Jeff Davis - Page 7

Tied by faith. Bound by secrets. The City Theatre is gearing up for the start of the 2014 Season with The Whipping Man, Matthew Lopez's award-winning drama that has been recognized from coast to coast. Under the direction of guest director Stacey Glazer and starring three veterans of the CTC stage, The Whipping Man runs February 7 - March 2.

Have we got a girl (or girls) for you! BroadwayWorld recently had a chance to chat with Paige Blend and Elise Lopez who star in The Playhouse's current production of Company as April and Sarah, respectively.

After five and a half years of residence at the Blue Star Arts Complex, Classic Theatre of San Antonio has made a new home in the Black Box of the Woodlawn Theatre! Their debut production in the new space, Death of a Salesman, opened this past weekend and runs thru February 23rd.

Sometimes a new, much talked about Broadway play is well deserving of the hype. Case in point: Venus in Fur. The play, by the brilliant David Ives, was the talk of New York back in 2011, largely in part to the Tony Award winning performance from Nina Arianda. Since becoming available to regional theaters, companies all over the nation have been scrambling to get the rights to produce this naughty little crowd-pleaser.

If you decide to see Gidion's Knot, and you should, take this word of caution. Be prepared to feel punched in the gut. This play will hit you, demand that you think, and will put you through a fair share of pain. I guarantee that it's worth it. Gidion's Knot may be uncomfortable, but it's definitely one of the best and most powerful dramas to come along in quite some time.

My apologies to Verdi and Mozart. No one does romance like Puccini. If you were lucky enough to catch Austin Lyric Opera's recent production of Tosca, I assume you'd agree with me. The production is easily among the best productions in ALO's recent history.

There's no doubt that People Will Talk About You Sometimes has good intentions, something I applaud and have no intention to criticize. The world premiere play from Poison Apple Initiative tries to tackle the topic of suicide and is inspired by 4.48 Psychosis, a performance art exploration of depression written by Sarah Kane whose clinical depression ended in suicide.

It's about time that the music of David Bowie gets a stage treatment, and it's no wonder that the inventive Andrea Ariel Dance Theatre clearly sees the potential to create a unique theatrical experience through Bowie's work. Part concert, part dance show, and part performance art, the world premiere of The Bowie Project, which closed in Austin this weekend, frequently entertains but is occasionally too artistic and highbrow for its own good.

There's something about The Sniper's Next, a theatrical reinterpretation of Me & Lee, that is compelling and engaging despite the major implausibilities.

Any theatergoer knows that new works tend to be hit or miss. New works premiering at a fringe festival tend to be even more unpredictable. Yes, there are plenty of successful, well-respected plays that had their beginnings at a fringe fest, but thousands more premiere and are swiftly forgotten. Mocha, currently enjoying its World Premiere at FronteraFest, won't be forgotten anytime soon. The play, written by Eleanor Burgess and produced by EVN Productions and Last Act Theatre Company, gives an honest and unapologetic look at international adoptions. While every person involved may think they have the child's best interests at heart, political agendas quickly come into play.

To all at The Hidden Room, I hope you know that you've accomplished the impossible. You've made me like Hamlet. I know there are millions out there who consider Hamlet to be the greatest tragedy of all time, but I on the other hand consider the act of viewing Hamlet to be the real tragedy. Honestly, if I wanted to watch three hours of an unsympathetic, indecisive whiner hem and haw over decisions that will affect their entire country, I'd turn on C-SPAN and watch an entire Congress do their best imitation of Shakespeare's infamous Prince of Denmark.

If you go see W.K., the startling original play now playing at The Vortex, you may notice the following note in the program: "W.K. is a work in progress and we would love your feedback, thoughts, and ideas as we continue to develop the piece." Here's my feedback. Don't change a damn thing. As it is right now, W.K. is one of the most astonishing and innovative pieces of theater to come along in Austin in quite a while.

At the top of the second act of The Language Archive, a skilled linguist named George (Trevor Bissell) gives the audience a lesson in Esperanto, a universal language created in the late 1800s. In the span of about 2 minutes, we learn the Esperanto translations of 'I am loved,' 'I was loved,' and 'I have been loved,' among others.

In her curtain speech on opening night of Lend Me a Tenor, now playing at the Georgetown Palace, Artistic Director Mary Ellen Butler called playwright a Ken Ludwig a "comedic genius," and explained why she encouraged director Lannie Hilboldt to tackle the play. Hilboldt, a professional musician, has served as Musical Director on several productions and made his directorial debut with Georgetown Palace's recent production of Always, Patsy Cline. Until now, Hilboldt had not directed a play, but Butler urged him to direct Lend Me a Tenor because his musical ability would serve him well in finding the timing and rhythm of Ludwig's farce. "Music is math," Butler said to the opening night audience, "and comedy is math."

Austin actresses, take note. If you're not getting cast as often as you'd wish, there are two techniques you may want to try. Next time you go to an audition, come with props, specifically a dog collar and a whip. If that's not your style, then just try to emulate the incredible talents of Molly Karrasch. Those are two big takeaways from Venus in Fur, the startlingly and daring new comedy now playing at Austin Playhouse.

MAN OF LA MANCHA has entertained audiences for almost 50 years, and if the current National Tour is any indication, it will continue to do so 50 years from now.

Don't let the scattered empty seats in Bass Concert Hall fool you. American Idiot is quite possibly the biggest sell-out show in history. Billie Joe Armstrong and Co., I hope the millions you've earned by pimping out one of the greatest albums of a generation made it all worth it, and I hope it didn't hurt to see your greatest achievement robbed of all its emotion and power. Even Bono was able to contribute to musical theater while maintaining more integrity.

The new touring production of MAN OF LA MANCHA stops in Austin, TX this week, and star Jessica Norland recently answered several questions for BroadwayWorld regarding the production…

The new touring production of MAN OF LA MANCHA stops in Austin, TX this week, and star Jack E. Curenton recently answered several questions for BroadwayWorld regarding the production…

There's no question that A Christmas Story is a beloved classic. The 30 year old film gets plenty of airtime on cable channels during the holiday season, and it's inspired two stage adaptations, one musical and one non-musical. But as much as I love the 1983 film A Christmas Story and have always considered it to be a perfect family film, my opinion of the film lessens ever so slightly with every stage version that I see of it. That's not to say that the stage versions are bad. On the contrary, they're often somehow superior to the film, as is the case with Zach Theatre's hysterical and incredibly enjoyable production.