Stage Notes is a weekly aggregate post about theater, classical music and stage news, events, reviews and other pertinent information.
Stage Notes Calendar
Opening this week:
Shakespeare Live Arlington: As You Like It, opened Thursday-Saturday at Levitt Pavilion.
Dallas Symphony Orchestra: Sibelius’ Symphony No. 3, opened Thursay-Sunday.
The Firehouse Theatre: Godspell, opened Thursday-April 19.
Classical Arts: Swan Lake, 7 p.m. today at Music Hall at Fair Park.
Jubilee Theater: Thunder Knocking on the Door, today-May 11, pictured.
Lewisville Playhouse: Uncle Vanya, today-20.
Runway Theatre: Catch Me If You Can the Musical, today-20.
Upright Theatre Company: Romeo and Juliet, today-May 4.
Pocket Sandwich Theatre: Romeo and Juliet – The Melodrama, today-May 17.
Avant Chamber Ballet: Ballet in the Park, 3 p.m. Saturday at Klyde Warren Park.
Allegro Guitar Society: Kevin Loh, 7:30 p.m. Saturday at St. Monica Catholic Church.
Orchestra of New Spain: A Spanish Easter Celebration, 7 p.m. Saturday at Zion Lutheran Church.
Ballet Ensemble of Texas: Gaîté Parisienne, Saturday and Sunday at the Irving Arts Center.
Allegro Guitar Society: Kevin Loh, 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Kimbell Art Museum.
Lone Star Wind Orchestra: This Beautiful Earth, 3 p.m. Sunday at Moody Performance Hall.
Dallas Winds: Catch Fire!, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Meyerson.
Onstage now:
Art Centre Theatre: The Whale, through Sunday, pictured.
Rockwall Community Playhouse: All the World’s a Stage: A Celebration of Shakespeare, through Sunday.
WaterTower Theatre: A Streetcar Named Desire, through Sunday.
Onstage in Bedford: Blithe Spirit, through April 13.
Theatre Coppell: Almost Maine, through April 13.
Theatre Denton: Jesus Christ Superstar, through April 13.
Lyric Stage: Jekyll and Hyde, through April 19 at Lyric Stage Studio.
Dallas Theater Center: Waitress, through April 20.
Theatre Three: Intimate Apparel, opened through April 20.
April is Dallas Arts Month!
Just had to remind that in case you didn’t know, the arts will be celebrated all month long throughout April. During the month, multiple artists and organizations across the city will join in on the celebration of Dallas arts every year.
Dallas Arts Month first debuted in 2013, and was designed to increase resident awareness, encourage participation and appreciation of the experiences Dallas artists and organizations create and nurture all throughout the city. Residents and visitors to Dallas are encouraged to discover this programming by visiting DallasArtsMonth.com.
UT Dallas professor to perform excerpts from his plays
In the Resurrection of Freddy Chickan, UTD theater professor, playwright and actor Fred Curchack will perform “outrageous Xcerpts from nine of his internationally acclaimed plays, with music, video, and eye-boggling visuals.”
Curchack has written and performed 78 original theatre pieces. He’ll showcase nine of them next week at the university where he teaches. The performance comes with one hell of a trigger warning and is not suitable for children.
Trigger warning: This performance contains depictions of and references to rape, abortion, suicide, decapitation, obscenity, profanity, insanity, racism, sexism, classism, fascism and extreme irony.
And there you go.
Performances will be held at UTD’s University Theatre from April 10-19. Free admission and open to the public.
Frisco Live selected to operate proposed Frisco Center for the Arts
In a press release earlier this week, the city of Frisco announced plans to partner with the new nonprofit, Frisco Live, to manage and operate the Frisco Center for the Arts (FCFA). Frisco Live combines the collective resources of Broadway Across America (BWA) and local nonprofit venue operator Broadway Dallas (BD).
The facility is still in its proposal phase.The FCFA would ultimately host a series of touring stage productions for its Broadway Frisco initiative presented by BWA and BD.
“At the FCFA, on any given day, you’ll be able to attend a Broadway show or concert, take in a student production in the community hall, and listen to a local singer-songwriter perform in the enormous lobby. We are ecstatic to have been chosen to provide world class Broadway programming, ground-breaking education and work-force training programs, and now to manage this world-class facility,” Ken Novice, President and CEO of Broadway Dallas, said in the release.
