David Clarke - Page 32

Stark Naked Theatre Company's production of William Shakespeare's MACBETH has been on everybody's lips for weeks, even months, now. As soon as the show was announced a gentle hum of excitement began, and turned into a blistering roar by last night's opening night performance. Co-Executive Directors Philip Lehl and Kim Tobin set the bar high for intimate, independent theatre and consistently surpass audiences' expectations with their astounding productions. Their MACBETH is no different as it splendidly thrilled and delighted last night's eager audience with ease.

The Hobby Center for the Performing Arts has two stages, but most people are only familiar with Sarofim Hall. Nestled on the corner of Rusk and Bagby is the gorgeous and intimate Zilkha Hall, which seats 500. The space was originally planned as a black box theater, and Theatre Under the Stars (TUTS) current Artistic Director, Bruce Lumpkin, has great plans for TUTS to utilize the space as such. For TUTS' first venture at Zilkha Hall, the company is presenting the hilarious and heartwarming Off-Broadway sensation DIXIE'S TUPPERWARE PARTY.

The hugely popular 1983 film Flashdance, starring Jennifer Beals, received a musical facelift and had its world premiere in July 2008 at the Theatre Royal Plymouth. Following a UK Tour, FLASHDANCE – THE MUSICAL opened on London's West End in late 2010. However, the show closed earlier than expected on January 15, 2011. By December 2011, the musical was slated for a Broadway opening in Fall 2012. Ambitiously, the creative teams also announced a second company that would tour the show starting in 2013. The First National Tour of FLASHDANCE – THE MUSICAL kicked off in Pittsburgh on January 1, 2013, giving the show it's second World Premiere of sorts because the re-envisioned production of title features new songs, a new book, a new creative team, and a different physical production. The musical has been on a whirlwind tour and has dates booked through May 4, 2014. Yet, the Broadway opening has been postponed to an unspecified date later in the 2013-2014 Broadway season.

One of the most exciting aspects of theatre in Texas is sitting in the audience while Jaston Williams, of GREATER TUNA fame, takes the stage. His charisma and charming personality completely mesmerize and enchant audiences. Recently, I had an opportunity to catch back up with Jaston Williams, and he toldme about his recent performance as Truman Capote in TRU at Austin's ZACH Theatre and his upcoming production of his solo show BLAME IT ON VALENTINE, TEXAS at Galveston's The Grand 1894 Opera House.

Houston Ballet is kicking off the summer with their resplendent production of JOURNEY WITH THE MASTERS. This amazing treat is made complete with thrilling dance compositions by three of the world's leading modern choreographers, George Balanchine, Ji?i Kylian, and Jerome Robbins. The three acts are vastly different from each other and superbly enchant audiences with their uniqueness.

The Eklektix Theatre Company is celebrating a year of producing theatre in Houston with a concert production of Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater's SPRING AWAKENING. A fully staged version of the musical was their inaugural venture in Houston, so this production which only runs for two performances is a big celebration of themselves and all forms of independent theatre in the greater Houston area. In fact, following the performance Executive Artistic Director, Bryan-Keyth Wilson made a curtain speech imploring the audience to support his colleagues and peers at Bayou City Theatrics, Stark Naked Theatre Company, and others.

Tituss Burgess, best known for his recurring role as D'Fwan on NBC's 30 Rock, has been thrilling Broadway audiences with his unique and soulful voice for years. He made his Broadway debut in 2005 as Eddie in GOOD VIBRATIONS. He then went on to be Hal Miller in the original Broadway company of JERSEY BOYS in 2005. In 2007, he originated the role of Sebastian the Crab in Disney's THE LITTLE MERMAID, and in 2009 he was Nicely-Nicely Johnson in the revival of GUYS AND DOLLS. Now, with the release of this incomparable and fantastic R&B singer-songwriter's 2012 studio album COMFORTABLE, audiences and fans can enjoy his captivating and rich voice wherever and whenever.

Dixie Longate is fast-talking Tupperware Lady from Mobile, Alabama. She has packed up her catalogues, left her children in her trailer park and took Off-Broadway, London & Melbourne by storm! Starting June 4, 2013, Dixie Longate is throwing two-weeks worth of good ol'fashioned Tupperware Parties at The Hobby Center for the Performing Arts' Zilka Hall.

The Alley Theatre is currently presenting Jeffrey Hatcher's 2011 literary mash-up SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE ADVENTURE OF THE SUICIDE CLUB. The play had its world premiere at The Arizona Theatre Company, and garnered mixed to positive reviews. In the play Jeffrey Hatcher attempts the tall order of mixing the literary genius and worlds of Arthur Conan Doyle and Robert Louis Stevenson. The end result is a bland mystery with an entirely underwhelming climax.

In all honesty, I was dreading seeing Broadway Across America - Houston's presentation of SISTER ACT's First National Tour at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts last night. As a fan of Alan Menken, I was elated to get my hands on a copy of the Original London Cast Recording in 2009. After giving the disc a whirl, I was anything but impressed. The musical ran at the London Palladium from June 2, 2009 to October 30, 2010. As it journeyed across the pond, the book was significantly reworked by Douglas Carter Beane for its rather successful April 20, 2011 to August 26, 2012 Broadway run at the Broadway Theatre. Between London, New York, and Houston, magic has definitely happened. The show, as it stands now, is a divinely delightful comedy that will leave audiences pumped and gushing about how truly fabulous it is.

