PALM SPRINGS THEATER REVIEWS

Desert Theatreworks has produced another winner: Neil Simon’s I OUGHT TO BE IN PICTURES. This story, with its emphasis on rekindling father-daughter love, is deeper than many of his plays. The two casts make the audience care about the characters. Director Daniela Ryan has done a superb job of coa...

Desert Ensemble Theatre’s current production, Artificial Morality, examines the practice and ramifications of altering the truth (among many other observations).  A tight 80-minute script, a strong quartet of actors and a capable director keep us completely entertained, at the same time asking ou...

In the past two decades I have had several opportunities to see Always, Patsy Cline and I always avoided the show, thinking 'A two-woman show can't be entertaining and besides, I don't like country music.' Please, please do not make the mistake I did. This show has only a few more performances in th...

Don't miss @FrancescaAmari as she sings the songs of Linda Ronstadt on January 30, 2022 @lesmichaelscabaret...

Pulp fiction got its name from the low-quality, pulpy paper the stories were printed on, not the content. However, 'pulp' became synonymous with trashy, back alley reading punctuated with cheap sensationalist thrills, fast-paced plot lines and bad writing. Tell that last bit to John Lange (aka Micha...

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It’s hard to imagine a more perfect holiday show than Sound of Music, and Palm Canyon Theatre’s current production of the Rogers and Hammerstein musical should come complete with a large gift bow!...

A very magical combination of excellence has just occurred in Palm Springs theatre, and even though it's only for one weekend, I wanted to tip you off to it. The show is Del Shores' newest play, This Side of Crazy. The magic occurs when this smart script is delivered by four of the Coachella Valley'...

The show by actor/playwright Terry Ray is set in a motel room, and the first two years were actually performed at INNDulge in a motel room with an audience of 20 serving as flies on the wall, watching the action.  Fortunately, the show has transferred to Oscar’s dinner theatre in the middle of to...

The only problem with staging as big a hit as Desert Rose Playhouse had with their recent production of The Rocky Horror Show is that you have to follow it up with something. Wisely, Artistic Director Robbie Wayne lined up a killer artistic triumvirate in actors Nicholas Sloan and Jamie Leigh Walker...

Desert Theatreworks' production of Ron Clark's and Sam Bobrick's farce, MURDER AT THE HOWARD JOHNSON'S, is funny and imaginatively staged, and improves upon the source material. It will run Thursdays through Sundays, through November 21st...

Back on July 4, 1993, Matthew Sweet was recording a live album at Grant Park in Chicago. It was a beautiful sunny day and there was a cool breeze coming off Lake Michigan. My theater pals and I were sitting on blankets enjoying the weather and listening to Sweet, waiting to hear all of our favorites...

If the creativity and excitement of live theatre have been dammed up these past two years, the dam has broken center stage with Palm Canyon Theatre’s current production of Shrek the Musical.  Rarely have I seen such energy, excitement, color and talent in a local production...

THE PRODUCERS, the first post-lockdown Desert Theatreworks (DTW) show, is perfect to welcome eager audiences back - a true winner. Ron and Lance Phillips, the married couple that operates DTW, took the opportunity of the hiatus to completely rework the Indio Performing Arts Center, adding a new 250-...

Palm Canyon Theatre (PCT) continues their gala 25th Anniversary Season with Del Shores’ beloved Sordid Lives.  I say “beloved” because this is the eighth time PCT has presented the outrageous comedy and audiences are snatching up tickets like they’re going to a long awaited family reunion....

I give the Desert Rose Playhouse kudos for its fantastic production of Richard O'Brien's bloody cult classic, THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW. Buy tickets before the run sells out, as it deserves to do....

To commemorate the 20th anniversary Palm Canyon Theatre (PCT) will present The Guys, a play by Anne Nelson.  The play is about the aftereffects of the collapse of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001....

The Desert Rose Playhouse production of THE GREAT AMERICAN TRAILER PARK MUSICAL is currently running in the company's new location in Palm Springs. The show features fabulous performances and design, and terrific direction by Robbie Wayne. Combined with David Nehls' clever lyrics and tuneful music (...

Joshua Tree's Summer Theatre Under the Stars is currently playing their third offering, Miles Gloriosus, and it's good enough that it makes me sad that there's only one more show in the season. I truly hope this becomes an annual event at the amazing Wind Walkers Medicine Wheel theatre-in-the-round....

So four playwrights walk into a bar and the first one says …. sound like the setup for a joke?  No, it’s actually the premise for Shakespeare in Revue, the delightful second presentation by Joshua Tree’s Theatre Under the Stars....

Palm Canyon Theatre is back, and I couldn't be happier! Rather than opening post-pandemic with a gigantic blockbuster, they decided on You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, and the audiences are the winners from that decision....

Live theatre returns to the Coachella Valley with the Desert Rose Playhouse's THE MISS FIRECRACKER CONTEST, in Desert Rose's new Palm Springs venue. The production is worth seeing, with fine acting, direction, and visual design....

The production was called The Wild West (Sh!t) Show, an original collaborative piece conceived and developed by Haley Kooyman.  It is the first of four productions being produced by JT Theatre Under the Stars, sponsored by Wind Walkers and Thought Theatre....

Just when gloom and doom seems to be coming at us from all angles, Desert Theatreworks presents one of the funniest, finest works they have ever staged. Following its laugh filled opening night, the company has put the show on hiatus per government guidelines, but it certainly must resume its run as...

Jonathan Harvey's 1993 BEAUTIFUL THING is rightfully part of the pantheon of gay-oriented theatre. Desert Rose Playhouse's beautiful production does justice to this seminal play. BEAUTIFUL THING will run through March 29, 2020, at 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and 2 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets cost bet...