Portland Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations Page 15

BWW Review: Great Music, Powerful Storytelling Fuel WILD AND RECKLESS at Portland Center Stage
by Krista Garver - March 31, 2017

WILD AND RECKLESS is a futuristic original rock musical born from a collaboration between Portland Center Stage and local indie rock band Blitzen Trapper....

BWW Review: PLAYHOUSE CREATURES Shows How Far We Haven't Come in 400 Years, at CoHo Productions
by Krista Garver - March 23, 2017

PLAYHOUSE CREATURES is a funny and heartbreaking look at what life was like for a woman in theatre during England's Restoration period. Sadly, it wasn't much different from today....

BWW Review: GOLDA'S BALCONY at Triangle Productions: Read Your History Before You Go
by Krista Garver - March 21, 2017

GOLDA'S BALCONY provides a fascinating look at a turbulent point in world history....

BWW Review: Grief Gets Bloody in Horror Comedy FEATHERS AND TEETH, at Artists Rep
by Krista Garver - March 20, 2017

FEATHERS AND TEETH is a bloody, campy fun show that's completely different from anything else you'll see at Artists Rep....

BWW Review: Resonance Ensemble Shows Off the Art of Cabaret in Wildly Entertaining DIRTY, STUPID MUSIC
by Krista Garver - February 28, 2017

DIRTY, STUPID MUSIC, Resonance Ensemble's latest cabaret is a little dirty, a little stupid, and a lot of fun....

BWW Review: Race, Religion, Elitism - Just a Few Issues Portland Playhouse Takes on in PEN/MAN/SHIP
by Krista Garver - February 28, 2017

PEN/MAN/SHIP at Portland Playhouse is a moving drama about robbing darkness of its power by bringing it into the light....

BWW Review: Maiesha McQueen Delivers Transcendent Performance in Ethel Waters Portrait HIS EYE IS ON THE SPARROW, at Portland Center Stage
by Krista Garver - February 20, 2017

This Portland theatre season has been delightfully packed with stories about incredible women who have overcome seemingly impossible odds. They've all been stunning, but we've hit a new high with Portland Center Stage's HIS EYE IS ON THE SPARROW, a biographical portrait of African American stage a...

BWW Review: Hand2Mouth Gives Us a PEP TALK We All Really Need, at CoHo Theatre
by Krista Garver - February 20, 2017

Remember pep talks? Those inspiring speeches your [insert sport here] coach gave to pump up your team before you hit the field. Remember how they made you feel like you could do anything? Could you use one of those right about now?...

BWW Review: MARJORIE PRIME Asks Us to Take an Intimate Look at Our Relationship with Technology, at Artists Rep
by Krista Garver - February 15, 2017

Think about someone important to you who has died. Now imagine you could make an artificial intelligence (AI) robot who looked and acted exactly like your lost loved one. Would you do it? What if you were elderly and needed care? What if you were lonely? And what would that mean for the nature of hu...

BWW Review: Discover the Fascinating Story of 'The White Queen of Soul' in Triangle Productions' FOREVER DUSTY
by Krista Garver - February 14, 2017

It would be difficult to know less about Dusty Springfield than I did when I walked into the Sanctuary at Sandy Plaza to see triangle productions' FOREVER DUSTY on Thursday. I knew some of her music, and even had an album, but that was it. Frankly, I expected the show to be a loosely knit story of h...

BWW Review: Almost 50 Years Later, COMPANY Is Still Awesome, at Broadway Rose
by Krista Garver - February 07, 2017

Amazing that a musical from 1970 can still feel so fresh. But that's exactly what Broadway Rose accomplishes with their current production of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth's COMPANY....

BWW Review: Despite Excellent Performances, Theatre Vertigo's CARNIVORA Never Finds Footing
by Krista Garver - February 02, 2017

I started to get nervous the moment I walked into the Shoebox Theatre to see Theatre Vertigo's CARNIVORA....

BWW Review: ASTORIA Brings the Founding of Oregon's Oldest City Vividly to Life, at Portland Center Stage
by Krista Garver - January 27, 2017

I read Peter Stark's Astoria last year on the suggestion of Portland Center Stage Artistic Director Chris Coleman. It's the history of the John Jacob Astor-funded expedition to establish a fur trading post on the Pacific. He sent one party by land and another by sea to Astoria, Oregon, which became ...

BWW Review: Fertile Ground Opening Weekend: ATLANTIS, FREE BOX, THE BABY PROJECT, LEFT HOOK, and WINGS OF FIRE
by Krista Garver - January 23, 2017

Fertile Ground 2017 is in full swing! If you haven't checked it out yet, there's still a full week of new works being premiered around the city. Here's my take on what I've seen so far....

