Arts and Culture (All)

Article - Theatre Reviews; by Jane C. Elkin - 2/14/13

Laughing at Our Nightmares – Two comedies at Bay...

In Sister Mary Ignatius and in The Actor’s Nightmare are plights you’ll remember from your past and in your dreams

Winter has a way of boxing us into our insular realities. Bay Theatre unfolds them with mind-bending comedy in a double bill of one-acts: the Obie Award-winning satire Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You! and The Actor’s Nightmare. Both are by Christopher Durang, sometimes referred to as Christopher Deranged. The stage is set with an ancient stone edifice featuring skewed doorways behind a marble balustrade or altar. A church courtyard, perhaps, where we will...

Article - Books; by Sandra Olivetti Martin - 2/14/13

Feathers or Love on the Wing

In the literary economy, poetry is an art more in supply than demand. Nearly everybody writes poetry, or so it seems. But who reads it? Little kids love its melody and meaning, but by high school it’s force-fed. Most of the rest of us take it, often in the form of Hallmark verse, to help us express emotions for which we seem to have no words of our own. It takes a clever poet to sneak in under our defenses. When a poem catches...

Article - Movie Reviews; by Diana Beechener - 2/14/13

Side Effects

What if the cure is worse than the disease?

In our world of Zoloft commercials, it’s become easy to believe that popping a pill will magically end your depression. What happens if those Prozac promises turn out false? What if there is no magic pill for your mental malaise? What if that magic pill makes you worse? Emily (Rooney Mara: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) is a fragile woman in need of help. She lost her friends, her husband and her accustomed life to an insider-trading scandal. Now that her husband is...

Article - Theatre Reviews; by Jane C. Elkin - 2/7/13

Opera AACC’s Jesus Christ Superstar

Passionate singing electrifies scripture with personal resonance

When two 20-somethings recorded a musical version of the Passion of Jesus Christ in 1971, rock opera was an innovation. Then Norman Jewison turned Andrew Lloyd Webber’s score and Tim Rice’s lyrics into the iconic 1973 film Jesus Christ Superstar, slapping audiences awake with an electrified take on the scriptures. Forty years later, the experiment is an international phenomenon, staged in concert by Opera AACC with riveting effect. Remarkable singing and acting...

Article - Movie Reviews; by Diana Beechener - 2/7/13

Warm Bodies

If you can’t win her heart, you can always eat it

R (Nicholas Hoult: X-Men: First Class) is a directionless 20-something. Unmotivated, grungy and introspective, R spends his days wandering the airport, speaking in grunts when accosted. R is also a zombie. But unlike many zombies, R feels conflicted about his blood lust. He’s curious about the humans he feasts on and tries his best to remember what it was like to be a person instead of a predator. He collects objects that he deems especially human:...

Article - Theatre Reviews; by Jane C. Elkin - 1/31/13

Compass Rose’s Barefoot in the Park

Opposites not only attract, they also repel, making for a timeless comedy

Neil Simon’s 1963 romantic comedy Barefoot in the Park was a box office smash on stage and screen, not merely because it starred dreamy Robert Redford but because it’s packed with hilarious moments. What’s not to get about newlyweds learning the hard lessons of why opposites not only attract but also repel? The story, as old as matrimony, roused braying guffaws of recognition from Compass Rose Studio Theater’s mature audience on opening night. Free-...

Article - Movie Reviews; by Diana Beechener - 1/31/13

Quartet

They’re not old, they’re classics

Beecham House is a nursing home with a twist. Billed as a community for retired musicians, Beecham is a haven for symphony and opera stars awaiting their final curtain call. Instead of bingo, they perform arias and celebrate the birth of Verdi with an annual gala performance that brings them back to the stage. Far from a quaint recreation hall affair, the gala is the main fundraiser that keeps Beecham House running. So when news that former opera superstar Jean Horton (...

Article - Food and Drink; by - 1/31/13

Chesapeake Eats

A select guide to dining on the Bay

Annapolis Restaurant Week Come for … Annapolis Restaurant week returns, February 25 through March 3, for its fifth year, with 39 participating restaurants. Prices remain the same as last year: $15.95 for breakfast and lunch; $32.95 for dinner. The two-course breakfasts and lunches and three-course dinners make the lingering days of February the perfect time to visit favorite restaurants or try something new. Acme Bar & Grill Azure Buddy’s Crab & Ribs...

Article - Theatre Reviews; by Davina Grace Hill - 1/24/13

Daddy’s Dyin’ … Who’s Got the Will?

Here’s Crimes of the Heart flipped to comedy

“Why is it that whenever she is wrong, we’re the ones who feel bad?,” asks one sister about another in Bowie Community Theatre’s new production of playwright Del Shores’ comedy Daddy’s Dyin’ … Who’s Got the Will? Such are the family tensions at the heart of the show and, honestly, haven’t we all been there — probably very recently at a holiday gathering? The Turnover family has gathered at their dying...

Article - Movie Reviews; by Diana Beechener - 1/24/13

The Last Stand

The former governor of California gets serious about border control

Sheriff Ray Owens (Arnold Schwarzenegger: The Expendables 2) left a life of action as a Los Angeles cop to police a small border town in Arizona. Small town life gets a lot more exciting when Mexican cartel kingpin Gabriel Cortez (Eduardo Noriega: Una Pistola en Cada Mano) escapes from FBI custody. He jumps in a souped-up Corvette, takes a hostage and speeds toward freedom. The only thing standing in his way are the local yokels of Sommerton. Now, it...