Raleigh Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations Page 3

BWW Review: JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR National Tour, DPAC
by Nicole Ackman - June 19, 2022

When JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR first premiered in 1972, it was banned by the BBC for being “sacrilegious.” The musical, with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice, imagines the last week in the life of Jesus Christ in the form of a sung-through rock opera. The tour currently at DPAC play...

BWW Review: IN THE HEIGHTS, Raleigh Little Theatre
by Nicole Ackman - June 18, 2022

Raleigh Little Theatre’s production of IN THE HEIGHTS was initially announced in February 2020, just before the Coronavirus pandemic shut down theaters across the country. So it’s a joy to finally see it make its way to the stage in June 2022. Directed by Patrick Torres, the story of Washington Heig...

BWW Review: HAMILTON National Tour, DPAC
by Nicole Ackman - May 20, 2022

Read our critic's review. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical remains every bit as engaging and innovative today as it was seven years ago. Under Thomas Kail’s direction, the show is one of the most unique to have made it big on Broadway. ...

BWW Review: 2022 Triangle Rising Star Awards at DPAC
by Nicole Ackman - May 13, 2022

From the moment that the ceremony started with an upbeat rendition of “You Can’t Stop the Beat” from HAIRSPRAY by the twenty finalists, it was clear that the 2022 Triangle Rising Star Awards was going to be something special....

BWW Review: MY FAIR LADY National Tour at Durham Performing Arts Center
by Jeffrey Kare - May 04, 2022

Based on George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play, Pygmalion, My Fair Lady is set in London in the year 1912. Read what our critic has to say. ...

BWW Review: JERSEY BOYS at DPAC North Carolina
by Paul Bolton - April 30, 2022

The Broadway Award Winning Musical 'Jersey Boys' plays through May 1st, 2022 at DPAC North Carolina featuring the hits of THE FOUR SEASONS...

BWW Review: North Carolina Theatre's RING OF FIRE
by Jeffrey Kare - April 30, 2022

Ring of Fire is a musical presented as a concert by a group of five performers playing the songs of legendary country music artist Johnny Cash. The show, which was conceived by William Meade and created by Richard Maltby, Jr., opened on March 12th, 2006 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on Broadway. Sa...

BWW Review: PRETTY WOMAN National Tour, DPAC
by Nicole Ackman - April 20, 2022

Read our critic's review: When the film “Pretty Woman” first came out, its narrative didn’t feel as tired. The Cinderella story of sorts follows prostitute Vivian Ward who wealthy businessman Edward Lewis hires to be his escort to business functions for a week. In 2022, with a modern audience, it’s ...

BWW Review: OKLAHOMA! National Tour, DPAC
by Nicole Ackman - March 30, 2022

This is not your grandparents’ OKLAHOMA. During intermission, I heard one woman ask another, “Is this the Oklahoma you remember?” and it’s certainly not. If you’ve ever found the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic musical boring or problematic, then this is the revival for you....

BWW Review: HADESTOWN National Tour (DPAC)
by Nicole Ackman - February 23, 2022

When a musical makes as much of an impact on Broadway as HADESTOWN did when it first premiered, the first national tour cast has a lot to live up to. Luckily, the tour of HADESTOWN manages to recapture all of the magic that the show had on Broadway, with a stellar cast stepping into the roles....

BWW Review: RENT National Tour at Durham Performing Arts Center
by Jeffrey Kare - January 29, 2022

Loosely based on Giacomo Puccini's 1896 opera, La bohème, Rent follows a group of impoverished young artists struggling to survive and create a life in New York City's East Village in the thriving days of Bohemian Alphabet City, under the shadow of HIV/AIDS. ...

BWW Review: A CHRISTMAS STORY, US Tour (DPAC)
by Nicole Ackman - December 29, 2021

If you’re looking for something festive to do with the family, the national tour of A CHRISTMAS STORY is a fun option. The musical brings the beloved 1983 film to life onstage with music by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. While the musical exposes the weakness of the plot of the film, the talented cast ...

BWW Review: AIN'T TOO PROUD National Tour at Durham Performing Arts Center
by Jeffrey Kare - December 11, 2021

Ain't Too Proud follows the journey of The Temptations from the streets of Detroit to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. With their signature dance moves and unmistakable harmonies, they rose to the top of the charts creating an amazing 42 Top Ten Hits with 14 reaching number one. ...

