HOUSTON THEATER REVIEWS

BWW Review: MAMMA MIA! Gives A Farewell Tour At The Hobby Center...

Hide your children; it's going to be a bumpy night....

There's no doubt that Obsidian Theater's THE MOTHERF*#CKER WITH THE HAT wins the award for most attention-grabbing title of the season, but does James Belcher's production live up to the promise of that title? Is it as honest and unapologetically in-your-face as that title would have you believe? Wh...

The current offering from the Houston Ballet, MADAME BUTTERFLY with SON OF CHAMBER SYMPHONY, is a study of contrasts - economy and luxury....

A widower, a divorcee, and a 'permanently single' political figure all end up going for younger guys in this hilarious look at what pop culture lovingly calls 'cougars'. It feels familiar, but it also brings something touching and new to the table....

QUEEN OF KATWE is a genuinely moving sports film directed by Mira Nair, starring David Oyelowo and Lupita Nyong'o, and introducing Madina Nalwanga, who plays real life underdog and chess champion Phiona Mutesi....

BWW Review: IN THE HEIGHTS Is An Exuberant Must-See At Theatre Under The Stars...

4th Wall Theatre Company has hit the ground running this season with its opening production of Sam Shepard's Tony-nominated play, TRUE WEST. The piece explores a dualism of personalities, sibling rivalry, art as commerce, and what defines a man. Sometimes funny, sad, and frightening, the play never ...

They have cast the show without regard to race, perceived sexual orientation or physical types, and in the process expanded the vision of what could be a narrow exercise into a universal one. Never has the play felt so broad and borderless, and the staging reveals interesting struggles inside both A...

BWW Review: AMERICAN INGENUITY Showcases Powerful Performances From Houston Ballet...

The author claims it is 'mostly a comedy', and it is certainly not a musical about a barricade with people singing the songs of angry men. No, this one is the words of enraged women as they struggle to be recognized as the vehicles of liberation....

Laugh out loud, tears-in-your-eyes, dangerously close to wetting your pants funny....

Janis Joplin was a force of nature. She was a candle in the wind. She was brash, vulgar, hard-drinking, hard-drugging, hard-living and fatally flawed....

Described as an 'urban biblical fairy tale,' GAMBRELS OF THE SKY, the Landing Theatre Company's current production, catches us up with Eve (I did say biblical, didn't I?), six thousand years removed from the garden. She now works in a high-rise, specializing in office-based hedonism, with Rose, the ...

PETE'S DRAGON is a movie for children, not adults, but grown-ups will still find themselves enchanted by Pete, an orphaned 11-year-old struggling to hold on to his best friend, a dragon named Elliott....

You can feel the standing ovation building the second they start working their way through 30 hit songs that the audience sings along with gleefully. I saw the production the second weekend, and already audience members were proclaiming to others 'This is my THIRD time!'...

If you're wrestling with the current election, or wondering how we have gotten to this point in America's history, this is a powerful, informed piece. It incorporates the civil rights movement at the time when Martin Luther King was taken from his mission and asks hard questions about what all of th...

BWW Review: Mildred's Umbrella Present Jean Genet's THE MAIDS...

The show is genuinely moving, entertaining, and a fast-paced, all around fun time for the entire family. Don't be quick to assume you can't take your date to see SHREK just because the production is part of Main Street Theater's Theatre for Youth program. The performance is open to the public, and t...

'Gilbert and Sullivan?', you might say. 'Who are they? What are their last names? Are they some kind of alternative rock band, or perhaps a rap duo?'...

Summer Chills at the Alley Theatre is all about entertainment. There are no axes to grind; no hidden depths to plumb, which is great, because it's too hot to do much besides sit in air-conditioned comfort and watch other people exert themselves....

On October 30, 2003, the institution of what we call American Musical theatre would never be the same. This highly anticipated musical hit Broadway running with box office success and two stars top billed. The wickedly talented Idina Menzel (Elphaba) and Kristin Chenoweth (Galinda) were the talks of...

Stages Repertory Theatre's creation of this SHEAR MADNESS is buoyed by an outstanding cast that handles comedy and improvisation with ease. The six actors onstage are quick on their feet, and so funny they can break each other up in many instances as the story unfolds....

When the Houston Theatre Company chose to present the play in The University of St. Thomas Jones Hall, a small black box venue, they bit off a lot. I admire their grit, but I can't help wondering, if they had it to do over again, would they?...

This is so much fun, and something you don't want to miss this season. It's a time when we could all use a good laugh, and Tamarie is going for broke as she does every summer with her sardonic take aimed at elections....