Hyde & Sink

 

Fans are wrong to blame the Orioles’ manager for the team’s disappointing season.

Orioles manager Brandon Hyde

There was so much promise and enthusiasm leading up to the Baltimore Orioles 2024 season. They were the reigning champs in the best division in baseball. Young, talented and exciting players were poised to break out. The farm system was stocked with high-ranking prospects. A trade was made for a bona fide pitching ace in Corbin Burnes. The team’s ownership changed adding life to a weary fan base that had been soured by the cloud hanging over the team by the Angelos family ownership.

The O’s met the high expectations well into June. They played well, particularly offensively, as they led the major leagues in home runs, runs scored, and a bevy of other offensive categories. They fielded five all-stars. The team was poised to exceed even last year’s win totals.

But then the injury bug hit the team. Not really a bug but a pandemic. Wells, Means, Bradish, Coulombe, Webb, Rodriguez all were either finished for the season or out for significant time. This was on top of not having their brilliant closer Felix Bautista who was out for the year because of Tommy John surgery.

While this misfortune was taking place, the position players started to drop. Westburg, Mateo, Kjerstad, Urias, and Mountcastle have missed significant time. Hays was lost via a trade, as were back-up players Norby and Stowers.

Trades were made at the deadline to bolster the pitching and to put band-aids on the wounded position players’ vacancies. Still, other maladies afflicted the team.

Craig Kimbrel, a likely hall of fame closer, was signed as a free agent to replace the injured Bautista. After a good first half, Kimbrel’s performance sunk like a stone since. He no longer is used in high leverage moments and is relegated to mop-up duty now.

The disappointing performances by once heralded phenoms Jackson Holliday and Coby Mayo have not helped. The decline of those stalwarts who were expected to help propel the O’s to the World Series didn’t help either. I’m especially referring to Mullins, Rutschman, and O’Hearn.

Gunnar Henderson has been the team’s most consistent and feared hitter, but his defensive errors have hurt plus he strikes out too much. Santander reached the 40-home run milestone in his walk year but is woefully inept in driving in runners in scoring position. In fact, the entire team has failed on that front during a sub-par second half.

None of these problems is the fault of the manager Brandon Hyde.

So many fans on social media criticize Hyde even while the team played well in the first half in leading or being close to the top of the division. Fans across major league baseball have seemingly forever from Seattle to Miami and from Boston to San Diego always, and I mean always, second guess their respective manager’s decision making whether it is the batting line-up, bullpen management, failing to call for a bunt, etc.

There is nothing new here. In New York the vitriol is even worse where a fan on X called for Yankee manager Aaron Boone to be imprisoned. Dodger fans have been screaming for Dave Roberts’ firing throughout every 100-win season.

But I find it fundamentally unfair to blame Hyde for the team’s downward spiral. As noted before, the injuries have played a significant role. The failure of the ballyhooed young talent to emerge is a contributing factor as is the regression of some of the veteran players.

When Rutschman chases out of the strike zone, he is not thinking of the manager.

When Santander pops up or strikes out when there are runners on second and third, he’s not thinking of the manager.

When Henderson boots a routine grounder, he’s not thinking of the manager.

When Cowser can’t make contact on a change-up to save his life, he is not thinking of the manager.

When Holliday and Mayo appear overmatched at the plate, they’re not thinking of the manager.

Like all managers, Brandon Hyde cannot control individual performances. It’s up to the players and the coaching staff to work things out. Over the course of baseball’s history, managers have taken the fall for the teams’ failures. Some are fair but others are not. That’s baseball.

While I’m part of an online group where many members derisively call us who defend Hyde as “Hyde apologists,” I still defend him. The accusation that he “lost the clubhouse” is absent of any evidence. Fans believe he should have left a pitcher in longer to achieve a personal outcome and then bemoan the slew of pitching injuries. To be clear, I have questioned a few of his decisions. But I don’t hop on the bandwagon to get him fired.  

