Orlando Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations

Review: SOME LIKE IT HOT Sizzles and Shakes at Dr. Phillips Center
by Albert Gutierrez - December 19, 2024

When SOME LIKE IT HOT began on Broadway, it was celebrated for updating a classic film to modern audiences in ways and themes not readily apparent from the original source material. After having played a successful year-long run on Broadway, the show concluded on December 30, 2023. Nine long months ...

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: The BOOK OF MORMON Makes Welcome Return to Dr. Phillips Center's Front Door
by Aaron Wallace - October 25, 2024

The show works because it forces us to identify with these well-meaning Mormon kids, which has the double effect of indicting our own sense of cultural supremacy while also softening the slurs toward its Latter-Day Saints. ...

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 ...

Review: PIPPIN at Garden Theatre
by Joseph Harrison - September 01, 2024

“Everything has it’s season, everything has it’s time..” So goes the lyrics of “Corner of the Sky”, one of the most well-known songs from Stephen Schwartz’ and Roger O. Hirson’s Tony award winning musical, PIPPIN. And it seems, that for the Garden Theatre’s latest production of this classic, now is ...

Review: TOOTSIE at Titusville Playhouse
by Joseph Harrison - July 28, 2024

What happens when you take a classic film, update it for a modern audience and then turn it into a Broadway musical? This seems to be a question producers and creatives have been asking themselves more and more over the last few years. With musicals like BACK TO THE FUTURE and THE OUTSIDERS currentl...

Review: LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS at Garden Theatre
by Joseph Harrison - July 14, 2024

There’s something about a musical that never gets old, regardless of how many different productions one might see. It’s hard to pinpoint what the core reason for that may be – a catchy score? A tight book? A unique concept? A clarity of purpose? Whatever it may be, the fan favorite LITTLE SHOP OF HO...

Review: LES MISERABLES Offers Hope for the Hopeless(ly Devoted) at Dr. Phillips Center
by Albert Gutierrez - June 26, 2024

At the height of its fame, the musical Les Misérables was the Dorsia of Broadway, a hot-ticket event that reached Hamilton levels of excessive prices, elite A-list attendees, and legions of fans who’d revisit the show through repeat viewings, memorization of the cast recording, and fierce debates of...

Review: Hello, Jodi! It's a Match Made in Heaven with Encore! Performing Arts in HELLO, DOLLY!
by Albert Gutierrez - June 21, 2024

Encore! Performing Arts’ production of HELLO, DOLLY! leans heavily into the relentless optimism and good time that’s made the musical a classic. They’ve crafted together a show which takes advantage of every aspect of its production, from the costumes to the orchestrations to the simple power of a L...

Review: THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG at Osceola Arts
by Joseph Harrison - June 15, 2024

It is rare to sit down in a theatre to see a play and literally laugh non-stop from before the curtain all the way to the final bows. Sure, there are hilarious comedies out there that garner many laughs in an evening but to create a raucous reaction from an audience with little time to take a breath...

Review: ALWAYS...PATSY CLINE at Garden Theatre
by Joseph Harrison - April 27, 2024

There is musical theatre magic happening on stage now through May 19th at the Garden Theatre in Winter Garden, Florida via ALWAYS…PATSY CLINE, a fan favorite musical tribute to one of the most iconic voices in country music. This latest production is a heartwarming, and toe-tapping look at the life ...

Review: MRS. DOUBTFIRE Is the Pleasant Surprise of the Season at Dr. Phillips Center
by Aaron Wallace - April 25, 2024

I was doubtful of Doubtfire. Musicals fashioned out of nonmusical comedy films are seldom stellar, and unlike so many of the patrons inside Dr. Phillips Center on opening night, I hadn’t grown up on 1993’s Mrs. Doubtfire movie, so I couldn’t count on nostalgia to pull me through. I figured I was in ...

Review: CABARET at Titusville Playhouse
by Joseph Harrison - April 21, 2024

In times of turmoil, oppression, and uncertainty, how do people cope? How do they find joy, hope, and freedom when all seems hopeless? In the early 1930’s many of the citizens of Berlin found ways to escape the realities of life and the rise of the Nazi party by visiting one of the many cabarets in ...

Review: SEUSSICAL THE MUSICAL by Little Radical Theatrics
by Joseph Harrison - April 14, 2024

It takes a large imagination to come up with new ideas for the stage, and when the show in question is based on the books of one of the most beloved children’s book authors of the last century – it better be filled to the brim with creativity. Luckily, Orlando’s Little Radical Theatrics has done jus...

Review: FIVE GUYS NAMED MOE at The Winter Park Playhouse
by Joseph Harrison - April 07, 2024

If you are looking for a fun, energetic, and uplifting musical experience, look no further than The Winter Park Playhouse's current production of FIVE GUYS NAMED MOE. This musical revue, featuring the songs of Louis Jordan, the 'King of the Jukebox', is a celebration of life, love, and music, with a...

Review: JAGGED LITTLE PILL at Dr. Phillips Center — A Case of Alanis More-Is-Less
by Aaron Wallace - March 21, 2024

Jagged Little Pill is a show with too many characters, too many concerns, and too tidy a conclusion (complete with a sitcom-ish group laugh at the end). Its heart is in the right place and its message well received, but it relies on an extraordinary confluence of extreme circumstances....

Review: 42ND STREET at Osceola Arts
by Joseph Harrison - March 18, 2024

There are some standard musical theatre moments that never fail to take my breath away. From the powerful 11th hour “I want” song to a perfectly in sync kick line, certain musical mainstays will simply never get old for me. And one of the best examples of musical nirvana, I believe, is a well-choreo...

Review: MAY WE ALL: A NEW COUNTRY MUSICAL at Titusville Playhouse
by Joseph Harrison - March 09, 2024

If you are a fan of country music, you will not want to miss MAY WE ALL: A NEW COUNTRY MUSICAL at Titusville Playhouse now playing through April 7th. This show, written by Troy Britton Johnson, Todd Johnson, and Eric Pfeffinger features songs by some of the biggest names in the genre, such as Billy ...