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Gary Laird

Gary Laird Gary Laird is a former professor and administrator at Lamar University, a playwright and producer/director active in the Houston theater scene since the early 90s.




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BWW Review: The Duck, Having Quacked, Moves on at the Alley Theatre
BWW Review: The Duck, Having Quacked, Moves on at the Alley Theatre
February 25, 2019

QUACK playwright Eliza Clark is very good at sharp, rapid-fire dialogue, and she gives the actors plenty.

BWW Review: The Houston Ballet Returns to the Wortham with Stanton Welch's Sumptuous NUTCRACKER
BWW Review: The Houston Ballet Returns to the Wortham with Stanton Welch's Sumptuous NUTCRACKER
December 19, 2018

The Houston Ballet, after a year of touring various Houston venues while awaiting the refurbishment of the flood-damaged Wortham Theatre Center, makes a triumphant return in Stanton Welch's THE NUTCRACKER.

BWW Review: Agatha Christie's THE MOUSETRAP keeps its snap at the Alley Theatre
BWW Review: Agatha Christie's THE MOUSETRAP keeps its snap at the Alley Theatre
August 21, 2018

Agatha Christie's THE MOUSETRAP, now playing at the Alley Theatre, is a theatrical phenomenon.

BWW Review: A Darker SWAN LAKE Glides Onto Houston's Jones Hall Stage
BWW Review: A Darker SWAN LAKE Glides Onto Houston's Jones Hall Stage
June 29, 2018

A DARKER SWAN LAKE GLIDES ONTO HOUSTON'S JONES HALL STAGE

BWW Review: The Alley's PICASSO AT THE LAPIN AGILE is an intellectual 'Laff Riot'.
BWW Review: The Alley's PICASSO AT THE LAPIN AGILE is an intellectual 'Laff Riot'.
May 22, 2018

What can one say about a 90-minute play in which every other line is a punch line, and the plot really doesn't matter? I guess I'll find out.

BWW Review: CLEO Barges Onto the Alley Stage
BWW Review: CLEO Barges Onto the Alley Stage
April 20, 2018

The writer and director are to be congratulated for managing to tell the story fully in one 80-minute, no-intermission production.

BWW Review: The A.D. Players' HARVEY Is a Gift
BWW Review: The A.D. Players' HARVEY Is a Gift
October 1, 2017

Planned a year ago as the opening of their 2017-18 season, no one had any inkling how ironic the title HARVEY would be. Playwright Mary Chase's merry little romp seemed like a good idea at the time. And as it turned out, it was.

BWW Review: Houston Ballet Brings The Artistry And Drama Of Mayerling To The Hobby Center For The Performing Arts
BWW Review: Houston Ballet Brings The Artistry And Drama Of Mayerling To The Hobby Center For The Performing Arts
September 26, 2017

Houston has had its share of drama in the last few short weeks, and the city's downtown theater venues are reeling from the blow.

BWW Review: The Houston Ballet's season opener MAYERLING Brings Drama to Life at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts
BWW Review: The Houston Ballet's season opener MAYERLING Brings Drama to Life at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts
September 24, 2017

The Houston Ballet's season opener MAYERLING Brings Drama to Life at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts.

BWW Review: There are axes to grind in Firecracker Production's Regional Premiere of CROOKED, at the Obsidian Theater.
BWW Review: There are axes to grind in Firecracker Production's Regional Premiere of CROOKED, at the Obsidian Theater.
August 23, 2017

If you have any dull hatchets lying around, I suggest you bring them along. There are axe-grindings galore on the stage in this play by Catherine Trieschmann, now playing a summer run at the Obsidian Theater.

BWW Review: Summer Audiences Can Chill Out  With Hitchcock's THE 39 STEPS at the Alley Theatre
BWW Review: Summer Audiences Can Chill Out With Hitchcock's THE 39 STEPS at the Alley Theatre
July 27, 2017

Chill out. Alfred Hitchcock's THE 39 STEPS is at the Alley.

