Theater Caps are bite-sized punch-packing capsule reviews by resident theater critic Elaine Liner. Use them as a reminder — or a teaser, if you procrastinate — of her full-length reviews in The Mixmaster’s weekly sister. The 1961 musical How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying is like Mad Men…
Director’s Notes documents, from planning to performance, the challenges of local artist Katie Toohil as she mounts an original, independent theatrical dance production. Shortly after I decided to go forward with this Grieve project, a nagging question poked its head to the surface: “Will anyone want to dance in this…
A lesson in how to succeed at staging a creaky vintage musical comedy can be found in ICT Mainstage’s current uncreaky production of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. It’s fresh, fun, funny. Everything works. Musical director Scott A. Eckert’s tight eight-piece pit band sounds lush, full of…
Theater Caps are bite-sized punch-packing capsule reviews by resident theater critic Elaine Liner. Use them as a reminder — or a teaser, if you procrastinate — of her full-length reviews in The Mixmaster’s weekly sister. The touring production of Guys and Dolls winding up its run this weekend at the…
Theater Caps are bite-sized punch-packing capsule reviews by resident theater critic Elaine Liner. Use them as a reminder — or a teaser, if you procrastinate — of her full-length reviews in The Mixmaster’s weekly sister. If you haven’t made it over to the Festival of Independent Theatres yet, get there…
There are always a few people who like to share — out loud — their opinions at live performances, and they’re not much different than those overzealous viewers at the movies who feel the need to express every thought that comes to mind. You know, the people who gasp, scream…
For a mid-summer heat wave break, I was off to Frisco to spend my Wednesday afternoon getting a behind the scenes look at Cirque De Soleil’s production of Dralion. The rehearsals and training sessions were sure to be a treat and I was really looking forward to seeing a deconstructed…
Fireworks keep going off every night of the Festival of Independent Theatres at the Bath House Cultural Center. Not outside over White Rock Lake; inside, on the little stage under a wheezy air-conditioner that doesn’t quite keep up with the crush of bodies crowding in to see the best written,…
She’s pretty much the pinnacle of burlesque, and ever since she started back in 1992, Dita Von Teese has embodied the glitz and glamour of striptease on an international level. Outfitted with the title of the Queen of Burlesque, Von Teese performs to sold-out shows in Los Angeles and has…
Have you watched Dance Moms? (9 p.m., Wednesdays, Lifetime.) The cable TV reality show aims its cameras at the twirling tots of the Miss Abby Lee Dance Company of Pittsburgh, PA. More horrifying than Toddles & Tiaras, it’s evidence of how ruthless some parents are in pursuit of stardom and…
Theater Caps are bite-sized punch-packing capsule reviews by resident theater critic Elaine Liner. Use them as a reminder — or a teaser, if you procrastinate — of her full-length reviews in The Mixmaster’s weekly sister. Yes, when you go to The Wiz, the ushers hand you a pair of cardboard…
Try to stay calm, people: Pauly Shore is here. At the Addison Improv. Tonight and tomorrow. Act cool. Don’t run. Drive safely. There’s enough Shore to share. OK fine, we know you thought he’d passed on back in 2003, but it turns out that was just a big fake-out for…
Theater Caps are bite-sized punch-packing capsule reviews by resident theater critic Elaine Liner. Use them as a reminder — or a teaser, if you procrastinate — of her full-length reviews in The Mixmaster’s weekly sister. There’s nice sting in Upstart Productions’ staging of the surreal Steve Martin one-act W.A.S.P., one…
Buy a seat in one of the movable “pods” available at The Wiz, the musical Dallas Theater Center and Dallas Black Dance Theatre are doing together at the Wyly Theatre, and you’ll spend a good chunk of the show being rolled around by sweaty stagehands. It’s kind of fun wondering…
Remember we told you about the movable pods of seats at the Wyly Theatre for Dallas Theater Center’s The Wiz? Sit in one of those high-priced sections — top ticket price in the pods is about $80 — and you get rolled around the stage about 15 times during the…
Theater Caps are bite-sized punch-packing capsule reviews by resident theater critic Elaine Liner. Use them as a reminder — or a teaser, if you procrastinate — of her full-length reviews in The Mixmaster’s weekly sister. You don’t have to know everything about Shakespeare, the beginnings of the Protestant Reformation or…
Theater Caps are bite-sized punch-packing capsule reviews by resident theater critic Elaine Liner. Use them as a reminder — or a teaser, if you procrastinate — of her full-length reviews in The Mixmaster’s weekly sister. Throwing food at actors is frowned upon at most theaters. But not all. The one…
Editor’s Note: Kevin Moore sat down to discuss his role in Little Shop of Horrors. What follows is his account as told to Elaine Liner. Back in March, WaterTower Theatre in Addison announced auditions for the musical comedy Little Shop of Horrors. There was a role for the manipulator of…
Knock, knock. Who’s there? Wit. Wit who? Wit more plays like Wittenberg, I’d go to Fort Worth more often. The latest from Amphibian Stage Productions at the Sanders Theatre in Cowtown is as witty as Shaw, as wacky as Stoppard and never as wearying as Shakespeare’s drama about a certain…
Stage Black is back. The midsummer festival of new plays reflecting the African American experience runs Friday through Sunday (July 15 to 17) at the Black Academy of Arts and Letters at the Dallas Convention Center Theater Complex. Six short plays are in the mix. They are: Breaking Vows at…
The Bath House Cultural Center will be swimming with talent next week with the opening Friday of the 13th annual Festival of Independent Theatres. The four-weekend event features eight small theater companies doing one-act plays under one hour each, in rotating repertory and for budgets averaging under $2000. Playwrights represented…
Some stats you should know before you ease on down the road to the Wyly Theatre for Dallas Theater Center’s musical The Wiz, opening 8 p.m., Friday, July 8, in a pay-what-you-can preview, before the official opening night on July 15…
