Lynn Beaver - Page 7

Terrence McNally's take on the dog eat dog world of producing on Broadway, IT'S ONLY A PLAY, currently playing at Sam Bass Theatre, is a bitingly funny regional premiere.

Present Company's current production of Shakespeare at the Market, TWELFTH NIGHT by William Shakespeare is beautiful, hilarious ode to the Bard.

Sam Bass Theatre opens their season with IT'S ONLY A PLAY by Terrence McNally

The Georgetown Palace Theatre's current production of 42ND STREET is a greatly entertaining extravaganza of old fashioned song and dance.

SPUNK, three tales by Zora Neale Hurston, adapted for the stage by George C. Wolfe, produced by Spectrum Theatre Company and currently playing at Austin Playhouse, is an evening filled with laughter, love and the blues.

Penfold Theatre Company's annual 'Shakespeare in the Park' at Round Rock's Amphitheatre adjacent to the Baca Senior Center, is a lovely setting for an utterly delightful show. This year's production of COMEDY OF ERRORS showcases their expertise with the Bard as well as the company's seemingly boundless talent. The ensemble cast of only five actors play all of the more than twenty roles in a whirlwind of character switching.

Shakespeare's A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, currently playing at City Theatre takes the Bard to a 1920's circus sideshow.

BWW Review: THE GONDOLIERS - Comic Opera At Its Finest Celebrating its 40th year, The Gilbert and Sullivan Society of Austin brings us a world class production of THE GONDOLIERS. A sumptuous feast for the senses, the entire show is on point perfection.

BWW Review: THE WINTER'S TALE - Sublime Shakespearean Beauty On A Summer's Evening

BWW Review: LEGALLY BLONDE, THE MUSICAL - Missing The Fun Would Be Criminal

BWW Interview: REMARKABLY NORMAL by Jessi Blue Gormezano, Abortion Stories from the 1 in 3 Campaign - Comes to Austin's Paramount Theatre

ARDEN OF FAVERSHAM directed by Kevin Gates and currently playing City Theatre is a fascinating piece of historical drama.

CAMELOT by Lerner and Loewe, currently playing at the Georgetown Palace Theatre is certainly a bright, shining moment on stage.

William Shakespeare's THE TRAGEDY OF KING RICHARD THE THIRD, currently presented at The Curtain Theatre produced by The Baron's Men, written around 1592 and has been debated in historical circles as often as it has been performed. There has been even more discussion about the iconic play and it's controversial plot since King Richard III's physical remains were discovered under a car park in Leicester, England in August 2012 and reinterred with royal honor in March of last year. When Shakespeare wrote his play, 100 years after Richard's death and the rise of the House of Tudor to power, it was incumbent upon the playwright to cast the ancestor of Elizabeth I (Henry VII) in the role of heroic savior and the old regime shown in as bad a light as possible. The Elizabethan audience would have equated evil with physical deformity, so the hunchbacked villain was born. After intense study of the recovered remains of the king, including a positive DNA identity test, we now know that Richard suffered from a severe spinal curvature but he did not have any other disability. We know that he was also a well seasoned battlefield general who, from an early age lead the forces of his older brother, Edward IV, to put down rebellion across the length and breadth of England during the waning years of the War of the Roses. The play features twelve murders attributed to Richard in the five acts, including ghosts of his victims who haunt his dreams. Historians have outright dismissed many of them as Elizabethan propaganda and have cast serious doubt on the remainder. Shakespeare endures where history fails and the fictional plots, plans and murders make for a gripping story, entertaining audiences for 400 years. I will admit to being a bit of a 'Ricardian', (a believer in the redemption of Richard III as a man) and have devoted years of study to the subject.

KUTX personality, Laurie Gallardo, is one of our city's treasures. On March 6, 2015 a select audience was invited to an outstanding evening of Austin icon Gallardo reading several short stories and poems.

ZACH Theatre's production of Lewis Carroll's ALICE IN WONDERLAND adapted by Katie Bender and Gabrielle Reisman, produced in partnership with Underbelly, is an interactive adventure for the whole family.

William Shakespeare's AS YOU LIKE IT, by Shrewd Productions and playing at Trinity Street Theatre is a blissful, flawless evening at the theatre.

EXIT 27 by Aleks Merilo, produced by Southwest Theatre Productions at the Boyd Vance Theatre is a fascinating study in mind control and the effects of cult religion on the innocent.

Noel Coward's comedy, FALLEN ANGELS, produced by Different Stages and running at The Trinity Street Theatre is a sublimely entertaining evening at the theatre.

DISNEY'S BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, currently playing at Georgetown's Palace Theatre exhibits some truly wonderful performances from many of the actors, unfortunately it is the technical aspects of the show that are less than stellar.