Houston Roundup: The Halloween Edition

It's almost Halloween, and if you're still looking for a spooky good time, let us make some suggestions. From ghosts and man-eating plants to telekinetic teens and angry mobs, there's a lot out there for the Houston theatre-goer to find ... if you dare.

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CARRIE: THE MUSICAL

Iconotheatrix is the new kid on the block in the Houston theatre scene in more ways than one - it's both a youth theatre and it's less than two years old - but that doesn't stop co-founder and director of CARRIE: THE MUSICAL Logan Vaden from setting a pretty high bar for the company's upcoming production: "We want this to be unlike any production of CARRIE seen before." While Vaden admits the choice is risky, from the complex technical side of the show (with "flying chairs, windows and doors slamming shut by themselves, and lightbulbs exploding") to working from material that flopped when it premiered in 1988, he says they knew they "needed a CARRIE that was fresh and new, so lots of brainstorming and preparation has gone into making this something that audiences will walk away from saying, 'Wow!'" The show will be in-the-round, so "every moment, every reaction ... the audience is right there, inches from it," and the casting is "100% age appropriate (teenagers playing the teenagers and adults playing the adults)," which Vaden says "makes it feel all the more real."

CARRIE: THE MUSICAL opens Thursday at 7:30 p.m. and continues at 8:00 p.m. Friday, 7:00 p.m. and 11:59 p.m. Saturday, and 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. Sunday at The MATCH, 3400 Main. For more information, visit iconotheatrix.org. $17 to $27.

SLEEPY HOLLOW

Gather the children and ride down to The Company OnStage for SLEEPY HOLLOW, a faithful telling of Washington Irving's American classic that finds Ichabod Crane on an ill-fated collision course with the Headless Horseman. The original work and world premiere, specially commissioned by Company OnStage from L. Robert Westeen two years ago, is the first in what artistic director Stacy Bakri hopes will become a tradition of seasonal Halloween shows for young audiences. If you're worried about the kids sitting through the show, Bakri will remind you, they know what they're doing. "Children are indeed a tough crowd to play to," says Bakri, "but we have been doing it for almost 40 years, so we've got lots of practice under our belts. Our productions for young audiences are geared to engage through high energy performances, colorful costumes, humor (and sometimes it's okay to go for some good old-fashioned low brow stuff kids love), music, use of the entire performance space and playing to the audience in the audience, and breaking the fourth wall." Bakri adds, "Anytime we find an appropriate opportunity to make the audience a part of the show, we take it."

You can catch SLEEPY HOLLOW at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Saturdays through October 28 at McPhail Hall, St. John's Presbyterian Church, 5020 West Bellfort. For more information, call 713-736-1219 or visit companyonstage.org. $10.

THE CRUCIBLE

Speaking of American classics, albeit tailored to a bit more mature audience, the Moores Opera Center is staging Robert Ward's THE CRUCIBLE, based on the perpetually-relevant play by Arthur Miller. "It was a Pulitzer Prize-winner in 1962 for good reason," says Moores Opera Center director Buck Ross. Ross says the tale, which uses the Salem witch trials as an allegory for McCarthyism, is "the perfect opera for people who are new to opera" as the medium itself, even enhances the story. "The opera compresses the action in a way that makes it even more effective as a drama," says Ross. "The addition of music lifts the scale of the piece and provides an emotional sweep that just can't be done in spoken theatre."

THE CRUCIBLE opens at 7:30 p.m. Friday, October 21, and continues at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, October 22, and Monday, October 24; and at 2 p.m. Sunday, October 23 at The University of Houston, 120 School of Music Building. For more information, please call 713-743-3313 or visit uh.edu/cota/music/opera. $12 to $20.

THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME

This October, The Grand 1894 Opera House brings THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME back to the big screen. The silent classic, released in 1923 when not only horror movies were new but movies themselves were new, will be accompanied by organist Rob Landes. "Universal spent nearly a million dollars to build the set of Notre Dame and construction took 6 months," says Landes, which included over 700 extras and 3,000 costumes. It amounts to a film Landes describes as "exceptional," a "feast for the eyes." And he should know. He says he watches a silent film three to four times just to get a feel for it, then again to note all the intertitles, and then all the action, and again to get musical ideas. But everything you hear will be improvised on the spot. "It is interesting in that from the moment the film starts, I 'zone-out' and almost become at-one with the movie. When it is over, it takes me a few minutes to snap out of my state-of-mind!" But Landes wouldn't have it any other way. "I love it, and it is truly a pleasure to sit and add a musical 'voice' to these brilliant works of art."

THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME, with organist Rob Landes, will play at 8 p.m. Saturday, October 29 at The Grand 1894 Opera House, 2020 Post Office Street, Galveston. For more information, please call 800-821-1894 or visit thegrand.com. $18 to $20.

LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS

When asked to describe Stageworks Theatre's current production of LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, artistic director Michael Montgomery says, "Think 'colorized b-movie' on a stage." Doing away with "conventional staging, set design and costuming," Stageworks is even going the non-puppet route for everyone's favorite man-eating plant, Audrey II. "Even though a puppet was 'traditional,' we didn't like that option for a few reasons," says Montgomery. "One, we didn't love the puppet options available; two, anybody who loves this show has already seen the puppets; and three, quite frankly, although we could make our own, a puppet limits a director's ability to tell the story." Instead, Taylor Fischer, who Montgomery says "gives the twisted green plant from outer space a southern, yet sinister sound, inspired by Paula Deen," and a team of dancers will bring Audrey II to life. "Physically, Audrey II is a bizarrely perfect blend of an androgynous creature that is fashioned, made up and glittered like a 1960s 'fashionista' movie star! If you take a closer look, you might see Jessica Rabbit costume elements - zany concept, but it works," promises Montgomery.

LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS runs at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays through October 30 at the Garza Main Stage, 10760 Grant. For more information, call 281-587-6100 or visit stageworkshouston.org. $15 to $26.

THE WOMAN IN BLACK

If you only know THE WOMAN IN BLACK from the Daniel Radcliffe film of the same name, you're in for a big surprise according to Eric Domuret, director of the Queensbury Theatre production. "The premise [of THE WOMAN IN BLACK] is that these two gentlemen are going to re-enact the terrible experience that Mr. Kipps encountered many years ago. They do so with random props, costumes, and recorded sound effects. This makes the show impossible to adapt into any other medium. It is one of those rare shows that can only exist in live theatre," says Domuret. While the goal of the show is to scare, Domuret says they will not be relying on gimmicks or jump scares - in fact, he promises much more. "Audiences do not know how to prepare for this, because they have never experienced it. When Queensbury's artistic director, Luke Wrobel, was choosing the plays for the Queensbury season, he was discussing with me other possible options for plays that could, as he said, '... scare the hell out of the audience.' I exhausted every possible resource and could only find THE WOMAN IN BLACK."

THE WOMAN IN BLACK runs at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 7:30 p.m. Thursdays and Sundays from October 21 through November 5 at Queensbury Theatre, 12777 Queensbury. For more information, please call 877-674-8147 or visit queensburytheatre.org. $23 to $28.

Writing and editing by Natalie de la Garza. Additional reporting from Katricia Lang and Brett Cullum.

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