Edna Ferber has been proven to be plumb inspiration for grandiose and sweeping musicals. 1927's SHOW BOAT was based on her 1926 novel Showboat. Recently, her novel Giant was musicalized by Michael John LaChiusa (SEE WHAT I WANNA SEE, FIRST LADY SUITE, THE WILD PARTY). The show features a book by Sybille Pearson, Music and Lyrics by Michael John LaChiusa, and luxuriant orchestrations by Bruce Coughlin with additional orchestrations by Larry Hochman. GIANT had its New York City premiere in a production that was co-produced by The Public Theater and Dallas Theater Center last fall. The acclaimed musical's rousing and extravagantly epic score has been resplendently captured by Ghostlight Records on their 2-disc GIANT (Original Cast Recording) album.

A.D. Players is currently presenting the Regional Premiere of Cathal (pronounced Cal) Gallagher's riveting drama MALCOLM AND TERESA. The Play chronicles the life of Malcolm Gallagher and his BBC interviews of Mother Teresa, which helped make her a known and popular person worldwide. Before attending the show on Saturday, May 25, I got to chat with Cathal Gallagher, and he discussed his career, writing process, and MALCOLM AND TERESA.

The A.D. Players is kicking off the summer with a vibrant and thrilling production of Cathal Gallagher's MALCOLM AND TERESA. The play is a fascinating biography of British journalist Malcolm Muggeridge, who is credited for popularizing Mother Teresa. In 1932, he visited Moscow as a correspondent for the Manchester Guardian. He was one of the few journalists that looked into the reports of famine in the Ukraine, and he traveled there without the permission of the Soviet authorities. He sent his reports back to England in the diplomatic bag, to avoid censorship; however, he found that the British people and the journalism world in general were not ready or willing to accept that the new Socialist nation was not the utopian worker's paradise that the USSR claimed it was. Later, in 1968, with a reputation for being a tough interviewer for the BBC, he interviews Mother Teresa. She opens his eyes to the squalor and suffering in Calcutta, a city he had lived in the 1920s. After his initial interview with her, he re-examines his personal faith while championing Mother Teresa's charitable ministries.

Summer in the theatre world is awards season. The king of all theatre awards is the annual Tony Awards Show. This year's Tony Awards Ceremony will be televised live on CBS on June 9, 2013 at 7:00pm Central Standard Time. To help Houston prepare for Broadway's big night, I had a chat with one of our local Tony voters, John Breckenridge, Theatre Under the Stars' CEO.

Stages Repertory Theatre is hosting the American Regional Theatre Premiere of ROAD SHOW, a musical with Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a Book by John Weidman. The musical premiered in 1999 under the title WISE GUYS at the New York Theatre Workshop, but a legal case held up further production. A significantly rewritten version of the musical, entitled BOUNCE, premiered in 2003 at the Goldman Theatre in Chicago. BOUNCE then ran at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. with the Chicago cast where mixed-to-negative reviews kept it from being produced in New York City. In 2008, another rewritten version of the show, now entitled ROAD SHOW, opened Off-Broadway at The Public Theater's Newman Theater. This new, streamlined version removed the lead female character of Nellie, who had been added for the 2003 incarnation, and took out the intermission. The title change also reflected John Weidman's desires and hopes to better hone the show's story and themes.

Main Street Theater is closing their excellent 38th season with the wildly entertaining, often hilarious, and deeply moving CLOSE UP SPACE by Molly Smith Metzler. The zany dramadey is a Susan Smith Blackburn Prize Finalist and had its world premiere in 2011 in a Manhattan Theatre Club staging at New York City Center Stage I. This premiere production received mixed reviews that all seemed to get too caught up on the idea that the premise isn't entirely original.

Magical things really can happen when Broadway talents converge, as is proven on Kait Kerrigan and Brian Lowdermilk's sophomore album KERRIGAN-LOWDERMILK LIVE. The album exists because the duo raised an impressive and record-breaking $35,000 in their debut album's Kickstarter campaign. With the extra $25,000 they funded a concert tour, 2011's 'You Made This Tour,' and a live album, KERRIGAN-LOWDERMILK LIVE. As a singer-songwriter duo that also writes for theatre, there is a prominent and fascinating indie vibe that inhabits every track. As Kait Kerrigan states on one of the tracks, there is simply no denying that this album fabulously showcases talents are the 'future of theater and music in general.'

There is always a certain electric buzz that seems to surround any production of a show with a recognizable title. Some people will research the origin of the show, and with John Guare's SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION, they'll find that Frigyes Karinthy, a Hungarian author, playwright, poet, journalist, and translator was the first proponent of the theory that everyone is connected to everyone else by six or fewer degrees of separation. He examined this in his 1929 short story, 'Chains' (Lancszemek). This very theory was popularized by the 1990 play and 1993 film adaption of SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION. People might remember that following the success of the play and the film, while watching FOOTLOOSE, students at Albright College created the game 'Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.' Those people will recall how everyone in the 90s was figuring out how every actor and actress was connected to Kevin Bacon through their work in film and commercials. Elements such as these build anticipation for productions of shows with mane recognition.

Deborah Boily is preparing for her cabaret performance of DEBORAH BOILY - ONE NIGHT ONLY.

Having grown up on Monty Python reruns and films, it doesn't take a lot to get me excited about seeing a production of Monty Python's SPAMALOT. The hilarious hit musical is making a gloriously triumphant return to Houston in its first locally produced performance at Theatre Under the Stars (TUTS). The First National Tour enjoyed a four week run in the summer of 2007 that was co-produced by Broadway Across America - Houston and TUTS, and because of popular demand TUTS decided to produce the show again.