Guys & Dolls at Tidewater Players
Ask me how to describe this whole beautiful thing? Well, if I were a bell I’d go ding, dong, ding, dong, diiing! And ring the bells they do, for that splashy, lush Frank Loesser musical, Guys & Dolls. Who’s ringing bells? Tidewater Players, that’s who. It’s a cute and campy way to close out their 2024/2025 mainstage season and it’s got a lot of adorable little moments and some stellar performances that are worth taking a gamble on seeing!
Much Ado About Nothing at The Rude Mechanicals
It may be the opinion of some that I was born to speak all mirth and no matter, but one doth not know how much an ill word can empoison liking. Let’s hope that’s enough mangled lines from the Bard’s source material to bait the proverbial bear and get this review of The Rude Mechanicals’ Much Ado About Nothing underway. Directed by Shirely Long, this Shakespearean comedy about— well, mostly a fuss made over nothing,
Falsettos at Keegan Theatre
author: Steven Kirkpatrick & Charles Boyington
Running at the Keegan Theatre from May 10 to June 15, Falsettos is a clever, emotionally resonant musical whose themes center on Jewish family and gay life in the late 1970s and early 1980s. At its center is the conflicted Marvin (John Loughney), a gay man who introduces us in an early sequence to his lover, Whizzer (Kaylen Morgan), and his ex-wife, Trina (Katie McManus),
Hairspray at Dundalk Community Theatre
author: Leonard Taube
Welcome to the 60’s! If that isn’t enough to tell you what musical I’m referring to, your musical theatre card is hereby revoked. It’s Hairspray, of course, and it’s being produced by Dundalk Community Theatre in residence at the John E. Ravekes Theatre located in the Lloyd College Center on the campus of CCBC Dundalk.
Blame John Waters for starting it all. In 1988 he directed the comedy film of the same name and cast it with stars like Divine,
Hiiii!!! A puffy interview with the puffiest Puffs who ever did puff all about Puffs appearing at Rogue Swan Theatre Company
Hiiii!!!
I’m Mandy Gunther and I’m— well— I’m a Puff! (Yes, I’ve taken the test over and over and over…go figure.) But more importantly, I’m here with some folks of the Rogue Swan variety— several of whom are also Puffs! Hiii!!! Which is convenient! Since Rogue Swan Theatre Company is doing Puffs (Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School for Magic and Magic) that delightful send-up of a certain source material (written by she-who-must-not-be-named) as penned into stage-worthy existence by Matt Cox.
Next To Normal at Street Lamp Community Theatre
Who’s crazy? The one who’s half gone? Or maybe the one who holds on? Or maybe you’re crazy— at least you will be if you don’t catch Street Lamp Community Theatre’s production of Next To Normal. This evocative and heart-ripping story will shake you to your core. Theatre was designed to comfort the discomforted and discomfort the comfortable; somehow this stellar production does both, all while bringing the waterworks (and the questions at the very,
Luck Be A Lady: Interviewing The Hot Box Dancers & Miss Adelaide with Tidewater Players’ Guys & Dolls
They’ll love you— a bushel and a peck! A bushel and a peck and a huge around the neck! A hug around the neck and a barrel and a heap! A barrel and a heap and they’re talking in their sleep— about you! You guessed it! It’s time to sit down with Miss Adelaide and her Hot Box Dancers! Carrying on for part three of the Luck Be a Lady interview series featuring important players in Guys &
Some Like It Hot at The Hippodrome
Are you lookin’ for a friendly door to knock and come on in? Well, the name’s Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theatre— and it’s there for you— so that the good times can begin! You ready to be good? Bad? All of the above? Now’s the time! Broadway’s Tony Award-winning smash, Some Like It Hot is swinging on into Charm City for a one-week engagement and you won’t want to miss this splashy classic! It’s a hoot!
Rent (school edition) at Children’s Playhouse of Maryland
We can’t control— our destiny— we should trust our soul— our only goal— is just to be— and in this case it should be just to be at Children’s Playhouse of Maryland for their final production of the 24th (2024/2025) mainstage season— a true seasons of love production— Rent (school edition.) One of— if not the— most evocative and powerful performance to cross the CPM stage this side of the pandemic, Rent (school edition) is giving genuine vibes,
Baby With The Bathwater at Spotlighters Theatre
Everything is so outside of our control. Statement about life as we currently live it or direct quote from a Durang play that premiered in 1983? Why not both? And in case you weren’t satisfied with the level of absurdity pervading the daily news and the generalized existence of this country, The Audrey Herman Spotlighters’ theatre gives you even more absurdity with the penultimate play of their 62nd season. Baby With the Bathwater,
Luck Be A Lady: Interviewing Benny Southstreet, Rusty Charlie, and Nicely-Nicely Johnson with Tidewater Players’ Guys & Dolls
We got the horse right here! It’s name is— what? Not Paul Revere? Not Valentine? Not Epitaph? Then what the good googly-moogly are their names? Benny Southstreet, Rusty Charlie, and Nicely-Nicely Johnson? What the heck kinda horse names are those? Oh they’re not horses? Oooh. Well that explains a lot. Time to shoot crap— or crap shoot? Take your pick— with the Fugue Fellas— Rusty Charlie, Nicely-Nicely Johnson, and Benny Southstreet on their time spent with Guys &
Mary Stuart at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company
Diplomacy is nothing but a cockfight. Sounds a bit too modern for something that happened almost 440 years ago. And yet the striking political relevance inside Friederich Schiller’s Mary Stuart (new version adapted by Peter Oswald and currently directed by Ian Gallanar) is both eerie and chilling to the world we’re presently living in. This evocative drama, despite its hefty run-time, is impressive and exceedingly well-polished upon the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company’s main stage for their final indoor show of the 2024/2025 season.
