‘Hot l Baltimore’ opens Saturday in Port Orchard | Kitsap Week
March 16, 2012 · Updated 12:54 PM
PORT ORCHARD — “The Hot l Baltimore” — winner of the New York Drama Circle Award, the Obie Award and the Outer Critics Circle Award — opens this weekend at the Western Washington Center For The Arts, 521 Bay St., Port Orchard.
On Wednesday, a few special-price seats were still available for opening night, which includes pre-show hor’s d’oeuvres and wine. Call (360) 769-7469 or visit the box office or www.wwca.us.
“The Hot l Baltimore,” by Lanford Wilson, is set in the lobby of the Hotel Baltimore. It focuses on the residents of the decaying property who are faced with eviction when the structure is condemned. The play draws its title from the hotel’s neon marquee with a burned-out letter “e,” which was never replaced.
The play brings compassion, humor and arresting theatricality to its imaginative, touching study of lost souls trapped by society’s inexorable decay.
It opened on March 22, 1973 at Circle in the Square Downtown, where it ran for 1,666 performances. In 1975, producer Norman Lear adapted the play for a half-hour ABC sitcom.
“As good as you will find in the modern American theater, Wilson’s writing is simply superb, a triumph of inspiration and craftsmanship,” Women’s Wear Daily wrote.
“Mr. Wilson is both funny and sad about today, and the combination is an unbeatable winner,” wrote the New York Times.
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