All stories by Dr. Mark Dreisonstok on BroadwayStars

Sunday, December 26, 2021

Audio Review: ‘Holiday Affair’ presented by Sole Twin Audios by Dr. Mark Dreisonstok

  “Miracle on 34th Street,” “It’s a Wonderful Life,” and several versions of “A Christmas Carol” are some of the most popular Christmas films. For its Christmas audio offering…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 11:56AM
Tuesday, December 14, 2021

Audio Review: Sherlock Holmes and Loveday Brooke’s Mysteries by We Happy Few by Dr. Mark Dreisonstok

With the holiday season ringing in, two Victorian mysteries by We Happy Few might be just the thing! You can spend New Year’s, Christmas, or Boxing Day (since this is a British subject) so…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 05:14PM
Thursday, December 9, 2021

Theatre Review On the Road: ‘Meet Me in St. Louis’ at Riverside Center for the Performing Arts, Fredericksburg, VA by Dr. Mark Dreisonstok

  Holidays celebrate tradition, but paradoxically offer vivid new experiences as well. Riverside Center for the Performing Arts captures this tension wonderfully in its current production o…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 03:43PM
Monday, November 29, 2021

On the Road Theatre Review: ‘Miracle on 34th Street’ at Dutch Apple Theatre in Lancaster, PA by Dr. Mark Dreisonstok

There is a parade of trombones, the beat of snare drums, and a procession of young people in jaunty new band uniforms. We speak not of “The Music Man,” but instead another work by the sa…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 01:42PM
Monday, November 15, 2021

Theatre Review: ‘Irving Berlin’s White Christmas’ at Toby’s Dinner & Show by Dr. Mark Dreisonstok

Toby’s current production of “Irving Berlin’s White Christmas” is a retelling of the beloved Bing Crosby-Danny Kaye 1954 motion picture, more recently revived as a Broadway and touri…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 05:28PM
Sunday, October 31, 2021

Audio Review: ‘Ghost Hunt’ by Sole Twin Audios by Dr. Mark Dreisonstok

For several years now, Rachel Pulliam has produced and directed audio productions for various podcast companies. We have enjoyed her fabulous productions of classic books and dramas of the m…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 03:16PM
Sunday, October 24, 2021

Audio Review: ‘A Midnight Dreary: Etched in the Wall’ by We Happy Few by Dr. Mark Dreisonstok

Either the Darkness alters— Or something in the sight Adjusts itself to Midnight . . . These and other lines from Emily Dickinson’s poem, “We Grow Accustomed to the Dark,” introduce …

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 04:31PM
Sunday, August 22, 2021

Audio Review: ‘Suspense’ and ‘Quiet, Please,’ Audio Plays at Sonic Summerstock Playhouse by Dr. Mark Dreisonstok

Fans of classic audio drama will be happy to learn that Sonic Summerstock Playhouse is here again in full swing! Whether one’s interest lies in mystery, drama, or thrillers, there is somet…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 02:21PM
Friday, July 9, 2021

Opera Concert Review: “I Puritani” presented by Washington Concert Opera by Dr. Mark Dreisonstok

The 1648 victory of the “Roundhead” Puritan forces of Oliver Cromwell over the Cavaliers of King Charles I in England may seem an odd subject for an opera. Yet the event did command the …

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 10:25AM
Friday, July 2, 2021

Concert Review: Glen Boswick and the Sound of Swing Orchestra at Elation Brewery by Dr. Mark Dreisonstok

The Sound of Swing Orchestra is a 1940s-style big band which faithfully recreates swing-era staples such as Jimmie Lunceford’s “For Dancer’s Only,” Tommy Dorsey’s “Opus One” an…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 12:04PM
Thursday, June 17, 2021

Audio Review: ‘The System of Doctor Goudron and Professor Plume’ presented by the National Edgar Allan Poe Theatre on the Air on WYPR by Dr. Mark Dreisonstok

“The System of Doctor Goudron and Professor Plume” is the latest installment of the National Edgar Allan Poe Theatre on the Air. While modeled on Edgar Allan Poe’s “The System of Doc…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 03:34PM
Thursday, April 22, 2021

Jazz Review: ‘The Standard Tour: Dreams’ by Aubrey Logan by Dr. Mark Dreisonstok

Multi-talented jazz vocalist and trombonist, Aubrey Logan, recently performed a fabulous, live-streaming concert, “The Standard Tour: Dreams,” from Austin, Texas, her adopted hometown. I…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 01:07PM
Thursday, March 25, 2021

Concert Review: ‘One-Year Reunion Tour – At Home and In Concert’ by Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox by Dr. Mark Dreisonstok

Postmodern Jukebox (PMJ), founded and led by pianist Scott Bradlee, is a unique musical aggregation. It is a collection of largely young jazz musicians and vocalists who perform contemporary…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 11:34AM
Wednesday, March 10, 2021

Audio Review: The Steve Cooper Orchestra’s CDs Cover the Great American Songbook by Dr. Mark Dreisonstok

The Steve Cooper Orchestra offers a wonderful window into the American musical past, playing ballrooms in the Chicago area and also sharing their music on CD recordings. Mr. Cooper is especi…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 11:10AM
Monday, March 1, 2021

Audio Review: ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ presented by the National Edgar Allan Poe Theatre on the Air, WYPR by Dr. Mark Dreisonstok

“Please, this way,” says Dr. Maillard, the rascally director of the mental institution in the latest National Edgar Allan Poe Theatre on the Air. “My next patient might seem quite… w…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 02:29PM
Tuesday, February 16, 2021

