by David Glen Robinson
Published on February 03, 2025
Impressive duets, spoking arms and legs, high-technique dance, long and demanding ensemble pieces—Ty&Co depicted the dance of life in all its emotionality.
What Remains, Ty&Co's first offering of 2025, consisted of two lengthy contemporary dance sections in conjunction with Peter Stathas Dance of NYC. The Stathas contributions were two duets, “Kathedra“ and “Assuage,” danced by Ty Graynor and NYC guest artist Lauren Twomley. Stathas’ choreography featured much spoking of arms and legs, many of which transitioned smoothly into 360-degree turns, sometimes multiples. The numbers began with the dancers perched on wooden chairs widely separated …
by Brian Paul Scipione
Published on January 29, 2025
Shorter and less pointed than the comic film starring Tim Curry, this staging of the inane search for the murderer is essentially a live-action reel of movie highlights.
I’d like to solve the puzzle: And the murderer is . . . Casey Hushion! Yes, that Casey Hushion, who's associated with such hits as Mean Girls, The Prom, Aladdin, and The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. It was not, as some have surmised, Peter DiPietro, Terry McDonough, or Jonathan Lynn. Heading to the Bass Concert Hall, the most prominent mystery was whether this production was going to be based on the game or …
by David Glen Robinson
Published on December 28, 2024
The two vibrant companies collaborating in the now annual holiday performances of THE WATCHMAKER'S SONG continue to offer light and inspiration to the community. Follow them, support them, believe.
Austin is strewn with treasures of all kinds. The arts are especially rich, with crowds of skilled artists who offer their wealth to the citizenry for the paltry price of a ticket. One such atelier of treasure and magic is home to Ventana Ballet and Red Nightfall Dance Theatre, who have co-produced The Watchmaker’s Song, their holiday show, now in its seventh iteration. The show varies in its content and for that reason it remains …
by Michael Meigs
Published on December 21, 2024
Hyde Park Theatre proves once again that it's not obligatory for drama to entertain or distract. It's vital, sufficient and salutory for theatre art to look straight into the abyss.
It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma; but perhaps there is a key. That was Winston Churchill in an October, 1939 radiocast discussing the newly announced pact between Germany and Russia, but his cryptic formulation could be applied as well to Samuel Beckett's 1948-1949 En attendant Godot, written in French and produced in Paris in 1953. Beckett's English-language translation of his own work was staged in London …
by Brian Paul Scipione
Published on December 18, 2024
The touring musical SHUCKED is so extremely middle of the road (and corny) that it suggests the mindless entertainment that ChatGPT may eventually be capable of churning out.
Oh Henry, you were indubitably a champ, but the ears are buzzing all along the rows that the best punster of them all was James Joyce, so, we should of course rejoice and applaud in O Henry’s efforts to not only stalk his predecessor but o’er take him across the bow and shuck him aside like a tasseled and braced silk suit leaving a mere husk where before the tillers once held strong. While …
by Vanessa Hoang Hughes
Published on December 13, 2024
The PETER PAN tour's a fun-for-all production with stunning performances, awe-inspiring theater magic, and a vivid story the entire family will remember.
Magical boy Peter Pan flies into the bedroom of ordinary kids Wendy, John, and Michael to take them on a riveting journey to a fantastical place called Neverland. This new adaptation touring the US is an exciting rewrite of the 1954 musical that featured Mary Martin and Cyril Richard. Writer Larissa Fasthorse of the Lakota nation and director Lonny Price have created a production that keeps all the charm and nostalgia of the original, reviving …