Luck Be A Lady: Interviewing Big Jule & Harry The Horse with Tidewater Players’ Guys & Dolls
When you see a guy reach for stars in the sky— you can bet that he’s doin’ it for some doll! Call it hell, call it heaven, it’s a probable twelve-to-seven that this interview series is featurin’ some Guys & Dolls! We’ve got the horse right here…several of them in fact! And we’ll bet you a thousand big ones that you ain’t heard some of the fun things coming out of these Tidewater Players’ actors’ mouths before!
Bump at Colonial Players of Annapolis
author: Lucille Blumberg
“Man plans, God laughs.” It’s a sentiment that lingers long after the final blackout of Colonial Players’ Bump, a heartfelt, sharply insightful, and quietly profound exploration of childbirth across centuries and circumstances. Bump isn’t just about pregnancy—it’s about the plans people make, the expectations they cling to, and the unpredictable, beautiful, chaotic truth of how life enters the world anyway. Audiences left the theater reminded of how universal and individual this experience is—and how stories,
Tonight The Heat Comes From Below: Let’s Be Bad with Devon Hadsell, playing Minnie in Some Like It Hot
Are you ready to be bad, Baltimore? Because the National touring production of Some Like It Hot is coming in hot and ready to shake up Charm City this May! In a quick phone interview with Devon Hadsell, playing Minnie on the tour, we get a full scope of why this show is so darn hot and fun!
Hello, Devon! Thank you so much for taking my call; we’re so excited to chat with you!
Rent at Laurel Mill Playhouse
author: Leonard Taube
I could give you 525,600 reasons to go see Laurel Mill Playhouse’s production of RENT but that would be silly. So, I’ll give you one. How about love?
Jonathan Larson’s masterpiece chronicles the lives of several struggling young artists/activists/musicians in New York set against the backdrop of the AIDS epidemic. With roots loosely in the 1896 opera La Boheme, Larson’s tale is set in the then-thriving Alphabet City in Lower Manhattan’s East Village in New York.
525,600 Minutes: How The Graduating Seniors of Children’s Playhouse of Maryland Measure Their Year with Rent
In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee. In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife…in graduations. 525,600 minutes, how do you measure— a year in your life? Five of Children’s Playhouse of Maryland’s graduating seniors are measuring out their final year with the program by taking part in Rent (school edition) as their final senior show with the company. We’ve sat down with these five rising talents as they’re about to bid CPM a fond farewell to hear what they’ve had to say about the experience.
