Recent Reviews
Review: MoonFall by Red Nightfall Dance Theatre and Density512, Austin
by David Glen Robinson
Published on May 20, 2024
Firmly rooted in the classical tradition and benefiting from live music, multimedia, and multimodal art, MOONFALL compares favorably with Austin's most accomplished dance productions. We are so lucky.
So powerful, and then so tender. Not often are such disparate qualities drawn so beautifully into juxtaposition. Gentle love duets turn into angry ensemble conflicts. The shambling, morose movements of sun-scorched villagers segue into the powerful dances of the magician, seemingly in a heartbeat. That note is key, because while MoonFall, the newly premiered ballet by Red Nightfall Dance Theatre and Density512 danced to an original score by Sam Lipman deals directly in duality …
Review: The Prom by Zach Theatre
by Vanessa Hoang Hughes
Published on May 19, 2024
THE PROM at Zach Theatre was full of fun surprises, eye-catching visuals, and electrifying entertainment, balanced with quiet moments of love and acceptance.
“This is our moment to change the world, one lesbian at a time!” When their musical about Eleanor Roosevelt fails spectacularly, four proud Broadway thespians explore ways to save their reputations through an attention-grabbing act of kindness and generosity. They brainstorm heart-pulling and tear-dropping causes, seeking one that won't require too much work. They find one in a Twitter headline: Indiana highschool cancels prom because of one lesbian couple! …
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Review: Girl from the North Country by touring company
by Brian Paul Scipione
Published on May 10, 2024
Characters in Conor McPherson's rework of Bob Dylan's music are like hungry ghosts who broke free from his songs and now wander eternally, unable to remember their sins.
Bob Dylan’s people approached Irish playwright Conor McPherson with the concept of crafting a musical based on songs by our folksy Nobel Prize winner. Girl from the North Country is the second time this concept has been brought to the Broadway stage. The first was Twyla Tharp's The Times They Are a-Changin' in 2006. By all critical and financial accounts Tharp’s attempt was a definitive miss. It was assailed for being full of spectacle but of little …
Review: INTO THE WOODS by Mary Moody Northen Theatre
by Vanessa Hoang Hughes
Published on April 26, 2024
Into The Woods directed by Jenny Lavery was a joy to experience, a fine production of a great piece of art.
What goes down when unlikely stories intertwine? Can witches be right, and giants be good? Into the Woods by James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim weaves numerous characters from different fairy tales into a single intertwining story. Wish fulfillment unravels in a whirlpool of chaos and confusion. The story depicts life, love, and loss with unlikely scenarios and Sondheim’s enchanting music. Even when dreams come true, not everything is as it seems; even when things go …
Review: Romeo and Juliet by The Baron's Men
by Michael Meigs
Published on April 25, 2024
Bravo to the Baron's Men for their devotion to the craft and art of this ROMEO AND JULIET; may ever more Austinites rally to the Curtain Theatre to applaud their elegant, accurate productions.
Austin’s Shakespeare geeks — and there are some! — have the opportunity this season to enjoy the equivalent of a Romeo and Juliet cage match at the Curtain Theatre, the city’s virtually unknown gem of a venue, a folie commissioned by Richard Garriott on the north bank of the Colorado River twenty-five years ago. Done as a classic Elizabethan-style thrust stage of appromately quarter size, the Curtain is reached via rough, winding roads that descend …
Review: ABOVE THE FOLD by Julie Zaffarano, Filigree Theatre
by David Glen Robinson
Published on April 20, 2024
Far from film depictions of 1930's journalism, ABOVE THE FOLD shows a canny woman reporter confronting the hard-bitten boy's club of scandal reporting. A lurid puzzle, vivid characters, and a striking set raise the stakes.
Imagine a distorted thrust stage, visibly twisted back to the 1930s by the powerful flow of time. The playing space established on the concrete-floored quonset hut of Factory on Fifth is a very large rectangle. Two sides are the upstage portion, the long dimension established with a long, ornate hotel bar. The shorter side offers an exit door set in a floral-design wallpapered wall and, to the downstage end, an elevated area with 1930s-period couch, …