All stories by Mary Ann Johnson on BroadwayStars

Monday, October 11, 2021

Theatre Review: ‘Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters’ First 100 Years’ at Creative Cauldron by Mary Ann Johnson

  This production is a like a dip in the warmth of late spring. Written by Emily Mann (and adapted from the book by Sarah L. Delany and A. Elizabeth “Bessie” Delany with Amy Hill Hearth…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 08:28PM
Monday, October 4, 2021

Theatre Review: ‘Defying Gravity’ at Aldersgate Church Community Theatre by Mary Ann Johnson

Aldersgate Church Community Theatre is opening its in-person 2021-2022 season with Jane Anderson’s “Defying Gravity,”  a look at the Challenger tragedy of 1986 with Monet as our guide…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 04:13PM
Thursday, September 30, 2021

Theatre Review: ‘Prepping for Widowhood’ at Best Medicine Rep by Mary Ann Johnson

‘”Prepping for Widowhood” is a frequently laugh-out-loud look at what sustains us when life happens—in this case, widowhood. It’s a story of four old friends known as “The Season…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 01:56PM
Wednesday, September 22, 2021

Theatre Review: ‘The Swindlers, A True-ish Tall Tale’ at Baltimore Center Stage by Mary Ann Johnson

Noah Diaz has written an original play for Baltimore Center Stage, and it’s a shifty play (it’s loosely inspired on his mother and grandfather). The people are certainly shifty; the plot…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 07:46PM
Saturday, September 18, 2021

Theatre Review: ‘The Revolutionists’ at The Colonial Players of Annapolis by Mary Ann Johnson

The Revoluntionists, currently playing at The Colonial Players of Annapolis, is a romp of a play. Like much comedy, it has has a serious core. Think of this as the “A Vindication of the Ri…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 08:38PM

Theatre Review: August Wilson’s ‘Fences’ at The Little Theatre of Alexandria by Mary Ann Johnson

The Little Theatre of Alexandria blew the roof off the building this past Wednesday with their production of August Wilson’s “Fences.” The production is taut, layered, and deserving of…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 08:20PM
Wednesday, September 15, 2021

Theatre Review: ‘Doña Rosita la soltera’ at Gala Hispanic Theatre by Mary Ann Johnson

One superb thing Gala Hispanic Theatre’s production of “Doña Rosita la soltera (Doña Rosita the Spinster)” has going for it is the beautifully poetic language. It’s the language of…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 08:53PM
Sunday, September 12, 2021

Theatre Review: ‘Good People’ at the The Keegan Theatre by Mary Ann Johnson

“Good People,” which opens Keegan Theatre’s 25th anniversary season, is a play about rough-edged people — Southies from Boston — who cut right to the chase. That chase is surviving…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 05:57PM
Tuesday, September 7, 2021

Theatre Review: ‘Laughter in the Shadow of the Trees’ presented by Edge of the Universe Players 2 (audio play) by Mary Ann Johnson

I thought this play had one of the most lyrical titles I’ve ever heard, and I still think that. “Laughter in the Shadow of the Trees,” an audio play presented by Edge of the Universe P…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 08:36PM
Friday, August 27, 2021

Concert Review: Erin Granfield at Creative Cauldron by Mary Ann Johnson

Erin Granfield most recently played the inimitable Louise in “Always…Patsy Cline” by Creative Cauldron during this past June and July. She is a Helen Hayes-nominated actor for “On Ai…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 07:49AM
Thursday, August 26, 2021

Theatre Review: ‘An Act of God’ at NextStop Theatre Company by Mary Ann Johnson

It is rare that I will see a play twice (but only because there is so much theatre and so little time), but several seasons ago I saw “An Act of God” at another theatre and thought it wa…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 11:16AM
Sunday, August 22, 2021

Theatre Review: ‘The Blackest Battle’ presented streaming by Theatre Alliance by Mary Ann Johnson

Psalmayene 24’s latest production is “The Blackest Battle,” a parable set to a love story set in the near future where America has gone through a second civil war after reparations wer…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 02:04PM
Thursday, August 12, 2021

Theatre Review: ‘Detroit ’67’ presented by Signature Theatre by Mary Ann Johnson

Dominique Morisseau’s “Detroit ‘67” focuses on five days in the summer of 1967 when racial tensions between Black residents and the police force came to a head. It culminated with ta…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 09:30PM
Monday, August 9, 2021

Theatre Review: ‘The Day Emily Married’ at Quotidian Theatre Company by Mary Ann Johnson

Originally titled “The Indian Fighters” in 1954 when Horton Foote wrote the play, it was presented as “The Day Emily Married” at Silver Spring Stage in 1997 when the Quotidian Theatr…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 09:58AM
Sunday, August 8, 2021

Theatre Review: ‘The Bluest Eye’ presented by Dominion Stage by Mary Ann Johnson

Searing is the word that comes to mind in this depiction of intergenerational racism on Black people in this country. Adapted by Lydia R. Diamond from the book by Toni Morrison, the horror a…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 06:02PM
Wednesday, August 4, 2021

Theatre Review: ‘Rumors’ presented by Little Theatre of Alexandria by Mary Ann Johnson

“Rumors,” Neil Simon’s first farce, premiered in 1988. Like many farces it depends on confusion, lots of exits and entrances, and fast ripostes. Some of this the play delivers very wel…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 03:15PM
Monday, July 19, 2021

Theatre Review: ‘An Almost Holy Picture’ presented by Everyman Theatre by Mary Ann Johnson

