HOUSTON THEATER REVIEWS

I realize part of the fun of THE SECRETARY is it never comes down heavily on one side or the other on the gun debate, but that also means I sat there frustrated as I felt there was little point to whipping out pistols and taking on issues....

It is perversely funny, profane at many points, but in the end shows huge heart and calls for the virtue of love and service to your fellow man. It's not exactly a family-friendly show, but it is one your 16 year-old son would prefer to see over THE SOUND OF MUSIC....

What can I say about the 4th Wall production of Kate Hamill's PRIDE & PREJUDICE? I dig it....

It's December and the holidays are here whether we like it or not. Cue the tinsel, tidings of great joy and the maple syrup. Yes, the maple syrup!...

Theatre Under the Stars' BEAUTY AND THE BEAST is the classic storybook tale vibrantly come to life in every aspect. From the captivating scenic design, to the brilliant costuming, to the songs that prompted many to sing along quietly to themselves in the audience, this 'tale as old as time' is a glo...

The Houston Ballet, after a year of touring various Houston venues while awaiting the refurbishment of the flood-damaged Wortham Theatre Center, makes a triumphant return in Stanton Welch's THE NUTCRACKER....

This is an irreverent retelling with no apologies about what it is doing.  The performers know this, and camp it up to the level of… well… that drag queen who hosts the whole thing....

The Catastrophic Theatre's production of FIRST SUBURB is utterly relatable and simply unshakable. From the open to the close, the show felt like a hug from an old friend. Set in the 90's, the show actively triggers your sense memory, and immerses audiences into the way-back-when. But like most memor...

The common themes seem to be 4am, animals and their instincts, an obsession with INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM, and lots of introspective angst about miscommunication....

Technically the effects still work, and I watched as the shocked younger members of the audience witnessed practical effects to contrast all the CGI they had grown up on. PHANTOM OF THE OPERA still has the same magic three decades later....

Though it's 2018 in Houston, Texas, at the height of the 2018 primary election, but thankfully, there's an escape from the tumultuous political climate where blue and red are the subject. The color of today is green....

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I was fortunate enough to see Houston's Classical Theatre Company present THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, written by Arthur Conan Doyle (Writer of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes novel series). This production of THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, directed by Melissa Flower, was a wonderful curveball t...

Today is the last day Dominique Morisseau's SKELETON CREW will run at the Alley Theatre. The play is the final chapter 'The Detroit Project,' a 3-play cycle which includes DETROIT '67 and PARADISE BLUE....

It's basically THE SOUND OF MUSIC set in a cabin and good fun for the entire family! Well…. Addams Family perhaps....

Pulitzer Prize-Winnng Sam Shepard's CURSE OF THE STARVING CLASS displays the lives of the working-class Tate family as they navigate everything from suffocating debt, to teenage crime, to marital distress and back again. Checking the fridge for food (that is never there) is a regular routine-turned-...

No need to bury the lede: this production of LES MISERABLES is the most true-to-Broadway theatrical experience I have ever had outside of the Great White Way. Cameron Mackintosh's subtle updates breathe new life into the classic material, and deliver one of those rarified theatrical moments in which...

In a way it is like watching a heady special episode of CHEERS set in London in the early 1620s. It seems like a place where everybody would know your name, and in the case of Will they did....

The year is 1872, the setting is London, and the bet was made at exactly 8:55pm for 20,000 pounds. Or, at least that's how our practical, punctual main character Phileas Fogg would describe the scene. Fogg, a logical and calculated gentleman is willing to bet his entire fortune on the latest claim t...

In the theatre world, your first time seeing Rodgers & Hammerstein's OKLAHOMA! is essentially a rite of passage. You either love it or you don't-and the pendulum can swing either direction depending on the actors, designers, and director's choices. Ever since I sat in my Survey of Musical Theatre cl...

JESUS HOPPED THE 'A' TRAIN does what 4th Wall Theatre Company does best: explore valid, thought-provoking, true stories that linger on your mind for days following....

THE MOORS seeks to say something about the visibility and state of women today through the lens of satirizing Victorian era romantic literature like JANE EYRE, WUTHERING HEIGHTS, or THE WOMAN IN WHITE. I am not sure it wholly achieves what it sets out to do, but it certainly has a lot of fun along t...

Originally conceived by playwright Young Jean Lee, it was performed as spoken word broken up by punk rock songs about pain and death. Somehow performer Alli Villines has turned it into a ukulele folk festival! But I ask dear reader, what could be more punk rock than a collection of named ukuleles pl...

This is an intense drama exploring the depths of a man who feels ostracized by a group that is already shunned by society. It's a play about loneliness and deathwishes that spiral out of control....

OLEANNA demands to be seen again, and The Landing Theatre Company has just the right chops to bring it to life at 14 Pews. It feeds off the intimate space, and they have found two actors who have the energy to deliver the message at the right pitch to make the audience squirm....