If you think you know Willy Wonka, think again. At Alhambra Theatre & Dining, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a wild, whimsical ride that delivers the spectacle and charm you’d expect from Roald Dahl’s classic, but with its own fresh spin. Director Shain Stroff’s artistry shines in his leadership, guiding a team of creative minds that transforms Roald Dahl’s classic into a full-blown theatrical treat that is heartfelt, hilarious and delightfully off-kilter.

The 5 & Dime’s, The Baltimore Waltz opens with Kristen Walsh as Anna, an elementary school teacher blindsided by a devastating diagnosis that she is terminally ill. Instead of resignation, Anna decides she will seize every pleasure Europe has to offer. Her plan is to embrace life in the most hedonistic way possible, abandoning her old rules and letting desire set the itinerary. What unfolds is not a straightforward journey but a wild, hallucinatory romp: whimsical, raunchy and bursting with the kind of logic found only in dreams.

In the dim, cluttered recesses of a Chicago junk shop, three men circle a scheme like wolves around a carcass. There’s the shop’s owner, Donny Dubrow, trying to stay one step ahead of poverty and moral compromise. His young protégé, Bobby, skittish and uncertain, wants to prove his worth. And then there’s Teach, a walking powder keg with a leather jacket and a mean streak, who sees every slight as an excuse to seize power.

ABET - All Beaches Experimental Theatre’s The Fantasticks takes on one of musical theater’s most curious relics — a minimalist fable of young love and life lessons that has charmed audiences for decades. Whether its particular blend of whimsy and earnestness holds up for modern viewers is debatable, but ABET’s production finds genuine moments of charm amid the show’s quirks.

Desperate Measures is a sly and spirited musical adaptation of Measure for Measure, Shakespeare’s morally knotty comedy about justice, mercy and the abuse of power. Rather than Elizabethan Vienna, the action here unfolds in the Arizona Territory during the late 1800s, where saloons and six-shooters replace dukes and friars.

Eugène Ionesco’s Rhinoceros, now playing at Limelight Theatre’s Matuza Blackbox, is not merely a play — it’s a philosophical provocation. Written in 1959, this absurdist work remains startlingly resonant, especially in an age where ideological conformity and social contagion continue to shape public discourse.

In the razzle-dazzle world of Chicago, crime meets celebrity in a sultry, satirical musical set during the roaring 1920s. The story follows Roxie Hart, a housewife-turned-murderess who uses the media circus to climb her way to stardom. Alongside her is Velma Kelly, a vaudeville performer with her own murderous past and ambitions. As both women vie for the spotlight and the services of slick lawyer Billy Flynn, the lines between justice and showbiz blur into a glittering spectacle of manipulation, jazz and courtroom theatrics.

Set in New York City during the 1965 Northeast blackout, Fly By Night follows Harold, a lonely sandwich maker grieving the loss of his mother, and the two sisters he meets by chance: Daphne, a wide-eyed aspiring actress, and Miriam, a quiet dreamer with an uncanny sense of premonition. As their lives intersect, the show explores how fate, love and loss shape their destinies in surprising and interconnected ways. Structured like a memory — looping, layered and lyrical — the musical finds meaning in small moments and unexpected connections.

In early April, just weeks before opening night, a fire inside Players by the Sea’s Studio Theatre set off the sprinkler system. The flames were quickly put out — but not before smoke and water left the building in ruins. Rehearsals for Waitress had been underway for weeks. The set was built. The cast was ready. And then, everything stopped.

My Fair Lady, a beloved staple of golden age musical theater, tells the story of Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl who meets a pompous phonetics professor and undergoes a dramatic transformation under his hand. Professor Higgins makes a bet that, after his schooling, he could pass her off as a proper lady at a high-society event by simply teaching her to speak proper English. However, during his tenure as her teacher, those involved with the bet are forced to question their ideas of class, identity and societal expectations. The Alhambra Theatre & Dining’s My Fair Lady does complete justice to this classic, with an immensely talented cast, great costume design, energetic choreography, impeccable dialect work and gorgeous vocals.

Jason Woods’ A Mad, Mad Wonderland! is a virtuosic, no-frills thrill ride: no set, no props, just Woods alone onstage with a whirlwind of characters he channels with uncanny precision and theatrical bravado.

MJ The Musical, the electrifying Broadway sensation, lands in Jacksonville with a show that not only pays homage to the King of Pop but also delivers a theatrical experience that is as grand as it is intimate. With its opening night at the Jacksonville Center for the Performing Arts, the production sets the stage ablaze with dazzling choreography, stunning visuals and a heartfelt tribute to Michael Jackson’s legacy.

