ArtsBeat

Powerful 'Assassins' Closes Sarasota Players Season

The Stephen Sondheim-John Weidman musical remains a potent and topical story.

05/05/2026 By Jay Handelman/ArtsBeat.org

Review

Asolo Rep Presents 'Fiddler on the Roof' for the First Time

And it's well worth the wait.

04/20/2026 By Kay Kipling

ArtsBeat

FSU/Asolo Conservatory Casts a Spell With ‘Midsummer Night's Dream’

Jonathan Epstein's staging is as colorful and spirited as theater critic Jay Handelman has ever seen it.

04/15/2026 By Jay Handelman/ArtsBeat.org

Review

WBTT's 'Lies, Spells & Old Wives' Tales' Leans into Ancestral Wisdom

The world premiere show features original songs and some entertaining stories.

04/13/2026 By Kay Kipling

Review

FST Closes Mainstage Season with Poignant 'Birthday Candles'

The play by Noah Haidle is a reminder of how fleeting even a long life can be, and how important it is to savor it.

04/06/2026 By Kay Kipling

Review

'A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical' Packs in All the Hits at Van Wezel

Plus, audiences will learn a little about what lay behind the songs.

04/02/2026 By Kay Kipling

ArtsBeat

Theater Review: 'The Crucible' Stays Potent in Changing Times

The Arthur Miller classic about the Salem witch trials speaks to new generations at Sarasota Players.

03/30/2026 By Jay Handelman/ArtsBeat.org

ArtsBeat

Venice Theatre Takes a 'Drive' Through Sensitive Subjects

Paula Vogel won a Pulitzer Prize for her engaging and disturbing "How I Learned to Drive."

03/25/2026 By Jay Handelman/ArtsBeat.org

Review

What's the Buzz in Urbanite Theatre's 'The Apiary'?

The bees aren't doing so well in Kate Douglas' play. Neither are the humans.

03/23/2026 By Kay Kipling

ArtsBeat

Theater Review: Powerful Performance and Story in ‘Remember This’

The play is the true story of a Polish man who became an international hero, risking his life to reveal the atrocities he witnessed in Jewish ghettos and concentration camps.

02/10/2026 By Jay Handelman/ArtsBeat.org

Review

A New FST Production Takes Us to the Moon

"The Blue-Sky Boys" presents an often entertaining picture of the engineers behind the Apollo moon landing.

02/02/2026 By Kay Kipling

Review

Urbanite Theatre Delivers a Sometimes Harrowing 'JOB'

This two-character play is an intense, packed peek into dark corners.

01/29/2026 By Kay Kipling

Review

Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe Presents Dominique Morisseau's 'Paradise Blue'

There's drama, humor and a little bit of jazz in this five-character play, set in 1949 Detroit.

01/12/2026 By Kay Kipling

Review

Asolo Rep's 'Primary Trust' Tells a Touching Story About Finding Friendship and Hope

The Pulitzer Prize winner is mostly low-key, but it still has an impact.

01/11/2026 By Kay Kipling

Review

FST's 'A Tailor Near Me' Sews Together a Connection Between Two Older Men

You want a new suit? How about a new friendship?

12/15/2025 By Kay Kipling

Review

All Is Well in Asolo Rep's 'All Is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914'

A cast of nine delivers dozens of stories and songs from a unique moment in World War I.

12/08/2025 By Kay Kipling

Review

'Come From Away' Opens the Asolo Rep Season with a Bang

Everyone's on their game with this musical about plane passengers and townsfolk on Sept. 11, 2001.

11/17/2025 By Kay Kipling

Review

FST's 'Lucky Stiff' Takes Audiences on a Romp to Monte Carlo

The show by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty offers energetic, freewheeling fun.

11/10/2025 By Kay Kipling

Review

Urbanite Theatre's 'Monsters of the American Cinema' Confronts the Really Scary Stuff

In Christian St. Croix's play, the monsters are close to home.

11/03/2025 By Kay Kipling

Review

WBTT's 'Purlie' Spreads a Message Through Laughter

The musical uses often broad comedy to tackle racism in the Jim Crow South.

10/13/2025 By Kay Kipling