David Clarke - Page 27

Continuing their 2013-14 season, Mildred's Umbrella Theatre Company is producing Diana Amsterdam's CARNIVAL ROUND THE CENTRAL FIGURE. In the play, Kate visits the deathbed of a close friend and through a series of theatrical dreams and nightmares must acknowledge that no matter how much denial, positive thinking or prayer people practice to avoid death, the existential fears that every human being holds about the end of life will result in the same end… death. In anticipation of the play's opening, I chatted with Jennifer Decker, Mildred's Umbrella's Artistic Director and Director of the show, and playwright Diana Amsterdam about the piece.

In celebration of its fourth season, Sanguine Theatre Company will produce EXIT 27, a new work by award-winning playwright, Aleks Merilo and directed by Mark Kara?n. Based on a true story, EXIT 27 combines the themes of rejection, survival, and redemption in exploration of the human experience. As the overwhelming winner of Sanguine?s highly competitive playwriting competition, EXIT 27 brings a stirring perspective of raw human nature in its NYC premiere. In anticipation of the play's opening, BroadwayWorld chatted with Aleks Merilo about the play.

In 2007, LEGALLY BLONDE painted Broadway's Palace Theatre pink with its bubbly book by Heather Hach and infectious pop music and lyrics by Nell Benjamin and Laurence O'Keefe. Stumbling in the box office, the show became immensely popular after it was aired in its entirety on MTV in October 2007. The musical closed on Broadway on October 19, 2008 and enjoyed success on two separate national tours. Set to open tonight, City Lights Theatre, a community theatre in Sugar Land, is producing the sugary musical confection. Last night, they invited me out to their final dress rehearsal to preview their spin on the bouncy piece.

When Tim Minchin and Dennis Kelly's musical MATILDA, based on Roald Dahl's novel by the same name, first leapt across the pond most assumed that the Broadway cast would not get a cast recording. However, this production has been full of surprise announcements like Bertie Carvel reprising his role as Miss Trunchbull and the addition of an overture and pre-show curtain. Garnering positive notices when it opened on Broadway, the MATILDA (Original Broadway Cast Recording) does a great job capturing the spirit of the clever and spunky show.

October 2013 has been an exciting month for the rock musical LIZZIE. The first large production of the musical was mounted by Theater Under the Stars' newest venture TUTS Undergound, a theatre series promising no revivals, no dead authors, and no boundaries. Likewise, on October 8, 2013, LIZZIE's theatrical concept double album was released, garnering glowing and positive reviews from critics. While they were in Houston performing in LIZZIE, I spoke with two of LIZZIE's hard rocking stars, Carrie Manolakos and Carrie Cimma, about their experiences recording the exceptionally fun and alluring album.

Giuseppe Verdi's 1871 opera AIDA is a worldwide phenomenon. It has been adapted into several films, Elton John and Tim Rice adapted it into a Broadway musical with the same title, and, as of 2007, New York City's Metropolitan Opera has given over 1,100 performances of the opera, making it their second most frequently produced work. Oozing with spectacle and pageantry, Houston Grand Opera's (HGO) current production of the beloved opera is a spellbinding and sumptuous beginning to their new season.

Ira Levin is best known for his suspenseful and creepy novels The Stepford Wives and Rosemary's Baby, both of which have been adapted into successful films. His 1978 play DEATHTRAP holds the record for the longest running comedy-thriller in Broadway history, playing almost 1800 performances across a four-year run. Despite positive reviews and a healthy run, his 1973 play VERONICA'S ROOM just didn't capture audiences the way his other works did. Thrills, chills, and horror are hard to make affective in a staged play; however, Stages Repertory Theatre's production of VERONICA'S ROOM delivers these aspects in abundance.

Ominously thunder claps and the harsh florescent lights flicker. The stage, an immaculate recreation of a non-descript rehearsal studio in New York City, buzzes to life under the highly realistic, yet unusual lighting choice from the design standpoint. David Ives' wildly popular erotic comedy VENUS IN FUR springs to fully realized life on the Alley Theatre's Neuhaus Stage. Relentlessly erotic, the power struggle at the heart of the piece sizzles, grabbing audiences by throat. We collectively and willingly kneel before the play, submitting to its unflinching dominance, as we get lost in the poetry of the prose.

As the British Empire was approaching it's zenith, J. M. Barrie struck a long-lasting cultural nerve with his character of Peter Pan. The imaginative boy first appeared in the 1902 novel The Little White Bird. In 1904, the character's most beloved adventure premiered as a play entitled THE BOY WHO WOULDN'T GROW UP. 111 years later audiences are still fascinated by the character. Currently, in Houston, the highly lauded and award garnering PETER AND THE STARCATCHER, a prequel to the Peter Pan story we all know, is sending Houston audiences on fanciful flights of whimsy.

With intense and tricky harmonies and complex syncopations, Jason Robert Brown's SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD is an ambitious title for any company to program, let alone an up and coming group like The Eklektix Theatre Company (ETC). With that said, from what I saw at last night's final dress rehearsal, ETC proves that some risks are worth taking. The young company, filled with fresh faces and young talent, deftly tackles Jason Robert Brown's intricate score and is producing a staged concert that is both beautiful and moving.

