Rhode Island Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations

Review: THE REVLON GIRL at The Players
by Christopher Verleger - December 13, 2024

Some shows you watch, others you feel, and truer words cannot be spoken about “The Revlon Girl,” Neil Anthony Docking’s powerful, heartbreaking drama about the aftermath of a tragedy, presented by The Players at Barker Playhouse....

Review: THE LUCKY CHANCE at Head Trick Theatre
by Jessica Tabak - November 19, 2024

What did our critic think of THE LUCKY CHANCE at Head Trick Theatre?...

Review: AMADEUS at The Gamm Theatre
by Erica Cataldi-Roberts - November 18, 2024

In 1998, my senior year English teacher decided to mix things up by having us start the semester by watching movies rather than reading the usual high school classics. The selections were varied – The Godfather, Ghandi, Some Like it Hot, From Here to Eternity....

Review: MAMMA MIA! at Providence Performing Arts Center
by Christopher Verleger - November 13, 2024

“Mamma Mia!,” the sensational, vivacious 2001 Broadway musical based on the songs of ABBA that has become a fan favorite and worldwide phenomenon on both stage and screen, returns to Providence Performing Arts Center (PPAC) and proves yet again just how much this simple story of a mother and daughte...

Review: RODGERS + HAMMERSTEIN'S CINDERELLA at The Community Players
by Christopher Verleger - November 12, 2024

The Community Players welcomes autumn and kicks off its 103rd season with a lively, stylish production of “Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella,” an updated musical adaptation of the beloved, quintessential rags-to-riches fairy tale about a young woman's transformation from indentured servant to elega...

Review: WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME at Contemporary Theater Company
by Christopher Verleger - November 05, 2024

For obvious reasons, our Constitution has been a popular topic of discussion as of late, so it is not only appropriate but impeccable timing for Contemporary Theater Company to launch its impressive, thought-provoking production of Heidi Schreck’s informative, introspective play, “What the Constitut...

Review: SHUCKED at the Providence Performing Arts Center
by Erica Cataldi-Roberts - October 25, 2024

What did our critic think of SHUCKED at Providence Performing Arts Center?...

Review: SLEUTH at The Granite Theatre
by Christopher Verleger - October 17, 2024

“Let the games begin” is a phrase most often associated with an Olympic event, but it also holds true for the characters in ‘Sleuth,’ Anthony Shaffer’s engrossing thriller, now at Granite Theatre, where two adult men play a cunning, intriguing game of cat-and-mouse, each ready to strike and unable t...

Review: LONE STAR LOVE POTION at The Arctic Playhouse
by Christopher Verleger - October 15, 2024

English poet Thomas Tusser penned, “A fool and his money are soon parted.” Such can be said of the foolish individuals in Michael Parker’s bedroom farce, ‘Lone Star Love Potion,’ now at The Arctic Playhouse, a ridiculous, racy, mostly enjoyable comedy about adults behaving badly for a supposed fortu...

Review: MS. HOLMES & MS. WATSON - APT. 2B at Trinity Repertory Company
by Christopher Verleger - October 14, 2024

'Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson – APT. 2B,' Kate Hamill’s fun, remarkably clever comic murder mystery, now at Trinity Rep, reimagines Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s legendary literary sleuths as two contemporary women who join forces by happenstance to investigate and solve crimes in post-pandemic London. Se...

Review: WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME at Wilbury Theatre Group
by Christopher Verleger - October 03, 2024

Read BroadwayWorld's review of Heidi Schreck's What the Constitution Means to Me at Wilbury Theatre Group. Learn more about the production....

Review: THEY PROMISED HER THE MOON at The Players At The Barker Playhouse
by Christopher Verleger - October 02, 2024

The Players at the Barker Playhouse kick off their 106th season with Laurel Ollstein’s compelling historical drama, “They Promised Her the Moon,” the untold true story of Jerrie Cobb, an accomplished pilot and aspiring astronaut who dreamt of visiting outer space at a time when women in aviation wer...

