Jeff Davis - Page 16

Original musicals are tough to come by nowadays. For every mammoth hit like Wicked or Book of Mormon, there's a short-lived flop like First Date or Glory Days. And then there are shows like Memphis that wind up somewhere in the middle. The show picked up 4 2010 Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Score, and had a nearly three year run on Broadway. That's not bad, but judging by the current national tour currently playing Bass Concert Hall, Memphis deserved much better. With an exhilarating blues and rock score, breathtaking choreography, and more than a few astounding performers, Memphis is a massive crowd-pleaser.

There's a lightning-in-a-bottle quality that permeates Steel Magnolias. With a cast that includes Sally Field, Dolly Parton, Shirley MacLaine, Daryl Hannah, Olympia Dukakis, and Julia Roberts, it's no surprise that the film version was such a hit and continues to be an enduring classic. But the true power of Steel Magnolias is its story and themes of the bonds between women, and that's exactly why City Theatre's production of the play is such a success. Director Andy Berkovsky and his incredible cast of six aren't interested in replicating Sally, Dolly, Shirley, Daryl, Olympia, and Julia. They're interested in creating original characters with deep friendships.

There's nothing like a good murder mystery, and writer Agatha Christie certainly made a career out of them. But while Christie penned 66 detective novels and several plays, I stop short of calling her an expert at the mystery genre. While mystery depends on surprises, Christie often uses conventional devices, and that's the only problem with Austin Playhouse's otherwise stellar production of And Then There Were None. While the company gives it their all, there's a lingering feeling that you've seen this before.

When December rolls around, it's customary for theater companies to scramble around for Holiday-themed fare. As beloved as Holiday shows are, it's refreshing when companies like Different Stages mount something decidedly in opposition of the trend. With its strong and hysterically funny production of Arsenic and Old Lace, Different Stages essentially defines how to successfully pull off counter-Holiday programming in Austin.

Original pieces of theater are a tricky business. For every well-crafted, well-received new work, there are countless others that are less successful, to put it mildly. The Fault, a new drama by UT-Austin M.F.A. candidate Katie Bender, falls into the second category. While Bender does have a few interesting idea and glimmers of a strong central character, the ideas and the play as a whole feel unfinished, underdeveloped, and tediously dull.

Last night, Blue Lapis Light, Austin's renowned aerial Dance Company, opened Remake Home. The two night event, which closes this evening, is produced by Blue Lapis Light's youth outreach program, Youth Taking Flight. Youth Taking Flight focuses on teenagers and uses movement to instill confidence and open students to new paths of listening and learning.

In the final number of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, the world's favorite blockhead and his iconic pals reflect on what happiness is. In a moment that mixes existential philosophy and childlike curiosity in a way that only Charles Schultz can do, the Peanuts gang determines that happiness is as simple as finding a pencil or three kinds of ice cream.

Anyone who's seen a production of Peter Pan, or at least one of the televised versions starring Mary Martin or Cathy Rigby, knows that there's a moment late in the evening in which Peter turns to the audience and begs everyone to clap their hands if they believe in fairies. It's a moment that easily measures the success of the production. If the show isn't connecting with the audience, Peter's pleas are met with a smattering of golf claps. But at the Georgetown Palace, that iconic moment is met with deafening applause and cheers.

In a time when Broadway caliber shows are defined by falling chandeliers, witches that literally defy gravity, and a swinging Spiderman with a $70 million budget, it seems that audiences may expect and want more than a simple set and small cast. But when that simple set and small cast are just right, the effect can be breathtaking, as is the case with the current National Tour of Godspell.

On their website, Paper Chairs describes their latest production, Murder Ballad Murder Mystery as "part existential whodunit, part slapstick haunting, and part ramshackle hoedown [that] investigates the many ways and whys we carry out a death sentence." I didn't see the existential pieces or the ruminations on the death sentence when I caught a performance on Thursday night, but quite frankly, I don't care. Murder Ballad Murder Mystery is a disjointed, non-linear, and nonsensical spoof on the western and musical genres, and I loved every wacky moment of it.

Any production of The Belle of Amherst certainly has its share of hurdles to overcome, and Austin Shakespeare's production tackles the issues head on. This isn't a one woman show or even a show about Emily Dickinson. It's an experience, and an incredible one at that.

It's not what you say, it's how you say it. That adage often runs through my head, both in my personal life and in my work as a theater critic. It also runs through my head when viewing productions, especially ones like Blood Wedding. With plays not originally in English, attention must be paid to the translation. Blood Wedding, originally written in Spanish by Frederico Garcia Lorca, offers an additional challenge in Lorca's poetic style. It's not what he says but how he says it that makes Lorca's Blood Wedding an interesting and engaging piece of theatre. While the current production at St. Edwards University manages to visually capture Lorca's poetry, the translation by James Graham Lujan and Richard O'Connell is less successful.

When it comes to operas by Giuseppe Verdi, Don Carlo has to be the most challenging one to produce. Which version do you use? The French version? The Italian translation? Given the over four hour running time of the full version, where do you make cuts, and why? And once you answer those questions, there's the content to deal with. How do you pack in the opera's themes of love, war, betrayal, politics, and the Spanish Inquisition? The later question is one that Austin Lyric Opera's current production fails to answer. While Don Carlo is 3 hours and 30 minutes of aural bliss, the story is handled in a clumsy and sometimes unfortunate way.

By all accounts, Jackson was a rebel, so it's not surprising that Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, now playing at San Antonio's Woodlawn Theatre, imagines our 7th President as the rock star of his generation. What is surprising is how fun it is.

Over its 17 year history, the revival production of Chicago has had its share of ups and downs, but if the current tour is any indication, the show's back on an upswing. If you've been unfortunate enough to see a lesser cast of Chicago in the past, you owe it to yourself to catch the current tour.

It seems mash-ups, particularly in music, have become more and more popular in recent years, and the crazier the idea, the better the mash-up usually is. The same goes for theater mash-ups. On paper, the idea of mixing a film noir-esque mystery with Mother Goose characters may sound bizarre, but the world premiere of Nursery Crimes, produced by Last Act Theatre, manages to poke just enough fun at both genres while still maintaining a level of respect and reverence for each.

I've heard a lot of great things about Reina Hardy, the playwright of Stars and Barmen. I've heard people throughout Austin refer to the UT Austin MFA candidate as a quirky comedic genius whose work is witty, smart, and intriguing. I hadn't seen any of Hardy's work for myself until I recently saw Stars and Barmen, a world premiere romantic comedy which closes at Votex Rep this evening. I'm proud to report that all I've heard is true. Hardy's new play is hysterical, sweet, and wonderfully original.

There is something comical in the state of Denmark. Well, make that Germany. Since its first production in 2008, Wittenberg has played to rave reviews all over the world, but it has never played San Antonio, a staggering and puzzling piece of trivia considering that the author is San Antonio's own David Davalos.

Shakespeare should be about three things: language, character, and story. While Titus Andronicus is not be Shakespeare's best work by any means, it still has a treasure trove of elements to be mined by a skilled director and cast. Shakespeare's tale of revenge plots between Titus, a powerful Roman General, and Tamora, Queen of the Goths should be riveting and chilling.

There were several empty seats at TexARTS last night as Broadway veteran Darcie Roberts took the stage for her first cabaret performance ever. I'm guessing the empty seats were partly because theater lovers in Austin proper may not know of the Lakeway based TexARTS and because Austinites may not be familiar with Ms. Roberts. Austin theatergoers need to familiarize themselves with both.