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:
Amphibian Stage: Did You Eat? (밥 먹었니?), opened Wednesday-April 12.
Dallas Symphony Orchestra: Bartók, Rózsa & Brahms, opened Thursday-Saturday.
The Cliburn: Cliburn Festival: America 250, through Sunday at The Modern.
Onstage in Bedford: Sylvia, opened Thursday-April 12.
NTPA: Hello, Dolly!, Friday-April 4 at Willow Bend Center for the Arts, pictured.
Runway Theatre: Young Frankenstein, Friday-April 12.
Dallas Theater Center: Ragtime, Friday-April 19.
Jubilee Theatre: Test to Testimony, Friday-April 26.
Dallas Symphony Orchestra: Organ Recital featuring Amanda Mole, 2 p.m. Sunday.
Prism Movement Theater: Free Sword Fighting Class, 6 p.m. Sunday at Dallas Children’s Theater.
Reid Cabaret Theatre: The Music of Fleetwood Mac, Tuesday-April 4 at Casa Manana.
Broadway Dallas: Some Like it Hot, Tuesday-April 12.
Onstage now:
Circle Theatre: King James, through Saturday.
Pocket Sandwich Theatre: Arsenic and Old Lace, through Saturday.
Rover Dramawerks: All’s Fair in Love and Theatre, through Saturday.
Allen Contemporary Theatre: Escanaba in da Moonlight, through Sunday.
Broadway at the Bass:Back to the Future, through Sunday.
The Firehouse Theatre: The Producers, through Sunday.
Garland Civic Theatre: Rumors, through Sunday.
Stage West: A Case for the Existence of God, through Sunday, pictured.
Uptown Players: Pure Glitter, through Sunday.
The Core Theatre: Charley’s Aunt, through April 12.
Fever: SAW The Musical: The Unauthorized Parody of SAW, through April 12 at Theatre Too.
WaterTower Theatre: Goodnight Oscar, through April 12.
Review: Garland Civic Theatre’s ‘Rumors’ is a laugh-filled chaotic romp
First, sincere apologies to GCT for this late review on closing weekend. Simply, time got away from me. But Rumors is still worth noting for its rampant fun. Director Eddy Herring juggled a cast into a production of comedic chaos that delivered with gusto.
Neil Simon’s story centers on an anniversary party. Four couples are due to arrive, but the first pair, Ken and Chris arrive to find their host, Charley, with a minor gunshot wound and their hostess, Myra, missing. What follows is a series of frantic cover-ups, mistaken identities, and increasingly preposterous lies that snowball as subsequent couples arrive and are drawn into an accidental conspiracy.
Herring handily orchestrated the show’s pandemonium with a keen eye for physical comedy and pacing. Essentially a two-act sprint, his direction set up the cast to succeed with both the elaborate narrative and the zany humor.
The ensemble functioned well as a cohesive unit.
Blair Mitchell and Amy Parsons as husband and wife Lenny and Claire were a dynamic duo with notable chemistry. Lenny’s frustration was a highlight, especially his final, lengthy monologue that Mitchell rolled off his tongue with ease. Parsons portrayal of Claire was on the mark with sharp wit but also a stable center for some of the more animated characters.
The physical comedy of Robert San Juan and Leigh Wyatt Moore as Ken and Chris was off the charts – particularly the cardio San Juan had up and down the stairs while still serving comic highlights. Both actors’ frantic energy set the pace for the show which only went uphill from there.
Bill Sizemore and Molly Bower were perhaps the least crazed as Ernie and Cookie but delivered with an elevated quirkiness that contributed to the mayhem. Sean M. Lewis and Chloe Carroll as Glenn and Cassie round out the troupe of couples both giving vigorous performances as the arguing couple. Michael McMilland and Erik Ho enter the second act late as Officers Welch and Pudney on an investigation.
Of note was Herring’s two-storied set design. A well-balanced set that was filled to wonderful detail with set pieces and props by Mark Hawkins that created an elegant living room all complimented by Allison Larrea’s lighting.
Rumors reminded of Simon’s genius and Herring and his cast delivered a riotous show using every color in the box.
The show runs through Sunday.
