Columbia launches inaugural film festival

By Robert Friedman
Posted on June 23, 2016

The Columbia Film Festival — the first of what organizers hope will be an annual event — gets underway Friday, June 24 and Saturday, June 25 with two dozen films from around the world screened at Howard Community College. The films, from movie makers as far away as Korea and Japan and as close to home as Ellicott City, helps winds up this summer’s Columbia Festival of the Arts,... READ MORE

Summer: big-name musicals, festival fare

By Michael Toscano
Posted on June 09, 2016

Summer theater in Washington: The first thing we usually ask ourselves is what’s onstage at the Kennedy Center, which typically schedules a couple of big productions, often for long runs. There’s no deviation from custom this year, with a couple of major audience attractions in the Potomac palace.First is Kinky Boots, running from June 14 to July 10 in the Opera House.... READ MORE

Peter Pan flies high at Toby’s in Columbia

By Robert Friedman
Posted on May 31, 2016

Wild Indians, bungling pirates and kids who know what’s important (not growing up) are whooping, flailing and flying all over the small stage at Toby’s in the dinner theater’s gleeful and invigorating Peter Pan.The inspiring energy — which has been achieved in a very disciplined form through terrific choreography, strong vocalizing and faultless acting —... READ MORE

Older dancers show amazing gracefulness

By Carol Sorgen
Posted on May 23, 2016

In a discipline filled with young, flexible dancers, it isn’t often that seniors have the opportunity to take to the stage and offer their own expressions through movement.Their leg extensions may not be as high as they used to be, nor their lunges as deep. But older dancers bring deep emotion and vast experience to their performances, according to Cheryl Goodman, director of Dance... READ MORE

He’s behind the Mall’s patriotic concerts

By Barbara Ruben
Posted on May 10, 2016

Without Jerry Colbert, there would be no crowds of hundreds of thousands on the National Mall, no swelling strings of the National Symphony Orchestra in the al fresco concerts broadcast live to millions of homes on PBS, no roster of celebrities celebrating the country’s most patriotic holidays.Colbert is the founder and executive producer of both the Memorial Day and Capitol Fourth... READ MORE

Colorful balloons to fly high over Howard

By Robert Friedman
Posted on May 02, 2016

Ron Broderick, known as the Balloon Meister, is ready to take you up, up and away into the west Howard County sky before bringing you down to earth at the Turf Valley resort in Ellicott City.If you don’t want to take the 30 to 45 minute sky ride in one of the 21 balloons on display, you could rise 60 to 80 feet, then descend, in a tethered balloon.Among the flying fleet is... READ MORE

Chamber concerts in a homey atmosphere

By Carol Sorgen
Posted on April 25, 2016

Daniel Weiser wants to bring chamber music “alive” for Baltimore audiences.“This type of music isn’t meant to be performed in large venues,” the Peabody-trained pianist said. “It’s made for a more intimate setting.”With that in mind, Weiser, who is in his late 40s, founded AmiciMusic, meaning “music among friends,” about five years ... READ MORE

Alvin Ailey dancer returns to hometown

By Carol Sorgen
Posted on April 21, 2016

When Jacqueline Green appears in Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s Baltimore engagement at the Lyric on April 26 and 27, the young dancer will be coming home to be greeted by family and friends — and new audiences.Green, who is 26 and grew up near the Alameda in Baltimore, was a self-described tomboy — “running around outside throwing sticks” — when... READ MORE

Radiant performances in 110 in the Shade

By Michael Toscano
Posted on April 12, 2016

If you’re a regular theatergoer and movie-watcher, you have probably seen 110 in the Shade long before its current incarnation at Ford’s Theatre, onstage now through May 14.In fact, you have likely seen more than one of its many versions. It began as a TV play in 1953, before writer N. Richard Nash took it to Broadway the following year.He gives us the story of Lizzie, ... READ MORE

Premiere of Pulitzer-finalist play at Olney

By Robert Friedman
Posted on April 04, 2016

Marjorie Prime at the Olney Theater Center is a strange, gripping and ultimately touching play. Is is set in the future, and looks at how we remember the past to keep going in the present.The play gets underway as Marjorie, an 85-year-old woman nearing dementia, is having a perfectly reasonable conversation with her deceased husband, who is sitting across from her as he appeared at the age... READ MORE