Articles Tagged With: Lance Bankerd

Glitterus: Dragon Rising at Baltimore Rock Opera Society

Reviews May 20, 2022 Amanda N. Gunther

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,

Chess at Third Wall Productions

Reviews May 19, 2022 Amanda N. Gunther

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.

One Night In Towson: #GameOn with Third Wall Players’ Principal Players in Chess the Musical

Interviews March 30, 2022 Amanda N. Gunther

Everybody’s playing the game. But nobody’s rules are the same. Who’s side will you be on? The Soviet’s? The American’s? Third Wall Productions’? In a TheatreBloom exclusive interview, we sit down with three of the principals of Third Wall Productions’ upcoming production of Chess to get a feel for this first return-to-live performances for 2022.

Thank you all again for sitting down with me in person and giving me some of your time for this!

One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest at Showcase On Main

Reviews February 27, 2022 Amanda N. Gunther

There are a lot of things that are true, even if they never happened. If you’re ready to spend an evening with the self-proclaimed ‘psycho-ceramics; the crackpots of humanity’ then you should head out to Showcase on Main in Elkton, MD for a harrowing and evocative production of Dale Wasserman’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Directed by Lee Lewis, the production is tragically relevant to the way mental health issues in our country are handled today.

Medication Time: An In-Depth Interview with Lance Bankerd & Melanie Bishop on Playing Randle McMurphy & Nurse Ratched for Showcase On Main’s Production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

Interviews February 24, 2022 Amanda N. Gunther

“He who marches out of step, hears another drum.” Randle McMurphy, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.

Aren’t we all just marching to our own drum, the one we hear inside our head? Some maybe more than others, sometimes even the whole country marching out of step with itself? A powerful stage play, which started life as a novel by the same name and later went on to become an iconic film of the mid 1970’s,

Man of La Mancha at Third Wall Productions

Reviews November 12, 2019 Amanda N. Gunther

Hear me now! Oh thou bleak and unbearable world— thou art in
need of good quality musical classics on the stage! There’s a company, with
their banners all bravely unfurled now hurling their gauntlet to thee— they are
they— Third Wall Productions— bringing you the Man of La Mancha and all
of its exquisite fantasy! They are they— Third Wall Productions— with their Man
of La Mancha and your destiny calls you to go!

DREAMING THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM WITH THIRD WALL PRODUCTIONS- INTERVIEWS WITH THE CAST OF MAN OF LA MANCHA: Lance Bankerd, James Doggett, Brian Reagan

Interviews October 24, 2019 Amanda N. Gunther

To beat the unbeatable foe! To bear with unbearable sorrow!
To run where the brave dare not go— this is dream! This is Part 2— continuing
on in a multi-part interview series with the company of Third Wall Productions’
Man of La Mancha, we explore the impossible dreams of three more
individuals involved with the production.

Thank you all for continuing to donate precious rehearsal
time to us so that the denizens of the greater Baltimore area can be privy to
your impossible dreams!

(L to R) JacQuan Knox as Alice Russell, Parker Bailey Steven as Lizzie Borden, Caitlin Weaver as Emma Borden, and Siobhan Beckett as Bridget Sullivan in Lizzie. Photo: Shealyn Jae Photography

Lizzie at Guerrilla Theatre Front

Reviews October 4, 2019 Amanda N. Gunther

In the house of Borden, there’s a lock on every door. And a
story with those 40 whacks— here’s your chance to learn much more! About Lizzie
Borden— more than just the creepy nursery rhyme about the girl who gave her folks
40-ish whacks with an axe to do them in. Guerrilla Theatre Front is putting up Lizzie
as their fall offering to the musical theatre community and it’s a stellar
show. Directed by Greg Bell with Musical Direction by Megann Baldwin,

40 Whacks: A Round-Table Talk with the Women of Lizzie

Interviews September 27, 2019 Amanda N. Gunther

Lizzie Borden took an axe, and gave her mother 40 whacks;

When she saw what she had done, she gave her father 41.

