Carolyn Johnson News

Following on the heels of its summer successes Shear Madness and The Marvelous Wonderettes: Dream On, Stages Repertory Theatre continues its 39th Season with a mix of soul-searching drama and lighthearted holiday fare.

END OF THE RAINBOW has been held over through April 17, 2016 at Stages Repertory Theatre.

Like Garland herself, the show is obsessed with high energy musical uppers contrasted with dark dramatic downers in between. It's a roller coaster ride of songs mixed with self destruction as we watch a star orchestrate her own death.

Actress and performer Carolyn Johnson returns to Stages Repertory Theatre to star as Judy Garland in drama musical END OF THE RAINBOW. The role requires Johnson do justice to Garland's greatest hits and misses. Johnson tells BroadwayWorld how she plans to fulfill her duty.

Lincoln Center's American Songbook series doesn't usually cross the road to opera-land, but I'm glad it did, when it presented the Ricky Ian Gordon-Leonard Foglia chamber opera A COFFIN IN EGYPT with mezzo extraordinaire Frederica von Stade last week. Performed in Jazz at Lincoln Center's tiny Appel Room, EGYPT brought us up close and personal to von Stade--and her alter-ego here, 90-year-old Myrtle Bledsoe--and proved she still has “it” as a performer.

Big Fish, a new musical by Andrew Lippa and John August, joins Stages' lineup for its 2015-16 season.

BWW Reviews: PANTO RAPUNZEL (AND ZOMBIES) Is Wacky And Wild For The Holidays

Main Street Theater begins its 2014-2015 Season with Noel Coward's rarely produced drama, Peace in Our Time. MST's production is in collaboration with the University of Houston School of Theatre and Dance and features a company of 24 actors.With previews September 13, 14, and 17, Peace in Our Time opens September 18 and runs through October 19 at Main Street Theater - Rice Village, 2540 Times Blvd. Performances are on Thursdays at 7:30pm, Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, and Sundays at 3pm plus one Monday evening performance on September 22. Check out production photos below!

The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts presents the West Coast premiere of A Coffin in Egypt, a new chamber opera in one act, based on the play, A Coffin in Egypt by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Horton Foote, for three performances only, from April 23, 25 and 27 in the Bram Goldsmith Theater. A Coffin in Egypt stars mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade, one of opera's most beloved figures, whose formidable bravura has won her wide acclaim. Ricky Ian Gordon, the composer, has also composed The Grapes of Wrath, Rappahannock County, and Orpheus and Euridice. Leonard Foglia, librettist and director, directed Master Class on Broadway and Jake Heggie's opera Last Acts. Check out a look back at opening night and the after party at Flemings Steakhouse below!

The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts presents the West Coast premiere of A Coffin in Egypt, a new chamber opera in one act, based on the play, A Coffin in Egypt by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Horton Foote, for three performances only tonight, April 23 and April 25 and 27 in the Bram Goldsmith Theater.

The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts presents the West Coast premiere of A Coffin in Egypt, a new chamber opera in one act, based on the play, A Coffin in Egypt by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Horton Foote, for three performances only April 23, 25 and 27 in the Bram Goldsmith Theater. A Coffin in Egypt stars mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade, one of opera's most beloved figures, whose formidable bravura has won her wide acclaim. Ricky Ian Gordon, the composer, has also composed The Grapes of Wrath, Rappahannock County, and Orpheus and Euridice. Leonard Foglia, librettist and director, directed Master Class on Broadway and Jake Heggie's Opera Last Acts.

Houston Grand Opera is presenting the World Premiere of A COFFIN IN EGYPT, a one-act chamber opera based on Horton Foote's play by the same title. Known for crafting touching sentimentality and riveting drama, Horton Foote's legacy is sure to be celebrated for centuries to come. However, this operatic adaptation of A COFFIN IN EGYPT browbeats audiences with nostalgic sentimentality and rarely moves us to feel anything.

The Women's Theatre Project will open their tenth season - and their second season at the Willow Theatre in Sugar Sand Park - with the Southeastern premiere of The Lyons, Nicky Silver's outrageously funny and stirring play about life, death, and family. The Lyons will run from December 6th through December 22nd.

Producers Jeffrey Richards, Stacey Mindich, and Jerry Frankel announced that Derek Klena (Wicked) and Caitlin Kinnunen (Spring Awakening) will join the cast of The Bridges of Madison County, the new musical based on the best selling novel by Robert James Waller. The pair will play Michael and Carolyn Johnson, the children of Francesca (Kelli O'Hara) and Bud Johnson (Hunter Foster).

David Nehls and Betsy Kelso's 2005 Off-Broadway hit show THE GREAT AMERICAN TRAILER PARK MUSICAL has been a favorite of theatre patrons and companies ever since it first premiered. This holiday season the duo's brand new madcap musical comedy THE GREAT AMERICAN TRAILER PARK CHRISTMAS MUSICAL is making its World Premiere at Stages Repertory Theatre in Houston. Serving as a companion to the original show and not a direct sequel, the new musical serves up innumerous laughs to audiences both familiar and unfamiliar with the original romp.

The Women's Theatre Project will open their tenth season - and their second season at the Willow Theatre in Sugar Sand Park - with the Southeastern premiere of The Lyons, Nicky Silver's outrageously funny and stirring play about life, death, and family. The Lyons will run from December 6th through December 22nd.

Landing Theatre Company would like to introduce you to the wonderful events it has in store for you this summer, including its world premiere production, the playwrights of the 2013 New American Voices Play Reading Series and a new series of professional workshops featuring some of the most prominent leaders in the Houston arts community today.

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.

Main Street Theater closes its 38th MainStage season with Molly Smith Metzler's Close Up Space, a comical and poignant new play about how hard it can be to communicate... in any language. With previews tonight, May 18, 19, and 22, Close Up Space opens May 23 and runs through June 16 at Main Street Theater - Rice Village, 2540 Times Blvd.

Paul Hope's Bayou City Concert Musicals (BCCM) is proudly continuing their mission of bringing to Houston the best of the best from show business' yesteryears. Sometimes it is in the form of a forgotten or neglected musical, like their concert stagings of ONE TOUCH OF VENUS, THE SECRET GARDEN, and FINNAN'S RAINBOW. At other events, Paul Hope stages a cabaret of a composer's hits and erstwhile gems. Last Monday, BCCM premiered their cabaret entitled ALONE TOGETHER: THE SONGS OF ARTHUR SCHWARTZ. Arthur Schwartz composed for the Broadway productions THE BAND WAGON, A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN, and others. He was also a celebrated Hollywood composer, writing music for THANK YOUR LUCKY STARS, the film adaptation of THE BAND WAGON, and others.