Troupe

You can't beat Bob Fosse. The dance moves created by the late, legendary Broadway choreographer are so definitive that their interpretations by local choreographer Lori Struss are reason enough to see "Chicago," now being revived by Columbia's Silhouette Stages. The production, which runs at Slayton House until the end of the weekend, has more to offer than spiffy dance moves, however. There's also some fine acting, powerful singing and a story that's, well, pretty strange, but nonetheless interesting and very provocative.

It's a little-known fact now, but when the musical "Chicago" made its Broadway debut in 1975, it wasn't much of a hit, running less than a thousand performances. It only became a smash musical and movie when it was revived decades later. That's because it was way ahead of its time, said Conni Ross, who is co-directing a revival of the play for Columbia's Silhouette Stages that opens Friday, May 24. "In the director's notes, one of the things I wrote was, 'This show is as relevant now as it was when it was written,' " said Ross, who is sharing directorial duties with her frequent collaborator Debbie Mobley.

The Lutherville-Timonium Recreation Council's ballet program presented its annual showcase on May 15, this year dubbed, "An Exquisite Cache of Jewels. " The show is an annual labor of love for AnnaMarie Scharbeck, 18-yearcoordinator of the ballet program. Sunday's event, held at Dulaney High School, included more than 90 dancers — from pre-ballet through intermediate, junior and senior troupes — and included an elaborate production choreographed by Louise Kurtz, who has worked with the troupe for some 46 years; and Sarah Smith, associate director.

Fans of the Baltimore-area band Pirates for Sail are accustomed to song titles like "Time Flyes When You're Havin' Rum. " They're used to such silly lyrics as: "Well we're pyrate singers, we've got most of our fingers/ And we pillage everywhere we go. / We sing about booty and we sing about blood / But we can't get paid for a show. " Supporters have rolled their eyes at the story describing the group's first public (albeit unauthorized) appearance at the Mall in Columbia in 2005.

Among the first things that hip-hop performer Damon Holley showed the assembled students at Ellicott Mills Middle School was that, as in schoolwork, learning about hip-hop requires undivided attention. Hip-hop artists simply go about getting that attention differently. "Every time you hear me say, 'What's the name of the game?' I want you all to say, 'Pay attention!' And then I want you to remain completely quiet," said Holley of Illstyle and Peace Productions, a Philadelphia-based dance company that staged a high-energy performance, "The History of Hip-Hop," at Ellicott Mills on Thursday.

We come not to bury the Baltimore Shakespeare Festival, but to praise the outstanding job it did keeping the Bard's work alive for Baltimore audiences for 17 seasons. Parting is such sweet sorrow when the departed one has so entertained, educated and delighted local theatergoers for so long. The company announced last week it was closing due to financial troubles it had been experiencing for nearly a decade and that were exacerbated by the recent recession. Though there has always been an enthusiastic audience here for Shakespeare's enduring masterpieces, they have never been cheap to produce.

The cash-strapped Baltimore Shakespeare Festival is closing its doors after 17 years in operation. The demise of the small troupe, effective immediately, reduces the number of the city's professional stage companies from three to just two: Center Stage and Everyman Theatre . "Everyone is devastated," Peter Toran, the president of the festival's board of directors, said Wednesday. "The decision to close was not made lightly by any means. I've known since I became board president almost two years ago that there were systemic budget issues that we needed to address.

In the late 1990s, Brett Rohrer decided he wanted to be onstage and headed off to an audition at a community theater. He got as far as a nearby parking space. "I just sat in my Jeep," he said. "I drove to auditions several times and never went in. But eventually, I did go in, and I got hired for a role in 'Oklahoma.' Now, the theater is my sanctuary. This keeps me even. If I didn't do this, I might go postal at my job. " Rohrer, a 30-something whose day job is with a printing company, did laugh as he said that, before heading back into rehearsal for "The Great American Trailer Park Musical," which opens Friday at Spotlighters Theatre . That company has roots stretching back to 1962.

This summer, MacArthur Award-winning choreographer Liz Lerman will leave the Takoma Park, Maryland troupe she founded in 1976 to pursue solo projects in dancing and writing. The company, now called the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, will revert to its original name — The Dance Exchange — on July 1. The new artistic director will be choreographer Cassie Meador, 31, who is in her 10 t h year with the troupe. "I have been so supported by the community in the Washington D.C. and Maryland area, and have been challenged to do my best work," Lerman said in a news release.

Let's face it. Baltimore is ripe for satirizing. We've probably got more offbeat people, more distinctive edifices, more colorful history and habits per block than any metropolitan area in the country. Oh yeah, and some crime. The folks at Second City Theatricals, a wing of the venerable Chicago-based Second City enterprise, burrowed earlier this season into our little world, with all of its carefully demarcated neighborhoods. The material they gathered from the experience has been fashioned into a customized show that has settled into Center Stage for a long, no doubt profitable, run. "The Second City Does Baltimore" may be a little long for its own good, and may hit some obvious targets in, well, obvious ways, but there is an awful lot of fresh and very funny stuff here.