"The Hot L Baltimore" - by Lanford Wilson - Pasture Prime Players (Charlton, MA.) - REVIEW
(Cover Photo: Tiffany Betty as “Jackie,” Madelaine Jean as "Girl" and Erin Simpson as “Millie" in a scene from Lanford Wilson's "THE HOT L BALTIMORE" presented by Pasture Prime Players in Charlton, MA. now playing through April 26, 2026. Photo Credit Don Konopacki)
By Kevin T. Baldwin
METRMAG Reviewer
# 774-242-6724
“I long ago gave up being sentimental about losing propositions.”
- ("Millie") / Lanford Wilson
Pasture Prime Players
Presents Lanford Wilson's
"THE HOT L BALTIMORE"
Written by Lanford Wilson
Produced and Directed by Don Konopacki
Cast Includes: Anthony Johnson as “Bill Lewis,” Madelaine Jean as "Girl," Erin Simpson as “Millie," Angela Clark as "Mrs. Bellotti,” Rose Gage as “April,” Eric Hart as “Mr. Morse,” Tiffany Betty as “Jackie,” Michael Chappell, Jr. as “Jamie," Stephen Jean as “Mr. Katz,” Katie Walsh as “Suzy,” Joe Sawyer as “Suzy’s John/Pizza Delivery Guy,” Luis “Tito” Aviles as “Paul Granger III,” Deborah Hollett as “Mrs. Oxenham/Cab Driver.”
Additional Creative Team:
Stage Manager - Morgan Caseday; Stage Hand - Morgan Caseday; Makeup - Deborah Hollett; Set Design - Don Konopacki; Set Construction - Stephen Jean, Don Konopacki; Properties - Rose Gage; Technical Director - Don Konopacki; Lighting & Sound Operator - Nick Jorge.
Performances:
April 17, 2026 through April 26, 2026
(Contact Box Office for Exact Times)
Performances to be held at Pasture Prime Players, 4 Dresser Hill Road, Charlton, MA.
TICKETS:
Reservations may be made by calling # 508-248-5448.
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COVID 19 PROTOCOLS
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(Warning: The following review contains spoilers)
This spring, Pasture Prime Players offers us some stark reality in the form of some “suite dreams” with their ambitious undertaking of Lanford Wilson’s classic play "THE HOT L BALTIMORE" now playing in Charlton.
Set in the deteriorating lobby of the seedy “Hotel Baltimore,” the three-act "HOT L" focuses on the occupants of the dilapidated estate in which each calls “home.”
As the story progresses, these discarded members of society must face eviction from this residence upon receiving notices that the “Hotel Baltimore” is condemned and scheduled to be demolished.
Note: The title "HOT L" – sometimes pronounced as “HOTeL” – comes from the hotel's neon marquee that has a burned-out letter "e".
Whichever way you personally choose to pronounce the show, just see this intricately written play as it is a masterful work by Wilson about throwaway people just trying to survive in a disposable society.
"THE HOT L BALTIMORE" debuted Off-Broadway in 1973 running until 1976 and closing after an impressive 1,166 performances.
The show would figure prominently in the careers of future stars Conchata Ferrell and Judd Hirsch among others.
The original run of "HOT L" would go on to win many awards including an Outer Critics Circle Award, the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best American Play of 1972–73, multiple Obie Awards including Best American Play, and also accolades for the show’s playwright Lanford Wilson.
In 1975, producer Norman Lear adapted the play for a failed 13-episode half-hour ABC sitcom.
However, the series would also be a crucial stepping stone for many of Lear’s unofficial television “repertory company” of players that included Ferrell (who appeared in multiple Lear shows) along with actors James Cromwell (famed for starring opposite a talking pig in “Babe” but also appeared as “Stretch Cunningham” in Lear’s “All in the Family”), Richard Masur (from Lear’s “One Day at a Time” but also appeared in the John Carpenter film “The Thing”) and Charlotte Rae (yes, “Mrs. Garrett” from Lear’s “Facts of Life”).
(Photo: Members of the CAST of Lanford Wilson's "THE HOT L BALTIMORE" presented by Pasture Prime Players in Charlton, MA. now playing through April 26, 2026. Photo Credit Don Konopacki)
In the Pasture Prime Players staging by director Don Konopacki, the noteworthy set design is mostly kept basic but there is an admirable attempt at an antiquated telephone switchboard circa 1970s but probably was implemented at the hotel in the 50s, that actually lights up.
The nighttime desk clerk at "THE HOT L BALTIMORE" is Bill Lewis (Anthony Johnson), the night clerk at the hotel who spends most of his time being pestered by the persistently perky call Girl (Madelaine Jean) who apparently goes by numerous aliases but is mostly referred to in the show as “Martha.”
Johnson is good projecting some of the fondness Bill actually has for the exuberant Girl but shows how Bill is incapable of communicating those feelings directly to the extremely talkative and curious Girl.
As the Girl, Madelaine Jean is responsible for maintaining the only emotional light to be found in the otherwise dim world that permeates "THE HOT L."
Jean does a consistent job maintaining the enthusiasm and optimism of the talkative and curious Girl who quickly becomes involved in everybody's business at the hotel.
Later in the show, we meet agitated hotel manager Mr. Katz (Stephen Jean), who seems to welcome the forthcoming wrecking ball as it will release him from the hell that is "THE HOT L."
