Broadway Show Reviews & Critics' Ratings - Page 2

At Round House Theatre, director Jamil Jude stages a brilliant, heightened and deeply emotional interpretation of the Suzan-Lori Parks’ work that is as raw and affecting now as it was when it earned Parks a Pulitzer Prize two decades ago.

What did our critic think of WE'LL ALL BE HERE FOREVER TOUR 2024 - NOAH KAHAN at Xcel Energy Center?

What did our critic think of ROBERT PLANT & ALISON KRAUSS: CAN'T LET GO TOUR 2024 at Mystic Lake Amphitheater?

What did our critic think of THE SUBJECT WAS ROSES at Bay Street Theatre?

Ghost Walk of the Lanes is an eighty-minute tour of “Brighton’s oldest and most haunted quarter,” with a storyteller dressed in a Victorian costume leading audience members around several historic sites of the city, stopping and telling stories, ringing a bell to lead the way.

Kids Can Heckle!, hosted by comedian Ollie Horn, has an interesting concept. As you might be able to guess from the title, children are allowed to heckle. In fact, according to the show’s descriptions, they are “encouraged to jump in, share their ideas, and be as silly as possible,” so you can definitely expect some voices to be chiming in!

TAKING NOTES is a cabaret show with laughs and lessons learned in life and school. with a lot of pop and musical theatre along the way. Andrew Bova is the student taking it all in. The May 31st show was a promising NYC cabaret debut by a gregarious guy with teachable moments.

We must hope that Fascinating Aïda returns very soon.

Happiness, sheer happiness!

Edward Albee, whose odd middle-aged characters have fascinated American theatre-goers since 1962’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, explores what is perhaps his most interesting family dynamic in the 2002 Tony Award-winning play The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? The play is, as you might imagine, about a goat. This is not just any goat, though; this is a home-wrecking goat. Now, you might wonder how a farm animal could possibly drive a wedge in a solid family unit. Well, I’m here to tell you that it does so in a provocative and gut-busting script of genius and absolute hilarity.

What did our critic think of LIGHT BLIND at Riverside Actors Theatre?

She was exceptional, but the musical written about her is anything but. It tends to be old-fashioned and traditional in structure, willing itself to be a majestic epic, but never reaching that stage. Her life story feels rushed and vague, the songs are run-of-the-mill, standardised, lacking that big “I want” statement that would cement her passion and drive the tale. It also all sounds the same throughout. Ultimately, it holds itself back, mainly with the quality of the writing.

A fabulous string of numbers from what is known as The Great American Songbook.

This reviewer left the theater this night with the phenomenal music still humming in my head. The show continues its run on June 7, 8, 10, 11, 12 and 13 at 54 Below with different guests each night, including Marc Shaiman, Alice Ripley, Will Swenson, Seth Rudetsky, Brian Stokes Mitchell and Nova Payton and Kimberly Akimbo’s Olivia Hardy.

This play did the most powerful thing that a play can do. It showed us a picture of the truth. The joyous, horrific, wondrous, terrifying, painful truth.

 It is only appropriate, since the National Spelling Bee wound down last week, that Cain Park, the Cleveland Heights outdoor entertainment venue, has mounted THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE.

Tony winner Karen Ziemba (for 'Contact') leads a stellar cast directed cannily, as usual, by iconic theater maven Austin Pendleton

It's a tale as old as time: the downward spiral of a once-brilliant talent into substance abuse and early death. It's the second half of the 'star is born' template, and it never goes out of style... because it sadly never stops happening in real life. The list is long, with Amy Winehouse as the recent example du jour, but the archetypal musical downfall is legendary jazz vocalist Billie Holiday. Director Tomé Cousin's production of Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill is fascinating, beautiful, but also grueling in its unflinching realism. 

It's always a pleasure to see a Paul Slabolepzy piece! I'm a huge fan. And THE RETURN OF ELVIS DU PISANIE does not disappoint in any way, shape or form. It is an extraordinary performance by Ashley Dowds and a story with pure heart from Slabolepzy.

Heart wrenching. Intoxicating. Love. Courageous. These performers in 26 PEBBLES with the Actor Theatre of Little Rock put out a powerful performance, and they still have a few more days to go.