Stage Notes is a weekly aggregate post about theater, classical music and stage news, events, reviews and other pertinent information.
ATTPAC opens Gloria Estefan musical with afterparty celebrating Women’s History Month
Thursday night is opening night of On Your Feet! The Story of Emilio and Gloria Estefan by ATTPAC at the Winspear. Featuring the hits of both Miami Sound Machine and Gloria Estefan, the show centers on the husband-and-wife team and their rise to music icon status. The show runs through Saturday.
“We are absolutely thrilled that our musical will once again be shared with audiences across the United States in this brand-new production of On Your Feet! led by Luis Salgado,” Gloria and Emilio Estefan said about the ATTPAC announcement in February. “We’ve had tremendous fun sharing our story on the stage since our show first hit Broadway in 2015 and it is our hope that we can continue to inspire and uplift people with its celebratory message, especially at a time when we all need it so much.”
From ATTPAC:
On Your Feet! the exhilarating original musical based on the extraordinary life of 26-time Grammy Award-winning husband-and-wife team Gloria and Emilio Estefan, features a book by Academy Award and Golden Globe winner Alexander Dinelaris and a score made up of some of the most loved and iconic songs of the past quarter-century including “Rhythm is Gonna Get You,” “Conga,” “Get On Your Feet,” “Don’t Want To Lose You Now,” “1-2-3” and “Coming Out of the Dark.”
Having begun in Chicago in the summer of 2015, On Your Feet! made its Broadway bow that November, played for two years, and received seven Outer Critics Circle Award nominations, three Drama League Award nominations and a Tony Award nomination for Best Choreography.
For Thursday night’s opening, ATTPAC will host the Women in Power Afterparty by Campari Group. Celebrating Women’s History Month, the post show even will feature a DJ Alaska Quinones, salsa dancers and also feature the Skyy signature cocktail “Miami Sound Machine” inspired by the musical.
Tickets for the show are available here.
Uptown Players notes parking information for Silver Foxes
The cast of Uptown Players’ world premiere of ‘Silver Foxes.’ (Courtesy photo)
Uptown Players’ newest show isn’t at its usual spot. For the world premiere of Silver Foxes, which opens Thursday night, the company will debut at Theatre Three’s new space located at 2688 Laclede St. (you can’t miss it) for this production. In a notice on Wednesday, Uptown wanted to remind audience members who may not be familiar with the area, that parking is gonna look different.
From Uptown Players:
Audience members for Silver Foxes may park in the AMLI parking garage located next to Theatre Three. If the parking garage security arm is down, please take a ticket and BRING IT TO THE BOX OFFICE FOR FREE VALIDIATION. If the parking arm is up, you may enter the garage without a ticket and the exit gate will be up for your exit after the show.
There is also street parking on Laclede and a limited number of spaces in front of the building but please adhere to any city and complex parking signs. You may park in “the quad 3-hour parking” spots.
Producer Level donors and higher will find their reserved parking signs in the garage spaces to your right as you enter the garage, just past the handicapped parking spaces.
We hope this helps make your visit to this theatre easier. Please allow plenty of time to park as late seating is very limited for this production and may not be in the seats on your tickets.
Read my interview with director Michael Urie in Friday’s Dallas Voice. The show runs through March 12 with tickets available here.
TACA announces new president and executive director
TACA – The Arts Community Alliance – Board of Directors announced Wednesday that Maura Sheffler, pictured, has been appointed as the Donna Wilhelm Family President and Executive Director effective immediately. Sheffler had served as TACA’s interim leader since the departure of Terry Loftis in December.
“Maura has demonstrated the leadership skills, tenacity, and big-picture vision to carry TACA into the future as an arts grant-maker, capacity-builder, and thought leader. Maura’s intimate knowledge of TACA’s operations and role in our arts community, our goals, and our drive to be an integral catalyst in the Dallas arts and culture landscape is unsurpassed,” Michael L. Meadows, TACA Board of Directors Chairman, said in the official announcement.
Her tenure with TACA has been almost a decade-long. Since 2013, Sheffler worked on TACA’s transition from a grantmaker to a responsive, holistic arts service organization. She launched new grant programs and collaborated on community research initiatives. Sheffler also designed programming for TACA’s equity, diversity, and inclusion strategy.
“I am thrilled to be given the opportunity to lead this incredible mission as we make impactful contributions to arts organizations and artists in Dallas. I look forward to what’s ahead, seizing opportunities for impact while tackling the inevitable challenges that bring growth. I want to thank our board of directors for their confidence in me as I fulfill a dream to lead an organization that makes a meaningful difference for arts organizations and artists in our city,” Sheffler said in the announcement.
