Gary Laird - Page 2

Chill out. Alfred Hitchcock's THE 39 STEPS is at the Alley.

It's a show business aphorism that the meaning of the musical PIPPIN, first produced on Broadway in 1972, is anybody's guess. I can go along with that.

FREAKY FRIDAY, a new musical from Disney, is based on the 1976 original movie and 2003 remake of the same name. It's a simple premise. Career mother and teenage daughter don't get along. (Stop me if you've heard this one.)

The Houston Ballet brings one of the most theatrical of the Bard's plays to life in a lavish production by choreographer David Bintley. No expense was spared; no stop un-pulled in this story of love, revenge, magic, and complicated skullduggery that this play provides in abundance. Or maybe overabundance.

KURIOS, Cabinet of Curiosities, written and directed by Michel Laprise, creates a world vaguely 19th-century, with overtones of the French filmmaker Georges Melies. It's a world populated by fantastic beings, all going about their business with a will, whatever that business may be. It doesn't really matter though, because your disbelief is suspended from the first scene.

For those of you who may have been wondering about God's whereabouts, or worrying about his well-being, I can now report that he's alive and well and doing stand-up at the Alley Theatre.

Houston Ballet's program of three contemporary ballets, running now at THE WORTHAM CENTER, is breath-taking. This is the first of many adjectives I will reach for in this review. I may run out, but you'll get the drift.

The latest iteration of the production on tour is crafted with care and performed with verve. It's an 'old-fashioned' Broadway staple, and it never wears out its welcome. It unabashedly tugs at the heartstrings, tickles the funny bone and jerks the tears, just as it did when it opened 66 years ago this month. Few musicals achieve this kind of longevity, and more than a few of those are from the pens of Rodgers and Hammerstein.

In this retelling of the beloved fairy tale, pretty much everything is thrown out the window for a darker, edgier story of an independent woman fighting against her circumstances for a chance at a better life.

Josephine reigns supreme in THE LAST NIGHT OF JOSEPHINE BAKER.

A frothy souffle of a musical.

After two hours, plus intermission, I left the theater feeling as though I had just attended a concert superbly played by an orchestra of virtuoso performers and conducted by a maestro.

Sarah Burgess's new play at the ALLEY, DRY POWDER teaches us the art of the deal.

The play is a cauldron of emotion, presenting a range of human behaviors for Christopher to navigate, and hopefully, conquer.

TUTS has done the seemingly impossible. They've made Sondheim cute.

As re-imagined by Artistic Director Stanton Welch, the holiday classic pulses with new life and over-the-top theatrics reminiscent of 19th century production at its peak, but brought into the 21st by cutting-edge technology.

It's hokey. It's manipulative. It's just plain corny. And it's the spirit of the season.

That this work could be adapted at all for the stage, much less a small black box theater, is somewhat remarkable, but Udden and her team of more-than-capable actors and designers have done it proud.

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston screens two very different and unique films: COCKSUCKER BLUES and HIERONYMUS BOSCH: TOUCHED BY THE DEVIL.

HGO's production of Gounod's FAUST puts the 'grand' in grand opera. The current production has all the bells and whistles - a timeless story, a top-notch cast, the costumes, sets and lighting of an all-out extravaganza. In short, it has everything the word 'opera' conjures up. And it's at the Wortham, all for you.