Men are all dissemblers, liars, deceivers! Or something like it, so says playwright Hannah Cowley, author of The Belle’s Stratagem. Not to be confused with The Beaux’ Stratagem, by George Farquhar (though if you stick around in a few weeks’ time, you may see exactly that show on The Rude Mechanicals’ stage!) Belle hit Drury Lane in 1780 whereas Beaux debuted quite a few decades before (and at Theatre Royal) in 1707.
Curse, comfort, conjure; three words that Director Lee Conderacci uses in her “feminist practice and in her theatre art.” (words directly from Conderacci.) This time her artistic undertaking is Kaela Mei-Shing Garvin’s High School Coven, at The Strand Theater. Three words that individually bring forth a myriad of thoughts, ideas, and emotions. Three words that together allow us to see the world through the eyes of Conderacci, even for a brief two hours;
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Fierce! Original! Hysterical! All adjectives that one could use to describe [title of show] at Spotlighters Theatre. Written by Jeff Bowen and Hunter Bell with Music & Lyrics by Jeff Bowen, and the Book by Hunter Bell, this show creates a world in which a theater patron can see the time, blood, sweat, and tears that it takes for an original musical to make it all the way to the Great White Way.
OK, listen up folks. Do you believe climate change is real? Do you have a penchant for HGTV? Do you secretly binge watch “Real Housewives of New Jersey”? If the answer is yes, have I got a show for you! Even if the answer is no to all or at least one of those questions, Iron Crow Theatre’s production of Hurricane Diane is one that promises to please nonetheless. And make you laugh.
Dazzling.
In a word. To add another, dizzying and astonishing, though technically that’s two. As a writer I often find it a challenge, though one I’m ready to embrace, to put the right words to paper (digital though it may be in this day and age) in order to describe an experience, relate a situation, review a performance. I cannot recall a time in recent memory (even before the Pandemic) where such a challenge befell me and I was honestly at a loss for words.
How do you hold a moonbeam in your hand? Third Wall Productions will show you how with their stellar production of Rogers & Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music. Having changed venues again, to what is hopefully now their theatrical-forever-home, the hard-working community theatre brings its 2023 stage productions to the stage & hall of Chestnut Grove Presbyterian, and is settling into the space a bit like Maria Rainer is settling into the von Trapp household,
Cats, Now and Forever! Do you need to see Cats? Yes. You do. You need to see a professional production of Cats in person in a live theatre. It was a terrible movie. Watching a video of the original Broadway show is underwhelming. However, when you are in a live theatre and you witness these triple threat performers working their asses off for you, it is amazing.
“Loverly”
Ain’t it hard to earn an ‘onest livin’ these days? Well, in Edwardian London add in factors like being a woman and being a woman with a thick cockney accent and ‘eaven ‘elp you, guv’nor, but you’re all but done for! OOOOOOOOOOOOooooh, it’s no wonder t’at a character meeting these factors and one t‘at has ‘alf a brain would leap at the opportunity to better ‘er phonetics and elocution ‘if’n it meant she could land a career real proper like,
“Any man ain’t sure where he belongs must be in a whole lotta pain.”
“War! Huh, (good God), What is it good for?” Well, that’s a loaded question for another day. But back in 1944 on a segregated southern Louisiana Army Base, the promise of deployment to the battle front is a dream for many of our young characters of color that yearn for a chance of serving their country, and perhaps getting the chance to see a part of the world that doesn’t follow Jim Crow laws.
Judy (Dani Stoller) and Jeff (Mike Millan) are the musical-theater-obsessed protagonists of Ana Nogueira’s new comedy Which Way to the Stage? at Signature Theatre’s ARK: a playful, yet thought-provoking comedy about friendship, ambition, and what happens when dreams fall just out of reach.
The 30-something best friends, and hopeful actors, are struggling to gain any sort of foothold in an industry into which they don’t really fit. Jeff has resigned himself to the fact that the only parts out there for a femme gay man like him are the ones he creates for himself as a drag queen.
