Justin's Theatre Reviews

   In my opinion, after "Hamilton", "Allegiance" was the best new Broadway musical of the 2015/2016 season. Unfortunately, it couldn't find it's audience on Broadway and closed after only a few months. But luckily, since this show has been George Takei's ("Star Trek") passion project, the show wasn't just going to exist among other closed shows and somehow be forgotten about, as some others have. So, for one night only, Fathom Events presented the Broadway production of "Allegiance", which was professionally filmed about a month or two before it closed on Broadway.   "Allegiance" is the story of a family, The Kimuras, who were put into a Japanese Internment Camp during World War II. The show tells of the family's struggles and takes you through the twists and turns that occurred during their time in the internment camp. The show was conceived by George Takei and his personal experiences in an internment camp. The s...

   For their second annual student production, the UTEP Dinner Theatre put on a killer production of John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask's "Hedwig and the Angry Inch", which is a show about a transgender women named Hedwig, who was left with an "angry inch" when her sex change operation got botched. Judging from some of the other reviews I have written on this blog, you might think that "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" would be the type of show I wouldn't like. However, I LOVE this show. I love this show so much, that in fact, I was Hedwig two or three Halloweens ago. The music (By Stephen Trask) is great and book writer and original star, John Cameron Mitchell, did an amazing job creating the complex character that is Hedwig.    In the title role, Allen Thompson is a ROCK STAR. Hedwig has to be one of the most demanding males roles in the male musical theatre canon and he absolutely SLAYED that role. I really cannot say enough good things a...

   With another December, comes yet another one of NBC's live musicals. Last year, NBC put on "The Wiz", which blew us all away. Then, a month later, FOX puts on "Grease: Live", which almost put NBC's previous three live musicals to shame. After "Grease" (one show I don't like), I wondered what NBC was going to do 11 months from then to top that. Then sometime after that (maybe even before, I don't remember), NBC announced they were going to do "Hairspray". I wasn't initially excited for "Hairspray" because I am not that huge a fan of the show. It's not a bad show, it's just always been on the more "meh" side to me. In the original stage show, I think the songs are very good, but all the scenes were too long and dragged out, making for a rather boring night in the theatre, whenever they weren't singing. Then, the cast announcements started to roll out for "Hairspray: Live!" Harvey Fier...

    In the midst of "Hairspray: Live", I took in a performance of this year's national tour of "Elf: The Musical". Based on the 2003 film that starred Will Ferrell, "Elf" tells the story of an elf named Buddy who crawled into Santa's bag as baby and was taken back to the north pole and raised as one of their own. Of course, when Buddy becomes very tall, by elf standards, he learns he is human and must go back to New York city to meet his real family and most importantly, earn the affection of his father who is a New York city business man, who is on the naughty list.    If I had to use only one word to describe "Elf: The Musical", it would be "funny". "Elf" is just an overall funny show. At the start of the show, we are greeted by Santa Claus (played wonderfully by Ken Clement), who almost immediately starts cracking jokes. After Santa is finished telling us about his electronic problems, he begins telling us the sto...