RHODE ISLAND THEATER REVIEWS

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 ...

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 d...

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 th...

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....

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....

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.'...

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. ...

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....

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

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....

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.”...

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....

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....

...

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 O...

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....

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 ...

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 t...

Some Like It Hot Sizzles on Tour at PPAC: Big band energy, tap-happy choreography, and sharp performances heat up the stage in this exuberant musical comedy...

What did our critic think of LA TEMPESTAD at Trinity Rep?...

The Arctic Playhouse welcomes the advent of spring with a gratifying production of esteemed playwright William Inge’s “Picnic,” a Pulitzer Prize-winning comedic drama about the choices people make and the paths they take, intentionally or otherwise, to find happiness and avert loneliness....

Sarah Ruhl’s plays walk a tightrope between the real and the surreal, often gazing into the absurd with disarming sincerity. Fortunately, Through The Glass Theatre is right at home in that liminal space. Their earnest, straightforward staging of Dead Man’s Cell Phone lets Ruhl’s quirky meditat...

& Juliet is a reimagining of the Romeo and Juliet story where — rather than kill herself —Juliet reconsiders her hasty relationship with Romeo, and instead goes off on an adventure with her friends. This show features the songs of Swedish super producer/ songwriter Max Martin, who may not be a k...

We all know the saying, “A man’s home is his castle,” and sometimes there is no telling what an individual will do to protect what they consider to be their own safe haven and private space. In Gamm Theatre’s captivating production of Stephen Adly Guirgis’s powerful, gritty, Pulitzer Prize...

The narrator of the stage play ‘Life of Pi,’ now at Providence Performing Arts Center, proclaims, “My story will make you believe in God.” Regardless of your religious inclination, the retelling of his tumultuous journey reminds us how a person’s faith alone can provide the strength to end...