David Clarke - Page 35

Touring the nation in a show is nothing new for Colby Foytik, currently playing Tommy DeVito in the 2nd National Tour of the smash hit musical JERSEY BOYS. In fact, audiences around the nation may remember seeing him star as Perchik in Topol's 2009 Farewell Tour of FIDDLER ON THE ROOF. However, like most of us use the weekends to get caught up on life, many actors use Mondays for similar purposes. Enjoying some downtime in Norfolk, VA and putting the glamour of being on stage aside so he could get some laundry done, Colby Foytik talked with me about his career, playing Tommy DeVito, and the JERSEY BOYS 2nd National Tour.

I recently got the chance to speak with Vanessa Cerda-Alonzo, who has been performing all over the world as Lupita in the world's first Mariachi Opera, CRUZAR LA CARA DE LA LUNA. We talked about her career, her training through Multicultural Education and Counseling through the Arts (M.E.C.A), and CRUZAR LA CARA DE LA LUNA. Also, she freely told me, 'It's very moving, CRUZA LA CARA DE LA LUNA.' Vanessa Cerda-Alonzo also quoted Cecilia Duarte, who sings Renata, exclaiming, 'Bring your tissues because you're going to cry!'

Cone Man Running Productions' is bringing the Regional Premiere of Christopher Trumbo's 2003 play TRUMBO: RED, WHITE AND BLACKLISTED to Houston. The play mounted on Broadway with a revolving door of big name celebrities playing Christopher Trumbo's father, Dalton Trumbo. Nathan Lane, Tim Robbins, Brian Dennehy, Ed Harris, Chris Cooper, and Gore Vidal all spent some inhabiting the heroically indefatigable Dalton Trumbo. In New York, the actors were not off-book, carrying the script on stage with them. Cone Man Running Productions has its three actors off-book as much as possible, only reading from the witty and wordy letters composed by Dalton Trumbo.

Main Street Theater's Theater for Youth program's continued commitment to fully produced shows for children is alive and well in their current production of Jeffrey Hatcher's adaptation of Harry Allard and James Marshall's MISS NELSON IS MISSING. The play is produced with the same standard for design and acting as any of their main stage shows, ensuring that Houston's children and the adults who bring them are treated to a quality theatrical production.

Comedies about Southern women talking are a dime a dozen. Most audiences cling to Robert Harling's STEEL MAGNOLIAS, imbued with healthy doses of both comedy and drama, as the quintessential Southern women play. However, Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope, and Jamie Wooten's DIXIE SWIM CLUB may start giving Robert Harling some competition.

The popular circus company, Cirque du Soleil is quickly approaching their 30th anniversary. The company premiered CIRQUE DU SOLEIL, their first nouveau cirque-a theatrical and character-driven circus without performing animals-on June 16, 1984. Since their humble beginnings, they have become a worldwide phenomenon. Cirque du Soleil has developed 31 shows (many of which are still running in sit-down presentations or on tours) and currently working on at least a couple more.

Any mention of Aaron Sorkin's A FEW GOOD MEN makes people instantly think of Jack Nicholson yelling, 'You can't handle the truth!' Currently, the Alley Theatre is offering a production of Aaron Sorkin's play that easily surpasses the 1992 film adaptation in quality. The Alley Theatre's powerful production of A FEW GOOD MEN is a tense, taut court room drama thrill-ride that will leave audiences breathless and speechless.

Obsidian Art Space's resident theatre company, Big Head Productions, is bringing a fanciful little niche show to Houston audiences in their production of Crash Buist's EVIL IN JUSTICEBERG. This new comic book themed play is filled with laughs and spandex. Audiences looking for zany fun are in for a treat if they venture to Obsidian Art Space during this run.

The Spanish Inquisition was a harrowing and dark time in history. It has been the fodder for countless novels, plays, and books. Yet, I never had much faith that a musical would be a good medium to explore that horrific era. I figured I wouldn't enjoy the 1965 musical adaptation of Miguel de Cervantes Don Quixote. Certainly some of the classics appeal to me, but the darker, rawer, more edgy musicals are the ones that I really love. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think upon seeing MAN OF LA MANCHA for the first time that it would find a place in the Parthenon of my favorite musicals. However, Theatre Under the Stars' (TUTS) marvelous production has ensured that this gem of a show will forever have a safe and warm spot in my heart.

Last night, I was invited to attend the final dress rehearsal of Country Playhouse and the Houston Masonic Library's World Premiere production of LEAVING SAN JACINTO by Diana Howie. The one act drama invites audiences to imagine what the journey on the Yellow Stone Steam Boat may have been like on a certain day in May of 1836. Texas is a new nation, having just won its independence. Sam Houston, Lorenzo de Zavala, and Santa Anna, three of Texas history's most iconic masons are all on board the Yellow Stone. The boat leaves Harrisburg, Texas and heads south on the San Jacinto River towards Galveston, allowing these three men a great opportunity to come together and even converse.