BWW Review: Who Was DB Cooper? We'll Probably Never Know, but at CoHo's db, You'll Have a Great Time Speculating
by Krista Garver - January 19, 2017

In 1971, a man (who the FBI describe as 'nondescript') going by the name Dan Cooper hijacked a plane from Portland to Seattle, negotiated $200K and some parachutes in exchange for the passengers, and then jumped out of the plane as it headed back south. He was never found. He could still be alive. H...

BWW Review: A VERY MERRY PDX-MAS is That Fun, Funny Christmas Musical You've Been Looking For, at Broadway Rose
by Krista Garver - December 15, 2016

Christmas shows usually come with a moral -- some 'true message of Christmas' about generosity or acceptance that we're supposed to carry in our hearts throughout the year to come. Broadway Rose's A VERY MERRY PDX-MAS has none of that. Your heart won't grow three sizes. There isn't even an overarchi...

BWW Review: Portland Center Stage's IRVING BERLIN is the Must-See Show of the Month
by Krista Garver - December 15, 2016

This month, millions of people across America will gather in squares, theatres, and many other places to sing their favorite seasonal carols. At 99.99% of these gatherings, someone will strike up the tune of 'White Christmas.' Meanwhile, at sporting events across the country, just after the national...

BWW Review: A CIVIL WAR CHRISTMAS Reaches Back 150 Years to Bring Us a New, More Nuanced Holiday Story, at Artists Rep
by Krista Garver - December 01, 2016

Holiday shows can be pretty cliche -- someone learns the true meaning of Christmas and then everyone breaks into song. Now, don't get me wrong, I look forward to watching Mickey's Christmas Carol and How the Grinch Stole Christmas (cartoon version) every year. But during a time when new societal fau...

BWW Review: ASSISTANCE Takes the Horrible Boss/Mistreated Underling Dynamic to a Whole New (and Funny) Level, at Theatre Vertigo
by Krista Garver - October 21, 2016

The next time you're getting ready for work, take a moment to be grateful that your boss is not Daniel Weisinger, the super-rich, super-entitled boss who sucks the life out of one assistant after another in Leslye Headland's ASSISTANCE, now playing at Theatre Vertigo. The play is a sarcastic and fun...

BWW Review: Before You Vote, Go See HOLD THESE TRUTHS at Portland Center Stage
by Krista Garver - October 14, 2016

In this weird presidential campaign, where ideas like building a wall along our southern border and excluding entire groups of people from our country based on their religion are tossed around as if they were reasonable, it's important to look back at our shameful history -- in the hopes that we mig...

BWW Review: AMERICAN HERO Takes on the Franchise System, at Artists Rep
by Krista Garver - October 14, 2016

What do you do if you work at a fast-food franchise that's been abandoned by the manager, but instructed by corporate to stay open, even without supplies?...

BWW Review: Spooky Fairy Tales (and a Greek Tragedy) Come to Life in HEAD. HANDS. FEET. at Shaking the Tree
by Krista Garver - October 13, 2016

If you're looking for Portland's most creative theatre, Shaking the Tree productions are always in the running. And the current show is no exception. Just in time for Halloween, director Samantha Van Der Merwe brings us HEAD. HANDS. FEET., which consists of three devised works based on the fairy tal...

BWW Review: August Wilson on the Making of an Artist in HOW I LEARNED WHAT I LEARNED, at Portland Playhouse
by Krista Garver - September 29, 2016

If you'd like to know how August Wilson went from humble beginnings to a beloved (and two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning) playwright, then make your way over to Portland Playhouse for HOW I LEARNED WHAT I LEARNED, a one-man show originally written as a memoir and performed by the playwright himself....

BWW Review: FLY BY NIGHT is the Kind of Musical That Makes You Fall in Love with Musicals, at Broadway Rose
by Krista Garver - September 27, 2016

If you're looking for that next musical to fall in love with, or you wonder what the big deal is about musical theatre, I very highly recommend you make your way out to Tigard to see FLY BY NIGHT at Broadway Rose. (Protip: Take a date. And tissues.)...

BWW Review: Don't Feed the Plants! Do See LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS at Portland Center Stage
by Krista Garver - September 22, 2016

You know the songs by heart, you have complicated feelings about the dentist (Steve Martin could never really be that bad, right?), and, admit it, you always secretly root for the plant. If any of this rings true, then go right now and buy your tickets to LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS at Portland Center St...