All posts by Amanda N. Gunther

A full-time theatre reviewer in the Baltimore, Washington, and surrounding areas; Amanda holds a BFA in Acting from the University of Maryland Baltimore County as well as a minor in Creative Writing. Having spent two of her five years at college studying abroad at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, she has learned a great deal about improv, devised work theatre, and interpretive movement pieces. Striving to promote theatre of all types, she can often be found in a theatre of some type, even on her nights off.

Into The Woods at the Vagabond Players 📷 Shealyn Jae Photography

Into The Woods at Vagabond Players

Reviews October 22, 2024 Amanda N. Gunther 2 Comments

Every moment is a moment when you’re in the woods— again please.

It’s the Vagabond Players’ turn to try their hand at Sondheim’s most beastly bear…Into The Woods, under the co-direction of Audra M. Mullen and Kerry Simons, launches its five-weekend run as the first show of the company’s 109th season. With Musical Direction by Stephen M. Deininger, this challenging Sondheim musical has a few twists, turns, and pleasant surprises in store for audiences who are familiar with the work,

Pride & Prejudice at Baltimore Center Stage

Reviews October 21, 2024 Amanda N. Gunther

How much can we ever know of anyone? We are all blind to ourselves, after all. But don’t be blind to Baltimore Center Stage. And know that they are currently producing a spectacular production of Pride & Prejudice (by Kate Hamill, adapted from Jane Austen’s novel.) It’s a wildly comedic reimagining of Regency life with colorful characters, twisted societal demands, and a bunch of other little quirky gems that will keep you snickering and enjoying yourself from start to finish.

Same Time, Next Year at Compass Rose Theatre

Reviews October 20, 2024 Amanda N. Gunther

One beautiful weekend a year. No cares, no ties, no responsibilities. Sounds grand, doesn’t it? Just swell? It’s exactly the picture Bernard Slade was trying to paint when he penned Same Time, Next Year. Probably. Appearing now at Compass Rose Theatre (for the next several weekends, at any rate) this somewhat dated stage comedy still has its humors and in its own right is a quaint little evening’s worth of oddly colored ‘old school’ humor.

Evita at Silhouette Stages

Reviews October 19, 2024 Amanda N. Gunther

What makes a city hum? Who gives it life? Evita! Evita! And Silhouette Stages’ current production of the Tim Rice & Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Evita will have the whole city of Columbia more than just humming. You’ll cheer. You’ll cry. You’ll be moved. Directed by Daniel Douek, with Musical Direction by Ginny Moses, and Choreography by Amie Bell, this tragically beautiful tale of Argentina’s first lady— the first ‘princess of the people’— is in gloriously capable hands under Daniel Douek’s direction and his production team’s innovative practices on stage.

Michael Bliss as Ash in Evil Dead: The Musical 📷 Matthew Peterson

Evil Dead: The Musical at Deer in the Spotlight

Reviews October 18, 2024 Amanda N. Gunther

Don’t you wanna join the crew? You’ll be all dead and evil too! JOIN THEM!! JOIN THEM!!

It’s an annual tradition like Christmas Carol or Rocky Horror only so much more bad-ass and way more fun because of the…
BLOOD.

Yes. Blood. For their ninth year— Evil Dead: The Musical returns (Deer in the Spotlight is producing this in the creepy back-gym of Havre de Grace’s STAR Centre this year) to get you SOAKED…if you’re seated in the splash zone.

Our Town at Manor Mill Playhouse

Reviews October 17, 2024 Amanda N. Gunther

Do any live people ever realize life every minute while they live it? Saints and poets…and theatergoers… maybe… It’s time to take a step back, take a breath, and come celebrate the simplistic joys in life. The sunrising… the birds in the trees…the seasons changing… a new theatre company opening its doors for the very first time… Okay, that last one isn’t quite so simple, but Angelo Otterbein (owner and operator and art enthusiast of Manor Mill) and Vanessa Eskridge (director and producer of Manor Mill Playhouse’s inaugural production of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town) make it look simple,

Natalie Shaw (Cady Heron), Kristen Amanda Smith (Gretchen Wieners), Maya Petropoulos (Regina George), and Maryrose Brendel (Karen Smith) in Mean Girls 📷 Jenny Anderson

Mean Girls at The National Theater

Reviews October 17, 2024 Amanda N. Gunther

Hear about a party— here’s the procedure:

Text all your friends— tell ‘em where to meet you!

