Toronto Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations

Review: A CHRISTMAS CAROL at Shaw Festival
by Michael Rabice - November 25, 2025

Niagara on the Lake will always be known for it's quaint lakeside charm, full of shops, restaurants, and tourists. So it's seems perfectly fitting that the Shaw Festival presents it's last incarnation of their beloved version of Charles Dickens' A CHRISTMAS CAROL. This fresh adaptation by Festival A...

Review: PREDICTABLE HOLIDAY ROM-COM/THE UNAUTHORIZED HALLMARK(ISH) PARODY MUSICAL at Second City/The Royal
by Ilana Lucas - November 23, 2025

Within a week, Toronto audiences had the opportunity to see two musicals which parody that scourge of November to January television, the Hallmark Christmas Movie....

Review: THE FAR SIDE OF THE MOON at Canadian Stage
by Ilana Lucas - November 12, 2025

“Since we surveyed, mapped, explored, and planted a flag,” writes Robert Lepage in his director’s note to THE FAR SIDE OF THE MOON, “our interest in the moon seems to have greatly diminished.” Lepage, however, believes that, while it may no longer be as much of an enigma, the moon will never lose it...

Review: SPOTLIGHT AT THE SECOND CITY at Second City
by Ilana Lucas - November 10, 2025

What did our critic think of SPOTLIGHT AT THE SECOND CITY at Second City? For its October Spotlight series, the featured acts were $20 Sandwich and Sarah Bennett....

Review: TICK...TICK...BOOM! at Alumnae Theatre
by Ilana Lucas - November 09, 2025

What did our critic think of TICK...TICK...BOOM! at Alumnae Theatre?...

Review: THE BURTON EXPERIENCE at Novotel Toronto Centre
by Ilana Lucas - November 03, 2025

Tim Burton, praise Hecate in his name. That’s the refrain you’ll be encouraged to intone many times at THE BURTON EXPERIENCE, the second edition of a pop-up held at Novotel’s downtown location at 45 Esplanade....

Review: CHILD-ISH at Tarragon Theatre
by Ilana Lucas - November 03, 2025

Are the kids all right? It’s hard to say, but it’s easy to leave the show with hope for the future, and an appreciation of intergenerational artistic collaboration....

Review: WHAT BRINGS YOU IN at Theatre Passe Muraille
by Ilana Lucas - October 20, 2025

Ting’s performance art piece-cum-concert is part life confessional, part experimental violin recital, and part meditative state....

Review: ORFEO ED EURIDICE at Four Seasons Centre For The Performing Arts
by Keira Grant - October 13, 2025

The extreme minimalism did not land for me or my guest, but it was clear that other members of the audience loved it. It all comes down to how much you love contemporary baroque singing and agree with a 'less is more' approach to mounting opera....

Review: BREMEN TOWN at Tarragon Theatre
by Ilana Lucas - October 13, 2025

With compelling performances by Toronto theatre stalwarts, this tight, heartbreaking production might inspire you to call your grandparents and tell them that they matter....

Review: BLACKBIRD at United Hope Church
by Ilana Lucas - October 13, 2025

What did our critic think of BLACKBIRD at United Hope Church? Of course, there’s a lot to gasp about in Talk Is Free Theatre’s production of BLACKBIRD, an incredibly intimate staging of Scottish playwright David Harrower’s 2005 drama about a tense confrontation, years after the fact, between a man w...

Review: ROMEO & JULIETTE at Four Seasons Centre For The Performing Arts
by Keira Grant - October 09, 2025

This production is comfort food without being boring and sure to appeal to opera lovers and Romeo & Juliette lovers of all ages, stages and walks of life....

Review: WAITING FOR GODOT at Coal Mine Theatre
by Ilana Lucas - September 25, 2025

Coal Mine’s dedication to text and its intimate quarters mean that you don’t need to shell out for Broadway to get closer to Godot....

Review: MJ: THE MUSICAL at Ed Mirvish Theatre
by Ilana Lucas - September 26, 2025

It’s the eve of Jackson’s Dangerous tour, which is spiralling out of control as he demands more technology and works his dancers to the bone, searching for an elusive perfection that will top anything he’s ever done before while scandal and rumours swirl around him....

