Irish theatre and Irish music sometimes make me wonder if the Irish people have taken liberty with the English language in requital of the liberty that the English people took from them. What better way to give the finger to the country that took away your country’s freedom — and its language — than to […]
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Maryland Ensemble Theatre’s production of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? bites—with wit and cruelty—and, at times, is touching in a completely sad way. But mostly, it’s offensive. Unpleasant. Repulsive. Leaves you squirming in your seat, feeling as if you’ve just had a buzzy night that snapped from happy hour to massive hangover with ten too […]
Completely Hollywood (Abridged)
One word, and only one word, captures the Maryland Ensemble Theatre’s production of Completely Hollywood (Abridged): Boring. Boring. Boring. Boring. Tedious minutes tick away without a whit of laughter. Stale gags bolster dated jokes. And the actors (Jack Evans, Matt Lee, and James McGarvey) stumble over one another, trying to burn brightest.
It’s a Wonderful Life, A Radio Play
Adapting a classic movie for the stage is normally a reversal of sorts. To adapt a beloved Christmas classic, It’s a Wonderful Life, as a “radio play” is unique and presents fascinating possibilities. The setting is a radio studio complete with sound effects, live microphones and a real piano player for the background music.
American Buffalo
If you’re like me, you find it easy to justify an eighty-mile trip to see a hot actor – one never seen on Washington stages – play a classic role in a great play. So for that reason, I hied myself hence to Fredrick yesterday in order to see Jeff Keilholtz take on the role […]
Boeing-Boeing
Boeing-Boeing at the Maryland Ensemble Theatre in Frederick is a charming, entertaining, manic merry-go-round of dizzying departures, landings and slamming doors set in the day-glo tangerine décor of a British playboy’s lair in Paris, circa mid-1960s. Director Tad Janes does a wonderful job of embellishing playwright Marc Camoletti’s classic French farce with playful sparkle that’s […]
Dracula
Maryland Ensemble Theatre trumpets its production of Dracula, by the estimable Stephen Dietz (Lonely Planet, Still Life with Iris, a bunch of other stuff), as being “rich with both humor and horror.” It is not. It is instead a bland retelling of the original Stoker story, slenderized and with scenes reshuffled, and with some funny […]
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
How do you spell The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee? H-I-L-A-R-I-O-U-S. In 2005, Spelling Bee, beat out blockbusters Spamalot and The Light in the Piazza for the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical. And the Maryland Ensemble Theatre in Frederick does this clever book justice in their wonderfully entertaining production.
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