That’s the Lizzie that most people think of when they hear
the name Lizzie Borden. The axe-murdering disturbed little girl who chopped up
her parents. Only she wasn’t a little girl, she was 32. And technically she was
acquitted of the charges. She didn’t even testify at her own trial.

Vinegar Tom at Spotlighters Theatre

Reviews May 30, 2019 Mark Briner

Sometimes, it’s all in the
timing. When the circles of life coincide with your best efforts, everyone
wins. There is a history of shows that premiered to little or no hoopla, but
when revived later in a different political or social climate, felt way more
relevant and meaningful. The most popular example is Kander & Ebb’s classic
musical Chicago. Opening in 1975
under the direction of Bob Fosse and starring dual leading legends Gwen Verdon
and Chita Rivera,

Thank You, Dad at Rapid Lemon Productions

Reviews January 11, 2019 Amanda N. Gunther

Amanda N. Gunther | TheatreBloom

In a world exploding with fake news, the facts often get
lost in the chaotic flurry of excitement fluttering all around the story. And
even when the facts are straight forward, they don’t tell the whole story. The
facts here are straight forward. On November 18, 1978 over 900 people died in
the Jonestown agricultural commune in Guyana; over 300 of them were aged 17 and
under.

Rocky Horror Show at Haute Patooties

Reviews October 27, 2018 Amanda N. Gunther

Haute Patooties! Bless my soul! Haute Patooties! They’ve got rock-n-roll! The Haute Patooties— your very own Baltimore-based Guerilla Theatre Group— are rocking-and-rolling with their very own Rocky Horror Show and its wild, simply put. Think you know Rocky Horror? Think again; come rediscover it, see it in a new light, and experience the collaborative effort that is a cult-classic musical done up right-n-different with Haute Patooties this Halloween season.

Dirty Pictures at Rapid Lemon Productions

Reviews October 15, 2018 Amanda N. Gunther

When you force the eye to see something in a whole new light; that’s true beauty. A pile of junk is just a pile of junk until it isn’t anymore; looking differently upon something broken, disregarded, or damaged can transform trash into treasure. In the world premiere of D. W. Gregory’s Dirty Pictures, art, beauty, and truth find new lights and the backwoods yokels of wilderness-nowhere Colorado absorb new perspective on what those things mean to their lives.

Variations on Sacrifice at Rapid Lemon Productions

Reviews August 5, 2018 Cybele Pomeroy

Sacrifice Your Sour Outlook and Enjoy Rapid Lemon’s Variations on Sacrifice at Theatre Project

Rapid Lemon Productions presents the annual “Variations” collection; this year’s production is directed by Lance Bankerd. The theme this year, chosen by last year’s audiences, is Sacrifice. Baltimore Theatre Project is housed in a building that is 125 years old, and we find it significantly more comfortable on a summer evening than on a winter afternoon.

Jekyll & Hyde at Third Wall Productions

Reviews May 18, 2018 Amanda N. Gunther

There’s a face that we hide till the nighttime appears…and what’s hiding inside behind all of our fears— is our true self— locked inside the façade! Who knew that Third Wall Productions’ true self was an astonishing masterpiece of brilliance locked behind the façade of community theatre? In their finest and most extraordinary production since the company’s inception in 2015, Third Wall Productions brings you the stuff of legends, the stuff of nightmares, their true inner workings…with their production of Jekyll &

Palindrome at Rapid Lemon Productions

Reviews May 16, 2018 Linda Roby

Palindrome by Max Garner holds a special element of history with two important men of music in the two plays he wrote. With each one act play explaining the fantastic yet tragic stories of Thelonious Monk and Marvin Gaye. With subtle touches of musical aspects in each play, the audience’s ears ring with the smooth sounds of jazz and other genres that were produced by the focused artists.

