Reviews

Oliver! at Kensington Arts Theatre

Reviews May 17, 2019 Amanda N. Gunther

I’d do anything— for a good show— anything! And despite all
the connotations the come alongside Oliver!
(that it’s dated, that it’s a child’s musical, that it’s a bit rubbish in
music and book, etc.) Kensington Arts Theatre is producing what is arguably
their best show of the 2018-2019 season. Practically perfect, with a few minor
exceptions, this well-heeled production of Lionel Bart’s musical adaptation of
Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist is surprisingly
endearing and loaded with an extraordinarily talented cast.

(L to R) Anya Lengberye as Jemima, Andrew Wilson as Caractacus Potts, Mackenzie Currie as Truly Scrumptious, and Pilot Earle-Smith as Jeremy in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Jr.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Jr. at Children’s Theatre of Annapolis

Reviews May 17, 2019 Amanda N. Gunther

They’re more than spectacular! To use the vernacular? They’re
wizard! They’re smashing! They’re keen! Why, The Children’s Theatre of
Annapolis, of course! And their wonderful, phantasmagorical production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Jr. Directed by
Atticus Boidy, with Musical Direction by Trevor Greenfield, and Choreography by
Kristin Rigsby, this fun-filled junior version of the iconic movie-turned-stage-musical
is fun for families, children of all ages, and of course for those forever
young at heart!

Mamma Mia at Dundalk Community Theatre

Reviews May 16, 2019 Tommy Malek

“My, my… how can I resist ya!”—Dundalk Community Theatre ends their superb season with a
vibrant and visually stunning presentation of Mamma Mia! “the smash hit musical featuring the songs of ABBA!”
With Direction by John Desmone, Music Direction by Nathan Scavilla, and
Choreography by Gary Dieter, this show is sure to leave you singing &
dancing your way out of the theatre!

Amanda N. Gunther | TheatreBloom Rachel Weir (left) as Tanya,

Love’s Labors Lost at The Folger Theater

Reviews May 12, 2019 Claudia Bach

For fans of Shakespeare’s comedies, Love’s
Labour’s Lost should not be overlooked. Often brushed off as a draft for
Shakespeare’s later hits, there is joy and humor in this play that would be
criminal to dismiss. The performers in the Folger Theatre’s current production,
directed by Vivienne Benesch, rise to the challenge at every turn and carry the
audience along for a raucous and heartfelt ride.

Amanda N.

Variations on Myth at Rapid Lemon

Reviews May 12, 2019 Joseph R. Kennedy

In Rapid Lemon’s Variations on
Myth, director T. P. Huth takes advantage of the emotional ride a series of
ten-minute plays can create if presented in an order that allows them to
strengthen one another. It is too often that a series of smaller plays is
presented as hors d’oeuvres, being consumed individually without thought to if
the first appetizes the audience for the second, whereas this collection of ten-minute
plays formed a cohesive experience.

1776 at The Woodbrook Players

Reviews May 10, 2019 Amanda N. Gunther

Somebody ought to open up a window! So that they can hear
the bellowing cries of the second continental congress as they piddle, twiddle,
and resolve over whether or not to start a revolution and declare independence
from Great Britain. Ready for America’s spirited beginnings? The Woodbrook
Players, successfully settled into their new home at Govans Presbyterian Church
on York Road right near Belvedere Square, are pleased to presenting to the
masses their spring musical: 1776!

The Producers at Third Wall Productions

Reviews May 9, 2019 Amanda N. Gunther

They can do it! They can do it! And they know it’s gonna work! Third Wall Productions’ current production of Mel Brooks’ The Producers, that is. Despite some last minute directorial changes, the show must go on and on it goes with Director Amy Haynes Rapnicki freshly at the helm. This production of that zany comedy about Broadway producers, with Musical Direction by Patty DeLisle, Choreography by Jillian Arnold, and Orchestra Conduction by Andrew Zile,

The Oresteia at Shakespeare Theatre Company

Reviews May 7, 2019 Amanda N. Gunther

Everything feels as if it has just happened. Ellen McLaughlin’s
The Oresteia, freely adapted from the
trilogy by Aeschylus that is nearly 2,500 years old, feels as if it is
happening. And what must happen does. Boldly closing the 2018/2019 season at
Shakespeare Theatre Company in their prestigious Sidney Harman Hall under the
Direction of STC legend Michael Kahn, The
Oresteia is modernized yet timeless, prescient yet ancient;

Treasure Island at We Happy Few

Reviews May 7, 2019 Amanda N. Gunther

The seafarin’ man with
one leg.