BWW Review: Gary Laird - PIPPIN Has Magic To Do at Miller Outdoor Theatre
BWW Review: Gary Laird - PIPPIN Has Magic To Do at Miller Outdoor Theatre
July 13, 2017

It's a show business aphorism that the meaning of the musical PIPPIN, first produced on Broadway in 1972, is anybody's guess. I can go along with that.

BWW Review: Things Get Freaky at the Alley In FREAKY FRIDAY
BWW Review: Things Get Freaky at the Alley In FREAKY FRIDAY
June 15, 2017

FREAKY FRIDAY, a new musical from Disney, is based on the 1976 original movie and 2003 remake of the same name. It's a simple premise. Career mother and teenage daughter don't get along. (Stop me if you've heard this one.)

BWW Review: North American Premiere of Bintley's TEMPEST Takes the Wortham by Storm
BWW Review: North American Premiere of Bintley's TEMPEST Takes the Wortham by Storm
June 2, 2017

The Houston Ballet brings one of the most theatrical of the Bard's plays to life in a lavish production by choreographer David Bintley. No expense was spared; no stop un-pulled in this story of love, revenge, magic, and complicated skullduggery that this play provides in abundance. Or maybe overabundance.

BWW Review: CIRQUE DU SOLEIL Soars at Sam Houston Race Park
BWW Review: CIRQUE DU SOLEIL Soars at Sam Houston Race Park
April 17, 2017

KURIOS, Cabinet of Curiosities, written and directed by Michel Laprise, creates a world vaguely 19th-century, with overtones of the French filmmaker Georges Melies. It's a world populated by fantastic beings, all going about their business with a will, whatever that business may be. It doesn't really matter though, because your disbelief is suspended from the first scene.

BWW Review: AN ACT OF GOD Descends at the Alley
BWW Review: AN ACT OF GOD Descends at the Alley
March 27, 2017

For those of you who may have been wondering about God's whereabouts, or worrying about his well-being, I can now report that he's alive and well and doing stand-up at the Alley Theatre.

BWW Review: Houston Ballet's LEGENDS AND PRODIGY ASTOUNDS
BWW Review: Houston Ballet's LEGENDS AND PRODIGY ASTOUNDS
March 18, 2017

Houston Ballet's program of three contemporary ballets, running now at THE WORTHAM CENTER, is breath-taking. This is the first of many adjectives I will reach for in this review. I may run out, but you'll get the drift.

BWW Review: The Hobby Center for the Performing Arts Asks the Musical Question, 'SHALL WE DANCE?'
BWW Review: The Hobby Center for the Performing Arts Asks the Musical Question, 'SHALL WE DANCE?'
March 16, 2017

The latest iteration of the production on tour is crafted with care and performed with verve. It's an 'old-fashioned' Broadway staple, and it never wears out its welcome. It unabashedly tugs at the heartstrings, tickles the funny bone and jerks the tears, just as it did when it opened 66 years ago this month. Few musicals achieve this kind of longevity, and more than a few of those are from the pens of Rodgers and Hammerstein.

BWW Review: HOUSTON BALLET Resets CINDERELLA at Wortham Theater Center
BWW Review: HOUSTON BALLET Resets CINDERELLA at Wortham Theater Center
March 6, 2017

In this retelling of the beloved fairy tale, pretty much everything is thrown out the window for a darker, edgier story of an independent woman fighting against her circumstances for a chance at a better life.

BWW Review: Josephine Reigns Supreme in THE LAST NIGHT OF JOSEPHINE BAKER at Midtown Arts Center
BWW Review: Josephine Reigns Supreme in THE LAST NIGHT OF JOSEPHINE BAKER at Midtown Arts Center
February 27, 2017

Josephine reigns supreme in THE LAST NIGHT OF JOSEPHINE BAKER.






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