Allan Sean Weeks who took the responsibility of lighting director really took on the “less is more” saying for each play.

Jesus Christ Superstar at Street Lamp Productions

Reviews March 10, 2018 Amanda N. Gunther

Jesus Christ Superstar— is exactly what they say you are: a superstar… production, that is. Unfathomably brilliant in its modern conceptualization, Director and Choreographer Bambi Johnson brings this game-changing, classical Andrew Lloyd Webber musical theatre sensation to the intimate black box stage of Street Lamp Productions and creates superb divinity in the theatrical experience that is Jesus Christ Superstar. At the risk of sounding repetitive, it’s a superstar theatrical engagement that is presented with an incredible deal of talent,

Love is a Blue Tick Hound at Rapid Lemon Productions

Reviews January 19, 2018 Linda Roby

Rapid Lemon Production’s production of Love is a Blue Tick Hound found a beautiful way to touch and create an intimate environment for the audience to grow a connection with each character on stage. Audrey Cefaly wrote four different plays that are displayed long enough to grow a bond with each character, whether that would be a waitress laying on the floor of an Italian restaurant or a man on his second date receiving an ear piercing with a potato in his hand.

Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play at Cohesion Theatre Company

Reviews December 10, 2017 Amanda N. Gunther

Die Bart Die! Probably not exactly what Kelsey Grammer thinks he’ll be remembered for when his time is up. Side Show Bob, that loveable nefarious evil-doer spawned inside the depraved animator’s brain of Matt Groening, father of the indomitable prime time animated series, The Simpsons. Of course, what will any of us really be remembered for once we’re gone? What about once the world as we know it is gone? What becomes important,

Hamlet at Susquehanna Shakespeare Ensemble

Reviews October 12, 2017 Amanda N. Gunther

Suit the action to the word and the word to the action! The word is shows without intermission are the new trend and the action is to apply it Shakespeare. Susquehanna Shakespeare Ensemble is boldly running an endurance test— for both audience and ensemble— with the Bard’s most renowned tragedy, Hamlet. Directed by company founder and Artistic Head Marshall B. Garrett, this DIY-Fringe style production of the Danish Prince’s woe is surprisingly accurate in both delivery and conceptualization,

Voices In The Rubble & Endgame at Rapid Lemon Productions

Reviews May 14, 2017 Amanda N. Gunther

Something is taking its course. I don’t know how I feel today. There is no one else. There is nowhere else. It must be an absurdist cycle. Rapid Lemon Productions, under producer Max Garner, presents an evening of absurdism at The Motor House in the Station North Arts District of Charm City. A double-bill of two one-acts that are threaded loosely together in their absurdism roots, the classic Samuel Beckett’s Endgame is paired with the American premiere of Darren Donohue’s Voices in the Rubble.

Fiddler on the Roof at Third Wall Productions

Reviews February 17, 2017 Amanda N. Gunther

The papas! The mammas! The daughters! The sons! They’re all there as tradition would dictate— but! This isn’t your grandfather’s Fiddler on the Roof happening as Third Wall Productions approaches its one-year anniversary! Directed by Lance Bankerd, with Musical Direction by Edward Berlett, this reimagined production of a time-weathered classic is an innovative look at how the flower that blooms in adversity is the rarest and most beautiful of all. Pulling the production out of the dreary,

Review: Cats at Milburn Stone Theatre

Reviews December 2, 2016 Amanda N. Gunther

Jellicle cats come out tonight! Jellicle cats come one, come all! Jellicle cats at Milburn Stone— Jellicle cats have a Jellicle Ball! And you too will find yourself among the feline fantasy world of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats if you dare to venture to the Milburn Stone Theatre for a sensational production of Broadway’s second-longest running musical. Directed and Choreographed by Bambi Johnson with Musical Direction by Shane Jensen, this phenomenally enchanting evening is whimsy incarnate and invites you to a wildly wondrous world of feline fantasy that will delight every family this holiday season.

