Baltimore Theater Reviews

Review: PILLAR RABBIT Hops Lively At Spotlighters through Sunday, August 25th
by Cybele Pomeroy - August 20, 2024

In Mel Holley's PILLAR RABBIT, produced by the Baltimore Playwrights Festival, you’ll meet characters you feel you already know, and laugh and cry with them. Director Ta'Von Vinson assembles an excellent multi-generational cast to perform against a beautiful set at historic Spotlighters Theatre in B...

Review: Not in Kansas Anymore: Tornado Tastes Like Aluminum Sting at CATF
by Jack L. B. Gohn - July 18, 2024

In presenting the story of a neuro-diverse protagonist mostly through the protagonist's eyes, and shredding narrative consistency and sequence, the playwright Harmon dot aut has rendered a confusing story. But with captivating characters and subject matter, this is still a play worth seeing....

Review: A Creepy ENOUGH TO LET THE LIGHT IN At Contemporary American Theater Festival
by Jack L. B. Gohn - July 15, 2024

As a vehicle for making things go bump in the night, I’m not sure this show consistently hits the target. It is a bit too much of a human interest story for that, but a bit too bump-filled to work smoothly as a human interest story either. Yet there are some legitimate skin-crawling moments, and the...

Oh What A Night! My Eyes Adore JERSEY BOYS at Toby's in Columbia
by Cybele Pomeroy - July 14, 2024

Toby's in Columbia presents the ‘origin story’ of New Jersey natives who became The Four Seasons. The script of JERSEY BOYS is tight, the pace rapid: this script and these songs - the Four Seasons’ catalog, plus others- form a stellar example of a really GOOD jukebox musical. I recommend you go imme...

Review: A Stunning WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO ALL THAT BEAUTY? at Contemporary American Theater Festival
by Jack L. B. Gohn - July 10, 2024

This is an important play, to be considered a peer of Angels in America and The Inheritance, a sweeping two-play multigeneration account of the impact of AIDS on the American gay community -- with the difference that this one focuses on men and women of color. It may suffer from some lack of restrai...

Review: A Wry Storyteller Narrates Horror and Recovery: THE HAPPIEST MAN ON EARTH at CATF
by Jack L. B. Gohn - July 10, 2024

It's not an unfamiliar tale, following Holocaust victim Eddie Jaku from comfortable circumstances through horror and gradually out again. Because there has been a sizeable body of Holocaust literature, drama and cinema, little of this is exactly new to us. But Jaku’s personality, his wry way of desc...

No Mystery: Go See CLUE at Hippodrome
by Jack L. B. Gohn - May 08, 2024

So, even with one major problem, the muddy sound denign, whether to go see this show is no mystery. The solution: catch it while it’s here....

Disney's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST at Toby's in Columbia Invites Everyone to “Be Our Guest.”
by Cybele Pomeroy - April 09, 2024

The fairytale magic of Disney's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST The Musical is on opulent display at Toby's Dinner Theatre in Columbia, directed by Mark Minnick. This family favorite, packed with stunning performances and resplendent costumes, delivers the enchantment of live theater through June 16th, 2024...

Review: The Atreides Are Us in THE ORESTEIA at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company
by Jack L. B. Gohn - February 19, 2024

There are great depths here, and great wisdom, and Playwright Ellen McLoughlin’s handiwork and that of Chesapeake Shakespeare convey them well. It is good to see a Shakespeare-oriented theater applying its tools and insights to other material from time to time, particularly classical material that i...

Review: A CHORUS LINE at Toby's Sings And Dances Its Way Into Your Heart
by Cybele Pomeroy - February 04, 2024

A CHORUS LINE at Toby’s in Columbia through March 10th, 2024- Staff are warm and helpful, the atmosphere is welcoming and the production is wonderful. If you’re a fan of musical theater, A CHORUS LINE will resonate. It’s a visual and auditory delight, with complex dance numbers and Marvin Hamlisch’...

Review: RENT Rocks At Baltimore's Theatre Project AND M & T Bank Exchange
by Cybele Pomeroy - January 30, 2024

RENT is an assemblage of romantic tragedy interspersed with moments that touch your heart, rattle your nerves or tickle your funny bone, set in the gritty underbelly of New York at the height of the AIDS epidemic. The show is a tribute to the spirit of people undaunted by poverty, addiction and illn...

Review: In THE BOOK OF GRACE from Rapid Lemon, a Penchant for Grand Themes and Intoxicating Characters, Outstanding Cast
by Jack L. B. Gohn - January 15, 2024

Playwright Suzan Lori-Parks evidently likes to swing for the fences. In The Book of Grace, now being presented by Rapid Lemon, he is fearless in presenting an extravagantly exaggerated and often violent version of the realities she sees in our country today. Despair seems the only reasonable respons...

