Any theater that produces Tennessee Williams is a goldmine to me. Oh how Mr T speaks to me and my…read moresouthern draw of sad romanticism. 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof' lured me into just the two hours of steamy intensity I needed to really get my summer started right. I saw June 3rd performance and was wondering who could pull off Elizabeth Taylor's red lipped tip toes and oh boy did that gal cast as Mae do it. So impressive were all the other endearing actors playing Big Mama, Brick and Big Daddy. Brick and Big Daddy's talks were so believable I thought I was in their pickles of reality myself. Brick pulls off a big drunk like no other. My mouth was watering for the brown juice myself and I don't even really drink much. My many respects to Aaron Black, Zac Crofford, Anne Hulsman and Cassadie Petersen that bombshell minx herself. I just don't see how y'all remember all those lines and deliver them in such a natural real amusing splendor.

My daughter and I went opening night for The Bat. We didn't know what to expect but we had an…read moreincredible time. The music was great. The singing incredible and the jokes funny. The references to Austin landmarks, famous faces, color and events came fast and furious. If you are into events and Trivia around Austin, this is the "Opera" to go to. Basically the story is that prank was pulled on a man that leaves him drunk in a bat costume under the south congress bridge and this is his revenge. The show goes over the top but if you love Austin and everything about it. You should go see this show. You could tell that the writers love the color and flavor of Austin Weirdness. And that love and laughter is what you should take away from it..,,

To the Director and Board: A good amount of money was spent to buy tickets to Verdi's Requiem. I, a…read more76 year old native Austinite arrived at the Long Center about 20 minutes early (at the entrance to the parking garage). The next 15 minutes were spent looking for a parking place in the garage. I ended up parking at the very top and taking the elevator down. There were several other older ladies as well there who don't quite move quickly. By the time we walked to the door of the Long Center it was 3 minutes after the start of a 90-minute opera. I raced to get to my seat but was escorted to the upper balcony. As I entered there was a lady bandaging her leg on the stairs. From falling there. When I got to the upper balcony it was pitch dark and the helper had a flashlight that didn't work. It took me a while for my eyes to adjust and finally was able to be seated, slightly short of breath from the race and the altitude of those seats. Other nicely dressed older ladies came in after me and stumbled around to find seats. We were informed we would have to sit there for the duration as there was no intermission for a 90 minute performance. Why? I ask you why? Along with a canteen of water, a flashlight and a first aid kit do I need to bring a catheter to the Opera? This is ridiculous. I am pretty ticked off and will not attend again until something is done to remedy the deeply flawed, user-unfriendly experience I had. Navigating in the dark for a 76-year-old is not something that is a healthy activity. You do realize a lot of your audience are seniors, don't you? You do realize that you all probably go to the valet or VIP parking I passed at the one minute marker entrance to the parking lot and then go to your box seats? You're not experiencing what other people are experiencing and I'm afraid you've lost track. I hope you will do something to remedy.

I had the opportunity to see Cruzar de la Luna last night with friends and had such a great time…read more The storyline had beautiful depth and the orchestra was outstanding too. Great experience overall, Austin Opera knows how to put on a show!

