BWW Reviews: Audra McDonald, a Living LegendMarch 12, 2015If there ever was a noted voice from heaven, I would have to say that this title belongs to Audra McDonald. Whenever you have the opportunity to witness an artist in a concert setting, you either fall deeper in love with them, or you are pushed away by their energy in this more intimate space. With McDonald, what you see on Broadway is what you get in person.
Guest Blog: EVERYBODY SAY YEAH: TUTS Unites with Cyndi Lauper's True Colors FundFebruary 19, 2015Theatre Under the Stars (TUTS) in conjunction with Cyndi Lauper's True Colors Fund hosted an open house to LGBT teens who have experienced homelessness and housing instability. These teens came from Covenant House, Legacy and Fresh Start Community Center to receive 'the complete musical theatre experience.'
BWW Reviews: HGO's MAGIC FLUTE Hits Every NoteFebruary 17, 2015I am taken back to the first Opera I saw as a kid and the pomp and circumstance with wearing a tux and walking to the lavish theatre; this was when I fell in love with classical music. Often times we hear opera and other classical art forms are inaccessible to the people, but Houston Grand Opera's English translation of Mozart's THE MAGIC FLUTE (Die Zauberflote) proved that opera isn't a stuffy, highbrow art form for the bourgeois. THE MAGIC FLUTE premiered on September 30, 1791 at Emanuel Schikaneder's theatre, the Freihaus-Theater auf der Wieden in Vienna, and Mozart conducted the orchestra. The MAGIC FLUTE often referenced as a singspiel, is an opus with spoken dialogue which lends itself to the elements of classical musical theatre. The heart of this new work was an excerpt from the oriental genie tales collected by poet Christoph Martin Wieland but transitioned to have Masonic elements from the novel Sethos by Abbe Jean Terrasson.
BWW Review: INTIMATE APPAREL is Great Show with a Spirit of ExcellenceFebruary 9, 2015I want to applaud the theatre companies who pay homage to black playwrights. We're allowed to examine the psyche and social situations from the black perspective through these theatrical masterpieces. I had the pleasure of seeing The Pearl Theater's production of INTIMATE APPAREL written by Lynn Nottage, and I was moved by the seamless writing and performances by the cast.