Singin’ in the Rain has entertained audiences since 1952 with a universal story that still resonates 72 years later: the fear of advancing technology stealing our jobs. The message may be sandwiched between snappy dance numbers, but it’s there. Change is coming. Adapt and innovate — or get left behind. Amelia Community Theatre in Fernandina Beach recently brought the beloved classic Singin’ in the Rain to life on stage.

Steel Magnolias at Orange Park Community Theatre invites audiences into the warm, familiar hum of a Southern beauty salon where hairspray is as essential as heart. Over the course of several years — and across changing seasons, hairstyles and life stages — six women gather to share gossip, swap advice and support one another through life’s joys and devastations. Set entirely in Truvy’s salon, the play chronicles the wit, warmth and resilience of its characters as they navigate friendship, family and loss.

I was spellbound the moment I heard that Theatre Jacksonville was performing Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors, and was drawn to opening night in a slow, hypnotic trance.

This is a special guest review by William Hollister, a third grader at Seaside Charter North Campus.

Dog Man: The Musical is all about George and Harold, two cool fifth graders who decide to turn their favorite comic book character into a musical right in their treehouse! The story is based on Dav Pilkey’s books, and it’s super funny and full of adventures where Dog Man is a crime-fighting hero. The musical was written by Kevin Del Aguila and Brad Alexander, who made everything super fun with awesome songs that make you want to dance.

Beautiful: The Carole King Musical at the Alhambra Theatre & Dining charts the rise of one of pop music’s most influential artists, from her early years as a teenage songwriter in 1950s Brooklyn to her triumphant debut as a solo singer-songwriter in the 1970s. Along the way, the story follows her collaborations with lyricist and husband Gerry Goffin as well as friendly rivals Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann. The show is a jukebox musical, but with enough narrative depth to give the music emotional weight — each song arriving at just the right moment in Carole’s life.

Sense and Sensibility, a play adaptation by Kate Hamill based on the 1811 novel by Jane Austen, is a Regency-era tale of family, womanhood and the delicate balance between logic and feeling. Hazel Robinson’s direction brings a dynamic theatrical take to this classic story and breathes new life into Austen’s world. Her vision preserves both the elegance of the society of the time and the emotional undercurrents of the characters, using movement, pacing and character dynamics to highlight the story’s timelessness.

The FSCJ Artist Series presentation of Les Misérables is a visual spectacle the likes of which I have never seen. At times, I sat slack-jawed in disbelief, staring at the living painting before me. The harmonious fluidity of set changes, lighting and actors hitting their marks is like a cyclone — ripping through the stage, tearing things apart, only to magnetically reassemble into something new.

Death comes suddenly for the six teenagers of Ride the Cyclone when a faulty roller coaster derails at a grim, run-down carnival. Trapped in a surreal limbo, the chamber choir of the St. Cassian High School of Uranium City, Saskatchewan, meets The Amazing Karnak, a mechanical fortune teller who offers one of them the chance to return to life. To earn their second chance, the teens must share their stories, revealing their deepest dreams, regrets and desires. As they each take the spotlight — sometimes with humor, sometimes with heartbreaking honesty — they wrestle with the randomness of fate and the legacy they leave behind.

Lumen Repertory Theatre’s production of Agnes of God offers a haunting, emotionally charged evening of theater, balancing psychological tension with profound spiritual inquiry. Under the direction of Joshua Britton Andrews and Brian Niece, this taut three-character drama unfolds with gripping intensity, drawing the audience into its web of doubt, faith and trauma.

Limelight Theatre’s production of The Drowsy Chaperone is a love letter to the Golden Age of musical theater — wrapped in humor, nostalgia and delightful absurdity. The show follows a socially anxious theater lover, simply called Man in Chair, who invites the audience into his world as he plays a record of his favorite (fictional) 1928 musical, The Drowsy Chaperone. As the record spins, the musical comes to life in his living room, complete with over-the-top characters, show-stopping numbers and theatrical mishaps, all filtered through his unreliable but endearing narration.

Few musicals carry the emotional weight and timeless urgency of West Side Story, and Alhambra Theatre & Dining’s latest production delivers a stirring, high-energy interpretation that pulses with life. A groundbreaking fusion of classical, jazz and Latin influences, West Side Story remains a modern classic, reimagining Romeo and Juliet through the lens of 1950s New York gang rivalry.

Theatre Jacksonville’s production of The Women of Lockerbie, directed by Jeff Grove, delivers a poignant and deeply human exploration of grief and resilience that intertwines personal loss and collective mourning against a visually stunning backdrop. With a carefully curated cast and a set that feels as alive as the characters themselves, this production creates an immersive, emotionally resonant experience.