INDIANAPOLIS THEATER REVIEWS

The draw is easy: Joshua Henry, Broadway star, with a meteoric rise which includes HAMILTON. Enough said, right? But therein lies the beauty of the setting of a cabaret....

THE KING AND I has the power to evoke many iconic songs, images, and fond memories. It has become a designated Broadway classic. However, what do the classics have to offer us in this modern age? Timothy Matthew Flores fills us in on how this national tour has breathed new life into the classic, sho...

'Grease' is certainly the word at Beef & Boards as the original production of the celebrated musical started its run....

SCHOOL OF ROCK is a musical about rebellion, the mantra of "sticking it to The Man", of children finding their voice in a controlled and advantaged setting and finding their courage to rise up....

It was freezing outside, but School of Rock was heating up Clowes Memorial Hall last night. The Broadway Across America production is based on the 2003 movie of the same name. The musical stays close to that version, but comes alive in a different way. The plot focuses on Dewey, who is a bit of an i...

We had the privilege of speaking with Deidre Lang, who plays Ms. Sheinkopf in the upcoming touring production of School of Rock, and she had quite a few reasons why we all need to go back to school. She reflected with us on what this show can mean as something beyond a musical, which predominantly f...

Real life isn't easily split into two categories, comedy and drama. It's a mixture of joy and grief, often at the same time. Every Brilliant Thing captures that perfectly. The one-man show tells the story of an unnamed man whose mother tried to commit suicide multiple times. In an effort to show her...

The advertising is very clear: for mature audiences only. MURDER BALLAD is a rather steamy and enticing piece of musical theater....

Sonia and Vernon are a classic case of opposites attract in Beef & Boards' season opener They're Playing Our Song. The romantic comedy is great for anyone feeling nostalgic for the late 1970s. The decade specific choreography and costumes play such a prominent role, it's hard to imagine the story at...

The assumption when you take your seat for THE BOOK OF MORMON is that you will laugh, perhaps even laugh a lot, but that is far from the truth. You are much more likely to be in physical pain from full-belly laughing for nearly the entire show. Trey Parker and Matt Stone did an exceptional job using...

The first impression created by THE BOOK OF MORMON does not necessarily scream 'timeless themes,' but Corey Jones, who plays the General in the second national tour, begs to differ. The musical is the brainchild of Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the creators of South Park, a duo expected to deliver hil...

Don't miss the final performance of “SLEIGH!, DASHING THROUGH THE HOLIDAYS WITH HMC!” at Yardley Hall Johnson County Community College on Sunday December 9th. Conducted by Dustin S. Cates, Artistic Director of the Heartland Men's Chorus, and accompanied on piano by Robert Lamar Sims the chorus p...

It was our pleasure to be invited to review CIRCUMSTANTIAL HOLIDAYS by local playwright and director Christine Kruze, and we have to say that we came in with a certain amount of skepticism. That was a huge mistake on our part because the production was nothing but fun from start to finish....

Many of us are sure to feel a surge of nostalgia as we recall the days when Dr. Seuss' beloved children's books graced our shelves. But nothing quite evokes that feeling as much as DR. SEUSS' HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS! THE MUSICAL....

'Elf the Musical,' that is playing at Beef & Boards this past holiday weekend, left this reviewer longing to go home and watch the 2003 movie that inspired the traveling musical. But, that's not because I was disappointed....

As one might be able to guess from the title, The Mutilated is not a holly jolly Christmas story. The Tennessee Williams play is set in New Orleans and follows two frenemies who cross paths on Christmas Eve. The pair, Trinket and Celeste, are both broken souls with their own secrets. Gigi Jennewein ...

Tucked away in the newly renovated space behind the 924 Gallery downtown is the new gorgeous Cabaret. The space, formerly a warehouse and then a roller skating rink, is now a beautiful gem. Intimate tables sit close to a stage that hosts stars straight from Broadway. The theatre moved into its new l...

Education and race: there aren't too many issues that are more divisive in our country at the moment. The Indiana Repertory Theatre's current Upperstage production, Pipeline, tackles them both. The 90 minute play keeps a frantic pace as Nya, a public school teacher, finds out her teenage son has got...

Don Quixote, the infamous errant knight questing to save those in need and fighting windmills because he sees giants in their frames. He is a familiar character to most of us. Man of La Mancha is a classic musical inspired by the Spanish story. Beef & Boards' current production of the show features ...

Three men claiming to be Sherlock Holmes are being held in an asylum on an island. The famous detective's trusty sidekick, Dr. Watson, must make his way to the remote isle to identify the true Sherlock. The Indiana Repertory Theatre's season opener is a twisty mystery that keeps you guessing until t...

Bright Star is a bluegrass musical with a big heart. Written by banjo-playing renaissance man Steve Martin and Edie Brickell, the show is set in the hills of North Carolina in the 1940s with flashbacks in the 1920s. It is at times playful and at others steeped in nostalgia. There's a large ensemble ...

Many of us find ourselves caught up in the hubbub of daily life, constantly being pulled this way, then that. It becomes so easy to lose your way and forget that there can be more. BRIGADOON calls to us out of the misty forest to remember a simpler time, when life was focused on living and loving....

When you go to a Broadway revue or a show featuring a mixture of performance types, you usually expect it to be good. You don't expect what had the pleasure to witness on Monday night....

The Lion King is one of the epic Broadway shows that everyone should see at least once in their life. It's also one of the few stage productions based on a Disney movie that actually works. They never make the mistake of many movie-to-stage adaptations: sacrificing the heart of the story for the spe...

It seems impossible to improve upon a classic, but the touring company of THE LION KING has managed just that. It has shown that classics become so for a reason, and they can still take on new life in the hands of a talented director and cast....