Popular! You know it’s going to be pop-u-lar! It’s the perfect show to see— while you’re in DC— it’s very, green for the hol-i-daaay. You’re simply gonna love it— so don’t wait— get your tickets to-daaay! The musical sensation that’s sweeping the nation once more, Tony Award-winning Wicked has once again landed in Washington DC at The Kennedy Center, having drifted away in an emerald cloud some six years ago. Directed by Joe Mantello,
And what it all boils down to, my friend, is that everything is just fine…fine…fine… ‘cause I got one hand in my pocket and the other one’s holding a Hippodrome Ticket! The iconic album that framed so many of my generation’s youth, Alanis Morissette’s ‘Jagged Little Pill’ is now a major stage musical. Jagged Little Pill, an odd but not unwelcome choice for the Christmas season, is now appearing at Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theatre for a one-week,
“God bless us, every one”
Tis the season for holly, mulled wine, and curing any case of “Bah humbug.” Returning for the second year in a row (and deservedly so!), this one-man show, adapted and edited by Sherrionne Brown and Phil Gallagher returns to Baltimore’s own Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre through December 18th to reprise this wonderful rendition of Charles Dickens’ beloved classic: A Christmas Carol.
It is difficult to find anyone in the English-speaking regions of the world who are not,
Listen up folks! Have you got “the beat”? No? Well then you better get your tickets and pay a visit to The Baltimore Theatre Project in Baltimore where resident company Iron Crow Theatre is putting on Head Over Heels, a jukebox musical comedy based on the songs of the 1980’s female rock bad The Go-Go’s. But before we talk about the show, we must talk about both the company and the venue,
It’s almost nearly getting close to counting down to Christmas! It’s almost time to see the tree light up the stage for Christmas! It’s— that’s a lot of counting for one little theatre elf to do, so— fourteen days awaaaay! But right now you can go see Tidewater Players’ A Christmas Story and celebrate with them until the big day! Directed by Dickie Mahoney with Musical Direction by Sophie Daghir and Choreography by Carissa McCool Jackson,
Is there anything more shocking and wonderful than a true literally classic done up and decked out for Christmas? I jest not; Jane Austen never had the chance to show us the festive holiday season in her romances, but Lauren Gunderson & Margot Melcon have done exactly that! Miss Bennet Christmas at Pemberley, now playing on the main stage of the Maryland Ensemble Theatre, nestles itself in the cozy bosom of three days before Christmas…two years after the conclusion of Pride &
They got all the ways to be W-I-C-K-E-D! Just get your tickets and you’ll see them be W-I-C-K-E-D! Children’s Playhouse of Maryland is bringing the house down this holiday season with their production of Disney’s Descendants. And it is living up to its wicked namesake! Directed by Liz Boyer Hunnicutt with Musical Direction by Charlotte Evans and Choreography by Rachel Miller this thrilling, high-energy, totally upbeat and wildly twisted tale of the children of Disney’s finest ‘evils’ will have you recognizing that bad is the new good all through the holiday season.
“I will honour Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all the year.” We all know that one. Scrooge’s redemption track after being visited by the three ghosts during Dickens’ most famous holiday work. And of course there’s “God bless us, every one!” a la Tiny Tim from the show’s final moment. But did you know they celebrate Christmas in the workhouse? Or at the lighthouse ship at sea? Many of you familiar with Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol might be scratching your heads thinking— “I don’t remember that in any production I’ve ever seen…” and you’d probably be right.
Willkommen, bienvenue— spooky! Fremde! Entranger— corpses! Not exactly your grandmother’s Cabaret, now is it? That’s because Stillpointe Theatre is bringing you the rarely produced, regional premiere of Scott Keys & Rob Hartmann’s Macabaret. A saucy good time for the dead and all their ghoulish guests, this musical revue features just six putrid performers delivering cabaret and vaudeville style song and dance numbers that will set your Spooky-meter into overdrive.
“There will be times when you walk into a room, and no one there is quite like you, until the day you begin to share your stories”
It is difficult at any age to enter a new space. There are different sights, unfamiliar sounds, and usually, new faces who have different experiences than you. Sometimes these new spaces take time to become familiar, and sometimes it takes courage within ourselves to open up to these new experiences to create our own place within this space.
