OREGON THEATER REVIEWS

What did our critic think of APPLE HUNTERS! at Artists Rep?...

There's a particular kind of melancholy that settles over you like a damp wool coat: heavy, familiar, not entirely unpleasant, often surprisingly funny. John Patrick Shanley's Tony-nominated play OUTSIDE MULLINGAR, now running at Corrib Theatre under Holly Griffith's direction, is soaked in it....

Four Southern women, one unforgettable night out, Savannah Sipping Society is the show your soul needs right now. On stage now at Triangle Productions....

Boublil and Schönberg's LES MISÉRABLES stormed back to the Keller Auditorium last night. I went in wondering how a show about a failed anti-monarchist uprising in 1832 might land differently now, on the heels of the third national 'No Kings' protest, than it did when it was last here in 2018. ...

DEAR EVAN HANSEN, now running at Broadway Rose, is a multiple Tony Award-winning musical about an anxious, depressed, and profoundly lonely high schooler who gets swept into an extraordinary situation when a classmate named Connor Murphy dies by suicide. ...

What did our critic think of ALMA DE LUNA at HART Theatre? Invisible Friends Productions presents a World Premiere production written by local playwright David Fuks and directed by Humberto Mugnai, now playing at Hillsboro Artists' Regional Theatre....

What did our critic think of ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS at Twilight Theater?...

ATHENA, now running at the tiny but mighty 21ten Theatre, is a keenly observed comedy about two high schoolers training for the Junior Olympics. They are, by turns, practice partners, rivals, and almost-friends. Gracie Gardner's play understands that the last of those is by far the most difficult ch...

When seeing a new-to-me play, I typically try to walk in knowing as little as possible. I love the joy of discovery. That approach has never served me better than it did for A MIRROR, Sam Holcroft's gripping play now running at Third Rail Repertory Theatre. ...

If you had told me I would cry my eyes out at a musical about a young man with green, scaly skin who only leaves his apartment once a year to go on a Grindr date, I would have given you the side eye. But there I was on opening night of LIZARD BOY at Portland Center Stage, completely undone by this i...

As the Trump administration works to erase trans people from public life (literally removing the 'T' from LGBT on the government's website about the Stonewall Uprising, a movement to which trans people were central), it becomes urgent to understand that these events don't happen in a vacuum. They ar...

Few plays in theatrical history have achieved the enduring success of The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie. Since its premiere in 1952, the production has continued its celebrated run in London, earning its place as the longest running show of any kind in the world. ...

Portland Playhouse is not known for playing it safe, so it's fitting that their latest production centers on a woman, Anna Campbell, who built her entire legend on one audacious act. ...

Geography of a Horse Dreamer by Sam Shepard wrestles with artistic value, exploitation, power, and control. You will never dream the same again. On stage at Imago Theatre through March 1, 2026...

In Kallan Dana’s RACECAR RACECAR RACECAR, now running at Artists Repertory Theatre, a father (Anthony Green Caloca) and his adult daughter (Jerilyn Armstrong) head off on a cross-country drive from New York to California to clean out a storage unit....

It took about 10 seconds for tears to well up in my eyes during the opening monologue of THE BODY'S MIDNIGHT. They stayed there, occasionally spilling over, for the rest of Tira Palmquist's exquisite play. This show is just the second production by 100 Lives Repertory, but it firmly establishes them...

How do we carry on when everything is falling apart? In YOU STUPID DARKNESS!, Sam Steiner's funny and touching dramedy now running at 21ten Theatre, four volunteers spend their Tuesday nights answering calls at Brightline, a listening service for people who need someone to tell them everything is go...

For years, I'd written off THE WIZ. My only prior experience with the show had been a disappointing production that left me confused about why the original had swept the Tony Awards in 1975, winning Best Musical and Best Original Score among other honors. ...

I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard, or heard an entire packed audience laugh so hard. In a world that feels very heavy, Portland Center Stage's production of THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG offers something we desperately need: two hours of pure, unrelenting fun....

There aren't many full-length one-person musicals, which makes IN CLAY particularly intriguing even before you discover how exquisite it is. This fairly new musical by Jack Miles and Rebecca Simmonds excavates the true story of Marie-Berthe Cazin, a French painter and sculptor in the late 19th and e...

What did our critic think of TIGER STYLE! at Profile Theatre?...

In times like these laughter is not a luxury. It is a lifeline. Peter Lundquist’s Nervous Laughter reminds you of that as an invitation to exhale and laugh even when life feels heavy. Come for the laughs, stay for the performance, and leave a little lighter. On stage through January 24th....

Portland Playhouse’s annual production of A CHRISTMAS CAROL continues to be essential holiday viewing. It’s a gorgeous piece of theatre that honors tradition while finding ways to surprise even its most devoted returnees. Consider me among them, already looking forward to next year....

Shakespeare's THE WINTER’S TALE is notoriously difficult to do well. One of the Bard's later 'problem plays,' it essentially presents two different theatrical worlds: the first half is a tragedy driven by King Leontes' sudden, irrational jealousy toward his pregnant wife Hermione and his best frie...

What did our critic think of LOUISA MAY ALCOTT'S LITTLE WOMEN at Portland Center Stage? I had forgotten that Little Women opens at Christmas until I started rereading the book in anticipation of Portland Center Stage's production of Lauren M. Gunderson's new adaptation: LOUISA MAY ALCOTT'S LITTLE WO...