Rhode Island Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations

Review: FRANKIE AND JOHNNY IN THE CLAIR DE LUNE at The Gamm Theatre
by Christopher Verleger - November 11, 2025

The man and woman featured in Gamm Theatre’s marvelous, endearing production of Terrence McNally’s 1982 play, “Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune,” are both unmistakably struck by Cupid’s arrow, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re ready or even expected to live happily ever after....

Review: CARRIE: THE MUSICAL at The Community Players
by Christopher Verleger - November 10, 2025

The Community Players kicks off its 104th season with a thrilling, impressive production of “Carrie: The Musical,” based on Stephen King’s classic horror novel and the 1976 film adaptation starring Sissy Spacek....

Review: THE HEIDI CHRONICLES at Reverie Theatre Group
by Christopher Verleger - November 09, 2025

'The Heidi Chronicles,' now at Reverie Theatre Group, reminded those same women that they don't have to choose between career and family, but to follow their hearts and to do what they believe will make them happy....

Review: WITCHING HOUR SOCIAL CLUB at Burbage Theatre Co
by John McDaid - October 20, 2025

Horror, they say, is a mood rather than a genre. With the right twist, even a romcom can evoke fear and revulsion. And the Burbage Theatre's world premiere of James Lucey's 'Witching Hour Social Club' proves that point with an elegant layering of the macabre, absurdism, and self-aware humor....

Review: THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW at Granite Theatre
by Christopher Verleger - October 16, 2025

Halloween season is upon us, and there is no better way to embrace its ghoulish spirit than Granite Theatre’s stylish, enticing production of ‘The Rocky Horror Show,’ Richard O’Brien’s deliciously tawdry cult classic musical about a young couple stranded at the mansion of a mad scientist, featuring ...

Review: ANGELS IN AMERICA, PART TWO: PERESTROIKA at The Gamm Theatre
by Christopher Verleger - October 02, 2025

The AIDS epidemic further takes its toll on a group of New Yorkers and their supernatural acquaintances in the second part of Tony Kushner’s award-winning drama, “Angels in America, Part Two: Perestroika,” now at Gamm Theatre....

Review: POWERFUL 'DANCING AT LUGHNASA' at The Players
by John McDaid - September 27, 2025

Powerful 'DANCING AT LUGHNASA' at The Players in Providence....

Review: EVERY BRILLIANT THING at Burbage Theatre Company
by Christopher Verleger - September 18, 2025

Burbage Theatre Company begins its new season on the highest of notes with a tender, heartwarming, profound production of “Every Brilliant Thing” by Duncan MacMillan (with Jonny Donahoe), an engaging, uplifting one-person memoir-like play that reminds audiences of life’s concurrent simplicity and co...

Review: COLD WAR CHOIR PRACTICE at Trinity Repertory Company
by Christopher Verleger - September 16, 2025

Trinity Repertory Company kicks off its 62nd season with the world premiere of Ro Reddick’s “Cold War Choir Practice,” a scrambled albeit compelling, highly entertaining musical dramedy thriller about a young Black girl coming of age during the era of Reagan, Soviet infiltration, and nuclear disarma...

Review: THE WEDDING SINGER at The Academy Players Of Rhode Island
by Brayden Fanti - August 22, 2025

The Academy Players Of Rhode Island’s musical production of ‘The Wedding Singer’ by Matthew Sklar and Chad Beguelin was a blast from the past and an absolute joy to watch from start to finish. From the high paced energy to the stunning choreo to the sharp comedic timing, this production had the audi...

Review: DR. KORCZAK AND THE CHILDREN by Head Trick Theatre
by Brayden Fanti - August 18, 2025

Head Trick Theatre’s emotionally intense, and powerfully performed production of Erwin Sylvanus’ ‘Dr. Korczak and the Children’ translated by George E. Wellwarth, immerses the audience in a heartwrenching true story that is ever so timely to this day....

Review: THE LAST FIVE YEARS at Contemporary Theater Company
by Christopher Verleger - August 13, 2025

Jason Robert Brown's musical, 'The Last Five Years,' now at Contemporary Theater Company, depicts the courtship, marriage, and breakup of Cathy and Jamie, a young couple from Ohio, both blessed and cursed by the simple act of falling in love....

