Rhode Island Reviewers Favorite Shows of 2025
We’re taking a look back at some of the best shows we saw this year–in RI and further afield.
Rhode Island theatres continue to produce excellent and thought-provoking work, and it is a privilege for your local reviewers to be trusted with the responsibility of sharing the good, bad and strange! In the spirit of ending the year on an optimistic note, we’re taking a look back at some of the best shows we saw this year–in RI and further afield.
Three plays that impacted me this year include: Providence Performing Art Center's Harry Potter and the Cursed Child-never read a Potter book in my life and went because the wife was a huge fan but this play's magical scenes and musical dance numbers were just off the charts. You didn't need to be a Harry Potter fan to fall in love with it and I was proof positive!
In the summer, Heartbreak Hotel at Theatre by the Sea taught me way more about the King and his incredible 1968 Comeback Special with an incredible Elvis performance by Joe Hebel.
On the smaller venue side, a mind-blowing Crosswords at Providence's A220 Blackbox Theatre challenged how you think about the world as a couple desperately tried to solve the Zodiac cypher while realizing the puzzle was the least of their marriage problems.
Angels in America at Gamm
Extraordinary performances and superb direction made this production of Tony Kushner's classic the theater event of the year. It still packs a wallop more than three decades later and reminds audiences of its intensity, profundity, and timelessness.
American Idiot at Wilbury
Wilbury Theatre Group's production ferociously and beautifully illustrated the rage and helplessness of a lost albeit determined generation as a rock concert presented as performance art where the storyline took audiences on a veritable rollercoaster ride of emotion.
There was excellent offbeat theater to be experienced in 2025. From here at home to the Big Apple, it was a good year for weirdness.
Providence:
Wilbury Theatre's production of Octet is a gorgeously sung, a cappella meditation on tech addiction, shaped like a twelve-step meeting and rich with psychological and musical complexity. Cerebral yet heartfelt, it’s a rare piece that rewards both emotional and intellectual attention, with outstanding performances from the ensemble.
Close by:
Rebecca Kopycinski’s ThotBot Implantation Center up in Somerville blends immersive theater and operatic synth-pop to stunning effect. Part installation, part solo concert, it’s a lo-fi dystopian satire that’s as emotionally resonant as it is conceptually sharp. Runs through March.
Far afield:
Else Went’s Initiative at New York's Public Theater was a five-hour teen drama braided with a D&D campaign, where real-world trauma and fantasy quests mirror each other. Ambitious and tender, it turns archetypes into living, breathing myth. And there's something delightfully theatrical about watching relationships develop over these super long scenes.
Sometimes you want flashing lights and spectacle, and sometimes you want a well-acted, well-written and well-directed play that quietly takes you on a journey. Burbage Theatre’s Every Brilliant Thing was deeply affecting and beautifully constructed. The directing/ acting team of Angela Brazil and Stephen Thorne have been entertaining Providence for years, and this play was a remarkable collaboration that I’ve been thinking about frequently since.
Theatre by The Sea’s Hairspray couldn’t be further from Every Brilliant Thing in tone, but it was so joyful and lovely that it left me with a feeling of happiness and hope I haven’t encountered too often (and really needed). The songs are incredibly catchy; the cast was phenomenal, and the production was Broadway caliber with a much shorter drive.
Reader Reviews
