Recent Reviews
Review: 33 Variations by Zach Theatre
by Michael Meigs
Published on February 08, 2013
As world-class pianist Anton Nel performs those intricate, vigorous variations, the rest of the show plays out before him like music hall scenes, tear jerkers and clown numbers.
In 1819 Viennese music publisher Anton Diabelli invited many of the leading musicians of the Habsburg empire to compose a variation upon a simple waltz of his own devising. Profits from the project were to be contributed to support orphans and widows of soldiers killed in the Napoleonic wars. Ludwig von Beethoven initially declined to contribute, then changed his mind. He eventually penned 33 variations, over several years, which Diabelli published as a separate volume …
Quick Comment: Design for Living by Austin Shakespeare
by Michael Meigs
Published on February 07, 2013
Helen Merino, Martin Burke and Michael Miller deliver the most exuberant, mischievous and riveting ensemble work I've seen in many a day.
The songs performed by chanteuse Kara Bliss highlight Noël Coward's sly wit, but Ann Ciccolella's staging of Design for Living proves he was no mere champagne dandy. Marvelously articulate dialogue pops and snaps, and it's full of emotion. Helen Merino, Martin Burke and Michael Miller deliver the most exuberant, mischievous and riveting ensemble work I've seen in many a day. Hits as of 2015 03 01: 755
Review: Gruesome Playground Injuries by Capital T Theatre
by Michael Meigs
Published on February 06, 2013
Gruesome Playground Injuries is a despondent little comedy. By the final scene, Doug's a moody man, confined to a wheelchair and half-blind; Kayleen's a psychic wreck who still doesn't understand why the two are inseparable despite the distances between them.
Rajiv Joseph's collection of two-character scenettes for Gruesome Playground Injuries appeals to the young and restless. Students at Texas State did it last semester, and Capital T confided it to Kelsey Kling via their New Directors Program for presentation at the FronteraFest Long Fringe. Many audience members at both venues can identify strongly with this pair of awkward losers. They're searching for something, but they don't know what it is. Doug and Kayleen first become aware …
Review: Tru by Zach Theatre
by Michael Meigs
Published on January 22, 2013
Jaston Williams can't shrink to Capote's diminutive dimensions, but he certainly expands to fill the man's astonishing character.
Jaston Williams and director Larry Randolph take us to another place and time with Tru, now on an extended run at the Zach's intimate theatre-in-the-round Whisenhunt stage. Michael Raiford's clever low-level set is Truman Capote's UN Plaza apartment in New York City in 1975. It's a long long way from Greater Tuna, where Williams and Joe Sears romped, mugged and portrayed a whole looney town -- or, for that matter from Thornton Wilder's Our Town in which Williams …
Review: Invisible, Inc. by Hidden Room Theatre
by Michael Meigs
Published on January 14, 2013
Topflyte’s old-fashioned values remain unspoken but firm: the greatest evil is cynicism. His concern is strengthened when he hears that McCade may have been quite literally sawing young women in half.
Co-authored with Dr. David Glen Robinson Outside the Austin skyline was bright and magical as ever while enthusiastic crowds gathered for last Thursday’s preview and Saturday’s performance of Invisible, Inc. The Hidden Room Theatre created a delicious, dark and intriguing world in the Rollins black box theatre at the Long Center, emerging from the secret shadows of the historic York Rite Masonic Temple on W. 7th Street and going big time. It's too bad that the company …
Review: The Lion King by touring company
by Michael Meigs
Published on January 13, 2013
Director Julie Taymore and her imaginative cast and crew created from Disney's animated film something rarely seen on the American stage: a coming-of-age fable that's equal parts ballet, operetta, puppet show and sugarplum dream.
The Gazelle touring company of Disney's The Lion King has settled into the cavernous Bass Concert Hall at the University of Texas. The place was filled for the official opening, and the crowd wasn't disappointed. This imaginative spectacle delighted us all with its puppetry, dancing and heroics. I knew the movie, but I'd never seen the stage production. Now I understand the enthusiasm that has greeted this piece since its 1997 debut in Minneapolis and then …