ORLANDO THEATER REVIEWS

Twice, ONCE won awards I thought the competition deserved. In 2012, the Broadway musical knocked out Newsies for the Tonys' top prize. Another Alan Menken musical, Enchanted, lost an Oscar to ONCE thrice - its trio of nominees falling swiftly to 'Falling Slowly' and my anger rising rapidly at home.....

Yet, even with the hardships this theatre has gone through, and the uncertainty of the future, all involved with WHILE THE LIGHTS WERE OUT made sure to go out on that stage and give it their all. They rose up, like a David to the mighty Goliath, to deliver entertainment for an audience that strives ...

In the world of musical theatre, there are some shows that feel fresh and new, no matter how many times you see them. These are the musicals you drop everything to experience even if it may be your fortieth time. For musicals like that, the thrill of seeing what a different theatre, director, design...

Louise’s long monologues between Patsy’s numbers aren’t nearly as timeless, but then her ability to talk about a single celebrity sighting for two whole hours is something I find both deeply and embarrassingly relatable......

Settings for musicals range from the rather ordinary to the extraordinary. Audiences can be transported to the pre-war Austrian countryside or the magical world of Oz, or in the case of THE 25th ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE, Celebration Theatre Company’s latest production at Dr. Phillips Cent...

Stories have an amazing way of bringing to life experiences and concepts that otherwise might be too complex, too unfamiliar, or too uninteresting. And, while some might write off storytelling as something reserved only for childhood, it is, in fact, one of the most common ways we humans have passed...

There are few stories that you can safely assume everyone around you has heard before. That is especially the case with the story of Cinderella, and that goes double for all of us here in Orlando, seeing as we live in the shadow of her very famous castle. But even the familiar can be given new life ...

Filling those water-walkin' sandals is Orlando native Eddie Ortega. His is the Jesus of the Bible - cool, chill, funny, sharp, smart, wise, surprising, radical, and full of love. He occasionally sings in Spanish, while his disciples add that and sign language too - your friendly reminder that nobody...

“Everything has its season, everything has its time..” So goes one of the more recognizable songs, “Corner of the Sky” from Steven Schwartz’ musical, PIPPIN, which is currently playing through April 25th at Osceola Arts. This lyric illustrates well the solid, entertaining and quite unique ...

In William Shakespeare’s beloved comedy, A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, a motley cast of characters find themselves in an idyllic forest filled with magic and wonder. So, it is quite apropos that Orlando Shakes’ current production of this timeless classic is being offered outdoors, at a park (Lake E...

Fate couldn't have found a more fitting show for the Garden Theatre's 2020 return than one with a whole song about getting out of the house and hitting the town... The Garden has done just about everything a theatre of its size can do to mitigate risk and keep its patrons safe... It did feel very go...

With COVID-19 still raging around the world, and cases still quite high here in Central Florida, one might believe that it will be some time before enjoying the thrill of live theatre once again. But as theaters face the unique challenges the virus poses to performers and audiences alike, many compa...

a?oeThat's the worst thing I've ever seen,a?? said an elderly woman on her way out the door. a?oeI couldn't have said it better myself!a?? her friend agreed. Far be it for me to differ a?' they probably saw Ben-Hur in theatres while I still didn't know who was going to win the chariot race a?' but I...

It's symptomatic of SPAMILTON's inconsistency: quite funny and thoughtful in one moment, down a rabbit hole the next. For every inspired sequence in which Lin-Manuel engages 'Stephen Sondheim as Ben Franklin' in a lengthy debate about the density of rhymes, there's a lazily written riff like 'not th...

It's revitalized. It's funny (with new jokes). It's Facebook - er, Instagram. It's Mean Girls meets 2020. Fey's stage book is so thoughtfully transliterated from its early-aughts source, it's the familiar lines that earn the smallest laughs (except from those who've never seen the movie... shout-out...

A few weeks back, I attended the opening night of The Three Musketeers at Orlando Shakes. I marveled, in particular, at a rotating stage and staircase designed by Bert Scott. The way the production team used that stage always impressed me. Imagine my delight when I came back to Orlando Shakes for th...

The last time I attended a production at Osceola Arts, the stage had been transformed into 1899 New York City for a production of Newsies. Last night, I returned to Osceola Arts, but now found myself transported thirty-two years later and over four thousand miles eastward to Germany, specifically th...

Ask anyone to describe the Three Musketeers, and you'll get the usual answers: three heroes, bound together in brotherhood, inseparable in the most dire circumstances. They were a holy trinity of masculinity and friendship, the #SquadGoals of the 19th century. But unless one were intimately familiar...

A single-act show, it could use an occasional shot in the arm. Some of the songs drag and none are especially memorable. As bus stories goes, the pacing is a long, long way from Speed. The central love triangle between Violet and two boys on the bus (military officers Monty and Flick) feels all too ...

Why? Every time I answer that, I start to feel like the Genie in a?oePrince Alia?? when he's counting all those elephants, peacocks, and camels. There are a lot of problems here. Maybe not fifty-three or seventy-five or however many Persian monkeys he has, but I can definitely point to at least five...

...but it's the humanity underpinning the comedy that really surprised me. The a?oestudentsa?? are so earnest in their efforts. It's their Muppet-ish instinct to make the best of a bad mistake under a spotlight that makes the show so relatable. Aren't we all just trying to do our best as the set pie...

Playwright Michael Wilson has turned all of Act I into a walk down the 'yellow brick road' of London, where Scrooge meets three vendors who will resurface more translucently later that night. It's as eye-rolling as it sounds and even more boring than you can imagine. Heads were nodding all around me...

I would never drink on the job, but at ESCAPE TO MARGARITAVILLE, a?oepour me something tall and stronga?? is part of the mandate a?" and the show writers are clearly counting on tequila to carry them through. Margaritaville is an island getaway where the drinks are strong, Jimmy Buffett is god, a...

There's blood on my program. At first, I thought it was a printing design, but upon further inspection, I realized that, yes, I have blood stains on my program. Normally, I would be concerned, but given that the first three rows at the Moonlight Players Theatre have been designated 'Splatter Zone,' ...

It's an incredible production with a cast that slays Misérables. Some will lament the use of projection mapping, but it's relatively minimal and tastefully integrated within giant, imposing, ever-moving physical set pieces that tower above the audience and create an incredible sense of scale. I won...