Articles Tagged With: Whitney Russell

Jekyll & Hyde at The Havre de Grace Opera House

Reviews October 12, 2024 Amanda N. Gunther Leave a comment

Mesmerizing. Haunting. Lingering. Distill the theatrical experience into a singularity of words and those are the three that flash immediately to mind. Look further still behind the façade for evocative sensationalism, hypnotic chaos, captivating moments of song, movement, and storytelling…and you just might find yourself seated in The Opera House of Havre de Grace for Jekyll & Hyde. Adapted for the stage by Steven Cuden and Frank Wildhorn, this musical thriller appears on the Opera House stage just in the throng of the calendar’s most haunted month.

Cats at Cockpit in Court

Reviews July 20, 2024 Amanda N. Gunther

Turn your face toward Cockpit in Court…let your memory lead you…open up enter in (to the F. Scott Black Theatre inside the Robert & Eleanor Romadka College Center) you will find there…the meaning of what happiness is… and a new show…will begin. If it was mystical the first time, magical the second, it will certainly be memorable, magnificent— truly Jellicle— the third as Bambi Johnson (who has become synonymous with Andrew Lloyd Webber and T.S.

Bambi Johnson (standing center) directing a rehearsal of Cats at Cockpit in Court

Local Limelight: Director & Choreographer Bambi Johnson on Jellicles, Theatre, and All That Jazz

Interviews July 13, 2024 Amanda N. Gunther

I’ve been a reviewing critic for nearly 15 years. And there’s no irony lost on me that on the day my personal publication, TheatreBloom, turns 10 years old, Cats at Cockpit in Court will be closing its three-week run, concluding the main-stage 2024 season for that company. The “Local Limelight” was a series of interviews that was cooked up during the pandemic, when everyone was wondering if we’d ever get to “theatre” again (like it was a true verb.) And it’s designed to shine a spotlight on someone in the community who gets up to great things,

RETURN TO THE JELLICLE BALL: MEETING THE NEWEST 2024 ADDITIONS TO THE CLOWDER OF COCKPIT IN COURT’S CATS: Exotica

Interviews July 13, 2024 Amanda N. Gunther

Jellicle Cats are dancing cats…Jellicle Cats are returning Cats…once a combo cat now…

Welcome back! And thank you for giving us some of your time! Tell us who you are, who you were before, and who you are once more? This is getting complicated!

Katelynn O’Connor: I’m Katelynn O’Connor, that is still the same. But last time I was a combination of Victoria and Jemima and this time I’m playing Exotica!

Return to the Jellicle Ball: Meeting the Newest 2024 Additions to the Clowder of Cockpit in Court’s Cats: Queenie

Interviews July 7, 2024 Amanda N. Gunther

Jellicle Cats are choreographical cats!

While this cat is no stranger to cats…she’s on the techie-side layer for this production…please meet the first of two threepeaters, our very own— Queenie Cat!

Thank you so much for joining us, Whitney! We’re thrilled to have you back with us again! Now you are a rare cat— just one of two— who is what we call a magical Threepeater!

Whitney Russell: I am!

Cabaret at Phoenix Festival Theatre

Reviews June 10, 2023 Amanda N. Gunther

The county known as Harford is so wide, mein Herr. They’ve got theatres up and down and side to side, mein Herr. I don’t always get them all, at least I tried, mein Herr. So I see… and I go… play by play… night by night…show by show… and this show— a truly remarkable and superbly stunning production of Kander & Ebb’s Cabaret is waiting to welcome you through its doors at Phoenix Festival Theatre.

Beauty & The Beast at Phoenix Festival Theatre. ????Matthew Peterson

Beauty and The Beast at Phoenix Festival Theatre

Reviews March 3, 2023 Amanda N. Gunther

Well, who’d have thought? Well, bless my soul! Well, who’d have guessed? Well, who indeed? That Phoenix Festival Theatre would be sold out before you could be their guest? Just wait and see— standing room at least— that’s all that’s left for their stunning production of Beauty and The Beast. Disney has a funny way of enchanting ticket buyers to purchase tickets before the run even truly gets underway. Good luck finding someone who wants to give up their ticket to this sold-out performance.

Cats at Tidewater Players

Reviews September 17, 2022 Amanda N. Gunther

With Cats some say one rule is true: get your tickets for Tidewater Players’ production this fall. It is like no other production of Cats ever seen or that will ever be seen. The stunning immersive world of T.S. Eliot and Andrew Lloyd Webber come swirling together in a mystical, magical, Jellicle production directed and choreographed by Bambi Johnson with musical direction by Chris Rose. There are singing cats, there are dancing cats,

Jellicles Can And Jellicles Do: Meet Etcetera

Interviews September 10, 2022 Amanda N. Gunther

Jellicle Cats are white and black. Jellicle Cats are of moderate size. Jellicles jump like a jumping jack. Jellicle Cats have moonlit eyes. And they like to…dance. *hiss*

Thank you for giving us some of your time! If you could tell us who you are and who you play in this production, that would be wonderful.

Whitney Russell: My name is Whitney Russell and I play Etcetera.

Tell me a little bit about Etcetera.

Tarzan at Phoenix Festival Theatre

Reviews June 18, 2022 Amanda N. Gunther

Sure as the sun turns to moon— Phoenix Festival Theatre is putting on Disney’s Tarzan and it’s a world of wonder and whimsy, talent and heartfelt experiences! Directed and choreographed by Bambi Johnson with Musical Direction by Nathan Scavilla, this tremendous theatrical undertaking is swinging to wild and vivacious life at The Amoss Center in Bel Air for just three performances! A remarkably refreshing journey through all of your favorite numbers from the animated screen gem,

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.