Audrey Morabito - Page 3

What do you get what you cross two solution-minded musical theatre lovers with a need to create and a love of collaboration? Husband-and-wife team Luke and Blythe Kirkwood are the prime example of artists that saw a need in the Houston theatre world, and took it upon themselves to fill it. After noticing the wealth of musicals that rarely get to be produced because of their technical challenges or size, the Kirkwoods found a way to bring Houston audiences their favorite musicals in a different form of performance. The result was Summer Sing-Thru Series: a one-night-only concert event that brings all the musical wonder of your beloved Broadway soundtracks to life, with full orchestration by both professionals and high school to college-aged students.

Neil Simon's GOD'S FAVORITE does what I believe good theatre is intended to do: take a multifaceted, complex topic and present it in a humanized, relatable, and entertaining manner. This can take many forms, and GOD'S FAVORITE pinpoints perhaps one of my favorite forms of theatrical communication: framing a meaningful, hard-to-wrap-your-mind-around concept within the familiar language of comedy.

Never before have I stepped into a theatre, seen the curtain rise, and then heard the familiar notes of Kelis' 'Milkshake' ring out from the stage. While this song seems out of place for a theatrical context, The Ensemble Theatre's SISTAS showcases a home for it onstage, along with over thirty other female, African American hit songs from music history. In the case of SISTAS, music is not just a component of the performance. Rather, it is a vehicle for tales of historical background, healing, and community.

What do nostalgia, memory, and music all have in common? Not only do they all hold emotional influence over an individual, but they all also happen to be themes present in The Ensemble Theatre's upcoming Regional Premiere, SISTAS: The Musical. Directed and choreographed by Patrdo Harris with Musical Direction by Chika Kaba Ma'atunde, SISTAS is a musical journey through emotion and history as five friends heal from a loss. Through the incorporation of popular songs, "this play parallels the story of African-American women and their emerging sense of empowerment".

This June, Mildred's Umbrella Theater Company is setting the stage for their tenth annual wildly quirky and delightfully diverse play festival, MUSEUM of DYSFUNCTION. The festival, taking place over the course of two weekends, was founded in 2008 by Mildred's Artistic Director Jennifer Decker as a collaborative outlet for both new and established playwrights alike.

Within the first few seconds of Kim Tobin-Lehl's amusingly frenzied entrance onto the 4th Wall stage in SHAKESPEARE IN VEGAS, one word immediately crossed my mind-'authentic'. For the subsequent two-hour performance, authenticity remained to be a theme present in the developed characters, the feel-good storyline, and the entertaining true-to-the-industry moments that any involved theatre individual would be able to relate to. This isn't the first time a theatre newbie has stolen the scene from the star, the first time actresses have gotten catty backstage, or the first time an actress was hired for a role they believed would be much more wonderful than the reality was. However, for wise-guy director Tony (Philip Lehl), his season was indeed going to be one of firsts: He was going to bring Shakespeare to Las Vegas.

Following a striking 150 Houston premieres, delivering top-notch, relevant, contemporary theater that spanned a variety of genres to the Houston area, Theatre LaB Houston recently opened their final production of Richard Bean's KISS ME.

As I stood outside the Revention Music Center in downtown Houston on Thursday night with a growing line of enthusiastic Just Dance fans, I did not know what to expect when I walked through the doors. Having played Just Dance for the first time back in my middle school days, I was intrigued by this live event that would bring the memories of my favorite dances, characters, and songs to a stage right in front of me. What welcomed us as we walked in the doors was a completely transformed world where Just Dance, the number one music video game franchise by Ubisoft, had truly come to life before us.

What truly makes us well? Is wellness some otherworldly notion or mindset that we consciously choose or decide not to choose? How much power does an individual genuinely have over their wellness, or lack thereof? Additionally, how much power does an individual have over the wellness of others? These are the questions that the cast and creatives of Lisa Kron's WELL, currently in performance at Mildred's Umbrella Theatre Company, ask the audience to consider as they witness a multicharacter theatrical exploration of issues of health and illness both in the individual and in a community .

Parallel to the 50th Anniversary of the activist and entertainer, Eartha Kitt's, notorious visit to the White House in January 1968, Vincent Victoria's new play The Disappearance of Eartha Kitt will be making its world premiere in Houston. The play will detail the whereabouts and life of Eartha Kitt from 1968-1978, as she moved her career to Europe, later returning to Broadway ultimately to be nominated for a Tony Award in her musical comeback Timbuktu .

The Broadway Across America engagement of the 2016 Tony Award Winning Revival of THE COLOR PURPLE presented a performance brimming with soul and spirit to The Hobby Center. Based on Alice Walker's 1982 novel, the show follows the difficult journey of Celie (Adrianna Hicks), a young black mother in early-20th century Georgia. A story of coming of age and growing-into-her-own, Celie navigates prejudice, star-crossed love, motherhood, and a wealth of hurt as she relies on faith and sisterhood to push her through to better days.

