Johnna Leary

‘Loserville: The Musical’ at The FrederickTowne Players celebrates being true to yourself

A high energy musical premiere blasts onto the stage in the FrederickTowne Players production of Loserville. Excellently directed by Matt J. Bannister, with rocking musical direction from Matthew...

‘A Christmas Story: The Musical’ comes to life at Toby’s Dinner Theatre

A Christmas Story: The Musical at Toby’s celebrates the classic charm, innocence and nostalgia of a child’s Christmas in the 1940s with plenty of high energy production numbers from the adult and...

Review: ‘Intimate Apparel’ at Silver Spring Stage

Intimate Apparel by Lynn Nottage is a bittersweet and brilliantly acted dramedy at Silver Spring Stage, featuring insightful direction from Seth Ghitelman for this period piece with a modern message...

Review: ‘The Crater Sisters’ Christmas Special’ at Best Medicine Rep

You can skip your one-hundredth viewing of A Christmas Carol or The Nutcracker this holiday season and, instead, laugh the evening away at the delightfully original musical comedy, The Crater Sisters’...

Review: ‘Arsenic and Old Lace’ at Other Voices Theatre

For a fantastic evening of dark comedy with hysterical individual performances that bring quirky characters to life, don’t miss Arsenic and Old Lace at Other Voices Theatre! Nicely directed by Ray...

Review: ‘Carrie: The Musical’ at Cumberland Theatre

Excellently directed by Kimberli Rowley with crisp musical direction from Daniel Chambers, Carrie: The Musical is an intensely emotional show not to be missed at Cumberland Theatre this Halloween...

Review: ‘Grey Gardens’ at the Old Opera House

An unusual choice and subject matter for a musical, Grey Gardens tells the story of the dysfunctional relationship between mother Edith Bouvier Beale and daughter “Little” Edie Beale. The two women...

Review: ‘The Producers’ at the Washington County Playhouse Dinner Theater and Children’s Theater

Excellently directed by Laura J. Martin with crisp musical direction from Mat Levine, Mel Brooks’ The Producers at the Washington County Playhouse Dinner Theater is an exceptional evening of musical...

Review: ‘A Tuna Christmas’ at Washington County Playhouse Dinner Theater and Children’s Theater

Expertly directed by Scott Ruble to evoke every last bit of comedy, A Tuna Christmas, written by Jason Williams, Joe Sears, and Ed Howard, features the charming and often chaotic holiday events...

Review: ‘La Cage aux Folles’ at Other Voices Theatre

With music and lyrics by Jerry Herman and a book by Harvey Fierstein, La Cage aux Folles running at Other Voices Theatre is a splendid spectacle stuffed with laughs and many poignant moments about the...

Review: ‘Hamlet’ at Whiskey-Shine & Pantomime in Shepherdstown, WV

The recently opened Whiskey-Shine & Pantomime theater organization in Shepherdstown makes a stunning debut with an updated, modern day, and outdoor adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Directed...

Review: ‘Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure’ at the Old Opera House Theatre Company

One of the opening lines to last evening’s performance of Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure, uttered by the world’s most famous detective, was “You see, but you do not observe.” Audiences who...

Review: ‘Rock of Ages’ at the Apollo Civic Theatre

Get ready to rock out at the Apollo Civic Theatre with a rocking and energetic production of Rock of Ages! With a book by Chris D’Arenzo and orchestrations and arrangements by Ethan Popp, this jukebox...

Review: ‘Guys and Dolls’ at the Old Opera House Theatre Company

If you have to take a gamble with your theatrical options this weekend, this reviewer bets you will thoroughly enjoy the classic musical comedy Guys and Dolls at the Old Opera House Theatre Company!...

Review: ‘Dog Sees God’ at East Street Arts Center

We all have those childhood cartoons and characters we loved in our youth, whose innocence and wholesome comedy are branded in our memories and popular culture. But what happens if those wholesome...

Review: ‘The Dixie Swim Club’ at Washington County Playhouse Dinner Theater and Children’s Theater

Written by Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope and Jamie Wooten, better known to theater goers as the Jones Hope Wooten comedy team, The Dixie Swim Club at the Washington County Playhouse Dinner Theater and...

