Out
in the Arts
by
D.L. Groover
DAMN,
THEY GIVE GOOD BOX OFFICE
If all you want is to laugh yourself
sick, then Theater LaB Houston is the place
to be, where their 10th-anniversary production
of Michael Ogborn’s musical panic, Box
Office of the Damned, is raising the roof.
Over the top and screamingly funny, this inside
look at show biz through the workings of the
box office skewers all things Theater. It’s
a loving roast, and the sextet of loonies
who enact this spoof (through October 11)
throw themselves into it with abandon. They
sing and dance up a storm, mugging like mad,
chewing the scenery. Under Jimmy Phillips’
crack direction, this is a good thing. The
musical lunatics are Joanne Bonasso, Phillips,
Greg Gorden, Tye Blue, Mary Hooper, and Bethany
Daniels. (Four of the cast members are pictured
above, clockwise from lower left: Hooper,
Gorden, Bonasso, and Phillips.)
WE
LOVE THEM
Superlatives come easy when praising
Bayou City Concert Musicals, whose annual
production is never less than ideal. This
year’s beauty was Harnick and Bock’s
glittering She Loves Me. In Ovations’
performance space, not much larger than the
head of a pin, this jewel-box of a musical,
hinting of gypsy airs, full of European sophistication
and Broadway moxie, expanded to the size of
Madison Square Garden. It had beauty and
brains, thanks to Paul Hope and David
Thome’s perfect-pitch direction and
a sublime cast that boasted Chesley Santoro,
Kevin Cooney, Jenny Welch, Larry Dachslager,
Charles Krohn, and Mr. Hope. If you missed
the uplifting September weekend performances,
catch BCCM’s encore presentation at
the Hobby Center on January 26. These concert
versions are the pinnacle of musical-comedy
theater.
ALIVE AND KICKING
In the ’70s there was a notorious
doctor in NYC who, for any ailment, would
give you a shot of B-12. There were more than
vitamins in his injections, and he ended up
in prison, but his speedy cocktail was all
the rage—instant pep. Houston Ballet
has been inoculated—witness the verve,
dash, and plain ol’ joy in their dancing.
The fall mixed-rep was a buoyant contemporary
trio: new artistic director Stanton Welch’s
structurally elegant A Dance in the Garden
of Mirth, Trey McIntyre’s handsomely
theatrical world premiere The Shadow,
and William Forsythe’s bracing techno
slap-in-the-face masterpiece in the middle,
somewhat elevated. Danced with dazzle
and attack, these hard-edged contemporary
ballets ushered in HB’s new era with
refreshed clarity. Star turns were rampant
throughout: Dominic Walsh’s amoral shadow,
Sara Webb’s weightless Thumbelina, Ilya
Kozadayev’s playful soaring Cupid, and
Julie Gumbinner’s grieving mother in
Shadow; new principal dancer Simon
Ball and Barbara Bears’ cool purity
in Welch’s neo-medieval Dance;
and Lisa Kaczmarek, Ian Casady, and Laura
Richards‚ generating considerable sexy
heat in in the middle. The following
rep, Ben Stevenson’s sumptuous staging
of Sleeping Beauty, a classic of classics,
was no less radiant. Mireille Hassenboehler
lit up the Wortham with her dewy and pliant,
confident and secure Beauty, partnered with
masculine grace by Ball as her Prince Charming.
Kozadayev and Leticia Oliveira, as Bluebird
and his Princess, with their virtuosity and
flair exemplified the invigoration of the
entire company. What a magnificent start to
HB’s new season and the next chapter
in its distinctive history.
I’M READY FOR MY CLOSE-UP,
MR. GRIFFITH
The movie’s first great artist,
David Wark Griffith, receives a mini-tribute
at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston with a
one-night-only October 26 showing of five
of his seminal one-reelers. Everything the
movies became—everything we think of
as a movie—is there in these works from
1909–1913. Alone among the pioneers
during cinema’s prehistoric age, Griffith
created the grammar of film. But whoever wrote
the MFAH preview brochure needs to return
to film school. It states, “a rare selection
by D.W. Griffith—who made only a few
short films.” Before he made his first
feature, Judith of Bethulia in 1913
(an hour in length) all Griffith’s movies
were shorts—455 of them, to be exact.
RECOMMENDED OUTINGS
• Where’s My Dinner,
Bitch? Weekends through October
25 Dos chicas Theater Commune at Helios
Bob Morgan’s caustic “domestic
abuse comedy” fits the grunge Helios
like a rusty carving knife plunged into the
back. Premiered last March by dos chicas theater
commune, this blackest of satires has returned
by popular demand (713/201-0193 for tickets).
It’s easy to see why. Trailer trash
put-upon wives take matters into their own
grisly hands as they dispatch their dirty
T-shirt husbands, still leaving plenty of
time to learn the fine art of selling makeup.
Anne Zimmerman is particularly effective as
a neo-feminist you wouldn’t want to
meet in a dark alley, let alone marry. The
play contains violence, strong language, nudity,
drag, and cereal munching straight from the
box. Therefore, it is not suitable for puritans.
Let’s go!
• The Wild Party Through
October 11 Masquerade Theatre
Andrew Lippa’s adult musical, based
on J.M. March’s 1928 rhymed verse narrative,
is part Nathaniel West, part Faulkner, part
Frankie and Johnny. The roaring ’20s
screech to a halt as the “party to end
all parties” whirls out of focus in
the Broadway apartment of two washed-out,
washed-over show-biz lowlifes. The show features
Masquerade veterans Ilich Guardiola, Luther
Chakurian, Allison Sumrall, Rebekah Dahl,
and Kory Kilgore. Merrily, we go to hell.
D.L. Groover writes monthly on the arts
for OutSmart.
If
you have any comments about this article, please
email them to letters@outsmartmagazine.com.
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