Columbus Theater Reviews

BWW Reviews: WHIPPING MAN Leaves its Mark

Gallery Players and the New Players Theatre team up to present a gripping Civil War drama (more...)

BWW Reviews: Otterbein Production of HOW TO SUCCEED Succeeds

Donica and Tinder head up talented cast of memorable characters in lively show in HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING (more...)

BWW Reviews: Gimme Some 'Moe' of CATCO's FIVE GUYS NAMED MOE

If you liked Short North Stage's recent production of "Passing Strange", you'll love CATCO's current show, "Five Guys Named Moe". Both musicals, each show features a young, lost, African-American man who gets a schooling from some older, wiser musicians. While the former was a good show in its own right, CATCO's "Five Guys Named Moe" production is an entire ensemble as smooth as the jazz tones the characters sing, in glorious harmony. (more...)

BWW Reviews: X Marks the Spot for Twenty One Pilots Return to Columbus

Local boys Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun enthrall a sold-out concert at Lifestyles Community Pavilion (more...)

BWW Reviews: WAR HORSE - A Brilliant Spectacle of Puppet Mastery

Every once in a great while, the stars align just right where a story is beautiful, the music is gorgeous, the acting is spot-on, the sets are astounding, the lighting is impeccable, and everything comes together for the magic that is theatre. Such is the case with Nick Stafford's magnificent adaptation of Michael Morpurgo's children's book, WAR HORSE, now playing at the Ohio Theatre through April 28, 2013. (more...)

BWW Reviews: Get 'Real' with Short North Stage's PASSING STRANGE

Short North Stage opened the regional premiere of the Tony-Award winning 'Passing Strange" last night in the gorgeous Garden Theater. Directed by Mark Clayton Suthers, "Passing Strange", with book and lyrics by Stew, tells the story of a young black musician on his artistic journey of self-discovery from his start in middle-class, South-Central Los Angeles in the late 70's, to the hash bars of Amsterdam, and the post-punk scene of Berlin, where he finds a temporary family in a group of German radicals, and struggles desperately to find his own "artistic soul". (more...)

BWW Reviews: Shadowbox Live's TABOO is Universally Entertaining

Shadowbox Live continues its reputation for having no topic off-limits, with its new sketch comedy and rock n' roll show entitled, "Taboo". The witty sketches poke fun at virtually everyone and everything, to the point that the show is "equal opportunity" offensive, and surprisingly enough, none of its jabs cut too deeply. (more...)

BWW Reviews: CCT's WILLY WONKA Wins the Golden Ticket

Dahl's classic novel comes to life on stage at the Lincoln Theatre in CCT's delightful production of WILLY WONKA. Adapted for stage by Leslie Bricusse and Timothy Allen McDonald with music and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley, this timeless story reminds us of the magic of theatre and obsession of chocolate. (more...)

BWW Reviews: CATCO Is Kids' SCHOOLHOUSE ROCK LIVE, JR. Proves 'Old School' Is Still Way Cool

Remember when the best part of your week was a bowl of Cocoa Puffs and Saturday morning cartoons? CATCO Is Kids' production of 'Schoolhouse Rock Live, Jr.' is an energy packed, fun-filled trip down Nostalgia Road that parents will adore, and children will find equally delightful. The educational messages set to catchy tunes that stuck in the heads of their original audience are just as enticing to the younger generation, who also don't mind being schooled, as long as it's disguised in entertainment. (more...)

BWW Reviews: SPANK! THE FIFTY SHADES PARODY is Fifty Shades of Fun

SPANK! THE FIFTY SHADES PARODY is a fun girls' night out! (more...)

BWW Reviews: THE PROMISED LAND Brings Middle-Class Unemployment Center Stage

A&B Theatricals and director Joe Bishara took on middle-class unemployment last night with local playwright, Bill Cook's original script, 'The Promised Land'. Those familiar with Cook's previous work, especially last year's, 'Love In An Age of Clamor', will find several similarities between the two productions, however this one, finds middle-aged, middle-class, Simon (Nick Baldasare) suddenly downsized from his life-long career as a financial analyst. (more...)

BWW Reviews: Green Day's AMERICAN IDIOT Gets You Out of Suburbia

Billie Joe Armstrong, Green Day's vocalist/guitarist wrote the lyrics for 'American Idiot' in the rock opera style of 'The Who', with songs that follow three disenfranchised young men- Johnny (Alex Nee), Will (Casey O'Farrell), and Tunny (Thomas Hettrick) as they attempt to leave their stifling suburban selves in the hopes of not becoming another 'American Idiot'. (more...)

BWW Reviews: Shadowbox Live Goes Down the Rabbit Hole with UNDERLAND

With enough of a fan base to generate the nearly $20,000 needed to fully-fund its production in less than two weeks on its Kickstarter.com pledge site, Shadowbox Live's self-created musical, 'Underland' opened to a not-surprisingly sold-out crowd last night. The original script, created by Shadowbox Head Writer, Jimmy Mak, is inspired by 'Alice In Wonderland', but instead tells the tale of Albert Ice (Robbie Nance), a Vietnam veteran who is searching for his lost daughter in the 60's hippie culture of San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury District. While it has the feel of Shadowbox's fabulous, 'Back to the Garden' in its opening scenes, this show immediately takes a much darker, mind-bending tone, and it's difficult to tell what is a drug-trip gone wrong, and what is Ice's completely warped post-traumatic stress-induced reality. (more...)

