Recent Reviews
Review: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee by Penfold Theatre Company
by Hannah Neuhauser
Published on September 14, 2025
At Penfold Theatre, director Scott Shipman and associates give us a beautifully retooled, sensitive version of the ultimate back-to-middle-school musical, teaching emotional resilience, something needed now more than ever.
The word is “empathy.” Defined by Merriam-Webster as “The action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another.” Originating from the Greek word empatheia meaning “passion” or "state of emotion." To use it in a sentence – “Penfold’s production of 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee inspires empathy for our inner child through an ensemble of lovable characters and specular performances.” The ultimate back-to-middle-school musical …
Review: The Wizard of Oz by Zach Theatre
by Vanessa Hoang Hughes
Published on September 02, 2025
Dave Steakley’s innovative yet nostalgic production of The Wizard of Oz gives Austinites a show with which they can connect, symbolized by Dorothy's red cowboy boots!
Zach Theater’s The Wizard of Oz closely follows the yellow-brick road into a new world. For the 1940 Academy awards the 1939 MGM film was nominated for six awards including best picture , lost out to Gone with the Wind, but was awarded Best Score, Best Song ("Over the Rainbow"), and a special juvenile award for Judy Garland. It became a touchstone of U.S. cinematic memory from 1959 when televised annually in the early years …
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Review: Amy and the Orphans by Ground Floor Theatre
by David Glen Robinson
Published on September 02, 2025
Class differences, conflicts, wrong decisions; three very different and differently abled siblings, continental distances apart both geographically and metaphorically.
Amy and the Orphans is a depressing play. By intent. The dissolution of families, the bankruptcy of values, and an interesting watch glass study of adult failure to thrive—yet playwright Lindsey Ferrentino wraps a veneer of comedy around her serious themes. You in the audience are supposed to laugh, but you aren’t allowed to be happy. Oddly, that’s a good thing. Ground Floor Theatre stages Amy and the Orphans in its excellent facility with its …
Review: Anthropocene by Performa/Dance
by David Glen Robinson
Published on August 20, 2025
The vision of Performa/Dance's ANTHROPOCENE addressed in part the great extinctions that have punctuated Earth history as the lights fade down on us all.
The vision of Anthropocene addressed in part the great extinctions that have punctuated Earth history as far back as 425 million years ago. Ordovician—Silurian—Permian—Triassic—Cretaceous. Each of the die-offs claimed the extinctions of more than 90% of species living at each of those times. All of us, including the elephants, the whales, the scorpions, the ants, and the redwoods, are descendant survivors of catastrophe. Some authorities have declared our time, the now, to be the epoch …
Review: The Spongebob Musical by Magnolia Musical Theatre
by Brian Paul Scipione
Published on August 06, 2025
The slew of amazing dance routines in Magnolia Theatre's wacky Spongebob musical matched the power of a chorus that sounded richer and more impassioned than most on Broadway.
I’ve never seen the SpongeBob SquarePants show, but since it is a wide-reaching cultural phenomenon, I am not only aware of it, but I know some of the characters and the theme song and some other tidbits of info. Like something about pineapples. Whenever possible, I go to productions knowing very little about them. Also, I have a list of classic productions I have never seen because I want my first experience with them to …
Review: Betrayal by Hyde Park Theatre
by Michael Meigs
Published on July 22, 2025
Hyde Park Theatre is the source for the most powerful contemporary drama in Austin. Harold Pinter's THE BETRAYAL, quietly spellbinding and heart-rending, proves it yet again.
Harold Pinter, Ken Webster. Ken, Harold. Pinter by Webster. Webster and Pinter. Similar. Similar? Pinter through Webster to Patrick, Robb, Guntli. Guntli robs Patrick. Robb? Pause. [pause] Pause? [long pause] Commonplace to say Pinter's the poet of pauses. Not so. Not? So . . . ? Pinter's the poet of the unsaid. Of the withheld. Of the truth we don't want to know. Though we do. Pinter's words are fine in the mouths of Brennan …