Jeff Davis - Page 18

There is a happiness that is There Is a Happiness… Indeed, it easily could lead to crappiness Given how much it owes to poetry and rhyme, Arts rarely found on stage in our time. But writer Mickle Maher's play is full of wit Which he manages to pepper with touches of grit As he explores his characters of Bernard and Ellen.

Falsettos may be a show that challenges both performers and audience members due to its complexity and subject matter, but any audience member who is up to the challenge (and I hope you are) must see this show. Falsettos is funny, intelligent, entertaining, and an important piece of musical theater history, and Austin Theatre Project's production of it is superb.

There are times when I leave a theater feeling that the show I have just seen was tailor-made for my enjoyment. There are other times when I may not have been the intended audience but I nevertheless see the merits of the piece or can tell who the piece was intended for. And then there are shows like Pinkolandia that just leave me scratching my head. I honestly have no clue who would be the target audience for this play.

As a relative newbie to Austin, I have not seen The Dead President's Club until recently, but it's well known that Austin Playhouse's revivals of it are more frequent than political sex scandals. But while the later may induce eye-rolling and head-scratching, The Dead President's Club is met with uproarious laughter. Yes, the show gets revived frequently, but with popularity numbers that would greatly overpower any political candidate, it's easy to see why.

By the pricking of my thumb, something wickedly entertaining this way comes. Austin's City Theatre has a reputation for rousing and memorable stagings of Shakespearian plays, and that reputation continues with their current production of Macbeth.

Given the unreal levels of talent involved, it's no surprise that Woodlawn's The Rocky Horror Show is as ridiculously entertaining as it is. This is a production that is sure to please any fan of Rocky Horror. Even those who saw last year's production will appreciate the fresh, new take on the material, and Drag Race fans will adore Alaska, Michelle, and Willam. These ladies better werk, and werk they do.

It should be no surprise that as a lover of theater, I firmly believe in the transitive power of the performing arts. Any production has the power to elicit some emotional response from the audience, but theater often does more. Studies have shown that participating in the performing arts helps students improve their performance in other academic areas. While the impact of the arts in schools is widely known, the use and impact of theater and the arts in prison systems is somewhat less talked about. Nevertheless, theater has been used by penile systems for centuries as a way to rehabilitate prisoners, and that unorthodox idea is at the core of Our Country's Good, now playing at UT-Austin. The infrequently produced Tony nominated play, written by Timberlake Wertenbaker, is a completely engrossing love letter to the virtues of theater and a thrilling depiction of a peculiar moment in Australian history.

It's alive! Woodlawn Theatre's current production of Young Frankenstein, the Mel Brooks musical based on his hit 1974 film, is enjoyable and entertaining, perhaps more than it should be considering the mediocre material. But despite the few flaws in the material, this is one monster of a good time.

It's strange to think that Les Miserables, the worldwide musical sensation by Claude-Michel Schonberg and Alan Boublil, is just now being licensed to regional theaters. Demand for Les Miserables has grown within the regional theatre world in the 27 years since the show premiered, and that demand is definitely why The Playhouse in San Antonio and Zach Theatre in nearby Austin feel they can both present the show at the same time. So if you're in Central Texas, which production do you see? My answer: see both if you can, but if that's not an option, then I have the following suggestion. If you want to see a grand, epic, romantically designed production with a few strong performances, catch the version in Austin, but if you prefer a more modestly designed production that creates a darker, more emotional world in which every performance is spectacular, go to The Playhouse in San Antonio.

The Playhouse in San Antonio recently kicked off its 2013-2014 season with Les Miserables, now playing thru November 3rd. BroadwayWorld - San Antonio is excited to share some photos from this spectacular production!

