Christine Swerczek

Omaha Community Playhouse has opened their 2026 season with a heavy hitting winner. August Wilson’s THE PIANO LESSON won a 1990 Pulitzer and was nominated in five categories for a Tony Award.

Quinn Van Antwerp currently stars as Gordy in this hilarious, but corny, Tony Award-winning musical “SHUCKED” hitting the Orpheum stage January 13-18. Quinn is a veteran of stage and screen, having performed in productions such as THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG and more than 3,000 shows of JERSEY BOYS as Bob Gaudio.

For an utterly charming evening, head to the intimate Enid Miller Lab Theatre at Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln, Nebraska. You won't be disappointed.

What did our critic think of DOUBT: A PARABLE at Brigit Saint Brigit Theatre Co.?

What did our critic think of THE RIVER BRIDE at Omaha Community Playhouse? Omaha Community Playhouse has once again delivered up something new and different---a story built on Brazilian folklore. THE RIVER BRIDE running from August 15 through September 14 in the Howard Drew Theatre is one that leaves you thinking long after the doors to the theatre close.

END OF THE RAINBOW, the story of iconic Judy Garland’s last months of her short 47  years will throw you for a loop. There was no quiet or peace in her tumultuous life of pain, pills and booze. Not matter how talented this woman was, she could not “Get Happy.”

Based on the popular classic children’s tale by Roald Dahl, Tobias Picker composed a three act opera with libretto by Donald Sturrock. The chamber version for a seven piece orchestra was arranged by Francesco Cilluffo. Opera Omaha’s production is directed and imagined by Alison Moritz.

Full speed ahead! The Omaha Community Playhouse has taken to the water with a 1997 Tony Award winning musical, TITANIC, THE MUSICAL. An ambitious undertaking based on actual events of the April 15, 1912 maiden voyage of the unsinkable RMS TITANIC, the musical displays humanity in all its shades when facing the prospect of a better life across the Atlantic or imminent death in its icy waters.

Step into the Howard Drew Theatre at Omaha Community Playhouse and be instantly transported to a new world. AMERICAN MARIACHI is something new and different and shouldn’t be missed. 

I hadn’t planned on reviewing Omaha Community Playhouse’s current offering on the Hawks Mainstage, but I just can’t suppress the urge. Jimmy Buffett’s ESCAPE TO MARGARITAVILLE is just too fun to let it slip away!

Jimmy Buffett’s music is set to send you off on a tropical adventure at the Omaha Community Playhouse April 18 through May 11 on the Hawks Mainstage Theatre.

The film “Some Like it Hot” conjures up visions of blonde Marilyn Monroe with her two musician sidekicks, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, in prohibition era Chicago. The musicians dressed as women join an all women band to avoid a mafia boss when they witness a murder.

THE LIGHTNING THIEF: The Percy Jackson Musical, based on Rick Riordan’s popular novel of the same name, is playing at Nebraska Wesleyan University’s McDonald Theatre through March 2. With music and lyrics by Rob Rokicki and book by Joe Tracz, this production has something for adults and children alike.

What did our critic think of APPROPRIATE: UNCOVERED AND UNCOMFORTABLE at Bluebarn Theatre?

If you want something out of the ordinary to stimulate your brain, check out Bellevue Little Theatre’s production of THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN. I guarantee that your mind will be spinning as you try to solve the mystery of the missing woman.

One of my favorite pieces of musical theatre opened at the Omaha Community Playhouse on January 24th. WAITRESS, featuring the prodigious music and lyrics of Sara Bareilles and book by Jessie Nelson, was adapted from Adrienne Shelly’s 2007 film script of the same name. Shelly wrote, directed and co-starred in the film, but was murdered in 2006 when she was only 40 years old. Sadly, Shelly never saw the film which opened three months later.

What did our critic think of GIRLS LIKE US: A LITTLE NAUGHTY, MOSTLY NICE at Omaha Community Playhouse?

What did our critic think of MATILDA THE MUSICAL IS MARVELOUS! at Nebraska Wesleyan University Theatre?