Virginia Repertory Theatre — Attraction in Richmond

Great theater in a really good location. Barely any "truly bad" seats in the House! They usually have really good productions here. Wasn't "in love" with the recent production of West Side Story... It wasn't bad really, but I had a couple of issues: Considering W.S.S. is mostly dancing, I think the dancing was only ok. Especially the main "fight"... Anyone who knows the story knows that the entire show is a buildup to the "fight." But, I was a little underwhelmed when the dancing want super sharp and crisp. Also, and THIS IS JUST MY OPINION... This is a story about a turf was between the Whites and the Puerto Ricans in NY... So I'm having trouble figuring out why Casting couldn't locate more actual Latin actors to play the Latin roles. It's one thing to have a Puerto Rican gang of 10 guys, but a couple of them are White guys playing the part. It's another thing completely up have a Puerto Rican gang of 10 While guys, but only a couple of them are actually Latin. It's like if they'd casted 100 While guys to play Blacks in the movie Black Panther... Sometimes, there's nothing wrong with casting based on race if the story calls for it. Just sayin'! But this is not the norm for this theater. It's a solid visit, and though I have some gripes with one production, I'm typically very pleased here. Ticket prices are reasonable, and there are plenty of places in the area to have dinner or a drink around the show. Give this place a chance! I'd love to see it grow in...

I went to see the Dreamgirls production on Sunday July 31st. This was a wonderful Off-Broadway reproduction of the movie. I would have given this 5 stars but there were a couple of things that made me have strong reservations. I would have liked the gift shop to stay open after the play was over to purchase items but instead it closed shortly after intermission. Also in the balcony the guards do not have flashlights and the steps are carpeted and uneven which makes it very hard to navigate. I would have liked to see even tap lights on the sides of the steps to help people get around in the balcony. I understand that it is a historic theater so the seats are small but the intermission was too late into the program so you sat uncomfortably for a long period of time, I heard a lot of complaints in the crowd. I love the set I loved the costumes I love the singers (the character Jimmy was amazing). My favorite set change was how they used people and inanimate objects as the red carpet very creative . In summary it was a great program and I plan to see a full...

We've seen many shows on Broadway. Maybe dozens. But once again the Virginia Repertory Theater surpassed all our expectation. There were more stellor singers in this one production of The Wiz than in several typical Broadway Productions combined. We wondered afterwards how they will manage to sustain the level of energy and enthusiasm we witnessed, particularly on days where there will be two performances. Congratulations to the entire cast, crew and pit orchestra of The Wiz, we fully expect to see most of you on Broadway someday, if Broadway is lucky!! To the pit Orchestra, well done there are so many exposed parts for all the musicians it's worth seeing the production just to hear how masterfully they handle these erratic and difficult parts. I'd especially like to give a nod to the french horn player who played in the pit for the July 6th evening performance. As the performance progressed she revealed herself to possess a wonderfully full, and sweet, very European, French horn sound. Dennis Brain...