Stage Notes is a weekly aggregate post about theater, classical music, dance, comedy and stage news, events, reviews and other pertinent information.
Opening this week:
Dallas Theater Center: The Monsters, opened Wednesday-Nov. 1 in the Wyly Studio Theater.
The Firehouse Theatre: Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, today-Nov. 1.
MusicalWriters.com Productions: cleaVage, today-Nov. 1 at Theatre Three.
Theatre Three: I Am My Own Wife, today-Nov. 1 in Theatre Too.
ATTPAC: Paula Poundstone, 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Wyly Theatre.
Bombshell Dance Project: Here nor There, Friday and Saturday at Kitchen Dog Theater.
Dallas Symphony Orchestra: Beethoven & Strauss with Daniel Hawkins, Friday-Sunday.
Lyric Stage: Godspell, Friday-Oct. 25.
Family Music Theatre: Annie, Friday-Oct. 31 at the New Vida Center.
Amphibian Stage: AJAX, Friday-Nov. 1.
Plaza Theatre Co.: Singin’ in the Rain, Friday-Nov. 14 at Dudley Hall.
Theatre Off the Square: Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors, Oct. 16-Nov. 17.
The Dallas Opera: The Bremen Town Musicians, 2 p.m. Saturday at the Winspear.
ATTPAC: Hold on to Your Butts, 7 and 9:30 p.m., Saturday at the Wyly.
Plano Symphony Orchestra: Unhallowed Eve, 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Robinson Fine Arts Center.
Orchestra of New Spain: For All the Saints, 5 p.m. Sunday at Christ the King Catholic Church.
Eisemann Center Presents: Keyboard Conversations: Glorious Musical Jewels, Monday.
WaterTower Theatre: BWY X NTX: Songs for a New World, Tuesday-Nov. 1.
Onstage now:
The Dallas Opera: The Elixir of Love, through Saturday at the Winspear.
Lewisville Playhouse: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, through Sunday.
Shakespeare Dallas: Titus Andronicus, through Sunday at Samuel-Grand Amphitheatre.
Theatre Denton: The Addams Family, through Sunday at Campus Theatre.
Theatre Coppell: And Then There Were None, through Oct. 25 at Coppell Art Center.
Garland Civic Theatre: Anything Goes, through Oct. 25.
Plaza Theatre Co.: The Mummy, through Oct. 31 at Plaza Main Street Theatre.
Pegasus Theatre: Noir Hamlet, through Oct. 31 at Addison Performing Arts Centre.
Dallas Theater Center: The Monsters, through Nov. 1 at the Wyly Studio Theater, pictured.
Richardson Theatre Centre: Over Night Watch, through Nov. 1.
Rover Dramawerks closes its 26th season this November
Rover will conclude its current season with Making God Laugh, a dramedy by Sean Grennan. Empty-nester parents contend with their own changes as family rituals are trotted out and ancient tensions flare up.
Performances will be at the Cox Playhouse n Plano, running Nov. 5-22.
Glynda Welch serves as director and costume co-designer with Kerra Sims. Paula Raven is stage manager, Kevin Westbrook is the assistant director and props designer, and set design is by Rachel Velasco. Sound design is by Robbi Holman, with lighting design by Kenneth Hall, who also serves as the board op for lights and sound. Sean M. Lewis acts as fight choreographer.
Tickets are available at RoverDramawerks.com.
Stolen Shakespeare Guild has announced its newest season
A bit late to this but late last month, SSG revealed the shows for its upcoming 2027 season. The season features nine shows including its Classic Fest: Vive la France! and its annual Stolen Shakespeare Festival 2027: Et Tu, Shakespeare? The season launches in February.
The season includes:
Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Feb. 5-21. In the decadent world of pre-Revolutionary France, the Marquise de Merteuil and Vicomte de Valmont turn seduction into a dangerous game of revenge and manipulation. Christopher Hampton’s drama is a gripping exploration of sex, power, betrayal and the consequences of treating love as a game. Part of Classic Fest: Vive le France!
The Imaginary Invalid, Feb. 12-28. Convinced he is constantly ill, wealthy Argan surrounds himself with doctors, remedies and medical bills and plans to marry his daughter to a doctor to secure free treatment. But his family has other ideas. Molière’s satire of medicine, money,and human foolishness remains as absurd today as when it first took the stage. Part of Classic Fest: Vive le France!
Dreamgirls, April 2-18. Three young singers chase their dreams of stardom and discover that success can come at a heartbreaking price. Music by Henry Krieger, book and lyrics by Tom Eyen.
The Odd Couple, May 21-June 6. When a neat-freak moves in with his happily sloppy friend, their New York apartment becomes the setting for one of theater’s most mismatched friendships in Neil Simon’s comedy about friendship, marriage and learning to live with someone who drives you absolutely crazy.
