Photo: Ave Bonar

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Ann Richards is an unlikely subject for a one-woman show. Texas’ second woman governor (as the show explains), Richards stepped into the national spotlight in 1988 with a rousing keynote speech at the Democratic Convention, where she emerged as a take-no-prisoners leader with an eloquent down-home charisma. But after winning the governorship in 1991, she lost her bid for reelection and fell out of the spotlight, dying of cancer in 2006. Unless you’re from Texas, she’s a diminishing historical footnote.

Nevertheless, the television and film actress Holland Tyler made Richards a personal project, researching the subject for three years before penning and starring in “Ann.” Read the rest of this entry »

Merce Cunningham

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Dance in the twentieth century was redefined by Merce Cunningham. During his immensely prolific, seventy-year career, Cunningham created hundreds of dances and “events” that approached choreography, collaboration and the relationship between movement and music in a way never before seen. He actively choreographed and mentored his company until his death in 2009 at the age of ninety. The Legacy Tour is the company’s farewell performance; the Cunningham Dance Foundation is preparing to close, handing over a massive body of work to a preservation trust established by Cunningham. Read the rest of this entry »

Emily Gann, Nick Freed and Mildred Marie Langford/Photo: Jeremy Rill

Three siblings (along with their spouses and friends) bicker over what to do with a giant aviary after their father’s death. A sister-in-law wants to turn it into a new house and sell it. A sister wants to convert it into a home for The Church of the Fifth Day, a fledgling bird-infatuated religion founded by her friend that believes “the soul is a bird we keep in our heart.”  And a world-weary brother, who makes a habit of turning to the audience for sympathy, just wants to watch it decay. Read the rest of this entry »

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The House Theatre’s third rendition of Phillip C. Klapperich and Jake Minton’s adaptation of the E.T.A. Hoffmann holiday standard “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King” marks a self-described “new tradition” for the ten-year-old company. And it’s a welcome one. Opening with a ten-minute introduction that’s as emotionally charged (and devoid of dialogue) as the memorable intro to Pixar’s “Up,” Christmas joviality is transformed into calamity with the news of a son’s death at war. As a fallen Christmas tree is carried from the stage, so is all the joy, until a year later when the rambunctious Uncle Drosselmeyer presents young Clara with the magical nutcracker and the wonder begins. Read the rest of this entry »

Faith Hurley, Jackson Challinor and Tom Hickey/Photo: Austin Oie

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In this cynical world, faith costs. When faith is all you have, the cost doesn’t seem too high. LiveWire’s latest takes an unflinching look at the price of belief, suggesting that you win if you can just believe in something.

Will (Tom Hickey) hires on at a big-box store to be closer to Alex (Jackson Challinor),the son he abandoned; it’s not a joyful reunion. But Will presses to know him, alienating Alex’s stepbrother Leroy (the darkly hilarious Brian Rad), no-nonsense manager Pauline (Allison Cain) and flighty ne’er-do-well cashier Anna (Faith Hurley). Read the rest of this entry »

Jordan Stacey and Stacey Stoltz/Photo: Wayne Karl

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Ringo sang “I get by with a little help from my friends,” but the characters in Dierdre O’Connor’s new play aren’t so lucky. Anne (Stacy Stoltz) is a somewhat frumpy librarian still living with her mother, who bit her last home care provider. So she hires Levi (Jordan Stacey), a young former alcoholic, who is sorely underqualified but desperate for a job and a place to belong. Read the rest of this entry »

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Sex, drugs and… playwriting. In an appropriately cramped and seedy hotel room in Amsterdam, two college friends—successful publisher Davis (Dereck Garner) and struggling playwright Matt (Dan Behrendt)—meet the mysterious Christina (Sasha Gioppo), a charming prostitute with a surprising background. Adam Rapp’s language, sharp and realistic (if a bit overly intellectual), is well-paced by director Carlo Lorenzo Garcia, with the rapid-fire dialogue counterbalancing the lengthy sections of introspective silence that give the show its weight. Read the rest of this entry »

Ferruccio Furlanetto/Photo: Dan Rest

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“Boris Godunov” is making a return appearance to Lyric Opera for the first time in some seventeen years, a long time to go without hearing the crown jewel of Russian opera. What is needed to make it work is a bass extraordinaire who doesn’t come around all that often. Lyric had to wait its turn to obtain the services of Italian bass Ferruccio Furlanetto, who is making his Lyric debut with this role.

One could quibble about the size and color of the voice, which is not the dark timbre often associated with classic performances of the tortured czar. But the nuances of Furlanetto’s characterization are profound and the shading of his voice expressive of the myriad of moods that need to be conveyed. Making a splendid contrast with Furlanetto is the darker sound of Italian bass Andrea Silvestrelli as Pimen. Read the rest of this entry »

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When Irving Berlin wrote the song “White Christmas” for his 1942 film “Holiday Inn,” the story goes that he was expecting “Be Careful, It’s My Heart,” the Valentine’s Day number, to be the big hit. Bing Crosby never saw the popularity of “White Christmas” coming either—he reportedly laid down the track that remains the best-selling single of all time in eighteen minutes—but it was Crosby gently crooning to a country newly navigating its way through the horrors and sacrifices of World War II that ended up nostalgically reminding everybody of exactly what we were fighting for in the first place. Read the rest of this entry »

OK, I’ll admit it. In the eighties, I rocked the Acqua Net; I worked the spandex pants until the pants begged for mercy. But this musical ode to the era of excess is less than totally rad. Fer sher.

Sherrie (Shannon Mullen) heads to 1980s Los Angeles to “make it.” Drew (Dominique Scott) gets her a job at The Bourbon Room, a heavy metal haven threatened by developers. There are romantic hits and misses as Drew pursues his dreams and Sherrie gets involved with narcissistic rock god Stacee Jaxx (Matt Nolan). Read the rest of this entry »