Let’s start by saying that Into the Woods is one of the most accessible and beloved musicals of Stephen Sondheim. The book by James Lapine and the music and lyrics by Sondheim offer everything we want from a musical. It has catchy tunes, fascinating subplots, cleverness, magic, love stories of all sorts and a call for the audience to use their imaginations. The current incarnation of this play at Signature Theatre, directed and choreographed by Artistic Director Matthew Gardiner,
Blue skies— smiling at me! Nothing but blue skies do I see! And ain’t it the truth, folks. Here Scottfield Theatre Company is trying to open their holiday production of Irving Berlin’s White Christmas and what does Havre de Grace, Maryland give ‘em? 71 ° weather with brilliant, bright blue skies! It’s like Pine Tree, Vermont, complete with no snow! Directed by Chuck Hamrick with Musical Direction by Nathan Scavilla and Choreography by Becky Titelman,
In today’s crazy world, it’s no wonder that sometimes you just feel like you need to get away. No, not to someplace where everybody knows your name but, let’s face it, couldn’t we all use an excuse to rouge up our knees and roll our stockings down? Well, if that sounds appealing, I know a place where the gin is cold and the piano is hot. The Kander/Ebb/Fosse musical Chicago roars into DC this week at The National Theater in the heart of our nation’s capital.
Tina Turner is arguably the most inspirational story in the history of rock and roll. Small town country girl with a big voice becomes part of a rock and roll institution. But success seemed stacked against her between an emotionally abusive mother and the most physically abusive husband this side of OJ Simpson, as she flees everything at the height of her career to start over with nothing, making perhaps the grandest comeback in rock and roll history.
As the Christmas season runs rampant, many, many weeks before it’s really even Christmas season, a particular song from Irving Berlin’s White Christmas comes to mind. And yes, while White Christmas is no doubt on a theatre somewhere this early November weekend, it’s not at The Salem Players, and I promise, I’m making a point. It’s a ditty that the soldiers sing, “…we’ll follow the old man wherever he wants to go…” and it swells the heart a little because it showcases the loyalty (albeit humorously at first) of men in service to their leader.
In their own little corner, on their own little stage, they can produce whatever they want to show.
And with their own type of magic, they invite you to enjoy, Cinderella, a sweet fairytale that you love and know. Why, bippity-boppity-boo! It’s Street Lamp Community Theatre’s production of Rogers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella. (The original as it stands, not the more recently ‘updated’ version.) Sweet and charming and simplistically joyful,
“So how can I deny? I’ve got a monster, I’ve got a monster inside”
Are you in the mood for love? How about giant kaijus smashing the city while rocking out to some stellar music… and in the mood for love? Well, with the Baltimore Rock Opera Society’s Love & ROAR! you get all this and more! Playing through November 19th at the old (previously vacant) bank building at 1 E.
I’ve got a feeling— things are moving way too fast! And by things I mean the weekends left in this 2022 calendar where you can see The Last Five Years at Greenbelt Arts Center! It’s the first, fully staged, live, in-person production since January of 2020 and it’s a sensational one. Directed by Meg Nemeth, with Musical Direction by Rolanda Brown, this emotionally astonishing musical is a two-person show weaving the experience of a relationship over the last five years between Jamie and Cathy.
In a modern context, the production of William Shakespeare’s works largely hangs upon the performers’ ability to voice these verses in such a way that the audience not only instantly and instinctually understands their meaning, but may also benefit from their specific notes of humor, tragedy, etc. In this sense, Spotlighters Theatre’s Twelfth Night – the classic gender-bending romantic comedy – is a decidedly mixed bag.
The older generation of performers seem to know exactly what they’re doing here,
Are you ready to color your world with sunshine yellow today? Color your world with musical theatre happiness all the way? Just take the green from the grass and the blue from the sky up above and you can color your world just paint it with their love! Who’s love? SHOUT! The Mod Musical and their colorful singing quintet, that’s who. The quirky 60’s musical (jukebox variety style) SHOUT! The Mod Musical has made its way to The Vagabond Players in Fells Point as the opening musical (and second total show) in their 107th season.