dansolomon

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• Posted Preview: A Conversation With Stephen Sondheim at the Long Center [theater] to Austinist
  Every field has its Michael Jordan—the figure whose work becomes the definitive example of how to do it. For physics, there's Einstein. For hip-hop, there's Jay-Z. For American musical theater, there's Stephen Sondheim. The artform, for the past fifty years, has had its original limits defined, and then broadened, expanded, and broken, by his work. With a resume that includes West Side Story, Sweeney Todd, and Into the Woods (along with sixteen other shows),...
• Posted Review Lonestar, Texas: A Popcorn Throwing Rock Country Musical at United States Art Authority [theater] to Austinist
  Interactivity comes at a price, and in Lonestar, Texas: A Popcorn Throwing Rock Country Musical, that price is pretty steep: In the pursuit of engaging the audience by having the three Sexy Cowgirls flirt with them, the Narrator speak directly to them, and the villain be so vile as to encourage popcorn-throwing, Lonestar spends almost no time actually telling its story.
• Posted Review: The Trojan Women at the University of Texas [theater] to Austinist
  As is the nature of myth, the classical Greek plays are more or less timeless—they've endured for millennia, after all, because their themes continue to resonate—and none are more relevant to any given situation than this one. As Troy has fallen, the men are dead and the women await being divvied up among the conquerers. Hecuba, queen of Troy, leads her daughters in preparation for their new life as slaves. This is the core of The Trojan Women in every adaptation, and it's not hard to note its relevance to every war men have fought. But when a work is as timeless as this one, the need to update it for a new generation is called into question: Do we need to hear Hecuba call the conquering Menelaus a son of a bitch to understand that she's really, really mad?
• Commented on Review: <em>Murder Ballad Murder Mystery</em> at the Vortex Theatre
  To his credit, Carboni did, at least, sign his name to his criticism. The line about not being "entitled to his own set of facts", while still as rhetorically badass as it was when Daniel Patrick Moynihan said it, doesn't...
• Posted Review: Evil Dead: The Musical at Salvage Vanguard Theatre to Austinist
  There's a story on one of Kevin Smith's comedy DVDs where he talks about being on the set of Live Free or Die Hard. He explains that, during a particularly heated argument with the director about what his character was doing, Bruce Willis picked up the phone to call the studio. They sided with the director, and he finally offered to end the argument for good. "Let me ask you something," He says in Smith's recount of the conversation, "Who's your second choice to play John McClane?" The point was made, and they made the choice that Willis wanted.