Broadway Show Reviews & Critics' Ratings - Page 2

Here we go – another summer of fun, frothy musicals all over northern New Mexico. This week alone you can choose from Kinky Boots, Head Over Heels or this one, Legally Blonde. Tri-M’s latest offering is playing now through June 23 at the Santa Fe High Theater. I know what you’re thinking – do we need ANOTHER musical based on a well-loved movie about a young woman overcoming adversity to win the day? Maybe we do.

Janet Jackson brought her Together Again Summer Tour 2024 back to the Twin Cities at the Xcel Energy Center on June 18, 2024. Known as the queen of Pop and R&B music, Janet also has ties to Minnesota, having recorded songs in Minneapolis during her illustrious career spanning over 30 years. She has won multiple Grammys and earned a spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Janet boasts numerous chart-topping songs, including feel-good ballads and dance hits.

Over and over again, that has happened to me for the almost half a century during which I’ve been reviewing theater. No matter if it’s a play I have seen countless times, I find myself excited to witness a new take on a much-loved title or to find new and expressive meaning in something I know like the back of my hand. More importantly, I find that theater can elicit in me a profound response and cause me to recall people, places and memories that feed my very soul.

McGee snaps spellbinding shots of existence, exquisitely distilling an emotion, moment, or rumination until it’s almost unbearable. As she goes on through the decades, you can hear a pin drop; that is, when audience members aren’t laughing or sobbing with recognition.

The frequently witty and always entertaining offering from the comedy troupe will make you happy that you put on pants and left the house.

Michael Hurst’s direction ensures that the play’s heavy themes are expertly managed, bringing a sharp focus to Tessa's internal and external battles. The staging is both minimalist and effective, allowing the strength of the script and the power of Woodhouse’s performance to shine through. 

There are few things more glorious than over 300 voices raised in perfect harmony. Since 1978 the SFGMC has been a voice for uplifting the LGBTQIA+ community through times of great sorrow and joy. Persevering in the ugly face of intolerance and persecution, the chorus inspired a worldwide choral movement. This summer, they will tour the Midwest where antigay legislation is being enacted. Tuesday’s concert, a high note in their 46th season titled a “Season of Love”, turned Davies Hall into a cathedral, a scared space of inclusion, reverence, and light.

Dinner and a show? It’s the best combination, which is why I love going to The Searcy Summer Dinner Theatre on the Harding University Campus in Searcy. From now through June 29th, have some delicious dinner catered by Bison Hospitality and watch the hilarious farcical comedy BLITHE SPIRIT....just remember to save the blueberry muffin (a 41 year tradition) for intermission.  

The Next Generation Festival at the Royal Opera House continues with the first outing for The Royal Ballet School's annual performance dates

Laura Waldren lifts the veil off an eating disorder unit. While the characters try hard to cope with an alienating structure that fails many of its patients, Waldren examines institutional callousness and human failure. Chosen from a staggering 1,468 scripts, Some Demon it’s an excellent pick. Though far away from an easy watch, it’s rife with urgent necessity.

A jam-packed evening of sensational music.

The Muny has set a high bar for the remaining productions of their 106th season with an exquisite production of a beloved classic. Seth Skylar-Heyn's collaboration across his entire production team brought a fresh production of Les Misérables to the stage and captured all the emotion of the original production. He filled his cast with dozens of magnificent voices led by the extraordinary performances of John Riddle and Jordan Donica.  

After conquering the West End and Broadway, the 5 star ‘theatrical phenomenon’ embarks on its biggest adventure yet. Don’t miss the West End and Broadway spectacle on its first ever UK tour.

Adopting Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey's original stage version, the production deviates from the famous movie starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. Here we see subversive, sex-driven working-class teenagers among industrial Chicago instead of beachy California. Sandy Olsson is now Sandy Dumbrowski (reflecting the '50s influx of Polish immigrants), the infamous T-birds are the Burger Palace Boys. There is an undertone of gang warfare as the rebellious group often push against authority getting in trouble with the police - it's giving West Side Story.

Jude Christian's new production playfully inverts Shakespeare's misogyny

A new production of Cole Porter’s Kiss Me, Kate, starring Adrian Dunbar and Broadway Royalty and Tony Award Winner Stephanie J. Block, making her West End debut, has now opened.

Starring original cast members Susannah Doyle, Robert Duncan, Ingrid Lacey, Neil Pearson, Jeff Rawle, Stephen Tompkinson and Victoria Wicks, this new stage version sees the team are thrust back together in the world of 24-hour rolling news, social media and algorithms at a new TV station with the distinctly tongue-in-cheek name, Truth News. 

Under the direction of Julie Klein, the theater troupe weaves together the divergent catalogue of the two icons with a variety of singers and styles, multimedia presentations, and the storytelling of Michelle Daniels.

Adrian Dunbar is the starriest of a starry cast, but lacks the specific experience required to lead the show to its fullest potential

ONE FOR JOHNNY MERCER at Dizzy's was another treat in the Songbook Sundays series. Johnny Mercer had a way with words. Stritch, Blackhurst, Stravelli and Lee have a way of singing and winging them. Duke Ellington's turn comes in August.