Review: Evil Dead The Musical at Milburn Stone Theatre

Reviews October 7, 2016 Amanda N. Gunther

Join us. Joooiiin usss….JOOOOIIIN USSS! Well, join them— Milburn Stone Theatre that is— as Ash of S-Mart braves the cabin in the woods and attempts to fight for his life and fend off the evil Candarian Demons that have been wakened from the Necronomicon! You heard it here first— Evil Dead: The Musical (rising from the beyond in the spooktacular Halloween repertory alongside The Toxic Avenger) has possessed The Milburn Stone Theatre’s mainstage and is coming after you!

Review: Variations on Blame at Rapid Lemon Productions

Reviews September 9, 2016 Amanda N. Gunther

Her heart got broken. The car was totaled. He’s wildly out of control. Who’s to blame? In a world of helicopter parents, disasters beyond our imagination, catastrophe around every corner, isn’t the question always who’s to blame? Appearing on the stages of Baltimore City for its 12th Annual Production the Variations Project, produced by Rapid Lemon Productions, takes up residency for a limited run-performance in the Wright Theatre of the University of Baltimore. 11 short,

On Holiday! An Interview with an American Idiot, or The Director Thereof at Milburn Stone Theatre

Interviews June 11, 2016 Amanda N. Gunther

Don’t want to be an American Idiot? Then you’re going to have to travel up to Milburn Stone Theatre to see their visceral production of Green Day’s American Idiot. But before you do, we’ll put you in the know and keep you informed by presenting you with a TheatreBloom exclusive interview with the show’s Director Lance Bankerd. Hear what Lance has to say regarding the production and what it means to today’s audiences.

Review: American Idiot at Milburn Stone Theatre

Reviews June 9, 2016 Amanda N. Gunther

It’s something unpredictable, but in the end it’s right, you will definitely have the time of your life if you come see the Milburn Stone Theatre’s production of Green Day’s American Idiot. Directed by Lance Bankerd with Musical Direction by J. Andrew Dickenson, this viscerally emotional and hyper-sensationalized production of Green Day’s concept-album-turned musical does not shy away from the traumas encountered by the characters within. A jaw-dropping, fist-pumping, rage-bleeding experience,

Oliver! at Third Wall Productions

News February 20, 2016 Amanda N. Gunther

I’m reviewing the situation; can Baltimore sustain one more community theatre that popped-up overnight? The answer is yes, as Third Wall Productions makes their inaugural production of Oliver! snap jauntily to life in the found-space stage of the Episcopal Church of the Messiah in Hamilton. Produced by Jerry Gietka (who has commemorated producing the show in loving memory of his late sister Bernie) and Directed by Ed Higgins, with Kathryn Weaver as Musical Director,

"One Day More" performed by the cast of Les Miserables at Milburn Stone Theatre

Review: Les Miserables at Milburn Stone Theatre

Reviews June 12, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

At the end of the day it’s another show over. And that show it has surely been making its rounds. From Broadway to touring and finally released to the public— Les Miserables settles down for one show more at The Milburn Stone Theatre in North East Maryland. Broadway’s biggest musical is live in Cecil County for a three weekend limited engagement run and may be the last time that any area theatre is given the rights to perform the show for quite some time to come.

Review: The Beauty Queen of Leenane at Spotlighters Theatre

Reviews March 4, 2015 Amanda N. Gunther

Aye, if ye be in the mood for a poitìn bit o’ good theatre, ‘specially the dark and funny like— now mind you, not the haha out loud sort o’ funny, but the ‘oh…’ sort o’ funny— then The Spotlighters is the place to be goin’. Though bundle up, ye’ll be needin’ th’ heat once ya’ get there. Despite several setbacks, the Martin McDonagh black comedy The Beauty Queen of Leenane carries on upon the stage-in-the-square with a vigorous shake that’ll light a fire in your belly.