Oh the weather outside is frightful— truly, we just finished having 80º days in mid-November— but the fire is so delightful— and it is, it looks so realistic you might think those are actual manuscripts going up in smoke— and they’re finally open so you can cheer and claps— go to Spots, go to see Deathtrap. The nature of live theatre being what it is, the grand opening of this Ira Levin stage thriller under the superb direction of Stephen Foreman,
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,
“And nobody out there ever gets to define the life I’m meant to lead with this unruly heart of mine.” Because love is love is love is love. And you will fall in love with The Prom at Cockpit in Court. Not because it’s an amazing story that should be told and seen and heard and embraced. Not because it has an amazing cast chock-a-block with sensational talent all across the board or because its got astonishing scenery,
Earth-shaking! Life-affirming! Breathtaking! Gut-wrenching! Heart-aching! In two words, it’s history-making! They’re really and truly changing lives— at least they hope to be! The four actors, some of Baltimore’s most recognized members of the theatre community, playing the four Broadway stars who find themselves in a small town in Indiana trying to ‘change lives’ though perhaps for all the wrong reasons. Sound familiar? It is Prom season, after all. In a sit-down interview, we talk with Shannon Wollman,
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.
This
review can practically write itself. Let’s face it, there is nothing disastrous
about Cockpit in Court’s current production. Of course, I am talking about Disaster! the 70’s disaster movie
musical written by Seth Rudetsky and Jack Plotnick and directed by Todd
Pearthree. Pearthree and his production team (Music Director Michael DeVito,
Technical Director Jason Randolph, Set Designer Michael Rasinski, Lighting
Designer Thomas Gardner, Costumer Designer Will Crowther, Sound Designer Corey
Sekulow, and Stage Manager John Chrzanowski) have put together THE smash hit of
the summer.
They can dance! They can jive! They’re having the time of their life! And you will too when you come to see Toby’s Dinner Theatre of Columbia present the professional regional premiere of the world famous production Mamma Mia! Available for the first time since the infamous Abba-based production ended its seemingly endless tour, Toby’s Dinner Theatre of Columbia has all your favorite Abba songs, all of the flashy costumes and marvelous dancing,
Madness, thy name is Brewster! Me thinks the aunties doth protest too much! Oh— wait a minute— the season of Shakespeare and all’s well that goes with that has concluded. Let’s try this again. Madness runs in the Brewster family; it practically gallops, though it isn’t quite the truth either. Madness doesn’t run through the Brewster family, it meanders slowly taking its time to get intimately acquainted with each and every member! And you’ll find out just how intimately insane the Brewster clan is but only if you venture out to Cockpit In Court for the first mainstage show of their 2017 season!
Ding! Dong! Ding! Dong! Christmas bells are ringing! Wishing you a Merry Christmas and the happiest of holiday seasons, Toby’s Dinner Theatre of Columbia is proud to present their stellar production of the musical version of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Directed by David James with Musical Direction by Pamela Wilt, this iconic classic brings the true meaning of Christmas to kids from ages one to 92 and beyond and everywhere in-between.
Tossing everything in and digging deep inside, the third round of The Little Sisters of Toby’s are ready to raise their voice. Sitting down with Samantha McEwen Deininger, Ashley K. Nicholas, and Elizabeth Rayca, we find out just what it’s like for these sisters to be a part of the sisterhood happening in Sister Act playing now through November 13, 2016 at Toby’s Dinner Theatre.
Thank you ladies for giving us a quick pinch of your time!
Spread the news! It’s time to rock the pews! Toby’s Dinner Theatre of Columbia has caught Sunday morning fever! And it’s burning wild with happiness as Sister Act, the five-time Tony Award-Nominated musical, flocks with glory into the intimate theatre-in-the-round space under the Direction of Lawrence B. Munsey. With Musical Direction by Ross Scott Rawlings and spectacular Choreography by Helen Hayes Award-Winner Mark Minnick, this soulful feel-good musical will lift your spirits straight up to heaven and create an excitingly memorable theatrical experience for everyone in attendance.
Some folks can’t stand it— say time is a bandit— but not these two, because they’re timeless to everyone! Heading into the home stretch of the TheatreBloom “You Can’t Stop the Beat” interview series, we sit down with Toby’s veterans David James and Lawrence B. Munsey who are no strangers to theatre in the round nor to the roles which they’re currently reprising in Hairspray.
Thank you both so much for giving me a quick nugget of your time!
They say the blacker the berry the sweeter the juice, and Seaweed J. Stubs is here to run and tell that alongside Miss Penny Lou Pingleton, who has found her blue-eyed soul after meeting Seaweed! Continuing on the You Can’t Stop the Beat interview series, TheatreBloom sits down with Andre Hinds and Sophie Schulman to talk about Seaweed and Penny.
Thank you both for taking a moment and sitting with us! If you could give us a brief introduction of who you are,
Styles keep a changing, the world’s rearranging, but Toby’s Dinner Theatre is timeless as can be! Welcoming in the 60’s with their superior production of Hairspray, the summer stage-blockbuster is marching in through the front door in Columbia and is ready to shimmy and shake-up all of the theatergoers in the area. Directed and Choreographed by Mark Minnick with Musical Direction by Ross Scott Rawlings, this sensational production is the must-see musical of Baltimore’s hot season!
