'Tis Pity She's a Whore

The Bedlam Faction is as smart a bunch of actors as you'll find, and they take the Jacobean tragedy 'Tis Pity She's a Whore and make its extra-dense language crystal clear and its characters comprehensible, and the story relatively easy to follow, but the production suffers from a flatness born of a lack of specificity.

"...a theatrical dream: rich language, bold characters, twisted plot lines, plenty of action, and lots of death. Bloody, bloody..."

March 7, 2003 Arts Review by Robi Polgar

Personals

While the material in Personals, a revue built around the ads placed by men and women desperately seeking soul mates, suffers somewhat from age, Naughty Austin's production makes a fine match with a cast that is exceedingly appealing and extremely adept at musical comedy.

"...specs, and all -- nasally trying to learn pickup lines from a pushy instruction tape, and Sheridan, dazzling in..."

Feb. 7, 2003 Arts Review by Robert Faires

Blanket: Ann Carlson

As an old woman shuffling rhythmically in slow, jagged lines across the stage, accompanied by an audio montage of media snippets, instructional tapes, and music, contemporary dance artist Ann Carlson explores the way memory shapes narrative and time in Blanket.

"...woman (Carlson) carrying tulips shuffles rhythmically in slow, jagged lines across the stage, accompanied by an audio montage of..."

Jan. 31, 2003 Arts Review by Molly Beth Brenner

The Little Prince

There are some lovely moments in the musical version of The Little Prince produced by the State Theater Company, and the cast does a fine job of bringing to life Antoine de Saint-Exupery's unusual characters, but the tension that makes the book so special is too often exchanged in the musical for language that is cheery and precious.

"...and subtlety that make the original text so magical. Lines such as "The time we spent here/Has lessened our..."

Dec. 20, 2002 Arts Review by Molly Beth Brenner

Ratgirl's Holy Rockin' Christmas

With Ratgirl's Holy Rockin' Christmas, Ratgirl proves herself a real artist by tossing the yule's manifold manifestations into an artistic blender, from which she serves up holiday cheer in a mighty mythological melange, a veritable Xmess.

"...Ratgirl's complaint of "Why does Mary have so few lines?"), tap-tap-tapping on Vortex's chamber floor, and metamorphosing into an..."

Dec. 20, 2002 Arts Review by Robert Faires

Aidan's Bed

While each of the seven bedroom dialogues in Aidan's Bed, Blake Yelavich's tight comic subversion of melodrama, relates to a deadly sin, the play as produced by Naughty Austin, is harmless at worst and titillation at its best.

"...scene with the hysterical accountant works, but his melodramatic lines sound a little soapy...."

Dec. 13, 2002 Arts Review by Rob Curran

Reefer Madness

Local Arts Reviews

"...Rosalind Russell wiseacre, because we'd understand more of her lines if she slowed down. And: After the inspired use..."

Nov. 8, 2002 Arts Review by Wayne Alan Brenner

Vigil

In Vigil, playwright Morris Panych has written a rich character study that is also an extremely perceptive, wise rumination on death, but it's also very funny, and Hyde Park Theatre's production allows Panych's script to shine like a light through a lonely window.

"...of her given name, and absolutely nails the few lines she has. Paul Davis' set totally supports the action,..."

Sept. 13, 2002 Arts Review by Barry Pineo

Beyond Therapy

By billing it as a "neurotic" comedy, Naughty Austin seems to position Beyond Therapy in the Woody Allen movie genre, and its production best compares to the filmmaker's late career efforts -- one that he seemingly wrote during a spare hour in a psychiatrist's waiting room

"...appear visibly impressed whenever someone actually trots out their lines intact...."

Sept. 13, 2002 Arts Review by Rob Curran

Boom Town

The Company's production of Boom Town, a stage thriller by film actor Jeff Daniels concerning economic development and marital infidelity, may hit the audience over the head with themes familiar from Hollywood potboilers, but unlike most movies of that kind it leaves its audience with a memorable bang.

"...as an exemplary piece of theatre. Free from frilly lines and symbols, the dialogue is direct and substantive. Bradley..."

Aug. 2, 2002 Arts Review by Rob Curran

Tracers

Director and sound designer Stephen Balgooyen and his youthful cast bring us the horrors of war live and in living drab green in Tracers, but shouted lines and an overwhelming sound design render much of their work on this difficult material unintelligible.

