Recent Reviews
Review: The Watchmaker's Song by Ventana Ballet
by David Glen Robinson
Published on December 11, 2023
The collaborative THE WATCHMAKER'S SONG, now annual, offers even more magic and diversity than its core story of The Nutcracker, in a setting that evokes dark times in Texas and a shift toward the light.
In The Watchmaker’s Song by Ventana Ballet and Red Nightfall Dance Theatre, the sugar plums are sprinkled with extra magic and the flavor is tasted in our imaginations. In hoary ancient times, a curse was leveled against a hero (Aidan DeWitt), who became the robotic and mysterious nutcracker. The Watchmaker, an equally mysterious supernatural being played by Navaji David Nava, makes a magic watch to counteract the evil. As we might expect, the Watchmaker’s superpower …
Review: 25th Season Finale, Kathy Dunn Hamrick Dance Company
by David Glen Robinson
Published on December 11, 2023
KDH's season finale was a dance rollercoaster of joys and sorrows by a company that lost city funding and stays alive thanks to private donations.
A dancer set down on the floor in stillness holds the pose in release and surrender, perhaps finality. She holds the shape for a minute or more before the light begins a gentle, achingly slow fade. The image takes us to full darkness and the end of a piece entitled “Dust.” The multitalented Alyson Dolan clearly has the confidence and boldness to offer such intimate expression, as does her choreographer Kathy Dunn Hamrick. The theme …
Review: JACK AND AIDEN by Lane Michael Stanley and Tova Katz, Ground Floor Theatre, November 30 - December 16, 2023
by David Glen Robinson
Published on December 03, 2023
A bold, almost brutal portrait of the gay urban village, JACK AND AIDEN is stark and powerful. Stanley's vivid language, Katz's music, and Turner's direction hurl these two actors into unresolved life crises.
Ground Floor Theatre in east Austin has just presented the world premiere of an important musical. A collaboration of Lane Michael Stanley (book) and Tova Katz (music and lyrics), Jack and Aiden explores the lives of two gays, one cis, one trans, caught up in the life of hook-ups and cyber technology, where hooking up is easy and falling apart is easier. The couple’s emotions and desires draw them closer into a relationship; and that’s …
Review: Miss Lulu Bett by Different Stages
by Michael Meigs
Published on November 28, 2023
This vigorous three-act production of Gale's 1921 Pulitzer-Prize-winning Drama offers sharp, well-delivered dialogue. A former satire of small-town pompousness, it now snaps at the hindquarters of today's patriarchy.
Norman Blumenstaadt’s Different Stages is the only company in Austin where you can be sure of seeing new old plays. Or, to put it differently, to see plays that are new to you though they’re significant in the history of the theatre arts of the United States. Norman has included contemporary works in the company’s seasons, certainly, and he constructs all of the DIffStages seasons with care. No fluff here; he has the keen eye …
Review: From Inferno to Americana by Ty Graynor
by David Glen Robinson
Published on November 26, 2023
Ty Graynor's dance pieces INFERNO and AMERICANA contained worlds of technique and meaning, executed masterfully by the solo choreographer and by the ensemble.
A figure lies in darkness upon a stage. He is nearly nude, clothed only in his humanity. Although fixed in stillness, the figure seems to writhe in deep, interior struggle. Light fades up on the dancer, Everyman, in painful efforts to rise. He advances slowly upward in levels but struggle never ceases. We begin to recognize movements characteristic of modern/contemporary dance, but soon disciplined structures and movement tropes of modern ballet appear. The floorwork is …
Review: The Book of Mormon by touring company
by Brian Paul Scipione
Published on November 23, 2023
THE BOOK OF MORMON, a phenomenon of Broadway 2.0, provokes controversy and inspires thoughtful dialogue, as good art should.
The Book of Mormon, a ground-breaking musical comedy with music, lyrics, and book by Trey Parker, Robert Lopez, and Matt Stone, premiered on Broadway at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre on March 24, 2011, and it is still very much a hot ticket over two decades later. The show is the brainchild of the creators of the notoriously raunchy tv series South Park, so it is reasonable to expect it will have a similar tone—but since …