You can’t stop an avalanche as it races down a hill! And this summer, Toby’s Dinner Theatre of Columbia is racing down the hill of amazing theatrical experiences as they bring the heart of Baltimore to their stage with Hairspray. In the TheatreBloom exclusive interview series, “You Can’t Stop the Beat: Meet the Nicest Kids in Town” we’ll be chatting over the course of the production’s run with everyone from the character man and woman right up to Miss Hairspray herself,
The 32nd Annual Helen Hayes Awards is just around the corner celebrating live professional theatre of all shapes and sizes in the nation’s capital city of Washington DC. This year’s ceremony will be presented at the historic Lincoln Theatre on Monday evening May 23, where 236 nominees are being honored, representing 202 eligible productions produced in 2015. In a TheatreBloom exclusive interview, we’ve taken a few quick moments with nominee David James (nominated in the category of Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Musical— Helen Production,
Dites-moi pourquoi la vie est belle. Dites-moi pourquoi la vie est gai. Life is beautiful and life is gay because the Rogers and Hammerstein classic South Pacific has set a course for Toby’s Dinner Theatre of Columbia and finally landed this 2016. Directed and Choreographed by Mark Minnick, with Musical Direction by Reenie Codelka, this heartwarming, feel-good musical is just the remedy to chase away the winter blues. With stunning talent, beautiful aesthetics,
“Franklin did this and Franklin did that and Franklin did some other damn thing. Franklin smote the ground and out sprang George Washington, fully grown and on his horse. Franklin then electrified him with his miraculous lightning rod and the three of them— Franklin, Washington, and the horse— conducted the entire revolution by themselves.” John Adams, 1776. While Ben Franklin may stand around quoting himself and John Adams complains about it, TheatreBloom continues on in the Vote Yes: Inside Independence Hall series with an exceptionally talented actor who has returned after retiring from the stage 29 years ago.
Crossing the line from nay to yea in the vote for independence is more than just having Congressional Custodian Andrew McNair slide a tally marker from one side of the board to the other. Continuing on in the interview series Vote Yes: Inside Independence Hall, TheatreBloom investigates the fence-sitting, decision-making members of congress— Samuel Chase of Maryland and Judge James Wilson of Pennsylvania— as played by Toby’s veteran performer Andrew Horn and Toby’s newcomer Scott Harrison,
The secretary of the second continental congress will now take the attendance. Actor Russell Silber, playing the congressional secretary, present with TheatreBloom as the third installment of Inside Independence Hall gets underway, and the labored debate for the vote on independence continues at Toby’s Dinner Theatre in their production of 1776.
If you could give us an introduction to yourself, tell us a little about where we might have seen you in the area on stage over the last year,
Vote yes! Vote yes! Vote for independency! For God’s sake, theatergoers, sit down! And make sure you do it over at Toby’s Dinner Theatre where history comes to life in one of her most striking productions to date. 1776, a revolutionary tale of how the great nation of America got its start is well underway as spring gets started close to the nation’s capitol. Directed by Jeremy Scott Blaustein and Shawn Kettering,
A secret in the house: a girl, a boy, a ring! Wednesday’s growing up— she’ll be Thursday before you know it! And she’s got herself a secret! His name Lucas Beineke and he comes from the “Normies.” Watch out, Addams family, there’s a whole lot of normal coming your way! In Part 5 of “Move Toward the Darkness” we sit down with MaryKate Brouillet and AJ Whittenberger to psychoanalyze the deep dark hole that is the love between Wednesday Addams and Lucas Beineke.
They’re normal people, not like you, not like me. Well, not exactly normal. One’s uptight and really boring, and the other one has rhyming poems that just sprout up through her whenever she feels stressed or blessed. But at least they’re not zombie butlers or dating the moon, right? In Part 4 of the Move Toward the Darkness interview series, we meet the Beineke Family— Mal and Alice— played by Darren McDonnell and Elizabeth Rayca respectively.
Living…dead…and…undecided! Every member of the Addams Family clan is welcome in this creepy and kooky interview series. And Grandma Addams is definitely on the undecided line of the family fence. Why, they aren’t even sure whose mother she is! In Part 3 of the Move Toward the Darkness Interview Series, veteran of the stage David James sits down with TheatreBloom to discuss his role in The Addams Family musical at Toby’s Dinner Theatre.
Full Disclosure: The Addams Family has risen up from the shadows and gloom and descended upon the stage of Toby’s Dinner Theatre. This wickedly entertaining new musical comedy is making its regional premier in the round; a tour de force of hilarious comedy, intoxicating dancing, and the creepiest of kooks all on one stage! Directed and Choreographed by Mark Minnick, with Musical Direction by Ross Scott Rawlings, this charming, feel-good family fun musical is a tremendous success with extraordinary talent to be enjoyed all evening long.
If life seems jolly rotten then there’s something you’ve forgotten—Monty Python’s Spamalot is playing at Toby’s Dinner Theatre! There is no better way to tickle your funny bone this season than with a good old-fashioned laugh-a-minute musical comedy like Monty Python’s Spamalot that will have you roaring in hysterics right through the company bow.
Directed by Mark Minnick with Musical Direction by Ross Scott Rawlings, this uproarious show,
The age old question that hangs around the holiday season that has been debated, discussed, commercialized, and caused quite the stir over the years: Is there a Santa Claus? Doubt no more, for Toby’s Dinner Theatre of Columbia has the real thing— the proof’s in the pudding— as they bring Meredith Wilson’s (The Music Man) musical version of Miracle on 34th Street to life just in time for Christmas.
When the saints go marching in they’re all heading straight for Toby’s Dinner Theatre of Baltimore to see the sensationally hysterical madcap musical revue Nunsense. The little sisters of Dundalk have come to town to put on a variety show in order to raise some funds for their order. Of course it’s never so straight forward, the reason the little sisters need the money is because Sister Julia, Child of God,