At The National Theater in DC to welcome (back) the tour of Mean Girls! That’s so FETCH. NETworks is touring the cautionary tale this time around, bringing the iconic film-come-musical full-circle as it launched it’s pre-Broadway debut at The National in 2017. Directed (on tour) by Casey Hushion with musical supervision by Mary-Mitchell Campbell and touring choreography by John MacInnis,

The Woman in Black at The Keegan Theatre

Reviews October 16, 2024 Amanda N. Gunther

When the crypt door creaks and the tombstones quake… and all those other thrillifying haunted things that trickle down through the mist to send shivers up the spine this time of year…it can only mean one thing. Spooky season is upon us! And delving into the vein of stage thriller, The Keegan Theatre presents The Woman in Black, by Stephen Mallatratt (based on the novel by Susan Hill) now through November 17th 2024.

Jekyll & Hyde at The Havre de Grace Opera House

Reviews October 12, 2024 Amanda N. Gunther

Mesmerizing. Haunting. Lingering. Distill the theatrical experience into a singularity of words and those are the three that flash immediately to mind. Look further still behind the façade for evocative sensationalism, hypnotic chaos, captivating moments of song, movement, and storytelling…and you just might find yourself seated in The Opera House of Havre de Grace for Jekyll & Hyde. Adapted for the stage by Steven Cuden and Frank Wildhorn, this musical thriller appears on the Opera House stage just in the throng of the calendar’s most haunted month.

Monster (or #MeToo, Brute)

Reviews October 11, 2024 Amanda N. Gunther

Reputation is everything. You either have enough wealth to buy reputation or you have enough reputation to be wealthy. That’s the vicious cycle of existing. Or at least existing on the internet. In a world-premiere of Marshall Logan Gibbs’ new work, Monster (or #MeToo, Brute) the ‘safe space’ of the internet is deeply examined through an all-too relatable lens. Directed by Maxwell Wolf, this current production appears as one of two brand new works being produced by The Maryland Theatre Collective this 2024/2025 season and is deeply poignant,

Sister Act at 2nd Star Productions

Reviews October 10, 2024 Amanda N. Gunther

If you want the world to listen— stand up tall and proud— let them know what they been missing— and turn that volume up loud! 2nd Star Productions is raising their voice— ringing through the rafters with their production of Sister Act, which has a couple of matinee performances already sold out! Directed by Kevin Sockwell, with Musical Direction by Michelle Bruno, and Choreography by Kristin Rigsby, this cinema-classic-come-stage-musical is a bit of joyful noise that will give you a case of Sunday morning fever.

Big Fish at Other Voices Theatre

Reviews October 5, 2024 Amanda N. Gunther

Secrets are the backbone of society. Everybody ought to have a few. And Frederick has got at least one— Other Voices Theatre, tucked away up off Jefferson Street in the Performance Factory. And that little secret is currently producing Big Fish: Small Cast Edition as their 2024/2025 season opener. Directed by Andrew Lloyd Baughman, with Musical Direction by Lisa Dodson, and Choreography by Donna Grim, this modern-day fantasy exploration musical is oddly charming and heartwarming.

Oh Happy Day! at Baltimore Center Stage

Reviews September 28, 2024 Amanda N. Gunther

Sometimes you gotta look crazy to find your happy. Choose to be happy today because you never know what day will be your last day on earth. Celebrate life while you have it; choose your happy. It’s a good day to be happy. And it’ll be a better day to be happy if you have tickets to the world premiere production of Jordan E. Cooper’s Oh Happy Day! Following the popular trend of being “a new play with music”,

Sweeney Todd at Rogue Swan Theatre Company ???? James Craig

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street at Rogue Swan Theatre Company

Reviews September 27, 2024 Amanda N. Gunther

The more he bleeds the more he lives…he never forgets and he never forgives…not Sweeney… not Sweeney Todd…and you do not wish to be on his hit list, I assure you. Rogue Swan Theatre Company, celebrating their ten-year anniversary, has gone all out— not just the spacious stage and auditorium of Havre de Grace’s STAR Centre— but they’re producing Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street on said STAR Centre’s mainstage and this beast of a Sondheim musical is waiting with glistening razor edge and an unusually unique Rogue Swan hallmark stamped across its existence.

Broadway Production of "& Juliet" ???? Matthew Murphy

& Juliet at The Hippodrome Theatre Baltimore

Reviews September 25, 2024 Amanda N. Gunther

Baltimore is throwing glitter and making it rain! Launching their National Tour from right here in Charm City, & Juliet is the refreshing and sensational ‘Elizabethan meets Millennials Mashup’ the world didn’t know it needed! Evocative, full of heart, and one hell of a good time, & Juliet is the upbeat, feel-good, coming of age tale that the great William Shakespeare was never able to truly give us; audiences are falling in love with it if their show-stopping ovations and unending applause are any indication.