Review: ‘The Pirates of Penzance’ at Shenandoah Summer Music Theatre

The Shenandoah Summer Music Theatre’s (SSMT) production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance breathes fresh and hysterically contemporary life into an older operetta. Brilliantly directed...

Review: ‘Sweeney Todd’ at Shenandoah Summer Music Theatre

In an interestingly unusual choice for the typical light-hearted summer stock musicals at Shenandoah Summer Music Theatre, Sweeney Todd is an exceptional production with strong performances and crisp,...

Interviews from The Woods: Inside ‘Into the Woods JR.’ at Washington County Playhouse Dinner Theater

Be careful what you wish for! This weekend, Into the Woods JR. opens at the Washington County Playhouse Dinner Theater and Children’s Theater, featuring talented students from the tri-state area. Into...

Review: ‘Perfect Wedding’ at the Washington County Playhouse Dinner Theater and Children’s Theater

Perfect Wedding at the Washington County Playhouse Dinner Theater and Children’s Theater is a laugh-out-loud riot. Written by Robin Hawdon and directed by Shawn R. Martin, Perfect Wedding is the story...

Review: ‘Skin Deep’ at the Old Opera House

Skin Deep at the Old Opera House proves love comes in all shapes and sizes and the message is easily displayed with some outstanding performances from the small ensemble cast in this clever romantic...

Review: ‘Dogfight’ at the Apollo Civic Theatre

The cast of Dogfight at the Apollo Civic Theatre tackles an unusually difficult subject, especially for a musical, with great aplomb, assisted by excellent direction and unique technical effects. With...

Review: ‘Our Town’ at the Apollo Civic Theatre

One of the American theatrical classics, Our Town, written by Thornton Wilder, and well-directed by Amanda Hartman, comes to life in a charmingly simplistic and emotionally resonant production at the...

Review: ‘Stupid F**king Bird’ at Maryland Ensemble Theatre

Written by Aaron Posner and “sort of adapted from Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull,” Stupid F**king Bird is a highly imaginative and humorous depiction of the love triangles and life lessons between...

Review: ‘One Slight Hitch’ at the Old Opera House

One Slight Hitch at The Old Opera House, directed by Glenn Frail, is a wonderfully romantic comedy. In this delightfully sharp farce by Lewis Black, it’s 1981 and Courtney’s wedding day in a perfect...

Review: ‘I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change’ at Other Voices Theatre

In time for Valentine’s Day, Other Voices Theatre presents a hysterical look at modern relationships, set to some catchy songs, in a series of vignettes forming the musical I Love You, You’re Perfect,...

Review: ‘St. Nicholas’ at Washington Stage Guild

Theater critics can sometimes be vicious and bloodthirsty…… and that’s before one of them gets employed by a bloodsucking vampire in the Washington Stage Guild production of St. Nicholas. This...

Review: ‘Deathtrap’ at The Washington County Playhouse Dinner Theater and Children’s Theater

A play-within-a-play, a comedy and a thriller, individually, are all standard forms of theater easily accepted by audiences today. But can they successfully be combined into a single entertaining...

‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ at Toby’s Dinner Theatre

It is normally difficult to translate classic Christmas movies to the stage because comparisons with the beloved films are inevitable. However, It’s A Wonderful Life at Toby’s Dinner Theatre is truly...

‘Legally Blonde: The Musical’ by Other Voices Theatre at the Performing Arts Factory

Fantastically directed by Susan Thornton and excellently musically directed by Pete Meyers, Other Voices Theatre’s Legally Blonde: The Musical is an extremely high-energy show with outstanding...

‘Cabaret’ at Washington County Playhouse Dinner Theater and Children’s Theater

In a moving production and stark departure from its usual light-hearted dinner theater offerings, Cabaret at the Washington County Playhouse Dinner Theater and Children’s Theater is brilliantly...

‘A Grand Night for Singing’ at Apollo Civic Theatre

A Grand Night for Singing at the Apollo Civic Theatre is a grand night of entertainment from a small ensemble cast singing intricate arrangements of Rodgers and Hammerstein classics in quirky and...

‘One Man Two Guvnors’ at the Maryland Ensemble Theatre

Splendidly directed by Tad Janes and cleverly written by Richard Bean with songs by Grant Olding, One Man Two Guvnors is a laugh-out-loud riot with hysterical performances from a versatile cast with...