In partnership with Lythgoe Family Panto, Theatre Under the Stars has opened their family-fun, holiday-filled interactive production Sleeping Beauty and Her Winter Knight to Houston audiences. With a star-studded cast, popular music, and a storybook vibe, Kris Lythgoe's Sleeping Beauty and Her Winter Knight had both the children and the parents in the audience laughing, shouting at the characters onstage, and erupting in applause. This production tells the tale of the cursed Princess Aurora (Lauren Taylor) on the brink of her eighteenth birthday, and the handsome Prince (Garrett Clayton) on the road to his wedding day with the Princess, as the evil fairy Carabosse (Debbie Gravitte) does everything in her power to sabotage the kingdom.

For the Fall 2017 semester, Theatre TCU produced a studio season made up of three successful productions. These included Tom Kellogg in B Flat, an original play written by Theatre TCU faculty Member T.J. Walsh, Sylvia by A.R. Gurney, and finally, the renowned classic Fiddler On the Roof (Book by Joseph Stein, Music by Jerry Bock, Lyrics by Sheldon Harnick) as the closing show of the semester. It is worth noting that Theatre TCU completely sold out all seven performances for Fiddler On the Roof within a matter of minutes, and when I attended the production it was clear why as soon as the opening number Tradition began. Theatre TCU has proven time and again that they are capable of producing professional, technically thorough productions bursting with youthful student talent.

Last night, On Your Feet! opened with a bang to an enthusiastic crowd at the Hobby Center. An electrifying production, On Your Feet! classifies as a jukebox musical a production that weaves together an iconic artist's most popular songs with their biography (often focusing on the rise to stardom) to tell the artist's story through their own lyrics while adding all the elements of musical theatre. These biographical musicals can sometimes lose their footing in a focus either too completely on song or on biographical plot, but directed by Jerry Mitchell with a book by Alexander Dinelaris, On Your Feet! finds balance between a storyline of Gloria and Emilo's lives while being jam-packed with loud, catchy, and thrilling song and dance numbers.

Mildred's Umbrella Theatre Company is getting set to open their funny and thrilling FEATHERS AND TEETH on October 19th in the height of the Halloween season. Described by Director Jacey Little as fun, quirky, and 1970's vintage , this engaging, entertaining, and unexpectedly heartfelt performance will be the perfect pre-game event for an evening of Halloween antics.

Opening their 49th Season with the enchanting storybook tale THE SECRET GARDEN, Theatre Under the Stars has welcomed Dan Knechtges as Artistic Director to take over the season that predecessor Sheldon Epps put in place. The musical, directed and choreographed by 5th Avenue Theatre's Artistic Director David Armstrong is based on Frances Hodgson Burnett's fairytale classic and a book by Marsha Norman, infused with music by Lucy Simon. As part of a pre-Broadway co-production, this Tony Award winning musical will be undergoing refinements made by Armstrong and his creative team.

Mildred's Umbrella Theatre Company is getting set to open their funny and thrilling FEATHERS AND TEETH on October 19th in the height of the Halloween season. Described by Director Jacey Little as fun, quirky, and 1970's vintage , this engaging, entertaining, and unexpectedly heartfelt performance will be the perfect pre-game event for an evening of Halloween antics.

Now launching its second season, Opera In The Heights has announced the 2017-18 lineup for their young professional's arts subscription series, CIRCLE OF FIFTHS, a collaborative project designed to bring awareness of various arts organizations to the enthusiastic, young professional audience member. As discussed below by Founder Paige Myrick, this all-inclusive, diverse arts pass will immerse the audience member in a wide variety of performance genres present in the world of Houston entertainment: music, theatre, opera, and dance.

Shortly after the recent saddening announcement of 4th Wall Theatre Company's upcoming closure, the spirited troupe of actors, creatives, and theatrical masterminds are hard at work preparing for the opening of award-winning playwright Ayad Akhtar's theatrical work DISGRACED. This Houston premiere will mark the start of 4th Wall's seventh season, and will feature 4th Wall's Co-Founders Philip Lehl as an actor and Kim Tobin-Lehl as director.

On Friday night The Gravity Players opened a courtroom comedy and exploration of faith, THE LAST DAYS OF JUDAS ISCARIOT, to a lively audience. Set in the Court of Purgatory, a place of redemption and a 'waiting list' between Heaven and Hell, the audience was to witness trials regarding sinners' placement in Purgatory, as many desired to appeal their judgment to move on to Heaven. Judge Littlefield, played by Paul Menzel, demands Bailiff (Philip Hays) to call the cases, 'God and the Kingdom of Heaven and Earth versus Thorseen the Implacable', 'God and the Kingdom of Heaven and Earth versus Benedict Arnold', and finally 'God and the Kingdom of Heaven and Earth versus Judas Iscariot'.