Justin's Theatre Reviews

  One of my favorite annual traditions is by far the American Theatre Wing's annual Tony Awards ceremony. I spend the entire year tracking the races and devoting my time to each of the new shows that opens on Broadway each season. I do not measure my year from January-December, but by Broadway season to Broadway season. This begins from the moment the first show of the season opens until the moment the annual Tony Awards ceremony ends. The 2018/2019 Broadway season ran through all of the types of shows. Some were good, some were bad, and some were even life affirming. I love the Tony Awards because not only do we get to honor all of our favorite shows and performers of the season, but we get to celebrate them through nominations, wins, and a wonderful show. This year, Hadestown led the pack, pulling in 8 Tony Awards, including Best Musical. They were followed by The Ferryman , who picked up 4 Tony Awards, including Best Play. Also winning big was the new revival of Rodgers and Hamm...

  I think that everyone was skeptical about Disney's newly released live action remake of their animated classic, Aladdin . In the days, weeks, and even months, leading up to the film's release, my Twitter feed was filled with, "I don't know about this film" and "This looks weird," every time a trailer was released. Personally, I never had strong feelings about any of the trailers one way or the other. I am automatically excited for just about anything that Disney or their adjacent studios release. I was less concerned with the quality of the trailers and more concerned with the fact that I have not liked quite a few of Disney's most recent releases. As a result of this, I was afraid that this new Aladdin was just going to add to the streak of disappointing Disney films from the past 6 months. I am happy to report that this was not the case. The new version of Aladdin is an incredibly satisfying film with a strong cast, visuals, soundtrack, and ener...

  It is always such a pleasure to go to the theatre just for the purpose of laughing. Although I have seen some wonderful productions within the past year or so, it has been awhile since I have seen a pure comedy where I had the opportunity to do nothing more than laugh my face off for a couple of hours. Luckily, the national tour of Something Rotten! allowed me to bask in the wonder of a well written musical comedy. Something Rotten! is a witty musical (with a book by Karey Kirkpatrick and John O'Farrell, and a score by Wayne and Karey Kirkpatrick) about the Bottom Brothers, Nick and Nigel, who are struggling playwrights that are constantly overshadowed by the starlet of a playwright, William Shakespeare. Nick visits Thomas Nostradamus (Nostradumus' less in demand nephew) to find out what the next big trend in theatre will be, so he can get ahead of the game and dethrone Shakespeare of his high status in the world of theatre. Nostradamus tells Nick that some years down the lin...

    There is nothing sadder to me than having to sit through a production of one of your favorite shows that does not meet its full potential and winds up being rather disappointing in more ways than one. Unfortunately, I found this to be the case with the touring production of Evita that played at The Plaza Theatre in El Paso, Texas on March 9. Evita has been one of my favorite shows for years. I was in a production of this brilliant Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber musical with the UTEP Dinner Theatre back in 2013 and I have been in love with the show ever since. I could sing the entire score for you right now if I wanted too. This touring production was the first time that I ever actually got to experience a live production of the show. The cast of this production was incredible and the show's writing remains simply impeccable. These two things allowed me to genuinely enjoy the show and not sit in misery for two hours. However, the production was so poorly directed an...

  Although the New York production of Kinky Boots is nearing the end of its Broadway run, a touring production of the show is still making its way across North America. Despite the fact that the show has been playing for over 5 years, I never got around to seeing it until this past Saturday night, when the tour played The Plaza Theatre in El Paso, Texas. The show certainly did not disappoint and very firmly justified their six Tony Awards (including Best Musical) and long run on Broadway. With a score by Cyndi Lauper and a book by Harvey Fierstein, Kinky Boots (based on the 2005 film of the same name) is a wonderful show about a man named Charlie Price (Connor Allston) whose father is the owner of a shoe company, known as Price and Son. After his father's sudden passing, Charlie inherits the shoe factory and upon discovering that the shoe factory is starting to go under, Charlie struggles to keep the shoe factory alive. After befriending a drag queen (Lola, played by understudy, J...