Cybele Pomeroy
Cybele Pomeroy graduated from Loyola College, before it had grown up and become Loyola University, where she studied writing, literature, education and drama. She never studied costuming, improv or physical comedy but does them anyway. She thinks of herself as a theater tech though most of the money she's earned has been for performance. She's equally proud of her 17-minute limerick operetta with audience sing-a-long, Don Juan The Iguana and her 3 1/2-hour Watergate! The Musical (yes, intermission was 18 1/2 minutes) and was lead writer on a conflict-resolution computer game called Harmony Island. Her first name rhymes with "foretell", not "dribble".
BWW Review: THE BODYGUARD Protects Toby's Superstar Reputation
BWW Review: Take Time To Smell, See, And Especially Hear The Roses In GYPSY At Toby's In Columbia
BWW Review: High-Tail It To Toby's To Catch THE LITTLE MERMAID
BWW Review: ROCK OF AGES 10th Anniversary Tour Headbangs Classic Eighties Rock At The Hippodrome
BWW Review: THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG Gets Classic Comedy Just Right
BWW Review: Chesapeake Shakespeare Sings Perfect Harmony In A CHRISTMAS CAROL
BWW Review: Hear The Bells In Toby's HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME BWW Review: THE BODYGUARD Protects Toby's Superstar Reputation
October 2, 2019
There's much to like about this production of THE BODYGUARD, story aside. It's predictable, superficial and just barely passes the Bechdel-Wallace test. The script is measurably better than the story and the performance is even better than the script. Ross Scott Rawlings' accompanying mini-orchestra is flat-out terrific, and there are some extremely interesting tech things happening. Overall, a strong thumbs-up.
BWW Review: Sing Along With GREASE at Toby's In Columbia
June 17, 2019
Ready for some young energy at Toby's in Columbia? Here's a whole high school musical of less-frequently featured faces! The company dances Mark Minnick's fun choreography like they go together forever, bedecked in rolled denim jeans, wiggle skirts, saddle shoes, Chuck Taylor sneakers, product-heavy hair and pink satin jackets- in short, just what you expect of GREASE.
BWW Review: THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG Gets Classic Comedy Just Right
June 8, 2019
THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG is a farce about a whodunnit that keeps going in spite of itself. It begins at 'funny,' blazes past 'hilarious' and 'side-splitting' straight to 'uproarious,' then ramps it up in Act II. The award-winning script includes slapstick, repetition, mispronunciation, callbacks, prop comedy, crowding, unexpected entrances, pantomime, reversals, costume malfunctions, role switching, overacting, inappropriateness and an astonishing number and variety of spit-takes. The eight cast members are in every way awe-inspiring and terrific. Get it right and go to THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG. Being left out of the fun would be an awful shame.
BWW Review: Trippingly On The Tongue: HAMLET In Original Pronunciation At Baltimore Shakespeare Factory
May 2, 2019
Is Hamlet mad or not?What is his moral duty? Is he always an ass, or just going through a rough patch? To be or not to be? Baltimore Shakespeare Factory delivers HAMLET, PRINCE OF DENMARK in Original Pronunciation with verve and depth, while answering some important questions. BSF, dedicated to accuracy and education, presents one show a season in Original Pronunciation, a must-do experience for Shakespeare nerds. The pre-show festivities, finely done and recommended, are in Original Pronunciation to attune one's ear.
BWW Review: Laugh 'Til You Cry- ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD At Fells Point Corner Theatre
April 23, 2019
Director Lance Bankerd and a top-notch cast deliver Tom Stoppard's ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD, an existential comedy favorite, at Fells Point Corner Theatre in a way that is familiar, fresh, hilarious, pathetic and inevitable. Lighting is well-timed, sound cues unflawed, and acoustics of the theater render whispers and mutterings indistinct yet audible, and you could even be chosen to become part of the show, if you so consent.