Review: THE EFFECT at The Gamm Theatre
by Jessica Tabak - October 02, 2024

It’s fun to say that romantic love is a matter of chemistry - fun, that is, as long as “chemistry” is metaphorical shorthand for the qualities and quirks that, when brought together, ignite emotions that feel like alchemy. But what if personal chemistry is not figurative, but literal: a combination ...

Review: ONE PROVIDENCE PLACE: A MALL MUSICAL at AS 220
by John McDaid - September 20, 2024

It was only a matter of time before someone put the story of that secret apartment on stage. You know the one, from back in the aughts, when a group of local artists built a hidden room in the Providence Place Mall and lived in it for four years. Well, another local arts collective, The Harpies, hav...

Review: LAMPEDUSA at Contemporary Theater Company
by Christopher Verleger - September 19, 2024

Allow me to introduce Stefano and Denise, the anguished characters in Anders Lustgarden’s powerful two-hander, ‘Lampedusa,’ now at Contemporary Theater Company, so the next time you’re having a bad day at work, I want you to think of these two....

Review: Trinity Rep's POTUS is the Antidote to Election Season Overload
by Andria Tieman - September 12, 2024

Trinity Rep’s production of POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive, is the perfect antidote to politics overload.  This whip-smart, farcical production offers catharsis and the perfect amount of raunchiness, delivered by an across-the-board phenomenal cast....

Review: THE (ONE-ACT) PLAY THAT GOES WRONG at Burbage Theatre Company
by Christopher Verleger - September 05, 2024

Burbage Theatre Company (BTC) kicks off its season with the delightfully disastrous “The (One-Act) Play That Goes Wrong,” a howlingly funny play-within-a-play written by Henry Lewis, Henry Shields, and Jonathan Sayer....

Review: A Hilarious Caper Under the Stars: 'THE 39 STEPS' in Wilcox Park
by John McDaid - August 01, 2024

Review: A HILARIOUS CAPER UNDER THE STARS: 'THE 39 STEPS' IN WILCOX PARK: Colonial Theatre mounts delightful spy thriller spoof...

Review: R.U.R. (ROSSUM'S UNIVERSAL ROBOTS) at Head Trick Theatre
by Christopher Verleger - July 24, 2024

Head Trick Theatre’s captivating, well-acted production of Karel Čapek’s unsettling play, ‘R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots),’ tackles the age-old question, “What happens when machines outnumber humans?”...

Review: TWELFTH NIGHT at Contemporary Theater Company
by John McDaid - July 15, 2024

Review: TWELFTH NIGHT at Contemporary Theater Company offers charming summer Shakespeare on the Saugatucket...

Review: TOOTSIE Sparkles at Theatre by the Sea
by Andria Tieman - June 30, 2024

The plot requires a lot of suspension of disbelief...but the actors in Theatre by the Sea’s production are talented and charismatic enough that you want to stick around a see how it turns out....

Review: LA CAGE AUX FOLLES dazzles at Trinity Rep
by Jessica Tabak - June 09, 2024

What did our critic think of LA CAGE AUX FOLLES at Trinity Rep?...

Review: TWELFTH NIGHT (OR WHAT YOU WILL) at Attleboro Community Theatre
by Christopher Verleger - June 06, 2024

Attleboro Community Theatre (ACT) brings its 66th season to a close with an amusing, highly entertaining production ‘Twelfth Night (Or What You Will),’ William Shakespeare’s boisterous comedy of mistaken identity, entangled romance, and unapologetic tomfoolery....

Review: THE CEMETERY CLUB at Newport Playhouse & Cabaret Restaurant
by Christopher Verleger - June 05, 2024

Newport Playhouse and Cabaret Restaurant presents ‘The Cemetery Club’ written by Ivan Menchell and attentively directed by Tony Annicone, a dramatic comedy about three Jewish widows who gather monthly for tea and to visit their late husbands’ graves....

Review: A CHORUS LINE at Theater By The Sea
by Christopher Verleger - June 05, 2024

Theater By The Sea welcomes the summer and kicks off its 91st season with a dazzling, spirited production of the revered, legendary Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning musical, ‘A Chorus Line.’...