BWW Reviews: Short North Stage's Local Premiere of ORDINARY DAYS is Extraordinary

The Short North Stage may be small in size, but the talent in the theater for their latest musical is of gigantic proportions. They opened the Columbus premiere of Adam Gwon's musical, 'Ordinary Days' last night with the production's creator in the audience, and if that lead to any nervousness, it certainly didn't show. (more...)

BWW Reviews: CATCO Paints the Town RED With Local Premiere of the Tony-Award Winning Play by John Logan

The Columbus premiere of John Logan's, 'Red' fell on Valentine's Day, but the 2010 Tony Award winning play's only lover's obsession is that of artist Mark Rothko's relationship with his own art. The intensely intellectual two-man play stars Kevin McClatchy as the mid 20th Century painter, and Tim Simeone as Ken, his recently hired assistant. 'Red' details the two year span of Rothko's career in which he was working on a commissioned series of paintings for the new Four Seasons Restaurant in the posh Park AvenueSeagramBuilding. 'What do you see?' begins Rothko, and as such, the audience gets an extraordinary opportunity to see an artist seeing his own work, a perspective that proves entrancing, profound, and deeply heart-wrenching. (more...)

BWW Reviews: Nebraska Theater Caravan Packs 30 Years of Tradition Into A CHRISTMAS CAROL

Opening to a picturesque scene, the likes of which traditional Christmas cards are made, complete with snow gently falling, Nebraska Theater Caravan, began its 3 day limited run of "A Christmas Carol" at the Palace Theater last night to a crowd filled with families beginning their holiday celebrations together. (more...)

BWW Reviews: A Columbus Holiday Tradition Turns 21- Shadowbox Live’s HOLIDAY HOOPLA

You know that the holiday season has officially arrived in Central Ohio when Shadowbox Live gifts us with the opening of its annual musical sketch comedy, Holiday Hoopla. Just as nutty as fruitcake, a little sassier, and so much sweeter, this is hilariously fun how has become so wildly popular that in its 21st revision, it has already sold out many nights a month ahead. (more...)

BWW Reviews: Shadowbox Live Shows Plenty of 'Razzle Dazzle' in CHICAGO

It's been a Broadway favorite since it's 1975 opening, and the Academy Award winning 2012 movie version did little to detract from its fame, but if you weren't fascinated with Chicago's musical tale of sex, lies, and corruption before now, Shadowbox Live's stellar cast will definitely give you enough of the ol' "Razzle Dazzle" to make you a fan. (more...)

BWW Reviews: Idina Menzel Makes Stunning Columbus Debut

Idina Menzel marked her Columbus debut last night, with the Columbus Symphony's Picnic with the Pop's series at the new Bicentennial Pavilion. Opening to a crowd of over 7,000 people on a perfect summer night. (more...)

BWW Review: MEMPHIS ‘Tears Down the House’ at the Ohio Theatre

"Everyone want[ed] to be black" on Tuesday Night at the Ohio Theatre as MEMPHIS came to town and literally tore down the house. From its onset, MEMPHIS was clearly a liberating celebration in every sense of the word. Its jumping and jiving, soulful, high energy rock-n-roll, powerful singing, and endearing story take you on a nonstop whirlwind from start to finish. (more...)

BWW Reviews: Getting Addicted is Easy at Shadowbox Live's REEFER MADNESS, Sundays Now through July 8, 2012

Shadowbox Live presented the completely campy REEFER MADNESS again last night, and in Julie Klein's warped little director's brain, it was pure "mockumentary" delight. REEFER MADNESS is a wacky musical adaptation of the 1936 exploitive propaganda film by the same name that became a cult classic. (more...)

BWW Reviews: BILLY ELLIOT Electrifies the Palace Theatre

I was one of the lucky ones who had the chance to see Billy Elliot: The Musical on Broadway before it closed on January 8, 2012. Although this scaled-down NETworks version may lose some of its grandiose sets and sparkle, Billy Elliot still transmits enough electricity to power all of Columbus' Palace Theatre. (more...)

BWW Reviews: Shadowbox Live's RENT Delivers

When you take on an iconoclastic production such as Jonathan Larson's RENT, you either have a whole lot of talent in your back pocket, or you are just plain ludicrous. Fortunately for Shadowbox Live, it was a case of the former that resulted in a fantastic opportunity to see this incredible story about Bohemians in Alphabet City, NYC struggling with life, love and AIDS, brought to life in local form. (more...)

BWW Review: Barber's ‘AHHHHHH......DAGIO’ Remains Masterful While New CSO Format Falls Flat

Although acoustically favorable to the strings, the Southern Theatre hosted a new (and not improved) Columbus Symphony Orchestra format which fell flat on many levels. (more...)

BWW Reviews: Columbus Symphony 'Pops' with Fine Classics from Opera to Broadway

The Columbus Symphony Orchestra kicked off its Pops series with 'Opera to Broadway', where Canadian Conductor, Jean-Marie Zeitouni, took the audience through a journey of popular music, from 19th Century opera to Broadway favorites, and back to operetta, merging all genres into one expressive, cohesive performance. (more...)