Recent Reviews
Review: Tootsie by touring company
by Brian Paul Scipione
Published on March 05, 2022
The performers in TOOTSIE thrive on the audience's energy and laughter. Like a classic joke that always cracks a smile, the touring production is enormously entertaining and doesn't need to be anything more.
The 1982 movie Tootsie was a big hit, earning the praise of audiences and critics alike, as well as ten Academy Award nominations. It has since been inducted into the Library of Congress’ United States National Film Registry because of its cultural significance. So, it may seem surprising that it did not get the musical treatment until it was adapted by David Yazbek and Robert Horn in 2018, nearly forty years later. Though it …
Review: Sweeney Todd by Tex-Arts, Lakeway
by Michael Meigs
Published on February 17, 2022
Artistic director Jarret Mallon, stage director Kasey RT Graham, and Tex-Art's team of performers and designers prove triumphantly that Sondheim's SWEENEY TODD becomes a powerfully intimate piece when condensed into a small space
We could call this Austin's year of Stephen Sondheim, who unexpectedly passed away on November 26, the day after enjoying Thanksgiving with friends. After all, the Zach Theatre had marked its emergence from COVID the previous month with a cleverly inverted outdoor run of Into the Woods; City Theatre Austin put together Moments, a February weekend's celebration of his musicals; and now here's Tex-Arts with Sweeney Todd, and Austin Opera has announced another Sweeney production …
Review: The Play That Goes Wrong by Gaslight Baker Theatre
by Kara Bliss McGregor
Published on February 14, 2022
THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG is a night of belly laughs and did-I-really-make-that-sound-out-loud snorts, exploring the comedy gold of theater disasters.
The Play That Goes Wrong goes right! One of the many joys of live theater is the exhilarating knowledge that there are live humans on the stage moving in real time and that absolutely anything can happen, for better or worse. And in truth, some of my favorite moments both as a performer and audience member are when something goes dreadfully wrong. There’s a heady quickening of adrenaline as the players try to …
Review: The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs by Austin Opera
by Michael Meigs
Published on February 12, 2022
When all was sung and done, THE (R)EVOLUTION OF STEVE JOBS felt vaguely like a 100-minute product placement for Apple, scored with Bates's excitingly audacious music.
This second, redesigned and redirected staging of The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs (1917) opened in Austin and will travel to Kansas City and to Atlanta. Marketing and some reviews promise a new look into the epic world of changing technology and its guru Steve Jobs (1955-2011). Austin Opera has brought in superb singing talent for all the principal roles. John Moore's appearance as Jobs convinces us, as does the stalking and glowering that stage …
Review: Deathtrap by Georgetown Palace Theatre
by Michael Meigs
Published on January 27, 2022
DEATHTRAP has a surprise or two that will whip-saw you. The combination of the meta-wit and the fiendish plotting is certainly enough to astonish and entertain. The Georgetown Playhouse production is a deft, amusing evening with an appealing cast and clever outcome.
There was plenty of suspense at the Georgetown Playhouse last weekend. The storefront playing space on the north side of the Palace Theatre block was practically full, with almost a hundred audience members closely ranked around the ground-floor thrust stage adroitly designed by Justin Dam. Most were properly masked, although I spotted some noses—including those of a couple of teenagers seated directly to my right. The ventilation was undetectable. Are we treating ourselves …
Review No. 2 of 2: Blood & Holly, Christmas West of the Pecos by Jaston Williams, reviewed by Brian Paul Scipione
by Brian Paul Scipione
Published on December 31, 2021
In BLOOD & HOLLY, Jaston Williams, man and performer, serves as a golden thread connecting the present to the past, holding on to the good, the bad, the somber, the hilarious, and, most importantly, the truth.
Jaston Williams presented his touring holiday show Blood & Holly for a three-night run at Stateside at the Paramount in Austin. Originally known for plays about the fictional Texas town of Greater Tuna in collaboration with Joe Sears and Ed Howard, Williams is now just as well known—at least in Texas— for his solo works: I Saw the Lights, Don't Blame the Car, Is There Life after Lubbock?, I'm Not Lying, Clear to Partly …