
a capital offense, amateur critics would often open reviews by describing these
climactic scenes in exhaustive detail, and readers were not deterred. Rather
than complaining that the work had been ruined for them, they signed into their
eBay accounts and searched for used VHS copies of the films in question because
it was incredibly important that,

Intimate Apparel at Silver Spring Stage

Reviews July 3, 2019 Claudia Bach

Lynn Nottage’s play, Intimate
Apparel, tells the story of one woman desperately reaching out for real,
unguarded, intimate human connection, and it is fitting that Silver Spring
Stage, with its intimate and engaging black box and overall style, should
select this piece to conclude its 2018-2019 season. Directed by SSS Board Chair
Seth Ghitelman, this emotion-driven production provided an entertaining and
thoughtful experience.

Amanda N. Gunther | TheatreBloom

The play,

Steel Magnolias at Spotlighters Theatre

Reviews June 25, 2019 Joseph R. Kennedy

I wasn’t sure what to think about
seeing a play I had only ever heard of as an acclaimed movie. Director Fuzz Roark assuaged those fears by
allowing us to experience the story in a setting not only made more intimate by
being kept in the same room as Alan Zemla’s set designs, but also brought to
our senses by virtue of Spotlighters Theater being a cozy space. Being so very close to the action made you
not an audience member at a play,

Sylvia at Cockpit in Court

Reviews June 24, 2019 Amanda N. Gunther

It’s a dog-eat-dog summer at Cockpit in Court this year,
with a Disaster! downstairs on the
main stage and Sylvia upstairs in the
cabaret space. A.R. Gurney’s strange comedy about a dog originally set in the
80’s is meandering into modernity this 2019 summer season under the direction
of Robert W. Oppel. It’s definitely an intriguing show and the titular
character is by far best in show!

The show is a bit of a struggle on multiple levels;

Disaster! at Cockpit in Court

Reviews June 21, 2019 Mike Zellhofer

This
review can practically write itself. Let’s face it, there is nothing disastrous
about Cockpit in Court’s current production. Of course, I am talking about Disaster! the 70’s disaster movie
musical written by Seth Rudetsky and Jack Plotnick and directed by Todd
Pearthree. Pearthree and his production team (Music Director Michael DeVito,
Technical Director Jason Randolph, Set Designer Michael Rasinski, Lighting
Designer Thomas Gardner, Costumer Designer Will Crowther, Sound Designer Corey
Sekulow, and Stage Manager John Chrzanowski) have put together THE smash hit of
the summer.

Gwen & Ida at Nu Sass and Uncle Funsy Productions

Reviews June 15, 2019 Amanda N. Gunther

If you won’t tell your story, then who will? More
importantly, will they tell it correctly? Or will they romanticize it through
the lens of B-grade Hollywood celluloid and be creative with your very
existence? Such might have been the ill-fated path of infamy for Gwen John if
Ida Lupino had had her way when it came to telling her story on the big screen.
Only it didn’t happen; Ida Lupino never made that film all about the life of
Gwen John,

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at The Rude Mechanicals

Reviews June 14, 2019 Amanda N. Gunther

Mendacity is the system we live in. Death is one way out.
Liquor is the other. Unless of course the crystal decanter top fuses into the
bottle-neck and prevents you from your liquor. (Try the screw-top.) Feeling a
little uncomfortable yet? A little like a Cat
on a Hot Tin Roof? Then you’ve found your way to The Rude Mechanical’s
production of Tennessee Williams’ other play, or his other, other play. Not the
one with the street-screaming for Stella or the one with all the little glass
animals and the jonquils and gentlemen callers,

Princess Ida at Victorian Lyric Opera Company

Reviews June 11, 2019 Daniel Plante

“If you give me your attention, I
will tell you what I am. I’m a genuine philanthropist, all other kinds are
sham. Each little fault of temper and each social defect in my erring fellow
creatures, I endeavor to correct.”

