Recent Reviews
Review: The Book of Mormon by touring company
by Justin M. West
Published on April 24, 2018
If you have yet to see this show, you owe it to yourself. The laughs come fast and furious and straight from the gut, with hardly a moment to spare.
In 2010, you’d have been forgiven for laughing at the suggestion that the 2011 Tony Award winner for Best Musical would discuss such scholarly subjects as magical sex frogs, scrotal parasites, and why one should probably not attempt to engage in coitus with an infant. But, after its premiere in 2011, The Book of Mormon did just that, and had its audiences crying with laughter in the process. The brainchild of South Park creators …
Review: Ragtime by Texas State University
by Michael Meigs
Published on April 21, 2018
If you missed this RAGTIME, take heart. As astonishingly impressive as was this production of Ragtime and as heart-breaking was the shortness of its formal run, Texas State under the leadership of Ms Hopkins is bound to go from strength to strength.
"They're running only six performances?" Karen exclaimed afterwards. "That's a crime!" All right, that reaction was a bit exaggerated, but it captures what the Texas State musical theatre people have done: by building the program over the past decade, the school has assembled an artistic critical mass that allows it to fill and paint the stage with such an overabundance of talent that their productions, including this one of the epic musical Ragtime, would …
Review: Self Portraits by Bottle Alley Theatre Company
by Michael Meigs
Published on April 11, 2018
Behind the laughter was a keen sense of the absurdity and difficulty of lives of young adults; they invited us in, revealed themselves and just about knocked our socks off with energy and revelations.
The eleven actor/writer/participants in Bottle Alley's Self Portraits filled the Back Pack's hole-in-the-wall space in East Austin with exuberant energy reminiscent of summer camps, stand-up comedy fests and drama therapy sessions. This was a real smörgåsbord of an evening, a festive intellectual table of unpredictable experiences. These celebrants had worked up thirty pieces averaging about two minutes each, and the numbered sheets hung on a line high across the stage. Audience members were encouraged to …
Review #3 of 3: THE SECRETARY by Theatre en Bloc
by Michael Meigs
Published on March 30, 2018
In this play those who cling to the gun either murder without apology or face death by the gun, as in the endless horror of waiting in the final scene.
People all around us were laughing, as if somehow they were watching a completely different performance from the one being presented to us. But it wasn’t, of course. Already during the first act of The Secretary at the Rollins Theatre last Saturday night I was wondering how our perceptions were differing from the people that Theatre en Bloc was successfully entertaining. At the intermission Karen looked at me, misery in her eyes. …
Review #2 of 3: THE SECRETARY by Theatre en Bloc
by Brian Paul Scipione
Published on March 27, 2018
Some supernatural things may be happening -- which is less important than the fact that at least half of the characters believe down to their immortal souls that they are.
“Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.” ― Philip K. Dick The Secretary is a multi-thematic play about the inter-relations of people working together, a local business’s communal responsibility, abusive marriages, crime and most significantly gun control. While there are many hot button topics bandied about, the play is thoroughly enjoyable thanks to a constant flow of …
Review #1 of 3: THE SECRETARY by Theatre en Bloc
by David Glen Robinson
Published on March 27, 2018
The audience learns quickly than more than one of these characters is certifiable, and the plot twists and turns around dementia until its unavoidably tragic end.
Trigger. The word, both noun and verb, releases the catch on varied symbolism and events of heat, pith, moment, chaos, and consequence. Theatre en Bloc’s production of The Secretary by Kyle John Schmidt, now playing at the Rollins Studio Theatre at the Long Center, explores the trigger on many levels, including that of weaponry that triggers itself seemingly without human agency. The timeliness of The Secretary is nearly perfect. The all-female cast heightens the …