Recent Reviews
Review: Beauty and the Beast by Magnolia Musical Theatre
by David Glen Robinson
Published on August 15, 2023
What surly soul could possibly gainsay a story in which a crippling enchantment is lifted only by the simple words “I love you”?
Of course it's a fairy tale. Apparently it was first penned by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, in 1740. Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont wrote the 1756 abridged follow-on version (source: Wikipedia). Edits, abridgements, and add-ons have appeared ever since. The tale's origins in European mythology aren't clear, and the obsession with castles, kings, the nobility and the peasantry indicate that the core concepts of Beauty and the Beast cannot extend much further back than medieval times. …
Review #1 of 2: Jenna & the Whale by Ground Floor Theatre
by David Glen Robinson
Published on August 14, 2023
Magical realism meets the devastating emotions left by loss and suicide in this brilliantly acted and designed work. The vastness of the ocean, the web embracing all life, the making and breaking of connections—all are here.
Stories of a single complicated life achieve complexity when they intersect thecomplicated lives of a whole community. Any absurd story with these qualities takes on the immensity of the ocean and marine life large enough to swallow one’s own. This summer of 2023 with its excessive heat and many reports of shark attacks humbles us with its oceanic immensity. The vastness bears down on us, creates pain in us, and changes us. This may be …
Review: The Real Inspector Hound by The Stage, Austin
by Brian Paul Scipione
Published on July 28, 2023
Hamlet declared, “The play’s the thing,” but in The Stage’s production of THE REAL INSPECTOR HOUND, we are duly reminded that in fact the actors are the thing that makes the play.
Who is the real Inspector Hound? For that matter who is Tom Stoppard? Or more to the point, does Tom Stoppard hate critics? Furthermore, what does it mean to be a critic criticizing a play that criticizes critics? And what, really, is a red herring? If Stoppard’s writing style is an absurd reflection of the absurd qualities of life, doesn’t that naturally make him a naturalistic writer? Finally, if a red herring …
Review: Lizzie: the musical by Doctuh Mistuh Productions
by Michael Meigs
Published on July 18, 2023
LIZZIE is a blast, in both senses of the word. This roaring, soaring sister act plays for two more weekends. Don't miss it; you'll be hearing about it afterward if you do.
We're fortunate that Michael McKelvey, formerly at St. Ed's a couple of iterations ago, likes to drop back into Austin. Addressing the audience before Lizzie tore loose, he declared "We like to operate like rock concerts."He encouraged us to buy some Lizzie "merch"—logo shirts that come either as regular t's or as tank tops perhaps better suited for these hot times in Austin. And hot times they are at Lizzie. Austin Playhouse's theatre space in west …
Review: Handle with Care by Zatero Dance
by David Glen Robinson
Published on July 17, 2023
Café Dance is the gathering spot for Austin's contemporary dance companies. Natasha Small and Liliana Zapatero's HANDLE WITH CARE showcase confirms the originality and dedication of their Zatero Dance Company.
ZATERO Dance is yet another new, young dance company in Austin in what is becoming a distinct post-pandemic explosion of creative performance in the fine arts of theatre and dance. ZATERO Dance, headed by performing co-artistic directors Natasha Small and Liliana Zapatero, takes its place with SMORG (Emily Rushing and Carissa Topham), Alyson Dolan and friends, and the revivified Kathy Dunn Hamrick Dance Company in giving public performances (masks suggested but optional) of innovative movement …
Review: Wraith Radio by Bottle Alley Theatre Company
by Michael Meigs
Published on June 30, 2023
The reveals of WRAITH RADIO, when they come, are well foreshadowed and satisfying—if, that is, yielding to the void can ever seem satisfying to those still quivering with life.
Chris Fontanes's parable Wraith Radio portrays delirium and last hours of an injured soldier isolated in some dark time and place. The work debuted in a shabby warehouse in South Austin in 2016. The playwright's ragtag Bottle Alley Theatre Company was born in an equally devastated punk locale in 2012, and they've crept from one found venue to another since—proof of the ingenuity and dogged determination of DIY theatre makers. The 2016 Wraith Radio …