Tuesday, April 21, 2015
Director Carlus Padrissa's arresting visuals often dovetail nicely with the mood and meaning of the music, especially the splashy projections on ever-shifting panels, the production's primar…
SOURCE: Houston Chronicle Subscription at 11:37AMFriday, April 17, 2015
Stunning critics and audiences alike is nothing new for "Sweeney Todd," the audacious musical thriller widely regarded as composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim's masterpiece.
The remarkabl…
SOURCE: Houston Chronicle Subscription at 05:06PMAnton Chekhov's final classic is an acknowledged masterpiece of world theater - but like all his works, poses tricky challenges.
The play centers on Lubov and Gaev, a middle-aged sister and…
SOURCE: Houston Chronicle Subscription at 12:00PMTuesday, April 14, 2015
The fifth Maher play produced by Houston's Catastrophic Theatre, "The Hunchback Variations" takes the form of a panel discussion on theatrical sound effects.
Quasimodo re-creates the variou…
SOURCE: Houston Chronicle Subscription at 02:09PMFriday, April 10, 2015
Say "opera" to many people and the first image that comes to mind will be a formidable blond woman, wearing a winged helmet, carrying a spear and singing her lungs out.
Given that Wonder Wo…
SOURCE: Houston Chronicle Subscription at 05:33PMWhatever the peculiar mystique, Jack Heifner's three-woman comedy "Vanities" - a sort of "Three Little Cheerleaders and How They Grew" - became a surprise success in the late 1970s.
Concurr…
SOURCE: Houston Chronicle Subscription at 12:21PMWednesday, April 8, 2015
The concertmaster traditionally plays a leadership role with any orchestra - guiding the violins, the orchestra's largest section, and is crucial to the overall ensemble's cohesiveness and e…
SOURCE: Houston Chronicle Subscription at 06:18PM"The Hunchback Variations" - starring none other than Quasimodo, Victor Hugo's immortal bell-ringer of Notre Dame - makes its Houston premiere Friday.
The play's author is Mickle Maher, a f…
SOURCE: Houston Chronicle Subscription at 03:02PMMonday, April 6, 2015
An island community faces a censorship crisis because, as letters begin to fall from an inscription on the town monument, the governing council begins banning the letters one by one - from b…
SOURCE: Houston Chronicle Subscription at 05:26PMFriday, April 3, 2015
The transatlantic comedy hit "One Man, Two Guvnors," the sci-fi thriller "The Nether" and the medical drama "The Other Place" will make their Houston premieres in the Alley Theatre's 2015-16…
SOURCE: Houston Chronicle Subscription at 05:36PMAstutely staged by playwright Theresa Rebeck in her directing debut and artfully acted by a uniformly fine cast, "All My Sons" remains impressive in sheer human impact as an understanding po…
SOURCE: Houston Chronicle Subscription at 05:20PMTuesday, March 31, 2015
Was it THE Robert Durst? -the notorious and eccentric gazillionaire who once again stands accused of foul play?
If the absent donor was indeed THE Robert Durst, missing Saturday's event wou…
SOURCE: Houston Chronicle Subscription at 03:10PMFriday, March 27, 2015
'All My Sons' probes ethics, consequences
Since 2015 is the centenary of Arthur Miller, America's pre-eminent dramatist of ethical issues and social conscience, Alley Theatre artistic direc…
SOURCE: Houston Chronicle Subscription at 05:25PMTuesday, March 24, 2015
Acclaimed song stylist Hilary Kole, who has won an avid following in New York's jazz and cabaret scene, says she never would have become a singer if not for Judy Garland.
Kole gratefully re…
SOURCE: Houston Chronicle Subscription at 05:27PMFor children who are hospitalized or undergoing treatment, anything that provides momentary diversion and lifts the spirit is welcome.
