Cybele Pomeroy - Page 3

Director Lance Bankerd and a top-notch cast deliver Tom Stoppard's ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD, an existential comedy favorite, at Fells Point Corner Theatre in a way that is familiar, fresh, hilarious, pathetic and inevitable. Lighting is well-timed, sound cues unflawed, and acoustics of the theater render whispers and mutterings indistinct yet audible, and you could even be chosen to become part of the show, if you so consent.

Victor Hugo's 1833 love letter to an old cathedral is set in 1482, and it's curious to note that in the nearly six hundred intervening years, there is much that is unchanged regarding social injustice, racial persecution and sexual abuse by religious leaders. Production values are high, while fancy choreography steps aside in service to imaginative vertical and distance movement sequences. The whole production relies on human-centric theatrical artifices THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME plays at Toby's through May 19th, 2019

THE KING AND I plays through Sunday, February 24th at the Hippodrome in Baltimore. Singing and dancing along to the oh-so-familiar tunes is going a bit far, though some members of the audience are humming to themselves as the orchestra begins to tune.

The young, energetic cast of ROCK OF AGES' 10th Anniversary Tour is too young to have even been conceived on any Prom Night before 1993, but they don't seem to mind. The script, such as it is, builds stock scenarios and characters to form a through-line for more than 30 big-hair eighties rock standards that are the backbone and muscle of the ROCK OF AGES experience. The band is top notch, handling all the quirks and signatures of big-hair rock like champions. Enjoy this revisitation of your youth as performed by the greatest '80s cover group you're likely to encounter.

Cathy Mundy as Momma Rose creates a faceted character with depth, backstory and motivation. The Ensemble is full of experienced leading men and women who blend beautifully and as Louise, MaryKate Brouillet manages to look about fourteen years old for most of the show before her Act II transformation. Full of catchy tunes, powerhouse vocalists, lively choreography and adorable children, Toby's Dinner Theatre in Columbia's production of GYPSY is an impressive crowd-pleaser.

Though it's not billed as a musical, there's quite a bit of singing in Chesapeake Shakespeare's A CHRISTMAS CAROL. Anchored by strong character work, the production diverges from the format of 'straight play' by featuring wonderful harmonies and active, authentic-looking dances. Visual interest is high with action on three levels of staging, brisk pacing, brilliant costuming and dramatic special effects. Charles Dickens' effervescent dialogue and narrative paired with writer Ian Gallanar's adjustments create a classic rendition with a special Christmas In Baltimore flourish, a successful adaptation full of little surprises.

Toby's Dinner Theatre Of Columbia presents Disney's THE LITTLE MERMAID through March as its holiday show. THE LITTLE MERMAID is lively, fun, and a genuine kid-pleaser. It's packed full of A-list Toby's veterans, with technical trappings that are dazzling to behold. Director Mark Minnick puts top-notch talent to work with energetic staging that's clean and inclusive of the in-the-round audience. THE LITTLE MERMAID will ring true for parents, teens, and anyone who has felt like a fish out of water. It's a story of acceptance, which is the best of gifts, at the holidays and always.

FIDDLER ON THE ROOF is a wonderful show about joy amidst harsh circumstances, the importance of family and community. It's also about Tradition! It's nice to see familiar things updated but not bastardized. The cast is consistently wonderful with harmonious singing and excellent dancing throughout the show, with visually striking staging of sequences that don't technically qualify as dances.

BAROCOCO is all-of-a-piece, a day in the life, or perhaps a year elapses. It's hard to tell. It's a study in contrasts, a lace-trimmed veil across the face of Godot. It's resplendent and silly, ridiculous and desolate, hilarious and horrible. In BAROCOCO, Happenstance Theatre is making Important Social Commentary. A historic piece which is currently relevant, beautiful and funny is a rarity in the world. Treat yourself to this fabulously stunning morsel of meaningful ephemera.

