Reviews for Zach Theatre Performances
Review: The Grapes of Wrath by Zach Theatre
by Michael Meigs
Published on March 16, 2009
The story is gripping. In the theatre it is unburdened by the grim omniscience of Steinbeck's overlay and so allows us to identify with the Joad family and to hope for them even as they pass under the millstone of history.
A brooding orange light dominates the empty central space at the Zach Theatre's Kleberg Stage. A haze roils fitfully against a panorama of emptiness. A man in overalls, wearing a slouch cap and heavy work boots, holds a saw between his knees. He gently applies a bow to it, bends the saw, and an eerie, keening melody begins The Grapes of Wrath. John Steinbeck's story follows the Joad family from the 1930s Oklahoma Dustbowl, driven by …
Review: Shooting Star by Zach Theatre
by Michael Meigs
Published on February 19, 2009
'Shooting Star' trades on a fascination similar to that mined by www.classmates.com. What ever happened to. . . .? Do you really, really want to know? Do you want that person to know what has happened to you and how you have changed?
Steven Dietz's latest world premiere is a wistful two-character piece aimed directly at the soft heart of the baby boomer generation. These two were lovers in their early twenties in Madison, Wisconsin, sometime in the 1970s but they've long been out of touch, getting on with their lives. By chance they find themselves -- and one another -- in a snowed-in airport somewhere in the Midwest (think, maybe, Midway in Chicago). It's a situation ripe …
Review: Wanda's World by Zach Theatre
by Michael Meigs
Published on February 16, 2009
This piece is a high energy, squeaky clean, simple minded retelling of the Ugly Duckling myth for the young TV generation. The school setting and the cardboard characters reminded me a bit of the Archie comic books.
I attended this production a week ago. I had trouble writing about it, and I've spent a lot of time thinking about that. These kids are full of energy, and my gosh, there are plenty of them -- in this, the first non-professional production of Wanda's World, there are 29 cast members.Bless them, they dance and sing their hearts out, and there is a goldmine of talent here. Director Jaclyn Loewenstein, judging by her brief pre-show appearance, …
Review: Carolyn, or Change by Zach Theatre
by Michael Meigs
Published on September 27, 2008
There is much here to praise, particularly the talent of the singers and the designers of the Zach Theatre production. But try as I might, I’m not happy about witnessing playwright Tony Kushner4's catharsis.
Zack Theatre staff probably know that they have a marketing problem with this production, which runs pretty fiercely against the grain of the happy rock ‘n’ roll that thrums through many productions at the Kleberg stage. The print ad appearing in this morning’s XL supplement to the Austin Statesman is just going to make things worse. Tuck and Ebert’s handsome depiction of Janis Stinson in the title role of Caroline (right) implies an uplifting experience (eyes …
Review: The Clean House by Zach Theatre
by Michael Meigs
Published on July 24, 2008
“The Clean House” is a box of chocolates laced with belladonna. One might taste and enjoy it just once, without harm, but one is tempted to dip into that box again and again.
Everyone in the full house at the Whisenhunt Stage at the Zach Scott enjoyed this four-actor comedy by Sarah Ruhl, winner in 2006 of a MacArthur “genius” fellowship.I was lucky to be able to see the show at all. As a newcomer to the Zach Scott, I had assumed that the reduced prices for Wednesday evening shows were intended to scrape up an audience – after all, almost none of the other companies in town …