Palm Springs Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations

Review: SKIPPY AND BITSY’S ALL-STAR TV CHRISTMAS EXTRAVAGANZA at The Bent
by Kay Kudukis - December 18, 2024

It’s all in good (and a little naughty) fun at Skippy and Bitsy’s All-Star Christmas TV Extravaganza on “live television”. This is a tv special you might have run across while surfing cable access tv, or in an SNL Christmas skit from the 1980s where it’s live and it’s a trainwreck, and there ain’t n...

Review: THE 39 STEPS at CVRep
by Kay Kudukis - December 13, 2024

What did our critic think of THE 39 STEPS at CVRep?...

Review: COMPANY at Revolution Stage Company
by Kay Kudukis - December 12, 2024

It’s all a big conundrum, isn’t it? Life in general, of course, but specifically, the idea as to whether or not someone will be happier single, or married. And in the musical COMPANY, Bobby’s friends, who are all married to each other, have decided that at the age of 35, Bobby’s getting a bit too lo...

Review: I’LL EAT YOU LAST: A CONVERSATION WITH SUE MENGERS at The Bent
by Kay Kudukis - December 09, 2024

In 2015, Vanity Fair published an article about the first super agent in Hollywood, Sue Mengers. Mengers career started where all women agents started in 1961, as a secretary. It was the same year she met the not-yet legendary Barbra Streisand, “before she lost the ‘a’,” quips Cathy Moriarty as Meng...

Review: NOBODY DOES IT BETTER at Palm Springs Cultural Center
by Kay Kudukis - December 07, 2024

What did our critic think of NOBODY DOES IT BETTER at Palm Springs Cultural Center?...

Review: LOOT at Desert Ensemble Theatre
by Gilmore Rizzo - November 19, 2024

As one audience member who fell asleep remarked, “Farce is hard”.  That gave the opening to this review. Farce IS hard if you don’t understand how it is to be directed so that it works effectively. This review was extremely difficult to write because Desert Ensemble Theatre is high on the list of pr...

Review: HILLARY AND CLINTON at Dezart Performs
by Kay Kudukis - November 17, 2024

What did our critic think of HILLARY AND CLINTON at Dezart Performs?...

Review: LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS at Revolution Stage Company
by Kay Kudukis - November 12, 2024

By now, pretty much everyone knows the musical Little Shop of Horrors was based on a 1960s film by Roger Corman with a “cameo” by Jack Nicholson. The film was a cult hit, and in 1982 Howard Ashman and Alan Menken published the musical of the same name....

Review: NEXT TO NORMAL at CVRep
by Gilmore Rizzo - November 10, 2024

What did our critic think of NEXT TO NORMAL at CVRep?...

Review: GULITY PLEASURES at Sun City Performing ARts
by David Green - November 10, 2024

This is a first! During the 31 years since the founding of the Performing Arts Club in Sun City Palm Desert, there has never been a review of any of the 100+ shows produced, performed and directed by the members. I am glad to report that the current show--a lively, engaging, colorful revue titled Gu...

Review: I DO, I DO at Revolution Stage Company
by Kay Kudukis - October 21, 2024

Strong vocals carry the night at Revolution’s production of the dated, but funny, I Do, I Do. With book and lyrics by clever lyricist Tom Jones, the only song you might recall is Try to Remember (also in his 1960s musical The Fantasticks), which landed on the Billboard’s 100 in 1965 not once, but th...

Review: F**KING MEN at The Bent
by Kay Kudukis - October 16, 2024

Joe Dipietro’s play explores the different dynamics between men and the thrill of anonymous sex. The comic throughline of “Why do we bang strangers? Because it feels fantastic!” propels the action, and comedy carries the night but buried underneath are some deeper emotions, and complicated situation...

Feature: Local Theatre Purchases Albert Frey Designed Church as New Home
by Kay Kudukis - October 07, 2024

Dezart Performs waved bye bye bye to renting space from Palm Springs Woman's Club by announcing the purchase of an Albert Frey designed church that will become their home. The theatre kept things under wrap, and the reveal was met with enthusiasm....

Review: DAVID BURNHAM MOSTLY BROADWAY at CVRep
by Gilmore Rizzo - July 28, 2024

For the final Summer Cabaret series show at Coachella Valley Repertory, no finer showman could have been picked for their closure than the extraordinary David Burnham in his MOSTLY BROADWAY traditional cabaret show....

Review: TWINSPIRATION WITH JULIE AND JANNA CARDIA at CVRep
by Gilmore Rizzo - July 27, 2024

A genuinely wonderful production spoiled by some overacting hyper-sincerity....

Review: BROADWAY SHOWSTOPPERS WITH GLENN ROSENBLUM Part 2 at CVRep
by Gilmore Rizzo - July 22, 2024

The anticipation is high as the audience fills up to near capacity while the Palm Springs weather outside hits double-digits and record-breaking temperatures. CVRep is a great way to get away from the heat and enjoy a cool evening of entertainment....

Review: BRENT BARRETT & BERNIE BLANKS: ISLAND IN THE STREAM at CVRep
by Gilmore Rizzo - July 22, 2024

Another highly anticipated evening of Cabaret with a sold-out crowd at Coachella Valley Repertory to see the handsome and talented husband duo Brent Barrett and Bernie Blanks.  When the three-piece combo begins to play the men grace the stage wearing stylish white and silver tailor-fitted suits sing...

Review: BROADWAY SHOWSTOPPERS WITH GLENN ROSENBLUM Part 1 at CVRep
by Gilmore Rizzo - July 22, 2024

When you can hear a room audibly smile, then you know you are in the presence of Glenn Rosenblum. He’s charming, clever, witty, playfully spills the Tea, shows off his encyclopedic knowledge regarding all things Broadway, and displays his utmost respect for this genre of entertainment. ...

Review: BROADWAY BARBARA at CVRep
by Gilmore Rizzo - July 13, 2024

What did our critic think of BROADWAY BARBARA at CVRep?...

Review: DEVEN GREEN AND HANDSOME NED at CVRep
by Gilmore Rizzo - July 13, 2024

Funny, dated, and a bit lackluster; fans went wild....

Review: KEN PAGE at CVRep
by Gilmore Rizzo - July 02, 2024

Enlightened, witty, smart and joyful; Cabaret at its finest...

Review: THE EDGAR ALLAN POE SPEAKEASY at Revolution Stage Company
by Kay Kudukis - July 01, 2024

What did our critic think of THE EDGAR ALLAN POE SPEAKEASY at Revolution Stage Company?...

Review: PHILIP CHAFFIN: WILL HE LIKE ME? (A LOVE STORY) at CVRep
by Gilmore Rizzo - June 29, 2024

A gay romantic journey; looking for love told entirely through song....

Review: STRAIGHT TO THE HEART: A TRIBUTE TO RODGERS & HART at Dezart Performs
by Gilmore Rizzo - June 25, 2024

What did our critic think of STRAIGHT TO THE HEART: MUSIC OF RODGERS & HART at Dezart Performs?...

Review: JASON GRAAE: GRAAVITAS at CVRep
by Gilmore Rizzo - June 23, 2024

A master class of hodgepodge compiled into Cabaret perfection tic think of JASON GRAAE: GRAAVITAS at CVRep?...