Recent Reviews
Review: The Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert & Sullivan Austin
by David Glen Robinson
Published on June 16, 2017
The PIRATES OF PENZANCE works its magic gradually. After the stage fills with absurd stereotypical costumes garbing actors swaying to corny lyrics, one’s adult critical reserve caves in. After that, one drinks the kool-aid of Victorian light opera.
Gilbert and Sullivan Austin premiered its 2017 Grand Production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance on June 15, 2017. The company offers one full production per year, to great expectations always, and it does not disappoint with Pirates. The original production of The Pirates of Penzance took place in 1879 in New York City, not London. W.S. Gilbert, Arthur Sullivan, and their producer Richard D’Oyly Carte moved the production to New York to …
Review: Troilus and Cressida by Something for Nothing Theatre
by Michael Meigs
Published on June 08, 2017
Bring a cooler, a blanket, a picnic and a willingness to encounter a Shakespeare with whom you're unlikely to be familiar. Something for Nothing's Troilus and Cressida provides ample measures of lovers, heroes, rascals, ceremony and combat.
"Neighbor, this is a gift very grateful, I am sure of it." The quotation's from a different Shakespeare work currently onstage in Austin, but it captures my appreciation of Something for Nothing (S4N) Theatre's Troilus and Cressida, playing outdoors and freebies at Ramsey Park in Rosedale, just south of 45th Street and Medical Parkway/Burnet Road. Troilus and Cressida isn’t often performed; you might say that it’s out of the Bard’s back catalog. The CTX Live …
Review: The Effect by Capital T Theatre
by David Glen Robinson
Published on May 30, 2017
A second act dialogue between pharmaceutical trial subjects Delanté Keys and Sarah Danko transcends by far any acting studio exercise, every impassioned phrase crystal clear. And then, dang! That was followed by an equally skilled dialogue between Rebecca Robinson and Rommel Sulit.
The Effect by Lucy Prebble takes us into clinical trials and testing, and offers us a glimpse of what we’ve always suspected really goes on in the corridors and sancta of pharmaceutical research. Yes, deep in the core of the institution, much as at Pharmaco in Austin, there beats a heart of love. This play is a love story, and it veers close to the Romeo and Juliet model of all such although not too …
Review: Dani Girl by Trinity Street Players
by David Glen Robinson
Published on May 20, 2017
The cast of DANI GIRL includes some of Austin’s best theatrical singers and a successful set in Trinity Street Players' intimate inviting space. The only real ding on Dani Girl is the song and scene about the kids forming a suicide pact.
Dani Girl is a musical story about children with cancer. The action takes place in a ward of a children’s hospital. It may seem macabre to produce a show with dying kids loaded full with laughs and hilarity, but such oddball sensibilities never stopped Steven Sondheim or John Waters. Composer Michael Kooman and lyricist/writer Christopher Dimond leap headlong into the field filled with risk and for the most part succeed in their musical efforts.Thanks to …
Review: Bus Stop by Classic Theatre of San Antonio
by Kurt Gardner
Published on May 14, 2017
The Classic’s production, directed by Kelly Hilliard Roush, does well by the playwright’s words, and the ensemble cast works together beautifully
Human relationships can develop in a number of different ways, as demonstrated by the cross-section of characters that populate William Inge’s Bus Stop, now playing at San Antonio’s Classic Theatre. Passengers on a westbound bus find themselves delayed by a blizzard which has closed the highway. They find refuge at Grace’s Diner, a greasy spoon located some 40 miles outside of Kansas City. There’s Cherie (Alison Bridget Chambers), a self-styled “chanteuse” who dreams of stardom …
Review: Disney's ALADDIN, bilingual edition by Roxie Theatre Company
by Kurt Gardner
Published on May 12, 2017
The bilingual approach gives the production a warm feeling of inclusiveness. Directed and choreographed by Jonathan Pennington, it’s also an ideal entertainment for kids, especially with so many youngsters in the cast.
Aladdin speaks only English and Princess Jasmine only Spanish in Aladdin: the Spectacular Dual Language Musical, now playing at San Antonio’s Roxie Theatre. The language barrier between them is the work of the villainous vizier Jafar, who will do anything to make Jasmine his wife. When street urchin Aladdin meets the beautiful princess, their mutual attraction is immediate, but he is arrested and thrown into prison by Jafar’s henchmen. He finds a lamp, rubs it, …