Everyman Theatre’s “An Almost Holy Picture,” the Pulitzer Prize-nominated play currently available online, is a beautifully staged and acted production. It proves to be a one-man tou…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 01:47PM
Wednesday, July 14, 2021

Theatre Review: ‘Love, Loss and What I Wore’ at The Colonial Players of Annapolis by Mary Ann Johnson

The Colonial Players is ending its 72nd season with a play that has more to it than initially meets the eye. “Love, Loss and What I Wore” is a journey through women’s lives and how the…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 05:13PM
Tuesday, July 13, 2021

Theatre Review: ‘She Kills Monsters’ presented by Silver Spring Stage by Mary Ann Johnson

It is very easy to see why this show is a favorite of  high schools and colleges. It takes a tragic scenario — the death of parents and a younger sibling — and shows that there is still…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 10:37AM
Monday, July 5, 2021

Theatre Review: ‘Tender Age’ presented by Studio Theatre by Mary Ann Johnson

Hope comes up a lot in this play. At one point the protagonist, Martin (Bobby Moreno), repeats “It’s all about hope” a couple of times. But hope proves not to be the panacea he thinks …

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 10:18AM
Monday, June 28, 2021

Theatre Review: ‘Talk Radio’ presented by Vagabond Players, Inc. by Mary Ann Johnson

“Talk Radio” is a 1987 Pulitzer Prize-nominated play written by Eric Bogosian and based on a concept by Bogosian and Tad Savinar. You can tell it’s 1987 because people are still smokin…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 12:10PM
Wednesday, June 23, 2021

Theatre Review: ‘Ripcord’ at The Little Theatre of Alexandria by Mary Ann Johnson

What happens when you put an introvert and an extreme extrovert together in a shared bedsit? Chaos. “Ripcord,” the comedy by David Lindsay-Abaire and directed for The Little Theatre of A…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 04:06PM
Thursday, June 17, 2021

Theatre Review: ‘We’re Gonna Die’ presented by Round House Theatre by Mary Ann Johnson

“We’re Gonna Die” is a play with music that faces reality — yes, we are all going to die. That’s okay, because the point of life is living, so why waste it? Young Jean Lee’s “W…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 03:19PM
Tuesday, June 15, 2021

Theatre Review: ‘Where We Belong’ presented by Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in association with Folger Shakespeare Library by Mary Ann Johnson

  Madeline Sayet’s ‘Where We Belong’ is an elegy for so very much — the voices lost to colonialism, the lives lost through the insanity of war, the languages stamped out, and the en…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 01:35PM
Thursday, June 10, 2021

Theatre Review: ‘Will on the Hill and Far Away’ presented by Shakespeare Theatre Company by Mary Ann Johnson

Insanity was the byword for this year’s “Will on the Hill and Far Away,” by the Shakespeare Theatre Company. With a healthy dose of magic, we lost part of Congress in the mystical land…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 02:54PM
Sunday, June 6, 2021

Theatre Review: ‘Always…Patsy Cline’ presented by Creative Cauldron by Mary Ann Johnson

Creative Cauldron has chosen an innovative way to bring this favorite jukebox musical, “Always…Patsy Cline” (created and originally directed by Ted Swindley), to life. Each of the four…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 03:01PM

Theatre Review: ‘A Very Present Presence’ presented by Pipeline Playwrights by Mary Ann Johnson

In this world premier of Ann Timmons’ “A Very Present Presence,” we meet a middle-aged mother and career woman who has come to the end of her rope. The story may seem similar to many o…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 10:49AM
Monday, May 31, 2021

Theatre Review: ‘Luther’s Trumpet’ presented by George Mason University School of Theatre and the Center for the Arts by Mary Ann Johnson

‘Written by James Reston, Jr., “Luther’s Trumpet” is the story primarily about the duel between Martin Luther (Edward Gero) and Pope Leo X (Craig Wallace), but it is also a duel betw…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 02:53PM
Monday, May 24, 2021

Theatre Review: ‘This Crown Is Mine,’ presented by Two Strikes Theatre Collective by Mary Ann Johnson

The first five-minute entry in this 12-play collection is by Sharlene Clinton, who is also making her playwriting debut. “Flawless Beauty: Hair Across The Diaspora” is a heart-wrenching …

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 04:08PM
Thursday, May 20, 2021

Theatre Review: ‘How He Lied To Her Husband’ presented by Washington Stage Guild by Mary Ann Johnson

I have become so accustomed in the last couple of months to seeing plays filmed on the actual stages. I have also recently attended three in-person, socially-distanced shows. This made watch…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 07:10PM
Saturday, May 15, 2021

Theatre Review: ‘Berta, Berta’ at Everyman Theatre by Mary Ann Johnson

Everyman Theatre is running a heart-felt, brilliantly-acted production of “Berta, Berta,” which originally premiered in 2018 and was a part of the 2019 National Black Theatre Festival. T…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 10:50AM

All that Chat

2023-2024 BROADWAY SEASON
May 30, 2023: Grey House - Lyceum Theatre
Jun 26, 2023: Just For Us - Hudson Theatre
Jul 24, 2023: The Cottage - Hayes Theater
Nov 16, 2023: Spamalot - St. James Theatre
Dec 18, 2023: Appropriate - Hayes Theater
Mar 07, 2024: Doubt - Todd Haimes Theatre
Apr 14, 2024: Lempicka - Longacre Theatre
Apr 17, 2024: The Wiz - Marquis Theatre
Apr 18, 2024: Suffs - Music Box Theatre
Apr 25, 2024: Mother Play - Hayes Theater
Jun 10, 2024: The Drama Desk Awards