Audio Review: ‘Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Dancing Men’ by We Happy Few by Dr. Mark Dreisonstok

Brent Morris is a mathematician, scholar of Freemasonry, and Sherlock Holmes aficionado who lectures on “The Adventure of the Dancing Men” and cryptology at the heart of the famous Sherl…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 04:16PM
Thursday, February 4, 2021

Opera Review: ‘Hansel and Gretel’ presented by Bel Cantanti Opera by Dr. Mark Dreisonstok

  The story of Hansel and Gretel is one of the most famous of Grimm’s fairy tales. The story has had many iterations through the years, notably Engelbert Humperdinck’s famous 1893 ope…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 05:38PM
Tuesday, January 26, 2021

Theatre Review: ‘A Gilbert and Sullivan Drawing Room’ by Victorian Lyric Opera Company by Dr. Mark Dreisonstok

In what it bills as its first film, Victorian Lyric Opera Company of Rockville, Maryland, has produced “A Gilbert and Sullivan Drawing Room.” Directed by Erica Ferguson with cinematograp…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 04:56PM
Sunday, January 10, 2021

Audio Review: ‘Flash Gordon’ by Oasis Family Media by Dr. Mark Dreisonstok

Flash Gordon, the “space opera” science fiction hero, has appeared in many media. Beginning with an artistically-aware comic strip by master comic strip artist Alex Raymond, Flash has ap…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 11:39AM
Sunday, January 3, 2021

Concert Review: ‘A Salute to Vienna and Budapest,’ from A Salute to Vienna New Year’s Concert by Dr. Mark Dreisonstok

The New Year’s Concert from Vienna has become not only a tradition for residents and visitors to the Austrian capital, but also for millions of television viewers the world over. To bring …

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 07:17PM
Thursday, December 24, 2020

CD Review: ‘Duke Ellington’s Nutcracker Suite, Live at Blues Alley,’ by the Eric Felten Jazz Orchestra by Dr. Mark Dreisonstok

  “I beg you to call to mind the table covered with your last Christmas gifts…” Thus we read in E.T.A. Hoffmann’s Christmas fantasy “The Nutcracker and the King of Mice.” Since …

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 12:50PM
Monday, December 14, 2020

Audio Review: ‘The Mystery of the Drawn Daggers,’ a Loveday Brooke Mystery by We Happy Few by Dr. Mark Dreisonstok

We Happy Few is a small but dynamic theatrical company housed in the Washington, DC Capitol Hill neighborhood. Currently, they are producing dramatized audio versions of classic mysteries, b…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 01:15PM
Wednesday, December 9, 2020

Theatre Review: ‘A Drifty Holiday,’ streaming from Swift Creek Mill Theatre by Dr. Mark Dreisonstok

Located in South Chesterfield, Virginia, some twenty miles from Richmond, Swift Creek Mill Theatre is housed in a former grist mill dating back to 1663.  Normally a venue for dinner and a s…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 11:28AM

Audio Review: ‘Hop Frog’ by the National Edgar Allan Poe Theatre on the Air, WYPR by Dr. Mark Dreisonstok

The Baltimore-based National Edgar Allan Poe Theatre on the Air returns this month of December with Caroline Bennett’s superb adaptation of Poe’s story “Hop-Frog.” As usual in this s…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 11:21AM
Saturday, November 21, 2020

Theatre Review: ‘Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn’ on PBS Great Performances by Dr. Mark Dreisonstok

  In anticipation of the holidays, PBS recently aired Roundabout Theatre Company’s  production of “Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn” on its long-running Great Performances series. It i…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 01:08PM
Saturday, October 31, 2020

Audio Review: ‘A Midnight Dreary: All Things Heard in the Heavens and the Earth’ by We Happy Few by Dr. Mark Dreisonstok

In both story and verse, Edgar Allan Poe tried to connect thoughts with sounds or, as he himself put it in “The Rationale of Verse,” “the very germ of a thought seeking satisfaction in…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 03:33PM
Friday, October 23, 2020

Audio Review: Sonic Summerstock Playhouse at the Sonic Society by Dr. Mark Dreisonstok

Cultural historian Martin Grams’ annual October Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention in Maryland, with its film showings, radio recreations, and lectures on popular culture, was cancelled thi…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 04:54PM
Thursday, October 8, 2020

Audio Review: ‘Never Bet the Devil Your Head’ by Poe Theatre on the Air by Dr. Mark Dreisonstok

    “Romantic poetry is a progressive universal poetry. Its mission is […to] fill and saturate the forms of art with sterling material of every kind, and inspire them with the vibratio…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 02:59PM
Tuesday, September 29, 2020

Audio Review: ‘The Flying Dutchman’ on ‘Doctor Who’ at Big Finish Audio by Dr. Mark Dreisonstok

In a series of Big Finish audio adventures of the legendary Time Lord “Doctor Who,” classic theatre sometimes comes to the fore. So was it in “The Mask of Tragedy,” which found the D…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 10:32AM
Tuesday, September 22, 2020

Audio Review: ‘Dark Shadows’ by Oasis Family Media by Dr. Mark Dreisonstok

There was a time when home technology did not allow viewers to watch their favorite shows via DVD’s, VHS cassettes, video streams, or even 8 or 16 mm film. Instead, one read “tie-in” n…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 08:42PM
Sunday, August 30, 2020

Theatre Review: ‘Twelfth Night’ at Blackfriars Playhouse by Dr. Mark Dreisonstok

Blackfriars Playhouse of the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton, Virginia, has continued with its productions through the Coronavirus pandemic, streaming  a complete playbill of its al…

SOURCE: mdtheatreguide.com at 02:55PM

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