"...script unintelligible. At other times the actors shouted their lines, and the unfriendly acoustics swallowed up the sense. At..."

July 12, 2002 Arts Review by Barry Pineo

12 Steps to a More Dysfunctional Family

With 12 Steps to a More Dysfunctional Family, playwright-performer Rob Nash elevates the unhealthy sport of impersonating the members of one's family into a fulfilling art.

"...When the lines hit their mark, such as during Ashley's "Doesn't anyone..."

June 21, 2002 Arts Review by Rob Curran

Evocations: The Music of Hugo Distler, Opus 12

With its presentation of sacred choral works by early 20th-century German composer Hugo Distler, the Conspirare Choir put its versatility on best display and provided a sequence of absolutely divine sounds.

"...the face of the Devil's dark lure -- includes lines that serve as a warning to the population not..."

June 14, 2002 Arts Review by Robi Polgar

The Pavilion

Director Dave Steakley and three outstanding Austin actors make a visit to The Pavilion, Craig Wright's bittersweet drama about two old flames who meet again at a high school reunion and ponder time's ability to widen chasms as well as heal wounds, time well spent.

"...involving Peter and Kari, with a few stunningly poetic lines showcased like jewels among the realistic banter...."

June 7, 2002 Arts Review by M.B. Rice

Blues in the Night

Austin Playhouse's production of the musical Blues in the Night pinpoints feelings of love and loss among three women all hurt in love, with singers Jacqui Cross, Janis Stinson, and Melanie Wilkinson blending their three strong voices into a mighty harmony and reclaiming blues music for their sex.

"...it's almost tangible. She embodies the un-put-down-able diva, delivering lines like, "I'm not older, just better." Cross lets her..."

March 29, 2002 Arts Review by Rob Curran

Once on This Island

Lynn Ahrens' and Steven Flaherty's musical Once on This Island has a fairy tale feel, but director-choreographer Kevin Archambault can't always get the large-student cast of this St. Edward's University production to bring its colorful, swirling world to magical life.

"...with ballads. If there are two pages of spoken lines in this production, I'd be surprised. Like many contemporary..."

March 1, 2002 Arts Review by Barry Pineo

The Dinosaur Within

In The Dinosaur Within, playwright John Walch links people of vastly different worlds, each of whom has suffered some traumatic loss, to show us the necessity of letting go, and the State Theater Company production communicates that message with compassion, humor, and grace.

"...people of vastly different worlds, the Land of the Songlines and the City of Angels, the Dream Factory and..."

Jan. 25, 2002 Arts Review by Robert Faires

Mr. 80 Percent

With Mr. 80 Percent, director Blake Yelavich and crew do their damnedest to entertain their audience, serving up James Sherman's loopy comedy of romance among roomies in a New York apartment with a lively energy that's winning even when the show works it a tad too hard in the "love me" department.

"...immediately comfortable; and it's dressed up with enough laugh lines to shame Neil Simon. It's like the play itself..."

Nov. 30, 2001 Arts Review by Robert Faires

Desdemona: A Play About a Handkerchief

In Desdemona: A Play About a Handkerchief, Shakespeare's Othello is retold from the women's point of view and as if Desdemona were just the sort of wanton slammerkin the titular Moor was tricked into thinking she was.

"...The show occurs in a set initially obscured by lines of hanging laundry, and only after we've seen an..."

Nov. 23, 2001 Arts Review by Wayne Alan Brenner

The Tempest

In the State Theater Company's new staging of The Tempest, director Scott Kanoff offers a carefully considered, vividly imagined, and vividly theatrical exploration of Shakespeare's text, sounding its themes of family, aging, freedom, justice, and mercy.

"...The Tempest: Timeliness on a Timeless ShoreState Theater, through November 4..."

Oct. 26, 2001 Arts Review by Robert Faires

The Gypsy Chain

While the dirigo group should be applauded for the scope of The Gypsy Chain, this ensemble-developed project about Earth First! activist David "Gypsy" Chain, who was killed defending the forests of Northern California from illegal clear-cutting, the onstage effectiveness of the work falls short of its sociopolitical message, while Gypsy's personal story is lost in the muddied construction of a play that isn't sure exactly what it wants to be.

"...Soldiers on the front lines of a war, whether fought with guns or through..."

