He’s a magic man
We’ve seen David Blaine be buried alive, frozen and more, but what’s behind the man of magic? Blaine talks about what inspires his death-defying feats and hopefully he’ll throw in some tricks, too.
DEETS: Winspear Opera House, 2403 Flora St. 8 p.m. $20. ATTPAC.org.
Julia Laskowski and Patti Rabaza play the fiesty southern ladies with an opinion on everything
Anyone who’s lived in the south long enough knows this woman. She may be found at the local beauty salon, or in the canned foods aisle at the Piggly Wiggly, and her attendance at church potlucks is mandatory. Wherever you find her she knows exactly what you’re doing wrong in your relationship and how to fix it. From January 13 through 29 you can see her and her friends in all their glory in Country Gravy and Other Obsessions at Theater LaB Houston (1706 Alamo), produced by Magic Butterfly Productions. Co-writers and stars Julia Kay Laskowski and Patti Rabaza play two Texas women who decide that their myriad opinions on matters of the heart qualify them to lead a relationship seminar. When their antiquated attitudes meet real-world relationships musical hilarity ensues.
The original production features Aaron Ellisor on the piano and is directed and choreographed by Michael Tapley. Tickets are $25 and are available by calling the theater Box Office at 713-868-7516
There are several such gasp-inducing moments in his staging of The Tempest, starting with the opening scene, set on an airplane instead of a boat. As the wizard Prospero (Chamblee Ferguson), like Desmond from Lost, rips the jet from the sky, the stage instantly transforms into a barren wasteland, as stark and beautiful as any set the Dallas Theater Center has ever produced. There are trap doors and bits of magic and flying fairies. It will make you say, “Wow.”
Read the entire review here.
DEETS: Wyly Theatre, 2401 Flora St. Through Oct. 9. $25. DallasTheaterCenter.org.
Kevin Moriarty is a director who embraces the full spectacle of Shakespeare, and while you can disagree with his decisions sometimes, you have to respect his commitment. He likes elements we might consider by-products of the Elizabethan Age, its Hey-Nonny-Nonnyisms: Interludes of courtly ballets and minstrel-strummed songs, arresting, fourth-wall-violating asides to the audience, expository speechifying — everything Chekhov and Ibsen and a host of others steered away from.
But he’s also a director who appreciates contemporary stagecraft: Reconfiguring the structure of plays, emphasizing the astonishing pageantry of an evening at the theater — sometimes taking us out of the play, but often with grandeur. The balance isn’t always an easy one, but it can take your breath away.
There are several such gasp-inducing moments in his staging of The Tempest, starting with the opening scene, set on an airplane instead of a boat. As the wizard Prospero (Chamblee Ferguson, pictured left), like Desmond from Lost, rips the jet from the sky, the stage instantly transforms into a barren wasteland, as stark and beautiful as any set the Dallas Theater Center has ever produced. There are trap doors and bits of magic and flying fairies. It will make you say, “Wow.”
But there are also the many edits. Yes, some of the talkiness is removed, but also some of the scope. And keeping it without an intermission leaves one’s butt castigated by those Wyly seats for nearly two hours.
This Tempest feels more like a series of vignettes than a single story: The comic relief, the sappy romance, the political intrigue, the long-stewing recriminations, bracketed by Ferguson’s Ahab-like Prospero. At first, he’s a vengeful terrorist and hypocritical zookeeper, enslaving his island’s native fauna, the ethereal Ariel (lithe, white-eyed Hunter Ryan Herdicka, pictured right) and its Orc-ish Caliban (Joe Nemmers, delivering us Quasimodo of the mud with poignancy and humor). Then Prospero changes gears, softening and showing mercy, moved by his daughter Miranda’s love for his enemy’s son.
The Tempest is problematic Shakespeare, neither comedy nor history nor classically tragic, but a romance with obscure motivations (how quickly Prospero’s mind is changed by Miranda’s capricious libido, when her suffering for two decades went unnoticed) made more obscure in this version — Prospero seems more like ringmaster than protagonist. Ah, well: The Bard was a better poet than playwright, so let’s give credit to Moriarty for taking this Tempest out of the teapot.
