Anyone alive in November 23, 1963, remembers the nightmarish quality of that day—and the international stigma it attached to Dallas and to the whole state of Texas. Saturday night at Bass Performance Hall, with the premiere of David T. Little’s opera JFK, Fort Worth came face to face with its…
On Wednesday, LeeAnne Locken, star of The Real Housewives of Dallas, visited with the Plano mayor, Harry LaRosiliere, for a great PR move to clear up that whole “It’s a little Plano in here” line she mumbled while fellow housewives Brandi Redmond and Stephanie Hollman were joking about poop during…
Last night, the worlds of the Omegans and the Koridians collided explosively in Denton and only one man could keep these furious foes from a battle that would destroy all of mankind. That man, of course, was performance artist and Adult Swim celebrity David Liebe Hart. Hart, who is best…
Episode 2: “Mad As a Hatter” Like every great reality television program, the episode begins with a review of what happened last episode. (Our take on Episode 1 and the cast viewing party is here for those who missed it.) Housewife LeeAnne Locken is angry at other Housewife Brandi Redmond for mocking her…
It’s 10 a.m. on a weekday and Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele are cuddling kittens on the stage of a fancy strip club off Northwest Highway. The small felines have been brought to The Lodge by no-kill shelter Operation Kindness as a surprise for the comedians, who are in Dallas…
Friday, for the first time ever, Dallas Opera produced a Broadway musical. Kern and Hammerstein’s Show Boat made Broadway history with its innovations and the quality of its score, setting the standard for the American musical for decades after its run of 527 performances in New York in 1927-’29. Ninety…
The well-heeled crowd at Winspear Opera House this Friday is going to get the chance to be offended by Dallas Opera’s production of Show Boat. The first-ever opening night audience on Broadway 90 years ago may have had a little jolt at seeing an all-black chorus, including women, onstage as…
Fighter and the Kid is a popular podcast with a rabid fan base. The fighter is Brendan Schaub, a mixed martial artist who fought several times as a heavyweight in the UFC. The kid is longtime comedian and actor Bryan Callen. Unedited and uncensored, the two friends riff on fighting…
When a Comedy Central rep reached out to comedian Josh Johnson last October about appearing on the new season of “Adam Devine’s House Party” on Twitter, he treated it the way most people might expect a comedian would. “I thought it was a joke,” Johnson says. “I thought it was…
Improvised comedy is experiencing another renaissance of sorts thanks to television and for once, I’m not talking about another reincarnation of “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” The TV Land sitcom “Teachers” about a group of barely functional educators who let their personal lives bleed into their work came from the…
When comedian Ithamar Enriquez walks on to a stage, his presence commands an audience’s attention. He doesn’t capture it by yelling obscenities into a microphone to punctuate his jokes or screaming like a banshee to exorcise some deep seeded emotional pain that brings some comics to a stage. Enriquez never…
Texas Ballet Theater has nailed the perfect fairy tale in its production of Cinderella, a dreamy and funny ballet that appeals to aspiring princesses and cynical mamas alike. The Ben Stevenson version, using Sergei Prokofiev’s wide-ranging score, is a beautifully danced and vivid rendition of the classic tale. For parents…
Will Eno has much to say about life in the 21st century and a deft way of saying it in The Realistic Joneses, a play which premiered on Broadway in 2014 (in a production directed by Sam Gold) to rave reviews. The same could be said of director David Denson’s…
When Margo Jones opened a Dallas theater she wanted to establish a theater community outside of New York. Jones created much of what would become the regional theater model- theater that existed within a city’s own community and reflected its identity without just regurgitating Broadway hits. Jones wanted theater that…
Given the amount of rain we’ve had in the Metroplex this winter (and now, this spring), it’s fitting that the most anticipated musical to hit Music Hall at Fair Park takes place under the sea. Disney’s The Little Mermaid, part of the Dallas Summer Musical series, is wowing sold-out audiences…
Terri Doty is a morose teenager trying to assassinate her teacher. She plays one at work, anyway, where today she’s in the sound booth giving life to Kirara in Assassination Classroom. Her teacher/foe is a smiley face with tentacles who blew up the moon and is on a mission to…
The first scene of All the Way, now playing at Dallas Theater Center, lasts approximately four minutes. President Kennedy has just been shot; Lyndon B. Johnson is on his way to take over. Dramatic music, lights fade, scene change. This Tony Award-winning political drama moves along at TV speed, written…
The issue of parity (parity: the state or condition of being equal) is a hot one these days. As corporate America slowly comes around to the idea of giving women luxuries like equal pay and the privilege to have a room with a chair that’s not a toilet to pump…
When the Dallas Opera continued its season Friday night with Manon, the five-act opera by French composer Jules Massenet, the Winspear Opera House was far from full. Perhaps because, although this opera is performed regularly, it doesn’t have the widespread name recognition of earlier offerings this season like Tosca or…
Before Stephen Costello finished graduate school, he was charming North Texas audiences. Enrolled in Academy of Vocal Arts in his hometown of Philadelphia, the operatic tenor was tapped to fill in for a night as Rodolfo in a Fort Worth opera production of La bohème. “I’d worked with director David…
What is Shakespeare for a young audience? What should it be? Should it accessorize a high school lit class? Should it be a training tool for emerging actors? Should it be a compelling work of theater? Does it need to be forever produced to preserve and progress the theatrical…
DR Hanson is a busy man: he’s an actor, director, and most recently a feminist crusader. Hanson has been hired as a director by Bishop Arts Theatre Co., which is producing a One Act Festival of six plays- all written by female playwrights “I am consistently shocked at how few…