Review: Annie is certifiably not OK in Lakeside Community Theatre’s Misery
For those familiar with the book or the movie, the idea of Stephen King’s Misery as a play is compelling. The story has all the elements of a stage production when it’s pared back the way playwright William Goldman did. In primarily three settings all cleverly set up in an immersive fashion and a cast of three at Lakeside Community Theatre’s black box, the show delivered the No. 1 fan stalker and hostage story with menace and thrills.
The story focuses on Annie Wilkes (Kiani Stone) who lives in the middle of nowhere, Colorado, nearby where her favorite author Paul Sheldon (David J. Wallis) retreats to write a new book. Through a series of unfortunate events orchestrated by Wilkes, Sheldon finds himself in her remote house laid up with injuries from a car accident in the snowstorm. A former nurse, she works on getting Sheldon healed up, but her intentions are revealed throughout their exchanges. Ultimately, noticed as missing, Sheriff Buster (Shane Alexander Morgan) pops in on Annie during his investigation to see if she has seen or heard anything.
Goldman’s play primarily took place in the bedroom where Sheldon was treated so Wallis’ performance was literally bedridden while Stone bounded in and out with Annie’ perky, almost innocent, enthusiasm that her hero is there. Stone and Wallis’ chemistry served the ideal amount of tension needed for this to work.
Stone’s performance was something to behold on the show’s opening night. She unpacked Annie’s delusion and ultimate horrific side with a distinct method that delivered major chills. The character’s aversion to curse words and use of silly childish language and dowdy wardrobe could easily have been a caricature, but Stone’s depth and layering kept her character far from it. She evoked sympathy at times while also being hella scary as shit.
As the tormented author, Wallis certainly had presence, but offered a curious performance. For a man confined to a wheelchair because of the accident and for the torture that Annie inflicts, Wallis often came off more inconvenienced than terrified or endangered. Then he would turn on the charm as his character tried to outwit Annie. But his steering and navigation with a wheelchair was certainly its own talent as he rolled throughout the entire set with some ease.
Morgan had little to work with as the Sheriff and his plaid shirt detracted from any sense of the law. But he was always nice to watch, because he played that very endearing type of lawman. His folksy, friendly delivery really cut the tension of the play up to his big second act moment.
Director Keegan Arnold crafted the show with all the creepy overtones that made Misery succeed. The pace was even keel which added to the dread of the story and even the use of darkness and silence evoked a scary mood. This was certainly helped by his set and lighting design and Sydney Tripp’s sound. With plastered pages adorning Arnold’s set, the design of it was so engrossing. He maximized the entire theater for the set which kept the eye moving along. Nat Coe’s lighting radiated that appropriate desolation of the story. Steven White’s special effects and the prop design team all stepped up to deliver the creepy and claustrophobic ambience of Misery.
The play ran a bit longer than expected, especially the first act. Despite Wallis’ skill with the wheelchair, it also may have extended the running time as he had to go in and out of doors and tight spaces. That may tighten as the show continues.
Misery had much working in its favor at The Colony theater and Arnold and the cast and crew delivered an entertaining show that brought out gasps and cringes exactly where they were needed. For a Stephen King story, what else could Lakeside ask for?
The show runs thorugh March 11.
Opening this week:
SMU: An Octoroon, today and Friday in the Greer Garson Theater.
Bruce Wood Dance: WOOD/SHOP, Friday and Saturday at BWD Gallery.
TITAS/DANCE UNBOUND: Trinity Irish Dance Company, Friday and Saturday at Moody Performance Hall.
Potted Potter: The Unauthorized Harry Experience, Friday-Sunday at the Wyly Theatre.
Art Centre Theatre: Steel Magnolias, Friday-March 19.
Dragons and Mythical Beasts, 2 and 6 p.m. Saturday at Coppell Arts Center.
Dallas Black Dance Theatre: Dancing Beyond Borders, 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Arts Fort Worth.
Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra: Wild Symphony, 11 a.m. Saturday at Bass Hall.
Casa Manana: Beautiful – The Carole King Musical, Saturday-March 12.
Upright Theatre: Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, March 9-19.
Onstage now:
Lakeside Community Theatre: Misery, through March 11.
Cara Mia Theatre: To DIE:GO, through March 12 at the Latino Cultural Center.
Pocket Sandwich Theatre: Murder at the Howard Johnson’s, through March 25.
Uptown Players: Silver Foxes, today-March 12 at Theatre Three.
–Rich Lopez