Aug. 24, 2001 Arts Review by Robi Polgar

Palestrina and Pärt

The penultimate night of the 2001 New Texas Festival saw a reduced Conspirare Choir of 12 singers under the direction of Craig Hella Johnson compare and contrast selections by 16th-century composer Giovanni Pierluigi Da Palestrina and 20th-century composer Arvo Pärt in an evening that displayed just how exquisite Johnson's choir is.

"...mostly warm and full, often with cascading voices echoing lines of sacred text. The spirituality and uplift of these..."

June 8, 2001 Arts Review by Robi Polgar

Sex Farce

Watching Rob Nash morph from character to character at cell-phone speed is like watching Alexander Nemov perfect a somersault after a double flip in an Olympic floorshow. In his new solo show, Sex Farce, Nash handily embodies 14 characters and umpteen sound effects aided only by a chair and an offstage voice, but an unwieldy frame loses Nash's latest a couple of points. The play begins and ends in 2066, which does nothing but make Nash's job harder.

"...traditional role of scheming rake, Ruth's estranged love Naomi lines up the prom queen Eleanor for a reunion night..."

June 1, 2001 Arts Review by Rob Curran

ROYGBIV 2001

In ROYGBIV 2001: A Human Odyssey, ONE Theatre Company sets out to chronicle the universal passages of human existence through an Everyman figure that they follow from birth to death. But the show itself seems to be in the midst of adolescence: Full of big dreams, idealistic, and ready to take on the world, but still a little awkward in its own body.

"...is captured so simply, in just a few circles, lines, and squiggles, calls to mind the face of a..."

May 18, 2001 Arts Review by Robert Faires

The Latino Comedy Project Sells Out

In their newest sketch anthology, The LCP Sells Out, the Latino Comedy Project subjects the motivations of Latino artists and celebrities, as well as those of their media exploiters, to a jesterly scrutinizing in a fast-paced, enthusiastic, muy silly parade of skits, videos, and songs.

"...to lampoon another group of people. Especially across ethnic lines. That this is in vogue -- as one might..."

May 11, 2001 Arts Review by Wayne Alan Brenner

Royal Pair: Games We Play

Kathy Dunn Hamrick Dance Company's latest offering, Royal Pair: Games We Play, offered abstracted versions of popular children's games with subtle humor and playfulness, yet the production's lighting and electronica-style accompaniment conflicted with the choreography in what seemed a friendly battle, for center stage.

"...long limbs expanded to fill the stage with beautiful lines and three-dimensional shaping while her fellow company members played..."

May 11, 2001 Arts Review by Dawn Davis Loring

Raised by Lesbians

In the Subterranean Theatre Company production of Raised by Lesbians, writer Leah Ryan and director Ken Webster transport the audience to the heart of The Who's "Teenage Wasteland," dealing with adolescence, lesbians, and men and women's notions of each other without laughing at teens or distorting them with nostalgia.

"...to the bouncy exchanges of the reality scenes, some lines in the fantasy fall flat...."

April 13, 2001 Arts Review by Rob Curran

PEXO

In PEXO, musicians with the Walter Thompson Orchestra, dancers from Ariel Dance Theatre, and several guest artists coax music from instruments, intentionally mangle lines of speech, and draw from a palette of physical movement at the command of conductor Thompson, creating an improvised yet shaped performance that is a complex, scattered spectacle for the ear and eye.

"...their professional instruments, some clearly voice or intentionally mangle lines of speech, some draw from a palette of physical..."

March 30, 2001 Arts Review by Wayne Alan Brenner

In the Middle of the Ocean

For In the Middle of the Ocean, handsome and slightly crazed Chris Alonzo adopts the persona of Twitchy the Clown to tell a sort of twisted Greek fable about a woman who builds a floating brothel for pirates, gets involved with a well-hung ghost, and eventually follows him to Hell. And singing with the voice of a whiskey-stained angel, Alonzo proves himself an Orpheus with a microphone and guitar and keyboard.

"...just right, and then we'll be waiting in long lines to catch him at the Paramount. Currently, though, it's..."

March 2, 2001 Arts Review by Wayne Alan Brenner

The Male Intellect: An Oxymoron?

Robert Dubac's The Male Intellect: An Oxymoron? has its moments, but its stereotypes and reliance on material recycled from the men-are-from-Mars-women-are-from-Venus catalog make it more soapbox than entertainment.

"...show has its moments. In one of his better lines, Dubac pokes fun at women who say they don't..."

Dec. 8, 2000 Arts Review by Skipper Chong Warson

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