Bus Stop

This classic romantic comedy seems to have withstood the test of time.  Many remember Marilyn Monroe, as Cherie, in the 1956 film. The story still warms the audience like stepping inside from the cold of the Midwestern blizzard that provides the background for the play. Read more

A round table talk with the men of Camelot

Interviews with director Stephen Nachamie, musical director Christopher Youstra, and performers Todd Alan Johnson (King Arthur), Aaron Ramey (Sir Lancelot), Evan Casey (Mordred), and Bill Largess (Merlyn and Pellinore). Read more

Night Must Fall

It’s easy to appreciate this Grand Daddy of psychological murder mysteries with its stellar casting, early glimpses into emotional deviant behavior, and case study portrayal of misplaced affection, all delivered in the parlor of a spectacularly designed set ( James Wolk). Read more

The Glass Menagerie

There is a special atmosphere created when Helen Hayes winner, Jim Petosa, conducts a production and this Glass Menagerie at Olney Theatre is no exception. Read more

Call of the Wild

Rarely do two acts differ so much in content and quality as in the new musical Call of the Wild at Olney Theatre Center.  After a difficult and challenging first act, the work is redeemed by a terrific second. Read more

King of the Jews

The novel King of the Jews is the story of the heroic Jew Trumpelman, who makes the fatal decision to collaborate with Nazi oppressors in order to save the lives of the other Jews in his community. Read more

Is He Dead?

Is He Dead?
By Mark Twain
Adapted by David Ives
Directed by Halo Wines
Produced by Olney Theatre Center
Reviewed by Steven McKnight

Would Is He Dead? have received a Broadway debut in 2007 if it had not been a long lost work written a century earlier by Mark Twain?  It’s a creaky and formulaic farce at best.  Yet fostered by the capable talents at Olney Theatre Center, Is He Dead? gradually gains enough irresistible comedic momentum to leave the audience smiling. Read more

Peter Pan

Peter Pan: The Musical
Book by J.M. Barrie
Music by: Mark Charlap, additional music by Jule Styne
Lyrics by: Carolyn Leigh, additional lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green
Directed by Eve Muson.
Produced by Olney Theatre Center
Reviewed by Gary McMillan

If you can pry junior’s fingers from his Game Boy, he just might enjoy a vacation from Nintendoland via Olney Theatre Center’s holiday excursion to Neverland. Peter Pan is a bit of an old chestnut, to be sure, but its 1950s score still entertains audience members whose first experience of the show likely was half a century ago on a small black & white television set. Olney’s production has the key ingredients to charm children: Read more

The Underpants

 

The Underpants
adapted by Steve Martin from a play by Carl Sternheim
directed by John Going
produced by Olney Theatre Center
reviewed by Rosalind Lacy

Steve Martin, of Saturday Night Live fame, knows how to tell a joke just right. Even bawdy ones, abounding with double entendres, in a German farce that airs out more than dirty laundry. Read more

Rabbit Hole

• Rabbit Hole
• Written by David Lindsay-Abaire
• Directed by Mitchell Hébert
• Produced by Olney Theater
• Reviewed by Debbie Minter Jackson

In this metro-area premiere, a suburban couple that seems to have all the creature comforts of home shows the frayed edges of trying to cope with a tragic loss.   Read more

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