Recent Reviews
Review: Blackbird, by Hyde Park Theatre
by Michael Meigs
Published on October 03, 2008
There is a virtually musical rhythm to this dialogue. Clash, stacatto, cacophony and speaking past one another, listening, interrupted thoughts, a sharp dig of angry humor. . . .
I am beginning to see the pattern now, and you’ll just have to excuse me, as a newcomer, if the obvious has fallen upon my head. The Hyde Park Theatre is an actor’s theatre, intensely dedicated to the craft and to the challenge of the actor’s art. How else could one explain the production, back to back, of The Brass Ring and Blackbird? This 75-minute one-act piece by the relatively young British playwright David Harrower …
Review: Lysistrata by Aristophanes, Southwestern University
by Michael Meigs
Published on October 02, 2008
I’m happy to see this powerful satire adapted so as to reach a modern, largely university-age audience. The shortcoming that did consistently surface through the play was shrill, rushed vocalizing.
Preparing for Southwestern University’s staging of this 2003 version of Aristophanes’ comedy, I dug out my worn copy of The Complete Greek Drama, edited by Whitney J. Oates and Eugene O’Neill, Jr. in 1938. That’s right – the editor of the comedies was a Yale classicist and son of the famous American playwright. In his introduction to the collection and to this play O’Neill stressed that very little remains of the ancient Greek comedies. Thousands …
Review: The Producers by The Georgetown Palace Theatre
by Michael Meigs
Published on September 30, 2008
So what’s not to like, already? This show has energy, glitter, comedy and class; it’s an insouciant salute to the big kid in all of us. It makes us say, like Leopold Bloom, I wanna be a producer, too.
This zany musical comedy comes bursting out of the Georgetown Palace stage like fireworks on the 4th of July.Yes, we all know the story. After all, the Mel Brooks film about fraudsters producing a Broadway musical was released in 1968, forty years ago.Brooks and co-writer Thomas Meehan turned it into a real Broadway musical in 2001, with musical numbers by Brooks, where it won an unprecedented 12 Tony awards and ran for 2500 performances. The …
Review: Cloud 9 by Mary Moody Northen Theatre
by Michael Meigs
Published on September 29, 2008
Cloud plays today as fresh as a daisy, because the attractions and confusions of sex do not date.
You must see this production. It plays only four more times, this coming weekend. Unless you’re uneasy with frank sexual language. Unless you get disoriented by anachronism, gender bending and actors morphing character, sex, time and intention. Unless you are frightened by vulnerability, farce, celebration or intimacy. Unless you prefer to miss breath taking range and versatility in acting by students and professionals alike.“Cloud 9,” the title, is a metaphor for sexual ecstasy. UK playwright …
Review: Carolyn, or Change by Zach Theatre
by Michael Meigs
Published on September 27, 2008
There is much here to praise, particularly the talent of the singers and the designers of the Zach Theatre production. But try as I might, I’m not happy about witnessing playwright Tony Kushner4's catharsis.
Zack Theatre staff probably know that they have a marketing problem with this production, which runs pretty fiercely against the grain of the happy rock ‘n’ roll that thrums through many productions at the Kleberg stage. The print ad appearing in this morning’s XL supplement to the Austin Statesman is just going to make things worse. Tuck and Ebert’s handsome depiction of Janis Stinson in the title role of Caroline (right) implies an uplifting experience …
Review: Third by Paradox Players
by Michael Meigs
Published on September 22, 2008
I cannot stand the indulgent depiction of academic dishonesty on the part of a professional, no matter how lunatic, and I cannot swallow the fact that Wasserstein makes happy at the end, letting her get away with it.
Thanks to Paradox Players for giving us the opportunity to see this 2005 piece by the late Wendy Wasserstein, acknowledged by the New York Times as “a chronicler of women’s identity crises.” To be honest, I hated it.Not the production, which is a good effort, but the play itself. First let me explain the concept of a “visceral twinge.” When I began work involving lengthy assignments abroad, the single most useful bit of counseling was …