Such is the stuff of nightmares or high-seas hijinks for
young Master Hawkins when it comes to the beloved piratical and nautical
adventures of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure
Island. 15 men on a dead man’s chest, yo-ho-ho and a— Drinking in Tortuga
cocktail? Has all the earmarkings of a We Happy Few Production! There are
ukuleles, pirates, squeezeboxes— well,

Newsies at Children’s Playhouse of Maryland

Reviews May 6, 2019 Amanda N. Gunther

And The World will
know! And The Sun will too! ‘Bout
these Newsies and the awesome job they
do! The things they do today will be tomorrow’s news! And you heard it here
first— right in black in white— front page ABOVE the fold! That’s right— read
all about it! Right here! Children’s Playhouse of Maryland does Newsies and makes Disney proud with all
of their energy,

A Murder is Announced at Artistic Synergy of Baltimore

Reviews May 4, 2019 Mike Zellhofer

Rosedale
has got itself are real who done it, as Artistic Synergy of Baltimore presents
Agatha Christie’s A Murder Is Announced.
If you have a knack for solving the case before your favorite TV detective,
then this is a show for you. But I’ll warn you now nothing is as it appears and
with Miss Marple on hand, you’ll need to be quick.

Amanda N. Gunther | TheatreBloom The cast of A Murder is Announced at Artistic Synergy of Baltimore.

Boeing Boeing at The Heritage Players

Reviews May 4, 2019 Amanda N. Gunther

It’s all about the time tables! You’ve got to get yourself a
time table! Check your time tables and you’ll see that they’re telling you it’s
time to board Flight-519 on Heritage Airlines and enjoy their in-flight
entertainment: Boeing Boeing by Marc
Camoletti. Directed by Ryan Geiger, this flight-based French farce will whisk
audiences away to Paris, France circa 1962 and give them an inside look at an
American bachelor in Paris who has landed himself a fiancée.

Marooned! at Alex and Olmsted

Reviews May 3, 2019 Amanda N. Gunther

*ccchk* Houston? *ccchk* Hello? *ccchk* Is there anybody out there?

Space.

The final frontier.

It is man’s destiny to go forth and explore. It is Alex
& Olmsted’s destiny to go forth and create extraordinary theatre with puppetry
and puppets being their cynosure into the next leg of their extraterrestrial
and theatrical experience. Marooned! A
Space Comedy is the latest offering from the Jim Henson Foundation Grant
Winning company.

Dog Sees God at Wolf Pack Theater Company

Reviews May 3, 2019 Amanda N. Gunther

The broken parts of a dead body will never heal. Sticks and
stones may break my bones but names— will scar me so deep that I just may never
recover. Good grief. When the iconic, albeit off-kilter, happiness of one’s
childhood, hits puberty and spirals off course with tough life lessons and
harrowing high-school truths, you get Bert V. Royal’s Dog Sees God. Fitting into the wheelhouse of Wolf Pack Theatre
Company productions,

The Who’s Tommy at The Kennedy Center

Reviews April 28, 2019 Mark Briner

After two solid seasons, it’s
established that the Kennedy Center’s Broadway Center Stage series is a major
component of the Baltimore/DC theatrical landscape. Acquiring first rate
Broadway and Hollywood talent in intensely-assembled one week runs of home-grown
musicals in “concert” form that frankly rival and even exceed many current
national touring productions has brought unique, exciting new possibilities for
musical theatre to our region. They have given us superior mountings of
classics like How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and The
Music Man.

