Yellow Face: The Mirror America Refuses to Hold Up
There’s a particular courage required to write a play in which you are the fool. David Henry Hwang possesses that courage in abundance, and Yellow Face — now receiving a…
When Stillness Becomes Stagnation: The Trip to Bountiful
There is a difference between quiet and stagnation. Horton Foote wrote his 1953 play The Trip to Bountiful during an era that tolerated stillness, repetition, and domestic realism as dramatic…
Beehive – A Musical Medley from the ’60s through the ’70s
Beehive, created by Larry Gallagher and directed by Megan Richards, with choreography by Erin Ryan, is a buoyant, high-octane throwback to my era. I grew up in the ’60s with…
Urinetown: The Musical – Flush with Humor, Flooded with Truth
Originally premiering on Broadway in September 2001, Urinetown remains as politically pointed today as it was at the dawn of the 21st century. Urinetown: The Musical, with music by Mark…
The Last Match – One for Life
The The Filigree Theatre opens its seventh season with The Last Match by Anna Ziegler, a spare, psychologically astute two-hander set during the U.S. Open, pitting American champion Tim Porter…
With (and Without) Love
The Penfold Theatre of Round Rock started a new cabaret series of live music events, and boy was it a blast. The show With Love, featuring Yesenia McNett, a New…
From Chopin to Catalan Folk Songs – Łukasz Kuropaczewski Stuns Audience
Austin Classical Guitar (ACG), outdid themselves yet again with a little help from private sponsors at Austin’s favorite black box sound stage for classical guitar performances, The Rosette. Forget Super…
Why Murder on the Orient Express Still Works
A sumptuous, intelligent production at ZACH Theatre proves the classic endures I’ve seen a lot of theatre in Austin over the years—both as a longtime audience member and as part…
From Austin–Houston to London–Cardiff: A Friendship That Became The Last Five Years
Texas doesn’t always let its artists leave cleanly. Even when they go, the imprint stays. That imprint—equal parts ambition, polish, competition, and tradition—travels with Emma Wallace, an actress from Austin,…
Every Day You Eat Like a God:
The Quiet Resurrection of Austin’s First True Chinese Banquet House When the old New Fortune banquet hall in Chinatown on North Lamar shuttered during the uneasy stillness of the COVID…