Austria Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations

Review: FRANK WILDHORNS WONDERLAND at Landestheater Linz
by Martin Ganeider - May 20, 2025

HitSquad Records released Frank Wildhorn's Wonderland, loosely based on Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, which had its German-speaking Premiere in September 2024 at the Landestheater Linz....

Review: FOLLIES at Volksoper, Wien
by Gabor Szilagyi - May 02, 2025

Follies, Stephen Sondheim’s timeless masterpiece is a unique work of musical theatre. Much more than a simple musical comedy, but nonetheless it has its elements. It is a brave attempt to confront the audience not only with their own weaknesses, but also with their shared memory, as the musical simu...

Review: ROCK OF AGES ON TOUR at Stadthalle Wien
by Martin Ganeider - April 20, 2025

The 80s are back in town, and we are invited into the legendary Bourbon Room to enjoy small-town Girl Sherrie (Inga Krischke) falling in love with Drew Boley (played by the amazing Matthias Trattner) and witness their roller-coaster relationship....

Review: DER DUFT VON WIRKLICHKEIT at STELLA Theater Prückl
by Martin Ganeider - March 31, 2025

At the end of the 1920s, Berlin experiences an artistic heyday, the era of the great UFA sound films, and people flock to the cinemas. After Hitler's 'seizure of power' in 1933, UFA came under the pressure of Propaganda Minister Goebbels. Jewish artists are dismissed, and their films are banned. The...

Review: THE STORY OF MY LIFE DIE GESCHICHTE MEINES LEBENS at Theater Spielraum
by Martin Ganeider - March 20, 2025

What did our critic think of THE STORY OF MY LIFE DIE GESCHICHTE MEINES LEBENS at Theater Spielraum?aMarch 19, 2025, marks the Opening Night for Neil Bartrams (Lyrics and Music) and Brian Hill's (book) Chamber Musical, THE STORY OF MY LIFE (Die Geschichte Meines Lebens- translated by Daniel Große Bo...

Review: BERLIN BERLIN at Museumsquartier WIen
by Martin Ganeider - January 17, 2025

The critically acclaimed revue is hitting the road and stopping in Vienna for a strictly limited run. Ages ago, Berlin was the center of the world, with its Night Clubs, Bars, and the famous Admiralspalast with its Conférenciers the Variety 'Admiral' (played by Simon Stockinger, well-deserved Winner...

Review: CULINARICAL 8.0 GOES MOVIE at DAS VINDOBONA
by Martin Ganeider - January 16, 2025

Culinarical 8.0. Wolfgang Ebner's Musical and Dine Dinner show is back for another season, with famous songs from movies. Shortly after the WICKED phenomenon hit movie theatres worldwide, choosing the movie theme for this year's run was smart....

Review: SISTER ACT THE MUSICAL at Stadthalle Wien
by Martin Ganeider - December 24, 2024

The nuns hit the road and visit Vienna for the most wonderful time of the year. Opening in town on December 23rd for a strictly limited run, the show, with music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Glenn Slater, and book by Cheri and Bill Steinkellner, is bringing loads of nun fun back to Vienna, where it onc...

Review: WICKED THE MOVIE at Cinemas
by Martin Ganeider - December 12, 2024

It's the most anticipated movie of the year. We have been waiting for a long time to experience the transfer from the stage version to the silver screen. With all the social media buzz, it's hard to escape WICKED THE MOVIE (Part 1). Still, apart from the Cynthia  Erivo/Ariana Grande exhibit friendsh...

Review: BOOK PRESENTATION CASPAR RICHTERS MEMOIRS at DAS VINDOBONA
by Martin Ganeider - November 27, 2024

Caspar Richter, the long-time musical director of the most valuable musical orchestra in Europe, the VBW Orchestra, who left us in February 2023, was working on his memoirs with author Christine Piswanger-Richter, to release the final work on September 16, his 80th birthday. It would have been a ple...

Review: RICHARD O'BRIEN'S ROCKY HORROR SHOW at Museumsquartier WIen
by Martin Ganeider - November 23, 2024

What did our critic think of RICHARD O'BRIEN'S ROCKY HORROR SHOW at Museumsquartier WIen?...

