Category: 2025-2026
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Search for the Truth Through the Murky Haze of “Angel Street” at LTN
Photo courtesy of J. Stubbs Photography (https://jstubbsphotographyvb.com/) On a foggy March night, we were greeted by set designer Shawn Crawford’s sterile, white walls of a modern 1960s London residence on the stage of the Little Theatre of Norfolk, where the play “Angel Street” is currently playing. And something felt just a little… off. Is it…
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As PCT Raises the Curtain, they Lift the Veil Between Worlds in “Ghost the Musical”
The “showmance” is a term that has become a part of our cultural lexicon – and, as big fans of our local community theater scene, we of course enjoy the gossip we get out of each new playbill that we are handed while walking into a show to find out who calls out each other…
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Have Some Eggs (and a Side of Family Drama) with that Smithfield Bacon at SLT’s “Breakfast with Les and Bess”
Before I could even make it up the stairs to my seat for Smithfield Little Theatre’s “Breakfast with Les and Bess”, I had turned my head at least three times to catch glimpses of the magnificent set – the fancy 1960s New York apartment that morning radio show hosts Les and Bess broadcast from. There…
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There’s More Than One Way to Crack An Egg and There’s More Than One Way to Peel An Orange, But There’s Only One Place in Hampton Roads to Catch “Purlie” (And That’s Downing-Gross)
When we got home from “Purlie”, playing now at Downing-Gross Cultural Arts Center, our cat Pepper was up in arms. “How offensive that they would do a song called ‘Skinnin’ a Cat’! Unbelievable!” she meowed at us. When we finally got her settled down enough to listen, and explained to her that it was just…
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Unsettling Thy Name is Rhoda – Williamsburg Players Presents the Psychological Thriller “Bad Seed”
After a few starts and stops in my attempt to write a review of “Bad Seed”, currently showing at Williamsburg Players, I’ve concluded that is it just a difficult show to write about. Not because of any lack of skill, talent, or effort on stage or behind-the-scenes – this show had plenty of each. But…
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It’s Never Easy to Meet the Parents as LTVB Showcases with “Stick Fly”
Photo courtesy of J. Stubbs Photography (https://jstubbsphotographyvb.com/) As the pre-snow cold bore down on Virginia Beach, we were welcomed into the warm and well-appointed house that is the set of LTVB’s show “Stick Fly”. Seriously – set designer Sandy Lawrence and Set Dresser Lisa Stafford should have a show on HGTV. The house they built…
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Shakespeare Goes West! Check Out “Desperate Measures” at Generic Theater
Photo courtesy of Donald Campbell (https://www.instagram.com/duck.duck.soup/). Things I knew about “Desperate Measures”, currently playing at Generic Theater, when I walked in… The rest was a mystery, including the fact that it is a musical, only discovered upon opening the program and seeing a list of musical numbers. (I was also thrilled to see a cat…
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Eight Characters Head into the Forest of Arden. Will They All Find Marriage? Find Out at “As You Like It” Playing Now at Little Theatre of Norfolk
Photo courtesy of J. Stubbs Photography (https://jstubbsphotographyvb.com/) Is there a limit to the number of couples that I can shoe-horn into a play with a single wedding at the end? And can I make the play still appealing to those who hate love by adding a character whose whole deal is to be a foil…
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The Winter Wonderettes Headline Harper’s Hardware Holiday Happenings at Smithfield Little Theatre
*Note: As per the performance eligibility requirements laid out here, this production is not up for HRACT Award consideration.* Smithfield Little Theatre loves a four woman show, and this year, they filled their two weekend-only holiday spot with “Winter Wonderettes”, a show sprinkled with classic Christmas songs tied together with a loose plotline wherein the audience…
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PCT Tells a Scary Ghost Story (Along with some Tales of Glory) this Christmas Season with “Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol”
This time of year, the world is flooded with versions of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” – and oftentimes, lost in the musical numbers and the production value, it is easy to forget that, at its core, this is a ghost story. Peninsula Community Theatre’s “Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol”, told from the perspective of that…
HRACT Awards 