‘The Addams Family’ at Way Off Broadway Dinner Theatre and Children’s Theatre

Imaginatively directed by Justin M. Kiska and excellently musically directed by Jordan B. Stocksdale, The Addams Family at Way Off Broadway Dinner Theatre and Children’s Theatre is definitely a...

‘Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike’ at the Old Opera House

Family comedies are often hit or miss, but Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike at the Old Opera House is a poignant comedy strengthened by quirky and heartfelt individual performances. Excellently...

‘The Shape of Things’ at Maryland Ensemble Theatre

The Shape of Things, written by Neil LaBute and exceptionally directed by Steve Custer, is a brutally honest look at our modern roles in relationships and asks the question, “Where should society draw...

‘Murder at the Howard Johnson’s’ at the Washington County Playhouse Dinner Theater and Children’s Theater

Murder at the Howard Johnson’s, written by Ron Clark and Sam Bobrick, is a laugh-out-loud riot featuring a woman, her husband and her lover hatching hilarious murder schemes in the classic chain hotel...

‘Avenue Q: The Musical’ at Other Voices Theatre

It is very rare than you see a musical where every role is ideally cast, and even more unexpected in a show where the majority of the actors are acting as puppeteers. However, the Other Voices Theatre...

2015 Capital Fringe Review: The Movement: ’50 Years of Love and Struggle’

The Movement: 50 Years of Love and Struggle is a powerful one-man show representing the Civil Rights struggle in America for the past 50 years. Impressively directed by Willette Thompson and featuring...

‘Driving Miss Daisy’ at Other Voices Theatre

The touching and humorous production of Driving Miss Daisy, currently running at Other Voices Theatre, is well-worth the drive to the theater. A beautiful story of a prejudice turned into friendship...

‘La Boheme’ at Hub Opera Ensemble

Starving artists, jealous relationships, chronic illnesses….. as brilliantly used in their marketing campaign, “the struggle is real” for the characters in Puccini’s La Boheme, currently running at...

‘The King and I’ at Washington County Playhouse Dinner Theater and Children’s Theater

The King and I at Washington County Playhouse really is “Something Wonderful,” as the classic musical receives a visually stunning reinterpretation from a very gifted cast. Splendidly directed by...

‘The Elephant Man’ at Maryland Ensemble Theatre

The Elephant Man, fantastically directed by Julie Herber, poses some interesting morality questions for a modern audience, though it is set in Victorian-era England. Based on a real-life story, The...

‘Ghosts’ at Everyman Theatre

Wonderfully directed by Donald Hicken, the production of Ghosts at Everyman Theater is a moving drama set in the distant past, but updated with a new attitude and understanding for modern audiences....

Barbara Cook Spotlight Series: ‘Malcolm Gets: Come A Little Closer’ at The Kennedy Center

Malcolm Gets is one of the most underrated stars in musical theater today. Fortunately, he got a well-deserved chance to display his exceptional talents during his solo cabaret show, Come a Little...

‘The Wizard of Oz’ at Other Voices Theatre

A stage production of the beloved musical The Wizard of Oz is always difficult, because of the inevitable comparisons with the 1939 classic movie engrained in our popular culture. However, the cast in...

‘The Arsonists’ at Maryland Ensemble Theatre

Brilliantly directed by Gerard Stropnicky, The Arsonists at the Maryland Ensemble Theatre is a morality tale about how ordinary, everyday people can take part in evil acts without even knowing it....

‘Don’t Dress for Dinner’ at Old Opera House Theatre Company

Directed by Steven Brewer and written by Marc Camoletti (adapted by Robin Hawdon), Don’t Dress for Dinner at the Old Opera House Theatre Company is a frantic farce which left the audience in stitches....

‘The Abduction’ at Apollo Civic Theatre

The Abduction, opening this weekend at the Apollo Civic Theatre, is an adrenaline-filled thriller with crisp staging and impressive performances from a talented ensemble cast. Fantastically directed...

‘Greater Tuna’ at the Washington County Playhouse

Greater Tuna, the opening show of the 2015 season at the Washington County Playhouse, now under the new ownership of Shawn and Laura Martin, does not disappoint in a fast-paced, witty spoof of...