Recent Reviews
Review #2 of 2: The Pact by Jarrott Productions
by Brian Paul Scipione
Published on October 14, 2022
It's easy to imagine a continuation of THE PACT in which these characters go on forever jabbing, sneering, and sniping at each other, all the while with love in their hearts.
Jarrott Productions describes The Pact by Austin playwright Max Langert, as “a play about family, pizza, climate change, dating apps, and fringe religious sects...in that order!” Put this way, it sure sounds like a zany farce, and in truth, it is that. However, it manages to be so much more, due to the fact that all of the characters are delightfully three-dimensional. This evening of theatre feels like the pilot of runaway hit television …
Review #1 of 2: The Outsider by Beyond August Productions
by Michael Meigs
Published on October 13, 2022
Smith's comedy on the politics of image was fun in 2015. It's still full of zing, especially with Michael Stuart, but in today's troubles the message is bittersweet.
A double irony attends Beyond August Productions' staging of The Outsider. The titular character, Ned Newley, is not an outsider at all. He's the lieutenant governor of a small, unidentified, perhaps New England state. Ned is far and away the smartest man in the room, but he didn't get that position through the exertions of politics. He was drafted as a presumptive non-entity, the state treasurer, strangled with shyness and practically invisible to the public eye. …
Review #2 of 2: Shining City by Different Stages
by Brian Paul Scipione
Published on October 13, 2022
This production of Conor McPherson's Shining City does prove yet again that great actors cannot be held back by poor material.
Certainly, you are familiar with the expression sucked all the air out of the room. We have all felt that moment. Now imagine feeling only that moment for nearly two hours without intermission. Conor McPherson, an Irish playwright and screenwriter from Dublin, began writing in college and went on to find success on both the West End and Broadway beginning in 1999 with his play The Weir. He is considered to be one of …
Review: Blithe Spirit by Gaslight Baker Theatre, Lockhart
by Michael Meigs
Published on October 08, 2022
Noël Coward's BLITHE SPIRIT, a favorite, undergoes a subtle color change, but the fun is all there. What if spiritualism really worked? Things might get complicated!
With Halloween upon us, director Andrea Littlefield and her folks at Lockhart's Gaslight Baker Theatre have brought us a twist on Noël Cowart's never-ageing ghostly comedy. Blithe Spirit is one of my favorites. Coward, a master of witty repartee and witty lyrics, is given no shrift at all in the GBT program. That's unfortunate, for at dress rehearsal the entire front row was occupied by eager theatre club teens—they could look him up …
Review: Hadestown by touring company
by Brian Paul Scipione
Published on October 06, 2022
HADESTOWN is a bluesy allegory about the hero's journey, a realistic one not at all diminished by defeat. Doing what is right is both the journey and the journey’s end.
Let us thank the gods for Hadestown! Let us thanks Hades for showing us who are the true gods! And let us thank Hadestown the musical for not only finally giving the trombone its due but reviving and revitalizing modern day Broadway! Here is a production with its heart in the right place, for it has a devout appreciation for live music in its heart! If this beginning sounds like the praiseful …
Review#1 of 2: The Pact by Jarrott Productions
by David Glen Robinson
Published on October 05, 2022
Austin playwright Max Langert creates a somewhat wacky middle-class family as a vehicle to impart wisdom through their dysfunctional behavior. The cast is the very conjunction of excellent contemporary theatre in Austin.
Review by Courtney Thomas, Sightlines magazine, October 3, 2022 The Pact by Austin playwright Max Langert is a comedy exploring contemporary relations, with a heavy emphasis on action involving cell phones. Cell phone acting and storytelling are yet another trope marking a new horizon in the theatrical world. Look for more of same in the future. Langert’s sophisticated writing creates a somewhat wacky middle-class family. Their dysfunctional behavior and failed, destructive …