AUSTIN THEATER REVIEWS

WISH is a world premiere new musical for young audiences that is set 100 years in the past and uses a highly theatrical and presentational storytelling style that successfully combines magic, music and youthful optimism with action and adventure. This unique and original story imagines the America o...

Cabernet Cabaret's production of TOO DARN HOT is a sizzling success. This carefully crafted evening of musical theatre sets the standard for other theatrical special events in the area....

Austin Opera never fails to dazzle, but their current production of LA TRAVIATA is so incredibly stellar, superlatives fail to describe its glittering pageantry....

Austin Playhouse recently produced staged readings of the three winning plays from their Festival of New Texas Plays. EIDOPHUSIKON by Reina Hardy kicked off the festival on Friday, April 27, NUTSHELL by C. Denby Swanson was on Saturday, April 28, and MONROE by Lisa B. Thompson concluded the lineup o...

Even though the story itself is interesting, the script by Cowley seems to be in need of restructuring....

THE SUNSHINE BOYS is a 1972 Tony Award nominated play by Neil Simon that ran for 538 performances on Broadway. It was turned into a feature film in 1975 and a TV movie in 1996. THE SUNSHINE BOYS is the story of two old vaudeville stars, Lewis & Clark, whose iconic act ended when Al Lewis walked away...

MY FAIR LADY is a 1956 musical based on George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion, with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The musical is the story of Eliza Doolittle (Martina Ohlhauser) a Cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons from professor Henry Higgins (Damon Brown), a ...

AS YOU LIKE IT, currently running at The City Theatre, has been transformed from its original comedic writing by William Shakespeare, into a dramedy set during the great depression in America's backyard. The premise of this show begins with young and fair Rosalind, fleeing the court from persecution...

RAGTIME is a 1996 musical about the American experience at the turn of the 20th century with a book by Terrence McNally, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, and music by Stephen Flaherty. The score is inspired by the musical styles of the period and includes marches, cakewalks, gospel and, of course, ragtime. Ba...

THE BOOK OF MORMON is a satirical musical with book, lyrics, and music by Trey Parker, Robert Lopez and Matt Stone. Parker and Stone, the creators of the long running Comedy Central animated series South Park, along with Lopez, the co-composer/co-lyricist of Avenue Q and Frozen, have created a show ...

VIOLET is a 1997 musical with music by Jeanine Tesori and book and lyrics by Brian Crawley. It's based on the short story 'The Ugliest Pilgrim' by Doris Betts. The musical first premiered Off-Broadway in 1997 and won the Drama Critics' Circle Award and Lucille Lortel Award as Best Musical, it was la...

GROUNDED is a 2012 drama from George Brant that won the National New Play Network's 2012 Smith Prize and the Fringe First award at the 2013 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Street Corner Arts production of the play is the first time his work has been done in Austin since he graduated with an MFA in Writin...

THE SMARTEST GIRL IN THE WORLD is a must-see production for kids of all ages. With a funny, heartwarming story and engaging characters that rival any superhero this show is the perfect family theatre experience. Run don't walk to catch this story that is truly one of a kind....

Highlighting the old time blues and soul style of Bessie Smith AKA The Empress of The Blues, MOAN THEM BLUES provides a different style of theatrical entertainment. Essentially a one woman show starring Toni Ringgold, with her piano man sidekick Jawbone (played by Ke'Aier Mufasa Denson), the reminis...

King and Benefield are promising young actors and Alexander holds promise as one of Austin's new directors....

Venturing into East Austin as a theatre- goer is bound to deliver the more experimental artists and their creations within Austin's theatre community. Blurring the lines between performance and therapy/social commentary, Bottle Alley Theatre Company present SELF PORTRAITS. An ensemble-driven collect...

I admit freely that I'm a huge fan of silly. I love English television comedy most because the Brits have a way of making fun of themselves in the most outrageously ridiculous situations, they never take comedy seriously. The Georgetown Palace Playhouse's production of DEARLY DEPARTED, while far fro...

PERFORMANCE PARK is an interactive and immersive theatre piece, conceived and directed by Bonnie Cullum, that transforms the Vortex compound into a choose-your-own-experience environment where you are free to wander and pick what you will watch, what games you will play and the order in which you ex...

YANKEE TAVERN by prolific playwright Steven Deitz, is a labyrinthine journey through the mind of conspiracy theorist Ray (Bill Karnovsky). Through all the crazy scenarios Ray spouts, there may just be a kernel of truth....

SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE is a 2014 stage adaptation by Lee Hall of the 1998 Academy Award winning film by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard of the same name. It was first created under the auspices of Disney Theatrical Productions and Sonia Friedman Productions. The story concerns an imaginary love affair inv...

THE SECRETARY is a world premiere comedy by Kyle John Schmidt that shines a dark and wry light on America's love affair with guns. Initially developed at the Ingram New Play Lab at Nashville Repertory Theatre and workshopped earlier this season at Hyde Park Theatre, this razor sharp black comedy get...

A GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE TO LOVE AND MURDER is a 2014 musical comedy, with a book and lyrics by Robert L. Freedman and music and lyrics by Steven Lutvak. This winner of four Tonys, including Best Musical, is based on the 1907 novel 'Israel Rank: The Autobiography of a Criminal' by Roy Horniman. The novel...

BAD JEWS is a 2012 play by Joshua Harmon that is billed as a dark comedy. Harmon says his inspiration for the play came 'after attending a service in which grandchildren of Holocaust survivors were invited to speak.' When the beloved patriarch of a New York Jewish family dies, he leaves behind a tre...

WHITE RABBIT, RED RABBIT has been called a play. This experiment in audience participation is an experience that has become a global sensation that no one is allowed to talk about. The award-winning playwright, Nassim Soleimanpour, is Iranian. While he himself has been censored in his homeland, this...

Beth Leavel, Tony Award winner for Best Featured Actress in a Musical, winner of the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical, and Outer Critics Circle Award winner for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical for playing Beatrice Stockwell in The Drowsy Chaperone, recently br...