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,
Plastic, glitter, and rhinestones don’t shine like these stars do! And Children’s Playhouse of Maryland is closing out their 2023/2024 season with some of the shiniest stars around with their production of Mean Girls (High School Edition). It’s so phenomenal— IT’S FETCH!! Directed by Liz Boyer Hunnicutt, with Musical Direction by Charlotte Evans, and Choreography by Rachel Miller, this fabulous and cautionary tale is an extraordinary way to end their season and showcases some of the area’s brightest and most talented stars making their way out into the theatrical universe one twinkle at a time.
What if you can’t remember the last time you were able to let go, have fun, and just be yourself? Well isn’t that exactly what theatre is for? A place to let go, have fun, and just be yourself! And Children’s Playhouse of Maryland has always been that place for all of the up-and-coming theatrical talents that pass through their doors over in Essex. Celebrating the holiday season with a very special, brand-new-production (written and conceived by their musical director and her father) Children’s Playhouse of Maryland is thrilled to present Neverland: A New Musical.
Glass Slipper? ✔
Pumpkin Carriage? ✔
Lousy step-family, prince and princess, big ol’ ball? ✔✔✔
But if you think you know the story of Rogers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, think again. To quote my 63-year-old mother (who at the time of this review, we’re now 12 hours post leaving the theatre and she’s still telling me things she discovered and was awestruck by and enjoyed), “that was the best,
Dancing youths…painted scenes…things I almost remember… then a song— someone sings… once upon a…September… when the Children’s Playhouse of Maryland presented the area premiere of Anastasia, the much-anticipated, full-length musical. A sparkling gem, a radiant endeavor, this delightful and charming show is both beautiful and serene, full of humor and heart, and a spectacular start to the 2023/2024 season at CPM. Directed by Liz Boyer Hunnicutt, with Musical Direction by Charlotte Evans Crowley,
To theatre! To theatre! L’chaim! To Beth Tfiloh Community Theatre! L’chaim! After an eternity of waiting, they’ve finally been granted the rights from on high…up in New York or wherever MTI is headquartering these days! After many denied applications for one reason or another, Beth Tfiloh Community Theatre has finally been approved to produce Fiddler On The Roof! L’chaim! Directed by Diane M. Smith with Musical Direction by Charlotte Evans Crowley and Choreography by Rachel Miller,
They got all the ways to be W-I-C-K-E-D! Just get your tickets and you’ll see them be W-I-C-K-E-D! Children’s Playhouse of Maryland is bringing the house down this holiday season with their production of Disney’s Descendants. And it is living up to its wicked namesake! Directed by Liz Boyer Hunnicutt with Musical Direction by Charlotte Evans and Choreography by Rachel Miller this thrilling, high-energy, totally upbeat and wildly twisted tale of the children of Disney’s finest ‘evils’ will have you recognizing that bad is the new good all through the holiday season.
Hey— y’all hear? CPM is doin’ a show! Children’s Playhouse of Maryland is doing a show! So get ready to come and meet those dancing feet— on the avenue they’re taking you to—42nd Street (youth edition.) All the glamor, glitz, and glory of your favorite tunes, with all of the dusty treacle trimmed out for a succinct bullet (over-Broadway) point version of the iconic musical with a sensational score of tap-dancing youth ready to knock your socks off!
They’re soarin’! Flyin’! There’s not a star in heaven that they can’t reach! Because they’ve got their heads in the game! That’s right! Cockpit in Court Jr. is bringing you millennial Grease AKA— Disney’s High School Musical. Serving as the high-school show of the early 00’s, this Disney show gives agency to characters who are too often pigeonholed into a particular stereotype. Two things can be true and when you live your best life?
Stephen
Sondheim is synonymous with darkly themed, intricately scored, chamber pieces
that hold a mirror up for the audience to self-reflect. On the surface, the fairy
tale wrappings of Into the Woods seem to defy that with brightly colored
costumes, unusually bouncy tunes, and a familiar cast of characters voicing a
plethora of wishes and dreams. But do not be fooled, because Sondheim, with
book writer James Lapine, has drawn his on-the-surface quaint fable not from Walt
Disney’s stable of technicolor,
And The World will
know! And The Sun will too! ‘Bout
these Newsies and the awesome job they
do! The things they do today will be tomorrow’s news! And you heard it here
first— right in black in white— front page ABOVE the fold! That’s right— read
all about it! Right here! Children’s Playhouse of Maryland does Newsies and makes Disney proud with all
of their energy,
Life! Pain! Love! Grief! Hope! Faith! You! THAT is why they
tell the story! What story, you ask? Once
On This Island Jr.! Who’s telling it, you ask? Children’s Playhouse of
Maryland! Their incredibly talented cast of young performers presents a
whimsical tale of two worlds that were never meant to meet, joined together by
the island they share. Directed by Liz Boyer Hunnicutt, with musical Direction
by Charlotte Evans,
“Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd… his skin was pale and his eye was odd… he shaved the faces of gentlemen who never thereafter were heard of again. He trod a path that few have trod, did Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”.”
The opening lines to the haunting and delightfully disturbing Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street still have the power to chill and unsettle audiences,
You can’t stop an avalanche as it races down the hill! And CMP is stopping their season here, with a show that’s such a thrill! And you can try to stop their dancing feet, but they just cannot stand still! Cause the world keeps spinning round and round and their hearts are keeping time to the speed of sound, they were lost ‘til the heard the heard the drums (go Lisa Wood, go, go,
They’re live in living color! Dundalk Community Theatre’s got something special on tonight! They’re live in living color— ‘cause life ain’t lived in black and white. Their production of Catch Me if You Can is live in living color and it’s something you should see! It’s God damn and gumbo fabulous— it won’t fit in your TV! Directed by Robert W. Oppel, with Musical Direction by Cecile Audette, and smashing choreography by Vincent Musgrave,
With all of the shows round the town running loose,
Who’d ever have guessed there’d be one about Seuss?
Oh the things you must think when you this wild musical
Which one, you ask? Why the musical called Seussical!
And not just Seussical, it’s Seussical Jr. you know
Minus one butter-battle, it’s still a really great show!
Listen to the beat and you’ll hear what’s in their soul! Live from the center of your radio dial— just at the tippy-top end of Station North coming to you directly from The Motor House— ArtsCentric is bringing you the sensational smash hit musical Memphis. Directed by Kevin S. McAllister with Musical Direction by Cedric D. Lyles and Choreography by Torens Johnson, this stellar production is the music of your soul like you’ve never heard heart and soul and rock and roll and rhythm and blues before.
Hallelujah for Sister Act at Cockpit In Court! CCBC Essex presents a family musical with sincerely praise-worthy voices and a lot of spirit in the F. Scott Black Mainstage Theatre. The stage musical of Sister Act is based on the Whoopi Goldberg movie of the same name, but while audiences loved hearing familiar Motown tunes used innovatively in the context of a cloister, the stage production got Alan Menken— you remember Alan Menken?
If you trust in your soul, keep your eyes on the goal, then the prize you won’t fail— you’ll find your grail at Cockpit in Court this summer with their second mainstage production, Monty Python’s Spamalot. Directed by Laurie Sentman Starkey with Musical Direction by R. Christopher Rose, this instance of comedic musical theatre has a little something for everybody. Be you a Monty Python fan, a musical theatre fan, neither,