Coby Kay Callahan News

The Maryland Theatre Collective has announced casting and production teams for their next three events of the 2023/2024 season!

Many of my readers know my connection with MAMMA MIA! on Broadway (see my bio below). When I saw many months ago that Toby's Dinner Theatre in Columbia would be presenting it (the professional regional premiere) I knew it would be a money maker and knew, after seeing many Toby productions, it would be done well. Well, not only have they done well, this edition of MAMMA MIA! is just plain superb.

Musical theatre is about happy endings: if you like them, see MAMMA MIA!, at Toby's through September 9th. Heather Marie Beck and Maggie Dransfield as mother and daughter Donna and Sophie Sheridan are delightful and heartwarming. Disco, universally accepted as delicious, is the keystone of this show, whether or not you love or have heard of ABBA. In today's tumult, an escape to a tropical paradise where conflict stems from wedding angst and family drama seems a wonderful notion.

In celebration of Columbia's 50th year, Toby Orenstein, Artistic Director of Toby's Dinner Theatre in Columbia, rotates one powerhouse leading lady per decade into the well-written Narrator role of JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT. Toby Orenstein and co-director Mark Minnick put together a fun, energetic production. Add new arrangements and musical direction by Ross Scott Rawlings, and the resulting show is engaging, sassy, funny, family-friendly and stuffed with talking points for the car ride home.

Toby's Dinner Theatre of Columbia, in celebration of Columbia's 50th anniversary and its own 45th presents JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT, gathering a beautiful assemblage of multi-cultural, multi-talented performers who shine in this unserious collage of an Andrew Lloyd Webber/ Tim Rice Old Testament crazy-quilt favorite.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that as Christmas rolls around, A Christmas Carol appears in theaters. And it's no wonder; Charles Dickens' irresistible holiday tale is irresistibly theatrical. It is machine-tooled to go right for the heartstrings. A lot of different things can be done within this framework, a versatility well-illustrated by two distinct takes on A Christmas Carol currently on offer at the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company in Baltimore at Toby's Dinner Theatre in Columbia.

Superb cast at Toby's is not to be missed.

The America depicted here is a place of quests: Father's for the unknown horizon, Tateh's for a land where he and his daughter can prosper, Coalhouse's for reuniting with Sarah and raising his son in a world where blacks are regarded and treated as equals. To these quests might be added two more: Younger Brother's for some ideal he can build a life around and Mother's, a quieter one, to nurture a family, whatever contours her decency and generosity cause it to assume. And all of these quests are played out among the novelties and sensations of an exuberant American decade: among the things which will figure in the plot are Henry Ford's Model T, J.P. Morgan's library of priceless incunabula, the notorious charms of uber-courtesan Evelyn Nesbit, and the antics of escape artist Harry Houdini.

Teatro101, producer of recent hits The Wild, Party, Side Show, Violet, and The Little Dog Laughed, presents the Regional Premiere of Brooklyn: The Musical - a sidewalk fairytale about a young girl's quest for truth and love. The book, music, and lyrics - by Mark Schoenfeld and Barri McPherson - fills the stage with a mix of brash pop and some incredible soul. Come let our soulful street-corner singers and storytellers mesmerize and enchant you every step of the way. Limited-engagement will play at a new, special location: Baltimore Theatre Project.

Teatro101, producer of recent hits The Wild, Party, Side Show, Violet, and The Little Dog Laughed, presents the Regional Premiere of Brooklyn: The Musical - a sidewalk fairytale about a young girl's quest for truth and love. The book, music, and lyrics - by Mark Schoenfeld and Barri McPherson - fills the stage with a mix of brash pop and some incredible soul. Come let our soulful street-corner singers and storytellers mesmerize and enchant you every step of the way. Limited-engagement will play at a new, special location: Baltimore Theatre Project.

Spotlighters Theatre presents A Little Night Music - opening June 24th, at 8pm

A Little Night Music with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim sits among the pantheon of sophisticated Broadway classics. Based on the Ingmar Bergman film Smiles of a Summer Night, it captures the passions and pathos of a group of couples who waltz their way in and out of relationships in turn-of-the-century Sweden.

Spotlighters Theatre presents A Little Night Music - opening June 24th, at 8pm

I'm reminded of the old joke: It's only funny till someone gets hurt; then it's hilarious. Jacobean audiences liked the stage littered with corpses at the end; we settle for one or two corpses and people's lives shattered. And that this show certainly delivers. There may not be much depth to it, much in the way of a philosophical point, but it's absorbing to see.

This May, Teatro101 proudly presents Andrew Lippa's The Wild Party, the Off-Broadway hit musical based on the poem by Joseph Moncure March. The PARTY begins May 12th and shuts down May 28.

This May, Teatro101 proudly presents Andrew Lippa's The Wild Party, the Off-Broadway hit musical based on the poem by Joseph Moncure March. The PARTY begins May 12th and shuts down May 28.

The DC area is full of spring splendor with so many gorgeous trees and azaleas in full bloom, and our local theatres are filled with new colorful productions. So come visit the Nation's Capital and bask in the city's beauty and the power and joy of our local theatres.

This May, Teatro101 proudly presents Andrew Lippa's The Wild Party, the Off-Broadway hit musical based on the poem by Joseph Moncure March. The PARTY begins May 12th and shuts down May 28.