Love. Hate. Passion. Betrayal. A typical Friday night out at the bars for me, but also the major…read morethemes running through "Blood Wedding" (Bodas de Sangre), a tragic play by the Spanish dramatist Federico García Lorca. Written in 1932, it has now been adapted in 2011 by The Wondrous Strange Players, an acting troupe that will be putting on the show here in Austin, TX at the Community Renaissance Market Theater. I was invited by my friend Trey, after he had read my impressions of other local plays I attended over the summer. He basically cut to the chase and said: "On our opening night, I want to see YOU in the audience". He sent me to their website and I made plans to be there, since that's usually when there's all that "opening night" electricity in the air. The Community Renaissance Market was at first, admittedly, a venue I was completely unfamiliar with. That is until I drove up and realized it was that south side market with a variety of locally owned micro-businesses; it's basically an air-conditioned hub for Austin's thriving "Buy Local" initiatives. Black curtains cordon off the stage and seating area from the rest of the market, and if I thought Zach Scott was an intimate setting, then compared to that space we were almost sitting in the actors' laps. We were instructed not to leave until intermission, as the actors would be making various entrances from each side. It's a reasonable request, because I could remember pondering at other theaters how one would even be able to go to the bathroom during the performance since there were always people lined up waiting for their cue. I was lucky enough to be sitting with Trey's friends, all of whom I could deduce work at the same office together. Actually, they kept referring to having come to support their friend "'Austen", so I thought we were there to see different people. When they asked me who I had come to see, I said I couldn't find his name on the cast list. They probably thought I was lying. A whole half hour went by before I realized that Trey *was* Austen, and I made sure to explain that to everyone during a break, so they didn't think I was some psychotic who pretends to know someone and then randomly name-drops actors to get into shows. The play is divided into three acts and two intermissions, but the total run time is about equal to that of one with just two acts. The story follows a love triangle that ends up with what can only be described as the wedding reception from Hell. When I described the plot to my mother the day before, she abruptly blurted out "Oh--that's García Lorca!" Apparently her Spanish teacher loved the playwright and had drilled all his works into their heads during her upper level Spanish literature courses. She said it would probably be really dramatic and ethereal, and that's exactly how it turned out. My friend Austen Simien played Leonardo, The Bride's old lover who is now married to another, but still madly in love with her. The Bride, played by Cameron Holmes, feigns that she doesn't love him back, but as with all good tragedies--of course she does. In short, if these people had computers, they'd still be Facebook stalking each other even after they'd both changed their relationship statuses. Ms. Holmes pulls off "stressed out" quite well, and she can do a mean cry, too. I also enjoyed the performance by Terrie Cooper as The Mother, whose son gets stood up by The Bride; her scenes at the end were especially well done. There's a lot of symbolism (a lullaby at the beginning metaphorically spells out the upcoming events). and some larger themes such as the role of women in society (The Mother explains to The Groom that if The Bride ever doesn't want to hit the sack, he has a right to press the issue because he's a dude. Ladies, your thoughts?). There's also moments of a capella singing, done especially well by Kat Eason as The Bridesmaid. In the director's thanks on the program, there's a shout out to the venue for "allowing a lot of crazy theatre people to do what they love". And that's what you're paying to see. I'd also recommend it to those especially familiar with the works of García Lorca, as the poetry is quite beautiful even in English. "Blood Wedding" is like the theatrical equivalent of live music in Austin; it's people working on their craft, no matter how big or small the venue, and having fun doing so. Tickets for "Blood Wedding" are $10, and can be purchased ahead of time from their website or at the door. The show runs September 8th-11th and 15th-18th.

I haven't been to much theater in Austin (except the big productions) because I never know which…read moreones to go to. And i loathe sitting in shows that are bad because I've paid $15 a ticket and feel compelled to wait and see whether it will improve. Luckily, the show I saw here was funny and well done. Part of the Frontera Fest (long fringe) and the whole process was quite efficient. You're on the guest list? Great. Here's a program and a seat. In fact they were nice enough to provide me with a chair so I didnt have to traipse about the chairs on the risers. They've got sodas for sale but it may be BYO (check first) and they've got plenty of bathrooms. All good things to know when you're headed to a performance. If you get the chance to see a show here, do. Its a small theater so there are no bad seats and if you make sure you're not seeing bad theater, well then you're most likely in for a treat.

A fucking puppet show? Are you kidding me?…read more That's what I went to see at Salvage Vanguard Theater, and I liked it so much I went back for another show. I'll be back again. Now, I've only seen their puppet shows, I have no idea if they do other things. The puppet shows are different from anything you've seen: excessively dark, and no strings attached. The puppeteers wear dark beekeeper like suits and hold the brightly painted puppets up and manipulate them from behind. You can see everything that's going on, but within a minute or two, you forget the puppeteers are there and the characters take a life of their own. And what characters! It's obviously all-original and all home made, but they do such a good job of creating compelling characters and stories for them to tell that you'll wonder why they aren't more successful. My girlfriend and I still endlessly quote the shows we've seen and we keep trying to describe the characters and stories in a way that makes sense. It seems we utterly fail at that, and it's why I'm going to keep my review short. This place doesn't make sense. The show doesn't make sense out of context. It doesn't look like much from the outside ... or the inside. But trust me. I give it five stars for a reason, and this isn't even ordinarily my scene. I've tried to convince all my friends to go with varying levels of success, but no one has been disappointed and they all want to come back for more. If you've found it, go experience it.

