Tampa Theater Reviews Page 2

Review: Adam Rapp's NOCTURNE Starring Drew Eberhard Will Break Your Heart
by Peter Nason - January 24, 2024

My father’s mom died in 1955.  After my own mother passed away fifty-one years later, one of my sisters asked my father the following question: “How long did it take you to get over the loss of your mother?”  My father, now an old man, pondered the question, remembering his mother who had died a hal...

Review: A Gripping, Thought-Provoking & Highly Entertaining INHERIT THE WIND at the Asolo Repertory Theatre
by Peter Nason - January 22, 2024

Led by two incredible performances and a visionary director, it's a production where everything goes right....

Review: A Dazzling, Inventive Adaptation Of Sondheim's COMPANY Lights Up The Room And Our Hearts At Straz Center For The Performing Arts
by Drew Eberhard - January 12, 2024

What did our critic think of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth's COMPANY at Straz Center For The Performing Arts?...

Review: SCROOGE MACBETH: A MASHUP OF SHAKESPEARE AND CHRISTMAS SHOULD BE ON EVERYONE'S LIST at OFF-CENTRAL PLAYERS
by Drew Eberhard - December 14, 2023

David MacGregor’s Scrooge Macbeth, is a Comedic Holiday Comedy set to the tune of two things... everything Christmas and the most prolific playwright ever known to classical theatre, William Shakespeare. Now I know what your thinking, how can the works of the Bard possibly coincide with that of Holi...

Review: MIRACLE ON 34TH ST: A LIVE MUSICAL RADIO PLAY HERALDS IN THE HOLIDAY SPIRIT at FreeFall Theatre
by Drew Eberhard - December 04, 2023

Miracle on 34th Street is an American Christmas comedic/drama from 1947 that was produced by 20th century Fox. Based on the story by by Valentine Davies, the film was directed by George Seaton and features Maureen O’Hara, John Payne, Natalie Wood, and Edmund Gwenn. Winning three Academy Awards, Mira...

Review: THE GREAT CHRISTMAS COOKIE BAKEOFF is Sugar-Filled Holiday Fun at StageWorks Theatre
by Drew Eberhard - December 02, 2023

The Great Christmas Cookie Bakeoff is a one-act Holiday musical created by Rick Hip-Flore. Featuring a cast of 8 talented students and 4 adults, this whimsical musical is the perfect sugary delight to usher in the Holiday Season. ...

Review: A Dazzling Revival of FUNNY GIRL Ushers in All the Laughs at Straz Center for The Performing Arts
by Drew Eberhard - December 01, 2023

Funny Girl is a semi-autobiographical comedic musical about the life and times of comedian and Broadway star Fanny Brice, and her tumultuous relationship with entrepreneur and gambler Nick Arnstein. With a musical score by Jules Styne, lyrics by Bob Merill, and featuring a book by Isobel Lennart, Fu...

Review: The Incomparable Jeffrey Walker Stands Out in the Center Stage Youth Theatre's Production of LES MISERABLES
by Peter Nason - November 21, 2023

The young cast brings the iconic musical to life, with a lead performance that will not soon be forgotten....

Review: A Powerful Staging Of Jean-Paul Sartre's NO EXIT Takes Center Stage At The Off-Central Players
by Drew Eberhard - November 10, 2023

No Exit is an Existentialist French play from 1944 written by Jean-Paul Sartre. The play had its first performance at the Theatre du Vieux-Colombier in May of the same year. Sartre’s inception of the play centered around this idea of the look and the ontological struggle of being caused to see onese...

Review: A Unique Telling Of A Poirot Mystery as POIROT RETURNS Continues Their Sleuthing at Stageworks Theatre
by Drew Eberhard - November 04, 2023

Playwright Larry Alexander has always been a fan of Agatha Christie and over the years has read and re-read her work. At the height of the Pandemic, Larry was in rehearsal for a new musical that was shuttered into the second week of rehearsal. With no idea when the musical would remount, Larry was t...

Review: The Royal Knight Stage Company of River Ridge High School Presents the Timely, Devastating I NEVER SAW ANOTHER BUTTERFLY
by Peter Nason - October 28, 2023

A gutsy director leads a gutsy young cast in telling this classic true-life story....

Review: Spooktacular production of BEETLEJUICE THE MUSICAL at Straz Center
by Deborah Bostock-Kelley - October 25, 2023

BEETLEJUICE THE MUSICAL is a show that revels in its own weirdness and invites the audience to do the same. The musical is a rollercoaster of laughs, gasps, and heartwarming moments. Capturing the spirit of the original film while carving out its unique identity as a musical, the show's mischievous ...

