Recent Reviews
Review: Gorilla Man, musical by Vestige Group
by Michael Meigs
Published on December 06, 2008
Will Billy give in to his inner ape? What happens when the Gorilla Man meets Betty Boop once again? Poor Alice never gets tied to the railroad tracks, but can she ever find true happiness?
Gorilla Man plays in a hang-loose theatre space Thursdays through Saturdays. The guys at the Creekside Lounge are more used to your typical 6th & 7th street music scene than to the romping of thespians, but they were good natured about hosting the show.I arrived right at the posted time of 7:30 a.m., and I went directly into the bar. They directed me to the apparently unheated space next door, where some twenty folding chairs …
Review: Working by Austin Museum of Art
by Michael Meigs
Published on December 04, 2008
Dave the misfit found and expressed his genius through his entrepreneurship; the Latinos pursued dignity and found it; the waitress exults in serving without being servile.
At one point during the performance in the Congress Avenue gallery of the Austin Museum of Art an actress portrayng a waitress sang out, “Right this way, party of 32!” Maybe we were more numerous, but I don’t think we got up to fifty.This was an intimate performance – five actors doing three monologues and a duologue, standing in the gallery before the photographs taken by Brazilian economist and social activist Sebastião Salgado. Arriving half …
Review: Sylvia by Austin Playhouse
by Michael Meigs
Published on November 29, 2008
After setting up that impasse, Gurney funks it. He ends the action and brings two of his characters onstage to speak directly to the audience. Their pair of whimsical, regretful little speeches dissolve the premises of the dilemma and essentially remove the enchantment that allowed Sylvia to talk.
On first impression, A.R. Gurney’s Sylvia, now playing at the Austin Playhouse, comes across as brainless, harmless fun, mostly thanks to the gleeful, energetic actress Andrea Osborne, portraying Sylvia, the stray dog found in a New York City park. Sylvia’s playful, adoring behavior completely captivates Greg (David Stahl), the middle-aged empty-nester who has relocated from the suburbs to the city, where he and his brainy wife Kate have found new jobs and a new life. …
Review: A Midsummer Night's Dream by University of Texas
by Michael Meigs
Published on November 20, 2008
Oh, Dad! Get a grip. Your Hermia is in love with Lysander, and your insistence is going to drive them both to elope, at night, via the enchanted forest where all those fairies hang out!
UT calls the Oscar G. Brockett Theatre an "intimate space." They are speaking Texas institutional intimacy here -- only 200 seats, arrayed about three sides of a huge square playing space under 40-foot ceiling rigged with lights, catwalks, hoists and other machinery. And with a built-in audience from those 50,000 UT students and 16,500 faculty and staff.When I arrived, all but breathless, 15 minutes before curtain time, I had to stand in a line of …
Review: Getting Married by George Bernard Shaw, Different Stages
by Michael Meigs
Published on November 19, 2008
Shaw delights in putting all sorts of contrarian observations into the mouths of his characters. For example, Reg’s soon-to-be-ex-wife Leo scandalizes the men when she declares that she would quite like to have several husbands.
George Bernard Shaw wrote Getting Marriedexactly a century ago. To my delight, I discovered that the New York Times makes available a copy of Catherine Welch’s 3800-word review of May 24, 1908, a full page of the paper, including sketches of GBS and two actors. I haven’t read it yet, because with some difficulty I impose on myself the discipline of writing my own review before consulting others. But I couldn’t avoid absorbing Mrs. Welch’s …
Review: The Three Sisters, Mary Moody Northen Theatre
by Michael Meigs
Published on November 14, 2008
Sounds like a downer, doesn’t it? But no, it isn’t at all – Chekhov draws each of the characters vividly and director Sheila Gordon keeps her actors bouncing off one another, taking the greatest possible advantage of the remarkable, large “theatre in a square” that is the Mary Moody Northern Theatre
St Edward’s Mary Moody Northern Theatre with its current production of The Three Sisters of Chekhov has again realized a fine synergy by adding two professional actors to an admirable cast of undergraduates.The quality and success of university productions in the Austin area is almost depressing – so much talent and energy! This is a great boon for those of us who take the time to explore it, but it seems strange to have all …