Editor’s Note: A look back at the theatre our editor-in-chief, Lorie Lewis Ham, saw this year at the end of this post. And you can find all of the theatre reviews mentioned below and more in KRL’s theatre section, except for White Christmas which was posted over on KRL News and Reviews so that link is included below.
Stephen Sondheim’s magical lyrics from the song “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” in the musical Gypsy, remind me of the shows I saw and reviewed in 2025.
Out in Reedley, the River City Theatre Company filled the Opera House with the music of Irving Berlin with a lively production of Irving Berlin’s White Christmas, complete with snow blowing over the audience. In Fresno’s venerable Warnor’s Theater, the Chanticleer Shakespeare Co. brought Richard III, their first production as a professional theatre troupe, blending local talent with professionals.
The Good Company Players did not slow down as it offered its fifty-third season of shows. At Roger Rocka’s Dinner Theater, Something Rotten returned to the stage to finish the season with many of its 2020 cast in their same roles, skewering William Shakespeare and the idea of musical comedies. Terry Lewis as Henry Higgins and Haleigh Cook as Eliza Dolittle made for a lively production of My Fair Lady. Disney’s Frozen, the Broadway Musical was a magical event, with plenty of little girls wearing Disney Princess outfits in the audience. 1776 livened up the summer with a tuneful dramatization of the writing of the Declaration of Independence. Waitress featured a powerful performance by Meg Clark as a diner employee who puts a little of her life into each pie she bakes; Patrick Tromborg’s role as the crusty owner of the restaurant was also a fitting farewell performance before his passing. 2025 opened with a return engagement of Beautiful, starring Meg Clark as Carole King in a hit-filled musical full of familiar songs and heartfelt drama.
At GCP’s 2nd Space Theatre, Henry Montelongo reprised his marvelous portrayal of Ebenezer Scrooge in a return of A Christmas Carol, a version with a modern twist. The quirky/funny Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors featured a sensuous performance by Jonathan Shadle as the blood-drinking count in a ribald play with echoes of Mel Brooks, Monty Python, The Exorcist, and Rocky Horror. William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew had a 60s makeover with a set patterned after TV’s Laugh-In, with Jonathan Shadle and Shelby Quizar battling it out as Petruchio and Kate. Oscar Wilde’s classic comedy of manners, The Importance of Being Earnest, received a loving staging anchored by the ever-watchable Mary Piona as Lady Bracknell (Cucumber sandwiches, anyone?).
Of course, Fresno isn’t Fresno without the Rogue Performance Festival transforming the Tower District into a theatre district with locations temporarily filled with dance groups, musicians, actors, magicians, and shows that defied description. A few of the dozen shows I saw:
Leigh Ratliff told of the man who came to dinner and other things, and made her life difficult, in Hobosexual. Natacha Ruck enchanted audiences with Confessions of a French Interpreter, tales of meeting and translating for filmmakers and reporters, even when it meant hiding behind couches. Janice Noga’s Musical Career Undaunted by Her Cranial Calamity was another chapter in Noga’s musical autobiography, chronicling her honeymoon-ending Grand Mal Seizure and recovery from brain surgery, with Terry Lewis accompanying Noga’s favorite songs, and the audience getting to join in on the singing (and some whistling). One of the most unexpected delights of 2025 was Circumscribed: A True Tale of One Father, Two Sons, and Thousands of Foreskins, Noam Osband’s memory-play of life as the son of a mohel, who circumcised eight-day-old Jewish boys…