Maryland

‘West Side Story’ at Way Off Broadway Dinner Theatre

Way Off Broadway Dinner Theatre is presenting one of American Theater’s timeless classics: West Side Story. With book by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim,...

‘Ruddigore’ at The Victorian Lyric Opera Company

On Saturday night, I walked into the F. Scott Fitzgerald Theatre with certain anticipations. As my third Victorian Lyric Opera Company production, I expected phenomenal singing, beautiful costumes,...

The British Players’ 51st Old Time Music Hall

When Malcolm Edwards, the emcee and Mr. Chairman of the British Players Old Time Music Hall, stepped on the stage and asked the packed house, “Are we going to have some fun this afternoon?” he...

‘Bring It On’ at Drama Learning Center

The wonderful young talents at the Drama Learning Center in Columbia are pushing youth theater ahead by leaps and bounds — literally. There are so many back flips required by their newest TYA...

An Evening of Theater Celebration at the 16th-Annual Cappies Gala

My first foray into the world of high school award programs began last year when I attended The National Capital Area Cappies award event. And, leading up to this year’s program, celebrating the...

Columbia Festival of the Arts: Day Two at the Lakefront

It was a hot day and a hotter night at the Lakefront but that did not keep the crowds away. Good music, especially free for the listening, is always a way to attract an audience. Folks listened while...

Columbia Festival of the Arts Part 1: Opening Night at the Lakefront

Last night the Columbia Festival of the Arts began on the Lakefront in Columbia. (This review is of the last two performances of the evening as those were the ones that were viewed and not to ignore...

‘The Wedding Singer’ at Damascus Theatre Company

Hearken back to New Jersey in the 1980s when self-absorbed Yuppies worshipped Wall Street, hair gel, and blow dryers, and you have the setting for the 2006 Tony-nominated Broadway musical, The Wedding...

‘Candide’ with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra at Strathmore

The musical inventiveness and dramatic craziness of one of Leonard Bernstein’s most challenging pieces of all, his 1956 musical Candide, must flow right through Marin Alsop’s veins. The music director...

‘The Sound of Music’ at Bravo Productions

Thirty-four aspiring actors and singers starred in a heavenly production of Bravo Productions’ The Sound of Music last weekend at The Randolph Road Theatre. Under the direction of Producer/Director...

Meet the Cast of Damascus Theatre Company’s ‘The Wedding Singer’: Part 2 Gabriel T. Potter

In Part 2 of a series of interviews with the cast of The Wedding Singer, meet Gabriel T. Potter. Joel: Please introduce yourself and tell our readers where they may have seen you perform before on our...

‘Lend Me a Tenor’ at the Washington County Playhouse

Lend Me a Tenor at the Washington County Playhouse is a rollercoaster ride of laughs. Director Laura Martin brings this well-known Ken Ludwig farce to life with the help of a talented cast of...

‘Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash’ at Infinity Theatre Company

Infinity Theatre Company has launched their Annapolis summer season with the production of Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash by Richard Maltby, Jr. and William Meade. Though the cast play...

BSO: Beethoven’s 5th Symphony at Strathmore

Playing what has perhaps become the four most famous chords in the western canon, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra tackled Beethoven’s 5th last night at Strathmore, along with Shostakovich and...

‘The Well of Horniness’ at Iron Crow Theatre

Go ahead. It’s okay to scream with laughter and stomp your feet. Though short by Shakespearean standards, this play is howlingly funny as it exploits every lesbian stereotype and cliché known to...

Meet the Cast of Damascus Theatre Company’s ‘The Wedding Singer’: Part 1: Taylor Campbell

In Part 1 of a series of interviews with the cast of The Wedding Singer, meet Taylor Campbell. Please introduce yourself and tell our readers where they may have seen you perform before on our local...

‘Blithe Spirit’ at Everyman Theatre

Word has it that English playwright Noël Coward took only five days to write Blithe Spirit during the full fury of World War II, which premiered just six weeks later in June 1941, creating a new...

‘NSFW’ at Round House Theatre Company

Round House Theatre just opened a stunningly good production of NSFW directed by Meredith McDonough. The script by British playwright Lucy Kirkwood is a marvel in itself, because it is a scathingly...

