Brett Cullum - Page 2

Happy Halloween, Uglies! Grey Matter is a Houston drag performer who is appearing in the current season of THE BOULET BROTHER’S DRAGULA season 6, which can be seen on AMC+ and Shudder streaming platforms. Now, Grey took an unusual route to make it to this competition and is the franchise's first bona fide scare actor. He has worked with Houston's PHOBIA Haunted Houses since he was a teenager.

The cast here is immaculate, and LITTLE SHOP is a character actor’s dream come true. Everyone gets to play bigger and broader, and we get to see them have a ball, bringing these kooky archetypes to life. They are all pitch-perfect and create a wonderfully realized revival of this show for Houston just in time for Halloween.

THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING is a unique experience theatrically, and it’s certainly something to let seep into you and discuss later. I find myself just walking around the house, and a line or two will pop up in my head, and I have only seen this play once. It is that powerful, that invasive, and that universally true.

It takes on the clash of white men, black men, and black women and fearlessly looks at all sides when confronted with a crime. Who will do the right thing? It’s a question that seems to hang over the country right now, so RACE could not come at a better time.

Mark Ivy is one of the stars at this year's October production from THEATRE UNDER THE STARS, which runs from October 22nd through November 3rd at the HOBBY CENTER. 

I've tried to draw as much from the novel as I possibly could. I have seen a handful of film depictions. There's one thing in the novel that Van Helsing mentions about how Dracula has what Van Helsing calls a child's brain. That being undead, you are reborn at that moment, and much of your experience of the world around you starts over.

Rose has been in Houston for a while and went to Sam Houston to study theater. She has been a beloved house manager at STAGES HOUSTON and the MATCH. This will be her first starring role at STAGES, and it’s even more exciting when you consider she is part of the transgender community.    

Houston’s CLASSICAL THEATRE COMPANY has decided to take it back to the original written word and return Dracula to the status of a demon rather than a lover. And yet, somehow, they have cast Spencer Plachy, who is the most swoon-worthy actor Houston has, a man who has embodied Mr. Darcy for years. Also, a man sexy enough to star in the Broadway tour of THE LION KING shirtless as Scar. It’s wild to see Darcy do Dracula and do it as a feral animal to boot. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">See what our critic had to say.</span>

When all is said and done, you have to applaud the bravery of this show. In an October where everyone else is offering safe fare such as British comedies, yet another take on Dracula, and an additional adaptation of Sherlock Holmes, this small company is daring you to face what might be wrong with America. It is a huge swing for the fences and remarkably well-performed and produced.

What did our critic think of NOISES OFF at The Alley Theatre?

I mean, my influences growing up? I went through a phase of everything was jazz! And it had to be old-school jazz! When I was about twelve or thirteen, I went to a yard sale. I found this CD. It was actually a tape. Billie Holiday, Lena Horn, Sarah Vaughn, Ella Fitzgerald. I'd never heard of any of them, and I just poured over it and studied the nuances of their voices.

I'm so extraordinarily proud of this with the work that Lonnie has done and the work that Larissa FastHorse has done in our new book! They've really taken out the racist stuff, and they have given an opportunity for Indigenous voices to be heard loud and clear by Indigenous actors. They also took advantage of the opportunity to elevate female voices in the show.

Are the superheroes really simply the spirits that Prospero conjured on the island? Could Fathom City have been taken over by Dr. Cannibal (an anagram for Caliban) because he fled and tossed his books into the sea? Is this a sequel, a salute, or a sardonic spoof of Shakespeare’s work?

Sometimes, a play does what no other artistic medium can do. It can feel intimate, immediate, and alive. CRY IT OUT from MILDRED’S UMBRELLA is one of those living productions that feels like you are watching three real women deal with being a mother and looking at how that is going to affect every aspect of their lives.

ESTHER thrilled the audience at the George, who gave it a rousing standing ovation. I suspect A.D. PLAYERS knows its audience, and they have given them a show that dazzles people who have come in the right context. It was not shown if the struggle of scripture versus spectacle was an issue for them as it was for me. If you love exquisite dancing and good singing. If you admire a company that does all of this in service of an Old Testament heroine, then ESTHER is a sure bet.

She was a woman of resilience and a very strong personality who fought for everything that she had! She is this woman who just came through a lot but loved her music and loved her family. She was resilient beyond belief and could live to see the flowers given to her. She's a whole lot of woman!

No matter what side of the aisle you fall on, this is a fascinating tribute to a legal lady who taught us all what it means to be both feminine and ferocious. To quote a previous BROADWAY WORLD critic, it is “a must-see.” And in these days, right before the election of 2024, it is imperative to consider what Ruth is saying.

I think I was a kid who really wanted to do theater, and I didn't have the theatrical opportunities in front of me to do that. I went to college for theater. I have a degree in theater. I didn't move to New York City like I wanted to because of 9/11. I had to create my own opportunity. And that's kind of my life story. I was kind of carving out and creating my own space, and drag was always the method with which I did that.

Jason Nodler is the CATASTROPHIC THEATRE's founder, director, and artistic guide. The company was formally launched in this current incarnation in 2007 and rose from the ashes of INFERNAL BRIDEGROOM PRODUCTIONS.

People are like, “How do you keep doing it? It's like so many words, 90 min for two years!” I say it is because you can never learn enough. You could never get tired of it! All that feeds into my performance.