Thus ironically, in more ways than
one, proclaims The royal Gama, King and delightful foil in Gilbert and
Sullivan’s Princess Ida (or) Castle Adamant, now in its second and
final week with The Victorian Lyric Opera Company in Rockville,

Betty Buckley and the National Touring Company of Hello, Dolly! Photo: Julieta Cervantes

Hello, Dolly! at The Kennedy Center

Reviews June 7, 2019 Amanda N. Gunther

When the whistles blow and the cymbals crash and the
sparklers light the sky— it’s time to call on The John F. Kennedy Center!
Because this summer they’re raising the roof; they’re carrying on; and you’ll
want to have an old trombone and an old baton before the parade of Hello, Dolly! starring Betty Buckley
passes by! Appearing live for one sizzling summer month on the Kennedy Center’s
Opera House Stage,

Grease at Toby’s Dinner Theatre of Columbia

Reviews June 6, 2019 Amanda N. Gunther

I got chills! They’re multiplying! And I’m telling you to go—
‘cause the show that they’re supplying— it’s electrifying! Why, it’s more than electrifying,
it’s Grease lightning! You’re gonna
need to meditate in Toby’s Dinner Theatre of Columbia’s direction for some real
summer lovin’ this 2019 summer season because Grease is the word and Toby’s production is the one that you want.
Directed and Choreographed by Mark Minnick with Musical Direction by Ross Scott
Rawlings,

A Few Good Men at Stand Up For… Theatre

Reviews June 5, 2019 Mike Zellhofer

Whenever
I am assigned to review a show presented by Stand Up For… Theatre, I know for
sure that I am going to be challenged to examine my conscience. For years now SUFT,
the theatrical division of Erase Hate Through Art, has been giving us
productions that challenge us to not only look at the world around us and the
role we play in it, but our perception of the madness that surrounds us.

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,

Torn Kid at Baltimore Asian Pasifika Arts Collective & Cohesion Theatre

Reviews May 28, 2019 Joseph R. Kennedy

Something
I wasn’t prepared for when I walked into the theater to see Tornkid was
that I would slowly become a part of the play.
The first scene seemed to have more characters on set than I’m used to
seeing in the introduction to a story, as a series of people sitting on pillows
at the edge of the audience played silent ancestor spirits of the main
characters, clapping their hands to send signs to our hero and narrator,

Oliver! at St. Gabriel Miracle Players

Reviews May 23, 2019 Amanda N. Gunther

There’s a little ditty they’re singing in the city— right
here in the city of Windsor Mill!

And if you’ve got the patience, then your imagination will
tell you what you want to hear!

Oliver! Oliver!
Ol-li-ver! That’s the ditty they’re singing in the city— Oliver! at The St. Gabriel Miracle
Players, who have produced another miracle by keeping their theatre alive and
thriving in the building that their audiences know and love.

The Importance of Being Earnest at Silver Spring Stage

Reviews May 21, 2019 Rachel Zirkin Duda

During
the late 1800s in London, England – in a climate of prudishness and classism – especially
among the aristocratic elite – playwright Oscar Wilde turned social convention
on its ear by penning his farcical tour de force, The Importance of Being Earnest – subtitled, “A Trivial Play for
Serious People.” Director Bill Hurlbut is currently taking on this scandalous comedy
of manners at the highly lauded Silver Spring Stage, but instead of keeping it
in the Victorian era,

Cabaret at Silhouette Stages

Reviews May 18, 2019 Amanda N. Gunther

The sun on Columbia is summery warm. It’s shining on a
theatre gem. So gather together and see their show. Tomorrow belongs— to them.
Silhouette Stages mounts the production of the season— Kander & Ebb’s Cabaret as Directed by Stephen Foreman,
with Musical Direction by Michael Tan and Choreography by Aime Bell. Truly not
your momma’s Cabaret, this heady and
intoxicating production doesn’t just showcase the darkness burbling readily
beneath the surface of the iconic Kander &