WILD PARTY in Austin
There is a Wild Party in Austin this month! The musical The Wild Party is based on a 1928 poem book by Joseph March, evocatively illustrated by Art Spiegelman. In…
Texas French Bread Revisited
I moved to Austin in the blazing inferno of a summer in 2011. Before that, I visited for one week to determine where I was going to live. During that…
HALLOWEEN: The Romantic Witch Embodied Anger
My Halloween book feature of the year is a scholarly look at witchcraft in the 18th and early 19th centuries. The “emasculating potential of the female demonic” is perfectly illustrated…
A Standing Ovation for the Music, A Raised Eyebrow for the Story
Broadway in Austin produced another blockbuster show, which enthralled the audience, producing fits of yelling, clapping and whoo-hooing while the performers weren’t even halfway through their songs. Waitress, celebrating its…
GILBERT and SULLIVAN: in Austin
Sullivan & Gilbert is currently being staged in Austin. For fans of Gilbert & Sullivan, you will be thinking I made a mistake by switching the names. For that, you…
Branford Marsalis and Dianne Reeves Bring Coltrane’s Centennial to Silky Life
Swaying to Branford Marsalis’s silky saxophone, I thought of the grand weeping willows lining the Hudson River in upstate New York. Rooted and graceful, their branches move with the breeze,…
Crescendo: Mozart, Misconduct, and the Politics of Being Right
Opera has always accommodated oversized egos, wandering hands, and people convinced that their desires deserve an entire orchestra. Agnès Jaoui’s Crescendo brings those appetites into the present, where an accusation…
City Theatre’s Amadeus: Period Splendour and a Clash of Styles
City Theatre’s Amadeus gave my eyes and ears two very different evenings. Beautiful period costumes, complemented by wigs and makeup, established the elegance of eighteenth-century Vienna, while the mixture of…
BALLET: Seventh Night Sky
An astronomical ballet, what a treat! The Seventh Night Sky, currently being performed by Ballet Austin, is inspired by a Vietnamese tradition. In the world of ballet, however, it is…
OFRENDA: A Tear of Death
Premiering at the new home of Austin Opera, south of the river (Lady Bird Lake), is Ofrenda. Claudia Chapa hosted an intimate gathering before a recent performance of the opera.…