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Victoria Schwarz

Vikki Schwarz (she/her) is an Austin-area composer and arranger working in church music, elementary music, and local theater. She is the Music Director and Lead Composer/Arranger for Archive Theatre (Cyrano, Macbeth [nominated for Broadway World and B. Iden Payne Awards], A Sherlock Holmes Christmas, Raven-Winged Hours). She also composes and directs music for Diverse Dance Space Theatre, Austin Children’s Theatre, and Interwoven Theatre. Other works include My Big Fat Bahookie, Far From Avalon, Not My Mother, and A Fat Search for Love. Upcoming projects include Roaring Three Musketeers for Archive Theatre, Lockdown (short form opera), and False Starts, Falls, Fouls or The Art of Making Mistakes (Diverse Dance Space Theatre). 






MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

Review: A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM at Georgetown Palace Theatre
Review: A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM at Georgetown Palace Theatre
March 25, 2025

From March 28 to April 19, Georgetown Palace Theatre presents on their Springer Stage A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM, sponsored by Joanne and Bill Harrah and the Assistance League, as part of their 2025 season.

Review: LOCKSLEY: A TALE OF ROBIN HOOD at The Chambers Theatre
Review: LOCKSLEY: A TALE OF ROBIN HOOD at The Chambers Theatre
March 6, 2025

What did our critic think of LOCKSLEY: A TALE OF ROBIN HOOD at The Chambers Theatre?

Review: NUNSENSE: THE MUSICAL at The Alma Thomas Fine Arts Center
Review: NUNSENSE: THE MUSICAL at The Alma Thomas Fine Arts Center
March 10, 2025

From February 21 to March 2, Southwestern University’ Sarofim School of Fine Arts theater program presented NUNSENSE: THE MUSICAL by Dan Goggin on their Jesse H. and Mary Gibbs Jones stage. Modeled after a line of greeting cards featuring a nun offering tart quips with a clerical slant, NUNSENSE premiered in 1985 at the Off-Broadway Cherry Lane Theatre and is a heartwarming and hilarious musical comedy set in a convent where a group of five nuns is determined to raise enough money to bury their fellow sisters who tragically died after a cooking accident.

Review: URINETOWN: THE MUSICAL at Bastrop Opera House
Review: URINETOWN: THE MUSICAL at Bastrop Opera House
February 28, 2025

From February 21 to March 9, Bastrop Opera House presents URINETOWN: THE MUSICAL by Greg Kotis and Mark Hollmann as the 4th offering of their 2024-2025 season, an offbeat musical that blends dark humor with social commentary on corruption, class struggle, and the environment. Entertaining an excited, energetic audience, this production showcases moments of creativity and ambition that bring moments of genuine charm, and the clever, self-aware script holds the audience's attention despite some normal opening night mishaps. 

Review: CRIMES OF THE HEART at The Wimberley Playhouse
Review: CRIMES OF THE HEART at The Wimberley Playhouse
February 21, 2025

What did our critic think of CRIMES OF THE HEART at The Wimberley Playhouse?

Review: PRIDE & PREJUDICE at Gaslight-Baker Theatre
Review: PRIDE & PREJUDICE at Gaslight-Baker Theatre
February 21, 2025

What did our critic think of PRIDE & PREJUDICE at Gaslight-Baker Theatre?

Review: LES MISÉRABLES at Bass Concert Hall
Review: COPENHAGEN at Sterling Stage Austin
Review: COPENHAGEN at Sterling Stage Austin
November 6, 2024

What did our critic think of COPENHAGEN at Sterling Stage Austin?

Review: OH TO BE PURE AGAIN at Texas State University’s Department Of Theatre And Dance
Review: OH TO BE PURE AGAIN at Texas State University’s Department Of Theatre And Dance
October 29, 2024

What did our critic think of OH TO BE PURE AGAIN at Texas State University’s Department Of Theatre And Dance? Texas State University’s Department of Theatre and Dance’s performed Kira Rockwell’s award-winning play (Gene Gabriel Moore Playwriting Award 2023), OH TO BE PURE AGAIN from October 17-26.

