HOUSTON THEATER REVIEWS

The Sankofa Collective has always done ambitious projects, including THE BODYGUARD, THE THREE MUSKETEERS, and a collaboration with the Garden Theatre, resulting in an amazing production of THE COLOR PURPLE. ...

What did our critic think of IOLANTHE at Gilbert And Sullivan Society Of Houston?...

As a devoted fan of The Last Five Years by the incomparable Jason Robert Brown, I can confidently say that I've logged countless hours listening to both official and unofficial recordings of this beloved two-person musical. ...

Honky Tonk Laundry finally gets its due, five years after it closed, or rather didn’t even open, because of the pandemic. And we are in luck, because most of the original team of actors and production designers are back....

Based on Agatha Christie’s novel The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side, this stage adaptation by Rachel Wagstaff, and directed by Delicia Turner Sonnenberg, brings a wave of Hollywood drama to the sleepy English village of St. Mary Mead....

PARADE asks a lot of its audience. There are moments when a song is so rousing and well-sung, but then you realize the material is uncomfortable, and you wonder if you should cheer or stay absolutely quiet....

We know this is a vaudeville production from the start, and the cast revels in the buffoonery. THE 39 STEPS is perfect summer theater fare for fans of silly spies and inventive theatrical staging....

Truly, these shows are ingenious musical sketch-comedy pieces that remind me a ton of both Carol Brunette and variety shows of the 70s as much as something like a South Park, The Simpsons, or Family Guy. They are a chance to watch “serious actors” let go and do really silly fun stuff that they a...

This nostalgic, Tony Award–winning 1983 musical is all about family dynamics. Young Willi wants nothing more than to follow in the footsteps of her mother and Uncle Dipsey as a dancer. Her father, however, wants her to become a lawyer just like him. Meanwhile, older sister Emma dreams of being a l...

Inside My Walls is a rare chance to see why dance is so magical. The intimacy of the Asia Society’s theater allows you to see every extension, and often hear even the breaths that these performers take. If you have not witnessed this company, this weekend is your chance....

LET.HER.RIP. is the show to see this summer! It will be one we will refer back to again and again. Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, Mary Jane Kelly, and the Matchstick Women would be proud....

When divorced couple Elyot and Amanda accidentally find themselves honeymooning with their new spouses—and sharing adjacent balconies—sparks fly and tempers flare in a whirlwind of passion and humor. Director KJ Sanchez brings a fresh twist to Noël Coward’s timeless comedy, transporting us fr...

It’s a quick hour-and-twenty-minute script that became the basis for a sitcom, and guess what? It pretty much feels like watching a taping of a television comedy. It’s light, fluffy, and fun. It’s like summer ice cream, and this one will be a natural audience pleaser to round out this company�...

With expert direction, brilliant acting, and masterly design elements, Rec Room Arts latest outing of Danny Tejera's Toros is a production that will leave Houston audiences with complicated emotions about this coming-of-age story. While Tejera's work is a dramedy, Rec Room Arts decision to delve int...

This is a revival for Theatre Under the Stars, who first presented IN THE HEIGHTS in 2016. It replaced GREASE as their season opener way back then, which marked an inevitable transition in the company’s artistic direction and commitment to the evolution of musical theater. ...

They have managed to restage BUG for 2025, and boy, is it a doozy! You don’t want to miss this revival and reimagining of the Tracy Letts cult classic. The entire company goes for broke, and they create a fiery display of acting, visuals, and audio landscapes that will blow you back in your chair....

Written by playwright Melda Beaty and directed by The Ensemble Theatre’s Artistic Director Eileen J. Morris, this slice-of-life play shines a spotlight on the narrative of five older men, figures who are often background characters in the stories we tell. ...

And what of Wesley Whitson as Hamlet, perhaps the most challenging role in the entire canon of Shakespeare’s works? He is age-appropriate and fiercely dives into the madness for the first two-thirds, and then becomes steely and predatory for the final acts....

This is the first time Denise Fennell is playing herself, and it only took fifty years to get her here into the role she was born to play. She’s most known in Houston for donning a habit and chastising audiences about major holidays as Sister in the Late Night Catechism Series. Yet this show is wh...

A hootin’, hollerin’, good time as a heroic Germanic saga goes Texan....

​The national tour of The Wiz, currently running at Houston's Hobby Center through May 4, 2025, delivers a vocally powerful revival of the 1975 Tony Award-winning musical. ...

Come and get a sweet taste of this new production of the hit musical WAITRESS from Theatre Under The Stars and The 5th Avenue Theatre. This heartwarming show celebrates female friendship, love, and pie—with music and lyrics by Sara Bareilles and a book by Jessie Nelson....

Stages Houston has wisely brought in DIXIE’S TUPPERWARE PARTY for its last hurrah, and she is doing a mini-residency that the purveyor of plastic is in the middle of until April 20th. The simple show works well in the intimacy of the Sterling Theater space, and we’re closer to the saleswoman tha...

BASKERVILLE: A SHERLOCK HOLMES MYSTERY is a hilarious adaptation by playwright Ken Ludwig, of Alley’s Lend Me a Tenor fame. Read our review here!...

It’s a word that has divided people for generations, so much so that I won’t even write it in this review. Rising Houston actor Cardero Berryman thoughtfully directs N; surprisingly, this is his first time at the helm of a play. He has a wonderful cast, great technical support, and the appropria...