Recent Reviews
Review: The Fire Raisers by Hidden Room Theatre
by Michael Meigs
Published on April 08, 2026
In the comic absurdist style that evokes nightclub comedy of Germany’s Weimar years, Frisch's work is a savage satire of willful complacency. Highly recommended.
The Hidden Room Theatre of “Matriarch” Beth Burns is not only hidden; it’s a treasure repository. Burns titled her company after the odd, long rectangular room in a historic building in downtown Austin. That was back in 2010. Burns is an academic the way the imaginary Indiana Jones is—a scholar, an adventurer, and entirely unpredictable. She led her company through ten years of brainy, unexpected revelations, such as Nahum Tate’s revision of King Lear, Edwin …
Review: Hedwig and the Angry Inch by Austin Rainbow Theatre (ART)
by Hannah Neuhauser
Published on March 31, 2026
Juni Nguyen as Hedwig was an absolute riot! Attentive, clever audience interaction, never missing a beat, dropping the mask and revealing her soul—a showstopper.
How long did it take for you to become whole? There are two parts to every person – the mask and the heart. What we show to the world and what we forcibly repress in shadow. These parts coexist. In each of us that darkness is waiting to be heard and will come to the spotlight – whether we are ready or not. It is a necessary journey to reach completion through radical acceptance. Sacrificial …
Review: The Game's Afoot by The Stage, Austin
by Michael Meigs
Published on March 26, 2026
Despite the gleeful handfuls of red herrings, in The Game's Afoot you may guess who's responsible for the murder. But it's more likely you'll simply be enjoying the antics and the farce.
Playwright Ken Ludwig is prolific, clever, and widely admired, both in the bigger drama houses across the nation and in community theatres. The man currently has thirty-four scripts to his credit, an impressive number; even more impressive is his near-ubiquity in the U.S. theatre landscape. Perhaps you know that he crafted the popular adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express, a version of which recently played at Austin's Zach Theatre; you probably aren't aware that …
Review: Unbecoming - A Story Told in Form & Fashion by Red Nightfall Dance Theatre
by David Glen Robinson
Published on March 23, 2026
Altogether, Red Nightfall Dance Theatre's UNBECOMING was a multimodal treasure,
A nearly naked man lies in fetal position at center stage. A glaring, unfiltered white light fades up on him. Unclothed and without any ornamentation or nearby landscape of human objects, he could be anywhere or in anytime, but a primordial desert is the most obvious choice. In literature and theatre, a solo man with nothing at all symbolizes Everyman, but the audience recoils from looking at this man through that lens, fearful of what …
Review: The Great Gatsby by touring company
by Brian Paul Scipione
Published on March 18, 2026
The touring GREAT GATSBY goes for glitter and rom-com, discarding the inconvenient themes and issues that made Fitzgerald's novel great.
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby had its 100th anniversary just last year and the media focused on the fact that it is still being taught in schools. The most recent of its many adaptations is Baz Luhrmann's treatment in the film starring Leonardo DiCaprio that grossed more than $350 million worldwide. So, it's no surprise that the Broadway musical is distinctly inspired by the film’s aesthetic. The 2023 musical features music and lyrics …
Review: Short Shakespeare - Three plays by Walking Shadow Shakespeare
by Michael Meigs
Published on March 12, 2026
Walking Shadow gleefully presented clever, thoughtful alt-plots and interpretations of Shakespeare familiars. A round of applause, please, especially for Steph Crugnola as Puck.
Energetic and inventive, Austin's recently founded Walking Shadow Shakespeare Project has the enthusiasm of your favorably remembered high school group of "theatre kids." WSSP participants and the producers Mike and Steph Crugnola are full adults, experienced, and invested in the voluminous canon of Shakespeare's works. WSSP isn't going to bore you by joining the endless round of the most obvious plays. I 've missed several of their innovative productions (listed at www.WalkingShadowShakespeare.com). And because I …