Several of this year’s participants in the Festival of Independent Theatres have presented productions of extremely limited worth, in my opinion. These shows, as they exist, lack cohesive artistic merit: in terms of content, in terms of production values, in terms of aesthetic. I have stared at a blank page on my MacBook numerous … Continue reading
Posted in July 2014 …
No Error In Sight: Junior Players’ Comedy of Errors
No “errors” noted in William Shakespeare’s early comic farce The Comedy of Errors, presented 1920’s film-style by Junior Players in collaboration with Shakespeare Dallas at the Samuell-Grande Amphitheatre through Sunday July 27. As part of its yearly arts outreach to nearly 6000 Dallas area youth, Junior Players mounts a full-scale, fully costumed, professional caliber … Continue reading
Grace in Styrofoam: CHRISTHELMET at The Ochre House
As posted on Dallas Morning News online: http://www.dallasnews.com/entertainment/arts/headlines/20140717-matthew-posey-packs-a-punch-in-christhelmet-at-the-ochre-house.ece Glide from chaos to redemption with the Ochre House’s Christhelmet, a vaudevillian drama with a transformative twist, written and directed by Ochre House founder Matthew Posey and featuring him in the title role. A fixture of local theater for more than 20 years, Posey has carved out a … Continue reading
Get Your Fresh Fit! 2014 FIT at the Bath House Cultural Center
How does a year pass so quickly? Time flies when you’re having oodles of fun, right? It’s Festival of Independent Theatres time at the Bath House Cultural Center. Will the power stay on this year? Here goes, first four shows: 1) PLAYTIME: Here we have a rework of an earlier quirky movement/story fantasy piece from … Continue reading
Mostly Entertaining Millie at Prism Theatrics
Lofty aspirations always merit praise, setting the bar high, while adding a dose of hubris can be off-putting. New venture Prism Theatrics states their vision on the inside cover of the show program of their inaugural production, Richard Morris and Dick Scanlan’s Thoroughly Modern Millie, with music by Jeanine Tesori. “By bringing a Broadway caliber … Continue reading
Feasting Beggars, Flying Inspectors: DTC’s “Les Miserables”
I sympathize with the Dallas Theater Center. I comprehend the in depth planning behind their “concept” productions and note their fascination with descriptive words like “new, innovative, modern, and accessible to all”. I get the fact that the powers making artistic decisions there generally don’t seem to trust plays or their characters as written or … Continue reading