author: Amanda N. Gunther
Angry men don’t write the rules and guns don’t right the wrongs. A debatable truth from “The Ballad of Booth” inside of a Sondheim show. What’s not up for debate is the caliber and quality of the production of Assassins now appearing live at Silver Spring Stage— their first musical in 27 years! And it’s quite the impressive feat considering it’s their first musical in nearly three decades and it’s a Sondheim to boot!
The best friends show up unannounced, terrified for no reason whatsoever to continuing living in their own home, so they’re moving into yours. The alcoholic live-in sister is at the brandy again and has learned how to yodel and play the accordion. The only child is returning home after her fourth failed marriage. And the wife is bent on going mad, intentionally or otherwise. It must be an episode of The Twilight Zone,
Children are a blessing if you know where they are. Nothing’s so distressing though as when they keep you guessing so— be sure to get your ticket, and travel very far…all the way out to The Gaithersburg Arts Barn to see the first show of Kensington Arts Theatre’s “KAT SECOND STAGE” season— Into the Woods Jr. Directed by Fred Zirm with Musical Direction by Arielle Bayer, this abridged Sondheim production, which exclusively features the first half of the original full-length musical (minus a few racy and raunchy bits to make it appropriate for younger audiences— though it should be clear that the foot-maiming of Cinderella’s Step Sisters is still an active part of the performance),