Brandon Hyde was the American League Manager of the Year last year.  He should have won it the year before as well. A manager can only operate with the personnel he is given. In my view, the Orioles regression this year is a result of debilitating injuries, hitters pressing and a spotty bullpen. This cannot and should not be pinned on Brandon Hyde.

And yet, the season and post-season still have games to be played and anything is possible in this crazy sport. Time will tell.

The Addams (Not So Normal) Family is a Treat at Toby’s

The Halloween decorations, candy and costumes are already out in the stores and have been since the summer. So, what better treat to partake in the seasonal fun than to head to Toby’s Dinner Theatre in Columbia, Maryland and see the zany musical, The Addams Family and enjoy the luscious show-themed buffet.

Creepy, kooky, mysterious and spooky—that surely defines that ooky Addams family.  You can add hilarious and goofy to the mix, and you have the recipe for a delectable, wacky production.

Not many musicals include potions to provoke one’s inner dark side, torture apparatus, and de-blooming of flowers but The Addams Family has all that and more.  Toby’s production also includes an incredibly well-cast group of performers under the precise direction and choreography by Helen Hayes Award winner Mark Minnick.

The pace of the show is solid, and scene changes, even with large set pieces, are carried out seamlessly with the aid of Lighting Designer Lynn Joslin.

In a tour de force, Jordan B. Stocksdale is fantastic in portraying Gomez Addams. 

The atmosphere in the theatre speaks to this not-so-normal family. With all the cobwebs and odd lighting around the ceiling and walls, I had to do a double take for a moment, thinking I was at home. 

Scenic and Properties designer Shane Lowry brought his creative talent to the fore in employing a series of intricate three-dimensional collages of objects on the theatre’s interior walls from skulls, musical instruments and other items that represent tidbits from The Addams Family comic strip, TV show and film. The opening scene with tombstones on the in-the-round stage amplifies the mood. Set pieces including 19^th century Gothic furniture also feature a Spanish Inquisition chair that is bound to get a response from a person sitting on it. Even “Thing” makes an appearance.

This is not a knock-off of the loveable and popular TV series The Addams Family of mid-60’s yore with John Astin and Carolyn Jones as the leads.  Instead, the stage show, whose music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa and book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, was patterned after the ghoulish characters in Charles Addams’ single-panel gag cartoons.

The storyline centers on the morbid and crazy Addams family—Gomez, Morticia, Uncle Fester, Grandma, Wednesday, Pugsley and the butler Lurch—whose preoccupation with death and darkness provides most of the humor in the show.  They are visited by the strait-laced, so-called normal Beineke family from Ohio—a swing state as bellowed by Gomez—whereby the son Lucas, the beau of Wednesday, brings his parents Mal and Alice to meet the Addamses in a what-can-possibly-go-wrong scenario. This reminds me of the madcap antics that took place in the popular film, The Birdcage.

Fortunately, a lot does go wrong, which forms the essence of the story and the ensuing hilarity.  The hijinks, nuttiness and zingers, however, are largely packed into the first act.  The second act lacks that same torrid pace and comedic punch from the first act with the characters turning to sentimentality and reconciliation, but it is still enjoyable.  In the end, the Addams clan realizes it’s too crazy, and the Beinekes acknowledge they’re not crazy enough.

Musically, Lippa’s score does not contain the memorable tunes that will leave you humming as you exit the theater as in some other musicals.  Nonetheless, his lyrics are potently funny, and in the manner of Sondheim, those lyrics will get your attention. Musical Director and Conductor Ross Scott Rawlings (Nathan Scavilla conducts in other performances) and the six-piece orchestra do a sterling job backing up the extraordinary vocals.

Stand out songs include, “When You’re an Addams,” “Trapped,” “Pulled,” “One Normal Night,” “Full Disclosure,” “Crazier Than You,” and the good advice song “Let’s Live Before We Die.”

Credit Costume Coordinators Janine Sunday and Sarah King, Wig and Hair Designer Jayson Kueberth, Make-Up Design by Ms. Sunday and the excellent work of Mark Smedley’s Sound Design for adding the appropriate spookiness and quality to the production.

