ORLANDO THEATER REVIEWS

Going to the theater is an intimate experience.  We are pulled out of our everyday lives and isolated realities to immerse ourselves collectively in a story.  We give over the reigns of control for a set amount of time and just absorb.  On rare occasions, we find a story that moves us so thorough...

There is something both familiar and jarring about the brand new North American tour of THE SOUND OF MUSIC, running at Orlando's Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts through Sunday, January 10th. While the beloved musical about a nun turned governess still has all of the iconic songs by Richa...

I am a Scrooge when it comes to Christmas time. I'm that person who hasn't seen any holiday classic movies. I decorate enough to blend into society and usually only listen to Christmas music on rotation at your favorite theme park. So it takes a lot to warm the coldness of my heart and while Garden ...

What could be more exciting than a stage full of musical theatre students performing the roles they dream to play in the decade that lies ahead? Answer: Absolutely nothing.  I was one of the fortunate audience members to share in the experience of night two of the Dream Roles Concert, performed by ...

The Walt Disney Theater at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts has been transformed into Whoville this week as it welcomed Dr. Seuss' HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS: THE MUSICAL to the Orlando area. The Whos had no problem spreading Christmas cheer and reminding audience members that the...

Ahoy mateys, two ships with very special cargo have docked at the Orlando Shakespeare Theatre. The H.M.S. Wasp and Neverland have brought a thoroughly enjoyable production of the Tony-winning play PETER AND THE STARCATCHER to town for the holidays. Framed by a group of touring British actors, the pl...

Frances Hodgson Burnett's beloved novel THE SECRET GARDEN has been thrilling the imaginations of readers young and old since 1911, and in 1991 Marsha Norman and Lucy Simon's musical adaptation won three Tony Awards, bringing the classic story to life in a brand new way. Their musical, which is playi...

What if instead of encouraging Jay Gatsby to find the greatness in his true self, Nick Carraway had led his rich friend down a path of phony-spiritualism that brought him to the brink of bankruptcy? That is the premise behind the Jazz Age-inspired production of Moliere's TARTUFFE running at Rollins ...

For many modern audiences, George Bernard Shaw is the guy who wrote the play that MY FAIR LADY is based on, or the guy whom John F. Kennedy misquoted in 1963, but as director Lani Harris points out in the program for Theatre UCF's production of MAN AND SUPERMAN, running through November 22nd, Shaw w...

FOREVER PLAID: PLAID TIDINGS is a holiday sequel to the 1990 Off-Broadway show, FOREVER PLAID, written by Stuart Ross. I have not seen the original show, but can now promise that it is totally unnecessary to have seen the original in order to enjoy the heaven out of the sequel. It is an uncanny and ...

The 2015-2016 Orlando Broadway Series kicked off in royal style last night as the wonderful RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN'S CINDERELLA set up shop at downtown's Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. This reimagined take on the classic musical will be in town through Sunday, November 15th, and is a gl...

For millennia, both art and religion have been the focus of some of the theater's best work's, however, rarely has one play combined and commented on both as elegantly as Mad Cow Theatre's stirring production of Aaron Posner's MY NAME IS ASHER LEV, running through December 6th. This riveting work, d...

To whom does art belong? Is it something for only the elite and educated to analyze and appreciate, or is the opinion of the average viewer just as valid? That and many other complicated questions about the nature of art are examined in Stephen Sachs' thrilling two-hander BAKERSFIELD MIST, running a...

Since its Off-Broadway debut in 1967, HAIR has become a touchstone for musical theatre fans with a fondness for the decade's counter-culture revolution. Having won both a Tony and a Grammy, there is no doubt that this musical, which defies nearly every theatrical convention, has become as important ...

ME Dance was founded in 2011, so if you've never heard of this dance group it is definitely time to check them out. ME Dance is a professional dance company with dancers whose day jobs are at many of our local theme parks....

There's really no getting around it, BAT BOY: THE MUSICAL is weird, albeit wonderfully so. It's an audacious musical comedy ripped from the headlines of a supermarket tabloid. Inspired by the on-going Weekly World News articles that began with 1992's 'Bat Child Found in Cave!,' the musical tells the...

With the continued integration of the Star Wars Universe into the Disney fold, there will undoubtedly be legions of fans in Central Florida who will appreciate every hyper-speed second of Charlie Ross' ONE MAN STAR WARS TRILOGY, unfortunately, I am not one of those fans. Admittedly, I'm not exactly ...

In the American theatrical cannon, there is perhaps no play more beloved than George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart's Pulitzer Prize-winning YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU. The cherished comedy has been one of the most enduring works on American stages since its debut in 1937, and Church Street's Mad Cow Thea...

Just in time for Halloween, Orlando theatre production company Dark Side of Saturn introduces a new collection of short plays collectively titled REALMS OF THE UNTOLD. The show, written by Corey Volence (Orlando Fringe's KEY OF E), plays through October 10th at The Venue. Clearly inspired by classic...

LA CAGE AUX FOLLES celebrates the gay relationship and does well to show that no matter who you are love, family, and happiness is something everyone deserves....

Have you ever seen a movie that you thought was so bad, that it was actually good? That's what happened on the road from turning laughably ridiculous 1936 anti-drug propaganda film REEFER MADNESS into a hit Off-Broadway musical. Despite continually being repurposed and repackaged throughout the 30s,...

While it has been nearly 20 years since I was a Catholic school student, I have to admit that I don't quite remember it being much like St. Veronica's in Theatre UCF's production of Charles Busch's bawdy comedy THE DIVINE SISTER. Directed by UCF Associate Professor Kate Ingram, the play runs thro...

Ten years ago MONTY PYTHON'S SPAMALOT won the Tony Award for Best Musical. Now to kick off Orlando Shakespeare Theater's 27th Season, MONTY PYTHON'S SPAMALOT clippity clops its way to the Orlando stage with great enthusiasm. Monty Python fans and theater fans alike will be find this show royally ent...

Complaining about movie stars on Broadway has become a popular pastime for theatre folk, however, the occasional uproar hasn't stemmed the tide of A-listers looking to get back to, or establish, their legit roots. This theatrical divide is at the center of Theresa Rebeck's THE UNDERSTUDY, playing at...

One of the most beloved powers in the art of theatre is its ability to transport the audience to another time…another place…another era. The audience was delightfully and willingly transported at the opening of THE MARVELOUS WONDERETTES at The Winter Park Playhouse on the evening of Friday, Sept...