Articles by Jane C. Elkin

Colonial Players’ Cinderella Waltz

The dysfunctional family of this fractured fairy tale is the medieval equivalent of trailer park trash in a neighborhood populated by Grimms’ all-stars.

Ladies: Did you grow up on Cinderella dreams? How did that work out for you? Gentlemen: Is the prince for real? Parents: Which frustrates you more — the Disney princess culture or books such as the best-selling Cinderella Ate My Daughter that denigrate it? No matter your stance, you’ll find much to applaud in Colonial Players’ Cinderella Waltz, Don Nigro’s 1978 farcical retelling of the classic. Bring your...

Article - Theatre Reviews; by Jane C. Elkin; 1/12/12

Giving the Reindeer a Break

Volunteers take flight each year so that isolated Tangier Island has a green Christmas

The miracle of flight has long been Santa’s secret to guaranteed overnight delivery, but sometimes the reindeer need a break. During the pre-Christmas rush they’re in demand everywhere, including some pretty remote locales. So how does the big guy make a day trip to a place like Tangier Island in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay, a place where even the closest landlubbers depend on ferries to make the 12-mile crossing? The answer is lots of planning and...

Article - Features; by Jane C. Elkin; 12/8/11

Colonial Players' Little Women

Louisa May Alcott’s classic is perfect for young romantics as well as nostalgic mature ladies

Louisa May Alcott’s classic Little Women is one of those novels you either love or love to forget. It’s sweet or cloying, buoyant or overblown, fiery or flagging — and so is the musical, Colonial Players’ last offering of 2011. Jason Howland’s contemporary score, embellished with eight period songs to cover scene changes, offers some highs and humdrum, presented by some gifted performers and a supporting cast of sweet young things. Think Broadway meets Victorian...

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

The Arabian Nights

Take the Naval Academy Masqueraders’ magic carpet ride to ancient Persia and meet merchants, lovers, royalty and travelers

Mary Zimmerman’s The Arabian Nights is not your same old Ali Baba, Sinbad and Aladdin story. None of them appears in this 15-story sampling of the bawdy and moralistic tales. But if you take the Naval Academy Masqueraders’ magic carpet ride to ancient Persia, you will meet the masses: merchants, lovers, royalty and travelers. The stories center on the Khalifah Shahryar (James Frevola, looking every inch an Arabian prince), a cuckolded bridegroom who seeks revenge...

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

Lost in Yonkers

Plotting a course to triumph

The new Compass Rose Studio Theater in Eastport’s Bay Ridge Shopping Center has hit on a winning strategy for success, debuting with Neil Simon’s Pulitzer Prize winning play, Lost in Yonkers. That strategy: deliver family entertainment starring student-child actors alongside seasoned professionals, and watch them grow. It’s inspirational on a human and artistic level. Picture two kids in a candy store, spoiled and happy. Now turn your expectations upside...

Article - Theatre Reviews; by Jane C. Elkin; 10/27/11

An Undignified Dramedy

Logistically challenging, Dignity Players’ attention to detail shows.

Sordid Lives, a black comedy about white trash, rode a wave of financial and critical success for over a decade, from L.A.’s theater scene to film and TV credits. Playwright Del Shores did it by playing on stereotypes that feed social discord, from homophobia to fundamentalism, from the country club to the trailer park. His characters are as big as Texas, comic diversions of tragic proportions. Underneath the honky-tonk hijinks is a sweet story about a family’s struggle for unity...

Article - Theatre Reviews; by Jane C. Elkin; 10/13/11

Colonial Players’ Unexpected Guest

Even the actors don’t know whodunit in this appealing mystery

The works of Agatha Christie, the queen of murder and reportedly the best-selling author of all time, are timeless because her characters transcend their settings. The privileged classes, it seems, are no happier than the rest of us, so we adore their frailties as much as the grandeur that surrounds them. Christie mysteries are box-office gold even when they’re so-so; Colonial Players’ The Unexpected Guest is diamond-studded platinum. As this production’s...

Article - Theatre Reviews; by Jane C. Elkin; 9/22/11

2nd Star Production’s The Foreigner

After two Irene cancellations, expect pent-up energy to enhance fine acting, staging and special effects in the last seven shows of this comedy about mis-communication

The lines of communication were abuzz all last week as first an earthquake and then a hurricane shook up our complacency. Natural phenomena often herald unwelcome change, and so it is in 2nd Star’s latest comedy about language, Larry Shue’s The Foreigner, which opens as a thunderstorm, ushers two Brits into backwoods Georgia, home of Southern hospitality and small-minded xenophobes. This award-winning show played to critical acclaim at the Bay Theatre last winter...

Article - Theatre Reviews; by Jane C. Elkin; 9/1/11

Flying High

My dad waited too long to learn to fly. I’m correcting his mistake.

A mile above the beach, I soar higher than the gulls, crisp air bathing my outstretched arms, bare feet dangling in the void. The faint whoosh in my ears could be my unfettered thoughts, some vacant, some frantic as bees. I’ve always been enchanted by the dream of flight, the Icarus myth. This is my dream come true, my ultralight flying experience, my life’s greatest rush and the reason for my current obsession: flying lessons. High-Performance Slowness ...

Article - Features; by Jane C. Elkin; 8/25/11

This Hairspray Won’t Let You Down

Beneath the fun and fluff is the true history of Baltimore kids caught at the color line

A good hairspray delivers lasting style that looks sleek and natural, and at Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre’s final musical of the season that’s just what you get. This story may seem like pure fluff with its comical dance steps and exaggerated hairdos. But it’s based on historical events surrounding a real TV show, Baltimore’s popular teen-dance showcase The Buddy Dean Show, transformed for this script into The Corny Collins Show. It’s a place...

Article - Theatre Reviews; by Jane C. Elkin; 8/18/11