Houston Theater Reviews
BWW Feature: Second Servings' 'Dinner's On Us' Invites Houston Theatre Community to the Table
by Audrey Morabito - April 30, 2020
When was the last time your weekly trip to Trader Joe's consisted of 1,500 lbs of food? I know, I know. Trader Joe's is the bomb. But 1,500 lbs?! That, however, is just a regular ol' day for the folks at Second Servings Houston, who recover food excess and connect it to those in need. With the vario...
BWW Review: BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY dazzles at 4TH WALL THEATRE
by Brett Cullum - March 14, 2020
This tricky character-driven piece requires an amazing cast, and that is just what 4th WALL THEATRE COMPANY has managed to assemble. Byron Jacquet plays Pops, and he carries the story ably on broad shoulders. Every moment of his performance has a world weary marinade that rings true....
BWW Review: FROM WHITE PLAINS Delivers Social Justice at THUNDERCLAP PRODUCTIONS
by Brett Cullum - March 06, 2020
How far should we hold someone responsible for abuse decades ago? Can we factor in that maybe they grew and changed over the years? Is it fair to seek social justice in the age of the Internet when someone can instantly be fired or destroyed by allegations that were never prosecuted or examined by...
BWW Review: COME FROM AWAY Ignites Compassion and Unity at the Hobby Center
by Audrey Morabito - March 04, 2020
In over ten years of being in the audience at the Hobby Center, I have never heard applause as loud and abundant as I did at last night's curtain call. It was as if the whole audience agreed not only that we had witnessed something significant, but were acknowledging that we witnessed it together. I...
BWW Review: Al Fallick's MOVIES, MUSICALS AND ME is Broadway Parody Hilarity
by Audrey Morabito - February 25, 2020
What do Apollo 13, Space Jam, The Mummy, and A Quiet Place all have in common? Why, they're none other than four of the many (many) acclaimed movie musical adaptations of Halpert Evans' (Al Fallick) extensive Broadway career. You haven't heard of him? Well then, let me introduce to you one of Broadw...
BWW Review: FEFU AND HER FRIENDS REIGN AT CATASTROPHIC THEATRE
by Suzanne Tidwell - February 24, 2020
FEFU AND HER FRIENDS passes the Bechdel test with glowing colors a?" there are no men seen, and only mentioned briefly, even though we feel their presence as plot catalysts. As these women make soup, have water fights and practice French, read aloud from magazines and eat bourbon popsicles, cry and ...
BWW Review: DREAMGIRL DEFERRED Dares to Dream at Vincent Victoria Presents
by Brett Cullum - February 21, 2020
Every generation seems to have their Florence Ballard - ultra talented singers who get tossed aside because they don't fit a look or a concept of what a record label wants in its catalog....
BWW Review: ONCE ON THIS ISLAND at TUTS Is Raw, Real Storytelling at Its Finest
by Audrey Morabito - February 20, 2020
“This—something, life and...breath?” my friend read as she tried to decode my jumbled mess of notes while I drove us home from the show. “Oh no,” I answered, 'that says, 'This musical lives and breathes.” That short phrase is the most indicative of my experience at ONCE ON THIS ISLAND, a show whose ...
BWW Review: A FANTASTICKS FOR THE AGES OPENS THE GORDY
by Suzanne Tidwell - February 20, 2020
Why did Stages choose THE FANTASTICKS to open The Gordy, their sparkling new home? Because it is perfect. There is no neater, lovelier piece of musical theatre. To christen a new theatre with this show makes absolute sense....
BWW Review: SOLDIER'S FUGUE Marches into MAIN STREET THEATER
by Brett Cullum - February 10, 2020
Narratively ELLIOT, A SOLDIER'S FUGUE simply combines three soldiers in Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq. They represent a grandfather, a father, and a son who all go through similar experiences in the wars of their respective eras....
BWW Review: JERSEY BOYS Mans Up at Broadway at the Hobby Center
by Brett Cullum - February 08, 2020
Most people know the music pretty well, but few knew the band had a colorful history full of crimes and mob connections that were against the clean cut tradition of their era. They seemed to be more than a boy band and bordered on a gang in many ways. Forget BTS, One Direction, or even the New Kids ...
BWW Review: A.D. Players' GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER Is Both Hopeful & Honest
by Audrey Morabito - February 04, 2020
The year is 1967, the place is San Francisco, and the conflict? A young and optimistic mixed-race couple has just announced their upcoming plans of marriage to unsuspecting parents. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner extracts the nuances and subtleties of prejudice and plops them center stage, both litera...
BWW Review: THE BAND'S VISIT is Most Welcome at Broadway at the Hobby Center
by Brett Cullum - January 29, 2020
THE BAND'S VISIT reminds audiences what musical theater can be when we remove garish production values and jukebox hits. It takes us somewhere unfamiliar, and by the end we realize that it's not nearly as far as we thought. The human heart is well mapped no matter where you go, and people have uni...
BWW Review: Prague Shakespeare Company's HAMLET Does it Solo at Main Street Theatre
by Brett Cullum - January 17, 2020
This is HAMLET like you have never seen before - performed by a handsome stranger who is hellbent on turning Shakespeare's longest work into a 90 minute aria. In concept it sounds dicey, but in execution it works surprisingly well. ...
BWW Review: HELLO, DOLLY! at the Hobby Center
by Alric Davis - January 13, 2020
a?oeDolly will never go away again!a?? But that's just it. Dolly has never gone anywhere. So long as there are humans on earth, Hello, Dolly! will continue to live. Somewhere, somehow, the show will always be produced, the songs always sung, the characters always riffed off of. It has left an imp...
BWW Review: Theatre Under The Stars' ELF is a Feel-Good, Festive, Family Holiday Treat
by Audrey Morabito - December 19, 2019
I first saw ELF when TUTS produced it back in 2013, and last year I had the absolute joy of working on a production of it at Queensbury Theatre. I'll be honest, it was a challenge for me to set aside my past experience with the show in order to see it with fresh eyes, giving myself a fair chance to ...
BWW Review: Firecracker Productions' ALL THROUGH THE HOUSE Is Not the 'Night Before Christmas' You Expect
by Audrey Morabito - December 09, 2019
In the thick of the holiday season, there are generally two camps of seasonal shows in the repertoire of our Houston theatre scene: those that indulge the festive, heartfelt genre of holiday classics, and those that provide an alternative. While I am partial to the former (Yes, I also enjoy the chee...
BWW Review: THE DISAPPEARANCE OF EARTHA KITT is Purrrrfectly Fierce at Vincent Victoria Productions
by Brett Cullum - December 07, 2019
Vincent Victoria has made a name for himself by recreating black female icons that loom large over our cultural imagination. Eartha Kitt like Lena Horne defied the beauty standards of her time to create her own definition of what a leading lady should look and act like....