There is no denying that the artistry of ballet revolves around creating mesmerizing visuals, whether it is lush lovely picturesque scenes or exhilarating 'stunt' work that appears to defy all the natural laws of gravity, human flexibility, and motion. In these regards, Houston Ballet's production of LA BAYADÈRE is a sumptuous feast of artistic ingenuity and elegance. However, the repetitious, staunch, and wholly austere European score by Ludwig Minkus as arranged by John Lanchbery and similarly repetitious and almost entirely classical ballet choreography by Stanton Welch, after Marius Petipa, left me wanting something different and something more. With all the references to Bollywood in the pre-production publicity, I expected to see and hear a lot more of the elements from my favorite cinematic genre than the production delivered.

Stark Naked Theater Company's production of Yasmina Reza's GOD OF CARNAGE, which was translated from its original French into English by Christopher Hampton, is one wild roller coaster of a ride that will leave audiences simultaneously speechless and breathless. Last night's opening night audience elicited the most real and completely guttural responses to the over-the-top, laugh a second show that I have ever had the pleasure to see and be a part of during a live theatre performance. Wild peals of laughter, squeals of horror, screams of delight, and ecstatic claps filled Studio 101 as the audience was steamrolled by sheer talent and majestic magnetism for the show's entire 85 minute run time.

Houston had better watch out! Bayou City Theatrics is ensuring that audiences will feel the sturm und drang in the air with their production of LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, which opens tonight at the Frenetic Theatre at 5102 Navigation Boulevard. Last night, I was invited to attend their final dress rehearsal to get an early sneak peak at their magnificent production, which I found to be wholly entertaining and utterly spellbinding. Alan Menken and Howard Ashman's LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS is possibly my absolute favorite musical of all time. I have really high expectations and standards for every production of this show, and from what I saw last night Bayou City Theatrics is delivering everything our sickly, greasy hearts could desire!

As February gallops to an end, Theatre Under the Stars (TUTS) is hard at work, preparing a local production of the classic musical THE MAN OF LA MANCHA. With a score by Mitch Leigh, lyrics by Joe Darion, and a book by Dale Wasserman, the acclaimed musical is inspired by Dale Wasserman's teleplay I, Don Quixote and Miguel de Cervantes classic novel Don Quixote. Last week, I got to sit down with Bruce Lumpkin, TUTS' new Artistic Director and director of MAN OF LA MANCHA, and his wife Michelle Gaudette, choreographer of MAN OF LA MANCHA, to discuss their upcoming production.

Continuing their season of murder, madness, and mayhem, Stage Door, Inc. is presenting Simon Moore's theatrical adaptation of MISERY, based on the thrilling novel by Stephen King. The tense and disturbing play tells the story of the famed novelist of the Misery Chastain series, Paul Sheldon, being nursed back to health by his self-proclaimed 'number one fan,' Annie Wilkes. Annie is beside herself with joy in getting the opportunity to use her nursing skills to help the author. When she reads his manuscript for his new novel, her mental instability begins to rear its ugly head. She becomes enraged with him for using so much profanity and violence and makes him burn the draft. Things get worse for Paul when Annie reads Misery's Child and discovers that he ended the series with Misery's death during childbirth. She gifts him with an antique typewriter and demands that he write a new novel, called Misery's Return. To ensure that he writes the novel, she tortures him physically and mentally. Simon Moore's unnerving adaptation is more faithful to the original novel than the film starring James Caan and Kathy Bates; yet, fans of the film will find plenty to enjoy in the play.

Direction by Jennifer Dean keeps this Texas style 'Beauty and the Beast' parable clipping brightly along during the first act, which is pleasantly bubbly and tender. In the second act, the writing and direction together slow the pace of the sprightly comedy. The writing, especially, becomes filled with redundant moments and removes every ounce of subtly from the themes and messages beautifully constructed and pristinely directed in the first act. While, as a whole, THE FIRST CHURCH OF TEXACO is pleasant, I couldn't help but feel that the second act could be pared down some to keep the momentum rocking forward.

Houston's Theatre fans always anticipate season announcements with bated breath like children awaiting Birthday presents or clamoring to see what Santa Claus has placed under their trees. Theater Under the Stars (TUTS) has a fantastic gift for fans of musical theatre to unwrap today. Their 2013-2014 season is an enthralling and exciting season with a little something for everyone, including Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, We Will Rock You, Wizard of Oz, Evita, Elf and The Little Mermaid.

Modern Theatre of the Absurd is alive and very well at Obsidian Art Space, where the World Premiere of Gene Kato's VIRAL INFECTION is enjoying a glorious run. Gene Kato thought the play was un-producible and has kept it hidden away for 21 years. In a way, I'm deeply thankful. Had this play premiered 21 years ago, I wouldn't have seen it. Thus, I am happy the stars aligned justly to afford me the opportunity to see the zany, mad-cap lunacy and thoroughly refreshing thought provoking piece.

Presenting their second out of three productions for this year's 'Get Talking' series, Stages Repertory Theatre is producing Julia Cho's THE LANGUAGE ARCHIVE. The deliciously existential and fairy tale-esque drama won the 2010 Susan Smith Blackburn award, a prize given to plays written by women in the English language. The somewhat simplistic and formulaic plot introduces audiences to a linguist, George, who is the curator of a language library that preserves the last remaining strands of dead and dying languages. Despite his love for languages, he is inept in communication, which estranges him from his wife, Mary. George and his assistant, Emma, fly in a couple from a devastated Eastern European country to record their native language, the romantic and beautiful Elloway. However, the couple is bickering, so they have cast off Elloway and are using the 'hateful' language of English to fight.