If you have any faith in the ‘sport’ of wrestling, you probably don’t want to see this play. It will shatter any illusions you might have. It’s not really a sport, but rather a scripted spectator sport, where the winner is ordained before the match begins. That, at least, is the premise of the play […]

Many people in Texas will remember the halcyon days when Ann Richards, a Democrat, was Governor. The actress Libby Villari, from North Carolina, moved to Texas where she graduated from the University of North Texas with a B.A. in Theatre. In recent years she has toured in the state in a one-woman show, Ann, portraying […]

A slice of Austin history is on display now at the Dougherty Arts Centre. It is in the form of a musical play, and while it is just an hour long, it is a sheer delight. While several of the tunes are corny by modern standards, they reflect the time period of the 1890s when […]

In the year Elizabeth II celebrated her Platinum Jubilee, Elizabeth I is making a comeback. In the play The Virgin Trial, we see Elizabeth I before she became Queen. Mostly set in 1549, she is 15 years old, and fighting for her life. There is a historical parallel here: Elizabeth II, as a teenager, was […]

Florida 1929. Who wouldn’t want to be there? It’s been nearly a century but the era of the 1920s still holds a special allure. To quote from historyonthenet.com, it was “a time of incredible excess, immense wealth, and precipitous collapse. Nowhere was the glitz and froth of the Roaring Twenties more excessive than in Florida.” […]

The Inheritance can best be understood by reading the book it was based on, Howard’s End by E. M. Forster. But this is Howard’s End viewed through the glass darkly. I am referring here not the use of the phrase from its ancient sources, but rather the Swedish film Through a Glass Darkly. Like all […]

The music here is a heady mix of Latin rhythms, hip-hop, pop and rap. The latter is what one would expect from Lin Miranda, creator of the play Hamilton. Fortunately In The Heights does not overplay the rap aspect, and its judicious use at the beginning actually sets just the right tone for a play […]

Destry Rides Again is famous as a 1939 movie, less so as a 1959 play, even though it won a Tony award in 1960 for Best Choreography. The singer who played the lead in that play, the 33-year-old Andy Griffith, was nominated for Best Actor in a Musical. Better known as the sheriff of Mayberry, […]

The year is 1904, and the place is Paris. Specifically, the Lapin Agile, a bar; in English, it means Nimble Rabbit. In 1904 Picasso painted a portrait of Suzanne Bloch; the character Suzanne in this play certainly refers to her. In this production, Suzanne is played with smoldering fascination by Holley Garrison. The following year, […]

Twenty years ago I saw Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer on stage in Toronto for a Sound of Music reunion. As Ms. Andrews had already pretty much stopped singing by then, her voice was replaced by the Welsh singer Charlotte Church, whose powerful voice suitably dominated the performance. Of course, nothing can compare to that, […]