Recent Reviews
Review: American Volunteers by Johnny Meyers
by Michael Meigs
Published on May 26, 2010
American Volunteers has the feeling of authenticity in the details -- the guy talk, the stress, the confusion of war, and the yearning for home. I just wish it were a better play.
The hero's aura that trails after the 27-year-old John Meyer looks to be authentic. The man was an Army ranger -- no small accomplishment. Only the toughest and most apt--men only--finish the 60-day training course at Ft. Benning, in the Georgia mountains and in the Florida swamps. They are in constant physical training and in simulated combat operations, often functioning 20 hours a day. The lore is that the stresses age these men prematurely. Candidates …
Review: The Red Balloon by Tongue and Groove Theatre
by Michael Meigs
Published on May 24, 2010
The only real kid in sight, it seems, is the lead -- Gricelda Silva, the bright-eyed young woman playing the bright-eyed boy befriended by the faithful balloon. With her slight figure, fresh face and utter concentration, she is like a sylph, one of Paracelsus' elemental beings of the air.
In 1956 the 34-year-old French filmmaker Albert Lamorisse wrote and filmed the slim, imaginative, 34-minute fantasy The Red Balloon. His son Pascal played the central role, that of a quiet, lonely schoolboy who discovers a magical red balloon -- one that recognizes him, follows him with the simplicity and loyalty of a pet dog, and provides an escape from the emptiness of barren city life. Lamorisse's daughter Sabine played the little girl who appears with …
Review: Sexual Perversity in Chicago by Paladin Theatre Company
by Michael Meigs
Published on May 20, 2010
Oh, God, it's as if they are arrested forever in the hell of a fourteen-year-old's hormones. Perhaps it explains the survival of the species, but it says damn little for the culture or the civilization.
Charles Stites fits so entirely and comfortably into the horrible male characters of David Mamet that one has to wonder if the man is, in fact, acting. Mind you, he is a performer of great presence and élan vital, as anyone could see when he was onstage in City Theatre's Glengarry, Glen Ross by Mamet and in the title role of its Tartuffe by Molière. It's just that for this new theatre grouping Stites chose …
Review: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat by Georgetown Palace Theatre
by Michael Meigs
Published on May 17, 2010
Stephen Jack in the title role sings with simplicity, dignity and feeling. His brothers are a fine assortment of shapes and sizes, constituting a rogue's gallery and men's chorus of singers and dancers of remarkable power.
With Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, the Georgetown Palace Theatre demonstrates once again the blend of professional standards and excitement of community theatre that makes it the premiere venue in the greater Austin area for musical theatre. Webber wrote this piece well before his hit Jesus Christ Superstar, for a school performance in London. The structure hints at that, for when the lights go down, cheery …
Review: Wonderland High by Red Dragon Players, Austin High School
by Michael Meigs
Published on May 15, 2010
Katherine Schwartz's performance of "Supply and Demand" swaggers and amuses with the refrain, "You can have whatever you want -- if you've got the 'Ka-Ching'!" -- recalling a long line of pecuniarist career girls including Sally Bowles.
The Red Dragon Players at Austin High School invest themselves gallantly in this first-anywhere musical theatre premiere. The music by James Merillat in Wonderland Highis challenging and stage-quality, with several clever numbers, cleverly staged. The Players workshopped some of this material last year, according to Billy Dragoo, who runs the AHS program, and they've delivered on his promise to Merillat to stage the piece when he finished it. The book, by Merillat and Jesse Johnson, …
Review: Educating Rita by Sidetrack Productions
by Michael Meigs
Published on May 12, 2010
Michael Stuart is solid, as ever, a great mass of humanity with an intelligent, doleful look in his eyes and restrained, patient comments for his unexpected pupil. Molly Karrasch, on the other hand, sparkled and was an absolute delight.
Educating RIta slipped through with a low profile during its short run at the Larry L. King stage at Austin Playhouse. That off-key, self-effacing approach seems typical of big Michael Stuart, the show's director and the male lead in this two-person production. He did something similar in last summer's theatre off season, sharing the Austin Playhouse stage with Zeb West in David Mamet's A Life In the Theatre. Stuart can do that because within the …