Reviews for touring company Performances
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Review: Hamilton by touring company
by Michael Meigs
Published on June 04, 2019
Lin-Manuel Miranda gifted us an opera of great stature that retells our own story, a complex work, written in a challenging idiom, one worthy of study and attention. And -- why not? -- reverence.
Hamilton is epic; there’s no gainsaying that fact. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s imagining of key events and personalities of the American revolution has a savage, electrifying impact, and by comparison it leaves the venerable musical 1776 looking like — well, a bunch of old white guys standing around in funny breeches. Manuel blows up the traditional narrative and mercilessly rips away the bandage of stale conventions, but at the same time the playwright embraces the …
Review: Cats by touring company
by Brian Paul Scipione
Published on May 10, 2019
The disco sensibility that permeates this production is all sound, flash, and fury, providing a night of great entertainment requiring nothing from the viewers but a willingness to smile.
Like many, I’m sure, I recall the exuberant review of “I laughed! I cried! It was better than Cats!” that became a ubiquitous catchphrase, even becoming a Saturday Night Live skit. This phrase became a common way to express one’s admiration for a new Broadway play (and then eventually anything: "How was that coffee?" "It was better than Cats!"). The rub here is that for a long time Cats was the standard bearer of what an excellent …
Review #2 of 2: Fiddler on the Roof by Touring Company, Bass Concert Hall, April 2 - 7, 2019
by Michael Meigs
Published on April 03, 2019
This FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, 55 years after the Broadway premiere, offers scene after scene of vividly masterful scenography, lithe and exuberant dancing, family conflict, quirky characters, love and heartbreak. You'll be getting full value for your ticket.
The first worry for a reviewer of the touring production of Fiddler on the Roof playing this week at UT's Bass Concert Hall is whether there's really anything useful or insightful to be said about this epic musical. First produced on Broadway 55 years ago, it received 1965 Tony awards for best musical, best score and best book. That monster success has been revived five times on Broadway since then, at intervals averaging nine years. It has played …
Review #1 of 2: FIDDLER ON THE ROOF by touring company, Bass Concert Hall, April 2 - 7, 2019
by Brian Paul Scipione
Published on April 03, 2019
This touring FIDDLER ON THE ROOF stays very faithful to the original and it may be a bit long for modern audiences. Yehezkel Lazarov with his invigorating comic zeal is perfectly cast as Tevye.
The Tony Award-nominated Broadway revival of Fiddler on the Roof is playing in Austin from April 2nd to April 7th(including matinees on Saturday and Sunday). And as with many Broadway epics this production has been lavished with praise from The New York Times to New York Magazine. This performance is presented by Texas Performing Arts (TPA), found on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin, an organization that produces performances, educational events, and collaborations in their …
Review: Anastasia by touring company
by Brian Paul Scipione
Published on February 14, 2019
ANASTASIA is a spectacle in more ways than one: background videos, lighting, wildly entertaining choreography, period costume design, and Lila Coogan's lilting and powerful voice.
The Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia was born in June of 1901 and passed away at the young age of 17 in 1918. Or did she? Modern fable, urban myth, or conspiracy theory, call it what you like, but this mystery has gripped many minds for many years. Anastasia was the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II. Though he had abdicated the year before, Nicholas and his family were executed by …
Review: Zvizdal by touring company
by David Glen Robinson
Published on February 12, 2019
One left the theatre emotionally disturbed but understanding clearly how the Chernobyl nuclear exclusion zone was transformed into a secret island and enchanted oasis,.
Much like the recent Heartland, the mixed media presentation (video documentary, music, scale modeling, digital compositing) Zvizdal [Chernobyl—So Far So Close] brings huge geopolitical issues home to individuals who are living their lives with the best of intentions. Part of the title refers to the name of the abandoned, wrecked village in the middle of the nuclear exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear reactor that exploded and melted down in 1986. Video teams researched and won permission …