BALTIMORE THEATER REVIEWS

Sally, as realized by Katherine Vary, is amazing to watch, as she constantly calculates what tactic, rhetorical, pugilistic, or personal, to employ next. When her bag of tricks appears empty to us, and apparently empty to her for a moment, she keeps coming up with one more and you can see her own ...

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Bruce Randolph Nelson's portrayal of Monsieur Gallimard is authoritative: all the glibness of a would-be mandarin who cannot quite pull it off, a lyrical self-awareness that does not quite go far enough, and a touch of madness. Every line rang true....

The play has aged well. Women are, of course, still grappling with some of the issues that Heidi confronts. But it is not the specific issues that make the play last and lead me to predict that there will be revivals a century hence. One thing is for sure: the pop culture time-stamps like specific s...

Waltz right in to see Signature's Artistic Director Eric Schaeffer's stunning classic rendition on the musical A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC....

LYSISTRATA JONES is a show that I knew next to nothing about before seeing the lovely production this past weekend at the Red Branch Theatre. I had heard one song in a concert of Lewis Flynn music, and had loved it. Also, I knew it was about basketball - which is also a topic I know next to nothing ...

The delightful production of ALICE AND THE BOOK OF WONDERLAND, produced by the Annapolis Shakespeare Company has found a way to make the story of Alice and Wonderland new and fresh for children and adults alike. That's no easy feat. Alice and Wonderland is a reliable classic that most people know ba...

Actor Brian Anthony Wilson gives a brilliant portrayal in a one man show under the direction of Walter Dallas....

There are few things I love more than finding fun and new things to do outside in the dog days of summer. And lately, it seems that others have shared my love for all things sunshine by planning more and more of these events. One of these events is theatre outside, which may not be a new idea, but i...

I do not read Marcantel as indicting religion as such; she shows us how much groundedness and understanding faith gives. Every faith needs, and has, its own 'Ordnung,' but in order to live fully and well, Marcantel seems to be saying, believers will always need to transcend it. And then, as the pla...

Welcome to Fear City, premiering at the Contemporary American Theater Festival in Shepherdstown, WV, shambles along amiably, looking as if it has no more greater object than to be a loose black family dramedy set forty years ago. That is, until it dawns on you that the play's ambition is to be nothi...

If by betraying her principles Scholl could prolong her life, as opposed to adhering to her principles, dying, and having no impact at all, which choice should she make? And this is not just her existential question: It is her interrogator Grunwald's as well. It would appear that Grunwald has made t...

The virtue of Byhalia, Mississippi lies precisely in its modesty. It prescribes no rules, apart from loving one another and telling the truth, for getting through a marital and race-inflected social crisis in a small town; it simply shows how one not-overwhelmingly admirable couple does it. And at t...

A two-fisted drama of ideas, The Niceties may well leave you devastated, and will certainly send you out talking. Itwill keep you thinking and probably angry, regardless of where you come down on the issues very articulately debated in it....

The group portrait of the youngsters (The Woman's younger self, her partners in crime Zabby and Skinny Lynny, the callow young men who pursue them or whom they pursue, and The Woman's big sister, aka The Favorite) in all their confusion, pain, and, most important, their exuberance and their desire t...

I recall with reverence the illustrated cover of the original cast album of MY FAIR LADY by the acclaimed caricaturist, the late Al Hirschfeld (who has a Broadway theater named in his honor). It featured the author of 'Pygmalion' which MY FAIR LADY is based on, George Bernard Shaw, overlooking a clo...

I always find it exciting to see a musical I know nothing about and FINDING NEVERLAND fits that bill. I remember watching Jennifer Hudson sing 'Neverland' on the 2014 Tony Awards and recall watching the cast perform on the NBC 'Thanksgiving Day Parade' in November, 2014. The cast included Matthew Mo...

If you've seen the Johnny Depp 2004 film, 'Finding Neverland,' you're aware of the story of playwright J. M. Barrie and how his relationship with widow Sylvia Llewelyn Davies and her four boys, George, Jack, Peter and Michael, inspired him to write the classic play, 'Peter Pan.' If you haven't, you ...

If you are a fan of the late August Wilson, you must not miss HOW I LEARNED WHAT I LEARNED now playing at the Round House Theatre in Bethesda, MD. Even if you have never heard of August Wilson, you should not miss it for it is an exciting and remarkable piece of theater....

Playwright Nambi E.Kelley's adaptation of Morrison novel is a herculean effort....

It truly is one of the funniest plays I've ever seen....

A farce should be full of slamming doors, confusion and missed opportunities. Because of this, you need a stage that's able to accommodate the action and actors that understand exactly what's happening at every point, even if the characters they're playing do not. In the case of SEE HOW THEY RUN pla...

Directed by Co-Artistic Director Joseph Ritsch, with book and lyrics by Richard Mailman and music by Ryan Haase, DORIAN'S CLOSET is a fictionalized account of Buffalo native Dorian Corey who headed to New York City for a life as a 'female impersonator' and 'performer' and became a huge hit. One may ...

It must be said. TITLE OF SHOW is an enigma. It's one of those shows that, even after someone has explained it to you, you don't really know exactly what to expect until you take your seat in the theater and the curtain goes up. It's a tricky premise - a show about its own creation. If you really st...

The Therapist, embodied by Paul Diem, launched into a spirited evocation of the art of theater, which morphed into a vision of all life as a work of art. In that spirit, flags and funny hats were passed out to the congregation, as the Therapist stripped down to Superman skivvies and led the whole as...