Christina Hoth

On a balmy 70 degree summer day in a northern Texas suburb, Cirque du Soleil made an effort to bring a winter wonderland to life with Crystal. Billed to be the first Cirque production on ice combining 'high-level ice skating' with its idiosyncratic circus fare, I regrettably report that this production was two revolutions short of a triple lutz.

The Book of Mormon swept through Dallas this week and could not have been better received by it's audiences. When auxiliary parking and bathroom breaks take enduring longer lines than those in certain sacred texts, you know the buzz about a show has hit it's peak. Wondrous comedic duo, Trey Parker and Matt Stone of South Park and Team America fame, first blessed our great nation with The Book of Mormon in 2011. The work was a daring collaboration with Robert Lopez, who we can thank for the genius music and lyrics on Avenue Q and a little song called "Let it Go" from Frozen. The story is at its core a simple tale of finding your voice and accepting one another. But true to the creator's particular brand of humor, the narrative is told through a gleefully tongue-in-cheek style production rife with vulgar humor and lewd imagery.

Cirque Du Soleil is an untouchable performance arts force. Drawing from a veritable cornucopia of visual, auditory, and kinesthetic mediums, their most recent tour dubbed Amaluna is an impeccable display. Directed by Diane Paulus, the narrative follows an island of goddesses, gymnasts, and gypsies. This oasis is peaceful, but for the fair maiden it is a listless life led. A shipwreck of men turns the tale, as they are tested by warriors, tempted by sirens, tested by warriors, and read by soothsayers.

I believe that truly the most talented people in the arts are also some of the most humble. One of my greatest joys as an arts critic is having a personal conversation with an individual artist or a member of a production team and realizing I'd like to just hang out with them on a basic human level-grab a whiskey and shoot the breeze, maybe go bowling! On Saturday morning I had one of these very relaxed encounters in an interview with Corey Jones. Mr. Jones is currently eclipsing his year anniversary with the U.S. Tour of 'Book of Mormon' as the role of The General. Corey was kind enough to take my call at the 'early actor's hour' (his words) of 11:30am to talk about coming back to Texas, the success of this show, and special skills actors should consider listing on their resumes...

I hold each theatre to its own sliding scale of standards. As far as fare goes in Dallas/Ft. Worth, Broadway tours should be in the top echelon. However, on opening night December 18th at the AT&T Performing Arts Center in the auspicious Winspear Opera House, the touring troupe of Chicago failed to find its legs.

The weather outside was indeed frightful, a 70 degree day followed by fitful storms, but White Christmas inside the Firehouse Theatre was, exactly as their curtain speech quipped, simply delightful.

Unemployment is on the minds of many worldwide, and while rates continue to fluctuate many people are turning to alternative methods to pay the bills. Making light of this contemporary struggle, The Full Monty explores the tale of six unemployed Buffalo steelworkers who have exhausted their cash reserves, their job prospects, and their families. With the local factory closed, the men are relegated to the daily "wife" duties while the women venture out to make the big bucks.

Thus far, 2018 has proven to be an interesting year for female Americans. As a gender we are banding together behind causes like the #meToo movement; we are shedding light on inequalities when it comes to serious subjects such as consent, recognition, and equal pay. It is shocking the stories of female degradation that are coming forth, and there is still much work to do. One Dallas/Ft. Worth up and coming Director, Marilyn Setu, has recently taken it upon herself to promote fellow female artists by hiring them for her production of Little Women: The Musical at The Firehouse Theatre in Farmers Branch.

It's Hard to be the Bard. In fact, it is extremely hard to write anything original today. Hollywood keeps revamping the classics, Television keeps remaking the greats, and Broadway keeps reviving the hits. So when Something Rotten! arrived on Broadway in 2015, bypassing its initial proposed preview in Seattle, the unprecedented play had a bit of buzz backing its debut. Finally, an original musical comedy was taking an angle that no other had attempted--the origin of the musical!

LCT opened the relatively new work, Alice in Slasherland written by Qui Nguyen, this weekend to a packed house. Tucked away off the newly expanded Main Street in The Colony, this budding theatre greets audiences warmly in their freshly renovated lobby, complete with complimentary wine. Audiences are given a glimpse as to what's in store for this particular play when front row patrons are issued rain ponchos and warnings that they are seated in the splash zone. A director's note in the program makes a point to state that this genre of horror is made by a group of people who enjoy the schlocky goofiness of the Evil Dead franchise.

