BALTIMORE THEATER REVIEWS

Wow to the theater, a three-tier structure that echoes the layout of Shakespeare's own Globe. Wow to the play, one of Shakespeare's funniest. Wow to the acting, the direction, the staging, the lighting. The audience is assured of over two hours of being in stitches....

There is nothing wrong with the handsome production director Kwame Kwei-Armah has given us, from the amazing two-storey set by Timothy R. Mackabee to the decolletage-heavy, periwig-topped, bustle-bottomed, gilded costumes of David Burdick, to the sturdy performances of Bruce Randolph Nelson and Stan...

Vagabond Players' production of ART in historic Fells Point is surprisingly funny despite dense dialogue and sparse set- or perhaps because of them....

So far as I know, Toby's staging of Memphis: The Musical is the first local production to date in the Baltimore area, certainly one of the first, and a worthy introduction of the show to the region. It seems to have everything that the Broadway show has: fiery, precise dancing, tuneful belting of ca...

For Baltimore theater goers, a show at the Hippodrome is a must-see experience. The ornate charm of this historical gem sets an anticipatory air of excitement for the audience. It's proven to be versatile in its staging of both new and old Broadway whether elaborate or intimate. The most recent prod...

Octet of actors makes for memorable evening....

Joseph W. Ritsch directs his first Everyman production....

We come into life with a desire to do meaningful things, just as an understudy comes into the theater motivated to produce great thespian art. Yet if the understudy is our avatar, how discouraging is his example! For, as in Rebeck's play, the understudy's task is condemned to nearly certain futility...

Director Matthew Gardner works wonders with Sondheim musical....

A wicked comedy of manners (or lack thereof) that displays our best intentions and our worst behavior....

The heart of the operetta's appeal is the sublime silliness of its premise: pirates from the era of sail plundering Victorian steamships. It just never gets stale. And binding it all together is Sullivan's music. utside the sphere of grand opera, Sullivan has no equals on the stage except possibly ...

Trip needs to get himself and his family 'up north of the Boulevard' to a more civilized neighborhood. Then an unexpected circumstance dumps an opportunity in Trip's lap. The only problem is that, to take it, Trip would need to leave his integrity behind and possibly risk going to jail. Is getting n...

This play, about a small group of black visionaries attempting to establish visibility in a white Oregon town which has excluded and disregarded them, is provocative but hard to follow....

Alex Podulke progresses by tiny gradations over the course of an hour and a half from impersonating a machine in speech and movement to a near-human in those regards, and one finds oneself saying, Of course that's how a machine trying to imitate a human would look, even though one has never seen it ...

There are the bones here of a perfectly respectable play about rape and what comes after in the U.S. military and veterans' system. They are often overwhelmed by formulaic exposition and too much going on. The play needs to be broken down and retooled....

The duel of these two characters is so absorbing and funny that I have to rate her black (in all senses) comedy as the strongest in this year's Contemporary American Theatre Festival. This is not just a duel of characters, but of actors. Lizan Mitchell, a face most viewers are probably familiar with...

Due to popular demand, AVENUE Q extended to July 13, 2014...

Director Bill Condon envisions a new and exciting SIDE SHOW that includes new music....

New play by Jonathan Tolins is a big bundle of joy....

It's often been observed of Shakespeare that his plays don't tell you what he thinks about most subjects. But it is hard to doubt that he believed in romantic love, that mad, intoxicating, all-encompassing feeling that inspires courtship and marriage. Many of his comedies are essentially love delive...

World Premiere musical by Ed Dixon features a talented cast and a superb director. But is that enough?...

Let your imagination take over in this wonderful comedy by Colman Domingo....

Personal handheld closed captioning devices are available at every performance...

SISTER ACT, the family friendly, over the top spectacle with nuns that rock, is now at Baltimore's Hippodrome Theatre through June 15, 2014....

The Artist, the Canvas, and the 'thunderous boss' come together to make 'Bareback Ink' a must see at the Iron Crow Theatre Company's Swirnow stage....