Mean Girls, July 2-18. After growing up in Africa, Cady Heron enters an entirely new wilderness: an American high school ruled by the glamorous and ruthless Plastics. Based on the hit film with book by Tina Fey, music by Jeff Richmond, lyrics by Nell Benjamin.
The Pirates of Penzance, Aug. 13-29. Book by W. S. Gilbert and Music by Arthur Sullivan
Young Frederic believes his apprenticeship to a band of pirates is finally over until a technicality turns his freedom upside down. A beautiful young woman, her very modern Major-General father and a squad of bumbling policemen fill Gilbert and Sullivan’s operetta overflows with wit, romance and wonderfully absurd adventure.
Julius Caesar, Oct. 15-Nov. 7. Shakespeare’s political tragedy explores ambition, loyalty, honor, and betrayal as Brutus struggles between friendship and what he believes is his duty to Rome. Featured in repertory for Stolen Shakespeare Festival 2027: Et Tu, Shakespeare?
The Comedy of Errors, Oct. 15-Nov. 7. Mistaken identities lead to accusations of infidelity, theft, madness, and even demonic possession in Shakespeare’s fast-paced farce. Featured in repertory for Stolen Shakespeare Festival 2027: Et Tu, Shakespeare?
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever!, Dec. 3-19. The Herdmans are the worst kids in town and now they’ve taken over the church Christmas pageant. Everyone expects disaster, but as the unruly siblings encounter the Christmas story for the first time, something unexpected happens. Written by Barbara Robinson.
Lakeside Community Theatre offers a closing weekend ticket deal
LCT will close its current production of True West this weekend and audiences can snag a bargain.
Use the code TOAST at check-out to receive a BOGO discount on two tickets. Going solo? No big because single tickets will be discounted at half-off.
Sam Shepard’s dark comedy True West pits two very different brothers against each other in a battle of jealousy, ambition, identity and old family wounds—all under one increasingly chaotic roof.
Buy your tickets here.
Review: The Classics Theatre Project’s Macbeth suffers under its own weight
The Classics Theatre Project’s latest staging of Shakespeare’s Macbeth sets out with a dark, moody vision, attempting to reframe the classic tragedy through a minimalist, atmospheric lens. The show opened last weekend at The Core theater. Despite the best intentions of director Joey Folsom and the Macbeth team, the production collapses under the cumulative weight of its own story and disparate portrayals.
Macbeth is one of Shakespeare’s more dense plays so pulling it off without a hitch can be tricky. TCTP took on the challenge and the cast does a fine job of pulling off the show with an anchored performance by Michael Miller as Macbeth. Miller chewed the scenery as the volatile king in power expressing a wide range from tyrannical to despair. His conviction for the role was evident and consistent from start to finish.
As Macduff, Blair Mitchell delivered a layered role as Macbeth’s antagonist. He delivered the role with the proper anguish and heroism needed while injecting his role with a bit of levity through smart touches of humor. Mitchell’s performance understood the complexity of his role which brought a dramatic punch to his time onstage.
Where the play began to crumble was its misuse of other characters.
Cheryl Lowber never quite reached the diabolical menace expected of Lady Macbeth. David Huner started out strongly as Ross, but his performance somehow moved into slow motion. Perhaps this was a dramatic intention, but a choice that often downshifted the scene. In the revealing role of Lennox who is the first to suspect Macbeth’s downward spiral, Juan M. Perez was unable to find the pacing in his dialogue and Shakespeare’s pentameter. This tempered the character’s crucial narration.
Joshua Timmons and Shalini Patel rose to the challenge as Malcolm and Donalbain. In far more stylish costumes, the characters represented the future of Scotland. Often paired together, each brought a flair to their parts although Timmons’ attempt at a Scottish dialect was sometimes distracting.
The three witches were wonderfully wicked. Covered in black, the three actors – Isabelle Culpepper, Stephanie Oustalet and Marilyn Twyman – hissed and whispered their unison role to maximum effect and their stillness onstage delivered a fearsome presence.
Design choices were a hurdle that was distracting. The all-gray set should have evoked a bleak, dystopian landscape, but the minimally designed stage featured no distinguishing elements among scenes for the myriad action in different locales. A stage reveal in the second act was effective for the climaxing drama but felt a bit too late.
This and a sluggish pacing all took a toll on Macbeth that stayed somewhat afloat through some galvanizing portrayals. Shakespeare’s text here felt suffocated rather than served. With some tightening and perhaps more timing with these characters, the show may still find its groove.
The show runs through Oct. 31.
–Rich Lopez