TAMPA THEATER REVIEWS

FADE IN: The open ocean, 1974. Filming is delayed...again. The lead actors- theatre and film vet Robert Shaw and up-and-coming Hollywood hotshots Richard Dreyfuss and Roy Scheider- are crammed into a too-small boat, entirely at the mercy of foul weather and a faulty mechanical star. Alcohol flows, e...

Bright Star is a Bluegrass/Folk musical written and composed by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell. Its tale is set in the vast landscape of North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains between the years 1945-46, and features flashbacks to the year 1923. The pair produced a Grammy-winning album in 2013 entit...

The Quintessential voice, the one and only Audra McDonald. Captivating the room and singing selections from Broadway’s Great American Songbook, totaling 15 incredible selections in a swift 90-minute presentation. ...

It's a fabulous journey led by a fine cast and the legendary theatre teacher and director, Sabrina Hydes....

&Juliet is a 2019 jukebox musical, featuring a book by David West Read and music by Max Martin, a Swedish Pop songwriter. On the surface, its story is fairly simple when laid out, but the adventures of its characters and how they traverse the narrative is whatreally get to the heart of the story....

Created by the Emmy®-winning writer from Schitt’s Creek, &Juliet at the Straz was a witty burst of female power, driven by knockout vocals. Anne’s challenge to Shakespeare to imagine a stronger woman set the whole story in motion. Though even with strong performances from the men, this show bel...

A high octane tour de force, brilliantly directed by Karla Hartley....

Does GUYS AND DOLLS belong in the conversation as the greatest musical written in the  20th Century?  The answer may certainly be a big fat “YES,” but the competition is fierce; it must go head to head with the likes of West Side Story, My Fair Lady, Gypsy, Cabaret, Sweeney Todd and any of the...

This was a technicolor circus‑concert fever dream. If you’ve ever wondered what would happen if a circus, a rock concert, and a neon‑soaked art installation had a baby, the answer is simple: Blue Man Group. And let me tell you — it was amazing, bright, colorful, and unapologetically LOUD in ...

The year, 1967, the place, Tulsa, Oklahoma, and its central narrative came from the scrawlings of a 16-year-old named Susan Eloise Hinton, and the rest as we know it is solidified into literary history. History so much, that it has sparked a re-birth with a new generation and with the new stage adap...

STOMP at the Straz Center is a loud, brilliant, wildly inventive work of art, a thunderous, joyful explosion of rhythm and creativity that turned everyday objects into pure theatrical adrenaline....

This was a breathtaking circus of beauty, brutality, and heart. This is one of those musicals that you will be talking about on the drive home - how the actors transformed seamlessly from present to past, the music, and simply the beauty of a simple set....

I mean, really… what could possibly go wrong when five college students break and enter into a secluded cabin in the middle of the forest? Turns out, just about everything. From a cursed book and possessed hands to singing demons and chainsaw showdowns, this cult classic is brought to gloriously g...

Let me start with a question, if you shall indulge me for a moment. What happens when one of the greatest storytelling musicians of modern times, and the master of horror/suspense and the downright weird, decides to form a partnership? What happens when you take a story, stretch the lore, change th...

An exceptionally tight production of the hit show where nearly everything goes right....

Amityville '74 isn’t just a play—it’s a psychological gut punch. This is not for kids. It’s a harrowing, emotionally charged descent into the trauma of a family unraveling, culminating in murder. Don’t expect to go home and sleep easy. This production grips you by the throat and doesn’t ...

A brilliantly staged and sung production of a very flawed musical....

Grease at the Suncoast Broadway Dinner Theatre brought a new and exciting twist to the beloved show, spearheaded by a strong cast and immersive environment....

A rarely done musical, Tell Me On a Sunday, features music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Don Black. “...Sunday...” is primarily a one-woman show, and most notably made famous by Bernadette Peters and Marti Webb. In this 70-minute One-Act Song Cycle, we meet an ordinary English Girl who, f...

Every Brilliant Thing was raw, immersive, and unforgettable. From the moment Paul Berg stepped into the center of the room, it was clear this wasn’t going to be a typical theatre experience. The play took me from childhood heartbreak to adult healing, weaving humor, music, and audience interaction...

Beautiful: The Carole King Musical is a jukebox musical featuring the vast songbook of one of the greatest singer/songwriters of a generation. The book by Douglas McGrath tells the story of Carole King’s early life and career. ...

The brilliance of the script is that, although first written in the 1950s, it still has so much relevance to our world today. The audience at the performance I saw was one of the most robust, vocally supportive and emotional audiences I have ever seen. ...

James Hindman’s farcical comedy tour-de-force Popcorn Falls premiered at Theatre NOVA on January 20, 2017. The show’s next production took place in 2018 at the Riverbank Theatre, under the Direction of Christian Borle. Finally, in October of the very same year, James Hindman’s “little play t...

Last night, I stepped into a world where brushstrokes seemed to breathe and masterpieces moved—Beyond Van Gogh and Beyond Monet: The Immersive Experience at Tampa’s Straz Center. This wasn’t merely an exhibition; it was a transformative journey through light, color, and emotion that blurred th...

The Music Man  is one of those rare musicals that’s quite old fashioned and wears its stodgy heart on its sleeve like a badge of honor, but that also can crackle with entertainment and even innovation. ...