Tampa Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations Page 7

Review: THE ROAD TO HELL IS A BEAUTIFUL RELEVANT JOURNEY WITH HADESTOWN at Straz Center For The Performing Arts
by Drew Eberhard - December 02, 2022

Yes, the Holiday Season is once again upon us. Time for merriment, gathering with friends, family, chosen family, and what have you to enjoy the sights, the sounds, and the food of the season. Amidst all of the hustle and bustle of the times, the Straz Center’s Carol Morsani Hall brings a different ...

Review: Kander & Ebb's Brilliant, Terrifically Terrifying CABARET at the Asolo Rep
by Peter Nason - November 25, 2022

It's a technical marvel from all aspects, with an outstanding cast beautifully directed by Josh Rhodes....

Review: GEORGE C WOLFE'S “THE COLORED MUSEUM” ON EXHIBIT at American Stage
by Drew Eberhard - November 13, 2022

The Colored Museum a play with music was written by George C. Wolfe. The play premiered at the Crossroads Theatre in 1986 and was directed by L. Kenneth Richardson. Wolfe’s work is the focus of 11 individual sketches or “exhibits” and through these revues, recounts satirical and prominent themes and...

Review: Caryl Churchill's A NUMBER at Studio Grand Central
by Drew Eberhard - November 13, 2022

A Number written by British Playwright Caryl Churchill first premiered in September of 2002 at the Royal Court Theatre in London, England. The play starred Michael Gambon in the role of Salter, and Daniel Craig in the role of Bernard (Et al.). Under critical reception, Churchill’s play was lauded fo...

Review: Rick Elise's Wildly Inventive PETER AND THE STARCATCHER at the Stage West Playhouse
by Peter Nason - November 13, 2022

An all-star ensemble with Ryan Bintz soaring to the top as the evil Black Stache!...

Review: Lucas Hnath's A DOLL'S HOUSE PART 2 at Tampa Repertory Theatre
by Drew Eberhard - November 05, 2022

Playwright Lucas Hnath was born and raised in Orlando, Florida. Later his move to New York led him to study Pre-Med, but soon he changed his major to Dramatic Writing, where he studied at Tisch School for the Arts earning a BFA, and subsequently following an MFA. Hnath is the playwright of 10 Dramat...

Review: SIX! THE MUSICAL SPARKLES AND DAZZLES at Straz Center For The Performing Arts
by Drew Eberhard - November 02, 2022

On Tuesday evening a packed house at Carol Morsani Hall at Tampa, Florida's Straz Center for the Performing Arts sat waiting in anticipation for the Broadway Season Opener SIX to begin. I myself have stayed relatively neutral to the show, and going in blind only hearing one or two songs, I was eager...

Review: Arthur Miller's ALL MY SONS Proves to Be a Relevant Classic at Berkley Preparatory School
by Drew Eberhard - October 29, 2022

Arthur Miller's subliminal masterpiece in a Three-Act structure All My Sons is what Miller considered his last-ditch effort at writing a commercially successful play. You see Miller's first play The Man Who Had All the Luck failed miserably on Broadway lasting a total of four performances. Miller co...

Review: THE DROWSY CHAPERONE is Anything but Drowsy at MAD Theatre of Tampa
by Drew Eberhard - October 29, 2022

The Drowsy Chaperone is a musical comedy, about a musical within a comedy, featuring music and lyrics by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison. With a book by Bob Martin and Don McKellar, this musical tells the story of a fictional 1928 musical. The story itself centers around a character, 'Man in Chair,' ...

Review: A Powerful Production of Arthur Miller's THE CRUCIBLE at Palm Harbor University High School
by Peter Nason - October 23, 2022

In 2022, it's more pertinent and scary now than ever!...

Review: Steven Dietz Adaptation Of The Bram Stoker Classic DRACULA Commands the Stage in True Gothic-Noir Fashion at Jobsite Theater
by Drew Eberhard - October 20, 2022

Dracula, a novel written by Bram Stoker and published in 1897, became Stoker’s most definitive work. Told in an epistolary style through letters, journal entries, and newspaper articles, Stoker’s novel is never told through the eyes of a single protagonist. Our tale begins with a businessman by the ...

Review: STEVE MARTIN'S ABSURDIST PICASSO AT THE LAPIN AGILE TAKES CENTER STAGE at JOBSITE THEATER
by Drew Eberhard - September 19, 2022

Anyone who has any grasp on popular culture knows of, or has heard of Comedic Actor Steve Martin. With such notable roles in films such as Father of the Bride, The Jerk, Cheaper by the Dozen, and It’s Complicated, Steve Martin has graced both small and large format screens with some of the finest ac...

