Boston Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations

Review: American Repertory Theater's DIARY OF A TAP DANCER is Illuminating Look at Dance History
by R. Scott Reedy - January 02, 2025

Get a ticket, if you still can, to her illuminating and immensely entertaining new play “Diary of a Tap Dancer” – being given its world premiere production by the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge through January 4, 2025 – and you’ll never forget it....

Review: Theater UnCorked's THE LION IN WINTER Roars with Royal Intrigue
by R. Scott Reedy - December 13, 2024

Theater UnCorked has opened its sixth season with a sharp, searing production of “The Lion in Winter” that lays out a powerful story of a royal family struggling both with succession planning and with each other. It may be an unconventional offering given this season’s predictable plethora of holida...

Review: Satire Aplenty in Moonbox Productions' THE THANKSGIVING PLAY
by R. Scott Reedy - December 09, 2024

Thanksgiving pageants – complete with Pilgrims, Native Americans, and oddly over-stuffed turkeys – were once the order of the day at elementary schools, with centuries-old precepts presented as truths....

Review: Farcical Fun Behind Every Door in Lyric Stage Boston's Boisterous NOISES OFF
by R. Scott Reedy - November 26, 2024

What did our critic think of NOISES OFF at Lyric Stage Boston?...

Review: Superb SOJOURNERS is Moving Launch of The Huntington's Nine-Play Ufot Family Cycle
by R. Scott Reedy - November 17, 2024

What did our critic think of SOJOURNERS at The Huntington?...

Review: Greater Boston Stage Company's DINNER FOR ONE Serves Up the Laughs
by R. Scott Reedy - November 15, 2024

A distant cousin of America’s New Year’s Eve Times Square ball-dropping tradition, “Dinner for One” is an iconic comedy sketch broadcast every New Year’s Eve in countries including Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Denmark, and Estonia, and on other days of the year in Norway, Australia, and South Afri...

Review: GALILEO’S DAUGHTER at WAM Theatre
by Marc Savitt - November 05, 2024

GALILEO’S DAUGHTER is a strong representation of WAM theater’s mission and values that include “producing theatrical events for everyone, with a focus on women theatre artists and / or stories of women and girls”....

Review: A Stirring, Unforgettable TITANIC: THE MUSICAL at Bill Hanney's North Shore Music Theatre
by R. Scott Reedy - November 05, 2024

More than 112 years after RMS Titanic – then the largest ocean liner afloat – struck an iceberg and sank on April 15, 1912, during its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York, the public’s fascination with its tragic story remains unabated....

Review: Thought-Provoking Humor Infuses the Huntington's NASSIM
by R. Scott Reedy - October 13, 2024

What did our critic think of NASSIM at Calderwood Pavilion?...

Review: Merrimack Repertory Theatre Makes THE SEARCH FOR SIGNS OF INTELLIGENT LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE Worth Joining
by R. Scott Reedy - October 09, 2024

What did our critic think of THE SEARCH FOR SIGNS OF INTELLIGENT LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE at Merrimack Repertory Theatre?...

Review: Moonbox Productions DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS is a Devilish Delight
by R. Scott Reedy - October 06, 2024

What did our critic think of DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS at Moonbox Productions? Read the review... ...

Review: THE WEIR at Berkshire Theatre Group
by Marc Savitt - October 01, 2024

THE WEIR promises an exploration of human connection, the echoes of personal haunting, and the mystical allure of Ireland's folklore, captivating audiences with its hauntingly evocative storytelling. The experience made all the more relevant as we change the calendar to October. THE WEIR continues a...

Review: Lyric Stage Company of Boston Keeps Things Flowing in Uproariously Funny URINETOWN: THE MUSICAL
by R. Scott Reedy - September 27, 2024

What did our critic think of URINETOWN: THE MUSICAL at The Lyric Stage Company Of Boston? ...