You may have not heard of DFW Community Theatre's newest leading man, Rare Orion, yet.  In the short 20 months of his theatre career, this unique actor's dance card has been steadily booked.  Now, he's looking to expand his body of work beyond his home town theatre.  

Currently on stage at Lakeside is the Greek comedy: 'Lysistrata'.  Though written by Aristophanes eons ago, this play has many shockingly contemporary, relevant themes of women rising up to have their voices heard, while men consistently fight to prove who boasts the larger... ego.  As an audience member, Director Dale Moon's forward in the playbill gives solid insight into the culture of 411 BC:  'Ancient Athens was considered to be a 'phallocracy' because of the everyday emphasis on the penis.  It was a symbol of male power, of military strength, and, most importantly, fertility, both human and agricultural.'  Lysistrata is a Grecian matriarch, although such a thing would have been largely frowned upon in her day, whose simple aspiration is to end the Peloponnesian War through drastic measures.  She proposes that the women of her nation withhold sexual interaction with their men as a means to protest their continued battles.  In turn, she hopes that the men of the nation will opt for peace in a desperate attempt to relieve their own, intimate tensions.

Kinky Boots stomped its way into the Music Hall at Fair Park this week, starting the early summer heat off on the right foot for Dallas Summer Musicals.  This high energy, feel good, family friendly show has a quiet way of loudly speaking its truth.

Uptown Players has your weekend evenings planned as they present Broadway Our Way.  BWOW is the Players' annual fundraiser that gender-bends the typical Broadway numbers and allows some of Dallas' finest actors and actresses to play the dream roles they'd never land in a heteronormative casting call.  As it is their 16th year producing this fundraiser, Craig Lynch and Jeff Rane have certainly cultivated an incredible pool of talent.

A case of Kuriosity struck Dallas/Ft. Worth this past weekend as Cirque Du Soleil rolled out the big top tents for their newest series, KURIOS, at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie.  As a premier performing arts troupe, Cirque never ceases to delight crowds with their authentically unique shows.

This Valentine's day, Dallas Summer Musicals further cultivated Dallas' love affair with the percussive performing arts powerhouse, STOMP.

As a first time traveler to Las Vegas, this reviewer thought that it would be crucial to check out one of the most well known franchises synonymous with Sin City. Cirque du Soleil holds a solid reputation as the most entrenched production company in Las Vegas culture and for good reason. Combining all of the childhood wonderment from the circus days of our younger years, Cirque du Soleil has managed to blend the highly unique talents of aerial artists, roller skaters, stilt walkers, tumblers, trampolinists, contemporary dancers, break dancers, illusionists and performers of all types and sizes to make a cohesive vision come to life.

Over the past 20 years, Jonathan Larson's RENT has become an iconic piece of American musical theater. As its anniversary tour is about to make its scheduled stop in Dallas, I had the immense pleasure of speaking with original choreographer, Marlies Yearby, about the past, process, and production of her work on this particular show.

Church bells tolled as the sound of horse hooves on cobblestone echoed to set the stage at Onstage in Bedford this weekend for the opening of Jekyll & Hyde. A twist on the classic tale of one man's struggle to conquer his inner demons, this musical version of Robert Louis Stevenson's 1886 tale was adapted for the stage by Steve Cuden and Frank Wildhorn. Over the past century there have been innumerable adaptations of the original novella, including over 120 versions written for stage and film. The actors and production team of Onstage continued this time honored tradition this weekend to sold out audiences.

Awash in red velvet and gold fringe, the Music Hall at Fair Park stage appeared ready to drift back to the glory days of 1930's Broadway this week as the cast of 42nd Street moved their dancing feet to the Dallas Summer Musicals leg of their national tour. Originally produced in 1980, 42nd Street quickly became a Broadway classic winning Tony Awards® for Best Musical and Best Choreography under the direction of Gower Champion. Its revival in 2001 was equally well-received with a Tony Award® for Best Revival of a Musical. 42nd Street is the archetypal tale of a small town girl named Peggy (played by Caitlin Ehlinger) achieving her big Broadway dreams by understudying starlet Dorothy Brock (Kaitlin Lawrence) with the grace of a hotshot producer, Julian Marsh (Matthew J. Taylor).