Recent Reviews
Review #1 of 2: Iolanthe by Gilbert & Sullivan Austin, June 13 - 23, 2019
by Brian Paul Scipione
Published on June 17, 2019
Whether you're a veteran or a newcomer to the work of Gilbert and Sullivan, you won't find a better or more accurate production of their IOLANTHE in central Texas.
Iolanthe, pronounced "I Oh Lon Thee," is a comic opera by W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan about the trials and tribulations of Strephon (who is half fairy and half mortal), his mother the fairy Iolanthe (who has been banned from fairyland for marrying a mortal), and Phyllis, the girl he loves. It is one of fourteen operettas for which Arthur Sullivan wrote the music and his creative partner W. S. Gilbert wrote the libretto. The …
Review: This is Our Youth by Treehouse Players
by Michael Meigs
Published on June 08, 2019
There's an impressive physicality to THIS IS OUR YOUTH -- the men push one another around and throw things, while the young couple Warren and Jessica have a tentative, mutually frightened attraction that's beautifully played.
David Allan Barrera and his Treehouse Players colleagues probably didn't intend it, but their inaugural production offers an ironic riff on the company name. This Is Our Youth by Kenneth Lonergan takes place entirely in a shabby apartment on the Upper West Side. It's a den and a refuge for twenty-one-year-old Dennis, paid for by his famous artist father, probably to get the kid out of his life. If this were a treehouse, Sam …
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Review: Hamilton by touring company
by Michael Meigs
Published on June 04, 2019
Lin-Manuel Miranda gifted us an opera of great stature that retells our own story, a complex work, written in a challenging idiom, one worthy of study and attention. And -- why not? -- reverence.
Hamilton is epic; there’s no gainsaying that fact. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s imagining of key events and personalities of the American revolution has a savage, electrifying impact, and by comparison it leaves the venerable musical 1776 looking like — well, a bunch of old white guys standing around in funny breeches. Manuel blows up the traditional narrative and mercilessly rips away the bandage of stale conventions, but at the same time the playwright embraces the …
Review: Screaming at the Apocalypse: Three Austin stage Works Looking at the Worst of the Near Future
by David Glen Robinson
Published on May 12, 2019
Hats off to the Austin theatre community for their warnings of apocalypse; they encourage us to stay true, so that the ember of hope may harden into a shining gem.
Austin’s theatre industry is a well-knit community of fairly like-minded folks. They share ideas, coffee, work, and life. It's no surprise that common themes and concerns enter their stagework regularly. In this politically charged present, however, one theme seems pre-eminent. That theme is climate change and its effects. At one point in the spring of 2019, three productions overlapped one other in at least one weekend of the standard three-weekend run of stage productions. Each addressed …
Review: Cats by touring company
by Brian Paul Scipione
Published on May 10, 2019
The disco sensibility that permeates this production is all sound, flash, and fury, providing a night of great entertainment requiring nothing from the viewers but a willingness to smile.
Like many, I’m sure, I recall the exuberant review of “I laughed! I cried! It was better than Cats!” that became a ubiquitous catchphrase, even becoming a Saturday Night Live skit. This phrase became a common way to express one’s admiration for a new Broadway play (and then eventually anything: "How was that coffee?" "It was better than Cats!"). The rub here is that for a long time Cats was the standard bearer of what an excellent …
Review: The Children by Jarrott Productions
by Michael Meigs
Published on May 01, 2019
THE CHILDREN offers, once again, evidence of Jarrott's discerning taste in contemporary drama. By taking us away into these characters' isolation, this production brings us very much back into the human fold.
Darkness hovers over the plot, the set, and the concept of Lucy Kirkwood’s The Children, mounted appropriately in the Trinity Street Players’ black box theatre on the fourth floor of First Austin, a Baptist church. Jarrott Productions’ choices for this space have consistently taken the moral focus of those hosting institutions. No, not the theology. Kirkwood’s script, like many other productions in this space, examines the human condition and difficult choices facing responsible individuals …