Category: Musicals
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Dance to that Americana Beat as You Head to Smithfield Little Theatre for “Ragtime the Musical”
It might make for a worse image for our traditional Instagram pre-show pic, but I do love it when you walk into a theater and the curtain is closed. There is something about the element of mystery that heightens your senses as the music starts and the curtain is drawn, bringing you more fully into…
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Extraordinary Performances Create “Something Simple, Familiar, and Full of Feeling” in Generic Theater’s “Ordinary Days”
Photo courtesy of J. Stubbs Photography (https://jstubbsphotographyvb.com/) We walked into Generic Theater with sky-high expectations for “Ordinary Days”. Not only was this the closing show for Generic’s very successful season (the same final show slot that HRACT Award Best Play winner “Indecent” was in last year), we knew it was being fronted by four absolute…
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Teamwork Brings “Working” to Life at Peninsula Community Theatre
The first thing I noticed as we walked into “Working” at Peninsula Community Theatre on Friday night was a teddy bear hanging tight to the impressively large set of scaffolding on stage. The second thing I noticed was the hand saw, intimidatingly directly next to the teddy bear. Don’t worry, I thought to myself –…
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Red and Yellow and Green and Brown: Downing-Gross Brings to Life the Colorful “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”
What is your definitive ranking of Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals that you have seen? That was the topic of conversation in our car as we drove through the southeast community of Newport News and pulled into the Downing-Gross Cultural Arts Center, where this year’s show is “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”. This was also…
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Learn to Climb the Corporate Ladder (and Love It) at LTVB’s “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying”
Photo courtesy of J. Stubbs Photography (https://jstubbsphotographyvb.com/) The Little Theatre of Virginia Beach was bustling once again on Saturday night, with yet another sold-out performance. This time, that performance was the acclaimed “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying”, and the crowd was not to be disappointed, as this show is a highly entertaining…
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Williamsburg Players’ 67th Season Races Along with “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”
We here at the HRACT Awards love a good Sherman Brothers’ musical, so we were excited when Williamsburg Players announced their season included the old classic, “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.” We also knew that “Chitty” was going to be quite a challenge to bring to life – it is a big cast (half of which…
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That Timeless Form of Art – Roller Disco – Skates into Smithfield Little Theatre in “Xanadu”
Walking into Smithfield Little Theatre on Sunday for the final performance of “Xanadu”, we were greeted by an adorable addition to the staff there – Pig-malion! With an oink, this new member of Smithfield’s Porcine Parade invited us into the world of 1980s roller disco. When the curtain opened, though, we were in… Greece? As…
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Generic’s “Tarrytown” Continues the Run of Strong Spooky-Season Shows
The second show of our triple play weekend (and, barring a surprise regarding plotlines in “Mud Row” at PCT or “Xanadu” at SLT, the final Halloween-y show of the season) involved a trip to “Tarrytown” at the Generic Theater. This is a show that we had never heard of, which is not surprising for us,…
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Come to Little Theatre of Norfolk for the Closest Shave of Your Life by “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”
Photo courtesy of J. Stubbs Photography (https://jstubbsphotographyvb.com/) When LTN dropped their 98th season schedule, I think everyone immediately circled the October opening of “Sweeney Todd” as a must-see (that was clear when we walked into opening night on Friday to a completely packed house). And – we knew that “Sweeney” is not a small production. …
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Little Theatre of Norfolk Celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month with the Inaugural “Vida Vibrante”
Photo courtesy of J. Stubbs Photography (https://jstubbsphotographyvb.com/) *Note: As per the performance eligibility requirements laid out here, this production is not up for HRACT Award consideration.* As both a fan of Lin-Manuel Miranda musicals and “This American Life,” I was very happy to hear that Little Theatre of Norfolk was staging “21 Chump Street” as…
HRACT Awards 