Recent Reviews
Review: Joan of Arc: The Night Before by Ad Astera
by Michael Meigs
Published on October 15, 2009
'Joan of Arc, The Night Before. . . . ' has the naked force of psycho-drama, a quality that is both its strength and its weak point.
Imprisoned by the English, unransomed by Charles VII although he owed his coronation to her, the 19-year-old Jeanne d'Arc was convicted of heresy by an ecclesiastical court and burned at the stake in Rouen in 1431. From the age of 12, this illiterate girl from a peasant family had had visions of saints urging the expulsion of the English armies from France. Through force of personality she managed to reach the court of the despairing Dauphin Charles, who …
Review: Julius Caesar by Emily Ann Theatre
by Michael Meigs
Published on October 14, 2009
This production moves fast and far, regularly penetrating the audience space or plunging into the semi-lighted woods on either side of the stage.
The conspirators of the Ides of March are at work deep in the hills south of Austin, Texas.Wimberley is a township with a population of fewer than 4000 persons, but its EmilyAnn Theatre is currently staging a muscular, articulate Julius Caesar that is well worth the winding 45-minute drive through ranch country.Known principally for summer musicals and the long running annual "Shakespeare Under The Stars" for young people, the park and outdoor amphitheatre of the …
Review: Talking With by North by Northwest Production Company
by Michael Meigs
Published on October 13, 2009
Martin's writing is sharp, perceptive and evocative, with each piece building to an epiphany, a turn or an insight. These actresses have the understanding and the rhythm of the pieces; they set the hook when appropriate.
The solo monologue is one of the purest demonstrations of the art. These six women come individually to you in the intimacy and immediacy of the City Theatre's small house. In each scene the actress takes that text with your complicity and, before your eyes, becomes the character. "Jane Martin" is probably a pseudonym for Jon Jory, who has directed all of her ten plays. The mysterious Jane has never been seen. She twice won …
Review: Evil Dead, the musical by Doctuh Mistuh Productions
by Michael Meigs
Published on October 12, 2009
It's outrageous, it's funny, it's a big cartoon in primary colors set to an energetic score and lyrics that offer doo-wop, 80s pop sounds, and up-tempo ballads (e.g., "All The Men In My Life Keep Getting Killed by Candarian Demons").
Michael McKelvey and the cast & crew of Evil Dead, The Musicalhave a hit on their hands, if you take as evidence the turnout on opening night. The scene at the Salvage Vanguard was like trying to load a 747 at a tin-roofed shack in the Caribbean.Michael was astonished. Once he'd gotten the surging, enthusiastic elbow-to-elbow crowd into their places, he told us that as of that afternoon they'd had only 60 seats confirmed -- 30 …
Review: Nunsense by Tex-Arts
by Michael Meigs
Published on October 12, 2009
There's a mischievous joy in this cast, and we share their good time. This production has the Tex-Arts stamp on it, with highly accomplished vocals and lively stepping.
A third production of Nunsense within 13 months! The Georgetown Palace did it in August of last year; Austin's City Theatre put it on this past June; and now Tex-Arts in Lakeway has just finished a three-week run.I almost didn't go, but Taylor T. posted comments on the "upcoming" item on the ALT blog, not once but twice, and told me that there was something extraordinary going on out there. So I found the time …
Review: Big Love by Texas State University
by Michael Meigs
Published on October 10, 2009
Big Love is Aeschylus super-lite, a chipper chance for the young company to act out a comic story about love, power and domination for the video generation.
Charles Mee's quirky fable Big Love is a reworking of the Greek legend of the Danaids, drawing in part on the earliest extant fragment of Western drama, The Suppliants. It's a story of the war between men and women.In that text Aeschylus presents about the first third of the story of the 50 daughters of Danaeus and the 50 sons of his twin brother Aegyptus, all of the youngsters being the great-great-grandchildren of the union of Zeus with Io, …