Review: HELL'S KITCHEN at Straz Center
by Deborah Bostock-Kelley - March 27, 2026
I walked in knowing only a handful of the songs, and it made no difference. Hell’s Kitchen at the Straz is driven by feeling, character, and raw honesty. The music meets you where you are....
Review: THE SHARK IS BROKEN SETS SAIL at JOBSITE THEATER
by Drew Eberhard - March 13, 2026
FADE IN: The open ocean, 1974. Filming is delayed...again. The lead actors- theatre and film vet Robert Shaw and up-and-coming Hollywood hotshots Richard Dreyfuss and Roy Scheider- are crammed into a too-small boat, entirely at the mercy of foul weather and a faulty mechanical star. Alcohol flows, e...
Review: BRIGHT STAR Takes Center Stage at Manatee Players
by Drew Eberhard - March 09, 2026
Bright Star is a Bluegrass/Folk musical written and composed by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell. Its tale is set in the vast landscape of North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains between the years 1945-46, and features flashbacks to the year 1923. The pair produced a Grammy-winning album in 2013 entit...
Review: &JULIET REWRITES THE NARRATIVE at STRAZ CENTER
by Drew Eberhard - February 14, 2026
&Juliet is a 2019 jukebox musical, featuring a book by David West Read and music by Max Martin, a Swedish Pop songwriter. On the surface, its story is fairly simple when laid out, but the adventures of its characters and how they traverse the narrative is whatreally get to the heart of the story....
Review: & JULIET at Straz Center
by Deborah Bostock-Kelley - February 11, 2026
Created by the Emmy®-winning writer from Schitt’s Creek, &Juliet at the Straz was a witty burst of female power, driven by knockout vocals. Anne’s challenge to Shakespeare to imagine a stronger woman set the whole story in motion. Though even with strong performances from the men, this show bel...