The concept includes a 2,800-seat performance hall, capable of accommodating Broadway and large touring and community productions. The city-owned center would be located at the southwest corner of the intersection of the Dallas North Tollway and US 380.
Review: Tip big for this Waitress that serves up sweet and sassy pie with a side of charm
For Jenna, life parallels pie-baking. In the musical Waitress, which Dallas Theater Center opened on Wednesday after previews, Jenna’s therapy is baking a pie that helps her handle or embrace what’s going on in her life at that very moment. The idea is sweet and the results are mind-blowing pies, but the magic in Waitress isn’t just in Jenna’s desserts — it’s in the production itself.
And with the problems Jenna has, a lot of pies are made. She’s a hard working server at Joe’s Diner in an unhappy marriage with the abusive Earl who finds herself pregnant and discovers her usual doctor has been replaced by the attractive Dr. Pomatter.
She’s lifted up by her sister waitresses Becky and Dawn and the insightful but cranky Joe. Becky and Dawn have their own issues as they are conflicted about each of their romances. Cal, the grumpy cook and boss, chimes in with sarcasm never helping the matter.
As Jenna, Tiffany Solano endowed the character with a cheerful and optimistic demeanor that almost shocks in Jenna’s scenes at home where Earl abuses her physically and emotionally. Solano’s purity of the character brought forth a touching vulnerability as Jenna endured her home life, but also embarked on an unexpected romance with her doctor while dealing with her unwanted pregnancy. Solano’s performance embraced all these facets of Jenna into a woman that was easy to feel sorry for but also to be inspired by her strength and ultimately empowerment. The actor delivered her musical numbers with beautiful and strong vocals that were acrobatic and emotional, particularly in Jenna’s big second-act number.
The heart of the story may not just be Jenna’s arc, but the sisterhood of the three waitresses. Ayanna Edwards was the voice of reason as Becky with an amusing touch of horniness. Edwards juggled these aspects with ease and strength. The quirky, obsessive compulsive Dawn discovered both love and lust through Christina Austin Lopez’s outstanding performance with one of the best theater wigs I’ve ever seen (props to Nick Lynch-Voris). The actor seemed to disappear into the role as the trio’s comic relief.
Ian Ferguson played against his usual type and served up major assholery as Earl. He embodied the role with the perfect degree of arrogance enough to make some audience members audibly groan at Earl’s selfishness when he appropriated Jenna’s tip money or expressed jealousy of the baby. Bob Hess delivered a convincingly ornery Joe with a heart of gold toward Jenna. Brian Gonzales was ideally gruff as Cal and never let a line escape without delivering laughs. As the nurse, Liz Mikel’s performance was filled with attitude and a sailor’s mouth. Mikel delivered sass to hilarious effect but it was also her eyes and body language that brought an added comedy to her role.
I can’t help but single out Blake Hackler for a miraculous performance. Ogie, Dawn’s nerdy beau, is a character I’ve always been super annoyed by — in the movie, in the touring musical and even in his songs. But Hackler’s energetic and charming performance changed my mind on the character. The actor’s physicality and choreography was always at a 10 — and that’s often while singing. Jonathan Bragg was an ideal bumbling romantic lead as Dr. Pomatter and shared a great chemistry with Solano. His voice soared with each number and I had to remember to breathe when he sang “You Matter to Me.” A sentimental moment indeed.
Ashley Wells directed a show with a lot of moving parts and her finesse resulted in a seamless show with a Music Director Vonda K. Bowling’s band onstage as well. Bowling’s band delivered the Sara Bareilles tunes with rich, poppy sounds. Bowling’s work as director was clear as each actor nailed their numbers not just vocally but emotionally. Sound was sometimes an issue. Some lines and vocals were lost when music played over an actor and microphones didn’t always catch when an actor spoke or sang. Kimberly Powers’ scenic design was epic and grand as the diner but still cozy with the small town vibes and Jeffrey Meek’s costume designs were punchy but appropriate with colorful tones to add to the stage’s beautiful palette.
Simply said, Waitress was glorious and stunning. Packed with powerful and poignant performances, the show delivered huge on touching, tender moments and laugh-out loud antics with captivating musical numbers all baked in a beautiful pie. A very sweet experience.
The show runs through April 20 at the Wyly.
—Rich Lopez
