Texas Ballet Theatre’s ‘Dracula’ (Courtesy photo by Steven Visneau)

Stage Notes is a weekly aggregate post about theater, classical music and stage news, events, reviews and other pertinent information.

Dracula, Balanchine return in Texas Ballet Theater’s 2023/24 season

TBT announced its upcoming 2023-2024 season Tuesday night during a season celebration event at the Perot Museum of Nature and Science. The season will feature a spooky audience favorite as a major highlight. Performances of each will be held at both the Winspear and Bass Hall.

TBT’s 2023/24 season includes:

Sept. 15-17 (Dallas)/ Oct. 6-8 (Fort Worth): Dracula, an audience favorite last performed by TBT in 2015, will open the new season. TBT Acting Artistic Director Tim O’Keefe starred as the title character in that production. This year, he presents it.

“Having the opportunity to present Dracula is a full circle moment for TBT,” O’Keefe said. “Many of our artistic and production staff worked on the world premiere 25 years ago, myself included. I’m looking forward to working on this ballet with Ben [Stevenson] again and sharing it with our audiences, who have been eager to see it again.”

TBT Artistic Director Laureate Ben Stevenson, O.B.E., choreographed the ballet in 1997.

Nov. 24-Dec. 3 (Dallas)/Dec. 8-24 (Fort Worth): The annual staging of Stevenson’s The Nutcracker.

Feb. 23-25 (Fort Worth)/March 1-3 (Dallas): Brilliants is a mixed repertoire production featuring four shorter ballets in one program. The ballets include  Rubies, choreographed by George Balanchine; Grand Pas Classique, choreographed by Victor Gsovsky; Le Corsaire Pas de Deux, choreographed by Rudolf Nureyev and Without Borders, choreographed by Val Caniparoli.

May 3-5 (Dallas)/May 17-19 (Fort Worth): Closing the season will be Beauty and the Beast choreographed by Lew Christensen.

Season Package subscriptions are available now for the 2023-2024 season. Single performance ticket sales will begin in July.

NTPA introduces new artistic director

North Texas Performing Arts announced Wednesday that Ashlee Elizabeth (Lizz) Bashore has been appointed as its new Artistic Director for NTPA Repertory Theatre. In this role, Bashore will oversee all aspects of NTPA’s adult theater programs, including NTPA Repertory Theatre, NTPA Community Theatre, and other adult-centric programming. Additionally, she will already be hands-on by directing and producing the NTPA Summer Musicals productions of Grease and Pippin.

“NTPA Repertory Theatre is truly North Dallas’s ‘hidden’ gem in live onstage performance, and I am excited about our plans to take Repertory to a new level of professional work,” she said in the announcement. “Our program strategy will be to bring high-quality and impactful productions to North Dallas and its patrons.”

Lizz received her B.A. in Theatre with a minor in Dance and Musical Theatre from Temple University, and her Masters in Fine Arts in Acting from Southern Methodist University. She has performed and directed throughout Dallas but also in New York and Philadelphia.

“Lizz brings a whole new level of professionalism, quality, and storytelling to our Repertory Theatre, and this appointment is great news for our audiences, actors and directors. After an extensive search that introduced us to excellent candidates both local and across the country, she was the unanimous choice of our selection team,” CEO Darrell Rodenbaugh said in the release.

Grease is scheduled for June 16-25 and Pippin for July 28-Aug. 6 at the Willow Bend for the Arts.

Show announcements

The cast of Theatre Arlington’s ‘Noises Off.’ (Courtesy photo by Jacob Oderberg)

Noises Off opens at Theatre Arlington

The British comedy by Michael Frayn opens Friday at TA. Noises Off points the funny finger at the goings-on both onstage and backstage as an overworked cast and crew attempt to stage a farce. Instead, chaos reigns.

Cheryl Denson (Uptown Players ,WaterTower Theatre) directs Noises Off which is also her first show for TA. The cast includes Gigi Cervantes, Jakie Cabe, Leroy Hood and Mattie Lillian Davis, Emily Truelove, Billy Betsill, Brandy Raper, Joshua Nerio and David Fenley.

Creative team includes Production and Stage Manager Maria Leon Hickox, Assistant Stage Manager Michael Green, set design by Keving Brown, Bryan Stevenson lighting, Ryan Simón sound, Costume Designer Karen Potter, Properties Designer Robin Dotson and Wendy Searcy-Woode serves as the scenic artist.

The show runs through April 16.

Into the Woods at Dallas Theater Center

DTC presents Stephen Sondheim’s fairy tale mashup Into the Woods at the Wyly Theatre April 7-30. The musical is adapted from the book by James Lapine with music and lyrics by Sondheim and directed by Joel Ferrell. ITW begins with the Baker and his Wife’s desire for a child but when they make a deal with the Witch to break a spell, their adventure crosses paths with the likes of Cinderella, Jack and his cow Milky-White, Rapunzel, a Big BadWolf and a couple of charming princes.

“I dearly love theater that involves smart playwrights re-examining myths and stories we all know–or believe we know,” Ferrell said in the press release. “Directing this show in 2023 means; highlighting the dopey humanity and hilarious dexterity of act one, then taking the audience on a truly wild ride in act two, pulling the audience deeper and deeper “into the woods” of the human experience. Whether you’ve seen the show many times or never experienced its magic, be ready for big surprises delivered by a stellar cast.”

