Joni Lorraine - Page 6

As I hear it, The Palace in Georgetown was due to produce Grease in the spot where LOVE ALWAYS, PATSY CLINE resides now. All I'll say about that is, thank goodness it worked out this way! This production is adorable and entertaining from start to finish. I smiled through most of the show, and even leaned into the fairly loose premise. Story line is not the intent of most jukebox musicals, but this one fared relatively well in the hands of its Director/Musical Director/Conductor/Bassist Lannie Hiboldt. Lannie also did the set design. Generally, this could be seen as overextending one's self, but it Lannie's case, it worked out nicely.

IT CAN'T HAPPEN HERE is a well-executed, tight, and engaging production.

Since 1976 the Gilbert and Sullivan Austin has dedicated itself to providing the city with the works of Gilbert and Sullivan not so much by reinvention but by recreating how a production might have been staged originally. There is a respect due this sort of commitment, and the audience in attendance this last Saturday when I viewed the production, showed theirs in a true sense of a special occasion. I can recall the respect I was expected to display, and the authentic excitement I felt anytime I attended a play or musical back in the day. Back in the Ice Age, when I simultaneously became a teenager and discovered theatre, it was considered an event just shy of your cousin's wedding to attend the theatre. People got dressed up, showed up on time and applauded civilly after each musical number back then. Why, no one stood for an ovation even unless the production was spot on literally flawless.

If every Reign of Terror turned out like this one, I suspect we'd revolt more often.

You can count on an evening of Shakespeare that will be performed with expertise and ease. It's a worthy experiment in which to participate.

A powerful study in standing by principle at a time when it is most needed. We can all take value in understanding what it means to care for those of us who are different.

SENSE AND SENSIBILITY is well executed, entertaining, and quite worthy of attention.

Tolaro has brought together a fine cast for an intimate look at a family we can all understand in THE HERD.

Crank Collective's PROHIBITION - A MUSICAL COMEDY ABOUT THE WAR ON BOOZEis promising entertainment.

It's a bold and courageous and even an educational thing to produce IN THE NEXT ROOM OR THE VIBRATOR PLAY. Southwestern has nothing to be ashamed of with this production.

Paradox Player's THE TAMING Soothes The Battered Political Soul

Mamma Mia is not Les Miserables, but it's loads of fun, and who cares, because: Abba!

So DEAD MAN'S CELL PHONE. Let me begin by heaping praise on female playwright Sarah Ruhl for bringing us a quirky and lovable female lead, and a story dominated by female characters. Second, thank goodness for En Route productions and their two female artistic directors, one of whom also directed the show, the other whom also designed the set. Third, credit is due to this theatre company for incorporating their work into the visual arts landscape to give us a double dose of worthy culture in a city where having a sandwich at Micklethwaite Meats is possibly as close as some hipsters will get to art or theatre.

The Rudes. They're like the cast of Star Wars or Star Trek, iconic and revered in that way that Trekkers love Leonard Nimoy or George Takei, but for Austin and its avid theatre going Rude fans, well, that, and their collaborative works with others from Helsinki to Cedar Rapids. And their current production, REQUIEM FOR TESLA, is, in its third incarnation, like a Star Trek reboot. While other theatres around town dust off the usual December holiday fare, The Rude Mechanicals, never to be usual, have resurrected REQUIEM FOR TESLA in celebration of their 20th anniversary season. It's obvious they've been around and drummed up an enthusiastic fan base. (Full disclosure: I'm one of them). On opening night for this particular production, one ebullient fan behind us waxed poetic to total strangers about each and every Rude production he'd seen (many of which I've seen myself) including the 2001 and 2003 iterations of REQUIEM FOR TESLA.

ZACH's A Christmas Carol isn't the only game in town, ya know? Before Dave Steakley masterminded the mashup of the classic Dickens tale with contemporary hit music there was another staple of the Austin holiday theatre scene, ok? Martin Burke has been doling out shade on the holiday madness by way of David Sedaris' classic SANTALAND DIARIES since William Jefferson Clinton was in office. And there's practically no crying and sentiment and warm fuzzy Christmas cheer to be found in it, thank GOODNESS, fer CRYINOUTLOUD!

BASKERVILLE is a rollicking bit of fun, especially for the mystery fans among us.

"Neverland was an awfully long time ago…" In Kimberly Belflower's LOST GIRL, Wendy Darling takes center stage to give us her story of growing up and living in the shadow of the eternally youthful Peter Pan.

The game's afoot! Austin Playhouse produces the Texas premiere of a famous Sherlockian tale, Ken Ludwig's BASKERVILLE, A Sherlock Holmes Mystery.

ONCE ON THIS ISLAND is the product of bringing us a part of the African American experience, just as the Spectrum founders intend, and it's worth cultivating.

Students of McCallum Fine Arts Academy take on the story of the swashbuckling poet Cyrano in a challenging operetta.