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 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.
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,
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.
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.
Corn is so fantastic because it has a-maize-ing friends! There. I told my corn joke. And it popped! And if you need more of that corny humor, you’re in luck! Shucked is coming to Baltimore, landing at Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theatre, and it’s bringing some local yokels with it! No joke and this isn’t an April Fools’ prank! We’ve had a phone-chat-interview with Jake Odmark, starring as Beau in Shucked, and we can’t wait to share it with you!
author: Steven Kirkpatrick & Charles Boyington
The ExPats Theatre company (“a small theater that grapples with big ideas”) presents a “satirical tale on toxic masculinity”, Testosterone, at a time in which a political revival of masculinist ideals seems to be on the horizon.
Yet Testosterone is equally a satirical take on gated communities, smug elites bemoaning the violence they see on their televisions,
author: Chris Pence
A Rose By Any Other Name: Romeo & Juliette at Laurel Mill Playhouse
“Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Verona, where we lay our scene.”1 It’s the classic tale of love and loss, hate and betrayal, ancient grudges to new mutiny, “[w]here civil blood makes civil hands unclean. From forth the fatal loins of these two foes, a pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life.”1 Jacqueline Youm breathes new life into the tale as old as time itself with Romeo &
author: Erin Tarpley
Definition of “Rarefied”: distant from the lives and concerns of ordinary people
It is sometimes hard to believe that this week marks the five-year anniversary of the start of the Covid-19 “lock-down.” That time in our all too recent history where we were told that for the benefit of public health and safety, all stores, businesses, and schools would close their doors and everyone (except “essential workers”) were expected to shelter in place and wait for this new novel virus to pass.
Everybody’s got to be somewhere! Don’t vanish out of thin air— when you can be where it’s all happening. City of Angels, a rarely produced, quirky, diamond in the rough, style musical that nods to the meta notion of play-within-a-play as well as the golden, glimmering era of Hollywood in the 40’s, is now appearing at the New Spire Arts Stages for one weekend only with Landless Theatre Company. Known for their production of obscure works and putting their own unique spin on popular theatre,
They’re gonna shake you! They’re gonna bake you! A donkey! Pot! Whoopsie. That’s the wrong iteration of that show…now let’s see here…I made the left onto Thomas Run Road…got turned around at Maleficent’s castle— oh! Oh there it is. Phoenix Festival Theatre! Hiding out at The Amoss Center with their production of Shrek the musical! (Which does not include “Donkey Pot Pie”, not even sure that song ever made it off Broadway!) Directed by Emily Jewett with Musical Direction by Mia Bray and Choreography by Samantha Jednorski,
author: Cybele Pomeroy
Clybourne Park, running at Spotlighters through March 30th, 2025, shows us two days, (two hours, really) separated by 50 years, in the life of one living room in a suburb undergoing change. It is a ‘good’ neighborhood, experiences decline and is now on the cusp of gentrification. It begins in the home just purchased by the Younger family of Raisin In The Sun, and Act I is the very same Moving Day in the home Lena Younger has just purchased,
Follow the yellow brick road. Follow the yellow brick road? Follow the yellow brick road! Tra-la-la-la-la— follow the yellow brick road! And you too can be off to see The Wizard of Oz (youth edition) at Children’s Playhouse of Maryland this merry month of March. Appearing as the penultimate production in their 2024/2025 season, The Wizard of Oz (youth edition) will take you on a familiar journey down that yellow brick road as Dorothy,
Shoes can protect a man’s journey but only his heart can choose the path. And your heart will take you on the path to Silhouette Stages and their impressive production of Kinky Boots! Directed by Jeremy Goldman with Musical Direction by Matthew Dohm and Choreography by Jeremy A. McShan, this much-needed story of accepting people for who they are is chock-a-block with talent, packed full of energy, enthusiasm, and will have you lit like a live wire by evening’s end.
author: Jake Schwartz
A show that spans multiple decades… but in reverse? Damascus Theatre Company presents Merrily We Roll Along at the famous Gaithersburg Arts Barn. Directed by Keith Edward, Merrily tells the story of three “old friends”, Franklin, Charlie, and Mary, and their writing journey. Edward’s direction was clear, the staging was clever, and his concept was fascinating (pay attention to the changes to the set over time.)
Technically,
Everybody should have something to point to, something to be proud of, something that says “I was there. I did that. I accomplished that.” And at the end of March 2025, ten actors, four musicians, and a whole crew of theatre tech & production crew will be able to point at a poster, archived in a frame on a wall somewhere and say, “I did that. I was there. I accomplished that.
The 30th anniversary tour of Riverdance taps in at the Kennedy Center from March 4th – 16th, in the Opera House. In Riverdance, Bill Whelan, Moya Doherty and John McColgan have created a show that has revolutionized ethnic dance, rendering it wildly appealing to general audiences. The production is well worth a visit for anyone who loves energetic dance, visual spectacle, toe-tapping rhythm, and absurdly talented performers.