BWW Review: THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH a production of PlayMakers Repertory Company in Chapel Hill
by Paul Bolton - November 15, 2021

Pulitzer Prize winning Drama now on stage live in Chapel Hill a production of PlayMaker Repertory Company now thru Nov 28th...

BWW Review: Escape to Margaritaville, National Tour (DPAC)
by Nicole Ackman - November 10, 2021

ESCAPE TO MARGARITAVILLE surely features the most Hawaiian print clothing that has ever graced the stage of DPAC. Especially as the weather has turned colder recently, it is just what it promises: an escape to a warm climate full of singing, dancing, and tequila. ...

BWW Review: Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill, North Carolina Theatre
by Nicole Ackman - November 06, 2021

“Singing has always been the best part of living for me,” Billie Holiday tells the audience in North Carolina Theatre’s new production of LADY DAY AT EMERSON’S BAR AND GRILL. Angela Robinson plays singer Billie Holiday and Nygel Robsinon plays her pianist Jimmy Powers at NCT, under the direction of ...

BWW Review: TOOTSIE National Tour at Durham Performing Arts Center
by Jeffrey Kare - October 20, 2021

Based on Sydney Pollack's 1982 Academy Award-winning film of the same name, Tootsie follows Michael Dorsey, a skilled actor with a talent for not keeping a job. Desperate and out-of-work, Michael makes a last-ditch effort at making his dreams come true...by disguising himself as actress Dorothy Mich...

BWW Review: North Carolina Theatre's 9 TO 5: THE MUSICAL
by Jeffrey Kare - October 13, 2021

Based on Colin Higgins' 1980 Academy Award nominated film of the same name, 9 to 5 follows three female coworkers in the late 1970s. Pushed to the boiling point, they team up to concoct a plan to get even with the sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot they call their boss. In a hilarious tu...

BWW Review: THE BAND'S VISIT National Tour
by Nicole Ackman - October 06, 2021

THE BAND’S VISIT is an incredibly gentle, but very human musical about a band of Egyptian musicians who end up stranded in a small Israeli town. It’s a show about unlikely connections as we see the Arab musicians bond with those in the small town....

BWW Review: Theatre Raleigh's PEACE OF CLAY
by Jeffrey Kare - October 03, 2021

Peace of Clay explores the pressures, hopes, and aspirations of a young man coming of age in a southern city in the 1980s. Raised by a devoted mother in the projects, Clay tries to pursue his path in the midst of obstacles large and small while also discovering his own power and strength....

BWW Review: Fun Home, Theatre Raleigh
by Nicole Ackman - August 28, 2021

“Am I just like you?” Alison Bechdel questions, looking back on her father after his death in Theatre Raleigh’s latest show, FUN HOME. The musical has music by Jeanine Tesori and book and lyrics by Lisa Kron. It’s based on the graphic novel by Alison Bechdel and Bechdel herself is the main character...

BWW Review: Raleigh Little Theatre's BEEHIVE: THE 60S MUSICAL
by Jeffrey Kare - August 13, 2021

Beehive: The 60s Musical is a revue that celebrates the powerful female voices of the 1960s with such timeless hits as 'My Boyfriend's Back', 'Be My Baby', 'Son of a Preacher Man', and 'Me and Bobby McGee'. Told from the perspective of six young women who come of age in this enigmatic decade, Beehiv...

BWW Review: SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD, North Carolina Theatre
by Nicole Ackman - July 27, 2021

“A new world calls across the ocean,” is the first line of Jason Robert Brown’s SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD. It’s a familiar feeling in 2021, as we all try to navigate what our world looks like now as we move out of quarantine and into a new stage of the pandemic....

BWW Review: Burning Coal Theatre Company's GIRLS AND BOYS
by Jeffrey Kare - June 28, 2021

Loosely based on Euripides' Medea, Girls and Boys tells the harrowing tale of a young upwardly mobile lady who is a business woman, a wife, and a mother of two young children. In short, she has it all. But can she keep it? This one-woman play written by Dennis Kelly originally premiered at The Royal...

BWW Review: Burning Coal Theatre Company's NINE LIVES
by Jeffrey Kare - June 25, 2021

Nine Lives follows the journey of a young gay African man who is seeking asylum in the U.K. The young man, Ishmael, lives out of a suitcase. As he struggles to convince the government of his need for asylum, he comes to see the U.K. as a cold, aloof, and heartless place. Until he meets a young woman...