Orlando Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations Page 5

BWW Review: FRANKIE VALLI Not Quite 'In Concert' with THE FOUR SEASONS at Dr. Phillips Center
by Aaron Wallace - March 23, 2022

Frankie Valli introduced his ninth song at Dr. Phillips Center on Sunday night as one of his all-time favorites: a 1964 B-side called 'Silence Is Golden.' He might have taken the title a little too much to heart. It's a golden oldie for sure, and Valli sounded great... impossibly great for an 87-yea...

BWW Review: Strong Performance and Timely Staging Elevate Theater West End's War-Torn Musical, DOGFIGHT
by Aaron Wallace - March 21, 2022

Powerful as that theme may be, DOGFIGHT as written isn't fully the righteous proposition it hopes to be. At its core are some deeply troublesome male figures who engage in truly horrendous behavior, and while theatre is always welcome to put unseemly or complicated characters on the stage, DOGFIGHT ...

BWW Review: THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY at Osceola Arts
by Joseph Harrison - March 19, 2022

One of the brilliant things about musical theatre is it can take many forms. From splashy fun to deep and insightful, musicals can be as varied as any other narrative medium and can often surprise you in their ability to strike an emotional chord that you weren’t expecting. Such is the case with Jas...

BWW Review: LaBelle Brings Les Bops to Dr. Phillips Center
by Aaron Wallace - March 21, 2022

An OG, indeed. She is voulez-vous coucher's iconic 'moi,' the phenom who gave us 'New Attitude' but is every bit as famous for her own attitude - the diva who in 2019 famously lamented all of Top 40's 'little heifers who can't sing' and here tonight in Orlando was calling her own high heels 'heifers...

BWW Review: THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE at Titusville Playhouse
by Joseph Harrison - March 15, 2022

A county spelling bee may not sound like a likely setting for a musical, but THE 25th ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE defies convention and delivers laughs and a heartwarming story that is sure to please. In the latest production on its Shuler Stage, Titusville Playhouse’s production of this hit m...

BWW Review: GORGEOUS at Renaissance Theatre Company
by Joseph Harrison - March 06, 2022

There’s something special about being the first audiences to see a new musical. For a musical theatre nerd like me, it is a thrill that is practically unmatched. And since I don’t live in New York City or thereabouts anymore, it is not something that happens that often. Which is why I was excited to...

BWW Review: DREAMGIRLS at Titusville Playhouse
by Joseph Harrison - March 06, 2022

Thanks to the 2006 film starring Jennifer Hudson and Beyonce, a lot of people are familiar with the story of the Broadway hit musical DREAMGIRLS. Its story of the rise of a talented group of young women – first as contest winners, then backup singers, then fame and success on their own - resonates w...

BWW Review: Garden Theatre's Timely Musical PARADE Puts Anti-Semitism and Southern Justice on Trial
by Aaron Wallace - March 01, 2022

As news of Nazi rallies throughout Orlando and a white nationalist conference just outside of Walt Disney World rock Central Florida, Garden Theatre opens a musical this week that meets the moment: PARADE......

BWW Review: At Dr. Phillips Center, Top-Notch FROZEN is No Fixer-Upper
by Aaron Wallace - February 27, 2022

Caroline Bowman approaches Elsa with a studied understanding of this show's central themes: the inner confusion of outward identity, the struggle between family ties and the daggers of life that threaten to slice them, and the feeling of danger inherent in any quest for self-acceptance - especially ...

BWW Review: Southeastern premiere of TRAV'LIN: A 1930S HARLEM MUSICAL ROMANCE at The Winter Park Playhouse
by Joseph Harrison - February 15, 2022

What a pleasure it is to discover a hidden (or not so hidden!) gem. Such was the case for me this weekend, when I visited, for the first, but certainly not last, time the Winter Park Playhouse in Winter Park (Orlando), FL. The theatre, which positions itself as Central Florida’s only professional mu...

BWW Review: NUNSENSE at Theatre South Playhouse
by Joseph Harrison - February 12, 2022

What can be better than revisiting an old favorite? Whether you are reading a book again for the hundredth time, watching a favorite movie that always puts you in a good mood, or listening to music you’ve spent your whole life jamming to, the familiar can be quite comforting and uplifting. Such is t...

BWW Review: THE FANTASTICKS at Orlando Shakes
by Joseph Harrison - February 07, 2022

It’s hard to imagine a musical theatre world without the iconic, simple but lovely, musical THE FANTASTICKS. Opening at the Sullivan Street Playhouse in 1960 and playing a record breaking 42 years (making it the “world’s longest running musical”), Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt’s “little musical that ...

BWW Review: DON'T DRESS FOR DINNER at Osceola Arts
by Joseph Harrison - February 06, 2022

Headlines are getting more concerning by the day and the world continues to stay on high alert due to the global pandemic – what can one do to escape? Well, I always say laughter is the best medicine, so taking in Osceola Arts’ latest production – Marc Camoletti and Robin Hawdon’s hilarious farce, D...