BWW Review: Hear The Bells In Toby's HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME
April 19, 2019
Victor Hugo's 1833 love letter to an old cathedral is set in 1482, and it's curious to note that in the nearly six hundred intervening years, there is much that is unchanged regarding social injustice, racial persecution and sexual abuse by religious leaders. Production values are high, while fancy choreography steps aside in service to imaginative vertical and distance movement sequences. The whole production relies on human-centric theatrical artifices THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME plays at Toby's through May 19th, 2019
BWW Review: THE KING AND I Enchants Regally At The Hippodrome
February 25, 2019
THE KING AND I plays through Sunday, February 24th at the Hippodrome in Baltimore. Singing and dancing along to the oh-so-familiar tunes is going a bit far, though some members of the audience are humming to themselves as the orchestra begins to tune.
BWW Review: ROCK OF AGES 10th Anniversary Tour Headbangs Classic Eighties Rock At The Hippodrome
February 18, 2019
The young, energetic cast of ROCK OF AGES' 10th Anniversary Tour is too young to have even been conceived on any Prom Night before 1993, but they don't seem to mind. The script, such as it is, builds stock scenarios and characters to form a through-line for more than 30 big-hair eighties rock standards that are the backbone and muscle of the ROCK OF AGES experience. The band is top notch, handling all the quirks and signatures of big-hair rock like champions. Enjoy this revisitation of your youth as performed by the greatest '80s cover group you're likely to encounter.
BWW Review: Take Time To Smell, See, And Especially Hear The Roses In GYPSY At Toby's In Columbia
February 7, 2019
Cathy Mundy as Momma Rose creates a faceted character with depth, backstory and motivation. The Ensemble is full of experienced leading men and women who blend beautifully and as Louise, MaryKate Brouillet manages to look about fourteen years old for most of the show before her Act II transformation. Full of catchy tunes, powerhouse vocalists, lively choreography and adorable children, Toby's Dinner Theatre in Columbia's production of GYPSY is an impressive crowd-pleaser.
BWW Review: Chesapeake Shakespeare Sings Perfect Harmony In A CHRISTMAS CAROL
December 17, 2018
Though it's not billed as a musical, there's quite a bit of singing in Chesapeake Shakespeare's A CHRISTMAS CAROL. Anchored by strong character work, the production diverges from the format of 'straight play' by featuring wonderful harmonies and active, authentic-looking dances. Visual interest is high with action on three levels of staging, brisk pacing, brilliant costuming and dramatic special effects. Charles Dickens' effervescent dialogue and narrative paired with writer Ian Gallanar's adjustments create a classic rendition with a special Christmas In Baltimore flourish, a successful adaptation full of little surprises.
BWW Review: High-Tail It To Toby's To Catch THE LITTLE MERMAID
December 5, 2018
Toby's Dinner Theatre Of Columbia presents Disney's THE LITTLE MERMAID through March as its holiday show. THE LITTLE MERMAID is lively, fun, and a genuine kid-pleaser. It's packed full of A-list Toby's veterans, with technical trappings that are dazzling to behold. Director Mark Minnick puts top-notch talent to work with energetic staging that's clean and inclusive of the in-the-round audience. THE LITTLE MERMAID will ring true for parents, teens, and anyone who has felt like a fish out of water. It's a story of acceptance, which is the best of gifts, at the holidays and always.
BWW Review: Catch FIDDLER ON THE ROOF at Hippodrome Through 11/19/2018
November 15, 2018
FIDDLER ON THE ROOF is a wonderful show about joy amidst harsh circumstances, the importance of family and community. It's also about Tradition! It's nice to see familiar things updated but not bastardized. The cast is consistently wonderful with harmonious singing and excellent dancing throughout the show, with visually striking staging of sequences that don't technically qualify as dances.
BWW Review: Kookoo For the BAROCOCO Poufs of Happenstance at Theatre Project
November 6, 2018
BAROCOCO is all-of-a-piece, a day in the life, or perhaps a year elapses. It's hard to tell. It's a study in contrasts, a lace-trimmed veil across the face of Godot. It's resplendent and silly, ridiculous and desolate, hilarious and horrible. In BAROCOCO, Happenstance Theatre is making Important Social Commentary. A historic piece which is currently relevant, beautiful and funny is a rarity in the world. Treat yourself to this fabulously stunning morsel of meaningful ephemera.
BWW Review: If you AIN'T MISBEHAVIN' At Toby's, Why Not?