Appropriate at Silver Spring Stage

Reviews April 13, 2019 Amanda N. Gunther

Are people anything more than porous vessels susceptible to
influence from— other people? Spirits? And is family really anything more than
mismatched memories or stories that you tell yourself when you feel a certain
way?’ What happens when the spirits of families past haunt you and influence
you right into a catastrophe? You get Branden Jacobs-Jenkins Appropriate, now on stage at Silver
Spring Stage, Directed by Jeff Mikoni. When tensions run high through the
estranged Lafayette family and historical ghosts of all sorts rise up from a
well-buried past in this intensely motived drama by Jacobs-Jenkins,

Ghost-Writer at Quotidian Theatre Company

Reviews April 13, 2019 Amanda N. Gunther

“The waiting is part of the work. One never knows when the
words will come.” The words may be Michael Hollinger’s from his play Ghost-Writer, but they are in fact
relatable to anyone who has ever tried their hand or pen or keys (of any
vintage) at writing. A mysteriously intriguing ghost story springs to life on
the stage of The Writer’s Center in Bethesda as resident theatre Quotidian
Theatre Company opens their 2019 calendar season with its production.

Pantheon at Happenstance Theatre

Reviews April 12, 2019 Amanda N. Gunther

Oh workers, builders, and destroyers of the world! Heed the
call— it is your destiny— in seats at Theatre Project for your bodies to be— feel the sweetness of Eurydice— and rest
assured the show’s lyricist (Craig Jaster) is far better at this rhyming stuff
than me— and to prove it you must take yourself forth and see— Pantheon. The latest in the Happenstance
Theatre realm of fantastical fabrications, this iteration of theatricality
revolves around Greek Mythology.

Jessica Bennett (left) as Esmerelda and Sam Kobren (right) as Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Jeri Tidwell Photography)

The Hunchback of Notre Dame at Toby’s Dinner Theatre

Reviews April 10, 2019 Amanda N. Gunther

Here it is— the moment you’ve been waiting for! Here it is—
you know exactly what’s in store! A story like you’ve never seen or heard
before! Now’s the time to head to Toby’s Dinner Theatre of Columbia to see the
DC-regional premiere of The Hunchback of
Notre Dame. Directed by Toby Orenstein & Mark Minnick, with Musical
Direction by Ross Scott Rawlings, this musical masterpiece inspired by the
Victor Hugo novel with musical selections from the Disney animated feature film
presents a hauntingly beautiful tale with striking,

Sister Act at Scottfield Theatre Company

Reviews April 9, 2019 Tommy Malek

It’s time to make a joyful noise and
“Raise Your Voice” for Scottfield Theatre Company and their latest production: Sister Act the Musical! Based on the
film of the same name starring Whoopi Goldberg, this disco fairytale follows
the misadventures of Deloris Van Cartier, a nightclub singer forced into the
Sisterhood after witnessing a crime! Directed by Allan Herlinger with Musical
Direction by Niki Tart and Choreography by Becky Titelman,

Beehive at Spotlighters Theatre

Reviews April 6, 2019 Amanda N. Gunther

Hey, mamma, welcome to the 60’s! Whoa-oh-ooooh— go, mamma! Go,
go go! Wait— no. That’s a different musical. But such is par for the course
these last few months at The Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre where stumbling
blocks like pulled rights have failed to thwart the creative and artistic efforts
of staunch thespians in Baltimore’s Mount Vernon neighborhood. Despite being
three weeks into rehearsal for Smokey Joe’s
Café (and having the rights pulled due to a potential national tour) the
cast and crew at Spotlighters was able to switch gears and turn out a pretty
impressive production of Beehive…the 60’s
Musical.

Go, Dog, Go! at Maryland Ensemble Theatre FUNCompany

Reviews March 29, 2019 Amanda N. Gunther

Big Dogs!

Little Dogs!

Big Dogs AND Little Dogs!

Black & White Dogs!

One Big Dog going in! Three Big Dogs going out!