Musicals rarely reach the phenomenal success of Les Miserables. It's played in London's West End for 28 years and counting. The Original Broadway production ran for over 6,500 performances and played for over 16 years, and the recent film adaptation won 3 Academy Awards and earned over $440 million worldwide. Whether you're a longtime fan of the musical or a newcomer to it, Zach Theatre's current production of it certainly does it justice and shows exactly why Les Miserables is an international hit that others are measured against. This is a solid, soaring production of one of the most beloved musicals of all time.

It's amazing how much sounds and noises made from the audience can be an accurate barometer of whether or not a performance is succeeding. Usually groans and hisses aren't a good sign, but in the case of Fat Pig, the anti-romantic comedy by Neil LaBute, such noises are a compliment, and Theatre En Bloc's current production earns its fair share of them. The show tackles the idea of how cruel we can be to people who don't fit society's size zero ideal of beauty. Needless to say, you may not leave feeling good about yourself or about humanity as a whole, but you'll be largely impressed by the astonishingly talented cast and LaBute's brash and unapologetic script.

Is there such thing as the perfect murder? That's certainly the question at the heart of Dial "M" for Murder, the 1952 drama about a husband's plot to murder his adulterous wife. Frederick Knott's play, now playing at University of Texas Department of Theatre and Dance, is not as well-known as the Alfred Hitchcock directed film version, and while the production succeeds wonderfully in some areas, it struggles in others.

Capital City Men's Chorus, an outstanding staple of Austin's gay community, kicks off their 25th Anniversary Season tonight with a special Fall Benefit Concert. BroadwayWorld recently sat down with Jeffrey Jones-Ragona, the choir's Artistic Director, as well as members David Nielsen and Jimmy Hickey to discuss the choir's history, their recent involvement in the It Gets Better Project, and the camaraderie that comes from singing with 50 other voices.

At the end of the first act of The Book of Mormon, now playing Austin's Bass Concert Hall for a two week run, I thought to myself, 'This is the most distasteful, crude, offensive, and subversive musical I've ever seen, and I'm loving every minute of it.' When I went out to the lobby, it was clear that the audience agreed. Everyone was smiling and wiping away tears of laughter as they quoted some of the best lines so far.

Last October, I visited Sam Bass Theatre for the first time. They were producing The Hallelujah Girls, a Southern screwball comedy by Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope, and Jamie Wooten, and I was instantly impressed at the company's ability to bring zany characters to life. It's now a year after my first visit to Sam Bass. Once again, they're staging a comedy by Jones, Hope, and Wooten, and once again, I'm impressed. Their current production of The Red Velvet Cake War is so delectable and delicious, it could only be improved if the audience were fed some complimentary red velvet cake.

If the thought of a brilliant hour of theater featuring twisted puppets living in someone's head sounds like your idea of a good time, I have one suggestion for you. Stop what you're doing, buy tickets to see The Head, and then keep reading this review. On the flipside, if the thought of a brilliant hour of theater featuring twisted puppets living in someone's head does not sound like your idea of a good time, I have one suggestion for you. Stop what you're doing, admit that you're wrong, buy tickets to see The Head, and then keep reading this review. Like their recent hit, The Cruel Circus, which premiered this past spring, The Head is a jaw-dropping piece of theater with a smart, hilarious text and incredibly imaginative visuals.

THE MUSIC MAN plays the Georgetown Palace Theatre at 810 S. Austin Ave now thru October 27th. Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30pm and Sundays at 2pm. Tickets are $26 general, $24 seniors 55+, $14 active military & students, $10 children 9 and under. For tickets and information, please visit www.georgetownpalace.com

Though art about art has been all over Austin as of late, there's always room for one more production provided it's as good as this. Museum is a bold, laugh-out-loud farce that lovingly mocks the pretentiousness often found in both modern art and those who claim to love and understand it.

There are times when audiences would much rather see a carefree, lighthearted show rather than something thought provoking and profound, and that's exactly what National Pastime, a new Broadway-bound musical offers. While the show may need a few rewrites before it gets to the Great White Way, it's already a solid and enjoyable valentine to musicals from days gone by.