Review: KNOTTY HABITS at Homebrewed Theatre Company
by Christopher Verleger - August 12, 2025

Homebrewed Theatre Company takes audiences on a delightful journey back in time to medieval 12th century Belgium where fashion has an distinct, overarching influence on a village’s residents in Andrew Beauregard’s fun, clever, original work, 'Knotty Habits.'...

HAIRSPRAY at Theatre By The Sea Open Now Through August
by Andria Tieman - July 27, 2025

The 2011 musical Hairspray, based on the 1988 film, tells the story of teen Tracy Turnblad, whose sole goal in life is to become a dancer on Baltimore’s Corny Collins Show. ...

Review: WAITRESS at Theatre By The Sea
by Christopher Verleger - July 02, 2025

Theatre By The Sea celebrates the arrival of summer with its magnificent production of “Waitress,” a romantic musical comedy about problematic relationships, second chances, and the unyielding power of friendship....

Review: BACK TO THE FUTURE: THE MUSICAL Lands at PPAC
by John McDaid - June 11, 2025

BACK TO THE FUTURE: THE MUSICAL lands at Providence Performing Arts Center. National Tour delivers spectacle, nostalgia, and a flying DeLorean....

Review: TRINITY REP'S BLUES FOR AN ALABAMA SKY ENCHANTS
by John McDaid - June 06, 2025

Some plays are like clockwork: the lights come up in medias res, and we watch, fascinated, as the gears turn — the surprise and delight being the journey. Such is the case with Pearl Cleage's Blues for an Alabama Sky, in the enchanting, gripping production now running at Trinity Rep....

Review: ANGELS IN AMERICA (PART 1: MILLENNIUM APPROACHES) at The Gamm Theatre
by Christopher Verleger - June 05, 2025

Gamm Theatre closes another unforgettable season by setting the bar high—immeasurably high—for next season with its soulful, spirited, no-frills and all-heart production of Tony Kushner’s Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece, “Angels in America.”...

Review: AMERICAN IDIOT at Wilbury Theatre Group
by Christopher Verleger - June 03, 2025

Wilbury Theatre Group concludes its season with a powerful, spirited, heart-stopping production of “American Idiot,” a musical based on rock band Green Day’s concept album of the same name....

Review: ALWAYS...PATSY CLINE at Theatre By The Sea
by Christopher Verleger - June 03, 2025

Theatre By The Sea kicks off its 2025 season with the heartwarming jukebox musical, “Always…Patsy Cline,” an enjoyable walk down memory lane featuring the songs from one of the last century's most unforgettable voices....

Review: THE LEGEND OF GEORGIA MCBRIDE at Burbage Theater Co
by Jessica Tabak - May 27, 2025

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Review: YOU ON THE MOORS NOW at The Players
by Christopher Verleger - May 14, 2025

Considering the periodic, seemingly countless remakes of such classic works like “Little Women,” “Pride and Prejudice,” and “Wuthering Heights,” the significance of women’s voices in the history of literature cannot be overstated. Jaclyn Backhaus’ remarkably original satire, ‘You On The Moors Now,’ ...

Review: THE LARAMIE PROJECT at Granite Theatre
by Christopher Verleger - May 08, 2025

In 1998, Matthew Shepard became a household name for the worst possible reason when he was robbed, beaten, and left tied to a fence outside Laramie, Wyoming by Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson....

Review: THE COMPLETE WORKS OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (ABRIDGED) [REVISED] [AGAIN] at Contemporary Theater Company
by Christopher Verleger - May 07, 2025

When Shakespeare penned, “Oh, what fools these mortals be,” he couldn’t ever have imagined the deliberately, delightfully foolish behavior his words would incite more than four centuries later in ‘The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) [revised] [again],’ now at Contemporary Theater Co...

Classic Chicago at PPAC
by Andria Tieman - May 03, 2025

Chicago currently holds the record for the longest-running show on Broadway, with 10,500 performances, and the current touring show is an exact replica of the revival that has been running on Broadway since1996.  It’s delightful to be able to see this classic production without having to travel to N...