Katricia Lang - Page 12

Last week, The Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH) presented a classic but eclectic program of four ballets at the Miller Outdoor Theatre. To my surprise, they gave me something I could feel. The performance reminded me that ballet can be fun, art should be communal and a coloratura soprano singing 'Domine Deus, Rex caelestis' is just as electrifying as James Brown singing 'Mother Popcorn.'

'America's not used to seeing a black face in this particular art form,' says 16-year-old Naazir Muhammad about ballet. He should know. He and his twin brother, Shaakir, both practice ballet at the American Ballet Theatre School in New York. Both are aware that ballet is expected to have a certain face. The Dance Theatre of Harlem defies these expectations. Because of this, the company is special in two ways. It is innovative and radical in existing as well as being innovative and radical in dance. Aretha Franklin en point? You never.

Before VENUS IN FURS was a twinkle in David Ives' eye, there was ALL IN THE TIMING, a collection of one-act plays with a range of subjects and themes - all funny and entertaining. How else do you describe a mix of Trotsky and The Honeymooners? Though the collection of plays premiered Off-Broadway in 1993, and a few were written before I was born, they are still side-splitting. In disbelief? Well, take a gander at this interview with Paige Kiliany, a twenty-something who prefers ALL IN THE TIMING to Saturday Night Live. How's that for current?

Prepare yourselves b***hes! Tay Tay's coming to town. And not the lovely girl with a beautiful voice. It's Wesley 'Tay Tay' Taylor, the lovely boy with a beautiful voice. And he's here to teach you. Not just how to sing but how to sang. The Broadway star has teamed up with the Straight From New York Workshop and Concert Series and will be teaching master classes in Houston and Dallas.

For all his hard work and talent, Nat 'King' Cole was treated to segregated concert halls, burning crosses and slurs. We know what he did do. We know what he didn't do (ask the NAACP). We know Kimye's wedding menu. But we don't know Nat 'King' Cole. This is what I WISH YOU LOVE seeks. To push through the mystique of this enigmatic performer to discover the flesh and blood underneath. I had the privilege of speaking with actor Dennis Spears, Mr. Cole himself.

Overwhelmingly, TARZAN is an amazing production. Everyone involved is to be commended for cooking up the rarest of children's theatre confections. A production dense enough for the sophisticated tastes of the most discerning adults and children in the audience and sugary enough for those still in the early stages of cognitive development - me and all the three-year-olds.

I WISH YOU LOVE chronicles Nat 'King' Cole's struggles to keep his popular show on the air against the prejudiced American public, sponsors and studio executives. Over and over again, the skittish execs force Nat to decide what is most important to him - the show or his people.

Sheriff Gene Ranger and childhood sweetheart Nurse Becky Trueheart are concerned, but not alarmed, when an unconscious beauty is brought in and seems to have amnesia, only to be cured by the smooth talking snake oil salesman Bodkin Shamley. Before you know it, the Sheriff is madly in love with the mystery girl and Nurse Becky is head over heels for villain Bodkin Shamley! Is it true love? Or, could it be Bad Medicine?

Stages' PETE N' KEELY is a dark comedy that hearkens back to a bygone era when men were gentlemen and women were ladies. A time when Billie Holiday wore impeccably designed silk dresses and garlands in her hair on the stage then exited to a life of heroin addiction, incarceration and abusive romantic relationships. Those were the days.

THE BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS is a light-hearded musical based on the notorious Texas born brothel 'Chicken Ranch.' Thanks to a silent agreement between the madam, Miss Mona Stangley, and Sheriff Ed Earl Dodd (based on good ol' boy Sheriff Jim Flournoy), things are all quiet on the range. But when flashy, young reporter Melvin P. Thorpe (based on the late, great Houstonite Marvin Zindler) reveals the ranch to the town, sparks fly high in the heart of Texas.

While I, and all of the other insanely giving and informed people, have always been aware that self-centeredness and shallow preoccupations are not traits of silly, frivolous women but of silly, frivolous people - LEGALLY BLONDE has convinced the world and looked fabulous doing it. What? Like it's hard. Well, it is hard. Duh. That's why it's impressive.

OLEANNA is quite possibly one of the most female-phobic, misogynistic writings on record, notwithstanding many of Hemingway's writings, penned by a man so distanced from the female perspective that Carol, a harridan of a character, was his best solemn reflection on a female student's experience of sexual harassment by a male professor approaching tenure.

With wit and warmth, cast members Keshia Lovewell (Carol) and Joseph 'Chepe' Lockett (John) and director Stuart D. Purdy discuss this provocative play.