Review: A Cute FIRST DATE at the Carrollwood Cultural Center
by Peter Nason - September 18, 2022

Craig Ruska and Kara Doyle endear as the leads in this small-scale slice of life musical....

Review: Jobsite Theater Presents Steve Martin's Absurdist Comedy PICASSO AT THE LAPIN AGILE at the Shimberg
by Peter Nason - September 17, 2022

Albert Einstein meets Pablo Picasso (as well as some surprise guests) in this hilarious but sometimes forced comedy....

Review: J. Elijah Cho Channels Mickey Rooney in the Delightful, Hilarious and Moving One Man Show, MR. YUNIOSHI, at Urbanite Theatre (and freeFall Sept. 15-18)
by Peter Nason - September 11, 2022

In a clever twist, Cho, an Asian actor, plays the white Hollywood star who, in 'Breakfast at TifFany's,' played every Asian stereotype as Mr. Yunioshi....

Review: THE COLOR PURPLE: THE MUSICAL is an Exquisite Masterpiece at Stageworks Theatre
by Drew Eberhard - September 10, 2022

From the moment the lights descended on the stage at 1120 E Kennedy Blvd., Unit 151 otherwise known as Stageworks Theatre, the opening night audience sat with bated breath as we awaited the opening notes of The Color Purple: The Musical Adaptation with book by Marsha Norman and music/lyrics by Brend...

Review: GREEN DAY'S AMERICAN IDIOT Snaps, Crackles and Rocks at American Stage
by Peter Nason - September 10, 2022

Amazing songs and a strong cast can't mask the fact that American Stage is a peculiar venue to house Green Day's riotous punk masterwork....

Review: AVENUE Q At Straz Center Proves That Puppets, Like People, Can Have A Whole Lot Of Heart
by Drew Eberhard - September 06, 2022

Avenue Q, a musical comedy featuring puppets controlled by human actors premiered off-Broadway at the Vineyard Theatre in 2003. Opening to rave reviews and claiming Tony Nominations for Best Musical, Best Original Score, and Best Book all of which it won and several nominations in the acting categor...

Review: Lab Theater Project Presents Owen Robertson's CREATING MONSTERS, A New Take on Mary Shelley's Creation of Frankenstein
by Peter Nason - August 27, 2022

It's structurally a mess, but well worth your time to explore....

Review: An Experimentally Avant-Garde Staging of Jonathan Larson's RENT at Eight O'Clock Theatre
by Drew Eberhard - August 14, 2022

Jonathan Larson a name synonymous with American Musical Theatre in the 90s penned this phenom of a Musical based on the Puccini Opera La Boheme. Featuring a rock and roll score unlike anything heard on Broadway at its time, Rent received critical and mass acclaim following the untimely passing of ...

Review: MATT HARMON'S EXHILARATING AND POIGNANT “EXHIBITS IN THE ZOO” at ThinkTankTYA
by Drew Eberhard - August 14, 2022

Matt Harmon’s Exhibits in the Zoo displays what life was like for people prior to the Holocaust living out their days in the confines of the Warsaw Ghetto. To much knowledge and further proven by history, the ideas of the Holocaust, or what our immediate resonance with the tragedy conveys is the Con...

Review: Latoya McCormick and Topher Warren Rock the House in Eight O'Clock Theatre's Production of Jonathan Larson's RENT
by Peter Nason - August 13, 2022

The musical is all over the place, but key performances make this one show to go out of your way to see....

Review: SELINA FILLINGER'S SOMETHING CLEAN at Studio Grand Central
by Drew Eberhard - August 12, 2022

These questions and more are the thoughts that fill my mind upon exiting the theatre following the opening night of Studio Grand Central’s Second Season opener Something Clean by Selina Fillinger. Fillinger whose more recent work Potus is a smashing success on Broadway; penned this three-hander piec...

Review: Stephen Sondheim's INTO THE WOODS at the Marcia P. Hoffman School of the Arts at Ruth Eckerd Hall Is Filled with an Abundance of Heart and Soul
by Peter Nason - August 07, 2022

The wonderful young cast makes this show feel entirely fresh and new!...

Review: Theatre eXceptional's INTO THE NIGHT at the Tampa Fringe Will Make Your Heart Sing
by Peter Nason - August 01, 2022

A wonderful cast, led by Nicole Jeannine Smith and Ryan Prince, brings this sweet show to life, another treasure at the Fringe....