Recent Reviews
Review: Wraith Radio by Bottle Alley Theatre Company
by Michael Meigs
Published on November 18, 2016
Like Wraith and Star, in our lives we may find ourselves in rooms without safe exits and without clearly defined missions. Our messages become our missions.
Chris Fontanes' original works for Bottle Alley Theatre Company tend to take place in the dark. There are good reasons for that. He and his collaborators have been making seat-of-the-pants theatre in Austin since September, 2012. I reviewed his work Stage back then, and when I checked the date on that review just now I discovered to my embarrassment that in 2012 I used exactly the same term: "seat-of-the-pants theatre." So let's be more …
Review: Belleville by Amy Herzog, Texas State University
by Michael Meigs
Published on November 16, 2016
In BELLEVILLE Kailey Hyman has the charisma of an actress capable of evoking sympathy, pity, elation and panic in turn, all couched coherent in a character in search of resolution.
Amy Herzog's Belleville at Texas State offered a clever cross between an Innocents Abroad tale and a psychological thriller of deceit, confusion and crossed cultures. It's no sordid tale of crime; it's a story of loving too much and too blindly. The protagonists are Abby and Zack, married during Zack's med school studies and now relocated to the mixed-ethnic eastern Paris suburb of Belleville. Zack disappears during the day for a residency with a French …
Review: Mouthful by Mary Moody Northen Theatre
by Michael Meigs
Published on November 15, 2016
An evening of ideologically flavored dishes of varied quality and appeal, MOUTHFUL has one deftly captivating piece by Clare Bayley and one appalling rant by Neil LaBute
The collection of six short plays packaged as Mouthful and presented by the Mary Moody Northen Theatre at St. Edward's University in Austin is an odd assortment. Loosely themed to concerns about nutrition and the world food supply, this evening is more a potluck than a smörgåsbord. A potluck meal usually unites the like-minded around a meal that's anything but predetermined, often with dishes of varied quality and appeal, while the classic Scandinavian smörgåsbord presents an …
Review: The School for Scandal by Classic Theatre of San Antonio
by Kurt Gardner
Published on November 11, 2016
'Rambunctious' is clearly the best word to describe the Classic Theatre's hilarious production of Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s 1777 comedy of manners, complete with cell phones and selfies.
When one thinks of a play written nearly 250 years ago, the last adjective to come to mind would be rambunctious, but that’s clearly the best word to describe the hilarious production of Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s 1777 comedy of manners The School for Scandal, now playing at the Classic Theatre. You’ve never met a nastier group of backbiting gossip mongerers than this lot. As a matter of fact, one character is literally named Backbite — …
Review: Miss Abigail's Guide to Dating, Mating and Marriage by Roxie Theatre Company
by Kurt Gardner
Published on November 09, 2016
Miss Abigail quotes from a vast collection of 1940's books to offer hilariously antiquated advice. Evidently weenie roasts were an important part of the dating scene back then.
Originally produced off-Broadway in 2010 with no less a cult figure than The Brady Bunch’s Eve Plumb as its star, Ken Davenport and Sarah Saltzberg’s Miss Abigail’s Guide to Dating, Mating and Marriage arrives at San Antonio’s Roxie Theatre with all the comic absurdity intact. It’s actually the perfect show for the space, relying as it does on a playful mood and lots of audience participation. Miss Abigail (Kelli Grant) quotes from a vast collection of books (mostly …
Review: The Illusionists - Live from Broadway by touring company
by Brian Paul Scipione
Published on November 02, 2016
I want to gush about it and tell the reader everything I saw but I don’t want to give away any spoilers. And let’s face it, when you are talking about illusions with stunning conclusions everything is a spoiler. The show is amazing from start to finish
This exhilarating, dynamic and nearly flawless magical variety show from Broadway is both very easy and difficult to review. The difficult part is simple to explain: I want to gush about it and tell the reader everything I saw but I don’t want to give away any spoilers. And let’s face it, when you are talking about illusions with stunning conclusions everything is a spoiler. The easy part, as you would expect from a professional …