Review: JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR at James Street Players
by Michelle Nielsen - April 20, 2026
Powerhouse vocals, evocative choreography, and a deep emotional connection define director and choreographer Matthew I. Quinn’s vision of Andrew Lloyd Weber and Tim Rice’s timeless and timely rock opera, JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR....
Review: SCHOOL OF ROCK at Cultural Arts Playhouse-Merrick
by Sam Desmond - April 09, 2026
With a central character seemingly a charming, albeit selfish, peccadillo who goes on redemption journey to connect his passion with his dreams, “School of Rock,” brings humor, honor, and hype to the standing up for yourself no matter how “acceptable” the responsible path is presented....
Review: JAGGED LITTLE PILL: THE MUSICAL at Smithtown Performing Arts Center
by Sam Desmond - April 01, 2026
The sweeping music and frenetic choreography of a musical and the arrow-piercing drama of a straight play are rarely found together in the same production, but “Jagged Little Pill: the Musical” currently playing at the Smithtown Performing Arts Center through April 19, is a rare melding of those...
Review: FIDDLER ON THE ROOF at The Lighthouse Repertory Theatre Company
by Sam Desmond - March 27, 2026
A bucolic tale of a small community—almost like the town square that Belle from Beauty and the Beast goes through—that makes a sharp turn into human rights violations, “Fiddler on the Roof” asks quite a bit from its actors to go from whimsical country life to a terrified ousted community dee...
Review: CATS at CM Performing Arts Center
by Sam Desmond - March 25, 2026
Feisty felines compete for centerstage through dance and song, with nary a meow as this show features no human characters. Currently playing at the CM Performing Arts Center in Oakdale is a mammoth of the musical theater repertory, “CATS.”...
Review: ANNIE at Merrick Theatre And Center For The Arts
by Sam Desmond - March 11, 2026
The opening night production of “Annie” on Friday, March 6 at the Merrick Theatre & Center for the Arts marked the fourth viewing of the scrappy, upstart orphan I’ve seen this winter alone (there was actually a fifth I could’ve reviewed if BroadwayWorld hired me two weeks earlier)....
Review: FIDDLER ON THE ROOF at Cultural Arts Playhouse-SYOSSET
by Sam Desmond - March 05, 2026
A devastatingly timely production of “Fiddler on the Roof,” by Cultural Arts Playhouse in Syosset brings us to the small, earnest existence of Anatevka, a Jewish town in the Russian empire during the tumultuous turn of the century....