Penetrating, sharp as razor wire wrapped around a bamboo prison compound. Resonant, brimming over with grief, suffering and bitterness — yet transcendent, profoundly humanizing in its poetic homage to a forgotten American hero…. Composer Tom Cipullo’s one-act opera Glory Denied, playing through May 11 as part of Fort Worth Opera’s 2013 Festival, captures the somber … Continue reading
Posted in April 2013 …
A Passing Grace: Angels Fall @ Contemporary Theatre of Dallas
Expressing exuberance when quoted in a 1982 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article as his new play Angels Fall worked its way towards Broadway, playwright Lanford Wilson exclaimed, “The writing is as good as anything I’ve ever done. I don’t think I’ve ever had a show that audiences liked so much, except maybe Talley’s Folly.” Even as nominated … Continue reading
Bonifield named NTX Writer for “NewCrit Critics” on HowlRound.com
Criticism, Vitriol, and Announcing Our NewCrit Critics on HowlRound.com Polly Carl April 20, 2013 A couple of months ago we announced that we would add criticism to the HowlRound site. The idea met with both great enthusiasm and deep skepticism. We expected this. When we originally discussed this idea with a large group of advisors, … Continue reading
Spice Up the Night with Nina Katrina at Sammons Cabaret
Want to spice up your Sammons Cabaret Night with international flavor? Add Nina Katrina; tune up her accompanists, and feel Kurth Hall sizzle. This Thursday, April 18, is your chance to experience the unique styling and world-class repertoire of this Dallas-based international songbird. You don’t want to miss her. The eldest child born into a … Continue reading
The Importance of Earnest Cooperation: Oscar Wilde in Oklahoma City
Imagine if Stephen Colbert wrote and directed a full satire episode of “Downton Abbey”. That’s what Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest” feels like in Oklahoma City University’s accommodating thrust Burg Theatre space. A standout, signature co-production by Oklahoma City Repertory Theatre (City REP), Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park and OCU’s Theatre Department, it … Continue reading
Light Illuminating Dark: A.L.Rowse and Shakespeare’s Dark Lady
Playwright William Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets. Twenty-four of them address his passionate love for an un-named person known as “the dark lady”, someone he described as ‘a woman color’d ill’ with black eyes and dark, coarse hair. Speculation about her identity has raged across the centuries, with several historical women often debated as candidates. One … Continue reading
Neither Virgin Nor Whore: WIT at Theatre Arlington
We need more plays like “W;t”, winner of the 1999 Pulitzer prize for Drama by Margaret Edson, about a professor of literature facing her impending death through the lens of her life’s embrace. Vivian is neither virgin nor whore. The only pedestal she stands on is one of her own making. She isn’t any version … Continue reading
A Harry Tale of Lust, AIDS & Hope by John Michael
I have seen the Harry Penix, and I’ll never feel quite the same…about half-melted ice cream, or frosted cupcakes. That naughtiest of charming, shape-shifting sprites, John Michael, summons forth — from the dark bowels of 24 year old male reflection — a tale that’s part personal history, part AIDS awareness fantasy. And all sparkly, crinkly, … Continue reading
criticalrant.com Alexandra Bonifield 