Free Night of Theater is a movement that is offered in 120 US cities including Austin, Texas…read more Every October most of the local theaters offer up tickets absolutely free for performances. The goal is to introduce people to theaters they have never been to before. If you want these tickets, sign up for their email list. Pay close attention to the time and day they become available as tickets go very quickly, often in as little as an hour. A variety of types of theater including comedy and musical theater are included. I've attended performances for the past four years and all have been fun and it has introduced me to a number of lesser known venues and performing groups (the large, well-known theaters such as the Zach Scott also participate).

I saw Raped Clarity at the Gemini and was fairly impressed with the space and how they use it. When…read moreyou first enter, you arrive at a very professional ticket and snack counter, and paintings and photographs by a local artist adorn the walls. I enjoyed a nice Malbec while surveying the works, which seemed to exemplify a simple, contemporary style infused with elements of pop culture - such as you would find in greeting cards and cartoons. Some of them were quite clever, and even the photographs somehow speak to the modern style and popular ambitions of this theatre's proprietor. Despite my fine first impression, there were quite a few problems. Seating is unfortunately folding, metal chairs - but at least they were the padded kind. The stage itself was quite good - raised a foot or so above the floor, with adequate space and entrance portals, and decent sound - but the lighting was barely adequate and could not possibly be useful in most, true theatrical productions. Unfortunately, the effectiveness of Raped Clarity was marred by the lack of quality lighting. Finally, the script itself has problems, with incongruities that tend to distract one's attention as the action unfolds. Glaring examples include an inconsistent, unprofessional, and even unethical psychologist character. If this were a minor, peripheral character, perhaps the problem would not exist or it might be insignificant, but this is a central character that helps drive the action throughout the heroine's journey. Some minor problems with props may have simply been mistakes during the particular performance I attended, and these might not necessarily be blocking and choreography errors. The dialogue, in general, is problematic, with some vocabulary and word choices that seem inconsistent with the characters who deliver them and the situations in which they are delivered. By far the best performance in this production was that of the heroine's father, an archetypal southern working man and alcoholic. This character functioned as both an anti-hero and comic relief, and was oddly endearing. The heroine's mother was also a good performance, and contributed some fine, comic moments, but the character was fraught with some of the aforementioned dialogue problems. Raped Clarity is a work in progress and may very well be autobiographical, representing the author's sorting out of her own psyche after experiencing rape. I find, in fact, that the only way that I can reconcile the various characters and situations of this play is to consider them as symbolical. Indeed, I conclude that each character and situation represents an aspect of the heroine's - and perhaps the author's - own mind as she works toward recovery after a violent rape. This is the only way Raped Clarity makes any sense to me.

I was recently in a play here, and was very impressed with the Gemini playhouse. The facilities are…read moreclean and well-maintained, and though it's a bit tricky to get to, a quick phone call to the friendly and helpful owner Anita will set you straight. I would highly recommend the Gemini for shows, rehearsals, and events.

How can this premiere Grammy winning choral group be rated with less than 5 stars? I've known Craig…read moreHella Johnson for at least 20 years. Having been to quite a few of the Conspirare concerts over the years, this choral group has never failed to excede my expectations! I am impressed by the professionalism of the singers, their dedication to providing the best quality choral performance possible, the melodic harmony with voices that meld together so well that they sound as one voice. Their repertoire, especially during the Christmas concerts, is excellent, blending musical styles that one would not think possible in such an elegant manner. Their performance and CD of Russian sacred music is of the highest quality, for which they received a well deserved Grammy in 2015. Conspirare is truly an Austin jewel. Maestro Hella Johnson's own composition honoring the late Matthew Shepherd truly moved me to the most profound depths of my heart. May Conspirare continue to inspire and augment our souls as they conspire together in one song. Beautiful!

Fabulous professional choir. Wish they were closer so I could hear them often. Transforming music.read more