Picture it: Baltimore, MD 2022 ‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the store, each department was dripping with Yuletide decor. Sophia was nestled all snug in her bed, while visions of sugar prunes danced in her head. Before traveling to spend the Holidays with their families, Dorothy, Blanche, and Rose participate in a golden gift exchange full of hilarious surprises. Just as they get to the airport a winter storm blows in, leaving them trapped! In an unexpected Charles Dickens twist of events, the three grannies must visit their past, present, and future to save Christmas (and find […]
Buffalo Bailey’s Ranch for Gay Horses, Troubled Teen Girls and Other: a 90 Minute Timeshare Presentation
Buffalo Bailey’s Ranch for Gay Horses, Troubled Teen Girls and Other is offering an incredible one-time-only deal right here, right now. Sure, your subprime mortgage rate may be ballooning and America is sinking back into the sea, but what better time to buy a vacation home for your family and friends? There’s no place like Buffalo Bailey’s, where you can watch horsedrag all night at the discobarn, relax in the jacuzzi (coming Fall 2007!), or sort beans over yonder by the pig pit. You must stay for the duration of the timeshare presentation in order to receive your gift basket. […]
Goodnight and Good Luck
An interview with Nicole Atkins Already considered to be one of the best albums of 2017, Goodnight Rhonda Lee (Single Lock), the fourth full-length disc by Nicole Atkins, deserves all of the praise being heaped upon it. The 11 stellar tunes further Atkins’s singular exploration of vintage pop in the most exhilarating way, as you can hear on the title track, “Sleepwalking,” “A Little Crazy,” “If I Could,” “Listen Up,” and “Brokedown Luck.” Also of note is the way that the album addresses the singer/songwriter’s newfound sobriety, on songs including the aforementioned titular number. I had the pleasure of interviewing […]
Young Frankenstein Brings Hair-Raising Laughs to Toby’s Dinner Theatre
Young Frankenstein, the musical based on the hilarious 1974 horror comedy from the comedic wit of Mel Brooks, electrifies Toby’s Dinner Theatre this month. Running from January 11th to March 11th the musical reimagining of the Frankenstein legend follows young Dr. Frankenstein and Igor as they attempt to create a monster, but not without scary and hilarious complications.
Baltimore Shakespeare Factory’s Upcoming 2018 Season
Stratford? London? Fuhgeddiboutit. The Bard is virtually in residence here in Baltimore in 2018. Here’s what’s happening when… The Tempest – Marshall B Garrett January 12th – February 4th Great Hall Theatre at St. Mary’s Community Center Frequently read as a semi-autobiographical story of a magician giving up magic at the height of his power, Shakespeare’s final solo-authored play is a meditation on forgiveness, power, colonialism, and love.
BSO ‘Carnival of the Animals’
Timpani solos. Hip hop narration. These are two phrases that do not fit into the common perception of “classical” music. Most people think of strings and operatic singing. In the start of the second half of their 2017-2018 season, Music Director Marin Alsop and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra aim to alter that perception with their performances of Philip Glass’s “Concerto Fantasy for Two Timpanists” and Saint-Saëns’ “Carnival of the Animals” on January 11th and 14th.
Big Blasts from the Past
Depending on your generational perspective, the late soul goddess Minnie Riperton is either the mother of actress / singer / SNL alum Maya Rudolph or the singer with the five-octave vocal range best known for the timeless 1975 hit single “Lovin’ You,” co-written by Riperton and her husband Richard Rudolph. You can hear Riperton, who died of cancer in 1979 at 31, paying a “lovin’” homage to her daughter Maya at the end of “Lovin’ You.” The double-disc deluxe edition expanded reissue of Perfect Angel (Capitol / UMe), Riperton’s second album and the one on which “Lovin’ You” can be […]
The Most Entertaining Films of 2017
A bent take on the year in cinema You’ll hear a lot of different opinions about the movie year of 2017. Some people think it was an absolute crap year for film, some will point out the few truly great films of the year, and some will call it an average year. I’ll call it average. There were quite a few films I enjoyed (and for the record there are a lot of 2017 releases I’ve yet to see), but there were few films that fall into my “I’d watch that again” category. Some films unexpectedly caught me off guard, […]
Italian Rhapsody
Call Me By Your Name is a slow burn of longing and desire A new film is getting a lot of buzz right now not only for its awards possibilities, but for its subject matter as well. Call Me By Your Name, based on the novel by André Aciman, stars Timothée Chalamet (also getting notice for his role in Lady Bird) as Elio, a 17-year-old living in a small town in Northern Italy with his parents. His father (Michael Stuhlbarg) is an antiquities and archeology professor, and each summer for six weeks the family hosts a visiting grad student to […]
‘Le Mis’ at National Theatre Ups the Emotional Gravity
Victor Hugo classic brought to stage with a painterly sense of cinema When Les Misérables debuted in London in 1985, the show was met with mixed reviews. Today, the show widely known as Les Mis is one of the longest-running shows on stage and is beloved by audiences around the world. Fans of the musical will be able to experience the drama, romance and revolution from December 20th to January 7th at the National Theatre in Washington, DC.