In the show’s second of three acts, we meet Bill’s counterpart, the day desk clerk Mrs. Oxenham (Deborah Hollett who later doubles as a cab driver), whose only goal seems to be to get through her workday with as little interruption as possible…which never happens.
We also are introduced to retired waitress Millie (Erin Simpson), an elegant older woman who believes in ghosts. Simpson has a fine grasp of the Wilson-scribed character that considers the hotel haunted by specters of past residents.
Then there is elderly Mr. Morse (Eric Hart), who seems to be slowly losing touch with reality.
Hart gives probably the best interpretation of his assigned character, a complainer who likes to complain and a man agitated by things both real and imaginary.
In addition to naïve newbie call girl Martha, there are also jaded, battle-hardened veteran prostitutes April (Rose Gage) and Suzy (Katie Walsh).
Gage and Walsh do a fine job portraying April and Suzy as equally world-weary but polarized in how each views that world.
April is a raunchy realist but has more compassion while Suzy is less crass but far more self-centered, believing her better days are still ahead.
(Photo: Stephen Jean as “Mr. Katz” with Deborah Hollett as “Mrs. Oxenham” in a scene from Lanford Wilson's "THE HOT L BALTIMORE" presented by Pasture Prime Players in Charlton, MA. now playing through April 26, 2026. Photo Credit Don Konopacki)
The balance of "HOT L" characters depicts several struggling families, all dealing with some kind of estrangement.
Among them:
First, there is Mrs. Bellotti (Angela Clark), the mother of a former tenant, who pesters Bill and Katz relentlessly about her son, a character that is never seen.
While Bellotti has lengthy dialogues about her son and his circumstances, nothing concrete is mentioned but one might infer that her son was thrown out by his father for being homosexual (still considered a "deviant lifestyle" and punishable crime when the show was released) which has led to other issues in his life.
Then there is Paul Granger (Luis “Tito” Aviles) a young man who is seen sleeping through most of the first act but then it is learned he is seeking his long-lost grandfather, with a last known residence being "THE HOT L."
Learning of Paul’s quest, the Girl soon adopts Paul’s cause as her own, since no one else on staff seems to be wanting to assist Paul in his search for answers.
Finally, there’s Jackie (Tiffany Betty), a gritty-albeit-attractive girl who wants to leave the city to build a better life for herself and her younger brother Jamie (Michael Chappell, Jr.), who is a little slow and tries to obey his sister, although to some degree of difficulty.
Both Betty and Chappell have fine rapport on stage, indicating Jackie and Jamie only have one another and, although allusions are made quickly, no real backstory is provided by Wilson to explain their circumstance.
Betty also gives expert delivery on many of Jackie’s tirades against the other residents and staff at "THE HOT L BALTIMORE."
(Photo: Tiffany Betty as “Jackie,” Madelaine Jean as "Girl" and Erin Simpson as “Millie" in a scene from Lanford Wilson's "THE HOT L BALTIMORE" presented by Pasture Prime Players in Charlton, MA. now playing through April 26, 2026. Photo Credit Don Konopacki)
There are many moments in the Wilson script with require dialogue to “overlap” and some of the lesser experienced actors have a tendency to come to a complete stop while visibly waiting to be “interrupted” by another actor’s subsequent line in the script.
Those actors either need to continue speaking where the scripted line “stops” or the subsequent “interrupter” needs to cut the actor off quicker so these moments do not appear as awkward.
As with any cast featuring actors of varying experience, some of "THE HOT L" actors have a better sense of delivery than others, occasionally finding the essence of their character but misfiring on the execution or losing some of the nuance required in the delivery of that character’s lines.
Collectively, however, the overall performances by the Pasture Prime cast portraying these aforementioned "throwaway people in a disposable society" honors the Wilson script and gives us insight into just how much…and how little…times have changed.
Check in with the folks at 4 Dresser Hill Road in Charlton, MA. to check out "THE HOT L BALTIMORE" which continues from Pasture Prime Players until April 26th, 2026.
For tickets and more information, contact Pasture Prime Players at # 508-248-5448.
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Approximately two hours, 30 minutes with two intermissions.
Kevin T. Baldwin is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association (ATCA)
@MetrmagReviews
@Theatre_Critics
ABOUT THE SHOW
In Lanford Wilson's "THE HOT L BALTIMORE" the scene is the lobby of a rundown hotel so seedy that it has lost the “e” from its marquee.
As the action unfolds, the residents, ranging from young to old, from the defiant to the resigned, meet and talk and interact with each other during the course of one day.
The drama is of passing events in their lives, of everyday encounters and of the human comedy, with conversations often overlapping into a contrapuntal musical flow.
In the resulting mosaic each character emerges clearly and perceptively defined, and the sum total of what they are—or wish they were—becomes a poignant, powerful call to America to recover lost values and to restore itself in its own and the world's eyes (Concord Theatricals).
ABOUT PASTURE PRIME PLAYERS
PASTURE PRIME PLAYERS, INC. is a volunteer regional theater organization based in Charlton, MA. and made up of a group of people from surrounding towns, who love the theater and the feeling of shared creativity experienced while taking part in a live stage production. It is the intent of the PASTURE PRIME PLAYERS to encourage the development of community theater in Southern Worcester County, to stage live theater performances for residents of the region, and to provide opportunities for everyone, especially amateurs and newcomers, in all aspects of stage production, be it lighting, advertising, set design, acting, music, financial management, design and publishing of programs, or any of the many tasks necessary for the successful production of plays.
PASTURE PRIME PLAYERS