‘Adriana Lecouvreur’ at Riverbend Opera Company at the Casa Italiana Sociocultural Center

Big things do come in small packages. This old adage was proven correctly with the Riverbend Opera Company’s performance of Adriana Lecouvreur at the Casa Italiana Sociocultural Center. The opera,...

‘The Mystery of Edwin Drood’ at Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre

When many people think of Charles Dickens, they think of the assigned readings from their high school English classes. If Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre presented all of Dickens’ works in the same...

Mark Nadler: ‘Runnin’ Wild: Songs and Scandals of the Roaring ’20s’ at Starthmore’s AMP

Raconteur. A word seldom used nowadays. In the era of Twitter and short attention spans, good luck finding “a person who excels in telling anecdotes.” But flip open the Merriam-Webster Dictionary to...

‘Kiss Me, Kate’ at 2nd Star Productions

As the weather turns sultry, Baltimore theater goers with an appreciation for irony should make it a point not to miss 2nd Star Productions current show, Kiss Me, Kate, the Tony Award-winning musical...

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra: ‘A Tribute to John Williams’ at The Music Center at Strathmore

At the atmospheric Strathmore complex in North Bethesda on a hot Thursday evening, on May 28, 2015, the musical presentation entitled The Music of John Williams was a modest delight with many...

‘On the Razzle’ at Silver Spring Stage

In Tom Stoppard‘s wonderful farce, On the Razzle, the humor relies on mistaken identities, lots of puns and malapropos, pratfalls, sex, and pomposity. Silver Spring Stage’s hilarious production, which...

Rockville Little Theatre Hosting ‘Murder at the TonyLou Awards’ Tomorrow, May 30th at 7 PM at The Arts Barn by Ken Kemp

THERE’S MURDER (AND FUN) AFOOT AT THE ARTS BARN! Rockville Little Theatre is hosting the 2015 TonyLou Awards at The Gaithersburg Arts Barn on Saturday, May 30th at 7:00 PM – but don’t be surprised if...

A Love of the Bard is Passed to Another Generation: Meet the Young Cast of ‘The Tempest’ at Laurel Mill Playhouse

Tonight, Laurel Mill Playhouse will be presenting one of Shakespeare’s later comedies, The Tempest. Unlike the Bard’s earlier comedies, The Tempest does not rely on some of his more traditional plot...

Silver Spring Stage’s Production of Tom Stoppard’s ‘On the Razzle’ Opens This Friday, May 29th

Silver Spring Stage presents On the Razzle by Tom Stoppard, directed by Erin Bone Steele and produced by Jim Robertson, a frantic farce of slapstick shenanigans, mistaken identities, unremitting...

A Chat with Mark Nadler on his Show ‘Runnin’ Wild: Songs and Scandals of the Roaring ’20s’ This Friday, May 29th at 8 PM at Strathmore’s New AMP

Mark Nadler will be performing Runnin’ Wild at Strathmore’s new AMP this Friday, May 29th at 8 PM. I asked Mark to fill us in on what we will hear and see. For those DC area theater and music lovers...

‘The Shipment’ at Forum Theatre

If there were a Richter Scale for risk-taking in theater, Forum Theatre’s production ofThe Shipment would register right up at the top. In brazenly challenging assumptions about how we perceive race...

‘dry bones rising’ at Venus Theatre Company

In her program note, director (and founder of Venus Theatre Company) Deborah Randall has this to say about her company’s newest play, dry bones rising: “The style… could be described as ee cummings...

Special 25% Off Discount to See Mark Nadler’s ‘Runnin’ Wild: Songs and Scandals of the Roaring 20’s’ at AMP on Fri 5/29 at 8 PM

We have a 25% off discount for Mark Nadler’s’ ‘Runnin’ Wild: Songs and Scandals of the Roaring 20’s’ at Strathmore’s new AMP next Friday, May 29th at 8 PM. Use CABARET and get 25% off tickets here:...

‘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 Columbia Festival of the Arts Runs June 12-27, 2015: Events, and A Reflection of the Jim Rouse Dream

The Columbia Festival of the Arts is in the 28th year. It began as an offshoot of the Columbia Fair that celebrated the anniversary of the city. On the 20th anniversary celebration they added the...

‘Macbeth’ at The BOOM Theatre Company

When William Shakespeare’s plays first made their appearances at the Globe Theatre, men played all of the roles. No one questioned a male Juliet performing the famous balcony scene in Romeo and...