Shortly after it was announced that nominations were open for the 2013 BroadwayWorld Houston Regional Awards, BroadwayWorld received an anonymous e-mail asking that Stage Door, Inc., a community theater in Pasadena, be disqualified from winning awards if they garnered enough votes. With my involvement in Houston's close-knit and supportive theatre community, such a request struck me as uncharacteristically odd.

Anna Greenfield is an emerging American playwright. Her play ALL GIRLS garnered a lot of recognition during its initial New York City run produced by Horse Trade Theater Group at New York City's Kraine Theater. The play is described as being "a hyper real and sometimes surreal play about three teenage girls and one colossally scary mother. Trembling on the brink of womanhood, the girls act out with one another and their families in the most outrageous ways imaginable." In the height of technical rehearsals, I digitally conversed with playwright Anna Greenfield, Susannah Eig (Morgan), Victoria Villarreal (Claude), Amy Michele Mire (Jenny), Kim Tobin (Mrs. Gray), and director Julia Traber about the upcoming Houston regional premiere of ALL GIRLS.

FLIPSIDE: THE PATTI PAGE STORY is taking to the road. In anticipation of the production's Texas stops, I chatted with writer and director Greg White about the show. He explains, 'It's not a revue. It's her story,' and that the show itself is 'funny and very poignant.' He also told me that the show has a little something for everyone. After all, 'they call Patti [Page] Country-politan. She was one of the first crossover artists that did country, jazz, and pop. Believe it or not she did some R&B. Patti did everything.'

I can't pinpoint the date that the musical LIZZIE first made a bleep on my radar, but I do know that by June 16, 2013, I was dying to hear the album. Living in Houston, Texas, I missed the LIZZIE pre-release listening party at Bowery Electric. Feeling as though Andrew Borden himself were locking me away from the album, my anticipation of the anachronistic hard-rock score left me dreaming of bloody axes and Victorian ladies turned punk-rock goddesses singing their hearts out. Luckily, after roughly four months of anticipation, I finally got my hands on LIZZIE, a theatrical concept double album, and I couldn't be more blown away.

Eklektix Theatre Company burst onto the Houston scene with a summer 2012 production of SPRING AWAKENING. They followed that up with an ambitious season of old favorites, bringing Houston audiences edgy and innovative productions of MACBETH, SPRING AWAKENING in concert, THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW, and RENT. Kicking off their current season, the youthful but talented group of artists is rehearsing Jason Robert Brown's complex and stirring SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD. This past weekend, I dropped in on a rehearsal to chat with the cast about preparing the show for Houston audiences.

The made for TV musical movie DEAR DUMB DIARY, based on the novels by Jim Benton, premiered on the Hallmark Channel on Friday, September 6, 2013. Lakeshore Records digitally released the companion soundtrack album on September 10, 2013. Physical copies of the album were released on October 1, 2013. The fluffy, feel-good story follows Jaime Kelly, played by Emily Alyn Lind, as she navigates the world of Mackerel Middle School.

When it comes to classic opera, Giuseppe Verdi is one of the most prominent composers. LA TRAVIATA is based La dame aux Camelias, a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils, and had its world premiere on March 6, 1853. Guiseppe Verdi was displeased that the authorities at La Fenice insisted that the opera be set circa 1700. Additionally, Fanny Salvini-Donatelli playing the female lead upset the opening night audience because they felt she was too old and too overweight to play a young woman dying of consumption. Despite these hiccups, the opera is immensely popular and according to Operabase, it was the most produced opera in the 2012-13 season.

After the success of THE PRODUCERS, Mel Brooks gave YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN the Broadway treatment. The ribald musical comedy had it's pre-Broadway try out at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle, Washington. It began previews on Broadway on October 11, 2007 and opened at the Foxwoods Theatre (then named the Hilton Theatre) on November 8. The show closed after 485 performances on January 4, 2009. The production launched two national tours, with the Second National Tour closing on May 31, 2012. Rights to the musical became available to regional theaters shortly thereafter, and many ballsy theatre companies are gladly taking on the ambitious project.

When attending a production at The Catastrophic Theatre, I always know I am in for a journey. My favorite aspect of this group is that each and every one of their productions is a risk-taking endeavor, guaranteeing Houston audiences access to fresh, cutting-edge presentations of theatrical craftsmanship. Their current production, the World Premiere of Mickle Maher's THE PINE was commissioned by The Catastrophic Theatre and funded in part by a grant awarded by The MAP Fund, a program of Creative Capital supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Unfortunately, THE PINE wasn't to my liking, but the opportunity to see something crafted with this company in mind is reason enough for anyone to attend a performance.

Inspired by Stephan Elliott's 1994 motion picture, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, the international smash-hit show PRISCILLA, QUEEN OF THE DESERT: THE MUSICAL is making a stop in Houston. Having found success in Australia and in London, the musical had its Broadway debut at the Palace Theatre with a Bette Midler produced production on February 28, 2011, and the show officially opened on March 20. The glamorous and glittery First National Tour kicked off on January 8, 2013, and has been taking the United States by storm. After seeing the show last night, there is simply no denying that this is the party musical of the century. For a good time, get tickets to PRISCILLA, QUEEN OF THE DESERT: THE MUSICAL.