Stage Notes is a weekly aggregate post about theater, classical music, dance, comedy and stage news, events, reviews and other pertinent information.
Stage Notes Calendar
Opening this week:
Dallas Symphony Orchestra: Mendelssohn’s Italian Symphony, opened Thursday-Sunday.
Soul Rep Theatre: Madam Queen, opened Thursday-May 2.
Theatre Three: The Murder of Roger Ackryoyd, opened Thursday-May 10, pictured.
Ghostlight Theatre Company: The Seagull, today-Sunday at Lewisville Grand Theater.
Lake Cities Ballet Theatre: The Little Mermaid, today-Sunday at TBA.
Lakeside Community Theatre: The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), today-May 2.
Garland Civic Theatre: Drinking Habits, today-May 3.
Lyric Stage: Sweet Charity, today-May 3.
Fort Worth Opera: Project Opera: Romeo and Juliet, 7 p.m. Saturday at Van Cliburn Concert Hall.
TITAS/Dance Unbound: Command Performance and Gala, Saturday at the Winspear.
FWSO Chamber Series: Mozart, Beethoven, and Schumann, 3 p.m. Sunday at Kimbell Art Museum.
Lone Star Wind Orchestra:Lights, Camera…Trumpet!, 3 p.m. Sunday at Moody Performance Hall.
Keyboard Conversations with Jeffrey Siegel: Music of Joy and Peace, 7:30 p.m. Monday at the Eisemann.
Onstage now:
Broadway at the Bass:Some Like it Hot, Tuesday-April 19.
Community of Rowlett Players (CORP): The Comedy of Errors, through Sunday.
Repertory Company Theatre: The Producers, through Sunday at the Courtyard Theatre.
Theatre Denton: To Kill a Mockingbird, through Sunday at Point Bank Auditorium, pictured.
Lewisville Playhouse: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, through April 26.
Mesquite Arts Theatre: The Odd Couple, through April 26.
Cirque du Soleil: ECHO, opened Thursday-May 3 at Lone Star Park.
Kitchen Dog Theater: Dream Hou$e, through May 3.
Richardson Theatre Centre: Over The River and Through The Woods, through May 3.
Lewisville Playhouse’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead through a queer lens
Lewisville Playhouse opened Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Tom Stoppard’s existential comedy on April 10. Directed by Chris-James Cognetta, this version re-examined the play through a queer lens. Cognetta and his cast explore how queerness, both explicit and coded, illuminates the play’s themes of marginality, ambiguity, intimacy, identity as well as the search for meaning within Stoppard’s confines of the script.
A cornerstone of modern theatre, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead flips Shakespeare’s Hamlet inside out, placing two minor characters at the center of a story about fate, friendship, performance, language, and the absurdity of existence.
In this new production, Cognetta draws out the play’s deep resonance with queer experience: living in the in-between, navigating roles assigned by others, and searching for selfhood in a world determined to keep some people peripheral.
“This play has always lived in the in-between,” Cognetta said in a press release ahead of the show’s opening. “Between life and death, certainty and confusion, center stage and the margins. Looking at it through a queer lens is not about forcing an idea onto the text. It is about recognizing how deeply the play already speaks to coded identity, liminality, longing, and the ache of not quite fitting the roles the world provides.”
The role of The Player is performed by Mikey Abrams, pictured above, whose seductively queer theatricality anchors the world of the tragedians and heightens the production’s focus on performance, spectacle and a it of ferocity.
The cast includes queer artists and allied performers, creating a company that reflects both the diversity of North Texas and the collaborative spirit of contemporary queer theatre.
Lewisville Playhouse’s production embraces minimalism both in set and color scheme. This allowed the relationships, language, and visual images to resonate with focused immediacy.
The company stated, “For LGBTQ+ audiences, this staging offers not just a reinterpretation of a classic, but a recognition of how the canon can hold queerness in coded, surprising, and deeply moving ways.”
For tickets, click here.
Communities Foundation of Texas launches North Texas Gives to the Arts campaign for Dallas Arts Month
In celebration of Dallas Arts Month in April, Communities Foundation of Texas (CFT) announced the start of the fundraising campaign North Texas Gives to the Arts. The initiative launched on Thursday. The campaign will run through April 30 and includes $100,000 in total matching funds from The Giana Foundation Fund, the Robert B. and Virginia Payne Fund for Arts & Culture, and CFT. Donations of up to $100 per person, per nonprofit, will be matched until the $100,000 match has been met.
“CFT believes a thriving community is one where art is accessible and creativity is celebrated. The arts bring people together and provide meaningful space for expression,” Wayne White, CFT President and CEO said in a press release. “NorthTexasGivingDay.org serves as a one‑stop shop for giving to nonprofits across our region, and we’re grateful the platform can be used during Dallas Arts Month to uplift organizations advancing arts, culture, and the humanities.”
On the website, NorthTexasGivingDay.org, donors can browse eight different categories of verified arts and humanities nonprofits to give to. These include: History & Heritage; Arts Advocacy & Support; Dance; Visual Arts, Media, & Film; Music; Literary Arts; Theater; and Multidisciplinary Arts.
The Flame Foundation presents the third annual Cocina Flamenca LIVE
The Flame Foundation invites Dallas to experience the sights, sounds, and flavors of Spain as Cocina Flamenca LIVE 2026 returns to the Latino Cultural Center for its third annual celebration. Inspired by Spain’s La Feria de Sevilla, the festival transforms the Latino Cultural Center campus into a cultural playground, activating indoor and outdoor stages for an afternoon and evening of flamenco, food, and community connection on Saturday, April 18.
New for 2026, festivalgoers can participate in a free Salsa‑Flamenco Style dance class at 5 pm, led by guest artist Nélida Tirado, held inside the Latino Cultural Center’s Black Box theater. Space is limited, and advance registration is encouraged.
The evening culminates with Fiesta Flamenca XII, an exclusive, ticketed one‑hour indoor performance held in the Latino Cultural Center auditorium with doors at 6:30 pm. The finale features internationally recognized bailaoras Nélida Tirado and Carmen Montes (“La Chispa”), alongside master guitarists Ricardo Sanchez and Juanis de la Isla, with José Cortes on cante. Dallas’ Maestro Antonio Arrebola of Flamenco DNA also takes the stage.
“This year, Cocina Flamenca LIVE truly becomes a campus‑wide celebration,” Delilah Buitrón Arrebola, Artistic Director and Producer of The Flame Foundation said in a press release. “By activating every performance space, we’re inviting the community to explore flamenco in different environments while sharing food, movement, and culture together.”
The day’s schedule includes:
4 p.m.: Flamenkitos
4:15 p.m. – Guitarra Ricardo Castillo
4:45 p.m. – Sevillanas
5 p.m. – Representa
5 p.m. – Salsa‑Flamenco Style Dance Class led by guest artist Nélida Tirado
Limited space. Advance registration recommended.
6:00 p.m. – Sabor Flamenco
6:45 p.m. – Michael Carrasco
7 p.m. – Fiesta Flamenca XII (ticketed)
7:15 p.m. – Len Bernett
For tickets, visit CocinaFlamencaLiveDFW.com.
–Rich Lopez