135 stories by "John Harding"
There's nothing fake about the news out of Toby's Dinner Theatre. Its homegrown production of Newsies gathers such a concentration of explosive male talent under one roof that Columbia might…
An evening of wordplay on the meanings and messages of Modern art awaits audiences at All She Must Possess. This is another worthy world premiere from the venturesome Rep Stage Company at Ho…
You will want to leave a more-than-generous tip for the national tour of Waitress, especially if you appreciate top-notch service. It is currently bringing all the spicy baked sweetness of t…
It did not turn out well for Dr. Frankenstein or his monster, but receiving an abnormal brain was a blessing for Mel Brooks. After eight decades in show business, he is still using that gift…
Chalk up one more cartoon feature making a dash for freedom under the footlights. Madagascar"A Musical Adventure is now filling the intimate Red Branch Theatre with a veritable Noah's Ark of…
It doesn't exactly live up to its billing as a miracle, but Miracle on 34th Street: The Musical at Toby's Dinner Theatre has its heart in the right place. It is a lovely way to gather the fa…
The Lion King is epic. It is so full of throat-tightening spectacle and aural splendor that Baltimore's grand Hippodrome Theatre can appear at times like a modest host. With Julie Taymor's m…
It took way too long for Baltimore gal Billie Holiday to make the 20-odd mile trip out to Howard County for a live performance. It was a hard trip, too, judging from the bruised and fragile …
Timing could not be better for a professionally mounted, national tour of The Color Purple: The Musical. Call this a reminder-on-wheels that sexual exploitation is not a Hollywood invention.…
The Bridges of Madison County turns out to be an ideal musical for an ambitious youth theater looking to build bridges to a wider audience of grown-up fans. A sensitive, artfully realized pr…
Even successful plays get retired from the workforce after a few seasons. A select few, however, may go on to a new phase of wizened seniority. That is the case with The Heidi Chronicles, no…
Dreamgirls has followed the summer's closet full of Dreamcoats into Toby's Dinner Theatre of Columbia. That's a lot of dreams, providing plenty of rich musical memories for theater fans to c…
Red Branch Theatre Company continues to amaze with its 2017 season premiere of the perky and impertinent Lysistrata Jones. Thanks to savvy staging and choreography, this short-lived 2011 Bro…
Those who've forgotten Peter Pan are destined to repeat it in Finding Neverland. The U.S. national tour now at Baltimore's Hippodrome Theatre until July 2 makes for a dreamy midsummer night'…
"May I return to the beginning?" runs a beloved lyric to the song "Any Dream Will Do" from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, now back for the summer at Toby's "Â The Dinner The…
Baltimore's John Waters takes another swipe at Eisenhower-era conformity in Cry-Baby: The Musical, making its area premiere now at the Drama Learning Center in Columbia. The show had a short…
To help mark its 45th year in business, Toby's " The Dinner Theatre of Columbia is serving up something special in its new revival of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. No l…
Fans of Broadway musicals won't get more bang for their entertainment buck this whole season than at Something Rotten! Baltimore's Hippodrome Theatre has been on a roll when it comes to offe…
Fans of Rent, it's time to "Occupy Baltimore" once again. Hook yourselves up with tickets by any means necessary to that 20th Anniversary Tour making a brief, flash-point stop inside the …
In the new Beauty and the Beast at Toby's Dinner Theatre, it's not just the accursed Beast and his castle of talking knickknacks that appear caught in a magic spell of enchantment. So did lu…
Mad Libs Live! sounds like a political gathering many would want to avoid. But happily it turns out to be a (Fill-in-the-Blank) musical providing peppy songs, millennial-rich humor, and rand…
Fans of The Bodyguard, The Musical are legion. And boisterous. Also very loyal. Large numbers of them turned out for opening night in Baltimore February 28, when the national tour arrived fo…
The Great Depression sure had a great soundtrack. That's one take-away from the debut of a new "jukebox musical" named The Hot New Deal, now through February 25 at Glenelg Country School. Ca…
Howard County is about to enjoy the debuts of no less than two original musicals in the coming weeks. First up this week is The Hot New Deal at Glenelg Country School's Mulitz Theater, this …
Not everyone who attends Jane Martin's H20 at Rep Stage will necessarily agree, but the case could be made for its taking place in one of Dante's outer circles of Hell. As the play opens, a …
