Beauty and the Beast in Austin
Disney’s animated movie of Beauty and the Beast was transferred to the stage as a musical in 1994. Its debut on Broadway got a tepid review in the New York…
An Uncertain Play
Perhaps uncertain about how it would be received, playwright Simon Stephen’s play Heisenberg opened off Broadway in 2015 before making to Broadway in 2016. Even though it had a run…
Assassins: The Power of Pandora’s Box
This musical is truly ‘Made in America’. No other country could put its blackest heart on stage for all to see, much less turn it into a musical. Whether you…
Broadway on the Brain: Ruthless
What would an aspiring young actress do to get the lead role in a play? It depends on how Ruthless you are! That is the central issue in this parody…
Sondheim Musical: Pointillist or Pointless?
Stephen Sondheim premiered his play Sunday in the Park With George in 1984. It is the instantiation of art as a musical, being a stage play about George Suerat’s most…
Dead Men Tell No Tales
While the music of the 80s is near the top of everyone’s memory, plays from that decade have not made such an indelible mark on the cultural memory. On view…
The Wages of War: All My Sons
An Arthur Miller Classic from 1947, currently being staged by Austin City Theatre, is a timeless look at the wages of war. “I resent living next door to The Holy…
AS YOU LIKE IT in a World Premiere Adaptation
Audiences have delighted in As You Like It ever since it was first performed more than 400 years ago. Adapting a Shakespeare play by placing it in a more modern…
The Smell of the Theatre: Noises Off
Never have sardines played such a major role in a play, but that is not where the ‘smell of the theatre’ originates from in this classic British mapcap comedy from…
The Fuel of Soft Sorrow: Uncle Vanya
Listening to the lines of Anton Checkov, few would disagree he is a writer for our times: “Millions of trees have perished. The homes of the wild animals and birds…