Review: SOMETHING ROTTEN! at Landestheater Linz
by Martin Ganeider - November 17, 2024

SOMETHING ROTTEN! opens in Linz for its German Language Premiere. The show, written by Karey Kirkpatrick, Wayne Kirkpatrick, and John O'Farrell, is presented in German for the first time....

Review: TONI MÖRWALD'S PALAZZO at Spiegelpalast
by Martin Ganeider - October 24, 2024

As the leaves display their vibrant fall colors and Christmas approaches, it's time for the PALAZZO season in Vienna. The beloved dinner show has returned, nestled in the heart of the city's famous amusement park, the Wurstelprater. This year's theme differs from previous experiences in the Spiegelp...

Review: DIE DREI VON DER TANKSTELLE at Metropol
by Martin Ganeider - October 11, 2024

Based on the famous German Musical movie from the 1930s starring Willy Fritsch, Oskar Karlweis, the legendary Heinz Rühmann, and Lilian Harvey, the stage adaptation is coming to Vienna's Metropol after a successful run at the Schloss Weitra Festival. The story is about three friends, Aris Sas (Willi...

Review: HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH at DAS VINDOBONA
by Martin Ganeider - September 25, 2024

This wicked establishment called Vindobona is humbled to present HEDWIG for the 24/25 season. This rampant, genderqueer, eastern Berlin Rock-Singers story is a Gift for Musical theatre: loud, nasty, sexy, profoundly moving, and—long story short— it rocks!...

Review: ELISABETH IN CONCERT at Schönbrunn Palace
by Martin Ganeider - June 28, 2024

Let's have a blast with Elisabeth the Musical-Concert Version for the fourth and last time in the picturesque courtyard of Schönbrunn Palace....

Review: 1000 JAHRE TSCHAUNER at Tschauner Bühne
by Martin Ganeider - June 13, 2024

100 Years Tschauner, the latest Theater Comedy revue at Vienna's most famous impromptu stage, is the chosen production to kick off this year's Tschauner Season in the heart of Ottakring. It's the 115th anniversary, celebrating 115 years of delightful entertainment and countless unforgettable theatre...

Review: THE SOUND OF MUSIC at Volksoper Wien
by Gabor Szilagyi - May 22, 2024

Rodgers and Hammerstein’s eternal holiday favourite musical, The Sound of Music is so much more than a stage incarnation of the legendary, multi-award winner movie. The current German language version from Volksoper Wien is a faithfully produced, serviceably staged, beautifully sung performance, a r...

Review: DAVOR/DANACH (BEFORE/AFTER) at Theatre Spielraum
by Martin Ganeider - April 22, 2024

Davor/Danach (Before/After) is an intimate chamber musical written by Stuart Matthew Price and Timothy Knapman. It can be seen for the first time in German at the Theatre Spielraum in the heart of Vienna....

Review: ROCK OF AGES at Stadthalle Wien
by Martin Ganeider - April 14, 2024

What did our critic think of ROCK OF AGES at Stadthalle Wien?...

Review: THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA at Raimund Theater
by Martin Ganeider - March 16, 2024

What did our critic think of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA at Raimund Theater?...

Review: FOOTLOOSE THE MUSICAL at Stadthalle Wien
by Martin Ganeider - February 08, 2024

What did our critic think of FOOTLOOSE THE MUSICAL at Stadthalle Wien? Remember those days when dancing in Bomont was prohibited, and we watched the young Kevin Bacon as Ren McCormack, giving it all for the sake of dancing and all the unfortunate souls in this prim little town. Of course, there wasn...

Review: WEST SIDE STORY at Volksoper
by Martin Ganeider - January 28, 2024

What did our critic think of WEST SIDE STORY at Volksoper?...

Review: CANDIDE at Museumsquartier Halle E
by Martin Ganeider - January 19, 2024

Leonard Bernstein's masterpiece, Candide, is back in Vienna for a strictly limited run. Based on Voltaire's 18th-century novel, Bernstein created a so-called comic operetta, or as some might say, a musical in an old-fashioned way. You may call it whatever you want. At the end of the evening, it is a...

Review: WORKING at MUK Theater
by Martin Ganeider - December 18, 2023

There might be no better place for a university for music and arts than in the heart of Vienna, surrounded by historical buildings where the greatest composers of all time have been strolling around. Unsurprisingly, many now-famous musical actors, like the latest newcomer, Moritz Mausser (ROCK ME AM...