Review: ENORMITY, GIRL, AND THE EARTHQUAKE IN HER LUNGS at Nightwood Theatre
by Ilana Lucas - September 22, 2025

Woolley’s moving and layered script, developed over years in Nightwood’s Write From the Hip program, is like a firehose of neuroses, a constant barrage that drenches you with a mind that never shuts off and lungs that never take a breath....

Review: THE ELEPHANT GIRLS at Red Sandcastle Theatre
by Ilana Lucas - September 14, 2025

“It was all a game,” sneers Maggie Hale (Margo MacDonald), lead “enforcer” of THE ELEPHANT GIRLS, the notorious gang of women that swept through London in the 1920s. ...

Review: WAIT UNTIL DARK at Shaw Festival
by Michael Rabice - August 05, 2025

Heightened senses, a world of darkness and a band of conniving criminals all make up the fabric of the 1960's thriller WAIT UNTIL DARK. The Shaw Festival in Niagara on the Lake is presenting Frederick Knott's suspenseful drama in a new adaptation by Jeffrey Hatcher that slowly builds to a nail-bitin...

Review: BACK TO THE FUTURE: THE MUSICAL at CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre
by Samantha Wu - July 30, 2025

Great Scott! Set your DeLorean time circuit to Summer 2025 as the cinematic blockbuster Back to the Future crash lands in Toronto at the CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre. Winner of the 2022 Olivier Award for Best New Musical, Back to the Future: The Musical is adapted to the stage by the movie's creators Bob ...

Review: NATASHA, PIERRE & THE GREAT COMET OF 1812 at Royal Alexandra Theatre
by Samantha Wu - July 28, 2025

Crow's Theatre and The Musical Stage's co-production of Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 was a smashing success during their record breaking run at Streetcar's Crowsnest. ...

Review: ROMEO AND JULIET at Canadian Stage
by Ilana Lucas - July 18, 2025

What did our critic think of ROMEO AND JULIET at Canadian Stage?The romantic tragedy and big emotions of Shakespeare’s famous tale of star-crossed lovers are difficult to successfully present in an age of irony. This is especially true in outdoor summer theatre, where the atmosphere lends itself mor...

Review: TORONTO FRINGE FESTIVAL: FINAL REVIEW ROUNDUP at Toronto Fringe
by Ilana Lucas - July 15, 2025

It’s the end of the 2025 Toronto Fringe, which has entertained audiences for the past 12 days with more than 100 shows in 22 venues. Which was your favourite?...

Review: TORONTO FRINGE FESTIVAL REVIEW ROUNDUP 4 at Toronto Fringe
by Ilana Lucas - July 12, 2025

What did our critic think of TORONTO FRINGE FESTIVAL REVIEW ROUNDUP 4 at Toronto Fringe?...

Review: TORONTO FRINGE FESTIVAL REVIEW ROUNDUP 3 at Toronto Fringe
by Ilana Lucas - July 11, 2025

Keep on Fringing! This roundup includes two shows in the Next Stage Festival (JUSTICE FOR MAURICE HENRY CARTER and SONGS BY A WANNABE), this year being held simultaneously with the Fringe at its Soulpepper venues. ...

Review: THIS SHOW WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE - THE TORONTO FRINGE FESTIVAL at Native Earth's Aki Studio
by Samantha Wu - July 10, 2025

The lifestyle gurus at $20 Sandwich are here to improve your life through the much beloved medium of improv comedy. Playing at Native Earth's Aki Studio as part of the Toronto Fringe Festival, This Show Will Change Your Life is here to deliver what it says on the package. ...

Review: TORONTO FRINGE FESTIVAL REVIEW ROUNDUP 2 at Toronto Fringe
by Ilana Lucas - July 09, 2025

The Toronto Fringe is in full swing, and if you're not seeing any of the 100+ shows available from now to Sunday, what are you doing with your life? BroadwayWorld continues its coverage with reviews of WHO DRINKS MOCKTAILS ON THE BEACH?, MILK MILK LEMONADE, and DON'T FALL IN....