Recent Reviews
Review: Beauty and the Beast by Zach Theatre
by Michael Meigs
Published on July 26, 2018
Zach Theatre's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST is familiar, polished, and entirely reassuring -- comfort food served in a lavish banquet.
With its seven-week-long production of Disney's Beauty and the Beast Austin's Zach theatre sets the stage with its familiar flourishes and mastery of theatrical design for a lavish banquet of comfort food. It's a fun evening with beloved characters in a familiar story, where the sweet, bookish heroine prevails over her caddish, smug suitor and recognizes the true worth of the towering, rude and resentful beast who turns out to be a prince in …
Review: Alabama Story by Southwest Theatre Productions
by Brian Paul Scipione
Published on July 23, 2018
The story is simple, the staging is top notch. ALABAMA STORY, eerily timeless, challenges the audience to ask themselves: has anything other than the period clothing changed?
Montgomery, Alabama in 1959, our enchanted southern kingdom, where the lemonade tastes sweeter because it was made by both our mamas together. Montgomery, Alabama where people say things like piffle and you are in high cotton. Montgomery where it is natural and normal to be married. The capital of mighty Alabama where people fight for their rights to protect things: their lifestyle, their church, their children and their books. Alabama Story …
Review: The Lion in Winter by Gaslight Baker Theatre
by Michael Meigs
Published on July 20, 2018
The Gaslight Baker production of THE LION IN WINTER offers an intimate tale on an epic set; this is story telling of demanding engagement, all the more rewarding for the challenges it presents.
Great things occur in humble venues. Over the past decade of theatre watching in Central Texas, I've seen that truism confirmed again and again. The current production of James Goldman's The Lion in Winter at the Gaslight Baker Theatre, just off Lockhart's central square, is another example. There's a lot of 'great' to it, and not in the casual American sense of the word. Goldman's script took on big themes (family, loyalty, love …
Review: The Antipodes by Hyde Park Theatre
by David Glen Robinson
Published on July 06, 2018
Annie Baker's experiment of setting down eight characters in a conference room and inviting their stories is bulletproof and allows her to experiment further with imaginative story contexts.
Annie Baker seems to be family friends with Hyde Park Theatre. Her The Antipodes is brand-new, and Hyde Park Theatre gives us only the second production of it in the country. The anticipation of this play has been keen among Austin audiences who loved Baker’s Circle, Mirror, Transformation,The Aliens, The Flick, and John. The premiere Thursday night, under the direction of Ken Webster, satisfied most in the audience. It was worth the wait. The Austin production takes its place in the front rank of …
Review: The Afterparty by Shrewd Productions
by David Glen Robinson
Published on June 29, 2018
As Rommel Sulit comments as Aristophanes, “No, the universe can’t be understood. That’s why we use metaphor.” Reina Hardy's THE AFTERPARTY evokes our love and fascination with the universe that shines down upon us.
The Afterparty by Reina Hardy plays now at the Vortex on Manor Road for one more weekend, until June 30th, 2018. Reina Hardy doesn’t merely flirt with magical realism this time, she dives into it. Shrewd Productions, led by Shannon Grounds, follows her off the diving board into the great theatre pool. They have a huge success, meeting all the challenges presented by a highly unusual play. And The Vortex is a nurturing presence every step of the way. Here …
Review: John Wilkes Booth's RICHARD III by Hidden Room Theatre
by David Glen Robinson
Published on June 25, 2018
Director Beth Burns has gathered close around her a company of like-minded theatre artists who polish obscure gems and set them to shine on stage. Their revival of John Wilkes Booth's RICHARD III is dazzling and thrilling.
Booth’s Richard III is Colley Cibber’s Richard III with actor/director/theatrical impresario John Wilkes Booth’s inflections. Yes, John Wilkes Booth. His radicalizing take on Richard III was found in his director’s prompt book for the play, unearthed in the massive geological literary deposits of the Harry Ransom Center at UT Austin. The excavator was curator Eric Colleary, who recognized the significance of the find and communicated it to Beth Burns, Producing Artistic Director of The Hidden Room. The rest …