The current production at the Strand Theatre caused me to reflect on not who I am, but rather who I think I am. We all do it. Whether it is second guessing yourself, staying inside not because of COVID but for fear of being seen, or even trying to live up to what we think society wants us to be. Bottom line is we are far quicker to see the worth in someone else before we see it in ourselves.
What can be said about something as bizarre, unexpected, and unapologetically ridiculous as AntiCone, the performance art spectacle written, produced, and directed by Tia Shearer and Natasha Mirny (Happy Theater) currently on offer at Baltimore Theatre Project?
At some point in one’s life – generally when one visits friends who have, in recent years, become parents – one is approached by a group of little kids and breathlessly invited to “see a play they’ve just written.” Naturally,
Homosexuals. Women with children. Short insomniacs. Ex-ex lovers. Happy lesbians. And a teeny, tiny band. What a world they live in— welcome to ‘Falsettoland.’ Give these extraordinary performers a hand— the performers of Montgomery College Summer Dinner Theatre’s Falsettos, that is. This delightfully dizzying musical about LGBTQ+ life in New York as the AIDS crisis is getting underway features some of the most dazzling and haunting music with a striking story. With book by James Lapine &
“Friendship is constant in all other things, Save in the office and affairs of love.”
Love is in the air; but some may need a little meddling, I mean “help,” from their friends to realize it. As for the audience, it is easy to feel the love in Chesapeake Shakespeare Company’s Much Ado About Nothing. Playing under the open sky and in the ruins at the PFI Historic Park in Ellicott City now through July 24th,
Sure as the sun turns to moon— Phoenix Festival Theatre is putting on Disney’s Tarzan and it’s a world of wonder and whimsy, talent and heartfelt experiences! Directed and choreographed by Bambi Johnson with Musical Direction by Nathan Scavilla, this tremendous theatrical undertaking is swinging to wild and vivacious life at The Amoss Center in Bel Air for just three performances! A remarkably refreshing journey through all of your favorite numbers from the animated screen gem,
Are you a night owl? A moon people? Do you stay awake at night seeing bodies that nobody else sees in large, green, wingback chairs in an abandoned apartment slum across the alleyway from your own apartment? Perhaps you are secretly a part of— *gasp*— Night Watch now appearing in the upstairs cabaret performance space of Cockpit in Court. Directed by Linda Chambers, this suspenseful thriller will keep you guessing right up until the end.
They’ve been working their way back to you, DC— and oh what a night do they have in store for you! That’s right— those four fellas standing under a street lamp singing together, making sounds like you never heard before? Jersey Boys is back, baby! For a two-week engagement, passing through The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the second-national tour of Jersey Boys is here, ready to refresh your memory on the heartfelt tale of Mr.
Two different worlds on one island. (Not unlike Cockpit in Court with two different productions in one theatre…one above and one below…) If you’re ready to be swept up in the most astonishing production to wash ashore on Cockpit In Court’s stages since the times of the before, then Once On This Island is the show for you. Directed and Choreographed by Tom Wyatt, with Musical Direction by Elizabeth Fink, the uplifting and joyous music of this stirring tale of love fighting to survive in the face of death is an astonishing experience all its own.
Ever since this whole world began— the theatre found out if they shook it they could wake up the land and so they’re gonna shake and shimmy it the best that they can today— and all week long— as Baltimore’s very own Hairspray finally touches down here at Charm City’s Hippodrome Theatre. The long-awaited return of the National Tour has is finally shaking and shimmying its way into town— and you can’t stop this beat!
In their own little corner of their own little stage— they can be whatever they want to be! That’s right, folks, Silhouette Stages is being innovative, bringing you the retooled, reimagined, “new!” revival version of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella. Directed by TJ Lukacsina, with Musical Direction by Paige Rammelkamp, and Choreography by Rikki Lacewell, this fairytale classic has been spun around to give the titular character some more agency over her narrative whilst juxtaposing the troubles of what feels like ‘revolutionary France’ and the need for an electorate over appointed-royalism into the tale.
