Tamara Siler News

Bayou City Concert Musicals will present the 2017 Kim Hupp Award to Eileen J. Morris, artistic director of The Ensemble Theatre. The award will be presented on Sunday, April 2, 2017, at 7:00 p.m., on the Main Stage of The Ensemble Theatre, 3535 Main. The event, Serenading Eileen, will consist of a concert featuring some of the honoree's favorite songs and a reception immediately following the concert. Tickets are $75 per person. Proceeds from the event will benefit Bayou City Concert Musicals.

WORKING is based on Studs Terkel's well-known book of interviews with U.S workers, which retells the accounts of men and women and presents the meaning that these jobs bring to their lives. This classic musical was first adapted by Stephen Schwartz and Nina Faso and premiered at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, Illinois. The show later ran on Broadway briefly before entering the national regional theatre circuit. The show was updated in 2012 with two new songs from Lin-Manuel Miranda, and features the classic numbers from artists such as Stephen Schwartz, Craig Carnelia, and James Taylor. WORKING runs at Main Street Theatre from May 21 - June 19, 2016. The show, directed by the talented Andrew Ruthven, reflects not only the struggles that we go through as a nation, but hits home on multiple levels with the diverse and hard working citizens of Houston.

BWW Reviews: PUTTING IT TOGETHER At Main Street Theater

It's your last week to vote for the 2014 BroadwayWorld Houston Regional Awards! Check out the latest live stats as of December 26th. Voting closes at the end of the year, in under one week!

Time is ticking on your last chance to vote for the 2014 BroadwayWorld Houston Regional Awards! Check out the latest live stats as of December 19th. Voting closes at the end of the year!

Voting has now opened for the 2014 BroadwayWorld Houston Regional Awards! Check out the latest live stats as of December 4th.

Main Street Theater begins 2015 with the Stephen Sondheim musical revue Putting It Together. The production will be at Ovations Night Club in Rice Village (next door to MST's village home) while the theater undergoes renovation.

Voting has now opened for the 2014 BroadwayWorld Houston Regional Awards! Check out the latest live stats as of December 4th.

Bayou City Concert Musicals is getting in the spirit of the season with three special events in December:

Voting has now opened for the 2014 BroadwayWorld Houston Regional Awards! Check out the latest live stats as of November 25th.

The curtains (and doors) will soon open in early 2015 at the new Queensbury Theatre performing arts center in Town & Country's west side of Houston, but not before Randal K. West, the new executive director, takes to the figurative stage.

The 1980 film Xanadu is known for being a notoriously bad movie. In 2007 it was adapted into a stage musical by Douglas Carter Beane, featuring songs from the film written by Jeff Lynne and John Farrar. This summer, Stages Repertory Theatre is presenting the candy-coated confection as their giddy summer musical. The end product couldn't be more fun, frivolous, and everything audiences would want from the campy, fun show.

This new musical by Aaron Alon is still in the process of being made. Thunderclap Productions is working on filming the musical and there are still plans to bring the show to stage as well. With relevant and timely themes, an intriguing score, and remarkable talent behind every aspect of this musical, the HIGHLIGHTS FROM BULLY (Concept Cast Recording) is a great way for more people to be exposed to this musical and to support this important project.

Just as exciting as the annual summer concert presentation of a more-or-less forgotten hit musical from yesteryear are Bayou City Concert Musicals' fundraising cabaret performances. Kicking off their 2014 season, Paul Hope has programmed an evening of Irving Berlin's hit songs for the 1930s. In this set, titled CHEEK TO CHEEK: IRVING BERLIN IN THE 1930s, there are numerous favorites that left audiences tittering excitedly from the time they took their seats until the program ended.

In 2003, a certain green girl flew on Broadway for the first time. In the same year, a handful of plucky performers with some ostentatiously crass puppets opened a smaller show Off-Broadway. They transferred to Broadway months before the witches of Oz made their big splash and later surprised everyone when they grabbed the coveted Triple Crown at the 2004 Tony Awards. Taking home the Tony for Best Book, Best Score, and Best Musical, AVENUE Q was truly defying gravity. More than 10 years later, the show is still running in New York City at Off-Broadway's New World Stages and in Houston Michael J. Ross's MJR Theatricals | Music Box Musicals' production is giddily showcasing why the musical has such pronounced staying power.

Celebration Theatre in collaboration with Resurrection Metropolitan Community Church present the regional premiere of STANDING ON CEREMONY: THE GAY MARRIAGE PLAYS, beginning today, August 11, and continuing through September 29, 2013.

Imagine a darkly ambient realm where angular architecture rises from the shadows and is adorned with three half ovals curtained in sheer white fabric. In this simplistically austere setting, every surface is painted black and gives the impression of some ambiguous but wholly recognizable cabaret. Out of the ether, six shapes emerge. In an assortment of solos and group pieces, these figures sing intensely haunting and puzzling music. Some songs are rigorously jazzy and mesmerizingly chromatic, leaping through major and minor chords with seemingly crazed affectation. Other songs are tuneful and familiar, playing off of bluesy gospel traditions that are tinged with pop sensibilities. This is the world that Adam Guettel, most widely known for the 2005 Tony Award winning musical THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA, and Bit of a Stretch Theatre Company have created with the Houston premiere of MYTHS AND HYMNS.

This summer, Bit of a Stretch Theatre Co. (winner of 2012 Houston Press Award for Best New Theatre Company) will be staging the Regional Premiere of the song cycle MYTHS AND HYMNS, written by Adam Guettel (LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA).

Celebration Theatre in collaboration with Resurrection Metropolitan Community Church will present the regional premiere of STANDING ON CEREMONY: THE GAY MARRIAGE PLAYS , August 11 - September 29, 2013.

Bit of a Stretch Theatre Company is running in full gear, preparing for the opening of their annual summertime production. Notorious for excelling at demanding and lesser known pieces, Bit of a Stretch Theatre Company provides Houston audiences unique musical experiences and challenges them to redefine their stereotypical notions of 'musical theater.' This summer Bit of a Stretch is presenting audiences with another piece of work from composer and lyricist Adam Guettel, MYTHS & HYMNS. I recently sat down with Emma Martinsen, Wiley DeWeese, and Erin Cressy to discuss their upcoming production.