Recent Reviews
Review: All's Well That Ends Well by 7 Towers Theatre Company
by David Glen Robinson
Published on July 28, 2014
All’s Well That Ends Well by Shakespeare is not often produced but is commonly referenced by anyone with an interest in the Bard. Now 7 Towers Theatre Company, that small band of Shakespeare specialists, has dropped it into its watch glass for all to examine in performance. Director Christina Gutierrez, co-founder of the company, returns to Austin from her academic post in Arizona and chooses to reset the play in World War I in recognition …
Review: How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying by Archangel Community Theatre
by David Glen Robinson
Published on July 27, 2014
Archangel Community Theatre at St. Michael’s Catholic Academy in West Lake Hills has produced in its theatre facility the Broadway musical theatre show How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. A production of musical theatre is perfect for showcasing a relatively new theatrical facility and a growing fine arts program, and St. Michael’s has achieved a spectacular success, albeit with a vehicle having a few deep-seated issues in its material. How to Succeed. . …
Review: Lysistrata by The Baron's Men
by David Glen Robinson
Published on July 13, 2014
Aristophane’s Lysistrata is the world’s first anti-war play, and it is not produced often enough in the modern world for us to learn its lessons. It is also a play about love, with a lot of kissing, hugging, nuzzling, and feeding each other grapes. This is somewhat ccounter to its theme, but, eh, the play has its complexities. The Baron’s Men give it a lusty go at Richard Garriott’s The Curtain Theatre in far west …
Review: Pygmalion by Different Stages
by David Glen Robinson
Published on July 09, 2014
Different Stages’ production of George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion at the Vortex in East Austin is low on the radar in this summer of spectacular productions, but theatergoers should search out this classic play, updated and made fresh as the violets in Eliza Doolittle’s basket by Director Norman Blumensaadt. Different Stages has much to be proud of, at most levels, in this new production of an older and well-known play. The play derives ultimately from the …
Review: Bob, A Life in Five Acts by Half & Half Productions
by Michael Meigs
Published on July 06, 2014
Contemporary San Francisco playwright Peter Sinn Nachtrieb’s quirky comedy clicks nicely into the Austin aesthetic. Hyde Park Theatre has done both Boom and Hunter Gatherers over the last couple of years, a sure sign that his work is a bit hip, upbeat, funny and intriguing. Now Joshua Denning of the newly founded Half and Half Productions has put Nachtrieb’s Bob, A Life in Five Acts together with a lively cast and a venue that in …
Review: Silence! by Doctuh Mistuh Productions
by David Glen Robinson
Published on July 03, 2014
Oh, no! It’s the musical of Silence of the Lambs! I hope they don’t hurt it! Oh, please, the thing is bulletproof and cries out for a stinging parody about cannibalistic, human skin-wearing serial torture-murderers and the daffy FBI agents who chase them. Silence! The Musical has actually been around since 2005, with its music and lyrics written by Jon and Al Kaplan, and book by Hunter Bell. But now, with ISIS rampaging through the …