— Arnold Wayne Jones
Wyly Theatre, 2401 Flora St. Through Oct. 9. DallasTheaterCenter.org.
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition September 23, 2011.
Friday 04.08He’ll keep a ‘Light’ on for you
Last year, Jake Heggie brought people back to the opera with the world premiere of his adaptation of Moby Dick. The gay composer works his magic with another world premiere, but for one night only. He and Gene Scheer debut their song cycle A Question of Light, performed by Nathan Gunn, as part of
Unveil: The Dallas Opera 2011 Gala.
DEETS: Winspear Opera House, 2301 Flora Way. 8 p.m. $75. DallasOpera.org/gala
Saturday 04.09This comedy isn’t down the tubes
As the Dweeb Girls, rock band The Surly Bitches or pseudo country music sensations Euomi and Wynotta Spudd, comedy team Dos Fallopia works hard for the laughs. The “kamikaze comedy team” of Peggy Platt and Lisa Koch have been at this for 25 years and bring the funny to Fort Worth.
DEETS: Youth Orchestra Hall, 4401 Trail Lake Drive. 8 p.m. $20–$40. OpenDoorProductionsTx.com.
Sunday 04.10Get hallucinating with ‘Alice’
Nouveau 47 amps up last year’s production of the Lewis Carroll classic by adding more of his work in Alice in Wonderland & Other Hallucinations. We’re glad we get to partake in theater that acts as an hallucinogen rather than taking a pill. So much easier.
DEETS: The Magnolia Lounge, 1121 First Ave. Through April 23. Nouveau47.com
Ok, I freely admit that there is nothing “gay” about this blog post. But, well, it is such an interesting story that I couldn’t help but post it here on Instant Tea.
It’s about a guy named James Cain who had a really bad day. And it all started when he decided — allegedly — that he was going to rob a house in Arlington.
From my perspective, robbing a house is never a good idea, so that was his first mistake. His second mistake was deciding to pull a “Santa Claus” and shimmy down the chimney to get inside.
Apparently, Cain didn’t have any of Santa’s magic shrinking dust, because Cain got stuck on the way down. His only recourse at that point was to start hollering for help. Somebody heard him and called the cops, who called the fire department to come cut out a section of the wall to get Cain loose.
And if that’s not trouble enought, Cain made one more mistake. He left his marijuana in his vehicle, which he parked down the street from the house he was — allegedly — trying to rob.
Now Cain is being held in jail, in lieu of an $11,500 bond, facing charges of burglary of a habitation and possession of marijuana.
On Tuesday, JamWillis of Blog on Blast posted this item about Dallas rapper T-Cuz allegedly doing gay porn. Immediately, I went over to TCuz’s Twitter feed to see what the buzz was. Some people defended him, others told him to own up, and he responded that he likes [women] too much to be gay, cluttering the feed quickly. It became such an issue, that the unsigned rapper started to trend in the DFW Twitter community. That’s major.
In the post, JamWillis said photos had surfaced from the porn of T-Cuz and a dude. T-Cuz claimed the photos had been “digitalized.” But by the looks of the photos at this link, I don’t see how that’s possible. Just sayin’.
JamWillis and cohort Zeralyn caught up with T-Cuz and confronted him about the video in an interview. They posted it online Wednesday and the interview is gold. T-Cuz gives explanations about the magic of filmwork and editing and ponders the idea of Zeralyn’s hypothetical offer of $10,000 for doing gay porn. Part one is below.
It’s all quite the drama. I’ve attempted to contact T-Cuz but have had no response. I can say one thing — on his Twitter feed, I never saw a tweet from him bashing gays or pulling a 50 Cent. Gay or not, I kinda give him props for that. Unless I just missed it, in which case I take it back.
BTW, consider the above NSFW. Especially, the link to the pics.