The Addams Family at Toby’s is led by its exceptional cast. As much as comedy dominates the show, the vocals and choreography are stellar. Wonderfully varied choreography is exemplified in such numbers as “When You’re an Addams,” “Just Around the Corner” and the superb tango piece “Tango De Amor.”

In a tour de force, Jordan B. Stocksdale is fantastic in portraying Gomez Addams. The Helen Hayes winner for his role as Nostradamus in Toby’s Something Rotten commands the stage with his well-timed rejoinders, gestures and a rich baritone voice. He is particularly strong in singing “Trapped,” the sweet ballad “Happy/Sad,” “Not Today” and “Let’s Live Before We Die” with an exceptional ability to hit the big notes.

Mr. Stocksdale comedic skills are a big part of the show using body language, facial expressions and timing.  This is evident in his portrayal of Gomez as he is challenged to placate Morticia because he kept a certain secret from her (she abhors secrecy) and is one of the major plotlines.

The lovely MaryKate Brouillet as Morticia demonstrates her vocal prowess in “Secrets” and the group number “Just Around the Corner.” She acts with passion and conveys the character’s varied moods so adroitly. Morticia gives a lot of grief to Gomez and was convincing in doing so. Their onstage repartee is excellent.

Wednesday Addams, played by Lydia Gifford, is believable in demonstrating her sadism towards   her younger brother Pugsley and her desire to marry Lucas (played earnestly by Jackson Miller). Her strong vocals are evident in “Pulled” and “Crazier Than You.”

Elijah Doxtater plays younger brother Pugsley (alternates with Colton Roberts) and commands a good range in his vocals (“What If,” a duet with Mr. Stocksdale) and comedic instincts. These traits bode well for this youngster’s future in musical theatre.

In a cross-gender role as the centenarian Grandma, multiple Helen Hayes winner David James is funny at every turn. You can laugh simply by looking at him/her.

Rounding out the Addams clan is Shawn Kettering as Uncle Fester who discovers he is in love with the moon and Adam Grabau as the near silent, methodically plodding Lurch.  Both play their respective characters to the hilt. Mr. Kettering performs on roller skates while singing his love song “The Moon and Me.” He also sings well in “But Love.”

Helen Hayes winner Jeffrey Shankle in the role of Mal Beineke, Lucas’ father, excels as a control-freak whose marriage was about to collapse from deceit and other maladies.  He needed to be crazier, and where would be a better place to start other than the Addams’ mansion in the middle of Central Park?  Mr. Shankle’s usual strong vocals shine in “Crazier Than You.”

His wife Alice, played energetically by Anna Phillips-Brown, is seemingly victimized by Mal’s bland personality. She had turned to random rhymes for solace, and their marital problems seem to work out at the end.  Ms. Phillips-Brown also performs very well in the hilarious loony number “Waiting.”

The remainder of the talented cast portraying the ten living, dead and undecided Addams’ ancestors include Asia-Ligé Arnold, Jessica Barraclough, Brandon Bedore, Benjamin Campion, Rachel Cahoon, Carter Crosby, Joey Ellinghaus, Amanda Kaplan-Landstrom, Alexis Krey-Bedore and Ariel Messeca.

The Addams Family at Toby’s is totally entertaining on many levels, and you will count your blessings that you’re not a relative of that kooky but loveable family. Full disclosure: If you need a laugh or two (or a hundred), this one’s for you.

Running time. 2 hours and 45 minutes with an intermission

Advisory. Fog, haze and strobe effects

The Addams Family runs through November 10 at Toby’s the Dinner Theatre, 4900 Symphony Woods Rd., Columbia, MD 21044.  Tickets may be purchased by calling the box office at 410-730-8311or visiting here. Next up: The Sound of Music – November 15, 2024 through January 12, 2025.

The Menu is shown here. The Drink Special is "The Thing"--alcoholic or non-alcoholic.

Photos by Jeri Tidwell Photography