Review: POE'S LAST STANZA at Perry's in Odenton Is Full of Wit, Poetry and Humor
by Cybele Pomeroy - November 13, 2023

Here is wonderful dark magic at work. The wizarding workshop is Do Or Die Productions, its owner/ director/ writer, CJ Crowe, the magician, and her brainchild, POE'S LAST STANZA the spell. The magic of live theater, collective imagination, and audience-driven improvisation are the ingredients in Cro...

Reality Crumbles But A Plot Emerges: Jon Fosse's STRONG WIND Premieres at Scena Theatre
by Jack L. B. Gohn - November 06, 2023

Scena Theatre productions are never mere theatrical comfort food; they generally have classical or European roots and, whether comic or tragic, they are always intellectually serious affairs, out to show us or make us think about interesting matters. And this show is no exception. With not only [Nob...

Review: FUNNY GIRL at The Hippodrome
by Timoth David Copney - October 25, 2023

What did our critic think of FUNNY GIRL at The Hippodrome? When I was a kid, I wanted nothing so much as to be Barbara Streisand in Funny Girl. I mean, it literally shaped my career aspirations. And I desperately wanted to see the stage version, having practically worn out my LP of the Broadway musi...

Sisters Act Up And Over The Top In Lively Production of SISTER ACT at Toby's In Columbia
by Cybele Pomeroy - September 19, 2023

SISTER ACT at Toby's in Columbia is a delightfully energetic show that is woman-driven and relationship-positive. Songwriter Alan Menken and lyricist Glenn Slater (of Disney fame) create numbers specifically for theatrical production of the movie-inspired script. Ear-pleasing harmonies abound in an ...

Review: A Challenging DOLL'S HOUSE at Everyman Theatre
by Jack L. B. Gohn - September 10, 2023

A Doll’s House, by Henrik Ibsen, translated, adapted, and directed by Joanie Schultz, runs through September 28, at Everyman Theatre. Read our review of A Doll's House here!...

Review: 10x10x10 2023 At Fells Point Corner Theatre: Longer Than A Tweet, Shorter Than An Indictment
by Cybele Pomeroy - August 21, 2023

Ten playwrights offer ten-minute plays performed by an ensemble of ten actors in the Fells Point Corner Theatre's annual 10x10x10 competition. Strong writing dominates the production, and each piece is different enough from its fellows that determining the “best” show is challenging, as the plays va...

Review: A Theatrical Feast: THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY at Signature Theatre
by Jack L. B. Gohn - August 19, 2023

Given the moat of terrible traffic that separates Baltimore theatergoers from Arlington, what can justify a visit there? Well, one answer for sure is Signature Theatre’s stunning production of the 2014 musical The Bridges of Madison County. With a timeless story, a lush, varied score, and riveting p...

Review: JIMMY BUFFETT'S ESCAPE TO MARGARITAVILLE Is Lighthearted Romance For Buffett Buffs at Toby's Dinner And Show
by Cybele Pomeroy - July 05, 2023

ESCAPE TO MARGARITAVILLE at Toby's in Columbia wearing flip-flops and a Hawaiian shirt. Each familiar Jimmy Buffett number is performed with signature Toby’s exuberance, as guests join in singing. A sea of audience-chosen tropical prints boosts atmosphere, and the live miniature orchestra is terrifi...

Review: Disney's FROZEN at Hippodrome Theatre
by Daniel Collins - June 09, 2023

What did our critic think of FROZEN at Hippodrome Theatre?...

Review: SIX THE MUSICAL at The Hippodrome
by Timoth David Copney - May 11, 2023

Get ready to rock with SIX THE MUSICAL - a high-octane, award-winning stage sensation, telling the tale of the wives of Henry VIII in a queenly concert experience. Don't miss this must-see production, full of bright, catchy tunes and excellent harmonies....

Tightened and Thrilling HAMLET at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company
by Jack L. B. Gohn - May 03, 2023

I think the minimalism and starkness is intended to be clarifying; we are meant to be focused on the hearts of the various intertwined stories Shakespeare presents, and perhaps less distracted by other things going on at the very large periphery the playwright has laid out. Whatever the purpose, we ...

Review: A Compleat HADESTOWN at Hippodrome Theatre
by Jack L. B. Gohn - April 13, 2023

So, by virtue of all of these elements this show is compleat in the senses fostered by the archaic spelling of the word, what Webster's renders as 'having all the necessary or desired elements or skills.' The characters, the music, the dancing, the lyrics, and the overall message are all new and dif...

Review: TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD at Hippodrome Theatre
by Daniel Collins - March 16, 2023

What did our critic think of TO KILL A MOCKING BIRD at Hippodrome Theatre? Chances are, if you're a product of the American education system, you read Harper Lee's 1960 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, in high school or college. And if you didn't, you've likely seen the 1962 film...