Are you looking for a rollicking good cabaret show and a hearty meal? Are you in the mood for a musical history lesson? How about both? Toby's in Columbia presents AIN'T MISBEHAVIN,' The Fats Waller Musical Show through November 4th, and you should sit right down and buy yourself a ticket.

REP delivers a punk treatment of Sweeney Todd that is astoundingly compact, hideously dynamic and impressively submersive. The set is efficiently arranged, a versatile, vertically integrated playing space, full of grunge and London-isms. The Company members display powerful, accurate and impressive vocal prowess. Every one of them is physically precise, flexible and compelling. Director Joseph Ritsch has confidence in his cast's ability to manage multiple roles, so they form the Ensemble as well. This retro-modern treatment of Sondheim's popular opera makes salient points about who are the most fragile and disenfranchised people of a community and the destructive powers of a personal agenda.

Musical theatre is about happy endings: if you like them, see MAMMA MIA!, at Toby's through September 9th. Heather Marie Beck and Maggie Dransfield as mother and daughter Donna and Sophie Sheridan are delightful and heartwarming. Disco, universally accepted as delicious, is the keystone of this show, whether or not you love or have heard of ABBA. In today's tumult, an escape to a tropical paradise where conflict stems from wedding angst and family drama seems a wonderful notion.

Catch MOTOWN THE MUSICAL before it races away from the Hippodrome in Baltimore. If you missed it in 2016, flag it down before it's gone. If you caught it before, it's had a tuneup and is plenty worth watching again. Surely someone you love should see it with you.

Have a hankering for history, classic "fuggeddaboudid"  New York-ish accents, a charming child actor, romance, bylines and plenty of song and dance? Hoof it on over to Toby's Dinner Theatre of Columbia and see Disney's NEWSIES, now through June 10th.

YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, THE MUSICAL is packed with horrifying puns, die-laughing comedy, frightfully fabulous wigs, knock-em-dead singing and every iconic line you loved from the movie- Get tickets now to see it through Marc 11 at Toby's Dinner Theatre in Columbia and avoid horrified screams of disappointment.

Playwright Lauren Gunderson, who marches boldly where political correctness fears to tread, delivers a stylized rendition of female revolutionaries, one famous, two obscure, one invented, reminding us that history is not only written by the victors, it's written by men. Director Casey Stangl presents a snappy, suspenseful, tense drama that is curiously chock-full of comedy. Everyman's resident actors and supporting artists are gifted in their range and variety.

Toby's Dinner Theatre in Columbia unwraps Meredith Willson's MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET, THE MUSICAL, which has enough sweetness to suit the season, enough sass to not be saccharin, and the delightful song 'It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas.' The many beautiful ensemble numbers that feature Macy's employees or happy holiday shoppers in their happy holiday coats and hats deliver a cozy, satisfying sugarplum, with moments of pure delight.

THE COLOR PURPLE The Musical at the Hippodrome is a joy and a delight. The dramatic, often painful, sometimes hilarious story and the strong, well-defined characters function at a masterful theatrical level. Don't miss this one, hurry and buy a ticket. You will not be disappointed.

In celebration of Columbia's 50th year, Toby Orenstein, Artistic Director of Toby's Dinner Theatre in Columbia, rotates one powerhouse leading lady per decade into the well-written Narrator role of JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT. Toby Orenstein and co-director Mark Minnick put together a fun, energetic production. Add new arrangements and musical direction by Ross Scott Rawlings, and the resulting show is engaging, sassy, funny, family-friendly and stuffed with talking points for the car ride home.

If you're anywhere close to Catonsville, if you have (or have access to) children between 4 and 14, do your family a favor and come see SEUSSICAL THE MUSICAL, playing for one more weekend at the Rice Auditorium on the Spring Grove campus. It's a bright, juicy popsicle of a show, with fast moving action, familiar characters, child actors, audience interaction, and a temperature-controlled environment.