And now... some entertainment

Donald O' Connor was a fabulous entertainer and actor. He was especially fantastic at tap dancing. I love this bit he performs. He was fantastic at slapstick comedy, which seems to have died down significantly in the past few decades. Enjoy :)

Christmas Carol in Dallas Dec 23

So it has been determined... I will in fact, for the first time in my life, be attending the Dallas Theatre Center's "A Christmas Carol" on December 23rd.
http://www.dallastheatercenter.org/show_details.php?sid=13
Obviously we are all familiar with the story "A Christmas Carol", and it has, over the past few decades, become one of the most popular plays to produce around Christmas time. The Dallas Theatre Center performs this every year, and I have never been able to attend.
However, I will be going this year to enjoy a pleasant experience of holiday cheer.

Of course I strongly encourage anyone interested in Theatre (or just looking for a family friendly holiday event, for that matter) to go and watch this play. If you are in the Dallas area, this is something you should not miss during your holidays.

Synopsis:

November 26-December 24, 2010
By Charles Dickens
Adapted by Richard Hellesen
Music by David de Berry
Directed by Matthew Gray
Kalita Humphreys Theater

SCROOGE UP YOUR HOLIDAYS.
It’s the Dallas Theater Center production everybody in town, from toddlers to grandparents, looks forward to the most. No holiday story compares to A Christmas Carol. And no holiday season is complete without this bright, funny, spooky, moving, soul-stirring, heart-warming, uplifting classic. It’s filled with traditional and original songs that will have you whistling on your way home as merrily as Mr. Fezziwig. For the first time, Brierley Resident Acting Company member and longtime Dallas Theater Center favorite, Chamblee Ferguson (Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream) will portray the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge. Get in the spirit with this glorious production, which helps support the North Texas Food Bank. As Tiny Tim would say, “God bless us, every one!”

College Theatre

First off, all technical issues have been resolved. I apologize for any inconvenience to my followers. Now for a post...
Those of you who have never been to a play put on by a college campus... I suggest keeping it that way.
Allow me to explain...
If you are an avid theatre goer in the dallas area, you probably enjoy all the venues that get their actors from the unions or hold professional auditions.
What do you get? An excellent performance by qualified actors hoping to make a career out of it.
Ok now lets change the scenario.
You go to a college play, and you have a bunch of students who think they are fantastic because they know the theory behind developing a character and the history of acting etc etc, but no talent is really required. The pool of actors the casters have to choose from is much more limited, resources are more limited, and the play winds up sucking.
Such was the case with the UNT production of The Little Foxes. Isaw this a couple of weeks ago and actually had to leave during the intermission. IT SUCKED.
I will be sticking to professional venues from here on out, personally.

attn all followers

I am working on getting some technical issues resolved on my blog. Please be patient and I will hopefully have all resolved by the end of the week (my AS is not working, providing little incentive to continue posting)

Shenanigans in Ft Worth

I have never been upset at someone for entering a play late. Everytime it happens, I don't even really notice. In fact, even when I am on stage it doesn't really bother me. I usually am engrossed in my part enough to not be paying attention to the doors. So why they lock the doors, I don't know. Seems to me like that should just be another $50 going towards the house.
Anyways, didn't make it to the play on time Thursday. Going to go this Sunday and I'll post the review then. But in the mean time...
Last week I had the honor of seeing the play "Our Town". It blew my mind, to say the very least. I don't want to give away the plot, but the message more or less changed my perspective on life. GO SEE THIS PLAY if you have the opportunity. It seems like it might be difficult to pull off as wonderfully as this venue did. Oh, by the way, I saw this performed by the Addison's Water Tower Theater www.watertowertheatre.org
They aren't showing "Our Town" any more, but I strongly suggest this theatre. The cast did a fantastic job, and I'd go on to compliment the crew if there was much of one involved. This play had almost no props, save one scene. The lighting and sound effects were minimum and the cast wasn't even really in costume. Sounds pretty crappy, right? It worked. Boy did it work. This wasn't just a gimmick to try and make their show "different"... it completely went along with the message being portrayed.
I have a friend who is in theatre over at midwestern and their director saw the same show I did. He claimed it to be the best show he has seen in the Dallas area in the last ten years.
I wish I had started this blog in time to convince you guys to go see this show, but alas, it has finished. All I can leave you with is my highest recommendations to go see any show you can at water tower theatre in addison.

Bright Ideas at Circle Theatre (Ft Worth)

Summary of the play- http://www.curtainup.com/brightideas.html
Theatre page- http://www.circletheatre.com/

I am going to the showing tomorrow, it should be interesting.

After doing some research on the play, I noticed this will be the first show I will go to this season that was never on broadway.

Don't get me wrong, I realize that rather a play has been on broadway or not does not reflect the quality at all. Obviously many successful musicals (Avenue Q comes to mind) started off-broadway and were not recognized as having broadway potential for a time.

I have never seen this play, however, and I am sure that my impression of the quality of the play will be based soley on the performance that I see tomorrow. Honestly, however, the plot seems rather dull. Maybe the cast can liven it up.

Introduction

Allow me to first clarify that I have no previous instruction in the art of theater, and am by no means one to look towards for a professional opinion. I do, however, appreciate the art and am currently living in the Denton area, and therefore I naturally am a frequent attendee of multiple plays/musicals in this area. On this blog, I will post a "critique" more or less of the different shows I see. I will try and do so towards the beginning of the performances so that you can read my opinion and possibly use it to determine if you would like to see that particular show or not. I hope that someone out there finds this useful :-)