AUSTIN THEATER REVIEWS

GOD'S FAVORITE plays Sam Bass Theatre (600 Lee Street, Round Rock) now thru May 2nd. Performances are Thursday - Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 2pm. Tickets are $13-$18. For tickets and information, please visit www.sambasstheatre.org...

'What the hell's the point of being president if you can't do what you know is right?' That single statement, made by President Lyndon Johnson, sums up the theme of ALL THE WAY; a new play by Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Robert Schenkkan, now playing at ZACH Theatre. Winner of the Tony Award fo...

THE THREE LITTLE PIGS plays the Kleberg Stage at Zach Theatre (202 S. Lamar, Austin 78704) now thru April 25th. Performances are Saturdays at 11am and 2pm. Tickets are $20 adults and $17 youth. For tickets and information, please visit www.zachtheatre.org...

THE LAST FIVE YEARS, produced by Penfold Theatre, plays the Trinity Street Theatre (901 Trinity Street, 4th Floor, Austin 78701) now thru April 12th. Performances are Friday and Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 5pm. Tickets are $20 regular, $18 students/seniors. For tickets and information, please v...

We have all experienced our parents relating something from our childhood of which we have no memory. In fact, if we examine it, the things we don't remember probably are greater than the things we do. In THE GREAT GOD PAN, a new play by Amy Herzog, produced by Street Corner Arts, now in its regiona...

Jacob's Ladder is described in the Book of Genesis as a staircase to heaven that the biblical Patriarch Jacob dreamed about during his flight from his brother Esau. It is often used as an analogy for the spiritual ascetic of life. JACOB'S LADDER, a new play by Dennis Bailey & David Mixner, now in i...

The 60's were an exciting time for music in America, due in no small part to the proliferation of groups with amazing vocal harmonies like The Mamas & Papas, The Beach Boys, Spanky & Our Gang and The Four Seasons. JERSEY BOYS is a jukebox musical based on the song catalog of The Four Seasons; howeve...

By definition, a farce is a light theatrical work in which highly improbable plot situations, exaggerated characters, and slapstick are used for humorous effect. Brandon Thomas's play CHARLEY'S AUNT (1892) is a classic example of farce. Farce requires a certain level of comic timing. In farce, the h...

Noel Coward's plays are, for the most part, theatrical souffles: the ingredients are very simple and, when handled correctly, are deliciously light and tasty; however, in the hands of the inexperienced, they can turn out to be a mess best thrown away. I am happy to report that in the case of PRIVATE...

There isn't much to say about the idea of the American Family that hasn't already been said, but as Table Settings proves, it's not what you say but how you say that matters. The joyous comedy, written by James Lapine and directed by Frank Benge, ops for episodes and sketches rather than a linear p...

I've seen three productions of Avenue Q in my life, all of them ranging from the Broadway national tour to a local community theater performance, to Sunday's matinee performed by the Austin Theatre Project. Bottom line: Avenue Q smart, funny, and relatable show. It's crude, sometimes a bit cringe-wo...

Theatre, more than any other medium, has the ability to create magic and seldom has more magic been created on a stage than in the Zach Theatre production of PETER AND THE STARCATCHER. While the production is advertised as suitable for ages 6 and up, it is the adults who are in for the real treat wi...

Without a doubt, Gounod's ROMEO & JULIET is one of Austin Opera's finest productions, and they have assembled a cast of the highest caliber. Paired with a gorgeous set, costumes and staging, this is not a production that one would want to miss. 'If music be the food of love, play on.'...

'What's more important, one person or everyone?' That is the question at the center of Dennis Kelly's darkly comedic and chilling play, DNA....

"Mamma Mia- here I go again" weren't just familiar song lyrics I was thinking of when I walked into Bass Concert Hall Tuesday night. No, it was also literal thinking going through my head. Why? The opening night of Broadway in Austin's Mamma Mia! was my fifth time seeing the production. From seeing ...

Having grown up in the world of numismatics (coin collecting) and philately (stamp collecting) I was probably in a rarified group in the audience by knowing just what a Mauritius was. It doesn't matter if you don't know anything though, because the playwright, Theresa Rebeck, gets the audience where...

Vicki Quade and Maripat Donovan created a one-woman show called LATE NIGHT CATECHISM back in 1993 which was based on the pair's experiences growing up Catholic in Chicago and on parochial school stories they heard from their families and friends. The show holds the record for the longest running rel...

SUFFER THE LONG NIGHT belongs to that class of backstage comedies like NOISES OFF and FASHION: THE MUSICAL where the audience sees an actor playing an actor who is playing a character in a show. SUFFER THE LONG NIGHT first debuted in 2008 in Los Angeles and this production marks the first time it ha...

In a little town known as New York City, on a tiny street known as Broadway, the Roundabout Theatre Company took the 1930's Cole Porter classic Anything Goes and revived it on the Great White Way. Starring Tony Winner (soon to be two time Tony Winner) Sutton Foster as Reno Sweeney, Broadway's sweet...

If there was ever a timeless holiday tradition, specifically in the world of performing arts, it is The Nutcracker ballet. In fact, one of my first memories of the theatre was seeing the Houston Ballet with my mother and grandmother at the age of 8 (and hadn't seen it since). Whether you go for the ...

WAITING FOR LEFTY was written in 1935 by Clifford Odets. The play is, and was written as, an immersive piece of theatre. It is, ostensibly, a meeting of cab drivers who are gathering to plan a strike. As an audience member, you become a part of that meeting. While the meeting is going on, we are ex...

THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE is a 1961 novel by Muriel Spark and a 1966 stage play, based on the novel, by Jay Presson Allen that was turned into a film in 1968. Miss Brodie, a teacher at the Marcia Blaine School for Girls in Edinburgh, states her motto: 'I am in the business of putting old heads o...

Simply said, Martin Burke delivers masterful story telling in a tour de force production of THIS WONDERFUL LIFE. In the course of the evening, Mr. Burke singlehandedly tells the story of "It's a Wonderful Life" playing all the characters… twice. He, aside from narrating, portrays some 29 different...

If an example existed to explain the value of copyright laws, Katie Forgette's SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE CASE OF THE JERSEY LILY might well be it. Since the copyright has expired on the characters of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson they are now in the public domain and authors other than the originator...

RECKLESS, by Craig Lucas, wants to be a black comedy. The script, written in a cinematographic style, poses some serious problems in staging. For something so paper thin to work, the audience needs to go on the same nightmare downhill sleigh ride as the protagonist. We need to feel as buffeted by th...