Articles by Jane C. Elkin

Article - Theatre Reviews; by Jane C. Elkin - 1/31/13

Compass Rose’s Barefoot in the Park

Opposites not only attract, they also repel, making for a timeless comedy

Neil Simon’s 1963 romantic comedy Barefoot in the Park was a box office smash on stage and screen, not merely because it starred dreamy Robert Redford but because it’s packed with hilarious moments. What’s not to get about newlyweds learning the hard lessons of why opposites not only attract but also repel? The story, as old as matrimony, roused braying guffaws of recognition from Compass Rose Studio Theater’s mature audience on opening night. Free-...

Article - Theatre Reviews; by Jane C. Elkin - 1/17/13

Colonial Players’ Shipwrecked

Amazing stories brought to life with astonishing effect — this is theater at its best

For good old-fashioned escapist entertainment, Annapolis has never seen the likes of Colonial Players’ Shipwrecked. Commissioned by a children’s theatre, this play is unlike both Donald Margulies’ other plays and much of what dominates local stages during winter months. Audiences of all ages will love the story and Colonial’s innovative presentation. The prolific, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright — who is also a professor at Yale —...

Article - Theatre Reviews; by Jane C. Elkin - 12/20/12

Bay Theatre Comapny’s The Foursome

Can Canada’s answer to Neil Simon match the American’s wit?

Snows may soon cover the golf course, but golfers can escape to the links this winter at The Bay Theatre, where Norm Foster’s comedy The Foursome is now playing. If you long to crack open a few beers and play verbal tackle over a friendly wager, then this is the play for you. Foster, Canada’s answer to Neil Simon, is the Great White North’s most produced playwright. Despite his immense popularity, I found his humor — save for some zippy one-liners...

Article - Books; by Jane C. Elkin - 11/29/12

M.D. Johnson’s Midnight in Moscow

International intrigue with a local angle and author

Midnight in Moscow opens with a scene with immediate familiarity for local readers: a news story featuring a car set ablaze at a BWI parking lot. Then a young Russian American woman is found murdered along the C&O Canal. From there it’s a short hop to Annapolis and the main character, Emily Cowan, a sassy sleuth of a certain age who globetrots from western Maryland to Germany, Russia and the Near East. Midnight is Book Two of author M.D. Johnson’s ISIS...

Article - Theatre Reviews; by Jane C. Elkin - 11/8/12

Colonial Players’ Sunlight

You’ll welcome the light after two dark hours

Nostalgic for mudslinging yet? If so, you must see Colonial Players’ production of Sunlight, a thoughtful and well-acted tale of academic and family discord over post 9/11 foreign policy. In essence, Matthew (Timothy Sayles), a university president, abhors the government’s stance on torture of political prisoners as interpreted and taught by the dean of his law school, Vincent (Jeff Sprague), his protégé and son-in-law. So enraged that Matthew allegedly breaks...

Article - Theatre Reviews; by Jane C. Elkin - 11/1/12

The U.S. Naval Academy Masqueraders’ Titus Andronicus

Plenty of gore and breathtaking power, but at 2¾ hours, it demands staying power

The online gore-ometer measuring gallons of blood spilled in The U.S. Naval Academy Masqueraders’ production of Titus Andronicus reached five gallons after opening night. With nine onstage murders, one rape, six dismemberments and one incidence of cannibalism, the midshipmen were determined to milk Shakespeare’s bloodiest play for every drop. On Halloween weekend — as the players competed with the Academy’s annual Halloween concert and new Haunted...

Article - Theatre Reviews; by Jane C. Elkin - 10/11/12

Bay Theatre’s Master Harold ... and the Boys

The consequences of a moment last a lifetime

Remember the worst thing you ever said, the words you wish you could take back? The worst thing you ever, the act you wish you could undo? Of course we do, which is why Athol Fugard’s award-winning Master Harold … and the boys is so riveting. The tragicomedy is an autobiographical dramatization of a moment the playwright was “trying to exorcise from his soul.” Under Richard Pilcher’s direction, this moment of decision has consequences so potent...

Article - Theatre Reviews; by Jane C. Elkin - 10/4/12

It’s Got the Teeth, But Not Enough of a Bite

Bowie Community Theatre’s Dracula

Time is short, and it’s bloody frightful. This much we sense from the moment we enter the theater, where a towering clock face in crimson and coal looms over the stage, its second hand racing. A vampire feasts on a maiden. A rampaging lunatic cackles and cowers. Scrim up. Welcome to The Bowie Community Theater’s Dracula, an otherwise pallid reflection of a classic. A lot has happened to Dracula since Bram Stoker wrote the deathless novel in 1897. Hamilton...

Article - Theatre Reviews; by Jane C. Elkin - 9/13/12

You'll Die Laughing

Discovery is half the fun in 2nd Star’s Bloody Murder

The marquee outside the Bowie Playhouse is only slightly exaggerating in promising You’ll Die Laughing at 2nd Star Productions’ season opener, Bloody Murder. This is far and away the best non-musical I’ve ever seen under this roof. A creative new show from a new playwright, it’s just the thing for audiences who like to think outside the box and appreciate brainteasers, puns and Brit-bashing. It’s an English murder mystery cocktail with a twist: Think two shots...

Article - Theatre Reviews; by Jane C. Elkin - 7/26/12

Bowie Community Theatre’s Love, Sex and the I.R.S.

This escapist comedy makes your problems insignificant by comparison

With Love, Sex and the I.R.S., Bowie Community Theatre promises “a wild farce with twists of fate, sight gags, mistaken identities and hilarious comic lines.” That’s accurate if you get your laughs from chauvinistic stereotypes, drunkenness and cross-dressing. Judging from audience reaction, Bowie Community Theatre does it darn well. This tortuous comedy of errors naïve takes us to New York City in 1985. There androgynously named Leslie...