Tagged with joel ferrell …

Criticalrant’s Final “First Choices” of 2015

  2015 unfolded as a stunner of a thespian year, from classics to new work, dynamic paradigm-shifters to re-invigorated audience favorites, ensemble achievements to compelling solo work. Youth to senior artists. And music? Glorious music! Performance art in our region thrives with energy, respect, initiative and genuine variety. Dedicated, impassioned creative people form the backbone … Continue reading →

OTHELLO: Rage-rockin’ the Bard with Second Thought

And when I love thee not Chaos is come again. Act 3, Scene 3 Othello Chaos is come again.…. Chaos “comes again” with the heat of a raging forest fire and tension of a python squeezing prey with steel-taut coils in Second Thought Theatre’s production of Shakespeare’s Othello. It runs through August 8 in Bryant … Continue reading →

At the Threshold of the Divine: Seeing “Red”

“What do you see?” More of a probing, raw demand than a question, the opening line in John Logan’s 2009 two actor bio-drama about American abstract painter Mark Rothko, delivered by the artist at lights up, his back to audience, demands full attention. It should rivet an audience’s eyes to the huge blank canvas upstage … Continue reading →

Carnage Unfettered in DTC’s Mosh Pit

“We are not fucking Neanderthals!”  exclaims the character Veronica in Dallas Theater Center’s production of Yasmina Reza’s “God of Carnage”, running through June 17 at the Kalita Humphreys Theater. Hard to tell they aren’t Neanderthals from watching the belabored, lowest common denominator production piloted by Associate Artistic Director Joel Ferrell, where relationships unfold with the … Continue reading →

Next Falls; Carnage’s God Rises at DTC

“You won’t see me in a thong on a float, but I’m still a fag.” When the most grounded, believable, fully developed character in a play delivers a glib line like that, calculated to elicit a laugh, there’s not much hope for the other characters in the show.  Couched in a smug 1980’s “it’s naughty … Continue reading →

Where Life Is Beautiful: DTC’s Cabaret

Director/ choreographer Joel Ferrell just unleashed a hair-raising Cabaret that provokes intense primal response, entertains with original creative interpretation and inspires somber reflection about man’s capacity for evil. Roiling with multi-sexual erotica and drug-laced hedonism, Dallas Theater Center’s production smokes with choreographed throbbing, pulsating groins (male, female, tranny) while revealing fascism’s gain of insidious domination … Continue reading →

Is your life a cabaret? Tickets awarded!

Win free tickets to Dallas Theater Center‘s production of Kander & Ebb’s Cabaret, opening night Friday 4.29.2011 at the Wyly Theater in Dallas. Three pairs to give away! First three people to answer the following Cabaret questions correctly, with responses posted on my facebook status announcement, win. Which star of television’s Hogan’s Heroes was featured … Continue reading →

Playing Foote-sie: Stage West & Dallas Theater Center

North Texas’ iconic Horton Foote Festival established itself on solid ground this past two weekends with entirely different productions opening at Stage West in Fort Worth and at the Dallas Theater Center’s Wyly Theatre. Running the full gamut from intimate to epic, these productions demonstrate eloquently why Foote’s work is worthy of a celebration festival … Continue reading →