Review: The Huntington's LEOPOLDSTADT is Heart-Rending Epic
by R. Scott Reedy - September 27, 2024

Czech-born British playwright and screenwriter Tom Stoppard, 87, was the child of non-observant Jews whose family fled Czechoslovakia during World War II, just prior to Nazi occupation. Stoppard then spent much of his young life in India, and then Nottingham and Yorkshire in England, becoming the ve...

Review: PRIMARY TRUST at Barrington Stage Company
by Marc Savitt - September 24, 2024

PRIMARY TRUST is a refreshingly intimate production. The production provides a space in which audiences are encouraged to examine our relationship to loneliness, grief, and our desire for connection. I encourage seeing charming, delightful, relevant, powerful production of PRIMARY TRUST at Barringto...

Review: SpeakEasy Stage Company Serves Up Well-done LAUGHS IN SPANISH
by R. Scott Reedy - September 19, 2024

What did our critic think of LAUGHS IN SPANISH at Roberts Theatre, Calderwood Pavilion At Boston Center For The Arts? SpeakEasy Stage Company is opening its 34th season, the final for artistic director Paul Daigneault, with a fresh, lively, and funny production of “Laughs in Spanish” that has someth...

Review: Gloucester Stage Company and Teatro Chelsea Join Forces for Fine Co-production of THE HOMBRES
by R. Scott Reedy - September 17, 2024

What did our critic think of THE HOMBRES at Gloucester Stage Company And Teatro Chelsea?...

Review: SHREK: THE MUSICAL at Emerson Colonial Theatre
by R. Scott Reedy - September 14, 2024

What did our critic think of SHREK: THE MUSICAL at Emerson Colonial Theatre?...

Review: THREE TALL PERSIAN WOMEN at Shakespeare & Company
by Marc Savitt - September 10, 2024

Despite the title, character names, and some references, the dialogue is contemporary and comfortable. It seems as if we could be viewing three generations of just about any family unit. There are plenty of mmh hmmh moments and head nods as the action unfolds that feels familiar regardless of one’s ...

Review: NEXT TO NORMAL at Barrington Stage Company
by Marc Savitt - August 19, 2024

A theatrical experience that, while honestly not for everyone, had the opening night crowd literally leaping to it's collective feet with more than just myself shouting BRAVO! I encourage those brave, perhaps “healed”, open minded, individuals to experience this outstanding production of NEXT TO NOR...

Review: Reagle Music Theatre of Greater Boston's AN AMERICAN IN PARIS is Gold-Medal-Worthy
by R. Scott Reedy - August 11, 2024

What did our critic think of AN AMERICAN IN PARIS at Reagle Music Theatre Of Greater Boston?...

Review: FLIGHT OF THE MONARCH at Shakespeare & Company
by Marc Savitt - August 11, 2024

As we filed out after after the two acts (with one intermission) in about two hours, that was well – done and solid was more-or-less my simple, surface level impression and take away. Over the course of the next 24 or so hours, however, something of a metaphysical metamorphosis took place in me. It ...

Review: FORGIVENESS at Barrington Stage Company
by Marc Savitt - August 05, 2024

The mix and synergy of an excellent script, skillful direction, and an accomplished cast and creatives achieve an overall strong production that pulls audience members in and quite probably leave you asking What Would You Do?...

Review: Kristin Chenoweth Glitters in World Premiere of THE QUEEN OF VERSAILLES at Emerson Colonial Theatre
by R. Scott Reedy - August 02, 2024

Jackie Siegel first came to the public’s attention as the subject of Lauren Greenfeld’s 2012 documentary, “The Queen of Versailles,” a real-life look at the former Mrs. Florida who married a billionaire and then, inspired by trips not only to France but to Las Vegas, set about building with him thei...

Review: Hub Theatre Company of Boston's 46 PLAYS FOR AMERICA'S FIRST LADIES is Delightfully Irreverent
by R. Scott Reedy - August 02, 2024

What did our critic think of 46 PLAYS FOR AMERICA'S FIRST LADIES at Hub Theatre Company Of Boston?...