Recent Reviews
Review: Kaleidoscope (2025) by Ventana Ballet
by David Glen Robinson
Published on May 10, 2025
With their flashing kaleidoscope of dance Ventana Ballet and Austin Camerata have again raised the bar of ballet performance and show production in Austin.
The third annual edition of Ventana Ballet’s Kaleidoscope has just taken place at the Draylen Mason Music Studio in the still-new KMFA radio station near Austin's Lady Bird Lake. The sampler of ballet pieces by different choreographers informed and delighted, as always. Aptly named, the seasons turned round, and the views through the looking glass of dance revealed fresh new performances. The quality of the offerings seemed even higher than those of the previous year …
Review: The illusionary Games of Edward Rye by Filigree Theatre
by David Glen Robinson
Published on April 29, 2025
The world of stage magic and murky hypnotic manipulation raises questions in the psychological thriller with action-adventure overtones.
The Illusionary Games of Edward Rye, a world premiere authored by Ashley Griffin offers a brainy riff on illusionism, mesmerism, mentalism, magic, agnosticism, faith, free will, determinism, card tricks, math tricks, therapy, trust, ethics, and plush toy tigers. That's a lot to chew on. It's clear that Griffin researched these topics. The lead character is Edward Rye, played by Malcolm Stephenson, not a neurosurgeon or alien abduction hypno-researcher, but a slightly down-at-heel stage illusionist. Rye's …
Review: Feast by Shrewd Productions
by Michael Meigs
Published on April 28, 2025
Gogerty's script and Katherine Catmull's electrifying performance need to be seen again and again. Unshielded by any metaphorical fourth wall, you're embraced by a ferocious storyteller.
Feast offers a shrewd re-interpretation of the classic bourgeois entertainment of "dinner and a show." Before Katherine Catmull's intense one-woman performance of Megan Gogerty's brainy, scary script based on the ancient saga of Beowulf, you can elect to start with a leisurely meal of comfort food. Dinner and a show. But this isn't a night on the town in NYC or Chicago, folks, it's Austin theatre. Sign up for the pre-performance dinner if you can. …
Review: Premiere by Allysen Hooks Projects
by David Glen Robinson
Published on April 26, 2025
Two ambitious pieces by Allysen Hooks explore the qualities of dream states, dreamscapes, and dream logic. We want to see more.
Allysen Hooks Projects, one of the newer dance companies in Austin, was inaugurated in 2024. Hooks, its producing artistic director, is a native Texan who moved e to NYC arly on and earned degrees from Julliard and Sarah Lawrence, then pursued her dance career in NYC for seventeen years. She brings to Austin is a fresh take on contemporary dance and a future-forward philosophy. As she phrases it, “I construct surrealist narratives aimed to capture …
Review: Gimpses of the Tenth Austin Dance Festival, Organized by Kathy Dunn Hamrick Dance Company
by David Glen Robinson
Published on April 15, 2025
Quick looks at the sixteen pro presentations of KDH Dance Company's tenth annual Austin Dance Festival.
Quick looks at sixteen presentations over three days in Austin “How the West Was,” KDH Dance Company, Austin, TX. The title keys our expectations for this company for quirky, absurdist, and athletic performances underlain by deep themes of protection and commitment. Although many in the audience are familiar with the company, now under new leadership (Alyson Dolan, stepping forward for the retiring Kathy Dunn Hamrick, still beautifully present), we weren’t expecting a piece this strong, …
Review: Funny Girl by touring company
by Brian Paul Scipione
Published on April 14, 2025
Funny Girl is, in effect, the Rosebud of the classic Broadway touring musical: a guilty childish pleasure never intended to be taken out of context.
If you know nearly nothing about Barbra Streisand, it's still likely you will be aware she is an icon. Maybe you'll have heard she has a full-scale private mall in her basement. Streisand is one of only twenty-one E.G.O.T. winners (an artist who has won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony). She's among the best-selling recording artists of all time, the only artist to have a number-one album in each of the last six decades. …