BALTIMORE THEATER REVIEWS

Columbia's Rep Stage takes a leap into the lives of Etta And Claribel Cone in world premiere play by Susan McCully....

All She Must Possess does not suggest that the Cone Collection was Etta's work alone, but rather depicts it as the emanation of the entire community, including not only Etta, but her sister Claribel, Gertrude Stein, Gertrude's brother Leo, Alice Toklas, and the artists, for whom Matisse stands in as...

Long Day's Journey Into Night takes an audience on a foggy trip into the dysfunction of the Tyrone family....

Disney's motto is 'Unless you're one of the most important people who ever lived, what's the point?' But there remains no point if you have no consciousness left to enjoy your importance. Hence the sight near the end of doomed Walt struggling to slow down and stretch out indefinitely the experience ...

The human spirit, Morisseau seems to be suggesting, is hard to crush, regardless of the direction in which the great tides of industrial affairs may flow....

The National Tour of WAITRESS - playing at the Hippodrome until February 4, 2018 - is the best version of this particular show I've seen. I originally saw the show on Broadway last summer, but I just didn't get it. It seemed a little disjointed to me. The first act is all fun, while the second act g...

Leave your troubles at the door and just enjoy this entertaining spectacle....

Ebenezer Scrooge is a distinctive character in literature; one of those characters every great actor wants to tackle. He's a redeemable grump, whom you hate but by the end of the story you kind of love. I suppose that's why Leslie Bricusse chose to write SCROOGE, a musical version of this wonderf...

Dickens' A CHRISTMAS CAROL has been a considered a classic almost since the time when it was written. The story of Scrooge's haunted Christmas Eve is composed of everything that makes a story grand supernatural visions, likeable characters, heart and redemption. It's the perfect tale to read durin...

The famous comic strip 'Little Orphan Annie' comes to life at Olney Theatre Center....

Only in the magical land of Broadway can you take a 1994 animated Disney movie thinly based on Shakespeare's HAMLET and possibly based on a 1960s Japanese anime series and transform it into a 6-Tony-Award-winning and highest grossing Broadway production in history. Yes, it's 'The Lion King,' which h...

It's fortuitous that I'm publishing this review on #LoveTheatre day because it must be said - I loved LEADING LADIES playing currently at Salem Players in Catonsville. This particular show with this talented cast of actors was a pretty fantastic way to spend a Sunday afternoon. For some reason, this...

Just imagine going to a nightclub today and getting the chance to see the iconic Billie Holiday (also known as 'Lady Day') perform, as she did in 1959. Well, you now have that chance thanks to the Rep Stage in Columbia as they bring her talent to life. Yes, Billie Holiday is alive and well and perfo...

I was so excited when I noticed that the Dundalk Community Theatre would be presenting Jason Robert Brown's THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY. I just love this show. And when I read that Todd Pearthree would be directing, that's when I REALLY got excited....

Most of all, perhaps, is the sense of the theater as a helter-skelter, seat-of-the-pants, totally precarious enterprise, in which people start out to cast or produce a show with no idea how it's going to be completed, without necessarily even a script, and in which the way to make the final product ...

There seems to be a constant in Lynn Nottage's plays: the reality that people of color and women do not get many breaks or many chances for happiness or fulfillment. Whatever they do achieve along these lines is both hard-won and partial. In fact, that constant reality of limits on the available eco...

Annapolis Shakespeare Company's (ASC) POE AND ALL THE OTHERS imagines Edgar Allan Poe in a literal fever dream visited by lost loves and family. Poe as played by Brian Keith MacDonald is at times reliving wonderful moments and at times arguing with figments of his fever-addled imagination. His ...

For a majority of my adult life I've assumed Stephen Sondheim's COMPANY was a show about the backstage workings of a company of actors a bit like NOISES OFF. It was only recently I learned that the show's title actually refers to an entirely different meaning of the word company. Thanks to the cas...

So much time and effort goes into presenting any sort of play... from the written word, direction, set design, lighting, sound, and especially the actors. And here in I'LL GET YOU BACK AGAIN, it's the play that needs a little work and tweaking....

The cabaret show has been a staple in the entertainment industry for some time. Singers and performers alike relish the opportunity to tell stories in a different way than they're used to, while performing songs they've never had the opportunity to sing. These evenings are more intimate and audience...

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING is one of Shakespeare's most beloved comedies. At the center of the story is one stubborn couple that everyone except them - knows should be together. Annapolis Shakespeare Company's production of this play is fresh and delightfully funny, and showcases every last comedic mo...

You don't have to be Christian to love THE CHRISTIANS (with apologies to the 1960's famous ad 'You don't have to be Jewish to love Levy's Jewish Rye Bread). But I do think a new name of the play would be appropriate. Have there been plays called 'The Hindus', 'The Jews',...

Perfect casting makes for a beautiful rendition of The Glass Menagerie at the Vagabond. In this Tennessee Williams' classic, a fractured family struggles to maintain the illusion of hope in a harsh reality. Michael Byrne Zemarel's sensitive direction extracts the timeless elements from the mid-centu...

Last summer, the Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre performed 50 YEARS UNDER THE STARS, an evening of Broadway songs and dances to celebrate their 50th Anniversary. It was such a hit that they decided to mount another production this year, and after seeing their gorgeous production of RENT last summer,...

David Henry Hwang Tony winning play is given a riveting presentation by Everyman's Artistic Director and Director Vincent M. Lancisi....