September 28, 2018
Are you looking for a rollicking good cabaret show and a hearty meal? Are you in the mood for a musical history lesson? How about both? Toby's in Columbia presents AIN'T MISBEHAVIN,' The Fats Waller Musical Show through November 4th, and you should sit right down and buy yourself a ticket.
BWW Review: SWEENEY TODD Rages Into REP Stage's Horowitz Theater at HCC
September 13, 2018
REP delivers a punk treatment of Sweeney Todd that is astoundingly compact, hideously dynamic and impressively submersive. The set is efficiently arranged, a versatile, vertically integrated playing space, full of grunge and London-isms. The Company members display powerful, accurate and impressive vocal prowess. Every one of them is physically precise, flexible and compelling. Director Joseph Ritsch has confidence in his cast's ability to manage multiple roles, so they form the Ensemble as well. This retro-modern treatment of Sondheim's popular opera makes salient points about who are the most fragile and disenfranchised people of a community and the destructive powers of a personal agenda.
Thank You For The Music of MAMMA MIA! At Toby's
July 8, 2018
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.
BWW Review: MOTOWN Rolls Through Mobtown, Through Sunday Only at the Hippodrome
April 14, 2018
Catch MOTOWN THE MUSICAL before it races away from the Hippodrome in Baltimore. If you missed it in 2016, flag it down before it's gone. If you caught it before, it's had a tuneup and is plenty worth watching again. Surely someone you love should see it with you.
BWW Review: NEWSIES Are Front Page Headlines At Toby's In Columbia
March 28, 2018
Have a hankering for history, classic "fuggeddaboudid" New York-ish accents, a charming child actor, romance, bylines and plenty of song and dance? Hoof it on over to Toby's Dinner Theatre of Columbia and see Disney's NEWSIES, now through June 10th.
BWW Review: YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN Is Monstrous Great Fun At Toby's In Columbia
February 12, 2018
YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, THE MUSICAL is packed with horrifying puns, die-laughing comedy, frightfully fabulous wigs, knock-em-dead singing and every iconic line you loved from the movie- Get tickets now to see it through Marc 11 at Toby's Dinner Theatre in Columbia and avoid horrified screams of disappointment.
BWW Review: Let THE REVOLUTIONISTS Spin You Right Round at Everyman Theatre
December 14, 2017
Playwright Lauren Gunderson, who marches boldly where political correctness fears to tread, delivers a stylized rendition of female revolutionaries, one famous, two obscure, one invented, reminding us that history is not only written by the victors, it's written by men. Director Casey Stangl presents a snappy, suspenseful, tense drama that is curiously chock-full of comedy. Everyman's resident actors and supporting artists are gifted in their range and variety.
October 2, 2019
There's much to like about this production of THE BODYGUARD, story aside. It's predictable, superficial and just barely passes the Bechdel-Wallace test. The script is measurably better than the story and the performance is even better than the script. Ross Scott Rawlings' accompanying mini-orchestra is flat-out terrific, and there are some extremely interesting tech things happening. Overall, a strong thumbs-up.
BWW Review: Sing Along With GREASE at Toby's In Columbia
June 17, 2019
Ready for some young energy at Toby's in Columbia? Here's a whole high school musical of less-frequently featured faces! The company dances Mark Minnick's fun choreography like they go together forever, bedecked in rolled denim jeans, wiggle skirts, saddle shoes, Chuck Taylor sneakers, product-heavy hair and pink satin jackets- in short, just what you expect of GREASE.
BWW Review: THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG Gets Classic Comedy Just Right
June 8, 2019
THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG is a farce about a whodunnit that keeps going in spite of itself. It begins at 'funny,' blazes past 'hilarious' and 'side-splitting' straight to 'uproarious,' then ramps it up in Act II. The award-winning script includes slapstick, repetition, mispronunciation, callbacks, prop comedy, crowding, unexpected entrances, pantomime, reversals, costume malfunctions, role switching, overacting, inappropriateness and an astonishing number and variety of spit-takes. The eight cast members are in every way awe-inspiring and terrific. Get it right and go to THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG. Being left out of the fun would be an awful shame.