Dallas Theater Center announces 2026/27 season under new artistic director
On Friday, DTC revealed the lineup of shows for its upcoming season. This also marks the first season with the new Enloe/Rose Artistic Director, Jaime Castañeda. A new era for DTC filled with new works and world premieres for the new season. The new lineup kicks off in September.
“New work is the engine of the American Theater, and Dallas Theater Center will be a laboratory for artists who have something urgent and honest to express today,” Enloe/Rose Artistic Director Jaime Castañeda said in today’s rpess release. “As I embark on my inaugural season at DTC, I am especially looking forward to expanding our DTC family with new artists while featuring local talent and our very own Brierley Resident Acting Company.”
“This season marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter for Dallas Theater Center,” Executive Director Kevin Moriarty added. “Jaime Castañeda brings extraordinary artistic vision, deep curiosity about the world, and a passionate commitment to our North Texas community. We are thrilled to welcome Jaime to Dallas and to begin this next era of artistry together with our audiences, artists, and partners across the city.”
The season includes:
Sept. 11-27: Reykjavik86 by Gabe McKinley. This world premiere is a Cold War thriller that brings the 1986 nuclear summit between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev to life on stage. With the fate of humanity in the balance, two vastly different leaders search for common ground while wrestling ideology, history and the human cost of power. This world premiere delves into diplomacy in a divisive world, revealing the enduring impact of choices made and not made. Performances held at the Wyly Theatre.
Oct. 9-Nov. 1: The Monsters by Ngozi Anyanwu. Lil is a scrappy young fighter ready to enter the ring in this regional premiere. After 16 years, she reconnects with her brother Big, an accomplished fighter in the local MMA scene. To earn her brother’s respect, Lil must master her stance, her strikes, and her stubborn streak. But can these two siblings mend their thorny past and find common ground in the ring they both love in Anyanwu’s play fresh from a critically acclaimed Off-Broadway run. Performances held at the Wyly Theatre.
Nov. 27-Dec. 27: A Christmas Carol adapted by Kevin Moriarty. DTC’s annual holiday tradition brings Charles Dickens’ famed story to life of Ebenezer Scrooge’s path to redembtion. Directed by Alex Organ with performances in the Wyly Theatre.
March 26-April 11: Kill Local. Castañeda directs this world premiere by Mat Smart (book) and Liza Anne (music and lyrics). Sheila and her sister, Abigail, work together for their mother’s small family business. Sheila used to love the job. Lately, she’s not so sure. But when you’re an assassin, being uninspired means getting sloppy, and getting sloppy means getting killed. This new musical blends dark comedy with songs about blood ties, revenge and how hard it is to get unstuck. Performances held at the Wyly Theatre.
May 14-June 6. The Making of a Saint. Writer and director KJ Sanches is searching for something to believe in this world premiere. Her brother is very spiritual. In fact, he is the official Petitioner of the Cause for the canonization of a Catholic saint— Sister Blandina Segale, who lived in the time we call the “Wild West.” Searching for a model for how to live a good life, investigative documentary writer/performer Sanchez sets out to understand Sister Blandina’s story. In this solo performance based on interviews and research in Rome, Sanchez invites the audience into her search–exploring what it means to help others, and how a brother and sister might bridge the distance between faith and doubt. Performances held in the Wyly Studio Theatre.
Feb. 5-27: To be announced June 1. Performances held in the Kalita Humphreys Theater.
Undermain reveals its New Work grant recipient
At its Lumination Forward event on March 21, Undermain not only presented the staged reading of Jarrett King’s St. Miles, but also announced the newest recipient of a grant from the Katherine Owens/Undermain Fund for New Work, Erin Malone Turner.
Turner first worked with Undermain in 2022 when a reading of her play Spaced Out was featured in the Whither Goest Thou America Festival of New Play Readings. Since then she has worked with Amphibian Stage, Echo Theatre, Bishop Arts Theatre Center, Soul Rep Theatre and others. This marks the first locally based recipient for the Fund.
The Fund has expanded its impact by supporting not only the playwright in developing their work but also by contributing to the cost of bringing fully-staged productions of their work to the Undermain stage and Dallas audiences.
–Rich Lopez