A Week in Local Theatre

One of the many fun things to come out of writing for BroadwayWorld is the discovery of all of the wonderful community theatres in Maryland. I had no idea there were so many small theatre companies in my state, let alone in my own backyard. Here are a few I was lucky to see this week: One community theatre company and one high school production. Both of which are shows I've never seen - how is this possible?

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum - Silhouette Stages

First, I had no idea this small but fairly impressive theatre existed in Howard County. But here I was, excited to see the theatre and this show I've somehow never seen. I know most of the music, thanks to a healthy musical theatre love for Nathan Lane, but I had never had the chance to witness the ridiculousness first hand. And after seeing it, I'm in love with the show and the company.

The production value of this show was visible as soon as the curtain rose. The stage - three intricate house fronts - was beautiful, down to the "marble" bench the actors delighted in moving slowly enough to trick the audience to believing it was real marble. The design team for this show should truly be lauded for their creativity. Then of course, there was this phenomenal cast. Bob Gudauskas as Pseudolus had the perfect blend of shtick and talent that made Nathan Lane's Pseudolus so popular. He never stopped moving and scheming. Another highlight was Matt Scheer as Hysterium. His friendly annoyance with Pseudolus was never not on display thanks to perfectly timed facial expressions. 

I came away from this performance completely impressed, and wondering two things. How in the world did I go this long without seeing this show? And why doesn't everyone in Howard County know about this theatre company?  

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee - Centennial High School 

I adore Falsettos so I had very high hopes for another William Finn-written musical. And I was not disappointed. I knew it would be weird and quirky, but I wasn't prepared to love it quite so much. It was one of the sweetest shows I've seen in a long time. The message of being who you are in the midst of everyone telling you not to, is one that's so necessary right now. 

The sheer talent on display in this show was also quite impressive. To say the show was in good hands was an understatement. With such a small cast, each cast member needed to really act out to differentiate themselves from the other characters. And each little quirk or nuance that these students added, made those characters that much more special. Whether it was a facial expression, or a side-comment, or just a look to an empty seat, each student made their character most-importantly real. As a former spelling-bee attendee myself, I can almost see any one of these characters attending and doing much better than I had.

My favorite part of the show was the inclusion of audience members into the bee itself. A few attendees were added to round out the cast. I'm not sure if this was done in the original version of the show or if this was just something the director thought would be fun. Either way, it worked. It definitely helped that the participants from the audience were so game and ready to really buy into trying to win the spelling bee. 

In the end, this may be one of my new favorite shows, as well as one of my new favorite schools to see theatre. These students - who also ran buses completely on their own the following day for the March for our Lives - are phenomenal actors and definitely won my heart with their hard work and quirky storytelling. I'll most definitely be back again for whatever show they choose to do next.