Recent Reviews
Review: Circle Mirror Transformation by Hyde Park Theatre
by Michael Meigs
Published on July 19, 2010
It's a bit of an inside joke. A cast of accomplished actors is impersonating a group of non-actors who are seeking the mysterious meanings and unknown fulfillments of the dramatic experience.
The Village Voice annointed Annie Baker's comedy its Obie (off-broadway) award this year for best new American play and gave another Obie to the cast for their ensemble work. So you can expect an amusing evening when you stop by the Hyde Park Theatre to see them do their second play this year by the 29-year-old Annie B. They delivered her Body Awareness just this past April. Director Ken Webster and the gang like to play …
Review: Two Rooms by Rapscallions of the Periphery
by Michael Meigs
Published on July 13, 2010
Maybe it's provoking drama, but it's not thought-provoking, because Blessing's self-righteous assumptions play to the paranoia of those who look for simple home explanations for extremely complicated clashes abroad.
Maybe I'm the wrong person to review this play. I did accept the Rapscallions' invitation to see it, and I rearranged my schedule before departing Austin so as to get there for the opening. I empathized immediately with the leads Scot Friedman and Val Frazee as they explored for us the intimate pain for a married couple of his arbitrary abduction in mid-80s Beirut. That core story is powerful because of its simplicity: …
Review: Spider's Web by Different Stages
by Michael Meigs
Published on July 09, 2010
We enjoy Clarissa's elaborate persuasion and pretending, as well as the cover story's eventual collapse under investigation. The cat and mouse game is not between criminal and detective but rather between a spontaneous fantasizer and the minions of the law.
You don't see much of Agatha Christie in the United States any more, except perhaps in public libraries and the occasional revival of one of her many plays. Airport newstands rarely offer murder as genteel puzzle any more, instead stacking up thick paperbacks with vibrant covers, done by Clive Custler or Sue Grafton or any of a number of other contemporary producers of blockbusters. Different Stages does us a service by providing an accomplished …
Review: re:Psyche by Secondhand Theatre
by Michael Meigs
Published on July 06, 2010
In the closing scene, suspended and annihilated by the force of pure beauty, Verity Branco is the figure in a danse macabre, with the lovely shape of her bones absorbing her flesh.
Secondhand Theatre's re:Psyche, playing at the Blue Theatre until July 18, reminds me of a Swiss circus. In late spring and summer, medium-sized towns and villages in the Swiss mountains awaken to find a weathered Little Top has appeared on a vacant municipal lot, surrounded by a miscellany of campers and caravans. The troupe rarely numbers more than ten performers, perhaps with three or four musicians. Practised professionals, they are initiates in make-believe, gymnastics and …
Review: The Drowsy Chaperone by Zach Theatre
by Michael Meigs
Published on July 01, 2010
This cast hits every mark and lifts you into its singing, dancing world. There's a hysterical moment in Act II when we plunge momentarily into a different musical with the same stars.
When I got home, still bubbling from Zach's The Drowsy Chaperone, I was ready to write, "Run, don't walk, to the Zach box office to get your first set of tickets for this sparkling evening of music, comedy and light-hearted fooling, a clever reincarnation of Broadway at its wonderful beginnings." That's hyperbole, of course. Because you don't need to run anywhere. You just tap zachtheatre.org into your browser, click a couple of times and give them your …
Review: The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told by City Theatre Company
by Michael Meigs
Published on June 25, 2010
Austin Rausch, particularly, takes impressive risks in pushing Adam into inflated caricature in the first act and then bringing him back in the second to a sympathetic portrayal. Marco Bazan is always the steadier and the more restrained of the two.
Paul Rudnick's play is cleverer and better crafted than you might suspect, given all the no-neck scandal over his playful recasting of biblical stories in goofy, unabashedly gay terms. The company plays the first act hysterically over the top, with flamingly naughty versions of the creation story and of the tale of Moses and the pharaoh, and almost -- almost -- a lesbian immaculate conception. Adam and Eve become Adam and Steve, for example. …