Articles by Jane C. Elkin

Article - Theatre Reviews; by Jane C. Elkin - 8/11/11

Dignity Players’ Doubt

No doubt it would be a sin to miss it

Dignity Players has a fine reputation for staging plays of social significance, and Doubt is no exception — except in its quality. It’s so much more than good that it’s pretty near perfect. John Patrick Shanley’s 2005 Pulitzer and Tony award-winning play is riveting enough already for its honest and clever treatment of the clergy pedophilia scandal, but with performances rivaling those of some of Hollywood’s biggest stars — Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour...

Article - Theatre Reviews; by Jane C. Elkin - 7/21/11

Infinity Theatre Company’s Little Shop of Horrors

Musical comedy doesn’t get any better than this toothy horror story.

Broadway’s most profitable show ever, Howard Ashman and Alan Menken’s sci-fi musical Little Shop of Horrors, is now playing at Infinity Theatre Company, a professional troupe from New York that is the area’s newest addition to the summer arts scene. If you missed their Annapolis debut with My Way last month, you’ll definitely want to take in this last show of their season. The host venue, The Children’s Theatre of Annapolis, may seem out of the way, but I promise...

Article - Theatre Reviews; by Jane C. Elkin - 7/14/11

The Talent Machine’s Li’l Abner

If’n you like watchin’ young’uns have a good time, you’re gonna like Li’l Abner.

In 24 years of showcasing Annapolis’ youth, The Talent Machine has groomed countless stars of community and professional theater, who continue to prove allegiance by fostering the company’s newest talents. Enter 45 performers, aged eight to 14, in a troupe revival of Li’l Abner, the hillbilly musical based on Al Capp’s classic comic strip. These kids are right good at ferretin’ out all the campy humor in the colorful soap opera of life in...

Article - Theatre Reviews; by Jane C. Elkin - 7/7/11

Bay Theatre Company’s Rumple Who?

Kids are totally invested in the story, and the script is so packed with hyperbole that it transcends caricatures to entertain the adults as well

Will Bartlett’s one-hour musical adaptation of Rumplestiltskin has run continuously off-Broadway since 1985 with good reason. It does a nice job of distilling a long and complex children’s classic with a warped message into an entertaining and concise plot with a healthy moral. And this summer, lucky little Naptowners need travel only as far as West Street to see it. The traditional Rumplestiltskin tale is creepy. Because of her father’s drunken boasting, a...

Article - Theatre Reviews; by Jane C. Elkin - 6/9/11

Hitch Up Your Pumpkin and Go to the Ball

2nd Star Productions’ Cinderella Enchanted

2nd Star Production’s Cinderella is keeping up the tradition. Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical adaptation of the fairy tale has been delighting audiences of all ages for over 50 years. This Cinderella, playing for the next four weekends at the Bowie Playhouse, is so enrapturing that I found myself scribbling hearts instead of stars to mark the highlights. Brilliant attention to detail, particularly in Act I, distinguishes a classic that, in less capable hands, might run on...

Article - Theatre Reviews; by Jane C. Elkin - 5/12/11

Dignity Players’ Songs for a New World

Packed with thrilling moments from our nation’s musical traditions.

Dignity Players’ Songs for a New World is an auditory rush. From the first haunting strains of The New World — sent washing by Wendy Baird over the audience from the back of the auditorium — to the company’s stunning final chord in Hear My Song, Jason Robert Brown’s pop-rock revue of the American psyche is packed with thrilling musical moments colored by our nation’s gospel, blues, jazz and classical traditions. Each song has a distinct...

Article - Theatre Reviews; by Jane C. Elkin - 4/21/11

Chesapeake

Bay Theatre Company’s one-man show will put you in Hound Heaven

Had it with political wrangling? Fed up with wasteful government spending? Yearning for a simpler, more primal existence? Then you’re set to enjoy The Bay Theatre Company production of Lee Blessing’s Chesapeake. Matthew Vaky — the versatile, voluble star of this one-man tour de force —he portrays 10 characters in the mammalian circus. Chief among them are Kerr (a bisexual performance artist), Sen. Therm Pooley (R-VA) and Pooley’s dog Lucky...

Article - Theatre Reviews; by Jane C. Elkin - 3/10/11

Unseen Deserves to Be Seen

Identity and integrity figure large in this Dignity Players’ showing that addresses the masks we hide behind.

What is truth: fixed standard or fluid interpretation? Is a visionary artist an outsider or an insider? Is an expat a pioneer or a coward? Is a fist perhaps just a hand? Is an ex-lover ever a friend? These are just a few of the themes in Donald Margulies’ 1992 Obie Award-winning play, Sight Unseen, a provocative and entertaining look at an artistic superstar and the forces that shape him. The themes of identity and integrity figure large in this show, the first in...

Article - Theatre Reviews; by Jane C. Elkin - 2/17/11

Beyond Therapy

You’ll have to decide who or what is Beyond Therapy in this Bay Theatre Company performance

Beyond Therapy — which opened for a Valentine’s Day revival at The Bay Theatre Company — is about love, sex and self-awareness in modern society. Specifically in New York in 1981, where everyone is messed up. This absurd, R-rated farce features many hilarious moments at the expense of the mental health industry and the gay community. But its premise is too forced and tedious for this mainstream mom. Call me square, but I just don’t get it. By...

Article - Theatre Reviews; by Jane C. Elkin - 2/10/11

Inventing van Gogh

Prime up on the Impressionists to appreciate this Colonial Players performance

Colonial Players’ Inventing van Gogh requires an investment. Come mentally refreshed with a primer on the Impressionists, and you’ll enjoy it. Come unprepared with a weary mind, and you’ll likely be nodding off mid-way through Act I, as much of the audience did on opening night. The dialogue can be tedious. Still, I enjoyed this drama, despite several atrocious French accents. After all, what’s not to appreciate about obsession? It’s what drives the great among us...