Brett Cullum - Page 2

It is a show that is so close to my heart! When I was living in New York, from 2004 to 2008 was when it came to Broadway, and I saw it there. I was brought in quite a bit for Olive at the time. I'm too old for that [role] now!

I wanted to run down the shows that BROADWAY WORLD HOUSTON readers should consider as a trick and a treat! Just think of us as your roadmap on the “highway to fell” that “doesn’t fear the reaper” and “we’re going off the rails on a crazy train.” These shows rock, and they certainly are up for consideration during the spooky season.

Forget the haunted house this season, and try something a little bit more involved and engaging. The night I visited MIDNIGHT HIGH was a lot of fun, and this company called The Octarine Accord really does know how to color their magic.

Logan Vaden has been a fixture on the Houston theater scene since he was a kid, and improbably, he still kind of is that young new kid on the block. Recently, he has joined Theatre Under the Stars as a Development Officer. BROADWAY WORLD writer Brett Cullum got a chance to talk to him about his new role raising money for TUTS!  Development in any arts or non-profit organization is a rough gig, so Logan reveals what it is like for him. 

But could director Jon Harvey be purposefully lightening his ELECTRA for this era? Does he want a more pop-friendly approach? Do we need that now? These are all questions that only he can answer, but the show itself has a nice pace and energy.

'We're really proud because we've put a big focus on new work in the past. Some of these even began as readings at our Alley New Festival. They have worked their way up to a full production at the Alley and then beyond.' - Rob Melrose

It’s a marvelously entertaining thriller that audiences are likely to flock to, because it has a sense of awe-inspired fun that you seldom find in the theater. It's high-tech Agatha Christie, and perfect for the Fall.  

Fourth Wall Theatre Company has a revival right now, and boy, does it feel timed for the right moment in Texas politics. Read BroadwayWorld's review of Eureka Day at 4th Wall Theatre Company.

Before this world ends, you need to see Catastrophic’s staging of ENDGAME starring Greg Dean and directed by Jason Nodler. They never truly seem to be finished with this one, but you can’t honestly expect the world to be here for a revival in thirteen years.

To me, this iteration of THE DA VINCI CODE feels like it leans more towards the book in pure content, but at the same time, you can look at the film and our stage adaptation as sort of accomplishing similar tasks.

PURLIE VICTORIOUS: A NON-CONFEDERATE ROMP THROUGH THE COTTON PATCH is certainly a curiosity, a satire of Jim Crow life written during the throes of the equal rights movement of the early sixties. I feel like it should seem more creaky, more antiquated, and backwards. Unfortunately for us, it is not.

Michelle Britton seems to be an actor’s director, and DANCING LESSONS allows her artists to be showcased for what they do best. You get a sense that her assured hand simply guided everyone into the right notes, and she orchestrates this truly lovely play.

It's about a man with Asperger's and his, what I like to say, his dogged determination to learn to dance, because he has a very public, potentially horrifying public event coming up, an awards dinner.

It is about a family living through a dystopian future that's only a few years into our future, the year 2029. In which… try to follow me on this, see if you can imagine America in this way. It's an America run by right-wing conservative Christians who oppress anyone who isn't like them, to the point of deporting them to other countries, maybe, like, El Salvador?

Arthur built such a great crescendo that there's no stepping off the train, as, if you will, anywhere where you lose momentum by taking a break. So we just push right through the 90 minutes. Just one act, and you're out of the theater.

Broadway, film, and television star Robert Lenzi (THE HAPPENING and THE TINA TURNER MUSICAL) is Patrick Bateman for this Houston run. He plays Patrick as an apex predator, but one that surprisingly gets lonely or feels isolated. There is not just the cold killer, but also a sense of what’s killing him.

Playing this character has been so, so fun, mainly because we're sort of reinventing him, me and Joe Calarco, who's our incredible director.

The level of professionalism and the sheen on The Chosen Ones is gobsmacking. This is a very heartfelt musical that you can sense through every second means so much to this cast and its creators.

CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION will probably hit hardest with those of us who took drama classes at some point, and were subjected to this uniquely silly torture that acting teachers come up with just to knock us all down a few pegs. I imagine those lucky enough to have evaded that will be giggling at the fate they dodged.

It probably helps that Domenico Leona is a poet, and that Ashley Galan just knows theater so dang well. They and this cast pull off a really radical, well-realized regional premiere for a play by a complex and compelling force in American Theatre.