1. ‘Dreamgirls’ at Baltimore Center Stage
“‘…this one reminds us why we love theatre.” –
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Synopsis: All you’ve got to do is dream! This winter, experience the smash hit musical brought to you by Baltimore theater company ArtsCentric. This R&B rollercoaster ride through 1960s show business is a soul-affirming spectacle about the price of stardom.
Crystal Freeman as Effie in Art Centric’s “Dreamgirls” at Baltimore Center Stage. Photo courtesy of Art Centric.
2. ‘Hedwig and the Angry Inch’ at Olney Theatre Center
“‘Hedwig and the Angry Inch’ is a fabulous show with enough heart and energy for a dozen shows.” –
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Synopsis: The revolutionary punk-rock sensation comes to Olney Theatre Center. In the crossfire of cold wars and culture wars, Hedwig is a survivor, and not just of a botched gender reassignment surgery that left her with the aformentioned “Angry Inch”. Transported to America, she is chasing rock stardom and though the band may be stuck in some seedy dive while Tommy Gnosis, her one-time protege and lover plays the stadium across the street, Hedwig’s tale is bound for punk rock glory. For those who like their music loud, Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a rock ‘n’ roll musical that incorporates a cabaret confessional, drag, and a heart of gold, guarded by barbed wire and sequin spiked heels.
Mason Alexander Park as Hedwig. Photo by Stan Barouh.
3. ‘Secret Things’ at 1st Stage
“The acting is first-rate…This isn’t an easy play, but it is well worth the journey.” –
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Synopsis: When Delia, an ambitious journalist, receives anonymous articles about Mexican-Americans claiming to have hidden Jewish roots, she is intrigued…even if it means returning to her native town in New Mexico to investigate. She’s on the outs with her editor/ex-boyfriend, and he wants her to say the story is a myth to save her job. But her estranged family, her mysterious dreams, and an alluring stranger keep pointing her inward to a surprising truth. Will Delia be able to finish her story—not just the one she was sent to write, but her own?
Alina Collins Maldonado and Luis Alberto González in “Secret Things” at 1st Stage. Photography by Teresa Castracane.
4. ‘The Ghost Before Christmas’ at the Twin Beach Players
“This play explores the age-old question of if you could forget all of your pain, would it be worth forgetting the good times as well? …a holiday production that brings depth to the proverbial table.” –
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Synopsis: Pericles Redlaw is a man dominated by memories of his life’s disappointments and tragedies. One night he is visited by a spirit who offers him “the forgetting of all the sorrow, wrong and trouble you have known.” This will also be spread to others. Redlaw accepts, but soon finds that in passing it on he is ruining lives as “selfishness and ingratitude spring up in his footsteps. Through the intervention of a character who is deeply saturated in the teachings of pure love, Redlaw realizes that without the memory of past wrongs, we cannot forgive them.
The Carolers of “The Ghost Before Christmas.” Photo courtesy of Twin Beach Players.
5. ‘Theatre Review: ‘Christmas Is Coming Uptown’ at Arena Players
“…puts a cool spin on the well-known tale…Everyone should head on over to catch “Christmas Is Coming Uptown…” – Timoth David Copney
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Synopsis: The musical update of Charles Dicken’s “A Christmas Carol” recasts Scrooge as a contemporary Harlem slumlord. Scrooge is about to foreclose an apartment house, a recreation center, and a church when his late partner and the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future take him on their rounds. He comes upon his own grave after watching Tiny Tim’s burial procession and he’s reformed. This show is filled with music and dance in a new twist on this holiday tale.
Benny Pope as Scrooge. Photo courtesy of Arena Players, Inc.