The cast includes Christina Austin Lopez, Olivia de Guzman, Blake Hackler, Bob Hess, Alex Organ, Christopher Llewyn Ramirez, Tiffany Solano, Sally Nystuen Vahle and Zachary J. Willis of DTC’s Brierley Resident Acting Company. Additional cast includes Amber Flores, Hollyn Gayle, Braxton O. Johnson, Taylor Nash, Rachel Nicole Poole, with Cherish Love Robinson as the Witch. Show understudies are Sarah Comley Caldwell, Estaban Vichez, Kevin Solis, Rachel Nicole Poole, Tara Park and Taylor Nash.

Ferrell serves as the show’s director and choreographer. The creative team features Music Director Gary Adler, scenic design by Yu-Hsuan Chen, costume, hair and makeup design by Yvonne Miranda, lighting design by Seth Reiser, sound design by Joanna Lynne Staub and Laura Elaine Berrios is the stage manager.

The show marks the closing of DTC’s 2022/23 season. For tickets and more information, go here.

Harvey presented by Stolen Shakespeare Guild

The cast of Stolen Shakespeare Guild’s ‘Harvey.’ (Courtesy photo by Jennifer Stewart)

Stolen Shakespeare Guild, Fort Worth’s classical theater company, will present Harvey, by Mary Chase, which received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1945. The show runs April 14-30 at Arts Fort Worth.

The story centers on Elwood P. Dowd who insists on including his friend Harvey in all of his sister Veta’s social gatherings. Trouble is, Harvey is an imaginary six-and-a-half-foot-tall rabbit. To avoid future embarrassment for her family—and especially for her daughter, Myrtle Mae — Veta decides to have Elwood committed to a sanitarium. At the sanitarium, a frantic Veta explains to the staff that her years of living with Elwood’s hallucination have caused her to see Harvey also, and so the doctors mistakenly commit her instead of her mild-mannered brother. But the truth will eventually come out.

The production is directed by Staci Cook and stars Travis Cook, Kaitlin Wampler, Nicholas Zebrun, D. Aiden Wright, Dennis Milligan, Jonathan Russell, Lindsay Nelson, Kit Hussey and SSG company members Nancy Lamb and Karen Metheny.

Tickets are available here.

Shakespeare Dallas to host staged readings of The Henriad

Shakespeare Dallas will host staged readings of The Henriad plays April 20-30 at Samuell-Grand Amphitheater presented in part by The Hitz Foundation and Play On Shakespeare. William Shakespeare’s stories will be explored through Play On Shakespeare’s modern verse translation, allowing audiences to understand the Shakespeare Histories like never before.

“We are excited to bring the work of three nationally-recognized playwrights to our community for this project,” Shakespeare Dallas Interim Artistic Director Jenni Stewart said in a press release. “Each playwright was tasked with matching Shakespeare’s mastery of language as they approached the text. This means preserving the rhyme, rhythm, metaphor, symbolism, and rhetoric that make Shakespeare’s plays still relevant to us, and bring in 30,000 people each year to our amphitheater.”

The shows presented in the series are:

Richard II, modern verse translation by Naomi Iizuka (Thursdays)

Henry IV (part 1), modern verse translation by Yvette Nolan (Fridays)

Henry IV (part 2), modern verse translation by Yvette Nolan (Saturdays)

Henry V, modern verse translation by Lloyd Suh (Sundays)

Gates open at 7 pm and performances begin at 8 pm. Picnicking, food, and beer and wine is permitted on the grounds. A different show will be presented each night two weekends in a row. Approximate run time is 2.5 hours with a 15-minute intermission. Single tickets start at $15. For more information, click here.

Opening this week:

Sweet Apple Productions: Oleanna, today-Sunday at Stage West, pictured.

Circle Theatre: The Mountaintop, today-April 15.

Pegasus Contemporary Ballet: Synergy – Dallas in Motion, Friday and Saturday at Moody Performance Hall.

Vocal Majority Spring Show, Friday and Saturday at the Eisemann Center.

Onstage in Bedford: The Lifespan of a Fact, Friday-April 16

Richardson Theatre Centre: Driving Miss Daisy, Friday-April 16

Theatre Arlington: Noises Off, Friday-April 16.

Theatre Denton: Something Rotten, Friday-April 16.

The Classics Theatre Project: The Taming of the Shrew, Friday-April 23 at the Addison Theatre Center.

Turtle Creek Chorale: Rhapsody Gala featuring Patti Lupone, 8 p.m. (concert) at the Meyerson.

The Table Co/Lab: Tales from the End of the Rainbow: New Reads, Saturday and Sunday.

New Philharmonic Orchestra of Irving: Brilliant, sunny music, 3:30 p.m. Sunday at Irving Arts Center.

Sammons Jazz: Keith Anderson and Full of Soul and Jisun Choi Quartet with Special Guest Hyewon Lee, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Sammons Center.

Onstage now:

The Dallas Opera: Cosi fan tutte, through Saturday, pictured.

Rover Dramawerks: Spirit Level, through Saturday.

Art Centre Theatre: Romeo and Juliet the Puppet Edition, through Sunday.

Broadway at the Bass: Annie, through Sunday.

Broadway Dallas: Moulin Rouge! The Musical, through Sunday at the Music Hall at Fair Park.

Rockwall Community Playhouse: Angel Street (Gaslight), through Sunday .

Second Thought Theatre:Is Edward Snowden Single?, through April 8.

Runway Theatre: Disaster the Musical, through April 9.

Allen Contemporary Theatre: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, through April 12.

Casa Manana: Spamilton – An American Parody, through April 14.

The Core Theatre: A Trip to Bountiful, through April 16.

Artisan Center Theater: West Side Story, through May 6.

—Rich Lopez