Sense & Sensibility at Maryland Ensemble Theatre ???? Spence Photographics

Sense & Sensibility at The Maryland Ensemble Theatre

Reviews September 24, 2024 Amanda N. Gunther

Tis your ambition to be happy? Then come to Maryland Ensemble Theatre as they open up their 2024/2025 main stage season with Kate Hamill’s sprightly adaptation of Jane Austen’s Sense & Sensibility. Indeed, the season of MET’s happiness kicks off swimmingly with this exuberantly energetic movement-based comedy, Directed by Gené Fouché, this most agreeable and enjoyable afternoon of quirky comedy meets winsome romance is a delightfully balanced romp of pathos and silliness,

Grease at Tidewater Players

Reviews September 24, 2024 Amanda N. Gunther

Grease is the word…is the word…is the word… is the word… it’s on stage… it’s here now…

At Tidewater Players for two weekends only (and be careful to pick your Grease very carefully when you make your ticket selections because Tidewater is offering Grease-OG and Grease-Elite, where the Elite production cast is comprised of performers age 55+ so if you’re hoping to see someone you know,

Bye Bye Birdie at Children’s Playhouse of Maryland

Reviews September 23, 2024 Amanda N. Gunther

Kids! You can talk and talk til your face is blue! Kids! But they still do just what they want to do! And they want to be laughing, singing, dancing, grinning— sensations! And while we’re on the subject— Kids! They’re at Children’s Playhouse of Maryland kicking off the 2024/2025 season with their production of Bye Bye Birdie! Complete with lots of moonlight swims and loop-da-loops! Directed by Liz Boyer Hunnicutt with Musical Direction by Charlotte Evans,

Zipporah Brown Gladden (left) as Mattie Campbell and Miley Folley (right) as Jeremy Furlow in Joe Turner's Come and Gone at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company ???? Kiirstn Pagan Photography

Joe Turner’s Come and Gone at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company

Reviews September 23, 2024 Amanda N. Gunther

If you forget your song or how to sing it, you forget who you are. There’s something powerful in that paraphrased saying from August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, which is appearing live on the main stage at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, as a part of the Baltimore City-wide “Baltimore August Wilson Celebration.” As the second production in this city-wide festival, committed to producing ten of August Wilson’s works in chronological order (of when they take place,

Director Eric Bray Jr. (subbing for Matthew Peterson) as The Fiddler in Fiddler on the Roof ???? Matthew Peterson

Fiddler on the Roof at Phoenix Festival Theater

Reviews September 20, 2024 Amanda N. Gunther

Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles! Phoenix Festival Theater is up in production for the fall! And they’re bringing a time-honored classic, some might call it a musical theatre tradition— Fiddler on the Roof. Directed by Eric Bray Jr., whose main stage directorial debut could not have been more successful, with Musical Direction by Rebecca Rossello, and Choreography by Karlie Surgeon, this insightfully nuanced and emotionally driven production is truly an extraordinary feat,

Church & State at Silver Spring Stage

Reviews September 19, 2024 Amanda N. Gunther

How is our prayer going to stop the next senseless shooting?

How. Is our prayer. Going to stop the next senseless shooting?

It’s not a typo or a mistake that the question has been repeated. I ask it again because it is an unanswered question that continues to haunt millions of Americans each and every day. And while using a stage, a play, a performance, or a theatrical experience as a profound echo chamber for the real message that needs to be heard may not amount to much,

Sweeney Todd rehearsal shots ???? James Craig

There’s No Place Like Rogue Swan: An In-Depth Look at Sweeney Todd with Rogue Swan Theatre Company

Interviews September 18, 2024 Amanda N. Gunther

The history of the world my sweet— is who gets eaten and who gets to eat!! Feast…your eyes…on this round-robin cast-conversational with Rogue Swan. Sitting down with quite a few of the Rogue Swan core troupe members, we’re discussing bloody bloody Stephen Sondheim, though much more specifically Sweeney Todd and their upcoming production, which just so happens to be the kickoff for spooky season and a part of their tenth anniversary season! It’s pretty wild all things considered.

Intimate Apparel at Compass Rose Theater

Reviews September 14, 2024 Amanda N. Gunther

“Don’t you let no man have no part of your heart without getting a piece of his.” Profound words and life lessons to live by from Lynn Nottage’s Intimate Apparel, which is now appearing on stage at Compass Rose Theater at the top of the 2024/2025 season. Directed by Lottie E. Porch, this vibrant period drama, set in Lower Manhattan in 1905, is a heartfelt tale of Esther, a colored woman who stitches intimate apparel to make her living and all of the subsequent trials and tribulations that accompany that lifestyle at that time.