BWW Review: Trippingly On The Tongue: HAMLET In Original Pronunciation At Baltimore Shakespeare Factory
May 2, 2019
Is Hamlet mad or not?What is his moral duty? Is he always an ass, or just going through a rough patch? To be or not to be? Baltimore Shakespeare Factory delivers HAMLET, PRINCE OF DENMARK in Original Pronunciation with verve and depth, while answering some important questions. BSF, dedicated to accuracy and education, presents one show a season in Original Pronunciation, a must-do experience for Shakespeare nerds. The pre-show festivities, finely done and recommended, are in Original Pronunciation to attune one's ear.
BWW Review: Laugh 'Til You Cry- ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD At Fells Point Corner Theatre
April 23, 2019
Director Lance Bankerd and a top-notch cast deliver Tom Stoppard's ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD, an existential comedy favorite, at Fells Point Corner Theatre in a way that is familiar, fresh, hilarious, pathetic and inevitable. Lighting is well-timed, sound cues unflawed, and acoustics of the theater render whispers and mutterings indistinct yet audible, and you could even be chosen to become part of the show, if you so consent.
BWW Review: Hear The Bells In Toby's HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME
April 19, 2019
Victor Hugo's 1833 love letter to an old cathedral is set in 1482, and it's curious to note that in the nearly six hundred intervening years, there is much that is unchanged regarding social injustice, racial persecution and sexual abuse by religious leaders. Production values are high, while fancy choreography steps aside in service to imaginative vertical and distance movement sequences. The whole production relies on human-centric theatrical artifices THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME plays at Toby's through May 19th, 2019
BWW Review: THE KING AND I Enchants Regally At The Hippodrome
February 25, 2019
THE KING AND I plays through Sunday, February 24th at the Hippodrome in Baltimore. Singing and dancing along to the oh-so-familiar tunes is going a bit far, though some members of the audience are humming to themselves as the orchestra begins to tune.
BWW Review: ROCK OF AGES 10th Anniversary Tour Headbangs Classic Eighties Rock At The Hippodrome
February 18, 2019
The young, energetic cast of ROCK OF AGES' 10th Anniversary Tour is too young to have even been conceived on any Prom Night before 1993, but they don't seem to mind. The script, such as it is, builds stock scenarios and characters to form a through-line for more than 30 big-hair eighties rock standards that are the backbone and muscle of the ROCK OF AGES experience. The band is top notch, handling all the quirks and signatures of big-hair rock like champions. Enjoy this revisitation of your youth as performed by the greatest '80s cover group you're likely to encounter.
BWW Review: Take Time To Smell, See, And Especially Hear The Roses In GYPSY At Toby's In Columbia
February 7, 2019
Cathy Mundy as Momma Rose creates a faceted character with depth, backstory and motivation. The Ensemble is full of experienced leading men and women who blend beautifully and as Louise, MaryKate Brouillet manages to look about fourteen years old for most of the show before her Act II transformation. Full of catchy tunes, powerhouse vocalists, lively choreography and adorable children, Toby's Dinner Theatre in Columbia's production of GYPSY is an impressive crowd-pleaser.
BWW Review: Chesapeake Shakespeare Sings Perfect Harmony In A CHRISTMAS CAROL
December 17, 2018
Though it's not billed as a musical, there's quite a bit of singing in Chesapeake Shakespeare's A CHRISTMAS CAROL. Anchored by strong character work, the production diverges from the format of 'straight play' by featuring wonderful harmonies and active, authentic-looking dances. Visual interest is high with action on three levels of staging, brisk pacing, brilliant costuming and dramatic special effects. Charles Dickens' effervescent dialogue and narrative paired with writer Ian Gallanar's adjustments create a classic rendition with a special Christmas In Baltimore flourish, a successful adaptation full of little surprises.