Review: WAIT UNTIL DARK at Bastrop Opera House
Review: WAIT UNTIL DARK at Bastrop Opera House
October 23, 2024

From October 18 to 27, 2024, Bastrop Opera House presents Frederick Knott’s enthralling play, WAIT UNTIL DARK. The story follows Susy Hendrix, a blind woman living in New York City, who unwittingly becomes the target of criminals searching for a doll containing hidden heroin.

Review: MISERY at Gaslight-Baker Theatre
Review: MISERY at Gaslight-Baker Theatre
October 15, 2024

From October 11-26, 2024, Gaslight-Baker Theatre in Lockhart, sponsored by Haunt Happy Books, is presenting Simon Moore’s MISERY, based on the book of the same name by Stephen King.

Review: THE FLICK at Gaslight Baker Theatre
Review: THE FLICK at Gaslight Baker Theatre
October 2, 2024

What did our critic think of THE FLICK at Gaslight Baker Theatre?

Review: NOW & THEN at The Wimberley Playhouse
Review: NOW & THEN at The Wimberley Playhouse
October 2, 2024

What did our critic think of NOW & THEN at The Wimberley Playhouse?

Review: SUNNY DAYS at The VORTEX Theatre
Review: SUNNY DAYS at The VORTEX Theatre
September 13, 2024

The VORTEX Theatre, funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, Save Our Springs Alliance, Six Square-Austin’s Black Cultural District, the City of Austin Economic Development Department, and the Texas Commission on the Arts, presents the world premier of Reina Hardy’s SUNNY DAYS on their “Eloise' Stage this fall. A powerful new work, combined with impressive acting and direction, this play tackles issues of human rights and climate crisis while incorporating multiple forms of puppetry (traditional Muppet-type puppets, sock puppets, shadow puppets, paper puppets, and a GarBarge made of trash). The play's approach encourages audiences to reflect deeply on the fragility of hope and the pervasive nature of global challenges.

Review: NATIVE GARDENS at Sterling Stage Austin
Review: NATIVE GARDENS at Sterling Stage Austin
August 25, 2024

What did our critic think of NATIVE GARDENS at Sterling Stage Austin?

Review: SOMETHING ROTTEN! at Gaslight-Baker Theatre
Review: SOMETHING ROTTEN! at Gaslight-Baker Theatre
July 24, 2024

It’s a party like it’s 1595 at Gaslight-Baker Theatre in Lockhart this month with their production of Wayne Kirkpatrick, Karey Kirkpatrick, and John O’Farrell’s musical farce, SOMETHING ROTTEN! from July 12 - August 4.

Review: FUNNY LITTLE THING CALLED LOVE at Georgetown Palace Theatre's Playhouse Stage
Review: FUNNY LITTLE THING CALLED LOVE at Georgetown Palace Theatre's Playhouse Stage
July 1, 2024

Set against a full moon and reminiscent of variety shows, Jones, Hope and Wooten’s FUNNY LITTLE THING CALLED LOVE mixes comedy, folly, nearly absurd situations, a hint of slapstick, and a lot of heart in four wildly hilarious situations where “that four=letter word L-O-V-E” is at stake. 

Review: THE DROWSY CHAPERONE at Bastrop Opera House
Review: THE DROWSY CHAPERONE at Bastrop Opera House
May 7, 2024

The musicals of the 1920s-1940s are rich territory for parody since many imported the stylistic elements (vaudeville, dance hall style, revue, et al.) of popular entertainment of the era to carry the shows, often disadvantaging well-developed plot lines and complex characters.

Review: CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF at Gaslight-Baker Theatre
Review: CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF at Gaslight-Baker Theatre
May 6, 2024

Choosing to perform a Tennessee (Thomas Lanier) Williams (1911-1983) play means genuinely committing to some of theater’s most salient aspects: in this case, a plot that must capture and then hold the audience in unfolding layers of tragedy, characters that are complex and often display less-than-desirable human characteristics, believable delivery of modified language to portray a specific region or temperament, performance of disconcerting and sometimes virulent spectacle on a human scale, and production design that rises to the needs of the story. 



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