Houston Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations Page 13

BWW Review: ONCE ON THIS ISLAND at TUTS Is Raw, Real Storytelling at Its Finest
by Audrey Morabito - February 20, 2020

“This—something, life and...breath?” my friend read as she tried to decode my jumbled mess of notes while I drove us home from the show. “Oh no,” I answered, 'that says, 'This musical lives and breathes.” That short phrase is the most indicative of my experience at ONCE ON THIS ISLAND, a show whose ...

BWW Review: SOLDIER'S FUGUE Marches into MAIN STREET THEATER
by Brett Cullum - February 10, 2020

Narratively ELLIOT, A SOLDIER'S FUGUE simply combines three soldiers in Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq.  They represent a grandfather, a father, and a son who all go through similar experiences in the wars of their respective eras....

BWW Review: JERSEY BOYS Mans Up at Broadway at the Hobby Center
by Brett Cullum - February 08, 2020

Most people know the music pretty well, but few knew the band had a colorful history full of crimes and mob connections that were against the clean cut tradition of their era. They seemed to be more than a boy band and bordered on a gang in many ways. Forget BTS, One Direction, or even the New Kids ...

BWW Review: A.D. Players' GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER Is Both Hopeful & Honest
by Audrey Morabito - February 04, 2020

The year is 1967, the place is San Francisco, and the conflict? A young and optimistic mixed-race couple has just announced their upcoming plans of marriage to unsuspecting parents. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner extracts the nuances and subtleties of prejudice and plops them center stage, both litera...

BWW Review: THE BAND'S VISIT is Most Welcome at Broadway at the Hobby Center
by Brett Cullum - January 29, 2020

THE BAND'S VISIT reminds audiences what musical theater can be when we remove garish production values and jukebox hits. It takes us somewhere unfamiliar, and by the end we realize that it's not nearly as far as we thought. The human heart is well mapped no matter where you go, and people have uni...

BWW Review: Prague Shakespeare Company's HAMLET Does it Solo at Main Street Theatre
by Brett Cullum - January 17, 2020

This is HAMLET like you have never seen before - performed by a handsome stranger who is hellbent on turning Shakespeare's longest work into a 90 minute aria. In concept it sounds dicey, but in execution it works surprisingly well. ...

BWW Review: HELLO, DOLLY! at the Hobby Center
by Alric Davis - January 13, 2020

a?oeDolly will never go away again!a?? But that's just it. Dolly has never gone anywhere. So long as there are humans on earth, Hello, Dolly! will continue to live. Somewhere, somehow, the show will always be produced, the songs always sung, the characters always riffed off of. It has left an impa...

BWW Review: Theatre Under The Stars' ELF is a Feel-Good, Festive, Family Holiday Treat
by Audrey Morabito - December 19, 2019

I first saw ELF when TUTS produced it back in 2013, and last year I had the absolute joy of working on a production of it at Queensbury Theatre. I'll be honest, it was a challenge for me to set aside my past experience with the show in order to see it with fresh eyes, giving myself a fair chance to ...

BWW Review: Firecracker Productions' ALL THROUGH THE HOUSE Is Not the 'Night Before Christmas' You Expect
by Audrey Morabito - December 09, 2019

In the thick of the holiday season, there are generally two camps of seasonal shows in the repertoire of our Houston theatre scene: those that indulge the festive, heartfelt genre of holiday classics, and those that provide an alternative. While I am partial to the former (Yes, I also enjoy the chee...

BWW Review: THE DISAPPEARANCE OF EARTHA KITT is Purrrrfectly Fierce at Vincent Victoria Productions
by Brett Cullum - December 07, 2019

Vincent Victoria has made a name for himself by recreating black female icons that loom large over our cultural imagination. Eartha Kitt like Lena Horne defied the beauty standards of her time to create her own definition of what a leading lady should look and act like....

BWW Review: BABY SCREAMS MIRACLE Storms Through CATASTROPHIC THEATRE
by Suzanne Tidwell - December 04, 2019

Claire Barron's edgy comedy/drama centers on a small, slightly dysfunctional family and their problems, the biggest of which is a massive storm system moving relentlessly their way....

BWW Review: THE NUTCRACKER at Houston Ballet
by Jenny Taylor Moodie - December 02, 2019

The Nutcracker is beloved for many reasons; the endless eye candy, the dynamic score, and the marriage of artistry and excellence. The element of tradition keeps us coming back for more. We yearn to feel connection, and to remember what it's like to wonder about magical things. Houston Ballet's mult...