Michal Urbaniak at Bethesda Jazz and Blues Supper Club

What does a jazz lover expect from a concert of one of the world’s greatest jazz stars? To be moved by the magic of jazz and loving its sound? This was my exact experience last night, when the stage...

‘The Servant of Two Masters’ at Annapolis Shakespeare Company

There is nothing more enjoyable than a pleasant summer evening, unless, you happen to be at Annapolis Shakespeare Company’s ‘Comedy in the Courtyard’ at Reynold’s Tavern. The patio behind Reynold’s...

‘The Price’ at Olney Theatre Center

Arthur Miller’s The Price, now playing at Olney Theatre Center, is brilliantly directed by Michael Bloom. The play, which opened in 1968 on Broadway, takes place in the late 1940s. Like Arthur...

‘Godspell’ at Silhouette Stages

Silhouette Stage’s Godspell, directed by Stephen M. Deininger, opened last night at Slayton House in Columbia. With music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by John-Michael Tebelak, it’s based...

Aretha Franklin at The Music Center at Strathmore

Diamond-studded diva dazzles at The Strathmore The house was packed Wednesday night at Strathmore Hall in North Bethesda, MD. It was crammed with a diverse, ready to rock audience of seniors, Boomers...

‘Cinderella’ at The Puppet Co.

The Puppet Co. presents Cinderella, arguably the world’s most beloved fairy tale, with over thirteen hundred different versions of this story spread over countries and cultures. One thing about The...

‘Dirty Dancing – The Classic Story On Stage’ at The Hippodrome Theatre at The France-Merrick Performing Arts Center

If you absolutely adored the movie Dirty Dancing and wouldn’t change a thing about it, Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theatre has just the show for you. Dirty Dancing — The Classic Story on Stage is easily...

Daisha Graf and Alicia Graf Mack Share Their D(n)A with Local Dancers on May 17th in Columbia, MD

Sisters Daisha Mack and Alicia Graf Mack, co-creators of D(n)A Arts, will host The D(n)A Xperience, which aims to draw aspiring dancers from across the region. They have achieved extraordinary success...

‘An Evening with Shirley MacLaine’ at the Music Center at Strathmore

“This is the nicest reception I’ve had in 600,000 years!” And with that telling introduction, Shirley MacLaine charmed a crowded house of adoring fans on a personal journey filled with funny stories...

‘Chess’ at Kensington Arts Theatre

Rock musicals have engaged audiences in the US and abroad for over 50 years. Coming to prominence in the late 60’s the genre hit its stride in the 70’s and 80’s with classics like the Rocky Horror...

‘Brighton Beach Memoirs’ at Sandy Spring Theatre Group and The Arts Barn

Consider, if you will, a 15-year-old boy growing up in Brooklyn, New York who longs to be a baseball star with the Yankees, but would give up that dream if he could see a naked woman for two and a...

Meet the Cast of Victorian Lyric Opera Company’s ‘Ruddigore’: Part 3: Amanda Jones

In Part 3 of a series of interviews with the cast of Victorian Lyric Opera’s Ruddigore, meet Amanda Jones. Please introduce yourself and tell our readers where they may have seen you in the past year?...

Broadway’s Norm Lewis Entertains at Round House Theatre GALA This Saturday Night

An evening with Norm Lewis Saturday, May 9, 2015 Don’t miss your chance to see Broadway’s history-making Phantom! Tony-nominee Norm Lewis performs a selection of his show-stopping hits from Porgy and...

Meet the Cast of Victorian Lyric Opera Company’s ‘Ruddigore’: Part 2: Carla Rountree‏

In Part 2 of a series of interviews with the cast of Victorian Lyric Opera’s Ruddigore, meet Carla Rountree. Please introduce yourself and tell our readers where they may have seen you in the past...

‘The Human Capacity’ at University of Maryland School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies

“Everyone is born with the capacity for cruelty and for mercy.” It’s what we do with that capacity that defines our fate. The University of Maryland School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies’...

Meet the Cast of ‘Once on This Island’ at Creative Cauldron: Part 2: Ian Anthony Coleman

In Part 2 of a series of interviews with the cast of Once on This Island, meet Ian Anthony Coleman. Please introduce yourself and tell our readers where they may have seen you perform before on our...