They’re putting the ‘sis’ back in Genesis— those holy-rolling Suburban Players over at the Saint Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church this summer. They’ve caught that sizzling Sunday-morning fever and are bringing you one hell of a Sister Act. Directed by Lauren Spencer-Harris with Musical Direction by Steven Soltow and Choreography by Amie Bell, this joyous outcry of finding your place among your true sisters is just what the summer-season ordered.
With a live musical pit (conducted by MD Steven Soltow) there is some strong musical vibes rolling out onto the stage for this performance.
They always dreamed they’d get a happy ending! And this right here— actually, contrary to the lyrics in that “Story of My Life” number from Shrek the musical, is a super-fantastic ‘happy ending’ for Stand Up For…Theatre, the theatrical arm of Erase Hate Through Art/How Do You Like Me Now Productions. Wasn’t everyone just hoping to survive this crazy two-year running pandemic, and maybe not just survive but come out the other side thriving?
Everybody wants a thrill! And while every rose may have its thorn— Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre is serving up flawless 80’s glam-metal reality with their stunning production of Rock Of Ages. Directed & Musically Directed by Shane Jensen with Choreography by Pauline Lamb, Kaya Harrison, Meghan McCarthy, Caitlyn Ruth McClellan, & Tia Silver, this jukebox musical featuring all those iconic 80’s rocker songs will have you bouncing along in your seat from beginning to end as these wannabe rockstars sing their souls out and ROCK to save The Bourbon Room on the Sunset Strip in the mid-to-late 80’s.
Dum-dum-daaah-dum. Dum-dum-daaah-dum! Always a bride’s maid and never a bride, right? But who needs to be the bride when you can be one of Five Women Wearing the Same Dress? The penultimate show in Spotlighters’ mainstage season, this oddly-out-of-sorts-with-itself comedy by Alan Ball is a unique examination of five women in the mid 90’s who all have one thing in common: they’re the bride’s maids in a wedding where the bride herself seems none too popular.
“Your mind will believe comforting lies while also knowing the painful truths that make those lies necessary. And your mind will punish you for believing both.”
― Patrick Ness, A Monster Calls
It is hard to describe the experience that is A Monster Calls now playing at The Kennedy Center in the Eisenhower Theater. Is it theater for Children? Is it dance? Is it a play for adults?
Plant a radish— get a radish! Never any doubt! Plant a musical— end your season— see what it’s about! The Fantasticks comes sweeping into Vagabond Players to close out their 106th season; the strangely forlorn and bittersweet musical about simple love gone wrong when the world gets in the way. Directed by Jimi Kinstle with Musical Direction by Mari Hill, with live on-stage orchestrations by Erica Rome and Stephen Deininger, this one-of-a-kind cobbled-together musical of love,
Three blind mice. Three blind mice. See how they— wait. No. That’s not quite right. That’s a different Christie. This is the one with the creepy little poem about how people get plucked off one by one…And Then There Were None. Currently appearing on Just Off-Broadway’s main stage, as a kickoff to their ‘return-to-live-in-person-theatre’ and the start of their 2022 season, JOB is presenting Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None,
The long-awaited epic adventure has finally arrived! Returning to their first, live-in-person performance, the Baltimore Rock Opera Society is rocking Glitterus: Dragon Rising onto their home stage at the Zion Lutheran Church this spring! Playing mid-May through the first weekend in June, this epic quest-rock-musical, in true BROS style has everything one could hope for from a BROS show— including a zany but impressively well-scripted plot, astonishing costumes and set pieces, giant puppets,
Sure as the day follows into the night, sure as the sky turns blue— this much I know, this much is true— Scottfield Theatre Company’s Something Rotten is the show for you! Because above all else— to thine own selves, they’re being true! It’s a mu-si-cal! That’s right— a mu-si-caaal. And it’s the polar opposite of its namesake! Directed by Chuck Hamrick with Musical Direction by Nathan Scavilla and Choreography by Beck Titelman,
Everybody’s playing the game— but nobody’s rules are the same— nobody’s on nobody’s side! It may be a direct quote from one of the show’s songs, but how hauntingly true it stands to this semi-post-pandemic world we’re all trying to scrape by in as it stands. Theatre is returning, for many— despite being May of 2022— these ‘late spring’ productions are the first live-in-person performances that companies are getting to experience since closing their doors over two years ago.