Go, people, go! To the Maryland Ensemble Theatre FUN Company
and see their current production of Go,
Dog, Go! Based on the iconic book by P.D. Eastman, adapted to the stage by
Steven Kietz and Allison Gregory, with music by Michael Koerner,

A Bronx Tale at The National Theatre

Reviews March 27, 2019 Mark Briner

As a
performance piece, A Bronx Tale has
had maybe an even more colorful history than the events that inspired it. Back
in the late 80’s, Calogero Lorenzo “Chazz” Palminteri, a young, struggling
actor with big dreams met with a series of closed doors. Intent on making his
own luck, he realized that as a child he had a unique experience, and developed
a one-man show based on those events. The result was the critically acclaimed
1989 off-Broadway hit A Bronx Tale,

The World Goes Round at The Salem Players

Reviews March 22, 2019 Jim & Ashley Gerhardt

The World
Goes ‘Round, currently being performed at Salem Players in
Catonsville, is a musical revue showcasing the more well-known and favorite
songs of composer John Kander and lyricist Fred Ebb; composers of shows such as
Chicago, Cabaret, Funny Lady, Zorba,
and many others. It would be surprising for any person to be unfamiliar, or not
fond of, at least some the music to be heard in this show.

Macbeth at We Happy Few

Reviews March 16, 2019 Amanda N. Gunther

Into the air as breath into the wind…a Bard quote, yes, but
the truest sanguine nature of theatre; it is ephemeral. And if it is bad, then
we breathe its essence into the wind with breath and it is gone from us,
perchance as if it never existed. But what if it be good? What if it be
superbly refocused? Is it still not ephemeral? Perhaps then we breathe more
slowly, savoring the sounds,

The Merry Wives of Windsor at Colonial Players

Reviews March 10, 2019 John Nunemaker

The
Colonial Players of Annapolis have decided to mount a production of Shakespeare
for the first time in over 20 years and after seeing the production the one
question to ask is why have they waited so long? The Merry Wives of Windsor, running now through March 23rd
at the Colonial Players, is a fresh take on a classic Shakespearian Comedy and
a thrilling joy of a night of theatre!

Anything Goes at Silhouette Stages

Reviews March 9, 2019 Amanda N. Gunther

The world has gone mad today and good’s bad today and black’s
white today and day’s night today— and the show today you should see today—
well, God knows…it’s Anything Goes!
Springing up on Silhouette Stage’s stages as the second show of their 2018/2019
season, Cole Porter’s classic ship-set musical is setting sail this spring!
Directed by Conni Ross with Musical Direction by William Georg and Choreography
by Tina Marie DeSimone,

Sweeney Todd at The Heritage Players

Reviews March 8, 2019 Amanda N. Gunther

Attend the tale of Sweeney
Todd. The opening line should be enough to entice anyone to visit this dark
and bloody Sondheim event at The Heritage Players. The second in their annual “musical
theatre concert” series, this year’s devious stage offering is none other than
the bloody demon barber of fleet street. Sweeney
Todd, Directed by John Gary Pullen with Musical Direction by David Zajic,
and Vocal Direction by Sharen Camille,

Once On This Island Jr. at Children’s Playhouse of Maryland

Reviews March 8, 2019 Amanda N. Gunther

Life! Pain! Love! Grief! Hope! Faith! You! THAT is why they
tell the story! What story, you ask? Once
On This Island Jr.! Who’s telling it, you ask? Children’s Playhouse of
Maryland! Their incredibly talented cast of young performers presents a
whimsical tale of two worlds that were never meant to meet, joined together by
the island they share. Directed by Liz Boyer Hunnicutt, with musical Direction
by Charlotte Evans,

The Women of Lockerbie at Bowie Community Theatre

Reviews March 7, 2019 John Nunemaker

Bowie
Community Theatre is concluding its year of the woman with Deborah Brevoort’s The Women of Lockerbie Directed by
Estelle Miller, a fitting end to a season celebrating women. The play itself is
a nod to ancient Greek drama and a requiem for all the innocent lives lost on
PanAm Flight 103 and on the ground in Lockerbie, Scotland. The production currently on stage at the
Bowie Playhouse is a tour-de-force performance of five spectacular female
thespians.