Theatre Reviews

2nd Star Productions’ H.M.S. Pinafore

This comic opera sparkles like sunshine on the sea with all the charm that made it a hit more than a century ago

Jim Reiter

You may have never heard of Arthur Sullivan and W.S. Gilbert, but you’ve certainly heard of Gilbert and Sullivan. The two had a run of comic opera hits in England whose popularity propelled them across the pond to America, where that popularity was magnified. Because Gilbert’s father was a naval surgeon, life on the seas and the politics of power were often themes of the librettist. That’s certainly the case with H.M.S. Pinafore, the light yet acerbic jab at patrician politics and love that 2nd Star Productions in Bowie has brought to seafaring life.

article – Performing Arts

Theatre Reviews

– by Jim Reiter – 10/27/16

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

Twin Beach Players’ talented ensemble delivers a Vaudevillian circus of musical theater

Karen Lambert

“Musical comedies aren’t written, they are rewritten,” declares Stephen Sondheim, who wrote the music and lyrics to A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Just so, writers Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart of movie and television fame readapted a collection of Greek-themed works already adapted by the Roman playwright Plautus around the turn of the second century, B.C.

article – Theatre Reviews

– by Karen Lambert – 10/20/16

Compass Rose Theater’s Eleanor Roosevelt: Her Secret Journey

Meet the World’s Most Admired Woman in her formative years

Jane C. Elkin

When Eleanor Roosevelt died in 1962, the widow of the 26th President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was called by the New York Times The World’s Most Admired Woman. The longest-serving first lady, she was also the tallest until Michelle Obama, at 5'11", met her mark. At a time when political wives were expected to be seen and not heard, she was an outspoken humanitarian, feminist, unionist and champion of racial reform.

article – Theatre Reviews

– by Jane C. Elkin – 9/29/16

Colonial Players’ The Cripple of Inishmaan

Comedy, tragedy and undercurrents of love … just like every family

Jim Reiter

“You have to soar to fill your soul, but your family is what keeps you grounded,” writes first-time director Dave Carter in the playbill for The Cripple of Inishmaan. That’s the point of Colonial Players’ season opener, a well-crafted comic piece that dips into the reality of sadness and cruelty without turning maudlin.

article – Theatre Reviews

– by Jim Reiter – 9/15/16

Annapolis Summer Garden Theater’s The Producers

Mel Brooks’ mocking masterpiece

Jim Reiter

To end its 50th season, Annapolis Summer Garden Theater has challenged itself with one of the biggest and most popular musicals ever to hit Broadway: Mel Brooks’ The Producers. Winner of a record 12 Tony Awards in 2001 and running for more than 2,500 performances, the show sought to hilariously offend everyone — Jews, producers, actors, homosexuals, Nazis … the list goes on. Brooks’ blockbuster set the stage for the kind of hard-to-get ticket that is being matched only by the current hit, Hamilton.

article – Theatre Reviews

– by Jim Reiter – 8/11/16

What Do Kids Think?

Find out as six young playwrights speak out in Twin Beach Players’ 11th Annual Playwright Festival

Kelsey Cochran

Twin Beach Players has unusual success in getting kids to say what’s on their minds. Over 11 years, youngsters from elementary to high school have taken to the Kids Playwright Festival stage, writing plays that describe the world as they know it. The Player and the Festival are “safe spaces for kids of all backgrounds to express themselves,” says company president Sid Curl. “Kids feel they can be themselves and have fun doing it.”

article – Theatre Reviews

– by Kelsey Cochran – 8/4/16

The Talent Machine’s Annie Get Your Gun

These talented kids will get your laughs

Kelsey Cochran

Annie Get Your Gun is a classic musical based on real people in the days of America’s western expansion. Buffalo Bill’s traveling performance entertained people from all walks of life with the best shot around, Frank Butler. That is, the best shot around other than Annie Oakley. The story of the girl who could shoot better is brought to life by Talent Machine, a local theater company that has been getting kids on stage since 1987.

article – Theatre Reviews

– by Kelsey Cochran – 7/14/16

Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre’s Rent

Stellar, but still shocking after all these years

Jane C. Elkin

When Jonathan Larson’s rock opera Rent, loosely based on Puccini’s La Boheme, debuted 20 years ago to a Pulitzer and Tony for Best Musical, it felt so edgy, so raunchy, so shocking with its cast of young radicals: the addicts, the drag queen, the bisexual, the stripper. Despite evolving societal norms and newer crises eclipsing the AIDS epidemic, this blockbuster still has power.

article – Theatre Reviews

– by Jane C. Elkin – 7/7/16

Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre’s The Wedding Singer

Back to the ’80s

Jim Reiter

To celebrate its 50th season bringing musical theater to Annapolis, Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre has chosen this summer to stage, in reverse order, The Producers, Rent … and The Wedding Singer. The Producers won 12 out of its 15 Tony nominations, setting the nominations record and joining the short list of musicals winning in every nominated category. Rent was nominated for 10 Tonys and won four, plus the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The Wedding Singer … five nominations, no wins and critical yawns.

article – Performing Arts

Performing Arts

Theatre Reviews

– by Jim Reiter – 6/9/16

Compass Rose Theater’s The Roar of the Greasepaint, the Smell of the Crowd

First-rate performers, playful choreography, excellent music and an enduring message

Jane C. Elkin

The game of life has no stadium or season yet is rife with winners and losers, superstars and scandals. We all love a good underdog story, and if it can be told in song and dance, all the better. Compass Rose Theater’s The Roar of the Greasepaint, the Smell of the Crowd is just such a spectacle.

article – Theatre Reviews

– by Jane C. Elkin – 5/12/16

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