This Is The Moment: An Interview with Constantine Maroulis on Jekyll & Hyde in Havre de Grace

Interviews September 12, 2024 Amanda N. Gunther

All human beings, as we meet them, are comingled out of good and evil. And no better a way to meet good and evil in the peak of spooky season than at The Opera House in Havre de Grace as they present Jekyll & Hyde as directed by Constantine Maroulis. In a TheatreBloom exclusive sit down, we’ve had the distinguished pleasure of sitting down with this two-time Tony-nominated performer to discuss his directorial debut here and what the project has meant to him.

Spotlight on Street Lamp Productions: 10th Season Announcement

News September 7, 2024 Amanda N. Gunther

Nice work, if you can get it and if you’ve got, flaunt it and all that jazz? Musical theatre— it’s that labor of love, that essence of existence for so many— and at the end of the day, it’s no small feat to have a small, grassroots theatre organization make it to its tenth anniversary season! Street Lamp Productions— the main operating umbrella for Street Lamp Community Theatre, Street Lamp Performing Arts Academy, and Street Lamp Arts Academy Teen Pre Professional Group— has a whole bunch of exciting and thrilling news to announce for their tenth anniversary season!

The Producers at The State Theatre of Havre de Grace

Reviews September 6, 2024 Amanda N. Gunther

Reviews come out a lot faster when the critics leave at intermission! But take it from this critic— if you leave at the intermission, you’re only getting half the hilarity, half the good times, and half the damn show! I could never! And you should never! But you SHOULD definitely get your butt to a seat at The State Theater of Havre de Grace for what is a surprisingly heartfelt but equally off-the-rails funny production of Mel Brooks’ The Producers.

Daniel Michele (left) with Rachel Bagley (center) and Brian Ruff (right) rehearsing for The Producers with The State Theatre of Havre de Grace

When You Got- Flaunt It: A Three-Way Round Robin with Max Bialystock, Leo Bloom, and Ulla Inga Hansen Benson Yansen Tallen Hallen Svaden Swanson from The Producers at The State Theatre of Havre de Grace

Interviews September 2, 2024 Amanda N. Gunther

Thank you all so much for sitting with me! Let’s start with a quick introduction of who you are and who you’re playing!

Brian Ruff: I’m Brain Ruff and I’m playing Max. Bialystock.

Daniel Michel: I’m Daniel Michel and I’m playing Leo Bloom.

Rachel Bagley: Rachel Bagley. Ulla. And please don’t make me say her last name.

I won’t…because then that means I have to figure out how to spell it!

Mamma Mia! at Beth Tfiloh Community Theatre

Reviews August 19, 2024 Amanda N. Gunther

People everywhere! A sense of expectation hanging in the air! Giving out a spark! This theatre’s glowing and they’re shining in the dark— it’s Mamma Mia! and it has landed at Beth Tfiloh Community Theatre for three performances only this summer! Directed by Diane M. Smith, with Musical Direction by Charlotte Evans, and Choreography by Rachel Miller, this ABBA-sensation splashy Broadway hit is not your grandmother’s Mamma Mia! With a more realistic,

Ellie Paquin (center) as Summer Hathaway and the kids of School of Rock ????Images Production Co.

School of Rock at Scottfield Theatre Company

Reviews August 17, 2024 Amanda N. Gunther

Rock the house and make a scene and crank the amps to 17! There’s no way you can stop— Scottfield Theatre Company’s School of Rock!!! Directed and Choreographed by Becky Titelman with Musical Direction by LaShelle Bray, this unconventional Andrew Lloyd Webber musical is a little extra— it’s bringing you some very talented youngsters and they’re playing their rock-n-roll instruments LIVE on stage all night long! Filled with energy and enthusiasm these kids (and their supportive,

Benjamin Hopkins as Hamlet ???? Shealyn Jae Photography

Hamlet at The Bard’s Wagon Players

Reviews August 16, 2024 Amanda N. Gunther

To go or not to go? That is the question! Technically it’s ‘be’ or ‘not be’ but with Shakespeare being hundreds of years of dead, I’m sure he’ll grant us this liberal creative license…especially considering what the world at large is doing to his canon from a musical standpoint! I won’t extoll and wax poetic like Polonius, earning me an eyeroll from Laertes and Ophelia, no I shall to the point as brevity is the soul of wit.