First mounted in 1995,
Society is what decides who’s sane and who isn’t. Loaded statement? Seems oddly accurate, all things considered. But if you’re ready to forget about the insane society in which we’re all presently attempting to survive and spend a couple of hours tucked away in the nice, sterile, padded safety of Nurse Ratched’s ward for the acute and chronic, self-proclaimed psycho-ceramics-the-crackpots-of-humanity, then Other Voices Theatre has just the show for you. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,
Sets. Costumes. Lights. Magic. They’ve actually got all of those things. Which is pretty dang impressive all things considered. Artistic Synergy of Baltimore is razzle-dazzling with their current production of Pippin, directed by Broadus Nesbitt with Musical Direction by Charlotte Evans and Choreography by Samantha Reynolds. Lending itself to the cobbled-together nature that church-basement-community theatre is often expected to present, this production of Pippin sets the bar high with its full and resonant ensemble,
If you’re going to call something sh*t, you have to have some standards to judge it by! A direct-ish quote from Yasmina Reza’s Art but one that I can relate to all too well; if you’re going to call something— anything (more often in my vein of critiquing, ‘brilliant, masterpiece, etc.’)— you have to have some standards to judge it by. Appearing for the second time in a decade of stage performance,
author: Erin Tarpley
“From Farm to Fable”
What did the corn say when it received a compliment?
“Aw, shucks!”
And there are so, so many compliments to shuck around this a-maize-ing show that one could say is outstanding in its field with its whirlwind of corny puns and jokes which is simply named: Shucked.
In case you have never heard of this show,
author: Chris Pence
Life on The Ice Floe: Quitting Time at The Baltimore Theatre Project
In today’s world, discrimination is an all-to-prevalent problem that plagues modern society. It has many faces, including by race, sex, religion, and political affiliation. One of the faces least addressed in today’s world is age discrimination. Agism is an issue that many people face daily, yet few people are ready to discuss its true impact.
author: Leonard Taube
Feel like a laugh? Want to get away from it all for a bit? Got the urge to guffaw? If you answer yes to all those questions, consider taking a field trip to the Roosevelt Center in historic Greenbelt where The Greenbelt Arts Center is putting on an original play entitled No Laughing Matter by local playwright Jeff Dunne. But don’t let the title fool you. This show is all about laughter and believe me there are laughs aplenty from the opening scene till curtain call.
There’s only two rules in Truvy’s Beauty Shop. There’s no such thing as natural beauty and nobody cries alone. And if you’re coming all the way up to Havre de Grace Parish to catch that charming little production of Steel Magnolias, you won’t be alone when you’re crying through the tough moments of that screen-stage iconic story of the six female friends in small town Louisiana. Directed by Bobby Mahoney, this production will bring you Truvy’s favorite emotion— laughter through tears,
With patience and faith we remain unafraid; Paciencia y fe! A more profound message could not be more true in our current climate where joy is in short supply, the future is questionable, and every day we wonder what terrifying headline will cross our news feeds. Lighting up the night sky with their emotionally illuminating production of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In The Heights, Signature Theatre is sending this love-letter from the Washington Heights Barrio out to the world of Northern Virgina,
author: Anthony Case
There is a lot to say about the play for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf by Nzotake Shange. The play, or choreopoem as she put it, was written in 1977 and has become a legendary text in black theater. Its exploration of the trials and joys and hardships of being both black and a woman in America has spoken strongly to black women,
Didja know that one of them actresses in that It’s The Comedy of Errors, Hon! has a baby who shares the exact same birthday as mah nephew? They’re both now eight months old, hon! That’s Smalltimore for ya! And while I didn’t invent that phrase, Chesapeake Shakespeare Company is reinventing the wheel with it’s fabulously uplifting, nonsensical production of It’s The Comedy of Errors, Hon! Directed by company founder Ian Gallanar,
It moves us all— through despair and hope, through faith and love— and Disney’s The Lion King has found its place on the path unwinding— right here in Charm City at Baltimore’s very own Hippodrome Theatre! The mighty tale of the circle of life returns to Baltimore once more and is the joyful uplifting theatrical experience that everyone in the world needs right now. Directed by Julie Taymor with Choreography by Garth Fagan,
May ya be half an hour in heaven before the devil knows you’re dead. May ya be half an hour into this Martin McDonagh dark drama before you know what you’ve gotten yourself into. Maryland Ensemble Theatre picks up its 2025/2026 season with the deliciously dark work of McDonagh, to whom they are no strangers, this time with The Beauty Queen of Leenane, directed by Elizabeth van den Berg. Perception is a tricky thing,
author: Chris Pence
Voices in My Head: Be More Chill at Rockville Musical Theatre
It’s the classic high school drama: boy meets girl, boy fails to impress girl, boy takes pill containing supercomputer to become cooler, boy wins girl (at a cost.) Rockville Musical Theatre’s Be More Chill incorporates sci-fi, humor, and typical high school drama, to give audiences a new view on how technology and peer pressure mold students into the adults they learn to be during those endless teenage years.