Recent Reviews
Review: The Spongebob Musical by Magnolia Musical Theatre
by Brian Paul Scipione
Published on August 06, 2025
The slew of amazing dance routines in Magnolia Theatre's wacky Spongebob musical matched the power of a chorus that sounded richer and more impassioned than most on Broadway.
I’ve never seen the SpongeBob SquarePants show, but since it is a wide-reaching cultural phenomenon, I am not only aware of it, but I know some of the characters and the theme song and some other tidbits of info. Like something about pineapples. Whenever possible, I go to productions knowing very little about them. Also, I have a list of classic productions I have never seen because I want my first experience with them to …
Review: Betrayal by Hyde Park Theatre
by Michael Meigs
Published on July 22, 2025
Hyde Park Theatre is the source for the most powerful contemporary drama in Austin. Harold Pinter's THE BETRAYAL, quietly spellbinding and heart-rending, proves it yet again.
Harold Pinter, Ken Webster. Ken, Harold. Pinter by Webster. Webster and Pinter. Similar. Similar? Pinter through Webster to Patrick, Robb, Guntli. Guntli robs Patrick. Robb? Pause. [pause] Pause? [long pause] Commonplace to say Pinter's the poet of pauses. Not so. Not? So . . . ? Pinter's the poet of the unsaid. Of the withheld. Of the truth we don't want to know. Though we do. Pinter's words are fine in the mouths of Brennan …
Review: Rituals of Light by Red Nightfall Dance Theatre
by David Glen Robinson
Published on July 21, 2025
Dorothy O'Shea Overbey draws on world myth and legend to create elemental archetypes personified by goddesses--crones of the moon, sun, fire, wind, and others.
Dorothy O’Shea Overbey has taken the advantages of the new East Side Arts Complex and with her consistently brilliant choreography pushed the envelope of Austin dance. Her single-minded ambition to create ballet leaves her colleagues and the community in awe. Her current effort, Rituals of Light, is yet another shining step toward her goals and a treasured gift to her capacity audiences. Overbey thinks of Rituals of Light as the first installment of a multicomponent …
Jennifer Hart Redux -- Anticipating Anthropocene
by David Glen Robinson
Published on July 21, 2025
Jennifer Hart shares all the color, dance, thoughtfulness, and humor of her mind in wildly extravagant measure.
Jennifer Hart, again Comes the indefatigable Jennifer Hart with Anthropocene, another multimodal performance work, ,premiering August 15, 2025 at the Austin Ventures Studio theatre. Hart and her company, Performa/Dance, will present another characteristically serious, accessible, and humor-filled performance with her troupe of skilled, ballet-based dancers and well-trained actors. Performa/Dance was formed in 2014 with co-artistic director Edward Carr, who has now retired. Jennifer Hart works her advantages in performance as the curriculum director of Ballet …
Review: Inside My Walls by Ishida Dance Company
by David Glen Robinson
Published on June 26, 2025
Ishida Dance's dazzling professionalism serves up intense, innovative performance magic. The company plans to base itself both in Houston and here in Austin.
Inside My Walls is indescribably beautiful. So thoroughly apt, and so difficult to convey in words. The onslaught of imagery and the feelings that ride along with it hurt as much as they arouse, but no one wants them to stop. And the dark at the corner of the stage looms as the portal to our memories of loss and pain. Out of it come contesting siblings, lovers, workers, and visitors from beyond. We watch …
Review: Fat Ham by Austin Playhouse
by Michael Meigs
Published on June 25, 2025
FAT HAM's bright, kinetic world is far from Shakespeare's Hamlet; its stories of changing Black family life are touching, comic, and eminently satisfying.
We were surprised, captivated, and thoroughly entertained by Austin Playhouse's production of Fat Ham, the 2022 Pulitzer Prize winner for drama directed by Ben Wolfe. The notion of combining Shakespeare's dark plot and soaring verse with the story of a Black family in Appalachia could have been a bridge too far, but playwright James Ijames adapted only the sketchiest outlines of Hamlet while delving deeply into family dynamics, frustrations, and existential musing. With the barest …