BWW Review: High-Tail It To Toby's To Catch THE LITTLE MERMAID
December 5, 2018
Toby's Dinner Theatre Of Columbia presents Disney's THE LITTLE MERMAID through March as its holiday show. THE LITTLE MERMAID is lively, fun, and a genuine kid-pleaser. It's packed full of A-list Toby's veterans, with technical trappings that are dazzling to behold. Director Mark Minnick puts top-notch talent to work with energetic staging that's clean and inclusive of the in-the-round audience. THE LITTLE MERMAID will ring true for parents, teens, and anyone who has felt like a fish out of water. It's a story of acceptance, which is the best of gifts, at the holidays and always.
BWW Review: Catch FIDDLER ON THE ROOF at Hippodrome Through 11/19/2018
November 15, 2018
FIDDLER ON THE ROOF is a wonderful show about joy amidst harsh circumstances, the importance of family and community. It's also about Tradition! It's nice to see familiar things updated but not bastardized. The cast is consistently wonderful with harmonious singing and excellent dancing throughout the show, with visually striking staging of sequences that don't technically qualify as dances.
BWW Review: Kookoo For the BAROCOCO Poufs of Happenstance at Theatre Project
November 6, 2018
BAROCOCO is all-of-a-piece, a day in the life, or perhaps a year elapses. It's hard to tell. It's a study in contrasts, a lace-trimmed veil across the face of Godot. It's resplendent and silly, ridiculous and desolate, hilarious and horrible. In BAROCOCO, Happenstance Theatre is making Important Social Commentary. A historic piece which is currently relevant, beautiful and funny is a rarity in the world. Treat yourself to this fabulously stunning morsel of meaningful ephemera.
BWW Review: If you AIN'T MISBEHAVIN' At Toby's, Why Not?
September 28, 2018
Are you looking for a rollicking good cabaret show and a hearty meal? Are you in the mood for a musical history lesson? How about both? Toby's in Columbia presents AIN'T MISBEHAVIN,' The Fats Waller Musical Show through November 4th, and you should sit right down and buy yourself a ticket.
BWW Review: SWEENEY TODD Rages Into REP Stage's Horowitz Theater at HCC
September 13, 2018
REP delivers a punk treatment of Sweeney Todd that is astoundingly compact, hideously dynamic and impressively submersive. The set is efficiently arranged, a versatile, vertically integrated playing space, full of grunge and London-isms. The Company members display powerful, accurate and impressive vocal prowess. Every one of them is physically precise, flexible and compelling. Director Joseph Ritsch has confidence in his cast's ability to manage multiple roles, so they form the Ensemble as well. This retro-modern treatment of Sondheim's popular opera makes salient points about who are the most fragile and disenfranchised people of a community and the destructive powers of a personal agenda.
Thank You For The Music of MAMMA MIA! At Toby's
July 8, 2018
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.
BWW Review: MOTOWN Rolls Through Mobtown, Through Sunday Only at the Hippodrome
April 14, 2018
Catch MOTOWN THE MUSICAL before it races away from the Hippodrome in Baltimore. If you missed it in 2016, flag it down before it's gone. If you caught it before, it's had a tuneup and is plenty worth watching again. Surely someone you love should see it with you.
BWW Review: NEWSIES Are Front Page Headlines At Toby's In Columbia
March 28, 2018
Have a hankering for history, classic "fuggeddaboudid" New York-ish accents, a charming child actor, romance, bylines and plenty of song and dance? Hoof it on over to Toby's Dinner Theatre of Columbia and see Disney's NEWSIES, now through June 10th.
BWW Review: YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN Is Monstrous Great Fun At Toby's In Columbia
February 12, 2018
YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, THE MUSICAL is packed with horrifying puns, die-laughing comedy, frightfully fabulous wigs, knock-em-dead singing and every iconic line you loved from the movie- Get tickets now to see it through Marc 11 at Toby's Dinner Theatre in Columbia and avoid horrified screams of disappointment.
BWW Review: Let THE REVOLUTIONISTS Spin You Right Round at Everyman Theatre
December 14, 2017
Playwright Lauren Gunderson, who marches boldly where political correctness fears to tread, delivers a stylized rendition of female revolutionaries, one famous, two obscure, one invented, reminding us that history is not only written by the victors, it's written by men. Director Casey Stangl presents a snappy, suspenseful, tense drama that is curiously chock-full of comedy. Everyman's resident actors and supporting artists are gifted in their range and variety.
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