Review: 4 LOST SANTAS + AMAHL AND THE NIGHT VISITORS at Opera Orlando
by Joseph Harrison - December 08, 2024
When it comes to the holidays in the opera world there are few standards as beloved as Gian Carlo Menotti’s AMAHL AND THE NIGHT VISITORS. The first opera written expressly for television and first broadcast on NBC on Christmas Eve 1951, the piece has been produced countless times over the last 73 ye...
Review: WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD at Titusville Playhouse
by Joseph Harrison - December 07, 2024
It’s not often that audiences have the chance to experience a completely new musical here in Central Florida, but that is what is happening every night (and select days) on stage at Titusville Playhouse with the premiere of WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD which plays on the Titusville, FL stage through Decem...
Review: THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA by Central Florida Vocal Arts
by Joseph Harrison - November 16, 2024
The feelings that one gets when sitting in the audience for a musical production can run the gamut from sadness and heartbreak to joy and excitement. But it is a rare experience when a production causes one to experience the full breadth of human emotion – becoming transfixed and transported to an e...
Review: ANNIE at Theatre South Playhouse
by Joseph Harrison - November 03, 2024
“The sun'll come out, tomorrow. Bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow there'll be sun…” If you are now belting out this tune in your living room, then you are not alone. The song, from the classic musical ANNIE, is one that has captured hearts ever since it was first heard when this uplifting show pr...
Review: ANASTASIA at Titusville Playhouse
by Joseph Harrison - October 27, 2024
History, romance and a captivating mystery told in a breathtakingly magical way – that’s the thrilling combination you get with ANASTASIA, the latest production from Titusville Playhouse. The beloved musical, inspired by the classic 1997 animated film, takes audiences on a “Journey to the Past” thro...
Review: SNAPSHOTS at The Winter Park Playhouse
by Joseph Harrison - October 06, 2024
There’s a particular thrill experiencing the familiar in an unfamiliar way - seeing a favorite dramatic actor in a comedic role, eating a “deconstructed” dish with all the familiar ingredients of a favorite entrée but delivered in a very different way, or watching a new film that revisits a classic ...
Review: GOTHIC SEAS: FATHOMS OF INTOXICATING FORTUNE by New Generation Theatrical
by Joseph Harrison - September 22, 2024
“What do you do with a drunken sailor?” An age-old question sung by scalawags and ne’er do wells as they drank rum on the deck of a ship on its way to pillage and burn. Sound familiar? For any fan of pirate popular culture, this conjures a particular image. Maybe it’s of Captain Jack Sparrow stumbli...
Review: JERSEY BOYS at Osceola Arts
by Joseph Harrison - September 15, 2024
Jukebox musicals are a polarizing topic in the world of musical theatre. For fans of an artist or group whose music is used as the score of a musical, these can often be favorites due to the familiarity and affinity one might have for the songbook. For musical purists, however, jukebox musicals ofte...
Review: MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET at Titusville Playhouse
by Joseph Harrison - September 08, 2024
On Tuesday evening, December 4, 1956, in Memphis, Tennessee, while a winter chill bit into passersby at the corner of Union Avenue and Marshall Avenue something big was heating up the studio of Sun Records on that very same corner. Sun Records founder and producer, Sam Phillips had brought together ...