Through its Healing Arts program, Young Audiences of H…
SOURCE: Houston Chronicle Subscription at 03:14PMMonday, March 23, 2015
[...] under Stages Repertory Theatre artistic director Kenn McLaughlin's inventive and theatrically invigorating direction, a terrific seven-actor cast makes the most of the script's humor, …
SOURCE: Houston Chronicle Subscription at 04:57PMFriday, March 20, 2015
"What I Learned" is not a political play, but a romantic comedy set among campaign staffers as they relish their victory and anticipate remaining part of the team that will bring a new day t…
SOURCE: Houston Chronicle Subscription at 07:11PMThe presenter of chamber music and jazz will continue its trademark multimedia programs exploring connections between arts disciplines, as in a Marcel Proust Project combining excerpts from …
SOURCE: Houston Chronicle Subscription at 05:06PMThursday, March 19, 2015
[...] with eager-to-please direction and choreography by Andy Blankenbuehler, and genial leads in husband-and-wife "American Idol" alumni Ace Young and Diana DeGarmo, the production is relat…
SOURCE: Houston Chronicle Subscription at 12:47PMWednesday, March 18, 2015
ABC's pre-broadcast description describes the show thus: "With unprecedented access, Sawyer goes behind-the-scenes to show viewers what happened beyond the frame in those famous movie scenes…
SOURCE: Houston Chronicle Subscription at 04:04PMTuesday, March 17, 2015
Bayou City Theatrics, a small and relatively new company, has taken on a big challenge by tackling a beloved, large-scale classic in Rodgers and Hammerstein's "South Pacific" - especially wi…
SOURCE: Houston Chronicle Subscription at 11:34AMFriday, March 13, 2015
The title may sound irreverent - dismissive even - but don't think playwright Aaron Posner is giving the bird to Anton Chekhov's seminal classic "The Seagull" with his acclaimed 21st-century…
SOURCE: Houston Chronicle Subscription at 05:18PMBased on the 2007 film of the same title, the folk-style musical makes its Houston debut with the touring company at Hobby Center, with personable leads Stuart Ward and Dani de Waal heading …
SOURCE: Houston Chronicle Subscription at 11:08AMWednesday, March 11, 2015
Broadway legend Audra McDonald was in spectacular voice for her concert Tuesday night at Wortham Theater Center, a gala inaugurating the University of Houston Moores School of Music's Madiso…
SOURCE: Houston Chronicle Subscription at 03:08PMTuesday, March 10, 2015
Part of the fun in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is just how monumentally un-smoothly things run, not only for the play's four bewildered young lovers but for its crew of bumbling craftsmen tu…
SOURCE: Houston Chronicle Subscription at 11:37AMFriday, March 6, 2015
[...] like many recent popular movies, "Once" has found a second life on stage.
The show makes its Houston premiere with the national touring company, opening Tuesday at Hobby Center.
Writ…
SOURCE: Houston Chronicle Subscription at 05:10PMThrough the struggles and triumphs of one family, held together by several generations of formidable women, the play chronicles Croatia's tumultuous history - from the remnants of monarchy, …
SOURCE: Houston Chronicle Subscription at 05:06PMTuesday, February 24, 2015
"Troubled" is too mild a word for Stuart, the 16-year-old protagonist of "The Blackest Shore," Mark Schultz's play making its world premiere at Catastrophic Theatre.
Yet a friendship that d…
SOURCE: Houston Chronicle Subscription at 11:46AMFriday, February 20, 2015
Renowned as author of "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" and "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," Twain also was a beloved presence on the lecture circuit.
Twain's years on the lecture circuit cue…
SOURCE: Houston Chronicle Subscription at 05:03PMMonday, February 16, 2015
Latest of the Montreal company's spectacles to reach Houston, "Amaluna" represents considerable advances in giving each the traveling tent shows (the company has got quite a few) a distincti…
SOURCE: Houston Chronicle Subscription at 03:07PMFriday, February 13, 2015
[...] committed to participate are opera great Bryn Terfel (April 26, 2016) and concert pianist Lang Lang (Sept. 15, 2016).
Since emerging from the Juilliard School, McDonald has been an in…
SOURCE: Houston Chronicle Subscription at 06:00PM 
