Recent Reviews
Review: ABOVE THE FOLD by Julie Zaffarano, Filigree Theatre
by David Glen Robinson
Published on April 20, 2024
Far from film depictions of 1930's journalism, ABOVE THE FOLD shows a canny woman reporter confronting the hard-bitten boy's club of scandal reporting. A lurid puzzle, vivid characters, and a striking set raise the stakes.
Imagine a distorted thrust stage, visibly twisted back to the 1930s by the powerful flow of time. The playing space established on the concrete-floored quonset hut of Factory on Fifth is a very large rectangle. Two sides are the upstage portion, the long dimension established with a long, ornate hotel bar. The shorter side offers an exit door set in a floral-design wallpapered wall and, to the downstage end, an elevated area with 1930s-period couch, …
Review: POE / A Tale of Madness by Ballet Austin
by David Glen Robinson
Published on April 01, 2024
Stephen Mills and Ballet Austin, immeasurably gifted, are at the forefront of the modern arts’ proud stride into the future. Change is not coming; it has arrived.
Such a cliché, visually stunning. But how necessary to convey an overall introduction to Poe / A Tale of Madness by Ballet Austin and Stephen Mills. Yes, visually stunning along with artistically, emotionally, intellectually, and esthetically stunning. Afterward, it was only to sit in the comfortable Dell Hall seat with private thoughts, feelings, and joy, waiting uncaringly for the noisy downtown Austin world to reclaim one’s senses. The ballet was one of the few …
Review: Home, I'm Darling by Jarrott Productions
by David Glen Robinson
Published on March 29, 2024
Will Gibson Douglas's fine directing stitches together a cartoonish plot, strengthened by excellent actors. Do YOU want to go back to the Ozzie-and-Harriet 1950s?
The first act of Home, I’m Darling stamps Ozzie and Harriet, British edition on our minds. The saccharine preciousness of the set is matched by the opening caricatured scenes of action. Later, with a line serving to cover the embarrassment of the play at having done that to us, one of the characters denounces the principals, Judy (Martina Ohlhauser) and Johnny (Tobie Minor), as having turned their lives into cartoons. Right, cartoons. But …
Review: Wicked by touring company
by Brian Paul Scipione
Published on March 27, 2024
This WICKED TOUR keeps the dazzle while the leads remake and deepen the frenemies Elphaba and Glinda. Not just good and evil; this story calls into question the stories of history.
It seems a little odd to write an introduction to such a well-known musical phenomenon as Wicked, especially here in Austin in which despite the play’s already huge popularity it was touted by a media storm that included billboards, television commercials, and a bombardment of social media ads. Yet nowadays with ads tailored made for the individual thanks to invasive communication software, that could be just me. As I write this, my computer is probably …
Review: Ballet Austin Two and Butler Fellowship Program Spring 2024 Show by Ballet Austin Two
by David Glen Robinson
Published on March 08, 2024
Seventeen dancers with fellowships from Ballet Austin's second company displayed mastery and dazzling technique in ballets classic and emphatically modern. They deserve great recognition.
2024 Spring Performance by Ballet Austin Two and the Ballet Austin Butler Fellowship Program has just been performed at Austin Ventures Studio in Downtown Austin. It was given over one weekend, March 1 and 2, 2024. The show was easy to miss because of that brief performance life, and that is a loss to all the ballet mavens and committed fine arts aficionados of Austin. Take heart, it lives as an annual series. The …
Review: Barney Carey Gets His Wings by Scottish Rite Theater
by Michael Meigs
Published on February 29, 2024
Irish playwright Brendan Murray creates a bright, deep world where both the young audience and attending adults can soar enthusiastically. This is a thoughtful, playful and effective lesson, especially for first-time theatregoers.
Children's theatre—well performed, as Austin's Scottish Rite Theatre does—is magic. The young person's world of play and imagination is lit by a play crafted with imagination. One sure, snug adult pleasure is to sit close to the stage, the actors and musicians, and the very young in the audience with their family members. There's very little suspension of disbelief, for there's a lot of wide-eyed, appreciative, open belief. Magic and enchantments are immediately accepted, as …