It’s alive! Young Frankenstein at Toby’s
Prepare for some wild, thoroughly irreverent fun at Toby’s Dinner Theatre with the current show Young Frankenstein, the musical based on Mel Brooks’ hit cult/comedy film from 1974. The musical version was created much more recently, in 2007, but it’s definitely true to the original movie — not surprising since the music and lyrics are also by Brooks himself. Coming on the heels... READ MORE
World premiere focuses on Cone sisters
What’s it all about — art, literature, love, life? Those are questions the play All She Must Possess attempts to explore to varying degrees in Baltimore playwright Susan McCully’s meta-theater premiere, being presented by Rep Stage at Howard Community College. The 80-minute, one-act play doesn’t just break the “fourth wall,” it tears it down completely. Here, “the... READ MORE
Apparently, it’s up to us
My column last month, about my experience with an outrageously and unnecessarily overpriced prescription, generated a good deal of reader comment. In case you missed it, in brief: I was repeatedly encouraged by a doctor, despite my protests, to try out a “new” medication that combined two readily available over-the-counter drugs into a single prescribed pill. The doctor said he would ... READ MORE
Care for hip fracture patients with dementia
Since 1983, researchers in the Division of Gerontology at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, have been gathering data on more than 2,000 hip fracture patients with the goal of identifying promising ways to improve their recovery. The University of Maryland and the National Institute on Aging are currently recruiting participants for a pilot study that will evaluate a home-based... READ MORE
Spotlight on Russian crafts
Chalk it up to my Russian heritage, but I’ve long been fascinated by Russian crafts, and by Fabergé eggs, in particular. So the current exhibition at the Walters Art Museum, “Fabergé and the Russian Crafts Tradition: An Empire’s Legacy,” was right up my alley. But you don’t have to have a Russian grandmother to appreciate this exquisite display. Fabergé eggs are renowned for ... READ MORE
Designing sparkling careers
Dr. Lori Gottlieb’s eyes started to blur and she developed double vision about 14 years ago, but numerous surgeries couldn’t help her. She realized that her life as a general surgeon was over, so she walked away from her medical career. Still being good with her hands, she turned to crafts. For a while, because her eyes function at varying levels throughout the day, she was making... READ MORE
Exhibits highlight black photographers
In an arrestingly beautiful photograph, the crescent-shaped opening of a niqab, a Muslim face cover, reveals a woman’s dark skin, the white of the garment mirroring the whites of her probing eyes. The tight composition and simplicity of the image highlight the woman’s intent gaze. In an interview about his photographic portraits, artist Chester Higgins once said, “What I find most... READ MORE
Making flowers bloom during the winter
Avoid going to the Dark Side in the dead of winter. Brighten your home by forcing branches to awaken indoors and flower now before spring. “Forcing” describes the process of coaxing flowers into bloom indoors, after they have completed their winter dormancy requirement. Materials cut after January 15 usually open well indoors. You may have experience forcing bulbs such as paperwhites ... READ MORE
Love stories from five Virginia presidents
With Valentine’s and Presidents’ Days approaching, curiosity turns to what U.S. presidents were like as sweethearts and husbands. Readers and travelers can gain insight into five “romantics in chief” from Virginia — birthplace of eight U.S. presidents — by visiting the related presidential sites in the Commonwealth. We’ve also listed some nearby romantic inns if you’d... READ MORE
Premiere brings Matisse to life
After more than 100 years, the art collecting Cone sisters of Baltimore, the great French artist Henri Matisse, and the modernist literary icon Gertrude Stein are together again — on stage, at least, at the Howard County Community College in Columbia. They are the leading characters in All She Must Possess, a world premiere play by Baltimorean Susan McCully, being presented at the Rep... READ MORE