Laughter Through Tears: The Women of Just-Off Broadway’s Steel Magnolias
Wouldn’t you rather have 30 minutes of wonderful rather than a lifetime of nothing special? Well, this interview took about 50 minutes (and for a Al Herlinger cast that’s short!) but it was certainly wonderful and special. Sitting down with the six talented women of Just Off Broadway’s upcoming production of Robert Harling’s Steel Magnolias, we’ve done a deep-dive into what it’s like for these six women— mostly strangers to one another,
Jesus Christ Superstar at The State Theater of Havre de Grace
Blood and destruction— because of one man. If that isn’t ever an accurate summation of today’s society compliments of Andrew Lloyd Webber… but if you strip away the myth from the man…what are you left with? A striking, and damn near award-winning production of Jesus Christ Superstar at The State Theater of Havre de Grace, that’s what. Directed by Austin Barnes with Musical Direction by Jarrett Rettman, and Choreography by Veronica Lane, this brilliantly nuanced and extremely meticulously plotted production is a staging for the ages;
Pipeline at Vagabond Players
People have expectations of you because of how they see you and if you get caught up in how you are seen you become what people expect, be it good, bad, or otherwise. Powerful stuff packed heavily into the words of Dominique Morisseau’s Pipeline appearing as the penultimate production at Vagabond Players in their 109th season. Directed by Lorraine Brooks, this thought-provoking play tackles some tough subject matters and really makes you stop and think about perception,
Jane Anger at Maryland Ensemble Theatre
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Shakespeare, ammiright? WRONG. Like so many of those popular “of the times” lines attributed to the plagiarizing bastard, this one also doesn’t belong to Billy Shakes. (It’s actually a deeply distorted misquote from William Congreve’s The Mourning Bride, 1697 but that’s a tale for another time.) But the sentiment is definitely there. Famous. Timeless. Universal appeal. All percolating up and out of the Jacobean Era of England from that historically renowned master of page and pen,
Young Frankenstein at Third Wall Productions
Forget about the foxtrot— throw away the waltz! Take away the two-step and all that other schmaltz! Are you ready for what’s been going on in Phoenix? It’s a doozy…makes ya’ woozy…it’s the new phenomenon— well…not that new…but the first production of Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein this side of Charm City since 2022 (SLCT in Rising Sun!) And it’s all the rave and roar right in this reviewer’s backyard— Third Wall Productions and their zany,
Manor Mill Playhouse Shorts: An Evening of One-Act Plays at Manor Mill Playhouse
Everyone likes appetizers. Or hors d’oeuvres. Tapas? Small, delicious bites of flavorful morsels to tease the palette and titillate the senses. Well if that isn’t exactly what Manor Mill Playhouse has on their stage this weekend— earmarking their second-ever production— with Manor Mill Playhouse Shorts, three one-act plays with three different directors, three different sets of actors, and one deeply impressive evening of performances. Produced by Vanessa Eskridge, the evening’s spread has three unique stories on offer,
Alice By Heart at Street Lamp Community Theatre
Words mean what we say they mean. But who— who— are— you? Are you who you say you are? Do you expect to believe that you are who you say you are? Are you— Alice? Do you know Alice By Heart? Book by Steven Sater (lyrics too) & Jessie Nelson? Music by Duncan Sheik? If you weren’t able to answer yes to any of those questions, then you should tumbled own the rabbit hole by way of Street Lamp Community Theatre to experience this rarely produced musical gem.
The Secret Garden at Scottfield Theatre Company
author: Anthony Case
Come to Scottfield Theatre Company’s garden. Their Secret Garden, that is. Live at The Cultural Center at The Opera House in Havre de Grace, Director and Choreographer Becky Titelman and her company have put on yet another impressive showcase in their production of Marsha Norman and Lucy Simon’s intimidating and seldom-produced masterpiece: The Secret Garden. And with Musical Director LaShelle Bray and Stage Manager/Dialect Coach Sean Silence at her side (amongst others),
Shucked at The Hippodrome
Folks say that things happen for a reason. I say Shucked happened for a reason. The great deities of musical theatre knew we were about to be living in the dark ages and the great deities of musical theatre knew we would need something whole-kernel-wholesome with literally a laugh-a-minute to lift us up out of the darkness and bring us into the radiant bright— cornfield!? Who in tarnation knew that we so desperately needed a musical— about CORN!?
The Hunchback of Notre Dame at Woods Memorial Presbyterian Church
The world is cruel. The world is ugly. But there are times and there are people when the world is not— and at its cruelest, it’s still the only world we’ve got. Sing the bells…bells…bells…bells…bells…bells— Bells of Woods Memorial Presbyterian Church!? I’m not sure those are the lyrics that Stephen Schwartz scribbled down initially, but you can hear the bells— of the phenomenal orchestra, the stellar choir, and the extraordinary cast— in their current resplendent production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
The Odd Couple at Bowie Community Theatre
author: Chris Pence
Stuck in the Middle With You: The Odd Couple at Bowie Community Theatre
Some things never change, like the frustration and camaraderie of having roommates, especially those that drive us crazier than a worm in a bowl of spaghetti (IT’S LINGUINI!!!). Neil Simon’s classic buddy comedy, The Odd Couple, screams its way onto the Bowie Community Theatre stage with hilarious consequence.
Perhaps Simon’s most well-known play,
Tick, tick…BOOM! at Greenbelt Arts Center
Why do we seek out ecstasy in all the wrong places? A potent question that Jonathan Larson askes in his ‘starter musical’ Tick…tick, BOOM! Unpopular opinion, as this show tends to be potent enough for the ‘theatrical catnip crowd’ but if Larson had lived? This show would still be sitting on a shelf, collecting dust somewhere. Or at the very least been heavily rewritten, reconfigured, and modernized to feel somewhat more relevant and less self-aggrandizing/narcissistic pity-party.
Kernels of Comedy: An Earful from Shucked’s Erick Pinnick
Homegrown yuks getting cornier by the second! Must mean Shucked is coming to town! Checking in with Howard County native, Erick Pinnick, we do get a little earful about the poppin’ good time that is playing in the first National Tour of Shucked.
Thank you for giving us some of your time, Erick, it’s really exciting to get to talk to you!
Erick Pinnick: No problem.