BWW Review: Theater West End's Reimagined INTO THE WOODS Finds Magic in a Forest without Trees
by Aaron Wallace - February 07, 2022

Those who haven't encountered INTO THE WOODS before won't miss anything at Theater West End. It's still the story of Cinderella, Red Riding Hood, Jack the giant chaser, and a baker and his wife and the witch that cursed them all heading into the same woods at the same time for very different reasons...

BWW Review: HELLO, DOLLY! at The Henegar Center
by Joseph Harrison - February 01, 2022

In the almost 60 years since its Broadway premiere in 1963, Jerry Herman’s classic musical HELLO, DOLLY! has been performed countless times, in countless theatres by countless companies all with a common goal – share the exuberant tale of the indefatigable matchmaker Dolly Gallagher Levi and her que...

BWW Review: DRAGONS & FAIRIES at Leu Gardens
by Joseph Harrison - January 29, 2022

Many of us dreamed as a child of entering the magical lands of our favorite books, movies or other media. Nothing was more thrilling than imagining one could walk through a wardrobe or slide down a rabbit hole into a magical land that was seemingly just on the other side of reality. But unless some ...

BWW Review: Audra McDonald and Dr. Phillips Center Make History with Duke Ellington's BLACK, BROWN & BEIGE
by Aaron Wallace - January 27, 2022

It's not every day that Audra McDonald stands twenty feet in front of you and says, 'Tonight, we are all a part of history.' Then again, it's not every day that music history gets made in Orlando - real-deal, textbook-worthy history - so when it does happen, I reckon Audra McDonald is as eager to be...

BWW Review: AIN'T TOO PROUD Pairs Familiar Songs with Familiar Story Beats at Dr. Phillips Center
by Aaron Wallace - January 26, 2022

But even if AIN’T TOO PROUD commits a few sins on its way to Motown glory, it is at least absolved to some extent by the sheer quality of that songbook. And, in the current touring production at Dr. Phillips Center, it gets some extra absolution from its incredibly talented cast......

BWW Review: Audacious and Inspiring, Garden Theatre's THE MOUNTAINTOP Puts Us in a Room with Martin Luther King Jr.
by Aaron Wallace - January 25, 2022

THE MOUNTAINTOP is a daring and compelling piece of theatre, powerfully staged this month at The Garden Theatre in downtown Winter Garden, FL. It wastes no time in restoring King from the marble statues and speckled newsreels of history to beating heart and flesh and blood......

BWW Review: Jennifer Hudson Concert Is a Big-Voice Baptism for Dr. Phillips Center's New Steinmetz Hall
by Aaron Wallace - January 24, 2022

When Jennifer Hudson sang 'I Will Always Love You' at Dr. Phillips Center on Saturday night, harkening back to her legendary performance of the same at the 54th Grammys, she braced for the 'And I' but, overwhelmed, went with a 'SIR! The way you played that HORN!' instead......

BWW Review: KINKY BOOTS at Titusville Playhouse
by Joseph Harrison - January 15, 2022

Life has a funny way of changing in an instant – pointing you in new directions or opening your eyes to something, or someone you never saw before. Sometimes these changes are welcomed, exciting, full of immediate opportunity, while others can be overwhelming, scary, and daunting. But regardless of ...

BWW Review: Riverside Theatre's Sparkling CAROUSEL Shines Light on All that Is Grand, Complicated in Classic Musical Theatre
by Matt Tamanini - January 11, 2022

Despite the complications that a modern perspective puts on the more prickly parts of the story, you can't help but be both moved and tickled by the show's iconic, perfectly crafted R&H songs. And fortunately, the beautiful and appropriately elegant production of 'Carousel' running at Vero Beach, Fl...

BWW Review: SWEET WATER TASTE at Orlando Shakes
by Joseph Harrison - January 10, 2022

Webster’s dictionary defines the word family as “a group of people who are related to each other”, which on its surface may seem simple and straightforward, but as many of us can attest, often that can be the farthest from the truth. What happens when relatives share a bloodline but practically noth...

BWW Review: THE OFFICE HOLIDAY PARTY MUSICAL EXTRAVAGANZA SHOW at Renaissance Theatre Company
by Joseph Harrison - December 12, 2021

We have all been there. The work party that you feel compelled to attend, whether you want to or not, where some years it is just a bit of egg nog and polite conversation, and others it is a night to remember (or forget, depending on how much you have to drink). Regardless of which type of shindig y...

BWW Review: THE PROM at Dr. Phillips Center Is Campy, Vampy Fun
by Aaron Wallace - December 09, 2021

Visiting THE PROM in original stage form will be refreshing for those who know only the Netflix version. It's as if someone grabbed a theatrical scouring pad and scrubbed away all the glitzy, feel-good 'Glee'-dom that made Murphy's take feel slightly sugar-rushed. On stage, THE PROM is refreshingly ...