Review: A Rocky Start Helps to Usher in Halloween With BEETLEJUICE THE MUSICAL at Straz Center for The Performing Arts
by Drew Eberhard - October 25, 2023

Beetlejuice the Musical, is a live stage musical, based on the 1988 film of the same name in which Michael Keaton plays the iconic ghoul. The musical features music and lyrics by Eddie Perfect, with a book by Scott Brown and Anthony King. ...

Review: Chris Cordero, Brianna Filippelli & Evan Lomba Lead a Great Cast in New Tampa Players' SHREK: THE MUSICAL
by Peter Nason - October 21, 2023

The entire cast is stellar, but Evan Lomba is extraordinary as a Donkey like no other!...

Review: A Blistering Adaptation of FRANKENSTEIN Will Take Your Breath Away at Jobsite Theater
by Drew Eberhard - October 20, 2023

Set to the “heartbeat” of an unbelievably brilliant sound design by Jeremy Douglass, Jobsite Theater’s presentation of Nick Dear’s Frankenstein, is a slow-burn, salt-in-the-wound, gripping, tour-de-force that will leave you speechless. ...

Review: THE WORLD PREMIERE OF NATALIE SYMONS' NIGHTSWEAT TAKES CENTER STAGE at FreeFall Theatre
by Drew Eberhard - October 20, 2023

Nightsweat is a comedic farce mixed with a a little mystery and some horror tropes placed throughout. What began as a singular idea, spun off a conversation between playwright Natalie Symons and local favorite Matthew McGee, is now in full glory onstage at its rightful home freeFall Theatre. ...

Review: THe World Premiere of GHOST STORIES FROM YELLOWSTONE Takes Center Stage at The Off-Central Players
by Drew Eberhard - October 09, 2023

Written and Directed by local area playwright William Leavengood, this marks the 3rd collaboration with the Off-Central Players, following The Sister-Mothers of Gulfport, and The Azure Sky in Oz....

Review: THE CHOIR OF MAN at Straz Center's Jaeb Theatre
by Deborah Bostock-Kelley - October 08, 2023

The story, created by Nic Doodson and Andrew Kay, lets us in on The Jungle's long history of having a choir. In the shortest 90 minutes ever, we're laughing and crying, enchanted by stories, clapping along, tapping our feet, singing familiar tunes, and even catching bags of 'crisps' they toss into t...

Review: St. Petersburg City Theatre Brings Disney's Magical MARY POPPINS to Life in a Most Delightful Way
by Peter Nason - October 08, 2023

A large talented cast with so much energy brings this iconic musical to life!...

Review: Direct from the UK, THE CHOIR OF MAN Welcomes Tampa to the Jungle at Straz Center for the Performing Arts
by Drew Eberhard - October 07, 2023

Created by Nic Doodson and Andrew Kay, The Choir of Man is a British musical set inside a traditional British or Irish Pub. The unique concept includes a working bar on-stage in which audience members can be served beer during the pre-show and during the performance. For the Tampa stop, local brewer...

Review: Paula Vogel's Stunning INDECENT at American Stage
by Peter Nason - October 07, 2023

What did our critic think of Paula Vogel's INDECENT at American Stage?...

Review: Arthur Miller's THE CRUCIBLE Staged in Unique Form At ThinkTank Theater And Tampa Rep
by Drew Eberhard - October 03, 2023

Arthur Miller’s Masterpiece The Crucible is a 1953 play that is both dramatized and fictionalized around the true events of the Salem Witch Trials between 1692-93. Written as a Political Allegory on McCarthyism, Miller used its dramatizations to detail a time in which the United States Government pe...

Review: Tampa Rep and Think Tank Theatre's Production of Arthur Miller's THE CRUCIBLE
by Peter Nason - October 01, 2023

It's all over the place in style and tone, but the acting and Miller's wondrous words save the day....

Review: USF School of Theatre & Dance Presents the Cult Favorite RIDE THE CYCLONE
by Peter Nason - September 30, 2023

See what all the buzz is about!...

Review: Jason Robert Brown's Subliminal Masterpiece THE LAST FIVE YEARS OPENS at Richey Suncoast Theatre
by Drew Eberhard - September 18, 2023

The Last Five Years is a musical by Jason Robert Brown that received its premiere at Chicago’s Northlight Theatre in 2001, late in 2002 it was produced off-Broadway. Since its premiere, the musical has spawned numerous productions across the United States, and overseas, and even received treatment a...