Recent Reviews
Review: Shrek The Musical by Woodlawn Theatre
by Kurt Gardner
Published on July 06, 2017
The story of the antisocial green ogre comes to vibrant life in the Woodlawn's production.
Based on the 2001 DreamWorks animated adaptation of William Steig’s 1990 picture book, Shrek the Musical is a colorful, amusing production that brings the adventures of the antisocial green ogre to San Antonio’s Woodlawn Theatre with satisfying results. The company tackles this big, Tony Award-winning Broadway show with its usual gusto. The plot should be familiar to all those who’ve seen the film. After a prologue in which Shrek’s parents send him out to make …
Review: Hate Yourself by Bottle Alley Theatre Company
by Michael Meigs
Published on June 29, 2017
Perhaps playwright Chris Fontanes is just teasing, daring us to read more into the inert but eloquent protagonist than actually was intended. The persistent theme here is that same uncertainty, writ large: Why care? Why speak? And, implicit: Why make art?
If Austin has a 'beat generation' Chris Fontanes is part of it. He's straight out of the jagged earnest non-conformist tradition of those who believe that words make a difference. Even if -- and especially if -- they describe the quietly desperate and downtrodden. The man's been making theatre in Austin holes and haunts since 2012 in the single-minded belief that saying it, writing it, and calling attention to it makes it so. The …
Review: Crimes of the Heart by Playhouse San Antonio
by Kurt Gardner
Published on June 23, 2017
This thick slice of Southern Gothic is served up fresh by director Bill Gundry. He knows Henley’s dialogue will sell itself, so the actors deliver their lines, no matter how appalling, naturally and without exaggeration. It’s the truth in the piece that puts it over.
Beth Henley’s 1978 Pulitzer Prize-winning Crimes of the Heart has aged well. Its Chekhovian tale about the tribulations of the Magrath sisters of Hazlehurst, Mississippi, is timeless, and the Cellar Theatre’s sparkling production is buoyed by an appealing cast. Erin Polewski shines as Lenny, the eldest of the sisters, who suffers from a shrunken ovary and a lack of romantic prospects. Also good is Emily Cleveland as middle sister Meg, who has returned from …
Review: Passion AND Assassins (two one-acts) by The Theatre Company
by Michael Meigs
Published on June 22, 2017
The Theatre Company demonstrates a vision and flair second to none in the broad area of Central Texas covered by this website's reviewers. That sound you hear from a hundred miles away is this writer's grateful and enthusiastic applause.
They're magic. Not only the two Sondheim pieces Passion and Assassins, but also the transformative artistry of the company that's putting on those two works, challenging both in concept and in technique. The shadowy ritual space of the theatre where we gathered last Saturday afternoon provided transport first to moody broodings of the heart in 19th century Italy and then to derailed ravings of a parade of adamant anguished murderers. The Theatre Company …
Review: 9 Circles by EZL - The Surround Project
by Kurt Gardner
Published on June 21, 2017
Reeves tells his lieutenant, “Some things don’t bother me like they bother other people.” When asked to cite an example, he responds, “The basics, sir. Killing people. It bothers some people, sir.”
With its allusions to Dante’s nine circles of hell, Bill Cain’s 9 Circles is an unflinching look at the futility of war and the psychological damage it can wreak. Zach Lewis stars as Daniel Reeves, a 19-year-old private and self-described f***-up. After being honorably discharged from service in Iraq, he wakes up in a holding cell in the United States with no recollection of how he got there. He is shocked to learn that he has …
Review: The Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert & Sullivan Austin
by David Glen Robinson
Published on June 16, 2017
The PIRATES OF PENZANCE works its magic gradually. After the stage fills with absurd stereotypical costumes garbing actors swaying to corny lyrics, one’s adult critical reserve caves in. After that, one drinks the kool-aid of Victorian light opera.
Gilbert and Sullivan Austin premiered its 2017 Grand Production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance on June 15, 2017. The company offers one full production per year, to great expectations always, and it does not disappoint with Pirates. The original production of The Pirates of Penzance took place in 1879 in New York City, not London. W.S. Gilbert, Arthur Sullivan, and their producer Richard D’Oyly Carte moved the production to New York …