BWW Review: DEAR EVAN HANSEN Reinvents The Musical At Broadway At The Hobby Center
by Brett Cullum - November 13, 2019

It was amazing to see DEAR EVAN HANSEN with an enthusiastic audience. Many of the teens sang along with the show or at least mouthed the words as the performance played out. People were visibly touched by the situations and reduced to tears at several points. And yet I felt oddly removed from the ...

BWW Review: CATS Prowls and Prances Into the Hobby Center
by Suzanne Tidwell - October 24, 2019

World Series tickets may have been the hottest tickets Tuesday night, but they definitely weren't the only tickets in town. Patron lines at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts stretched across the lobby prior to opening, proof that Andrew Lloyd Webber's cornerstone musical really is 'Now and Fo...

BWW Review: Comedy Takes a Bittersweet Turn in Catastrophic's TRAGEDY: A TRAGEDY
by Suzanne Tidwell - October 17, 2019

It wasn't the comedy of broadcasters who have absolutely no information to share but share it anyway that stayed with me, nor was it watching each of these characters disintegrate into their lowest common denominators as they desperately cling to order. It was instead in their attempts, on the last ...

BWW Review: 4th Wall Theatre Company Presents Polished 'GLASS MENAGERIE'
by Brett Cullum - October 16, 2019

4th Wall Theatre Company's production shows a lot of love for Tennessee Williams, and they have thrown a ton of resources behind it. The result is a strikingly handsome production with surprising interpretations of the characters and plenty of eye candy....

BWW Review: Theatre Under The Stars Ushers in a SPRING AWAKENING
by Alric Davis - October 15, 2019

Theatre Under The Stars' Spring Awakening does more than entertain its audiences. It enlivens the fifty first season of the massive theatre known for their proclivity for golden age musicals and traditional fare and re-introduces to Houston audiences a production that highlights still-relevant subje...

BWW Review: THE HIDING PLACE World Premiere is Poignant & Powerful at A.D. Players
by Audrey Morabito - September 16, 2019

Is it possible to be released from the bondage of suffering, while still in the midst of it? How often does sufferinga?'past or presenta?'grasp hold of our entire being, making it near impossible to believe in the goodness around us? The World Premiere Adaption of THE HIDING PLACE asks us these ques...

BWW Review: A CHORUS LINE Razzle Dazzles At TUTS!
by Brett Cullum - September 13, 2019

Director Julie Kramer and choreographer Jessica Hartman have stayed true to the 1975 vision, but also managed to make it more energetic and faster paced. The dancers often seem to defy gravity and levitate during numbers, and it's all gorgeously staged and executed....

BWW Review: SISTER'S BACK TO SCHOOL CATECHISM Is A Hilarious Habit At Stages Repertory Theatre
by Brett Cullum - August 28, 2019

To the delight of the audience she covers horror movies, several ghastly tales of the saints, and even unleashes a fashion show where you can dress up as an unlucky martyr to go trick or treating.  It's fast, it's funny, and also has a gentle soul that should find even the most diehard Catholics emb...

BWW Review: Everything is RENT at The Hobby Center
by Pnina Topham - August 10, 2019

In 1996, Jonathan Larson's rock-opera RENT changed the landscape of American theatre. A re-imagining of Puccini's La Bohème, RENT chronicles a tumultuous year in the life of seven artists, struggling to navigate between their dreams and the harsh struggles of real life. Though first performed two de...

BWW Review: MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS Satisfies at Alley Theatre
by Brett Cullum - July 25, 2019

This one has everything you could want - broadly drawn characters, exotic settings, and a spectacular murder with no shortage of suspects. It's a great thriller to chill you off this summer. ...

BWW Review: A.D. Players Brings Electric Energy to WEST SIDE STORY
by Audrey Morabito - July 22, 2019

As the biggest musical A.D. Players has produced in their 52 years, I believe that this production of WEST SIDE STORY has distinguished A.D. Players as an enormously capable participant in our city's musical theatre scene. In the show program, A.D. Players Executive Director Jake Speck and Artistic ...

BWW Review: PRIVATE LIVES Proudly Preens at Main Street Theater
by Brett Cullum - July 22, 2019

The director has decided to look at the more giggle-worthy elements of PRIVATE LIVES, and has avoided some of the darker implications of this Noel Coward classic. Audiences should eat this one up like a buttered brioche with coffee the morning after a sordid affair....

BWW Review: THE DOYLE AND DEBBIE SHOW Sees Red People at Stages Repertory Theatre
by Brett Cullum - July 19, 2019

Some people will love this one, but I found it theatrically stunted and a bit offensive in that it would be funnier if I were far more conservative. It will play best with people who unapologetically sport their MAGA hats and follow certain Twitter accounts without remorse....