Recent Reviews
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Everything Is Established, by Physical Plant Theatre
by David Glen Robinson
Published on February 15, 2015
Two masterless servants and a mail-order bride: a strong cast with immense comedic skills delivers Hannah Kenah's absurdism with high comedy and memorable energy.
Physical Plant Theater presents Everything is Established in its premiere run at the Off Center, east Austin. The play was written and directed by Hannah Kenah, more familiar in her acting roles, notably with Physical Plant Theater and The Rude Mechanicals. Kenah has given us something bold and creatively uncategorizable; it would be unfair to slap a label on it. Ticket buyers who prefer to create their own labels will agree that the show is …
Peter and the Starcatcher, by Zach Theatre
by Michael Meigs
Published on February 12, 2015
Direction and conception evoke the sort of rowdy play-making one might imagine if a dozen pre-teens spent the night at a lock-in after watching Disney's film of Peter Pan.
Professional fan-drama has gotten to be a thing in recent years. Wicked, the dreamy adolescent take on The Wizard of Oz, has been the most successful, and the Marvel Comics franchise leaped past the stage right to the big screen. In 2004 Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson wrote their Peter and the Starcatcher prequel to J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan and followed it with three additional post-prequel/pre-Peter Pan children's books. This theatre adaptation by Rick Elice was done in …
Stars of David, by Austin Jewish Repertory Theatre
by Michael Meigs
Published on February 06, 2015
Aaron Harnick's lively musicalized monologues go back to an ancient and honorable tradition. No, probably not the one that you're thinking of.
Aaron Harnick's lively musicalized monologues go back to an ancient and honorable tradition. No, probably not the one that you're thinking of: I'm referring to the Catskills resorts of the 'Borscht Belt,' refuges from New York City's non-air-conditioned summer heat frequented by middle-class Jewish families from the 1920's through the 1950's. Families on summer vacation love to be entertained, and the venues there in the 'Jewish Alps' featured many small-cast musical comedies, as well as …
Review: Jesus Christ Superstar
by Michael Meigs
Published on February 05, 2015
The full houses at the Georgetown Palace offer evidence that this rock opera about the gentle man from Nazareth still affects us deeply today -- for some, perhaps even more deeply than the Book and history that it's based upon.
Jesus Christ Superstar, first an LP, was recorded 45 years ago. Shortly after that it was up on Broadway and running hard, talking to the United States and later the world.That 1970 creation was, in its day, closer to the great era of Broadway musicals than it is to us now. The full houses at the Georgetown Palace offer evidence that this rock opera about the gentle man from Nazareth still affects us …
Picasso at the Lapin Agile, by Present Company
by Michael Meigs
Published on February 04, 2015
Stephanie Carll's direction crafts clever interplay between the characters, the accompaniment and the audience. The tempo is brisk, and surprises pop forth like nimble bunnies out of a derby hat.
Usually during performance the theatre artists of Present Company have breeze ruffling their hair, as they stand out on their epic set constructions at Rain Lily Farm in east Austin or scamper around the roof terrace at Whole Foods Market. Not so in Picasso at the Lapin Agile. Their charming production of Steve Martin's clever, goofy play set in 1904 Paris offers a different experience. Director Stephanie Carll and Production Coordinator Samuel Grimes bring you …
Review: Changelings, by Vortex Repertory
by David Glen Robinson
Published on January 31, 2015
Reina Hardy establishes a secret land one can enter with the correct magic keys and incantations. Once there, characters fight fairies’ nasty habit of stealing mortal babies and raising them as their own, the changelings.
Reina Hardy’s Changelings, A Dark Fairytale Adventure, playing weekends until February 7 is the very paragon of the dark fairytale subgenre. I expect it will have success and long runs nationally after its performances at the Vortex Repertory on Manor Road in Austin. Hardy, a young playwright and Michener Fellow from UT Austin, has already enjoyed recognition on the national level. She has typically pursued magical realism in her playwriting, notably in her Stars …