“…truly a singular sensation…full of heart, full of feeling, full of beautiful sounds and amazing dance routines…”
In name and beyond, FREESTYLE LOVE SUPREME pays homage to John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme,” with a nod to musical roots in jazz, soul, blues, and hip hop.
Improvisation games are a standard part of theatre and music. Not all theater has improvisation nor do all forms of music but they can be great training tools and occasionally create something that is performance worthy. The key to creating really good improvised performances is a set of rules and a set routine,
When it comes to making monsters— you can’t beat the Frankensteins! And when it comes to producing live musical theatre in crafty clever way that suits the uniquely intimate performance space tucked away in the corner of the state in Rising Sun— you can’t beat Street Lamp Community Theatre. Currently animating a production of Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein— directed by Allan Herlinger with musical direction by LaShelle Bray and choreography by Christie Janney— Street Lamp Community Theatre is puttin’ on the Ritz;
St. Gabriel Miracle Players is alive!! With The Sound of Music! After two long years of waiting (and growing up!) the seven sweet von Trapp children are ready to sing their hearts out, and while they’ve grown a little taller and a little older (waiting for that pesky Covid to die down and let live musical theatre safely return to the stage) they’re bringing all the iconic songs of stage and screen to heartwarming life,
Music is the universal language that brings us all together. And you can feel the music rolling all through Charm City as The First National Tour of Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations rolls on up to Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theatre for a one-week stop. Featuring the music & lyrics of The Legendary Motown Catalog with book by Dominique Morisseau, this show goes above and beyond the battle-cry of your ‘standard jukebox musical.’ This is the true,
Everything’s a version of something else. Try lying for a change, it’s the currency of the world. With taglines like those, one hardly expects the intimate and fascinating dissection of human relationships that one gets with Patrick Marber’s Closer. Appearing now as a co-production between Cogent Theater Collective and Silver Spring Stage, Closer (a play published in 1997 and later transformed into a silver-screen feature of the same name) is produced by Diego Maramba and directed by David Dieudonne.
Space and time are illusions. So says the Great Cosmic Peanut.
You’ve never encountered the Great Cosmic Peanut? You mean— you’ve never crash-landed your interstellar navigational craft on an uncharted planet and are in desperate need of rescuing? You’ve never even been to space!? Well what are you waiting for? There’s an innovative new theatrical puppet experience, appropriate for all ages and audiences, appearing now at Baltimore Theatre Project— Alex & Olmsted’s Marooned!
“Oh for a muse of fire that would reach the uppermost heights of creativity— the stage a kingdom…” we’ve all heard it. We all recognize it. Do we all know that it comes from one of Shakespeare’s histories? You may have heard it, recognize it, and even know that it comes from Henry V, but you’ve never heard it until you hear it slipping delicately over the lips of Lesley Malin, Chesapeake Shakespeare Company’s Executive Producing Director— or for the purposes of this performance— The Chorus.
Well they’ve got dreams and you know they matter— they’re doing their own show and climbing that ladder— that show is finally here it’s on their stage. Two years in the makin’ with the Tidewater Players, it’s a Dolly Parton show and it’s got layers, the spring finale is here and it’s all the rage! Yes it’s 9 to 5; it’s all dancing and all singing— makes you feel alive— with toes tapping and joy ringing— through the audience— get your tickets or you’ll regret it!
Arcadians swear their beat is divine! And they want you to get up and go! Go get tickets, that is, to the St. Mary’s College of Maryland’s production of Head Over Heels the musical, featuring the song-catalogue of The Go-Go’s. Based on The Arcadia by Sir Philip Sidney, conceived & original book by Jeff Whitty, with he aforementioned pop-rock band music providing the songs, this production is Directed by Matt J.