Recent Reviews
Review: Moving' Melvin Brown by FronteraFest
by Michael Meigs
Published on January 24, 2010
We clapped along, we swayed, we shouted and applauded. Movin' Melvin will tell you the story of his life and give you a "highlights" show that will leave you wanting more.
Melvin Brown is a big, serene tornado, a walkin', talkin', singin' and tap dancin' history of rhythm and blues, soul and entertainment. He comes from Cincinnati but traveled all over the country and abroad on the entertainment circuits, then settled near Austin after a long and eventful career. This man has a vital energy and irrepressible joy in life. He's 65 years old but he is strong, fast, funny and attractive. He's got a fine …
Review: Hotel Morocco by Echo Productions
by Michael Meigs
Published on January 24, 2010
The story, such as it is, features Adam's increasing disillusionment and his reluctant relationship with Rocco the messy, stinking old Alzheimer's patient stubbornly holding onto his one-room residential lease.
Aaron Black's Hotel Morocco has lots of ambiance and some tough, snarling dialogue. Talk about atmosphere -- he has taken the 50s noir setting of a New York fleabag hotel, populated it with dumbasses, women looking for bad sex, gangsters, a demented ancient resident and one would-be writer on his way down. The writer, carrying the Everyman label of Adam, lost his previous job in a better hotel and is in deep, limp depression over …
Review: In This House Everything Is You by Salvage Vanguard Theater
by Michael Meigs
Published on January 22, 2010
One imagines company members curled up on sofas under the high ceilings of the front room with its baby grand piano, drinking coffee at the kitchen table, or roaming around the back yard as they create.
No, despite the enigmatic lines of the teaser, this is not a ghost story. It is collaborative imagination of memories tied to the faded upright eloquence of that two-story bed and breakfast residence in lower East Austin now known as the Eponymous Garden."Eponymous" because the Garden takes its name from the street, Garden Street, and perhaps -- it would seem appropriate -- from that neighborhood in Austin. It's just east of I-35 and a couple …
Review: Endgame by Palindrome Theatre (2010-2013)
by Michael Meigs
Published on January 21, 2010
Not comfortable. Not a rib-tickler. Endgame is, rather, a sour-sweet paradigm of the slow end of life, and those things we simple mortals do in our attempts to meet, understand, and delay the conclusion.
Palindrome Theatre takes you right out to the edge of the abyss with Samuel Beckett's Endgame: ninety minutes at the end of the world with four arresting characters who wrap up existence and the fitful light of human life.Endgame is grim, yes, but it's blazingly comic at times, as well. In the shadows of this basement room the ancient Nell shares a memory with her foolish senescent husband Nagg. "Nothing is funnier than unhappiness, I …
Review of Abuelita de Batman, by Proyecto Teatro
by Michael Meigs
Published on January 20, 2010
Pieces with flair and fine scenic taste -- a far better and more entertaining glance into the Latino psyche than those interminable telenovelas.
No, you probably have not heard of Proyecto Teatro, even though the group has been staging theatre and running classes in Austin since 2004. They're the only 100% Spanish language theatre in town. Artistic director Luis Ordaz, a multi-talented wild man, both directs Abuelita de Batman ("Batman's Granny")and appears in one of the five short pieces. This piece was written in the 1980's by the highly prolific and successful Mexican playwright and screen writer Alejandro …
Review: Talking with Jane Martin, by Red Dragon Players, Austin High School
by Michael Meigs
Published on January 18, 2010
A collection of sharp, bittersweet portraits of women, many of whom have reacted to disappointments by melting into private worlds.
Talking With is a collection of eleven monologues delivered by women characters, first staged in 1981 in Louisville, Kentucky. It played off-Broadway in 1982 to great success. The identity of playwright Jane Martin remains a mystery. All of her considerable work has first been staged at the Actors Theatre of Louisville, Kentucky, by that group's artistic director John Jory. This is a collection of sharp, bittersweet portraits of women, many of whom have reacted to …